Playing for nothing after saturday!

[As it is]

After Saturday , when we are out of the cup! We have nothing to play for but pride. Before anybody shoots me down , when did we last play in the third round?. What 16 years ago?

[Wartman]

Whilst the club continues to plough on with the current business model success will be non existent, we might be a non league giant killer soon in the FA Cup.

[out0lunch]

Even longer since we were in FA cup semi-final

[Furberstreet]

At least I will not be too bothered by the result unlikely the frustration and fury I feel on league match days. Not the first time I have suggested it is time for Artell to go. No point blaming the Club's finances for another season heading towards oblivion. We have a decent squad in my opinion and we should be doing much better in this League. Looks like another season anxiously confirming how many points we are clear from the relegation places.

Still, I have enough to worry about as my other team, Albion Rovers, was relegated from Scottish League One and lost its first 14 league and cup games this season. Despite a "good" result on Saturday (1-2 at promotion favourites Peterhead), Albion sit bottom and, if they do not rise up the table, face a home and away playoff to avoid the drop to Highland League football. Some disturbing parallels with Crewe - no money, ex-player as manager (now sacked), team of youngsters, clueless board of directors (one or two who prefer Saturdays at Ibrox) etc.

As my dear wife says on a weekly basis, "why don't you support a good team?" You will all agree when I tell her it is not as simple as that. My grandfather is from Coatbridge and I saw Albion play as a young lad, and I was born in Crewe and taken to Gresty Road as a youngster. Both teams imprinted on me at an early age. Often in life you can exclude people or things that cause such anguish, but it is not the case with football.

[alexmick]

At least I will not be too bothered by the result unlikely the frustration and fury I feel on league match days. Not the first time I have suggested it is time for Artell to go. No point blaming the Club's finances for another season heading towards oblivion. We have a decent squad in my opinion and we should be doing much better in this League. Looks like another season anxiously confirming how many points we are clear from the relegation places.

Still, I have enough to worry about as my other team, Albion Rovers, was relegated from Scottish League One and lost its first 14 league and cup games this season. Despite a "good" result on Saturday (1-2 at promotion favourites Peterhead), Albion sit bottom and, if they do not rise up the table, face a home and away playoff to avoid the drop to Highland League football. Some disturbing parallels with Crewe - no money, ex-player as manager (now sacked), team of youngsters, clueless board of directors (one or two who prefer Saturdays at Ibrox) etc.

As my dear wife says on a weekly basis, "why don't you support a good team?" You will all agree when I tell her it is not as simple as that. My grandfather is from Coatbridge and I saw Albion play as a young lad, and I was born in Crewe and taken to Gresty Road as a youngster. Both teams imprinted on me at an early age. Often in life you can exclude people or things that cause such anguish, but it is not the case with football.

Talking of the Highland League, at least we are not quite in the same position as Fort William, who sit rock bottom of the table, with just minus 8 points, after 16 games. No wins since April 2017 and just one draw this season. Their goal difference is -105 and the players (semi-pro) earn just £15 per week. They might be worth following as a second team. One positive concerning the Alex from the Swindon game. The Gresty Road pitch is far superior in condition when compared with the present state of Wembley Stadium. It looked absolutely awful after that Spurs game last week. I am not giving up on Saturday and a progression into round two of the FA Cup, although I am not that interested in this game to be honest. Stuffing has been knocked out of me these past 5 years of witnessing a gradual decline in the fortunes of CAFC.

[alexmick]

Back in the groove today. Great deal for us oldies (60+), at £7 a ticket, so we will be there supporting the lads to hopefully a victory over Carlisle. Would love a cup run. Last time we reached round 3 was when Thordy was here in 2008-09. We had beaten Eastleigh and then done one over on our visitors today at their place. Dario was in caretaker charge for that one, before the Iceman saw us lose after a replay to Millwall. I remember a huge goalkeeping error in that replay at Gresty Road. Could do with a confidence boosting win today.

[gazan]

We were

[gazan]

We were certainly not crap today! The midfield had a decent game as did the defence. Big problem (surprise, surprise!) is upfront. However, I don't know what DA means by putting our chances away as their goalkeeper only had one save to make.
There are clear problems that need to be remedied, some of which I've pointed out before. Why, when a cross comes in - from a set-piece or from open play- do we only occupy the front half of the area?? How many times have we seen crosses clear everybody and then cleared because we have nobody coming around the back? How often do we see clearances from set pieces land just outside the box but dead centre but there's nobody there but opposition defenders? How often have we seen excellent taking crosses from the wing fail to be met by the sole striker to have gone for it and ...there's nobody behind. All these scenarios appeared today and have done frequently before.
Artell talks about Carlisle resorting to long distance pot shots but at least they were taking shots. Last season we had the least shots in all the divisions and it looks like it'll be the same this season.

[out0lunch]

All I can say Gazan is you must have been listening to me at the match or over the past few weeks