⚽ Match Thread vs. Dover Athletic [NL]

[JonahBabb14]

You can't really judge that result until the end of the season. If Notts end up playing away in the QF because the GD is one less than Grimsby - and end up losing that QF, then it's an issue*. Hopefully it's just the points that matter.

*Yes GD is built up over the course of a whole season, but you've got to say there was an opportunity there today to improve it by more than one. Grimsby got +8 from their two games with Dover.

Just imagine how Grimsby are feeling. 4 points against Barnet with a gd of +1.

Football doesn't work the way we want it to all of the time.

Lets get behind the boys and the gaffer. Win the last two, we're 5th at worst and we have a home eliminator against a team that won't play a 640 formation against us.

COYP

[upthemaggies]

Just imagine how Grimsby are feeling. 4 points against Barnet with a gd of +1.

Football doesn't work the way we want it to all of the time.

Lets get behind the boys and the gaffer. Win the last two, we're 5th at worst and we have a home eliminator against a team that won't play a 640 formation against us.

COYP

Barnet are not the whipping boys of the division though are they.
This was our problem in 2019/20, dropping points against the sides down the bottom. We've dropped 8 this season against the bottom five whilst Stockport and Wrexham have 100% records against them home and away, Halifax dropped 3. We'd be 3rd now with those extra 8 points.
Yes we beat Dover yesterday but the GD may yet be another point dropped, so to speak, if Grimsby were to do enough to overtake us GD wise

But yes, you want a positive atmosphere around the place going into the play offs. Stall thought yesterday that will happen regardless of the run-in, once it comes to it, and that everything that's gone before it will be forgotten. Notts do need to be at home in the QF though.

[hissingdwarf]

I think IB must have watched a different game to me. I thought we were terrible.
Yes, we won. Yes, its 3 points, but that was the most pedestrian performance I’ve seen in many a game.

How he can say he doesn’t understand why the crowd were booing and giving him verbals, I’ll never know.
Boring sideways passes all game.
JoB seemed to care, but ran out of steam.
Not many others did.
Palmer and the back pair seemed to have an issue with feeding Richardson, because he was our main outlet and they always turned inside again to sideways pass.

Every person around me was moaning.
No entertainment at all for a Bank Holiday afternoon.

Shows why this style and team are hanging onto the playoff dream by the skin of the teeth.

And finally Arter can feck off back over the river as well. Waste of a shirt today. Vincent must have done something dodgy for Arter and Francis to be ahead of him for a shirt.

[Elite_Pie]

I think IB must have watched a different game to me. I thought we were terrible.
Yes, we won. Yes, its 3 points, but that was the most pedestrian performance I’ve seen in many a game.

How he can say he doesn’t understand why the crowd were booing and giving him verbals, I’ll never know.
Boring sideways passes all game.
JoB seemed to care, but ran out of steam.
Not many others did.
Palmer and the back pair seemed to have an issue with feeding Richardson, because he was our main outlet and they always turned inside again to sideways pass.

Every person around me was moaning.
No entertainment at all for a Bank Holiday afternoon.

Shows why this style and team are hanging onto the playoff dream by the skin of the teeth.

And finally Arter can feck off back over the river as well. Waste of a shirt today. Vincent must have done something dodgy for Arter and Francis to be ahead of him for a shirt.

Agree with all of that, and specifically three of your points:

1. Burchnall's interview was a strange one. Nearly all season he's talked sense, but that was the interview of a bewildered man who doesn't know what to do to address the problems. It was little more than a stream of cliched excuses.

2. Jim O'Brien was the only one who looked bothered and tried to make things happen. I lost count of the number of runs into space he made in the first half, but every single one of them was ignored in favour of the safe sideways or backwards pass.

3. Harry Arter was beyond awful. He saw plenty of the ball, and his pass completion stats will look great. The problem is that all of them we safe, tippy tappy, 'to me to you' passes. Whenever he tried anything incisive it went straight to a red shirt or out of play. Is there something in his loan deal that doesn't allow him to tackle? He clearly thinks he's to good for this level, he just didn't seem bothered.

[Stan Marshall]

Too pedestrian for my liking, largely orchestrated by Arter

[forwardmagpie]

Three points, a clean sheet, but as wins go they don't come any more underwhelming than that.

Best moment was the goal, second best was seeing Arter taken off.

Agreed on both moments Elite - do Arter and Palmer only pass to each other - that was a terrible game that we were lucky not to concede late on but I suppose a win is a win.

[durhampie]

Agreed on both moments Elite - do Arter and Palmer only pass to each other - that was a terrible game that we were lucky not to concede late on but I suppose a win is a win.

More enjoyment watching paint dry. The sooner IB goes and takes this boring shyte with him the better..

[TSANHO]

The screw starts to turn on IB. Bit crazy really, as three points is three points, but I try think the majority of fans can see where this is all going to end.

I understand a low block is hard to break down but our refusal to play an early ball even just 5% of the time, if even just to mix it up a little bit, is depressing and frustrating. How many times will JOB have to make a run in behind the defence before someone finally plays him in? It was good to see JOB again actually and was rightly made MOTM.

When IB first arrived last year he eventually got us playing with a good tempo and a high press, and it was exciting, no idea why he moved away from this. Does anyone have any confidence IB can oversee a successful playoff campaign? When Dover started to become more interested in scoring they caused us problems. Any team in the playoffs will cause us massive problems.

I think these players are capable. I don’t think IB is.

[BigFatPie]

Playing a load of rubbish at the end of the season was always going to go one of two ways. We’d either comprehensively win most or all of them and go into the playoffs on a surge of confidence, or we’d stumble through them, maybe lose one or two and go into the playoffs undercooked. Obviously we’ve chosen the latter.

Arter can get back in whatever bin Forest found him, like Brunt just exactly the type of signing we didn’t need.

[jackal2]

I think IB must have watched a different game to me. I thought we were terrible.
Yes, we won. Yes, its 3 points, but that was the most pedestrian performance I’ve seen in many a game.

I thought we were terrible too. Passionless, pedestrian, overplaying dross against extremely limited opposition.

I'm beginning to worry that IB is on a different planet, never mind watching a different game. Forget Keith Curle, there were shades of Jamie Fullarton in that post-match interview. In terms of passion, drive and standards, the tone needs to be set by the manager, and if IB thought that performance was acceptable and doesn't understand the frustration of the crowd, he's destined to find himself in hot water very quickly.