Just Back

From marinating the beef for tea

Gave them 2 goals , they scored a great goal . We had a lot of possession but their defence were solid . Great finish from Arthur .
This result won’t define our run in.

Still 8 games left.
To play..
None of top four
Few top half
Mostly mid table plus Colchester

Should be ok

Crikey that was yet another God awful game of so called football.Credit to Wrexham best team by a mile with quality we could only dream of. Fair play to our subs though especially Wood and Andrews they managed to pass the ball.Doug my MOTM with Clifton a close second but we need major surgery throughout and Cartwright needs resting.

They were average and we made it easy for them.

Poor all over the pitch, Keeper at fault for 2 of the goals.

Noone had a good game imo. Subs did well but should have been made at Half Time- thats on the manager ( are we allowed to criticise him yet Pontoonlew?)

A game i didnt expect anything from but we showed nothing. Missed Danny Rose badly

Not worried about the result. Our recent form has given us a decent cushion and Wrexham have a League One squad.

All that said, I come away from this game once again incredibly disappointed with some of our home support. I understand it's not easy to get the noise going when we go a goal down early on, but there's no excuse for streaming out at 75 minutes. Where are you all going? To sit on the couch and watch the telly? I have a train to catch at 1724 and I manage to catch that despite leaving at full time. It's embarrassing frankly, and I can't help but wonder how it makes the players feel.

Think the owners need to have a real think about what we can do to improve the home atmosphere over the summer. Because it's pretty dire at the moment - in stark contrast to the stellar away support.

The result may have been expected, but the manner in which we played that was so bad.

Our midfield were woeful today, let’s not beat about the bush. Poor in possession, not great without the ball either.

Quoted from MaccasBoots

Not worried about the result. Our recent form has given us a decent cushion and Wrexham have a League One squad.

All that said, I come away from this game once again incredibly disappointed with some of our home support. I understand it's not easy to get the noise going when we go a goal down early on, but there's no excuse for streaming out at 75 minutes. Where are you all going? To sit on the couch and watch the telly? I have a train to catch at 1724 and I manage to catch that despite leaving at full time. It's embarrassing frankly, and I can't help but wonder how it makes the players feel.

Think the owners need to have a real think about what we can do to improve the home atmosphere over the summer. Because it's pretty dire at the moment - in stark contrast to the stellar away support.

No offence you're entitled to an opinion like the rest of us.Oddly enough I left on exactly 75 mins got to the car did a u turn and got home for the final whistle hence why I left. The players feelings if hurt should come and speak with me about my very limited expectations. The lack of ability to do basics like pass or control a football or deliver a set piece are continually boiling my urine.I  have  to say on top of that there looked to be a worrying lack of effort from 3-4 of our more experienced players and that's not the first time this Season.

Quoted from 1mickylyons

No offence you're entitled to an opinion like the rest of us.Oddly enough I left on exactly 75 mins got to the car did a u turn and got home for the final whistle hence why I left. The players feelings if hurt should come and speak with me about my very limited expectations. The lack of ability to do basics like pass or control a football or deliver a set piece are continually boiling my urine.I  have  to say on top of that there looked to be a worrying lack of effort from 3-4 of our more experienced players and that's not the first time this Season.

Fair enough, you're also entitled to your opinion. I personally just don't understand why you'd bother going if you're just going to leave early. Seems like a waste of your money and time.

And if you're interested in the players performing better than I doubt that denting their confidence by streaming out early will do much to help that. But as I say, just my opinion.

Just haven't got enough footballers have we.
We had more of the ball than we've had in recent games but looked pretty clueless with it and players could execute simple passes.

Just have to chalk today off as being beaten by a team of far greater financial backing and therefore better quality players all round than us. Hard to go up against them man-for-man with the same system when they had better players than us all over the pitch. In hindsight it might have been worth trying to change the system and give them a problem by creating an advantage somewhere.

We're going to struggle in midfield with that three together. Holohan and Green are grafters but aren't good technically. Thompson looks after the ball but his lack of mobility means he needs others around him who can also play and deal with the ball. Andrews coming on is so slow to do anything, and Cliftons first touch has been very poor this season (one today 2nd half shanked up 8ft in the air above his head).

Wood and Gnahoua can actually play. Gnahoua is good technically and I actually see some potential in Wood, he's got a decent touch, is quite mobile and forward-thinking. I get why they've been out the team while we've just focused on being hard to beat and grafted our way to some points, but it's not sustainable to keep trying to nick 1-0 wins with little possession.

Obvious statement but Rose would've made a difference today. Our front two didn't have much great service but I thought a big part of that was that they were both static until the ball was played up to them, and often caught on their heels when people tried to play balls into their feet. Pyke is still not a centre-forward either. The only times he's looked a player is playing off the right in a front 3.

The back 3 did alright today in general and whilst Cartwright wasn't poor, the first goal was an error on his part, he should have kept that out for sure.

Anyway, we move on, not a shock result today, but maybe a performance that reiterates were we need to improve in the summer.

Not sure what to make of it .

Were we that bad apart from the times they scored?

Were they that good?

Strange game really for that first 45 which was effectively the game .

Maybe they just had a really good gameplan ,inviting us out of a low block and having the quality to expose us tbf

Wrexham were brilliant, their counter attacking football is something we can only dream of. We gifted them 2 goals and allowed a third with poor defending. The first half looked like an FA cup game against a championship side and we didn't compete whatsoever in the first 45. Wrexham took their foot off gas in the second as the match was clearly sown up.

We're a poor side, in a poor position, they're a good side, in a good position.

Quoted from MaccasBoots

Fair enough, you're also entitled to your opinion. I personally just don't understand why you'd bother going if you're just going to leave early. Seems like a waste of your money and time.

And if you're interested in the players performing better than I doubt that denting their confidence by streaming out early will do much to help that. But as I say, just my opinion.

Players have been lucky the ground has emptied so frequently. Some of their “ efforts” this season have been appalling and they’ve got off the hook

Fans support has stood up brilliantly considering

I didn’t expect a result today but I did expect more fight and passion from the team like we get when we’re away. I just don’t understand why that is. Anyway that result won’t define our season and although some people left at 75 mins I thought generally the crowd were very patient with what was served up. Onto Barrow and it won’t surprise me at all that we’ll get a point and put a really gutsy preformance on. UTM! Xxxxx

Quoted from Hagrid

They were average and we made it easy for them.

Poor all over the pitch, Keeper at fault for 2 of the goals.

Noone had a good game imo. Subs did well but should have been made at Half Time- thats on the manager ( are we allowed to criticise him yet Pontoonlew?)

A game i didnt expect anything from but we showed nothing. Missed Danny Rose badly

Criticise away mate, you’ve had 6 games chomping at the bit to do it so why not give it all you’ve got tonight.

Thought Holohan (yet again) and Green were absolutely terrible today, stopped us creating a single thing by passing the ball like they were playing Sunday league. Andrews & Wood put them to shame and should be starting Saturday.

As somebody said, this result won’t define our season. It’s been a good 6 games previous that have probably given us just enough breathing room. Essentially 7 points clear still with games in hand, Sutton & FGR are going to need an incredible run of form to turn it around now. I’d go so far as to say I’d be surprised to see 42 points not being enough, and you’d imagine 4 points from the next 8 games should be more than achievable.

Quoted from oochiad

I didn’t expect a result today but I did expect more fight and passion from the team like we get when we’re away. I just don’t understand why that is. Anyway that result won’t define our season and although some people left at 75 mins I thought generally the crowd were very patient with what was served up. Onto Barrow and it won’t surprise me at all that we’ll get a point and put a really gutsy preformance on. UTM! Xxxxx

In fairness I thought we did work hard & fight today, the issue was purely in the application

Quoted from pontoonlew

Criticise away mate, you’ve had 6 games chomping at the bit to do it so why not give it all you’ve got tonight.

Thought Holohan (yet again) and Green were absolutely terrible today, stopped us creating a single thing by passing the ball like they were playing Sunday league. Andrews & Wood put them to shame and should be starting Saturday.

As somebody said, this result won’t define our season. It’s been a good 6 games previous that have probably given us just enough breathing room. Essentially 7 points clear still with games in hand, Sutton & FGR are going to need an incredible run of form to turn it around now. I’d go so far as to say I’d be surprised to see 42 points not being enough, and you’d imagine 4 points from the next 8 games should be more than achievable.

Who’s going to start on Friday then?

Awful awful performance another shocker from the keeper.
We were second best all over the pitch zero fight from any of them.
Left 20 minutes early it was that bad we could sleep walk into relegation on that performance.
To be honest wouldn’t be to bothered if Artell went at end of the season.

Not much to say on the game apart from Wrexham we’re much better than us.

One thing I will say listening to Artell and Thompson is that I hate this the ‘occasion’ may have got to us, they are in the same league as us! We aren’t playing Man Utd away, there’s always cameras there, forget about Netflix you’re professional footballers don’t blame the ‘occasion’

Quoted from pontoonlew

Criticise away mate, you’ve had 6 games chomping at the bit to do it so why not give it all you’ve got tonight.

Thought Holohan (yet again) and Green were absolutely terrible today, stopped us creating a single thing by passing the ball like they were playing Sunday league. Andrews & Wood put them to shame and should be starting Saturday.

As somebody said, this result won’t define our season. It’s been a good 6 games previous that have probably given us just enough breathing room. Essentially 7 points clear still with games in hand, Sutton & FGR are going to need an incredible run of form to turn it around now. I’d go so far as to say I’d be surprised to see 42 points not being enough, and you’d imagine 4 points from the next 8 games should be more than achievable.

Really havent. But your so quick to have a go at anyone else that think its only fair to accept it back.

I wouldnt be surprised if the 2 ( Andrews and Wood) play on friday. Andrews looked like he had a point to prove

I predicted 3:1 before the game but even then was rather disappointed with how. The first looked to be a horrible bounce just in front of Cartwright, I’d want to see it again to be sure. They had 5 or 6 players who are at least a league above this standard and it shows. The only thing holding them back is an utterly excrement manager and again that showed. Obikwu should have scored a second on about 87 mins which might have made things interesting but we were second best most of the game. Here’s a prediction for you, by this time a week on Saturday we’ll be all but safe on 44 or 45 points.

Quoted from Theimperialcoroner

I predicted 3:1 before the game but even then was rather disappointed with how. The first looked to be a horrible bounce just in front of Cartwright, I’d want to see it again to be sure. They had 5 or 6 players who are at least a league above this standard and it shows. The only thing holding them back is an utterly excrement manager and again that showed. Obikwu should have scored a second on about 87 mins which might have made things interesting but we were second best most of the game. Here’s a prediction for you, by this time a week on Saturday we’ll be all but safe on 44 or 45 points.

I think that's slightly harsh on Parkinson

I don't think he's a great manager by any means but so many fail to get teams over the line / achieve what their clubs expectations are , even with big resources so I think if he gets them to league one it will be a 'good go ' even if that's as far as he can take them ; he should be given a year or two to try and move them forward there aswell imo . It would be a different level though when they won't be the big hitters up there .

Beaten by the better team.
We had a go but not good enough on the day.
On to the next game UTM

They were the better side, but they ought to be. Quality players throughout on a budget that’s likely never been beaten at this level. They win games by fielding the better side, which may sound obvious, but it doesn’t say a lot for Parkinson if that’s the kind of performance they are turning in each week.

We had nothing up top today and couldn’t really do much on the ball in midfield, although Wood and Ghanouha did improve that in the second half.

Not gonna lose any sleep over the result since FGR failed to shorten the gap. Sights set firmly on a big Easter weekend now. UTM.

Good post-match interview from Artell today. They had better players which made it a difficult game, but we let ourselves down to make it too easy for them.

Let's move on to next game (and hope Rose is back fit by then).

Quoted from MaccasBoots

Not worried about the result. Our recent form has given us a decent cushion and Wrexham have a League One squad.

All that said, I come away from this game once again incredibly disappointed with some of our home support. I understand it's not easy to get the noise going when we go a goal down early on, but there's no excuse for streaming out at 75 minutes. Where are you all going? To sit on the couch and watch the telly? I have a train to catch at 1724 and I manage to catch that despite leaving at full time. It's embarrassing frankly, and I can't help but wonder how it makes the players feel.

Think the owners need to have a real think about what we can do to improve the home atmosphere over the summer. Because it's pretty dire at the moment - in stark contrast to the stellar away support.

FFS, we get comments like this all the time, what is it that you don't understand, it doesn't matter who we are playing, if we are playing crap and getting stuffed, the fans aren't going to be jumping up and down clapping their hands.

We are no different to any other football club.

As others have stated won't define our Season we all loathe Mullin but at this level he's pure quality .Great feet for the 2nd goal when someone should have left him in a heap and took a yellow on the halfway line. Work to do but 6 more points we will be safe.

Quoted from arryarryarry

FFS, we get comments like this all the time, what is it that you don't understand, it doesn't matter who we are playing, if we are playing crap and getting stuffed, the fans aren't going to be jumping up and down clapping their hands.

We are no different to any other football clubs.

Not sure if you read my post. My focus was not on "fans jumping up and down clapping their hands", but on fans leaving after 75 minutes. I've been to lots of away games this season, and am yet to see fans of opposition teams stream out in the way that our fans seemingly do on a regular basis. Pretty embarrassing.

We haven’t had a lot to watch with our dross on the pitch.

Quoted from MaccasBoots

Not sure if you read my post. My focus was not on "fans jumping up and down clapping their hands", but on fans leaving after 75 minutes. I've been to lots of away games this season, and am yet to see fans of opposition teams stream out in the way that our fans seemingly do on a regular basis. Pretty embarrassing.

Probably because they were playing us and we weren't banging in 4, 5 or 6 goals.

Quoted from MaccasBoots

Not sure if you read my post. My focus was not on "fans jumping up and down clapping their hands", but on fans leaving after 75 minutes. I've been to lots of away games this season, and am yet to see fans of opposition teams stream out in the way that our fans seemingly do on a regular basis. Pretty embarrassing.

Well how many have we won away so hardly surprising really .Any home team getting stuffed 3,4,5 or 6 at home like us will see fans streaming out.

Quoted from 1mickylyons

Well how many have we won away so hardly surprising really .Any home team getting stuffed 3,4,5 or 6 at home like us will see fans streaming out.

Fair point - i must admit i was thinking about our gd more than the result when it got to 3 , only -2 today which if we had folded could have been much worse .

They came with a plan to be passive early on, and perhaps knew that we didn’t have the quality in possession to keep the ball, and that this would allow them to expose the space in the break.

It worked twice after the first goal.

However, our survival won’t be won or lost with a home game against Wrexham.

We lost but its still game on imho.

There are 100% no false league positions at this stage of the season, and the difference in technical ability on the ball between their players and ours was clear for all to see.

The sheer quality of that 2nd goal was superb.

The wind was really challenging today, but was I the only one who could see that their players were technically better than ours? This actually allowed them to pass more accurately and use their first touch to greater effect because it was just that, a good first touch.

On too many occasions I saw our first touch going 2 yards away from the foot after being controlled. Clifton was not the only one, but his first touch is not great for a professional footballer for example.

In terms of options also available for the player with the ball, our passing and movement was much less than theirs.

Guess that’s why they are 3rd tonight from top and we are at the other end.

However, I am confident we are NOT going down.

We have enough heart and shape to not be in the bottom two.

But, bloodyhell, does Artel have some work on this summer.

It is then that we will more accurately assess his worth and value as a coach.

UTM

To be honest, their bench would all improve our starting eleven but we made it far, far too easy for them. Cannon and Lee completely bossed the middle of the park and, whilst Thompson did some sort of job on Lee, Holohan and Green were abysmal. What shocked me was that Holohan seemed surprised to be subbed.

Not come to gloat so go easy on me.
Agree that with our budget we should win every game but football isn't like that. Look at our form since Christmas. Its been ok, pretty terrible in spells, with a few really good performances too. Today was a good performance where we just took our chances and it killed the game.

Harsh comment about Parky being excrement. His record is pretty impressive with several promotions so he's doing something right.
He's been brilliant for us. I don't expect other fans to understand what he's had to deal with but it's more than most have to in L2 and below. But even some of our fans don't like him and want him gone. Which is insane for me.
He's had to manage a team that's permanently in the spotlight, he's had to cope with a TV crew following them around constantly and this is where he shines for me, he's had to manage a squad full of players who could all make a case, (near enough) to be starting every game. He's a superb man manager. We'd all love to play like Man City but I don't believe its realistic in L2. Look at Notts this season, they were struggling even before LW left for Swansea and have really struggled to adapt.

I didn't think you were terrible, first half we had four shots and three were goals. In my humble opinion you desperately need a physical dominant striker and more pace in the team. But thats purely going off todays game so might be way off.

I like Artell, he speaks really well and I think you could do far far worse. He was on a podcast with our fans before he got the job with you and I really liked what he had to say. He's no mug.

Best of luck for the rest of the season.

We’ve clearly got a group of weak minded players who cannot cope with playing at home in front of a large crowd. urine poor . No good going forward. Get rid of the manager as well , hes got nothing about him and don’t think he’s going to take us anywhere but down. I’m still not sure he’s really in charge. It’s a fooking mess

Holohan has been awful for weeks he seems incapable of completing a pass.

Quoted from pontoonlew

Criticise away mate, you’ve had 6 games chomping at the bit to do it so why not give it all you’ve got tonight.

Thought Holohan (yet again) and Green were absolutely terrible today, stopped us creating a single thing by passing the ball like they were playing Sunday league. Andrews & Wood put them to shame and should be starting Saturday.

As somebody said, this result won’t define our season. It’s been a good 6 games previous that have probably given us just enough breathing room. Essentially 7 points clear still with games in hand, Sutton & FGR are going to need an incredible run of form to turn it around now. I’d go so far as to say I’d be surprised to see 42 points not being enough, and you’d imagine 4 points from the next 8 games should be more than achievable.

Think this is pretty spot on IMO the reason the defence looked more fragile today was solely down to the poor quality of midfield players in front of them. I normally rate Forza’s contribution but was amazed last week when he said how much Green had improved technically and Holohan is quite honestly in the same bracket and neither is capable of controlling and passing a ball ten yards successfully more than once per game. To be quite honest I am staggered that Gav has been given the Captaincy in Rose’s absence and believe it should have gone to Doug Tharme who, despite an error which led to their third goal, shows real leadership skills.

Thought the back 3 did ok today although Rogers did return a bit to his panicky persona and we should acknowledge playing in that wind would not have been easy. Hume had his worst game since Doncaster and was caught out for pace on a couple of occasions and Clifton did a great job when he switched there despite him again struggling to control the ball with his first touch.

Up front starved of ball but would still like to see them busting a gut to get to the ball first when it does come in their third of the pitch and showing more obviously for a pass and bollock the midfielder if it doesn’t get played.

We lack physicality, nous ( how many goals conceded from our corner or free kick) and pace. Hopefully we scrape through this season but I can’t see much continuity in our playing staff, whichever league we are in, as a massive turnover required.

Quoted from wxm80s

Not come to gloat so go easy on me.
Agree that with our budget we should win every game but football isn't like that. Look at our form since Christmas. Its been ok, pretty terrible in spells, with a few really good performances too. Today was a good performance where we just took our chances and it killed the game.

Harsh comment about Parky being excrement. His record is pretty impressive with several promotions so he's doing something right.
He's been brilliant for us. I don't expect other fans to understand what he's had to deal with but it's more than most have to in L2 and below. But even some of our fans don't like him and want him gone. Which is insane for me.
He's had to manage a team that's permanently in the spotlight, he's had to cope with a TV crew following them around constantly and this is where he shines for me, he's had to manage a squad full of players who could all make a case, (near enough) to be starting every game. He's a superb man manager. We'd all love to play like Man City but I don't believe its realistic in L2. Look at Notts this season, they were struggling even before LW left for Swansea and have really struggled to adapt.

I didn't think you were terrible, first half we had four shots and three were goals. In my humble opinion you desperately need a physical dominant striker and more pace in the team. But thats purely going off todays game so might be way off.

I like Artell, he speaks really well and I think you could do far far worse. He was on a podcast with our fans before he got the job with you and I really liked what he had to say. He's no mug.

Best of luck for the rest of the season.

Nice post - thanks for that. Slightly more tricky question for you. Where do you stand on Mullin’s theatrics? I’m being very polite.

Nothing much to add really other than I’ll be pleased to see the back of quite a few of these players at the end of the season.

Quoted from Yoda

Holohan has been awful for weeks he seems incapable of completing a pass.

Except the excellent pass to Wilson at Gillingham which put us 1-0:up?

Quoted from IlkleyMariner

Except the excellent pass to Wilson at Gillingham which put us 1-0:up?

Give over. He’s ok going forward but an absolute liability going the other way. That might be alright if he had good players around him but he hasn’t.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Nice post - thanks for that. Slightly more tricky question for you. Where do you stand on Mullin’s theatrics? I’m being very polite.

I'd love him in a Town shirt shithouse 100% .
I think of Wrexham a long ball team today anything but they scored 3 against the wind I expected a 2nd half mauling but they just carried on passing. Fair play

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Nice post - thanks for that. Slightly more tricky question for you. Where do you stand on Mullin’s theatrics? I’m being very polite.

I'm not a fan and I'd like him to tone it down a bit but I can live with it because he's such a good player. He will do anything to win and his work rate, ability and finishing is beyond question. He always puts a shift in even if he's having a stinker.

I don't mind him going down easily in the box, most players do it, its not as if he's the only one but what he did today wasn't good.

By the way, Refs in L2 give him nothing. Even when they should. The price you pay I guess.

Quoted from Yoda

Holohan has been awful for weeks he seems incapable of completing a pass.

I’m not a fan of Holohan at all. He adds nothing when playing at this level.

Quoted from wxm80s

Not come to gloat so go easy on me.
Agree that with our budget we should win every game but football isn't like that. Look at our form since Christmas. Its been ok, pretty terrible in spells, with a few really good performances too. Today was a good performance where we just took our chances and it killed the game.

Harsh comment about Parky being excrement. His record is pretty impressive with several promotions so he's doing something right.
He's been brilliant for us. I don't expect other fans to understand what he's had to deal with but it's more than most have to in L2 and below. But even some of our fans don't like him and want him gone. Which is insane for me.
He's had to manage a team that's permanently in the spotlight, he's had to cope with a TV crew following them around constantly and this is where he shines for me, he's had to manage a squad full of players who could all make a case, (near enough) to be starting every game. He's a superb man manager. We'd all love to play like Man City but I don't believe its realistic in L2. Look at Notts this season, they were struggling even before LW left for Swansea and have really struggled to adapt.

I didn't think you were terrible, first half we had four shots and three were goals. In my humble opinion you desperately need a physical dominant striker and more pace in the team. But thats purely going off todays game so might be way off.

I like Artell, he speaks really well and I think you could do far far worse. He was on a podcast with our fans before he got the job with you and I really liked what he had to say. He's no mug.

Best of luck for the rest of the season.

I agree with what you say , well played today .

I suppose it will get interesting with Parkinson if/when you have a tough spell in league 1 - we know what fans are like (I'm including our's in that ) + owners  and whether they stick with him through bad after he's done so well so far.

Quoted from wxm80s

By the way, Refs in L2 give him nothing. Even when they should. The price you pay I guess.

Maybe if he weren't a cheat they'd more inclined to? Appreciate your previous post, a very fair assessment and I'd love to be in your position.

Didn’t expect to win, would have been ecstatic with a point and actually would have understood a battling defeat, sadly we never got anywhere close to any of those.

Our errors gifted them opportunities & they still had a couple of gears left I think.

Clearly there was a few players playing for new contracts today - at other clubs!

A word on Mullin, he’s a quality player at this level for sure but a classless c**t who embarrassed himself again today when he ran into Tharme in the 2nd half & looked like he’d been cut down with a machine gun. 🤬

They were ruthless in exploiting our errors. Apart from that they are very streetwise but nothing special but those two attributes alone are enough to get promotion from this league.

Think Arthur needs to start he made a difference and has done a few times. I suspect DA was preserving Wilson for future battles in taking him off because Obikwu was out of his depth today. Haven’t seen his miss on 89mins on tv but it looked an absolute sitter from the Osmond and would have made the last 6 mins v interesting. Doug continues to impress but the midfield limitations were glaring today. Probably changing my view on Gav being worth another year as a squad filler, he looks like he’s running on empty (happens to us all of course) and he hasn’t the technique to get away with a lower energy game.

Quoted from Limerick Mariner

They were ruthless in exploiting our errors. Apart from that they are very streetwise but nothing special but those two attributes alone are enough to get promotion from this league.

Think Arthur needs to start he made a difference and has done a few times. I suspect DA was preserving Wilson for future battles in taking him off because Obikwu was out of his depth today. Haven’t seen his miss on 89mins on tv but it looked an absolute sitter from the Osmond and would have made the last 6 mins v interesting. Doug continues to impress but the midfield limitations were glaring today. Probably changing my view on Gav being worth another year as a squad filler, he looks like he’s running on empty (happens to us all of course) and he hasn’t the technique to get away with a lower energy game.

On the basis of today I think Wilson was preserving Wilson for other battles.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

On the basis of today I think Wilson was preserving Wilson for other battles.

I wouldn’t disagree but there were several much worse.

Been back for a bit but cheese and oatcakes followed by a couple of glasses of bubbly (tax deductable) have still left me rather disgruntled with the game. Yes they were going to have some better players but we seemed to lack any real grit to make up for it. Hardly a single crunching tackle or great block to get the crowd going to make up for how rubbish we were with the ball. How many of their players needed the Physio on or limped off to be subbed after a tackle?
We had a complete lack of flair, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the easiest 3 points they have had since we played them in Wales. Didn't expect to win but we went down with a whimper and that's simply not good enough.

The reality is, we probably don’t have one player that would get in their team. We had to be at our best and we weren’t. The whole thing felt flat, their fans were good.
Our midfield is hard working but not good enough. Need Rose back and could do with a better back up keeper as Cartwright was unusually poor today. Gav needs a rest too, he is no captain. Rose leads by example.
They were very clinical but there was no great gulf in class. 2nd goal was very good utm

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Our midfield were woeful today, let’s not beat about the bush. Poor in possession, not great without the ball either.

No, Green and Holohan were woeful, Thompson was a 1 man army in there, we need to build around him, best player on the books at this moment in time.
Cartwright needs dropping, again his inexperience was exposed, he needs to learn to read the game better, Mullins and Cannons second goal would never have happened had he not been too busy watching the ball rather than reacting to the situation on front of him.
Wrexham are 1 dimensional, lump it and run, they hardly passed the ball about at all, Mansfield, Barrow, Mk, Stockport and even FGR played better football.

Was Lucky Enough to be at the 4-5
And seeing the 2 teams again today what a difference in progression in those 2 years or so
I know they’ve spent big
But hopefully we can stay up (mixed feelings about this with our lack of guile and quality today) and build for next season
Seem to have been saying this for many many seasons now
Come on Town!!

Going into the game today I had a weird feeling that we’d sneak a win. Yet another reminder that confidence and Town shouldn’t be mixed.

I thought we looked very flat today. It wasn’t the same kind of kamikaze performance we saw against Walsall, Stockport and Donny, but once again I found myself in the bar at half-time wondering whether I could be ársed to go back out for the second half.

The first two goals in particular were wholly preventable. Young Cartwright’s played well in recent weeks, but there’s no other way of describing the first goal than as a goalkeeping error. It does bounce just in front of him, but it’s the kind of occupational hazard that professional ‘keepers should be expected to deal with 999 times out of a thousand. He’s learning his trade, and he’ll learn from that mistake, no need to be more dramatic than that.

The second looked very familiar. Hit on the break from our own poor corner, then had multiple opportunities to stop the move with a foul, but didn’t even attempt to. It was precisely the kind of situation you put Green in the team for, but he failed to do his job there and it cost us. If you’re in the Wrexham corner it’s a good goal, but it’s something we’ve seen too often of late for it to have been a coincidence.

I’d gone to get the beers in by the time they got the third, but watching it back on the ITV highlights show (Town are the lead game, btw) Tharme’s attempted clearance is poor, we don’t deal with the second ball and, ultimately, Mullin’s volley on the turn is class, but it shouldn’t have got that far.

The second half was largely forgettable, but even when we pulled a goal back, it never felt like we were going full tilt to make it a contest for the remaining minutes. We just never felt quite “at it” today. It happens, but if I’m not mistaken we’ve only won once all season having gone behind. No doubt we’ve done well in recent weeks, but that’s still a mental fragility we need to overcome.

Ultimately, today was yet another frustrating afternoon in what has become a catalogue of frustrating afternoons this season, but not a disaster. It was a simple case of basic errors costing us against a side with a budget a good multiple or three of ours, rather than the kind of systematic dismantling that punctuated the start of the year.

We’ve taken 4 points from a run of 3 games against top 8 sides, and that’s taken a bit of pressure off. I think we’d all have taken that, coupled with the two Forest Green defeats that have coincided. If we can maintain or extend our current 6 point cushion against Barrow, we’ll be almost there, imo.

Quoted from Madeleymariner

Been back for a bit but cheese and oatcakes followed by a couple of glasses of bubbly (tax deductable) have still left me rather disgruntled with the game. Yes they were going to have some better players but we seemed to lack any real grit to make up for it. Hardly a single crunching tackle or great block to get the crowd going to make up for how rubbish we were with the ball. How many of their players needed the Physio on or limped off to be subbed after a tackle?
We had a complete lack of flair, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the easiest 3 points they have had since we played them in Wales. Didn't expect to win but we went down with a whimper and that's simply not good enough.

Excellent post, and mirrors my thoughts:

What worries me is once the first goal went in everyone in the stadium knew it was game over.
We never had a shot on target until the 47th minute and that was a urine poor effort. The slightest bit of pressure we crumble and seem to have no gile to get back in the game and we never seem to score more than one goal.
I am worried the teams below us hit some form and we go on one of our bad losing streaks again. It’s going to be close.

Thought Thompson ,Tharme and Mullarkey were the only players who came out of today with some credit .Wilson was feeding on scraps .Obikwu looked lost and the rest were just very poor when they needed to step up against a decent side .Not great but decent

Until the substitutions we only had one player in the pitch who can complete a pass regularly ie Thompson.
Why Hoolahan gets a place in this or any side I just do not understand ,woeful passer doesn’t pick up his man Contril breaks down after second or third touch.
Clifton is regressing .
Wrexham didn’t look particularly good to me again we made it easy for them by gifting them goals in the first half
We will stay up but need a massive clear out in the summer and much improved recruitment or next year is going to be another struggle.
How do we keeping pulling in 6k home fans with this on offer?

Quoted from Yoda

What worries me is once the first goal went in everyone in the stadium knew it was game over.

Everyone knew what we were up against and what we have against that, an exceptionally poor side that's bottom 3 team. We have a support base that's two leagues above the level of the team which is national league.

We've got some excrement for certain. A very, very poor Grimsby Town team. (66 yes young and following Town since I was 11-12)

I left at 90 min with a guy who had driven from Plymouth and was about to start his journey back.  
Reckon he put more effort into the game than our front two.

Subs too late. Vernam must be still unfit if Ubikwu gets to stay on. The lad has no clue how to find space, challenge for a header or drop into midfield to offer an option in transition. Wood and Gnouha  need to get way more game time in the next few games.

Quoted from Norseman

Thought Thompson ,Tharme and Mullarkey were the only players who came out of today with some credit .Wilson was feeding on scraps .Obikwu looked lost and the rest were just very poor when they needed to step up against a decent side .Not great but decent

Mullarky was good going forward.  Had the balls to take them on.  Others should be doing that job more.

Thompson didn't give in after the first goal was let in as a gift.
We need sort out the goalkeeper though as he's making the rest of the team nervous wrecks.
They were far better than us and our players recognised this from 10 minutes in.
Hate to state the obvious but if you don't spend decent money on the squad and are obsessed with wokery and gourmet sausage rolls instead this will be the outcome.

Quoted from Phil the cod

Thompson didn't give in after the first goal was let in as a gift.
We need sort out the goalkeeper though as he's making the rest of the team nervous wrecks.
They were far better than us and our players recognised this from 10 minutes in.
Hate to state the obvious but if you don't spend decent money on the squad and are obsessed with wokery and gourmet sausage rolls instead this will be the outcome.

And there I was sat thinking for once you where making sense until I read the cobblers you’d written at the end, you have sausage rolls living rent free in your head clearly 🙄

Having slept on it , I am not too worried about relegation as I think we will survive .

But , I'm certainly more worried long term about us being nothing more than lower league 2 cloggers and that being about our limit in the current climate , with our current circumstances and ideal of doing it in a sustainable way .

There are anomalies who do well on limited budgets but even those (look at the bottom of league 1) , Sutton in league 2 and Rotherham in The Champ ; their time runs out and they revert to their natural level or worse .

It doesn't matter how  many 7 or 8k attendances you get as it only touches the sides of what investors/owners are willing to throw at these bankrolled clubs .

I feel we need more investment badly both on and off the pitch if we are going to go on any sort of consistent upward trajectory ; if we keep trying to do things the ethical and sustainable way in terms of not raising any investment and running at break even /a small loss I get the feeling we will just kick around the lower reaches until more well funded clubs bypass us and we end up back in nl once more in a few years .

I'm hoping Stockwood & Pettit have irons in the fire and recognise a lot of fans only care for what happens on a Saturday rather than all the small gains .

Quoted from Plankton

Everyone knew what we were up against and what we have against that, an exceptionally poor side that's bottom 3 team. We have a support base that's two leagues above the level of the team which is national league.

This, the home fan base has been great a real cross section of die hards, frequent visitors & kids. Feels like once again we’re missing an opportunity to capitalise on great engagement.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

And there I was sat thinking for once you where making sense until I read the cobblers you’d written at the end, you have sausage rolls living rent free in your head clearly 🙄

Sausage rolls live rent free in my head but mainly because I’m a bit of a fat illegitimate

Quoted from Mappers

Having slept on it , I am not too worried about relegation as I think we will survive .

But , I'm certainly more worried long term about us being nothing more than lower league 2 cloggers and that being about our limit in the current climate , with our current circumstances and ideal of doing it in a sustainable way .

There are anomalies who do well on limited budgets but even those (look at the bottom of league 1) , Sutton in league 2 and Rotherham in The Champ ; their time runs out and they revert to their natural level or worse .

It doesn't matter how  many 7 or 8k attendances you get as it only touches the sides of what investors/owners are willing to throw at these bankrolled clubs .

I feel we need more investment badly both on and off the pitch if we are going to go on any sort of consistent upward trajectory ; if we keep trying to do things the ethical and sustainable way in terms of not raising any investment and running at break even /a small loss I get the feeling we will just kick around the lower reaches until more well funded clubs bypass us and we end up back in nl once more in a few years .

I'm hoping Stockwood & Pettit have irons in the fire and recognise a lot of fans only care for what happens on a Saturday rather than all the small gains .

In terms of actual league placings we are no better off than with Fenty, which is not something I thought I would write. Doing nothing substantial but keeping the costs down has been equally successful as doing lots but not spending substantially more on top players is giving us similar outcomes.

I was member a hoop when the new owners came in, but unless we are going to make really substantial improvements to BP, or actually get a new training facility then everything should be focused on getting better players in during the summer.

If long term plans are just that, then bobbing along in the lower reaches of league 2 or worse won't keep the fans enthused enough.

Quoted from louth_in_the_south

We’ve clearly got a group of weak minded players who cannot cope with playing at home in front of a large crowd. urine poor . No good going forward. Get rid of the manager as well , hes got nothing about him and don’t think he’s going to take us anywhere but down. I’m still not sure he’s really in charge. It’s a fooking mess

He's not really in charge, is he? Had no choice in any of his staff, not even his assistant manager. Signings were all players we'd spoken to in the summer.

Hurst was sacked because he signed his own players and didn't play passing football. Yes, results contributed but the statement was that the data was good and we'd been unlucky in several games. When that was the case 12 months earlier there was no consideration in sacking him.

Artell brought in to play passing football and sticks to it religiously until a meeting happens. He's apparently not told to change the style but we do and revert to the type of football he was so critical of just 2 weeks earlier.

A mess is spot on. Never gets any better for us.

Yesterday was the first home game I’ve missed in a while but by the sounds of it I didn’t miss much. Ultimately it appears it comes down to the fact that we just don’t have much quality available. After this recent unbeaten run of hard fought points won I’ve seen some suggest that we don’t need wholesale changes to the squad for next season. And whilst that would be nice I think if we want to progress at all then we’re going to need a serious injection of quality across the board.

Neither goalkeepers are good enough. I know Cartwright has had a couple of good games recently but right now he’s not anywhere near consistent enough and I’ve never been impressed with his shot stopping. Eastwood has about as much confidence as I would have if I had to fight Tyson Fury and is so mentally fragile that really he should consider a different career.

In the defence Tharme looks like a decent L2 stopper and Hume, if we can get him to stay, looks decent too. Mullarkey and Rodgers would be okay back ups but if we want to progress we need better. At right back, Clifton’s defensive side of the game is good and has energy to burn but he can’t play football. And Maher and Glennon are almost certainly on their way out and both are NL standard anyway.

Midfield in the big issue. Thompson has been a good signing but is lacking in mobility. He reads the game very well and has the ability to consistently look after the ball. If you put two quality players next to him then you’d have a good midfield for this level. The problem right now is none of the other midfielders are FL standard. Clifton can’t play midfield. Holohan and Green aren’t FL standard and struggle to do the basics well. Wood and Andrews are very young and will be alright long term but they’re not our players. It needs a complete overhaul in there for next season.

Up front we need to keep Rose and Wilson is decent. I’m not bothered if Pyke stays as he’s not a central striker and other than a couple of good games wide right he’s flattered to deceive.

One of the few good things is that actually some of our best players recently have been the additions in January so if Artell and the recruitment chap can do similar in the summer then we might see an improvement. I don’t think you can exaggerate just how poor the squad was that he inherited. Other than Conteh and Rose it was miles short of the squad we had when we got promoted and that side finished 6th in the NL. Lots of work to do and it’s so depressing after the high hopes in August

Quoted from mariner91

Yesterday was the first home game I’ve missed in a while but by the sounds of it I didn’t miss much. Ultimately it appears it comes down to the fact that we just don’t have much quality available. After this recent unbeaten run of hard fought points won I’ve seen some suggest that we don’t need wholesale changes to the squad for next season. And whilst that would be nice I think if we want to progress at all then we’re going to need a serious injection of quality across the board.

Neither goalkeepers are good enough. I know Cartwright has had a couple of good games recently but right now he’s not anywhere near consistent enough and I’ve never been impressed with his shot stopping. Eastwood has about as much confidence as I would have if I had to fight Tyson Fury and is so mentally fragile that really he should consider a different career.

In the defence Tharme looks like a decent L2 stopper and Hume, if we can get him to stay, looks decent too. Mullarkey and Rodgers would be okay back ups but if we want to progress we need better. At right back, Clifton’s defensive side of the game is good and has energy to burn but he can’t play football. And Maher and Glennon are almost certainly on their way out and both are NL standard anyway.

Midfield in the big issue. Thompson has been a good signing but is lacking in mobility. He reads the game very well and has the ability to consistently look after the ball. If you put two quality players next to him then you’d have a good midfield for this level. The problem right now is none of the other midfielders are FL standard. Clifton can’t play midfield. Holohan and Green aren’t FL standard and struggle to do the basics well. Wood and Andrews are very young and will be alright long term but they’re not our players. It needs a complete overhaul in there for next season.

Up front we need to keep Rose and Wilson is decent. I’m not bothered if Pyke stays as he’s not a central striker and other than a couple of good games wide right he’s flattered to deceive.

One of the few good things is that actually some of our best players recently have been the additions in January so if Artell and the recruitment chap can do similar in the summer then we might see an improvement. I don’t think you can exaggerate just how poor the squad was that he inherited. Other than Conteh and Rose it was miles short of the squad we had when we got promoted and that side finished 6th in the NL. Lots of work to do and it’s so depressing after the high hopes in August

The January recruitment has to go down as a win 4/5  have improved us to varying degrees . We will probably need to do similiar but double or more to have any sort of success next time out - Do we have the resource to recruit probably 10 players of that standard or better though?

We should try hard for Hume  , but will it be we were the shop window rather than his final destination ?

Quoted from Mappers

The January recruitment has to go down as a win 4/5  have improved us to varying degrees . We will probably need to do similiar but double or more to have any sort of success next time out - Do we have the resource to recruit probably 10 players of that standard or better though?

We should try hard for Hume  , but will it be we were the shop window rather than his final destination ?

Tharme, Thompson are Hume are better than what we had.

The summer recruitment didn’t work but oddly enough in recent weeks Rodgers & Mullarkey have looked better and it’s Clifton, Holohan & Green that have been exposed for the level they are actually at.

Hurst seems to have got a lot wrong in the last summer but maybe there was more to fix than we anticipated.

I think JS is right you have to & can run a club sustainably, whether that results in performance on the pitch well in the current world of the EFL I’m not sure.

Lots have things about are club have improved, but when you look at our current side & league position it’s hard to identify what in terms of the first team squad & performances where you can say we’ve moved forward.

Like you say Mappers we just need to finish above the line & see what Artell can do.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

In terms of actual league placings we are no better off than with Fenty, which is not something I thought I would write. Doing nothing substantial but keeping the costs down has been equally successful as doing lots but not spending substantially more on top players is giving us similar outcomes.

I was member a hoop when the new owners came in, but unless we are going to make really substantial improvements to BP, or actually get a new training facility then everything should be focused on getting better players in during the summer.

If long term plans are just that, then bobbing along in the lower reaches of league 2 or worse won't keep the fans enthused enough.

I think getting out of NL, making key but not always tangible improvements to BP (ground and pitch) and sustaining the books over 3 seasons isn't a bad foundation and was priority.  This season has undoubtedly been a blip on the pitch when considering progress, so next really is quite important in terms of intent. By the way 'member a hoop' is a wonderful swear filter!

The biggest problem for 1878 is going to be convincing 6500 home supporters to keep coming through the turnstiles foe tgd fayre on offer.We can't sugar coat it were force fed crap on a regular basis regardless of manager and team and frankly I'm sick of it. The other stuff off the pitch matters of course but I like I suspect most of the 6500 just want to come to Blundell Park and watch my team play well and compete we've been short changed for 20 years. The priority for 1878 must be to sort out the first team everything else should be secondary to that in my opinion. Failure to heed the above will be reflected in the gates.

Quoted from 1mickylyons

The biggest problem for 1878 is going to be convincing 6500 home supporters to keep coming through the turnstiles foe tgd fayre on offer.We can't sugar coat it were force fed crap on a regular basis regardless of manager and team and frankly I'm sick of it. The other stuff off the pitch matters of course but I like I suspect most of the 6500 just want to come to Blundell Park and watch my team play well and compete we've been short changed for 20 years. The priority for 1878 must be to sort out the first team everything else should be secondary to that in my opinion. Failure to heed the above will be reflected in the gates.

Running a sustainable and successful Football League club is a laudable ambition but I’m not convinced that it’s possible without serious investment in the infrastructure as well. By that, I mean tens of millions not the odd million here and there.

Either that or we lower our sights and accept that we will yo-yo in and out of the league. I don’t think the owners would want that as a legacy.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Running a sustainable and successful Football League club is a laudable ambition but I’m not convinced that it’s possible without serious investment in the infrastructure as well. By that, I mean tens of millions not the odd million here and there.

Either that or we lower our sights and accept that we will yo-yo in and out of the league. I don’t think the owners would want that as a legacy.

I'm still puzzled that Harrogate, Morecambe, Crawley, Accy,Newport  can all manage much better than us in league 2 despite getting roughly 1/3 of our gates/income? The sums don't add up.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Running a sustainable and successful Football League club is a laudable ambition but I’m not convinced that it’s possible without serious investment in the infrastructure as well. By that, I mean tens of millions not the odd million here and there.

Either that or we lower our sights and accept that we will yo-yo in and out of the league. I don’t think the owners would want that as a legacy.

In that case do you expect JD and AP to " invest' or donate tens of millions to help the club maintain it's league status?

I know I will get hammered for this but, Artell should play Clifton in midfield, he is better there than Green, Holohan, Wood and Andrews. Play Smith at right wing back, he did very well when coming on as a substitute.

I would like to think that both Bramwell and Braithwate will get a chance at some point.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Running a sustainable and successful Football League club is a laudable ambition but I’m not convinced that it’s possible without serious investment in the infrastructure as well. By that, I mean tens of millions not the odd million here and there.

Either that or we lower our sights and accept that we will yo-yo in and out of the league. I don’t think the owners would want that as a legacy.

I think we do okay with season ticket sales as long as we are in the football league. Drop into the National League and it will be a crisis as most that I know would not renew. The idea of supporting a yo-yo team between the National League and the lowest division is not acceptable to most of us, and that is the challenge for the owners as there will be a huge drop-in numbers
For me, there is 10 times more satisfaction in a one nil win against Swindon than an eight nil win against Eastleigh, this is the challenge of the National League, generally it is very easy to win games, but unless you are top of the league it is tedious

I like JS and AP but it’s obvious they are not going to put any more money in or don’t have any more money to put in.
If they had they would of bought the training ground at Immingham that would of been seen as a massive step forward.
So what’s next i don’t know probably league 2 strugglers until we eventually drop through again.

Quoted from pen penfras

He's not really in charge, is he? Had no choice in any of his staff, not even his assistant manager. Signings were all players we'd spoken to in the summer.

Hurst was sacked because he signed his own players and didn't play passing football. Yes, results contributed but the statement was that the data was good and we'd been unlucky in several games. When that was the case 12 months earlier there was no consideration in sacking him.

Artell brought in to play passing football and sticks to it religiously until a meeting happens. He's apparently not told to change the style but we do and revert to the type of football he was so critical of just 2 weeks earlier.

A mess is spot on. Never gets any better for us.

No, PH was sacked because our results were sending us towards NL. We never had the luxury or even discussed the style of play as we were busy looking over our shoulders at the looming NL and virtually from the off. I started panicking in early September. If we played oomper looper style, but got the results he would have still been at Grimsby.

I can understand Wrexham fans filling out the away end, they were on a high and smelt blood. But what drove Town fans for a sell-out crowd? To catch a glimpse of "Hollywood" to roar on a revitalised Town, or some masochistic bent to watch our team lose, as quite a lot on this forum can't believe people are ventilating as we weren't going to beat them anyway!  I expect a lot had in their mind that there was a cunning plan.
Someone on this forum counts our passes and has concluded that we can't pass more than or four times before losing it. He's so right, we can't pass, and yet DA assumes we can and plays the matches that way. He belives his hype. There was another way of approach, but I feel DA hasn't managed many teams and understands that sometimes parking the bus is required and going for an extended unbeaten run and not erode our goal difference which could be vital at the final analysis. Not very entertaining, I agree, but a 0-0 draw would have been much more palatable.
All in all a bad day at BP, and I can't console myself that we played well, indeed I can't think of a match where we dominated and looked comfortable on the ball compared to the opposition.
Yet we have games in hand a 6-point lead, and a better goal difference than the others so onto Barrow and hope we do indeed have a Good Friday.

Looking at the game from Cartwright’s viewpoint.   First goal, good shot against the wind.  Error.  But he would reasonably expect someone to stop the break.  A tackle or foul.  This was their first attack.

The defensive cover unnerves him probably more than he undermines the defence.  

Second goal:  second attack.  Cartwright possibly having a breather as we had a corner.  5 seconds later he had half the red army bearing down on - at pace.  Similar to United v Liverpool at the end of the FAC match.

This much have been frightening,  again no cover.  They scored with a great shot, hit hard.

Cartwright was ok for the rest of the game.  A young keeper will make mistakes.  If you don’t want this sign a better keeper.  A good defence and midfield would improve his confidence and performance.

A Wrexham fan on here said that we need pace.  Absolutely. And clinical finishing.   We made this worse by building so slowly.  

He also said we needed a big striker.  If so, more balls would have gone into the box and their defenders would have dominated.

We needed the guile, movement and intensity of Danny Rose to try and unsettle them.

Wrexham were as good as they needed to be. No more.

Whenever we have the wind behind us (last couple of seasons) we often overhit passes.  We do
Not learn.  This even continued sometimes against the wind in the second half.  Crosses to keeper or not beating a defender.  

Cartwright put his usual 4 or 5 kicks straight into touch.  Yes very windy,  but put less power on kicks.  Wrexham. Got it right.

A positive:  Thompson has the skill and the nous. Good players like Peter Reid and the Liverpool midfielder signed from Blackpool eg did not have pace.  As others have said, add energy and youth alongside him.  Not Clifton.  

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

Looking at the game from Cartwright’s viewpoint.   First goal, good shot against the wind.  Error.  But he would reasonably expect someone to stop the break.  A tackle or foul.  This was their first attack.

The defensive cover unnerves him probably more than he undermines the defence.  

Second goal:  second attack.  Cartwright possibly having a breather as we had a corner.  5 seconds later he had half the red army bearing down on - at pace.  Similar to United v Liverpool at the end of the FAC match.

This much have been frightening,  again no cover.  They scored with a great shot, hit hard.

Cartwright was ok for the rest of the game.  A young keeper will make mistakes.  If you don’t want this sign a better keeper.  A good defence and midfield would improve his confidence and performance.

A Wrexham fan on here said that we need pace.  Absolutely. And clinical finishing.   We made this worse by building so slowly.  

He also said we needed a big striker.  If so, more balls would have gone into the box and their defenders would have dominated.

We needed the guile, movement and intensity of Danny Rose to try and unsettle them.

Wrexham were as good as they needed to be. No more.

Whenever we have the wind behind us (last couple of seasons) we often overhit passes.  We do
Not learn.  This even continued sometimes against the wind in the second half.  Crosses to keeper or not beating a defender.  

Cartwright put his usual 4 or 5 kicks straight into touch.  Yes very windy,  but put less power on kicks.  Wrexham. Got it right.

A positive:  Thompson has the skill and the nous. Good players like Peter Reid and the Liverpool midfielder signed from Blackpool eg did not have pace.  As others have said, add energy and youth alongside him.  Not Clifton.  

I see things very similar.

Could be argued that the first came from Holohan not properly winning a ball in midfield & nobody from that part of the pitch getting close to the scorer.

The second goal came when Wilson didn’t have the conviction to keep/win the ball bark on the edge of their box.

Our strikers couldn’t get the ball to stick and Thompson carried the midfield until the subs came on.

They are better than us 1 - 11 but we’re better (just) than yesterday’s performance

To add:

Comments that we were mentally weak after the first goal.  Not sure.  We conceded again soon.  At 2-0 so early in the game it was very difficult, They had some good players back.

We were out-muscled though.  They were stronger in the tackle, at keeping possession and regaining possession.  They were also still working hard in the last 20 minutes.  They moved into space well,  overlapping at pace.  We had few answers.  

We should still have put a foot in more. We are too nice.

Besides having a very young keeper we also had a teenage loan striker, who was marked out the game (bar his one shot).  Our realistic hopes was probably no more than another home defeat.

A clear out needed.  Far more difficult will be getting the  numbers in and the right mix of players
in.  

Quoted from cannylad65

I know I will get hammered for this but, Artell should play Clifton in midfield, he is better there than Green, Holohan, Wood and Andrews. Play Smith at right wing back, he did very well when coming on as a substitute.

I would like to think that both Bramwell and Braithwate will get a chance at some point.

Clifton is as poor in midfield possession as Holohan and Green - everything 100mph and no control, composure

If you mean yesterday then Smith did not come on as sub

Bramwell and Braithwaite have virtually no experience at L2 level and you wouldn't throw them into a relegation dog fight

Apart from that I agree with your post!

Think we should put our efforts into the next, and last 8 games and forget about next season.

Hopefully both Sutton and FGR have enough difficult games ahead to lose most of them, leaving us to scratch six points or so from somewhere.

Surely we have shown enough battling qualities to survive this time.

Artell has set us up so we are very difficult to beat  OK, didn't work yesterday (largely down to players not been quite sharp enough and their multi-thousand pound quality) but over past 6 games it has worked pretty well
But therein lies the problem
When we need some class, composure and that elusive bit of quality we are sadly lacking

Had FGR or MK drawn level in recent home games I honestly feel there'd only have been one winner

We should have enough to stay up but if we don't it won't be because of the disastrous spell of 21 goals in 5 home games it'll be down to an overall lack of quality in the final third throughout the season

Quoted from rancido

In that case do you expect JD and AP to " invest' or donate tens of millions to help the club maintain it's league status?

I'm saying that, without a massive windfall or a serious level of investment, we need to accept that our ceiling is much lower than many want it to be. Who's JD by the way?

Devs,

So you are saying you prefer Holohan to Clifton in midfield?

Read carefully, I said Bramwell and Braithwaite at 'some point', not now, only when we are safe from relegation.

Quoted from MaccasBoots

Fair enough, you're also entitled to your opinion. I personally just don't understand why you'd bother going if you're just going to leave early. Seems like a waste of your money and time.

And if you're interested in the players performing better than I doubt that denting their confidence by streaming out early will do much to help that. But as I say, just my opinion.

Again, FFS, there was a full crowd, cheering them from the start that had no effect on the the way we played, that was down to poor quality players who could not defend, had difficulty passing to their own players and created diddly squat up front.

If the players feel let down by fans leaving early they should be looking at themselves as to why some of them were crap.

Quoted from arryarryarry

Again, FFS, there was a full crowd, cheering them from the start that had no effect on the the way we played, that was down to poor quality players who could not defend, had difficulty passing to their own players and created diddly squat up front.

If the players feel let down by fans leaving early they should be looking at themselves as to why some of them were crap.

What amazed me was that one of the main protagonists threw his arms in the air when he was subbed off!

Quoted from cannylad65

Devs,

So you are saying you prefer Holohan to Clifton in midfield?

Read carefully, I said Bramwell and Braithwaite at 'some point', not now, only when we are safe from relegation.

I am not a great fan of Clifton, a fact I’ve posted on many occasions over the years, however, I actually agree with you in regards he is a better option than either Green or Holohan as he’s actually mobile and fit. None of the three has a good first touch or can pass a ball, how the hell did the club get into such a position?, but at least HC would give us energy in there. That said I was not impressed with Smith but it was against Donny where nobody came out too well. Wood actually looked very good on the ball yesterday but lacks experience and physicality but needs to get a lot more minutes in the second half of games. Andrews should start before Green and it’s a pity we haven’t really been able to see what Ainley has to off as his experience could be invaluable and he has to be an improvement on Green.

Up front I would go with Rose and Wilson for experience and hopefully better finishers than their rivals.

Finally, don’t share the accolades for Hume who to me is decent but like Glennon is woefully lacking in pace hence he was hooked yesterday. He’s ok going forward but his delivery is not up to Glennon’s standards so any improvement is marginal and we need more athletic and talented full backs next season.