PH post match.

Someone said it last night, but given Hurst puts character as virtually no.1 attribute in a player, there wasn’t a single player last night that showed anything close to the required character. Salford players were breaking their necks to defend at 4-1 up with 10 mins left, where was that in our squad?

There’s a real lack of desire to see games out and we are beyond naive at times. You look to your senior players like Holohan for guidance and they’re often the worst culprits, even Clifton has the best part of 200 appearances under his belt but still plays like a green 18-year-old. Waterfall’s having to do the job of 4 men and constantly being let down by those around him.

The lack of goals must be weighing heavily on the defence. If we go behind, it’s unlikely we’ll go on to win. Over the course of the season, we’ve had a 2 goal cushion for 65 minutes in total, and 38 minutes of that was against Crawley -

Newport - 7mins
Crawley - 38mins
Stockport - 12mins
Tranmere - 8mins

It’s unsustainable in the long run, but if you know you’re not going to be scoring the focus needs to be on being switched on & organised across the back and in midfield. We’re getting the worst of both worlds at the minute and January can’t come quick enough - even if only to light a fire under a few árses.

This is a time for calm heads. Football is a strange job where your performance every week is analysed, questioned and put under the microscope publicly. It's little wonder managers get stressed and he looked stressed in that interview
However, the question is do we think PH has the ability to get this group playing again and continue to build a successful GTFC side. It's a yes from me because we've seen the evidence and the process of sack/rebuild is fatally flawed, especially at our level where there's little money
As someone else said we were worried about losing him a few weeks ago. Stay calm fishies, he'll sort it

Quoted from ska face

Someone said it last night, but given Hurst puts character as virtually no.1 attribute in a player, .

Good to read 👍👌.

I think given our position in the table and last seasons turnaround, I’m not particularly’worried’ as such, but I’m certainly annoyed at the fact we find ourselves going backwards.

Hurst will keep his job, no point anybody wasting any breath over those calls but if we get to the end of the season still regressing without a forward then a call has to be made. People have defended the bloke multiple times about his lack of ability to find a striker, but even the most ardent excuse maker for him will run out of reasons if he doesn’t get one in Jan? Even if he gets one this window, it’s still been a shocking return for somebody who prides themselves on unearthing ‘gems’.

I think the narrative of ‘Hursty will be hurting’ or ‘Hursty will make sure there’s a big reaction next time’ need to stop and there needs to be questions asked to ensure we don’t end up accepting regression just because it’s him.

Some very sensible posts on this thread in my opinion.

Many of you will disagree with me, and I completely admit we were awful yesterday, but I am still 100% behind Hurst and don't for one second feel he should be replaced. As others have said, the board will not even be looking at replacing him anyway. If you like it or not, the club now has a long term plan and development strategy. I imagine they almost expected a performance like yesterday at some point as they are realistic about where we are at the moment.

Of course Hurst has to take a lot of the responsibility, but some of the individual errors over the last 2 matches have been so out of character for these players. Look at Smith for example- most on here were claiming he was Championship bound earlier this season. Yesterday he defended like a 10 year old. It happens, players have bad games. Normally I come away from a match thinking one or two players didn't play well, but as the others all played well we get away with it, which I suggest is normal at this standard of football. Unfortunately at the moment everyone is not playing well and the obvious is happening.

I also wonder if the short time off between end of last season and start of this one for the players that we retained is starting to take its toll. The likes of Waterfall, Clifton and Holohan have probably played the most minutes in both the second half of last season and this season so far. Maybe they are burned out and the quick turn around of matches at the moment is causing them to struggle, however I must say apart from yesterday I don't think Clifton has dropped off and would be my player of season at the moment.

I have full faith Hurst will turn this round, like he did last season. Do I think we will find this illusive striker? Unfortunately not, but a fit again Taylor would be a big boost for second half of the season.

Quoted from Rick12

Briefly Paul Hurst has his good points and has brought in  some good players to Grimsby in the past eg John Nolan . I think where Hurst  could improve on  is  motivational skills . Comes across as a bit dry sometimes .  The buck don't fall completely with the manager though and in football overall ( not just league 2 but premiership as well )sometimes it's the players as well that need to step up and find it within themselves to play to the best of their abilities consistently week in week out. Easier said than done as players do have off days . Likewise the advent of social media has created more pressures for players now . I note some up and down the league's dont read it at all as they struggle with some of the fans views which change like the wind.

I agree he has brought many very good players to Grimsby but have you noticed not many of them get better during their time with us?

Many come as attacking players who quickly lose their mojo as they spend ever more time defending, then they lose their effectiveness till the process starts again with another set of players.

Of all the hundreds of players signed by Hurst very few have been sold on to make us money.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

I agree he has brought many very good players to Grimsby but have you noticed not many of them get better during their time with us?

Many come as attacking players who quickly lose their mojo as they spend ever more time defending, then they lose their effectiveness till the process starts again with another set of players.

Of all the hundreds of players signed by Hurst very few have been sold on to make us money.

Interesting viewpoint.

But quite a few have gone on to play at a higher level than us after leaving when their contracts expired. Lower division clubs hardly ever make money from player sales these days. There aren't many good youngsters who escape the clutches of the academies of the big clubs and in the lower divisions, most decent players are on 1 or 2 year deals so can move on to bigger and better things without a fee if they prove themselves.

It's an especially bizarre view, seeing as how we signed McAtee from Scunny in the summer of 2021 and sold him to a Championship club a year later! Let me guess - this was nothing to do with Hurst, but due to McAtee's innate ability? Which had clearly shone during his Scunny days...

At least he said he shoulders the blame.

My only worry is that as he seemingly reverts more to type with each week and each poor result so we are hitting that downward spiral of concentrating on defending rather than looking further up the pitch.
It seems the real lack of quality on the ball doesn't seem to register with him, individual errors, poor decisions instead being highlighted or focussed.
Whilst Morris last night improved the availability of a midfielder to take the ball off the back four he did precious little with it when he got it.
Salford players where rolling players, nutmegging , shaking off two players etc..we were miles off on individual quality wise.

When is Shaun's loan at Boston finished ?