Attempt at an unbiased view...........

Who could have guessed after last saturdays result we'd all be as down as this? Think the next couple of days are going to be interesting at grimsby town, john and the board have big decisions to make, I've long supported Mr Hurst but i feel ( if hes in charge tuesday night) and we do not get a result and performance against an altrincham side who had a good result yesterday, then he has to go, its never nice to see fans turning on a manager with chants and boos, but feel that this is going to be the case on tuesday. hurst is a hugely likeable man ( and i doubt theres not one person who doesnt want him to suceed on that factor alone) but whether he has that knowhow to get us out this predicament, sadly I no longer believe so. Id love to be proved wrong but no, not currently. I apologise to johnny denni or any others of the Hurst Out-ers who i may not have agreed with in the past, but im coming round to your way of thinking. however if PH is gaffer on tuesday, the pressure needs to be taken off him and we ALL need to get behind the team from minute 1. moves on to my second point, the players themselves. as much culpable for this as PH. Allright everyone saying we have a good team on paper, well clearly not that good? The players have shown in glimpses what they are capable of in superb performances, and shown there worst in performances too. This i feel is the most frustrating thing, the inability we have had to stick with a system that saw us destroy gateshead and alfreton instead of awful hoofball to poor LJL. i feel LJL looked much better in the above mentioned system, ball at his feet, using pace and strength to create himself opportunities. but why when we have the players to do this, are we not doing it? Where does the blame lie for this? Well ultimately the manager? its a crying shame that things have gone so sour recently, at the end of the day we all only ever want one thing and thats promotion, i long for it having never seen us win promotion ( dear father didnt take me to wembley 98.) the season HAS to be turned around now, I will get behind PH and the players for as long as they are here and I sincerly hope you turn it round, but with gates dwindling and crowds turning, i feel the writing is on the wall. good Luck for tuesday night, all the fans will hopefully get behind the boys, because by heck do we deserve a performance! hope this hasnt turned into an 80s rant haha but just trying to put a point across from an unbiased view. UTM and heres to hopefully a change in fortune in whatever circumstances.

I think you've summed up the way most of us are feeling. It's easy to forget you are talking about a mans livelyhood here, he may not have a way back into full time management if he is sacked from Town. We should be doing a lot better, no doubt about it but he doesn't help himself sometimes. I paraphrase slightly but yesterday he claimed it was a good and deserved point. Is he serious? It isn't good enough, we have to be winning at Dartford who it's fair to say are a poor side in a poor league.

He talks the opposition up, like you say we all thought PH had found a winning formula over that bank holiday weekend yet he's chopped and changed the formations and the players since and we have lost our momentum big time. When he talks, he doesn't instill any confidence in me, never mind the players. He talks up the opposition, I don't remember the legendary Alan Buckley speaking about the oppositions strengths and how we will counter them!  Talking of the players, they didn't even celebrate the goal yesterday, no urgency to retreive the ball and go for the win. We have a good squad, but they do not appear to be playing for the manager and when that happens, their can only be one outcome and I would rather it was sooner than later as his dismissal is inevitable. Let's do it now while we can still make the play offs and get out of this awful league.

UTM!

Quoted from 75

I think you've summed up the way most of us are feeling. It's easy to forget you are talking about a mans livelyhood here, he may not have a way back into full time management if he is sacked from Town. We should be doing a lot better, no doubt about it but he doesn't help himself sometimes. I paraphrase slightly but yesterday he claimed it was a good and deserved point. Is he serious? It isn't good enough, we have to be winning at Dartford who it's fair to say are a poor side in a poor league.

He talks the opposition up, like you say we all thought PH had found a winning formula over that bank holiday weekend yet he's chopped and changed the formations and the players since and we have lost our momentum big time. When he talks, he doesn't instill any confidence in me, never mind the players. He talks up the opposition, I don't remember the legendary Alan Buckley speaking about the oppositions strengths and how we will counter them!  Talking of the players, they didn't even celebrate the goal yesterday, no urgency to retreive the ball and go for the win. We have a good squad, but they do not appear to be playing for the manager and when that happens, their can only be one outcome and I would rather it was sooner than later as his dismissal is inevitable. Let's do it now while we can still make the play offs and get out of this awful league.

UTM!

But we played 2 different systems against Gateshead & Alfreton!

Quoted from Mighty_Mariner

But we played 2 different systems against Gateshead & Alfreton!

It was a slight variation of a 4-3-3, not 4-4-2 as PH has suggested. I have eyes in my head.

IMO Hurst has made some poor signings. Makreth and Nsiala in particular. They are very average conference players at best. I see Macclesfield are not missing Makreth at all. Many fans seem to think we have a really good squad of players but I don't quite see it myself. You only have to look at Parslow who was awful last Tuesday, to see that our squad has no strength in depth. He is certainly no better than Bignot. Our attacking options are very limited particularly now that Pittman and Arnold are injured, which is urine poor for a club with our budget. Iwill not be going on Tuesday as paying £18 to watch a tactically inept team is not on my wish list. If Hurst remains in charge we will be mid table at best, which is very worrying as fans will vote with their feet, like me, which in turn means the finances of the club will suffer. Mr Fenty needs to act very soon and appoint somebody with passion and tactical know how

Quoted from Mighty_Mariner

But we played 2 different systems against Gateshead & Alfreton!

True, but the end the problem is not about systems is it? The good sides do not need that sort of chopping and changing because the good manager has them playing a particular style that only needs a bit of a tweak. Thinking back to the way Buckley would just withdraw Rees a bit deeper to draw defenders out against some teams or move Gilbert slightly more to the middle to make room for the overlap, these things would happen during a a game.

The problem has always been about consistency of selection, style and effort which boils down to positive attitudes. Many posters have commented on the manager standing tight lipped on the touchline with arms folded not appearing to know what to say does not inspire confidence. Then there are the interviews which talk up average to poor opposition before and after the game. Presumably the same things are said in training sessions and they must have an effect on self-belief and performances.

If the side do not approach games with the attitude that they are the best team (that's team) in the league and they are going to show it, the supporters know. It is obvious. The 1972 team was not the best side in the old 4th Division, but McMenemy made them, and us, believe they were. That was Buckley's genius as well. He wasn't a fantastic tactician, he knew the basics. But he knew how he wanted his side to play regardless of opposition, they knew it and we knew it. Dave Booth was a quiet Yorkie too but he had a definite philosophy about how to play the game through midfield and the flanks to feed the strikers and woe betide the player who didn't follow the mantra.

These were good managers who consistently got results in games where we had no right to expect them. I'm afraid Hurst can't consistently get results against sides we should massacre every week and that ultimately is why he must go and go soon. Leopards can't change their spots and if he hasn't done it by now he won't do it.

Quoted from carrot top

IMO Hurst has made some poor signings. Makreth and Nsiala in particular. They are very average conference players at best. I see Macclesfield are not missing Makreth at all. Many fans seem to think we have a really good squad of players but I don't quite see it myself. You only have to look at Parslow who was awful last Tuesday, to see that our squad has no strength in depth. He is certainly no better than Bignot. Our attacking options are very limited particularly now that Pittman and Arnold are injured, which is urine poor for a club with our budget. Iwill not be going on Tuesday as paying £18 to watch a tactically inept team is not on my wish list. If Hurst remains in charge we will be mid table at best, which is very worrying as fans will vote with their feet, like me, which in turn means the finances of the club will suffer. Mr Fenty needs to act very soon and appoint somebody with passion and tactical know how

I agree about many posters saying we have a good team capable of winning the league but  not in my view. We simply do not have enough attacking players who can create and score goals consistently to get us to the top.

Paul has tried since May to get in the strikers we need, but for whatever reasons has failed. Location IS an issue but not an insurmountable one. He has his budget to spend and if that meant giving a bigger slice to an Akinde or the likes and reducing the amount spent in say  the full back position then so be it IMO. Forwards win games. We have a strong core down the rest of the pitch and with the addition of a top class striker ( for this level) would have meant others could be grafted on it to formulate a team.

It isn't our heads on the block and I am sure PH is doing what he believes is the right thing but we need to be far more adventurous.

In some ways the relatively strong back four ( I am of the view that Nisiala IS a good signing and better that BigMac who has issues with his knees meaning he can't train full time {he is no Paul McGrath} ) is our downfall as my view is to go for it more, we are hamstrung by playing what are essentially 4 centre backs. Attacking full backs would give us far more width, enable us to go with 3 up top ( providing we had signed enough forwards).

I don't think the season is dead but even changing the manager won't be enough unless he can get at least 2 decent attacking players in immediately ( possibly loans until Jan then more permanents)

Agree with the OP and BigChris completely.

I'm generally more disappointed with Hannah than LJL (who always gives what he's got) - but we need better than both IMO.
Pittman and/or Arnold may be one of them, but since we can't get either on the pitch regularly it's irrelevant.

I made the point a couple of times on earlier threads that PH doesn't seem to handle strikers well. I'm wondering if his
inability to attract the striker we need is due to his reputation on the football grapevine.
I accept I may just be inflating my own opinion there, however.

I did guess it and have been saying it all season me and a few others!!!

I fear the board will allow the loan striker to come in and thus give Paul more time, resulting in more average performances with no consistency and draws and losses against poor teams with wins sprinkled in.