Hi guys,

Have a listen to our look at the run-in for all the key battles in League One & Two including a look at your battle with Barnet

[url]http://d3d4football.com/d3d4-football-podcast-ep40-ups-downs-and-the-hope-that-kills-you/[/url]

hope you enjoy

James

Quoted from d3d4

Hi guys,

Have a listen to our look at the run-in for all the key battles in League One & Two including a look at your battle with Barnet

[url]http://d3d4football.com/d3d4-football-podcast-ep40-ups-downs-and-the-hope-that-kills-you/[/url]

hope you enjoy

James

I listened to this earlier. They reckon Barnet will catch us but of course they are guessing like everyone else. It seems agreed though that Barnet have the easier run in on paper and our only win in 22 games came with a very late penalty against the lowest team in league football.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

I listened to this earlier. They reckon Barnet will catch us but of course they are guessing like everyone else. It seems agreed though that Barnet have the easier run in on paper and our only win in 22 games came with a very late penalty against the lowest team in league football.

Well let’s try and be positive lew. The team we beat were as lofty as 91st in English football when we actually played them. It is only since then that they have dropped to become the lowest 😉

Quoted from Posh Harry

Well let’s try and be positive lew. The team we beat were as lofty as 91st in English football when we actually played them. It is only since then that they have dropped to become the lowest 😉

Now you put it like that I feel a lot more confident  ;D

We have the worst attack and the third worst defence in the division according to one of the panellists. Have to say Barnet have a much better strikeforce than us.

Going to be a nervous few weeks  :o

I can see us getting something out of the next two games, neither side has beaten us. We have scored first in the last three games and could have won them all on another day. If one of our strikers finds form at the right time we'll sail over the line.

. If one of our strikers finds form at the right time we'll sail over the line.[/quote]

Will the right one, ie on form, play tho?
For the run I expect to see playing time for
Jackson  cardwell hooper mcsheffrey vernon and probably matt too. 6!    Wilks seems a long shot.

Thinking positively they should be fresh against tired defenders 😆

Quoted from ex-merseymariner

. If one of our strikers finds form at the right time we'll sail over the line.

Will the right one, ie on form, play tho?
For the run I expect to see playing time for
Jackson  cardwell hooper mcsheffrey vernon and probably matt too. 6!    Wilks seems a long shot.

Thinking positively they should be fresh against tired defenders 😆

[/quote]

Gotta be honest. Of those strikers, the only one worth his salt is Jackson, and he's clearly on his way down (career stats suggest that), McSheffrey has been a brilliant player but at 35 clearly isn't the same player. I've made a decision now on Cardwell, I'm sorry but he isn't up to it, his hold up play was awful on Saturday, he needs to be more aggressive and back into defenders. Vernon, again been a decent player but he's only weeks left in his career, Matt is a gazelle, Bambi on ice, Wilks obviously isn't our player and shows potential. Let's just hope Jackson can stay fit as he is the only natural striker at the club.

We haven’t won a game this season when Vernon hasn’t played.  This may just be coincidence but he possibly holds the ball up better than other strikers and stretching the play.  It sounds like we got too deep on Saturday at 1-0 and needed to stretch play upfield.

Was Vernon injured on Saturday?

Jackson has made an impact in the small amount of time he has played.  

I’d like to see both starting against Swindon.

It’s a time for experience.

Vernon is a clever player. The ball sticks better with him than any of our other strikers and his lay offs are better too. He allows us to get up the pitch more. He's unlikely to score though, so needs someone else to feed off him.

As the weekend has gone on, i'm regretting more and more our not beating Barnet. Slim to no chance of going down had we achieved it and think it has just reiterated how poor we are. The agony prolonged for another week.

We average 1.5 points a game when Vernon starts and 0.8 when he doesn't. Might be a coincidence. Even if he doesn't score many the team might be better as a result of his presence on the pitch.

Vernon and jackson have to start saturday, i really like jackson and vernon is in every day of the week when the only other real option is hooper.

The problem with playing Vernon and Jackson up top is that most likely means 4-4-2 and us getting overrun in midfield.

Sorry  to be the harbinger of doom, but I still fear for our league future, we have 3 games left, one away to a play off contender, one against a team looking for automatic promotion and the last against a club who would love to relegate us, I fear only 1 point from those games, which would leave Barnet needing 2 wins to send us down on goal difference, they have games against Newport who have little to play for and lastly against a chesterfield team who will already be down by then.
Desperately  hope I am being over pesimistic!

Quoted from petethemariner

Sorry  to be the harbinger of doom, but I still fear for our league future, we have 3 games left, one away to a play off contender, one against a team looking for automatic promotion and the last against a club who would love to relegate us, I fear only 1 point from those games, which would leave Barnet needing 2 wins to send us down on goal difference, they have games against Newport who have little to play for and lastly against a chesterfield team who will already be down by then.
Desperately  hope I am being over pesimistic!

No your'e not being overly pessimistic more realistic.

I think this weekend will tell us all we need to know; if Barnet win and we continue our woeful form and lose at Swindon it is very much game on from Barnet's viewpoint.

Isn't this the reverse of last time we went down - weren't we in the bottom two but improving and trying to catch Barnet? We failed then so I hope they fail now.

I still have  a feeling though it will be us that will get caught on the final day. If Carlsberg did relegations we would go down at FGR on the final day on goal difference.

Having said all that we are still better off having the 5 point gap with only 3 games left and if we win on Saturday and/or Barnet lose we will have been fretting for nowt. I am not at all confident though - I think the Fenty curse will strike one final time.

On paper Barnet have an easier run in than us, but that doesn't acknowledge the fact that they couldn't beat us.  They couldn't beat a bloody awful side occupying the 90th place of the top four tiers.  Yet all of a sudden they're now capable of picking up either two wins or a win and two draws from their final three games?

Capable? Yes they are i think. Whether they do is another matter.

Swindon are on a terrible run and have dropped out of play off contention.  A good start on Saturday and we could see the fight drop out of them.  It’s a real chance of an away point or more.  If we get points on Saturday and Barnet and Chesterfield don’t then we are nearly there.  I’m assuming Chesterfield lose tonight so hopefully they don’t over turn the form book!

I really think we have a chance of a positive result against County. We are unbeaten at home under Jolley, they are very inconsistent and were very ordinary when we played them earlier in the season.

They also have a strike force about as slow as our centre back partnering which should help in stead and ameobi. Also know someone who saw them at Colchester at the weekend who said they were rubbish. Colchester were the better side but younger, naive and tried to play football. County just bullied them and scored with their only 3 shots on goal.

I honestly believe we are capable of getting something out of each of our last 3 games. Doesn’t mean we will but I don’t think any of them are write offs and seeing the fight and desire recently, we have reasons to be optimistic.

UTFM

Was out walking with my brother yesterday and he came up with a very good point. When the board made that ill fated statement backing Slade and saying we were 13 places above the relegation zone, it was over three months ago, and in that time, despite our appalling form and only one win since, we are still 5 points above the relegation zone. Despite our best endeavours to be completely useless and give the bottom 2 all the encouragement in the world to close the gap, they have only manged to claw back 8 points in that time. To think they will make up another 5 in 3 games is a very tall order. Let's hope he is correct.

Quoted from diehardmariner

On paper Barnet have an easier run in than us, but that doesn't acknowledge the fact that they couldn't beat us.  They couldn't beat a bloody awful side occupying the 90th place of the top four tiers.  Yet all of a sudden they're now capable of picking up either two wins or a win and two draws from their final three games?

Agree , Barnet played the worse side in the division for not scoring goals and conceded 2,

The side they where playing ( us ) have the worse defence in the division and  they still could not beat us,

We are rubbish but so are they and Chesterfield,

I think it will go down to the last game of the season if the other two picks points up because I don't think we will get anything out of the next 2 games,

Hopefully it wont come to that if Barnet and Chesterfield do not get many points between now and then.

42 points might just be enough.

I dont i think we'll sneak a 1-0 win on Saturday and we'll be safe as both Chesterfield and Barnet will lose.

None of our strikers looked like scoring in open play last Sat, or Vernon in other games.  Cardwell looked like he was going to score, but didn't. There is not enough support from midfield either, neither do the midfield players score anything like as many goals as they should do.

Despite this, I think that we will win one of our last 3 games and be safe. There are always upsets at the end of any season.  Jolley has got the team playing better, bar the second half against Barnet.    Swindon are struggling at present and we are due an away win. We took the lead at Wycombe.

Notts County were poor when Chesterfield beat them recently. They may well be safely in the play-offs by the time they play us.  Village Green are as bad as us and may be safe by the last game.  We could beat them if we had to.

We only need 1 goal to get 3 points, if we are tight at the back and don't concede.  "Set pieces" are our main weapon and more than good enough to get us a goal and a win.  

Quoted from Meza

I dont i think we'll sneak a 1-0 win on Saturday and we'll be safe as both Chesterfield and Barnet will lose.

That would be too good to be true but I hope you are right Meza

Quoted from Rodley Mariner

The problem with playing Vernon and Jackson up top is that most likely means 4-4-2 and us getting overrun in midfield.

I don't see Jackson playing as a lone centre forward, holding the ball up, using his strength and bringing others into play. But surely if he is anywhere near fit, he has to play?

Quoted from 75

I don't see Jackson playing as a lone centre forward, holding the ball up, using his strength and bringing others into play. But surely if he is anywhere near fit, he has to play?

In the limited time I have seen him I like the positions he tries to get into, especially in the box. He is not a hold up player. He plays on the shoulder of the last defender and looks to poach a goal in and around the 6 yard box. He scored within 3 mins of his first game by getting accross in front of the defender and putting the chance away. He did a similar thing on Sat to meet Clifton's cross and would probably have scored had he not been shoved in the back. So a good contribution from little time on the pitch. We need him in the team and for others to find him with the right through ball or low cross. A league 2 version of Germain Defoe! I hope he can stay fit. We have no-one else like him.

Can McSheffrey play the no 10 role alongside Jackson or maybe a front three with Dembele with Rose, Summerfield and Woolford behind in 433?

Quoted from LondonMariner43

Can McSheffrey play the no 10 role alongside Jackson or maybe a front three with Dembele with Rose, Summerfield and Woolford behind in 433?

I think so. Whether you can get 90 minutes out of him is a different question but when he tires, Vernon is an adequate replacement (or as good as we've got at the moment). I think there is something there with Wilks as well but I'd see him as a direct replacement for Jackson, the others wouldn't get a look in for me. I've no issue with the effort of Hooper, but he's miles behind in terms of ability, as is Cardwell in my opinion. I was very disappointed with him on Saturday.

Quoted from 75

I think so. Whether you can get 90 minutes out of him is a different question but when he tires, Vernon is an adequate replacement (or as good as we've got at the moment). I think there is something there with Wilks as well but I'd see him as a direct replacement for Jackson, the others wouldn't get a look in for me. I've no issue with the effort of Hooper, but he's miles behind in terms of ability, as is Cardwell in my opinion. I was very disappointed with him on Saturday.

Cardwell eh? I think his doppelganger Jack Whitehall might be more effective up there to be honest.

He just doesn't look like a footballer to me - certainly not a forward player. He looks like one of those who was perhaps pretty good at 14 but has not progressed one jot. Sounds harsh and I hope he rams my words down my throat but he hasn't shown anything up to now.

Funny how you form opinions more or less straight away about players. I remember getting a first look at the Bogle/ Amond combo at Gainsborough in a pre season game and couldn't stop telling people about their quality - particularly Amond who looked a proper goalscorer, but sorry to say I have not felt that at all about any of our current forwards. Jones was a good player but of course we don't keep those.