It was a frustrating post-Christmas period as it looks like we could have well got something out of the away games against the two teams in the best current home form. Still, it was not to be but we were at least competitive in those games and now have a pretty full complement of players to choose from. I think it would give the players a huge psychological boost to get out of the bottom four tomorrow so we need to beat Fleetwood to ensure that. I cannot recall us ever beating them (someone please correct me if I am wrong) but tomorrow would be a great place to start and to continue our decent home form under Hurst. I have followed the debate on Toney on B and A with interest - I would personally try to keep him as he is learning and improving and , quite frankly, we are unlikely to get any better in our position. Waring has not shown enough for me and perhaps we should take a punt on somebody else on loan. Certainly an experienced centre-back (not Gerrard please) would be useful. A positive result against Fleetwood would set us up for the six pointer against Swindon and perhaps we are due a little luck with decisions. Lets all get down to the Meadow tomorrow to roar on the lads.
I wish I could be there but it's my boy's birthday! It is a real shame we didn't get any points as it appears we were unlucky at Bolton and the offside goal & penalty shout at Rochdale. With the first of the fresh players in, we might see the beginnings of a new squad forming.
Well that was pretty much a total disaster and very disheartening. Grimmer was badly missed but surely it was not the manager's finest hour preferring Smith at right back instead of Riley (even if Riley was half-fit). We are in a relegation battle so we need battlers and not pretty boys playing aimless three yard passes in front of a packed defence. Sadler and Dodds played fairly well and Ogogo as always put in maximum effort as did Brown (though his crossing was uncharacteristically poor at times) but the rest could pretty well be written off on that performance. Toney is clearly not happy getting so much stick from the opposition centrebacks playing on his own and presumably we have seen the last of him in a Town shirt. Waring is nowhere near good enough for this league, Whalley makes little impact on a game when starting and El-Adb and Lancashire were woeful throughout though the latter was probably carrying an injury. I do not think Ogogo and Deegan play well together as they are too similar and do not link well with the forwards so I was disappointed not to see Black playing instead of Deegan. Looking back at our summer recruitment (which looked promising at the time) it would seem that only Dodds has played consistently well though AJLS can still play a part if he gets free of injury. The defenders have been dreadful and it seems that Sadler is now our best centre-back simply by virtue of being steady and not making elementary mistakes. We lack height in midfield so cannot defend set-pieces properly and are also bereft of strength in the box. Hurst will need a miracle to turn this around even with four or five new players and I think his plans should be aimed at looking at consolidation in League 2 next year otherwise we are in danger of doing a Tranmere. Get rid of all the ageing unfit players, get in some young players on the way up and lets play more directly and with some energy. As for behind the scenes nobody has done more for the Club than our Chairman (especially when you see what happened at the likes of Chester and Hereford) but the club is now suffering due to a lack of other directors who could bring some expertise and new finance in. I would love to see Graham Turner return as a board member - just think what his experience and talent could bring to the Club.
When will we get a result against Fleetwood! They even signed a striker we were linked with. Another tough game by the sounds of things and our defense is struggling, as you mention Saddler seems to be the most consistent. The other issue is moving the ball successfully upfield and providing the forward players with decent balls to work with. Hopefully we see a new striker or two appear in our squad before the month is out.
With Toney now gone and no sign of a fit AJLS we are really struggling upfront. That is presumably why Ebanks-Blake and Waring have not yet gone back as they are eligible for the Swindon match. Alex Rodman (just released from Notts Co) mentioned on B and A as a possible signing but his goalscoring record does not fill me with confidence. I think a lot of the strikers mentioned on B and A (even the non-league ones) appear to be well out of our price range with a League 1 player (Lookman) reportedly going to Everton for upwards of five million. The market has gone mad and this season is beginning to look like our last relegation season when we had an out-of -form Eaves upfront. Someone cheer me up please.
