What are peoples thoughts in relation to Hursts comments in todays Telegraph regarding momentum not mattering going into the play offs?

Following the Wrexham game, when people asked me about it I admit commenting to the effect we needed to get our results back on track in the final games to put us in a more positive position for the play offs.

Is Hurst right? Is it a cliche used by pundits? He gives an example of Newport losing to us in league then beating us in the play offs.

Managers though in my opinion change their answers to suit. Im sure if results had continued in the form of wins but we still missed out on automatic promotion,  Hurst would then be saying we need to take the momentum we had built up into the play off games.

I know I and a lot if others would be more confident if we'd beat Gateshead and Wrexham.

http://m.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/Grimsby-Town-boss-says-momentum-important/story-26345004-detail/story.html

I don't know anymore

the play offs is a lottery but i woudn't go resting players from the final 2 games. IF people are feeling it a bit and feel slightly tired drop the work load at training. IF someone get's injured during one of the next 2 matches then we're just unlucky.

Quoted from Lambretta Mariner

I know I and a lot if others would be more confident if we'd beat Gateshead and Wrexham.

We'd be thinking about the title not the play-offs if we had beaten Gateshead and Wrexham.

Mind games starting early I think we lose next two games he can say momentum wasn't important. We win the next two games we have shown what a depth of squad we have...... Personally would like to see momentum into play offs rest players who need the rest (niggles etc). People who need to find form Jolley, Arnold, Palmer play them to see if they can get back on track.

It can go both ways,

We have 2 games left and if we lose them both,

It means we go into the play offs on a 3 game losing streak,

It might mean we have got the losses out of our system and we go and win the play offs,

We might win the next 2 games 5-0 and like Hurst said we have used all our goals up going into the play offs,

Who knows ?

What happens in the next 2 games is not important ,

The 3 after that is the ones we have got to win.

Depends if we win the play offs or not. You're always right when you win.

Quoted from ginnywings

Depends if we win the play offs or not. You're always right when you win.

Absolutely!

Equally he will be wrong if we lose!

Still dont quite understand why fans set so much store over what a manager says to the press. Take is all with a very large pinch of salt

Quoted from BIGChris

Absolutely!

Equally he will be wrong if we lose!

Still dont quite understand why fans set so much store over what a manager says to the press. Take is all with a very large pinch of salt

Yeah and funnily enough, despite my dislike of Hurst, i wouldn't pin too much blame on him if we did fail in the play offs as they are very much a lottery and don't represent what has happened over the entire season.

The fact that we failed to mount a sustained automatic promotion push however.....................

Quoted from ginnywings

Yeah and funnily enough, despite my dislike of Hurst, i wouldn't pin too much blame on him if we did fail in the play offs as they are very much a lottery and don't represent what has happened over the entire season.

The fact that we failed to mount a sustained automatic promotion push however.....................

Yes but we got very close,

Our failure to get a striker in at the start of the season has cost us,

If we do not go up through the play offs,

We will expect a new strike force in before the warm up games,

If not, I expect the fans will just not turn up in the numbers we have seen this season,

Considering our home form the gates have been very good,

We should be talking to strikers now and get them signed as soon as we know what league we will be playing in.

Yes he is right. Look at Cambridge lost the last 4 games or something and still went up.

Quoted from ginnywings

Yeah and funnily enough, despite my dislike of Hurst, i wouldn't pin too much blame on him if we did fail in the play offs as they are very much a lottery and don't represent what has happened over the entire season.

The fact that we failed to mount a sustained automatic promotion push however.....................

Totally right Ginny. The playoffs are a new competition and the only things the manager can be blamed for now are performances and results in these games.

I must admit to feeling a foreboding since the 2 points were dropped at Chester. We had a real chance of top spot and blew it from there with the wrexham and Gateshead games after we had clawed our way up. Some keep saying that we do well with our budget but we have always been 2 players short of a top side and I just hope for Hurst's sake and ours that this is not why this season is remembered.

Quoted from grimsby pete

Our failure to get a striker in at the start of the season has cost us,

Apart from John-Lewis who has been one of the top scorers in the league all season and Pittman who, had it not been for injuries would have (in my opinion) scored even more than John-Lewis.

You can either put all your eggs in one basket and go broke on a striker or spread it out and build a good squad.  In Barnet's case they've gone for broke on Akinde and it looks to have worked.  We tried that approach with a main striker when we had Connell and then Hearn.  Both seasons we finished outside the play-offs.  Since then we've spread the goals out and had less reliance on a single man, we've also finished in the play-offs every season.

Our failing hasn't been lack of quality in striking areas, it has been the sluggish start to the season and then a lack of killer instinct in tactics.  

Quoted from diehardmariner

Apart from John-Lewis who has been one of the top scorers in the league all season and Pittman who, had it not been for injuries would have (in my opinion) scored even more than John-Lewis.

You can either put all your eggs in one basket and go broke on a striker or spread it out and build a good squad.  In Barnet's case they've gone for broke on Akinde and it looks to have worked.  We tried that approach with a main striker when we had Connell and then Hearn.  Both seasons we finished outside the play-offs.  Since then we've spread the goals out and had less reliance on a single man, we've also finished in the play-offs every season.

Our failing hasn't been lack of quality in striking areas, it has been the sluggish start to the season and then a lack of killer instinct in tactics.  

Always think the strength of a team is reflected by who you have on the bench.

For our first home league game we had Paul Bastock, Paul Walker, Lewis Bemrose, Ellis Humble & Cane Winfarrah (who came on after 15 mins) on our subs bench. It shows we were really down to the bare bones.

Yes, the starting eleven should have been strong enough but  when you think where Alan Connell is now you have an idea of how weak we were

We also had two of our best players suspended (Neilson and Pearson) plus an injury list not really associated with the first few months of the season.

Should we have made better use of the loan market?  Maybe.  Does it level itself out over the following 8 months? Probably.  As I've said before, the league table doesn't like at this stage.  Over the course of the season we've been third best.  There are no extra points gained for wins in August, just as there are none in April.  

Quoted from diehardmariner

We also had two of our best players suspended (Neilson and Pearson) plus an injury list not really associated with the first few months of the season.

Should we have made better use of the loan market?  Maybe.  Does it level itself out over the following 8 months? Probably.  As I've said before, the league table doesn't like at this stage.  Over the course of the season we've been third best.  There are no extra points gained for wins in August, just as there are none in April.  

No but points gained in August still count the same in April. That's the point people are making about the strength of the team and the squad from the start.

If we win at Wembley it won't matter but if we don't .............