⚽ Match Thread vs. Stockport 16.04.24 [EFL L2]

Unless we can acquire a defence (in case some of you had forgotten - that's the thing that tries to stop the opposition from scoring so many ****** goals) we are going to be in serious trouble next season. :(

Rucking fubbish referee, how that 5th goal is allowed is beyond comprehension. Authors of our own downfall yet again, inviting pressure at the back and the usual slip/ mistake. No apparent attacking tactics,, just retain possesion. Half this team can sod off, nowhere near good enough for this league.

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Originally Posted by MapperleyMagpie

Let's hope the recruitment team earn their crust or I think attendances will quickly take a dive.

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Totally agree.

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Originally Posted by SmiffyPie

Well as LW said in vain in January "Let's see the commitment in this window". Let's see what happens in the close season, bet you that 50% of this defensive shambles is still here come August.

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Bet you only Brindley who is out of contract will leave along with the loanees.
And what has happened to Macari, he seems injured or ill rather a lot.

Tonight was our season summarised in 90 minutes. Going forward, in possession, a threat to any team at this level and more than capable of scoring some fantastic goals. Defensively, out of possession, an absolute f*cking disgrace.

Any professional football defender with an iota of pride would be mortified to commit one mistake like Baldwin's in his career, and yet Aden has done the same thing three times in one season and got lucky several more. The only excuse I can make for him is if the coaching staff are genuinely advising him to take risks like that, in which case they're even more deluded than he appears to be. We actually were the better team until Baldwin's latest contribution to his one-man bloopers showreel, but the last thing you need to do is hand the initiative to a team as good as Stockport.

The penalty for the second goal may or may not have been harsh but that's incidental, because we had multiple opportunities to clear the ball before that, and the exact same goes for the penalty they missed - we were literally running round in circles in our own box instead of clearing the ball. Brain dead defending.

The fourth goal - good play by Sarcevic who for my money is one of the best players in the lower leagues, but still pathetic efforts to tackle him or slow him down by our players.

And the fifth goal, well, a traffic cone or an enthusiastic worm could literally have done more to stop the ball going into the box than Will Randall did, and I don't know why there's so little effort to stop crosses because we know damn well that none of our central defenders are consistently capable of marking a player or winning a defensive header.

Tonight confirmed in brutal fashion what we already knew or suspected. Cameron, Baldwin and Brindley are straight up not good enough to play as 'defenders' in this league. Pretty much the entire back of half of the team needs to be bulldozed and rebuilt in the summer, but if we can do that, and halve the number of goals conceded next year, then the attacking talent in the team - if they stay - are as good as any at this level.

We literally have half a good team at present. The entire focus of our recruitment this summer needs to be on players who can physically compete, defend aggressively and have the game intelligence to keep things crisp and simple in our own half.

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Originally Posted by marky

2007 - Walsall
2017 - Portsmouth
2018 - Luton then Coventry in the play offs
2022 - Grimsby in the play offs
2024 - Stockport
Fed up and sick of oppostion teams celebrating promotion/glory at Meadow Lane.

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Yes it’s mighty irritating.

Desperately trying to look forward to next season but when it’s with a coach who hasn’t been able to do a damn thing about the problems this season it’s hard.

Having said that, I was hoping someone might take a life ban with that ref. Apparently he was the same guy who did the Barrow home game. A disgrace of an official.

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Originally Posted by hissingdwarf

I think partly, the owners, therefore the club are to blame. The way we have set our selves up for this fall is laughable.
Metrics. Philosophy. Possession.
Has it resulted in consistently winning football this season? No.
Last season, we were riding our luck and bossed games due to the fact we outplayed and out attacked teams. The defence was still shocking.

This season we’ve been found out on so many levels.
Last week was it when people were praising the brothers because of their off field plans. Agreed the needs of the club to generate funds and become balance positive or whatever it is…but if we’re not winning or at least providing the basics of entertainment…being stuck in a never ending loop of possession, pass back around the back until one of them feck it up…
I’d rather take 3 points and lump it if needs be.
4 at the back was better for ten minutes, but there is no credit changing the tactic to that when you’re already 4 down ffs.
And even then it was recycle 40 times at the back.
Take corners. We all laughed at Luke Williams explanation at the forum and we let it slide as we were winning.
Tonight, Stockport, like others such as Mansfield did, came and put our players under pressure with balls into the box from corners rather than short corners. And it created havoc.
Throw ins. We never seem to throw forwards at all. No sense of using the advantage.
Horrible night and I’m feeling right back where we were before the last two wins. Shocking players and management not much better.

Back on post though…yes the social media outpouring is worse now. But is it any worse than previous years? Or is it just ‘the way’ now? I’m pretty sure I recall many after match discussions in pubs in town after a match where players and managers…and owners…were slated by one and all. I remember one conversation about Tony Agana that would make a priest blush! Difference is in how people communicate now.

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This - well said. As I've said before, some Notts fans think that we are the last bastion for the way football 'should' be played. I'd take effective football over technical football anytime.

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Originally Posted by Lullapie

This - well said. As I've said before, some Notts fans think that we are the last bastion for the way football 'should' be played. I'd take effective football over technical football anytime.

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It doesn't even need to be an either/or situation.

Move the ball out of your own half with as few passes as possible, and clear it in one go if you're under severe pressure in your own penalty area, but feel free to play as much attractive football as you like in the opponent's half.

Our players look almost brainwashed into believing they always have to play their way out of defence, even when the reward to risk ratio is tiny. If that's coming from the coaching team or a misguided club philosophy, then it needs a serious rethink in the summer. Defensively we're a joke.

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Originally Posted by jackal2

Tonight was our season summarised in 90 minutes. Going forward, in possession, a threat to any team at this level and more than capable of scoring some fantastic goals. Defensively, out of possession, an absolute f*cking disgrace.

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That sums us up well. We can score, but we can't defend.

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Originally Posted by jackal2

It doesn't even need to be an either/or situation.

Move the ball out of your own half with as few passes as possible, and clear it in one go if you're under severe pressure in your own penalty area, but feel free to play as much attractive football as you like in the opponent's half.

Our players look almost brainwashed into believing they always have to play their way out of defence, even when the reward to risk ratio is tiny. If that's coming from the coaching team or a misguided club philosophy, then it needs a serious rethink in the summer. Defensively we're a joke.

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Fourth-division defenders might be ok if they are told to defend like fourth-division defenders but they are coached to play like premier-division Johan Cruyff's far beyond their capabilities.