1 hour ago, TheSkipper said:

Criticising the players is embarrassing; they're trying, and morale is low. 

I saw it differently.  What happened after we got back to 3-3 was a real concern. When we should have been going all out for the winner, we were totally bossed at home by the worst team in the division. It was like we'd thrown in the towel, the lack of fight was alarming.

No one ever criticises Jodi Jones for his weak marking and defensive duties. The second mistake, anyone else would have faced consequences for. He's a great player, but it emphasizes that errors occur, and scapegoats are formed. Dan Crowley has been truly impressive since joining; if fans can be critical and boo, he certainly has the right to silence them when performing well. If he wasn't, I would understand. Disappointed with the club, players, and fans.

The emphasis must be on improving our defence. I didn’t believe Sutton deserved their lead, but they secured it, and that’s what determines matches. I thought Notts did well to re-enter the game, despite the terrible errors at the back. It demonstrated some resilience, but regardless of the circumstances, Sutton knew they could retake the lead. They can revel in this victory; it won’t prevent their relegation. Terrible winners, but they aimed to turn our fans against our players, which was achieved with ease.

14 games left.

Can we get 9 wins and 1 draw out of those 14 to finish on 75 points which should be enough, as we will be playing many of our rivals for that 7th playoff spot?

It's a tall order but still very possible. 

Has to be a must win against Crewe on Saturday.

CMON I PIES.

As iFollow decided not to work for me or many other fans (and their "support" staff failed to fix it or even respond), I relied on the radio. Apart from a second-half wobble it sounded like we played well, but in tighter games like this we always seem to come up a little bit short. Wrexham play percentage football that isn't great to watch, but it's effective and that's what we lack sometimes.

As for the handball, it was one of those situations where even VAR wouldn't give you a definitive answer. I think McGoldrick dramatically raising his arm out of the way led to the loud shout of "handball", which in turn influenced the ref.

This date was circled on my calendar with a big, red marker. It was like waiting for Santa to drop down the chimney. Notts? They played like they had rockets strapped to their boots. Edge-of-your-seat moments? There were more than a popcorn flick. The players showed a hunger for the game that would put a starved lion to shame.

Sure, luck might have played hide and seek at times, but the performance? It was like watching a blockbuster in IMAX. Here’s to hoping Stuart Maynard can sail through the storm and lead you to a grand finale.

Good luck with the rest of the games!

On 18/02/2024 at 08:16, Piethagoram said:

How potentially dangerous for the guy with crutches. @Dry Nelson Ray Also when entering the stands, you expect to see seat numbers displayed so the supporters can be directed more easily to their seats. There was nothing. An international stadium? You are having a laugh.

You’re absolutely right. This is like finding a plot twist in a movie that you didn’t see coming. The head of security and the senior stewards should’ve been on this like white on rice. And the seats? We need to get that sorted faster than you can say “popcorn”. Shaun Harvey and Fleur Robinson will be in the loop quicker than a rollercoaster ride. And our stadium operations manager? They’ll be briefed too.

On 19/02/2024 at 05:42, Piethagoram said:

@Dry Nelson Ray Perhaps you can write to the EFL and ask that the game should now be recorded as 1-1 You can make a good point for football and for us ????

As for Billy, sounds like he’s feeling the sting of the game’s outcome. But hey, I’ll make sure to pass his comment to Paul. It’ll bring a smile to his face faster than a kid in a candy store. After all, a little laughter goes a long way, right?

1 minute ago, DangerousSausage said:

I can't say too much about the match as I only saw the end of it when it was already done and dusted. Under LW we could gloss over days like yesterday as we'd had a good start to the season and were sitting near the top. Now the table tells a more realistic story.

We had a soft start to the season that probably led many of us to think we're better than we are. But as soon as we started playing the current top six or seven we started to struggle, and it hasn't changed. We are just not effective enough at either end of the pitch to decide tight games in our favour. We've won just four games by a single goal this season. It's not a new problem, but it''s one that Stuart Maynard hasn't got to grips with yet.

We seem to have missed an opportunity to strengthen our back line over the last couple of transfer windows. But the root of the problem goes back further: Ian Burchnall inherited a team that looked terrified to leave our half of the pitch and placed a lot of focus on being braver and taking more risks. Since then, every time we've signed a player (even defenders), the feedback from fans of their previous clubs has been the same: "he's great going forwards, but a bit dodgy at the back". It's given us a few years of brilliant football, but now we're lacking players who simply focus on the bread and butter of preventing the opposition scoring.

We should definitely mix it up more during games to keep the opposition on their toes, but trying to turn into a long ball team with our skillful but physically weak team is a recipe for disaster. Until last season we played with a target man in Kyle Wootton - it would be handy to have an option like him again for League Two, but that ship has sailed this season sadly.

I agree, we just need to mix things up. Be less predictable, stop playing into the hands of our opponents, who are all playing in a similar way against us.

I think SM is trying to do that already to be fair. Luke Williams tended to stick to his favoured team and formation, and after a while the opposition knew exactly how we were lining up. SM has tried to switch things around - but do that too many times and you'll end up with confused and nervous players in unfamiliar positions.

I've reached the point where there's zero time for me to be patient in passing the ball back, nobody seemed to try to make a forward run, and it took things quickly against Notts. Crewe were by far the better team, although their dark arts frustrated me because did they need to do it? Notts made the game very easy for them to cope with, I am not sure the time-wasting and players dropping like flies made much difference. If anything, it gave Notts more time after the 90 minutes when they did turn up to do something - which by that point it was always too late. It's difficult to feel sorry for anyone in this situation because everyone played very poorly.

Whilst, I don't think Stuart Maynard deserves to be taking all the blame. He's reaching a point where it's difficult to overlook some of his current issues which I do honestly feel are being caused by the players.

Jodi Jones, Macaulay Langstaff and Aden Baldwin are the only players I felt did enough to warrant a positive mention. Baldwin prevented numerous attempts on goal, Langstaff didn't stop trying and everything that seemed to be bright came through Jones.

Crewe scored two very easy first goals.

I still don't like seeing teams attempting to interfere with the keeper, it's gone beyond the presence of being there and a light bit of pushing to something on a whole different level. I've seen officials give free kicks just for a push. Yet there's no excuse for any of our players for switching off, it was a well worked goal by them and anyone who could have done something simply became a bystander. Our players need to stop watching the game at times as if they're not actually on the field and be more aware of what they can do in order to defend situations.

Crewe's second goal is by far more irritating. Major communication error between two players, one of which should have left the ball clearly for the other to deal with - without appearing to try to hold the other's hand.

I have seen one of said players get far more comments thrown his direction, but the player who wasn't going for the ball and didn't go for the ball. They made the situation very dangerous and are at fault, as anyone with a pair of eyes can see by the point the header was in motion. It became a risk of injury or collision which turned it into a comical error. Why can't we get that close to marking the opposition? Doing so to our own player is just void of responsibility.

Then an unfortunate bounce straight to a Crewe player, to which again, Notts were ball watching and not the player.

I honestly didn't see contact made for the penalty, I saw it in slow motion and I thought the Crewe player clipped their own heels in order to try to get our keeper sent off. There was time for him to easily lob an open net. Even watching the highlights and going frame by frame I am unconvinced it was anything but that.

It doesn't really matter, we had nothing to suggest that we could make a game of it. Usually by the 70th minute Notts tend to get a surge and therefore look better and whilst the changes helped to make us more attacking minded. The damage had already been done, pushing for our first, left us open for their third, and it was game over by that point.

You have the game finished by the 90th minute mark, to which all of a sudden we become brighter and play as if we have half an hour to go.

Crewe didn't make it difficult for us to play, we did. There should be no false credit to Crewe, because it comes down to us not being good enough. The thoughts of the players, whether it be about morale, focus, or their uncertainties regarding Maynard, are of great importance. They let us down and this is the first time I felt there was little in their defence of how we played. I believe the players are letting Maynard down too.

The signs are that we aren't capable of reaching the playoffs, that is fine.

If some of the issues is pressure, Maynard must find a way to take it off the players shoulders but if they can't help themselves - I am not sure if he can do anything to change it. Given the opportunity, I would go Neil Warnock mode on them at full time. Perhaps, even Sir Alex Furguson.