menzinho

I’m hoping we’ve played an absolute blinder, he’ll be on the bench come Saturday and this is all just a ruse to keep Bromley in the dark. 🙏📿 I agree with @Chris you’d have thought he’d be desperate to play. If that was me I’d be necking paracetamol, rubbing deep heat in, drinking green tea, just doing all I can to be available. The timing, considering he hasn’t played but been fit all pre-season, to suddenly get a vague injury like a back-spasm 10 days before the window closes is going to make us fans think the worst.

Tsaroulla was sharp, tidy on the ball and looked dangerous going forward. Norburn looked a lot better too, I was a tad worried after his early yellow but he hassled and harried well without picking up a second booking. McDonald was solid at the back, didn’t really put a foot wrong for me. Iorpenda just didn’t stop running, I think he’s better touch deeper when he can make runs but I really him. And nor did Dennis to be fair and he reacted quick to get his goal.

Beautiful chaos I think is how I would describe the match, it wasn’t the complete performance by any means but I thought there were a lot more positives than negatives. From off we were pro-active and I liked that Norburn was pushed ahead of Palmer so we didn’t have them tripping over each other like they did against Salford. We were a little over the place at times, Jodi was desperate to play wide, he did everything to avoid playing as the number 10 by always drifting to the flank. And I still think we ask a lot of the wingbacks as it’s easy for them to get overrun especially when teams play a wide player and a full-back. The front 4 out of possession when Shrewsbury had the ball deep was better, Dennis and Jones almost operating as a front-pair being backed up by Norburn and Iorpenda, it did force them to go wide but when we timed the press wrong it did leave us exposed in the middle. Again some of the passing wasn’t great, some of it was just the obvious poor passing but more often it was down to the wrong choice or players not quite on each other’s wave-lengths but this is one of the things that should improve with time. The early goal second half settled us down, especially as Shrewsbury were looking brighter in the last period of the first half. Great move and finish though, both second half goals were crackers. I liked that we were able to make subs and we didn’t get weaker but also it allowed us to keep pressing. That is going to be key for us this season. It’s a minor and sometimes overlooked thing but just the effort and ability to outwork the opposition, we had that and if we do that most matches more often than not we'll come away with three points.

There’s definitely something still not quite right about us, I can’t put my finger on it, I think we’ve been so used to having a lot of control of the ball (but doing sod-all with it) that it’s a tad odd to see us relinquish this control and chase the opposition around a bit more. I think it’s coming from us trying to press a lot more, we seemed to have quite a different formation when we didn’t have the ball. It’s one thing doing it in training but opposition teams will be a lot more unpredictable so it’ll take a bit of time to work (or not work as might be the case). There were times when I thought the wingbacks didn’t know if they should be marking the space or charging out to close the defender down, sometimes they did, sometimes they didn’t but generally off the ball they were quite deep. And I still think Jodi looked a bit lost playing as a No.10, we used to have so much control in this area with Didzy and Crowley but that is gone now so we will have to do something different.

Jason Whittingham and everyone else who was part of the Bond Group should be black-listed from owning a football club now. Really pleased for them but it should never have got to this point. I wonder if Morecambe have any players contracted? Not really had a pre-season either so it's going to be a real challenge to avoid back to back relegations.

Can't be any worse than the last time Shrewsbury came to Meadow Lane... 😰😱 We need something to give us some encouragement, I'd even take a goal in the first half at Meadow Lane - we've not had one of them since February! I really do think we need to be more positive and more on the font-foot from the off. No more 5 at the back, push the wingback's high from the start and try to pin Shrewsbury in. We've gone behind in every match so far this season, that really doesn't help, scoring first will lift the crowd and the players too.

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I don’t think we’ll be on 1 point after 10 matches, we still have enough quality in the squad and Jatta back and another potential number 9 signing will give everyone a big boost. I would say 3 wins from the next 7 matches is a minimum, but even then I'd be looking just as much at the performances as the results. If it's looking like things are improving and we draw some matches we could've won that'll be encouraging. If it gets to Christmas, the performances are poor and we are in a relegation fight I’d think he’d be gone so that’s around 20 matches… That said I can remember Doncaster looking hopeless a few seasons ago, they were 22nd at the start of February yet something changed/clicked and they completely turned their form around and finished in the play-offs that season and Grant McCann was in charge the whole time too.

I know it could get worse, it could also get better and as we are only 3 matches into the new season I'm not going to act like we've just been relegated. I'm am concerned though it feels like we've carried on from last season, where we finished with just the 6 wins from the last 20 matches, and after a full pre-season under the new coaching team I was hopeful even if results weren't great that at least the performances would be an improvement. I would be cautious about adding even more players now to be honest, the squad is already too big even with a few injuries today we had numerous players like Jarvis and Macari who couldn't even make the matchday squad. I do think we need another forward but the reason we've only picked up 1 point hasn't been because we've missed a load of chances. The issue for me is the same as last season and it's more to do with creating chances than finishing them. It's been a poor start, but that's all it is so far, nothing is won or lost this early in the season.

I was only able to listen but it Stal made it very obvious we didn’t play well, didn’t see a plan or team that knew what it wanted to do. I think the most concerning thing is how Martin has said he wants us to play with more of a press and more intensity but it’s like Maynard -2.0 at the moment. I’m no coach or expert but how can you press aggressively when you play 5 at the back and 1 upfront?

Yes really great news, pleased for all his friends and family and shows just how invaluable all the medical support he received was.

I think off the back of the second half performance against Wigan McDonald, Gordon and Luker all earnt their starts. Pretty pleased, bench looks solid too just the one glaring omission in the form of a centre forward, we'll probably sign one the same day Jatta's ban ends! Lots of players now missing out though, even with the injuries we've still got the likes of Edwards, Jarvis, Kouhyar, Hinchy, Macari just not being used. There's good squad depth and then there's wasted wages...

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No idea how seriously Wigan are going to take it, but I suspect like us they'll make a few changes for it too. We won't be expected to win so as long we avoid a heavy defeat but at least put in a better performance than Salford that would be something. And if we somehow do go and win everyone will be a lot more positive before our next league fixture. Players I think we could see start against Wigan are: Griffiths, McDonald, Hall, Grant and Luther. I'm also hoping some the players that have potentially been forgotten get included, Macari, Jarvis and Traore would all benefit from being involved. I think Jatta’s suspension counts in this match too so that’s handy (if I’ve got that right), means he could potentially be back for Bromley on the 23rd.

I think sometimes you can get hung-up on style of football, if you want to be possession-based or defensive and direct you can, you just have to have the coach and players that are capable of doing it. It’s more about how effective you put into practice your chosen style. If say under Paterson we have less possession and play more direct, but get results will anyone really care? That said I still think the possession-based style is there, it was very evident against Newport, particularly first half. Salford just did really well to stifle us and our movement and general sloppiness on the ball didn’t help us. On @theAnticlough point about Norburn I agree he’s not had a great start but he’s possibly been thrown in too early. He missed a lot of the pre-season and so perhaps he's not quite up to speed. Very early days but right now it’s got to be Palmer and Iorpenda in the middle and that will help us to play the progressive possession-based style. Norburn played under Steve Bruce at Blackpool and that definitely wasn’t possession based, by when he went to Wigan on loan he would've played a more possession-based style under Ryan Lowe. I think adding a more physical and quick players benefits a possession-based side too, Dennis, Cotter, Iorpenda & Bennetts all look pacey. Possession based doesn’t always mean 5 yard tippy-tappy balls, you can still play direct balls and be possession based, you just need players actually making the runs so they can get onto the ball before the opposition! I do think we’ve gone a bit wild with the recruitment though, that to me suggests we are not 100% sure about who or what we want. I wouldn’t have said at the end of last season we needed lots of changes, just some good replacements for the players we lost.

Yeah Man of the Match in it's loosest form for this one, I went for Bennetts too, I thought we didn't involve him enough at times but on the ball he looked the most dangerous. I agree with @theAnticlough that taking Norburn off improved us, Iorpenda looked a bit lost as an attacking midfielder but was better next to Palmer. Luker and Grant both looked quite sharp when they came on too.

If we compare it to the last time we played Salford at home, that was a 3-1 loss and just as bad and disjointed performance so I feel like it’s hard to guage if we are going backwards/forwards or just lingering around the same place. I don’t like Karl Robinson but he absolutely has us sorted, if Salford go on a bad run later on this season he’ll be counting down the days until we rock up in Manchester. I will say that Roos isn’t a keeper that gives you a feeling of confidence. He didn’t have that much to do but still looked shaky and because he doesn’t like to come for crosses teams are going to exploit that. Matty Young in goal for Salford is 18 y/o and looks a lot more commanding. Is a Norburn Palmer midfield partnership going to work? I feel like the want to do the same thing and that’s take the ball and just dictate play. Neither want to drive forward with the ball or break the lines like an Iorpenda (and Abbott last season) does. On a positive note I’ve liked what I’ve seen from Cotter, Bennetts, Iorpenda, Luker and Dennis they all look like good footballers and over the course of a long season I think they’ll be prove to be good additions.

The most disappointing thing was that we hadn't learnt from the last 2 matches against Salford, they pressed us man for man and we got pinned in. If you can't pass your way out of a press you have to bypass it, but not just knock it long for them to win it back with ease every time. The space was out-wide, we needed two wide attackers to give us an out-ball and actually challenge their back 3 rather than it just be Dennis on his own. At least that is Salford out the way, but my word we are so bad against them it's so frustrating.

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Imagine if his true identity hadn’t been revealed, it was only thanks to the newspaper article that his fraud and prison sentence was discovered. This is from when he was in talks about purchasing us, "Alex May, when we were first introduced, disclosed everyone about his conviction. He has changed his name. He came clean and told us and everyone involved in this transaction is aware of that". Just baffling Alan Hardy even accepted the talks with him. I think the reaction from us fans pretty much put a stop to it, but if that hadn’t all come to light I wonder if he would’ve been able to blag his way through all the EFL checks…

I don’t think you can knock the commitment to the cause but I feel like we’ve over-recruited in a way, possibly bringing in unnecessary players (although that is too early to say at the moment). Even though a good number of players departed over the summer some of them formed zero part of the squad. Players like Cameron, Chicksen, Cundy & Morias, they didn’t need replacing they just to needed to be let go. We have a number of players who can cover more than the one position so I never thought we needed a massive squad either, but right now we’ve got a large squad, 25 outfield players and that’s excluding any academy players... In the midfield positions, which covers the wingbacks, central midfielders and attacking midfielders that’s 6 spots that get filled each match we’ve got 16 players that can play in these positions! Sometimes you are better off investing the wages of 2 decent players to get 1 very good player, you take the hit of a smaller squad but get quality over quantity. My slight worry is that we have tipped the balance towards quantity.

There is too much money involved in football now, but there's no going back, not in the short to mid term anyway... I wish I had the answers but running a club and being profitable is basically an anomaly these days, clubs are totally at the mercy of their owners and if you get a bad one (or ones) you are stuffed. It's not right that you need to be a multi-millionaire to run a club either and the lower down the leagues you go the harder it is to be financed solely by attending fans. I'm amazed clubs like Accrington, Harrogate and Fleetwood with average attendances of less than 3,000 can even afford to put a competitive team out. I saw this on social media today, a pretty good way to sum-up how the media view English football too.

I would've thought so given that their season is about halfway through, Ruben will probably now just be at the fitness level required. Hopefully he gets some more game time soon.

Well the last loanee from Tottenham was quite good wasn’t he! Maybe I’ll completely change my mind in a month but I wouldn’t say we were in need of player who can play as a 6 or 8 in midfielder. If he plays in the No.10 role and is great I’ll be happy. Either way we are completely overloaded with midfielders, we'll have to move 2 or 3 on now. We’ve also gone in quite heavy with the young loanees this season, we pretty much used only go for one or two, wonder why we’ve changed so drastically this season? Clubs loan you their young players to play them, I hope this doesn’t cause us problems.

When you look at the scoring chart from last season in the SPFL most of the players are from Rangers and Celtic. Scored 1 less goal than Adam Idah in a team that got relegated so that is a good sign. Never quite sure about Scottish football though, the standard is hard to judge. Dalby went from not really scoring at Wrexham to scoring for Dundee, he got 15 for them. Equally Kristian Dennis who has scored a lot in League 2 went to St Mirren and only scored 3 goals. Also didn’t realise that Noah Chilvers plays for them too, he’d solve our attacking midfield dilemma. I’d be in for both of them!