Mugged....again

[Med Pie]

The idea is good we are just to slow to execute it.

This,

if you look at how top flight teams move the ball at pace, the speed of movement, the one touch control and lay offs, you have to realise that our players are in L2 and not the EPL for a reason. With a couple of exceptions, they are not technically good enough to play this kind of football, effectively.

[BigFatPie]

Losing Crowley and not adequately replacing him has almost certainly cost us promotion, barring some kind of freak or miracle via playoffs or something now.

We are two wins short of auto at this point - the increased GD from two extra wins would then see us through. Hard not to see how keeping Crowley wouldn't have got us two more wins.

In fact I still think a number of other factors going just slightly more our way would have seen us through to an automatic place this season. Fewer injuries or even just a bit of better luck in a few matches. We aren't anywhere near as far off as the calls for SM's head would imply.

No one thinks we are miles off, but thats more to do with the paucity of the league than any qualities we possess. Any one whos been to our home games will say boredom and frustration have been the dominant feelings after attending them. Just completely wrong when the club is heading the right way in every other department.

[jackal2]

Any one whos been to our home games will say boredom and frustration have been the dominant feelings after attending them. Just completely wrong when the club is heading the right way in every other department.

True.

I will look back on the entertainment value this season as having been poor. The football is slow, unimaginative and for the most part tedious to watch, and I believe some very good attacking talent in our squad has been made to look bang average. If we ended up winning promotion then we would have to acknowledge that the means had produced ends, but I certainly wouldn't want to watch this brand of football long-term.

[The Dug Out]

Don't think Crowley would have made any difference to any of our late performances, he was an idle mardy sod at times. There is something in the team that just isn't working in some games, no one can call as to why, it's an enigma. Not saying it's SM, lack of support that he hasn't got but it is not good.

[crazyfists]

We've just started lumping it upto Jatta now anyway and he's hardly a target man, I think he gets alot of unfair stick, he scores goals and does work hard in that loan role.

Whatever excitement and quick, attacking football we had under LW has long since left the building. Maynard to follow please.

What LW would have done with this team, with the new defence, is something I wish we could have seen.

[kill_the_drum]

I said it last week but if anyone thinks that other teams in this league are playing better football than us, they?re wrong. I?ve watched a lot of games this season and only Doncaster come close to playing the standard of football that we play.
Let?s face it, if we had won, nobody is talking about boring football, we had 24 shots which is 8 more than when we scored 5 past them. The first 20 mins of the second half felt like a training exercise. We carved them open at will.
The performance was good, the result was terrible.
Cheltenham didn?t figure us out, there was no tactical switch. We gifted them a goal and they scored a worldy. As with so many games this season, we should have already been out of sight.
It?s the most frustrated I?ve felt leaving the ground yesterday, but the blame has to lie with the players. We cannot create that many chances and not win the game.

[slack_pie]

I said it last week but if anyone thinks that other teams in this league are playing better football than us, they?re wrong. I?ve watched a lot of games this season and only Doncaster come close to playing the standard of football that we play.
Let?s face it, if we had won, nobody is talking about boring football, we had 24 shots which is 8 more than when we scored 5 past them. The first 20 mins of the second half felt like a training exercise. We carved them open at will.
The performance was good, the result was terrible.
Cheltenham didn?t figure us out, there was no tactical switch. We gifted them a goal and they scored a worldy. As with so many games this season, we should have already been out of sight.
It?s the most frustrated I?ve felt leaving the ground yesterday, but the blame has to lie with the players. We cannot create that many chances and not win the game.

True. Our style of football can be frustrating, but would you rather watch a Danny Cowley team? Bradford fans were complaining about Alexander's style of football after playing us, wishing they could be as comfortable on the ball as we are. We're not a bad team, but we are clearly missing some important ingredients required to get us over the line. We've also been unlucky. If Bedeau's header goes in, we'd have won.

I think we're just too clinical sometimes. We're too reserved, too emotionless, and as we know from the manager's comments and the owners' obsession with data, that's more by design than by accident. One of the reasons LW was such a great coach was because he injected a bit of passion and emotion into the team and club, which filtered down to the players and fans. That's what we're missing right now.

[cjpieman]

I said it last week but if anyone thinks that other teams in this league are playing better football than us, they?re wrong. I?ve watched a lot of games this season and only Doncaster come close to playing the standard of football that we play.
Let?s face it, if we had won, nobody is talking about boring football, we had 24 shots which is 8 more than when we scored 5 past them. The first 20 mins of the second half felt like a training exercise. We carved them open at will.
The performance was good, the result was terrible.
Cheltenham didn?t figure us out, there was no tactical switch. We gifted them a goal and they scored a worldy. As with so many games this season, we should have already been out of sight.
It?s the most frustrated I?ve felt leaving the ground yesterday, but the blame has to lie with the players. We cannot create that many chances and not win the game.

Utter rubbish.

When Stu says we ?dominated the game? he means we had loads of needless possession at the back. Yesterday we never looked likely to create any chances first half. We were gifted a goal. Second half we sat back they brought on subs and pushed us back further and further?.stu stood and watched?and watched?and watched. He finally made his first sub but it was too late by then the momentum had shifted and they scored. We did try and force the issue a little at 1-1 and Bedau missed a sitter?but by the end it was Cheltenham who had the belief to be able to pick us off.
Tactically naive and if the majority of a 10k crowd can see that why can?t the owners ??

[Pietastic]

I said it last week but if anyone thinks that other teams in this league are playing better football than us, they?re wrong. I?ve watched a lot of games this season and only Doncaster come close to playing the standard of football that we play.
Let?s face it, if we had won, nobody is talking about boring football, we had 24 shots which is 8 more than when we scored 5 past them. The first 20 mins of the second half felt like a training exercise. We carved them open at will.
The performance was good, the result was terrible.
Cheltenham didn?t figure us out, there was no tactical switch. We gifted them a goal and they scored a worldy. As with so many games this season, we should have already been out of sight.
It?s the most frustrated I?ve felt leaving the ground yesterday, but the blame has to lie with the players. We cannot create that many chances and not win the game.

Well said that man! Very well said... I think in the most part we play great football and compared to many many seasons I've seen as a Notts fan this is pretty decent. A couple of wins more and we'd be in auto playoffs and everyone would be happy as.... That's not to say it isn't frustrating and that we could have done better but it's a brutal game at times and that's not all down to the management and players etc...

[kill_the_drum]

We've just started lumping it upto Jatta now anyway and he's hardly a target man, I think he gets alot of unfair stick, he scores goals and does work hard in that loan role.

Whatever excitement and quick, attacking football we had under LW has long since left the building. Maynard to follow please.

What LW would have done with this team, with the new defence, is something I wish we could have seen.

Well for a start, we wouldn?t have seen any of McGoldricks magic as he said himself that LW didn?t let him shoot outside the box.
We?d have seen far more defensive errors as he would have insisted that the back three never put a foot through the ball.
?Calamity Baldwin? has been one of the best players for Bradford this season. I?m guessing that?s in part down to the fact he isn?t expected to play like Messi.
I think Platt would have looked a very different player under LW.