Match Thread Away V Carlisle Saturday 13th March 3.00pm

I don't agree at all, we deserved nothing from the game and would have gone on to concede regardless in my view. They wanted it more and won everything. Centre halves got bullied all game, lost the midfield battle entirely and our forwards were largely anonymous. To a man they can all do better than the shite they served up yesterday and I hope they all realise that.

 

First real test for T&S

 

Three games without a win is a first for T&S.

Oldham is going to be an interesting game, they're a basket case of a club with some good and pretty unusual/random players. Believe it or not, they're third top scorers in the division with 51 goals scored, but they have EASILY the worst defence in the league with 60 goals conceded. No other team in the EFL is even close to matching the sheer number of goals in Oldham matches (111), but guess what? Two of their last three games have been 0-0, then they lost 4-2.

Kewell is gone, but the game is still just as likely to be a lottery from an Oldham Athletic perspective.

Let's see if Rowe comes back to haunt them.........

 

Hope so. They were better than us earlier in the season then again most teams were.

 

Banker (I but hope) in my both teams to score bet...

 

My view is that the next three games are winnable T&S need to pull the team together again and push on for the playoffs. This season as been difficult for all we don’t want to be slipping down again.
Nothing less than playoffs for me .

 

They are one of the best teams on the day that we have played this season

 

All teams have bad patches during a season had we had a few more points in the bank it wouldn’t have been as disastrous. The bit of luck that we were getting earlier in the run has deserted us in the last couple. Nevertheless I enjoy watching this group of players and with an injection of two or three of the right players next season should be a memorable one.

 

The draw against Bolton was probably the high water mark for the run we've been on.
The team looked tired on Saturday. I know that the flat-earth society don't believe in fatigue and it's affects on players, but we've been playing an exhaustive schedule for several weeks now with virtually the same 15/16 players, at the time of year when pitches at our level are at their worse. Sooner or later the wheels were going to come off.
I know the creationists will argue that it's the same for all teams with this current schedule and to a degree I get that point. But that would only really hold up as an argument if all teams played the same 11 each game and everyone played exactly the same number of games at exactly the same time. at the same venue. Only then could you compare apples with apples.
There's too many variables each team contends with to not discount fatigue - size of squads, player rotation, formations, travelling, pitch and weather conditions. All of these have an effect on the overall fitness levels of players.
Luckily we have a week off now. Recharge our batteries and go again.
As for the play-offs, well it was always a long shot given that we had to maintain a consistent form that no team in this league has yet to achieve (Bolton may be the exception). The poor start to the season meant we had no room to accommodate the last three results.
And a resetting of expectations for the rest of the season might not be a bad thing. Every interview I've read or heard in the last few weeks always comes around to the play-offs. You can't tell me that T&S and the players aren't influenced by that and the added pressure it brings, which can sometimes creep into how we perform on the pitch. Taking that pressure off may see performances dip or it may give the team a bit of a lift.

 

That is a good point Park, it is easy to forget just how far back we have come from - if we had just 2 more wins from our disastrous first 3 months we would be right in the mix.
Encouragingly a couple of scouts I know have both indicated they think our target list this summer will probably be the same whichever division we are in (well I'm taking that as a positive!) This means irrespective of where we finish this season Turnbull is hopefully already working on the incomings we need

 

Great points Wolfy, also it is impossible to stress the mental strain on the players to get out of the position we were in and then the sudden expectation of a possible play off place - these are mainly young lads who still are maturing and it does take its toll

 

Don’t forget it’s only a few months ago we were debating which is the worse squad. This one,or the shambles that Jacko and Christie put together in 2011. It shows how well Trueman and Sellars have done to get 34 points from this squad that many on here -not me as Jackos were horrendous in my opinion -rated worse than the Jacko lot.

 

That is very encouraging. It finally looks like we have some kind of cohesive recruitment plan and operation in place. It's been one of the biggest single failings of the last 3 seasons.
We've either replaced decent players with cr@p or replaced cr@p with another cr@p player. It looks from the outside looking in, based on what you've said, that where we are replacing someone, we're looking to get better version, not a worse one.
That being said, it was only a few months ago I was looking to see who was out of contract at the end of this season so we could get rid (all of them if possible). Now I'm looking at the squad and wondering who I'd offer a new contract to. Times have changed.

 

Not too concerned about the result. It was one of those games where nothing seemed to go right for us apart from the deflection for Evans' goal. We wasted some good chances, Carlisle took theirs and had a bit of luck with the second which was key. Yeah the last three games have been a bit of a bump back down to earth but we haven't been far away in either of them. Went toe to toe with Bolton who are on course to be promoted and Wood's effort against Newport hit the bar, whereas their long range effort went under it. Fine margins that had been going our way, just going against us.

There are things for T&S to work on and they will be glad for a week on the training ground. We were hoofing the ball long far too much on Saturday and it was the first time I've seen Paudie & Canavan bullied by a striker since they've played together. All of which probably boils down to fatigue.

Its disappointing not to maintain the good run but if we were offered 13th spot and 17 points clear of relegation three months ago we'd have all snapped it up. Play offs look a long way off now but no point in letting the season fizzle out.

 

Some very measured comments today

 

Bit harsh Don !

 

Typical Harrogate (or as it's often refrred to 'aarogant) fare. It's a god awful place full of ex professional footballers and people so far up their own backsides it's amazing something phallic doesn't come out of their mouths. Hate the place.

 

Did you get some invisible ink for Xmas Rod.

 

Be fair. Jacko had zero input into that squad, did what he was told and eventually walked out because he was sick of being bullied by Christie and/ or Lawn. You can't blame him for any of those signing apart from Guy Branston.