Match Thread vs. Altrincham 01.05.21 [NL]

[i961pie]

Another goal for Pools and our GD becomes better than Cheaterfield's then. Bring on the Sutton. [nervous laughter]

Are you sure it aint hysterical laughter

[SwalePie]

Are you sure it aint hysterical laughter

Bit of both to be honest.

[BigFatPie]

Chuckling at folks calling that an "Ardley performance"... Ardley led this team to a secure-looking playoff spot and 3rd/4th in PPG. His replacement has led us out of the playoffs and the team is turning in relegation-battle level performances, but you call them "Ardley performances"?

Still, I should be glad you guys aren't campaigning for us to replace him with a third manager of the season... yet

The performances have been terrible all season, maybe they just meant the new bloke hasn’t managed to improve on them.

Burchnall may well be the worst manager to ever sit in a dugout, that doesn’t mean Ardley was any good. And those wanting Ardley sacked(including me) didn’t get a say on his replacement.

[upthemaggies]

Another sliver of good news is that Chesterfield are 3-0 down at Hartlepool at half time. That means that if we win our games in hand we will overtake them, Halifax, Eastleigh and Bromley.

The bad news is that we have given no indication at all that we will win our games in hand.

All of Eastleigh's remaining games are against sides that are currently 14th or lower.
Wrexham don't play anybody with anything to play for other than Notts.
Halifax as above but with the one difficult fixture at home to Chesterfield.
4 of Chesterfield's remaining 6 are at home but have 2 games against top 6.
Bromley have a tough looking run in. Only two at home (against Pools and us) and they have to go to Torquay and us.
We've got an equally tough run in as Bromley, playing each other twice plus Sutton and Wrexham.

[Stan Marshall]

Add corners to that. Apart from Roddy's goal, our dead ball kicking is absolutely atrocious.

Don’t get me started on corners. We learned in our relegation season, Doyle can’t take them. Catching practice for their keeper. Surely, someone can take a decent corner!

[ncfcog]

Hate to say it but that was not great. Absolutely no serious threat up front despite having 9 attempts on goal. The 352 very quickly became a 541 in the first half and I think this was some of the reasoning behind IB’s subs. The default setting for this squad is to revert to a defensive deep sitting mind set which is why we always struggle to get the ball out of our half. It improved after half time with the changes but after 15 mins and no joy breaking down a defence that had conceded 10 goals in the last 4 games. Despite what others have said Rúben is by far the most creative player we have and was the only one who showed any kind of forward minded intent, he shouldn’t have been subbed. Enzio’s completely lost it. I still don’t blame IB for this mess, it’s been coming for a while, I think the reason we seemed to scrape wins under NA was purely because the players would work extra hard for him, they don’t appear to be doing that for the new man. Also no point playing wing backs if they can’t take on and beat a full back, that’s another reason we always end up going backwards. . . . and breathe.

[drillerpie]

Don’t get me started on corners. We learned in our relegation season, Doyle can’t take them. Catching practice for their keeper. Surely, someone can take a decent corner!

The corners are a perfect metaphor for our all round play.

When we take them it looks like we're just going through the motions, they're easy to defend against, and you can't really tell what we're trying to achieve with them.

[Stan Marshall]

Yes, completely agree about the wingbacks. They’ve all clueless if they have somebody to beat. The ball just goes backwards. Not good when they’re supposed to be providing the width!

[drillerpie]

Hate to say it but that was not great. Absolutely no serious threat up front despite having 9 attempts on goal. The 352 very quickly became a 541 in the first half and I think this was some of the reasoning behind IB’s subs. The default setting for this squad is to revert to a defensive deep sitting mind set which is why we always struggle to get the ball out of our half. It improved after half time with the changes but after 15 mins and no joy breaking down a defence that had conceded 10 goals in the last 4 games. Despite what others have said Rúben is by far the most creative player we have and was the only one who showed any kind of forward minded intent, he shouldn’t have been subbed. Enzio’s completely lost it. I still don’t blame IB for this mess, it’s been coming for a while, I think the reason we seemed to scrape wins under NA was purely because the players would work extra hard for him, they don’t appear to be doing that for the new man. Also no point playing wing backs if they can’t take on and beat a full back, that’s another reason we always end up going backwards. . . . and breathe.

Agree with all of that and would add that not only do the wing backs not take players on but the whole team doesn't.

[countygump]

Agree with all of that and would add that not only do the wing backs not take players on but the whole team doesn't.

No they don't, not one of them. The only player I noticed who was brave enough to receive the ball and actually turn to face their goal and look for a forward pass was Rodders. Every other player who received the ball with their back to the oppo's goal opted for a safe backward pass.