Just Back-on the train.

I don't know why but I took the opportunity of leaving before the end to avoid an hours wait in the soulless environment of the Ricoh.
Started well enough (where have I heard that before) and, even after the first went in heads didnt drop. McAlister made most think "if only", Dembele had defenders back tracking and generally worried. Collins won just about everything in the air and Fox continued his decent form from Lincoln. The goal when it came was from a free kick that was never a foul but it was undoubtedly a free header. Refreshingly heads didnt go down and there was no repeat of total implosion a la Lincoln.
Second half began in much the same vein and for a while it looked as though we might get something until Woolford faced with three options going forward in the middle of the park dithered, lost the ball and ten seconds later it's in our net.
Probably the major flaw is that at some point due to expected lack of match fitness some of those players who've just come in need substituting and their replacements have question marks over them. Once McAlister and Wilks departed so did the spark that might have got us something. The third had an inevitability about it. The fourth was a generous gesture designed to ensure McNulty could go home with the match ball.
I probably didn't expect to get anything from today and certainly travelled more in hope than expectation so from that point of view I'm no more unhappy with the final score than if it had finished 1-0. Judging by the number of Town fans on the station with me there ain't many who can see too many positives. For the dwindling number of hopers Friday v Stevenage is massive.

Cheers Barra, good to hear from someone who saw things unfold. I think you're bang on the money with the fitness thing, I felt for Jolly who needed to change things but had an assortment of tired legs both young and old out there, pleased to see McSheffrey get through the game, wonder if Woolford will now be left aside.

Our season was summed up for me midway through the 2nd half, when you're losing and chasing the game and your best players have tired and your only option is to bring Berrett on.

All out attack for Friday.

We haven't got the attackers to go for all out attack. Unfortunately, the defence is a lost cause already - minus 23 goal difference in 2018! Wowsers.

We'll need to somehow fluke or grind out a few wins to have a chance. Heaven only knows how we'll manage it.

We are so weak physically. Very little desire to win a ball and although Collins won a few headers he very rarely sent the ball back down the field as their centre halves did. I thought Mills did ok but didn’t need to give the wide player a reason to go down before the first goal. Should have just stood him up.

Baffling decision to give the offside when Wilks and Dembele went through. Wilks was off but Dembele, who got the ball, was clearly not. Even more infuriating when their second goal was a carbon copy of this and nothing given. The lad that scored the goal but didn’t receive the first pass was offside and running the same channel as the big lad who got the ball before squaring.

Although we played some good stuff in parts we are too slow to get supporting players around the ball and can’t move it quick enough. At least when Venon came on he gave us a presence up front and stopped the ball coming straight back.

From what I’ve seen I think the only hope is that Barnet and Chesterfield are too poor to catch us as I can’t see how we are going to save ourselves.

Quoted from barralad

I don't know why but I took the opportunity of leaving before the end to avoid an hours wait in the soulless environment of the Ricoh.
Started well enough (where have I heard that before) and, even after the first went in heads didnt drop. McAlister made most think "if only", Dembele had defenders back tracking and generally worried. Collins won just about everything in the air and Fox continued his decent form from Lincoln. The goal when it came was from a free kick that was never a foul but it was undoubtedly a free header. Refreshingly heads didnt go down and there was no repeat of total implosion a la Lincoln.
Second half began in much the same vein and for a while it looked as though we might get something until Woolford faced with three options going forward in the middle of the park dithered, lost the ball and ten seconds later it's in our net.
Probably the major flaw is that at some point due to expected lack of match fitness some of those players who've just come in need substituting and their replacements have question marks over them. Once McAlister and Wilks departed so did the spark that might have got us something. The third had an inevitability about it. The fourth was a generous gesture designed to ensure McNulty could go home with the match ball.
I probably didn't expect to get anything from today and certainly travelled more in hope than expectation so from that point of view I'm no more unhappy with the final score than if it had finished 1-0. Judging by the number of Town fans on the station with me there ain't many who can see too many positives. For the dwindling number of hopers Friday v Stevenage is massive.

I think you're pretty spot on there Barra. My contributions would be Woolford shouldn't be on the pitch (we already knew that) he's too slow to play and while Davis did well, I would say the same thing, too slow for the position and Hall-Johnson or Mills should be starting there. I know we conceded 4 goals but defensively we looked better with a bit of pace in the middle two (shock who knew oh wait the entire fan base), MIlls had a great game and was probably my man of the match. McCallister and Wilks looked like they were lacking match fitness and someone needs to review game footage with Dembele and tell him what he is doing wrong, where he should be going, where he should be passing the ball. He had a decent game today and a few things just didn't come off for him, but he needs to learn how to play football beyond being able to do step overs.

What pisses me off the most is that we had some good spells and looked like we could have had a goal or two. The result flatterer Coventry.. sure they were better than us but for good portions of the game we gave as good as we got.

Quoted from Maringer

We haven't got the attackers to go for all out attack. Unfortunately, the defence is a lost cause already - minus 23 goal difference in 2018! Wowsers.

We'll need to somehow fluke or grind out a few wins to have a chance. Heaven only knows how we'll manage it.

Surely if Jackson's back some make strategic subs can keep the attacking momentum up, though I'd be much more confident if Summerfield is in the middle, perm him, Clifton, Rose or McSheffey to supply a decent middle. The defence is always a concern but our midfield has been bypassed far too many times, I do think Jolly is closer to strengthening the centre meaning less pressure on our creaking defence.
Though defending set pieces does seem beyond us...

4-0 not a true reflection.  

For 38 mins difficult to tell who was the promotion chasing team. However Town looked toothless and oppo just need to bide their time in picking us off.  

Good choice of line up and we will benefit from Sean M, Wilks n Gary M getting game time under their belts.  Next 4 games is a mini season and will make or break us - thus that game time for such key players will hopefully prove invaluable.

Hard to watch -

For 55-60 mins we looked organised, and you had the sense there was a clear plan.  Felt Jolley made some good calls, assume Mills was at CB for pace, and the midfield were holding their own, especially first half.

Even then felt there was some sense of a gap in quality - Coventry's forwards had some zip and sharpness about them, they were certainly trying to create angles and bring each other into the game.  However, they had so little opportunity because they were well contained, our defence was committed and made some great challenges and interceptions.  So while I felt they had players and potential to be dangerous, we weren't in danger that much.  I liked their 7 too - good footballer.

As for the goal, Mckeown was never going to get the Cross, and then we lose the ball in a decent position and they break and it's in the net -  every mistake is punished atm.

In contrast, the touch and interchange between our forwards was not quite as tight or crisp.  These slightly looser touches meant angles for shots / crosses were lost.  We showed potential without really creating anything.

The substitutes weakened us, much of that I guess was fitness (McCallister) but at 2-0 the game was gone.  In the last 20 it was a case of how many, they had a few good chances they didn't take.  I suspect that is also part of why Jolley was angry.

For me this showed some of the limits of Harry Clifton, felt he was chasing the game at times.  I was also concerned in the second half about how shot our confidence is.  Dembele I felt was doing that thing where he was signalling for the ball without properly showing for it.  Appearing interested but not really being in a position to take possession is the sign of someone afraid of making a mistake.

Overall, the question is can the good things from the start of the game be translated into points against weaker opposition?  Maybe some of the players he's involving need another game or two to get to their sharpest - they may be our best chance.  In the end, what matters is doing whatever it takes, even if it's just enough to get over the line.  

I hope we get to see MJ build a team in league 2, I'm not yet confident that'll be the case.  It's never nice to get a stuffing, but at the same time, scraping points / dirty wins in key games may be enough.  If that's what is needed then so be it.  Better to lose to Cov than Barnet or Chesterfield.

We've conceded about 24 goals from set pieces this season and don't score from ours & if you're not scoring from open play where does that leave you? Where we are now.

First 45 left me thinking that there was enough in the team to win a game.

The collapse in the second half just made me wish the season was over so we can release this team of eunuchs.

Quoted from barralad

I don't know why but I took the opportunity of leaving before the end to avoid an hours wait in the soulless environment of the Ricoh.
Started well enough (where have I heard that before) and, even after the first went in heads didnt drop. McAlister made most think "if only", Dembele had defenders back tracking and generally worried. Collins won just about everything in the air and Fox continued his decent form from Lincoln. The goal when it came was from a free kick that was never a foul but it was undoubtedly a free header. Refreshingly heads didnt go down and there was no repeat of total implosion a la Lincoln.
Second half began in much the same vein and for a while it looked as though we might get something until Woolford faced with three options going forward in the middle of the park dithered, lost the ball and ten seconds later it's in our net.
Probably the major flaw is that at some point due to expected lack of match fitness some of those players who've just come in need substituting and their replacements have question marks over them. Once McAlister and Wilks departed so did the spark that might have got us something. The third had an inevitability about it. The fourth was a generous gesture designed to ensure McNulty could go home with the match ball.
I probably didn't expect to get anything from today and certainly travelled more in hope than expectation so from that point of view I'm no more unhappy with the final score than if it had finished 1-0. Judging by the number of Town fans on the station with me there ain't many who can see too many positives. For the dwindling number of hopers Friday v Stevenage is massive.

Sounds like there is some promise from that starting 11 for the games against some of the teams around us, and with Summerfield and Jackson to come back in too.

Was also wondering about Akheem Rose.  I know scoring goals has been a big problem and it was said his work permit tribunal was some time in April but not heard a date of exactly when though.

We have 5 games in April and one in May - not sure if he may become available to us for a few of those last few games?  

Not seen much of him but from what I hear described as a raw talent with pace to burn so if available might not be a bad option to have on the bench.

As a relatively local game for us, and a late decision, we sat with the home fans. It provides a different view of things, and at half time I heard several positive comments about us, one guy wondering why we are where we are!
When the second went in you could feel the confidence ebb away. We are not shrewd or show any real guile. Cov are nothing special but mentally our guys are shot, and teams know it. These recent heavy defeats have now given us the worst GD in the league and the way it looks that might matter. The only positive I can think of is that Jolley is at least prepared to try different ideas and players.
Let's hope Notts County do us a favour tomorrow.

Your team lacked confidence and it’s hardly surprising after 18 games without a win.  Interesting how some of the comments played down the score line but it’s probably fair to say the stats don’t lie...

Well done to the 800+ that travelled, good effort especially with your current winless run...

Good luck for the rest of the season.

Wow.poor old jolley has got almost insurmountable problems.we give goals away willy nilly we have no pace no creativity and no goal threat.we are fooked.
Collins is exempt from criticism he was a real leader today and couldn't have done any more.mills was almost as good but it was his silly needless foul that led to their free kick. His distribution is very poor. McKeown couldn't have done much more.fox tried his hardest but like mills is limited. Better option than Dixon tho. McAllister and macsheffery were plusses McAllister is a bit like Stacey coldicott dfoing lots of good bits of destructive work whilst mcsheffery tried hard and has a bit of guile and skill.neither woolford nor berrett impressed they just don't create anything.dembele n dj were poor although I was impressed by both cov full backs.wilks n Vernon had so little service that they were just running round feeding off scraps.when they do get the ball there is so little support that they lose it and we're back on the defensive. Apart on the mills header the only other chance was one when the cov defence n keeper screwed up and created the chance for us.even then with the keeper outside his 18 yard box we couldn't score. After the second goal it was the gutless disorganised shambles we saw at Cambridge.
Best part of the day was the brewery.thanks chicane was a cracking little place.you can't argue with 3 quid a pintfor quality ale.should've stayed in there for the 2 hours n saved my money

Quoted from Cov1

Your team lacked confidence and it’s hardly surprising after 18 games without a win.  Interesting how some of the comments played down the score line but it’s probably fair to say the stats don’t lie...

Well done to the 800+ that travelled, good effort especially with your current winless run...

Good luck for the rest of the season.

Honestly, walking away from the game earlier we checked the stats for the match on the BBC, and genuinely didn't feel that they seemed to tally up with what we just saw. It's not just rose tinted glasses or bias for our team - god knows I've seen enough poor Town performances to know when the stats very much reflect what we'd just seen, but today it just never felt like that.

Despite the abysmal scoreline, I'm still going to take a shred of confidence away from that game and just hope we can turn on some of what we did today, against some of the lower level teams we get in the coming weeks. I felt down about things right after the match, but on reflection I'm just starting to think we MIGHT scrape ourselves away from the drop after all.

Quoted from forza ivano

Best part of the day was the brewery.thanks chicane was a cracking little place.you can't argue with 3 quid a pintfor quality ale.should've stayed in there for the 2 hours n saved my money

Hey - sorry I didn't get to put a face to a name. I did pop in for about 30 minutes and went and drank a pint with a mate, and his old man - we went upstairs. I was surprised to see a few town fans in there and wasn't sure how many had found their way there on my recommendation and how many had just found it by themselves. Either way I'm glad you enjoyed it - as I said before, I'd not actually made it over there before today either despite wanting to ever since it opened!

Thought we were very unlucky to lose 4-0 on the day but the way almost every game follows the same pattern obviously isn't.

We played okay without creating much but just consistently shoot ourselves in the foot. Were well in the game first half but conceded a daft goal and we started the second well too but again gifted them a goal. After that, the players were just gone mentally.  

I would definitely keep a similar sort of side to the one that started though, and hope they can perform against lesser teams in these big home games that are coming up.

So.. Friday v Stevenage is massive, get your drift but how many massive games can we have in one season / decade?

Quoted from GYinScuntland

So.. Friday v Stevenage is massive, get your drift but how many massive games can we have in one season / decade?

7 more  

Quoted from grimsby pete

7 more  

Fair play.
Three might do mind. 😂

Just back half drunk and fed up with football same old story we started the better and up to their first goal looked like giving them a game. Second have we capitulated they sensed it and clinically put us to the sword.

the lino did not know what the feck he was doing but neither did we.

Our fans were magnificent in numbers and volume but it did not make the slightest bit of difference once again we folded like a pack of cards.

Once again we only tested their keeper once.

Once again our heads dropped we looked shaky at the back no idea in midfield and up front.

Quoted from forza ivano

Wow.poor old jolley has got almost insurmountable problems.we give goals away willy nilly we have no pace no creativity and no goal threat.we are fooked.
Collins is exempt from criticism he was a real leader today and couldn't have done any more.mills was almost as good but it was his silly needless foul that led to their free kick. His distribution is very poor. McKeown couldn't have done much more.fox tried his hardest but like mills is limited. Better option than Dixon tho. McAllister and macsheffery were plusses McAllister is a bit like Stacey coldicott dfoing lots of good bits of destructive work whilst mcsheffery tried hard and has a bit of guile and skill.neither woolford nor berrett impressed they just don't create anything.dembele n dj were poor although I was impressed by both cov full backs.wilks n Vernon had so little service that they were just running round feeding off scraps.when they do get the ball there is so little support that they lose it and we're back on the defensive. Apart on the mills header the only other chance was one when the cov defence n keeper screwed up and created the chance for us.even then with the keeper outside his 18 yard box we couldn't score. After the second goal it was the gutless disorganised shambles we saw at Cambridge.
Best part of the day was the brewery.thanks chicane was a cracking little place.you can't argue with 3 quid a pintfor quality ale.should've stayed in there for the 2 hours n saved my money

"Collins is exempt from criticism he was a real leader today and couldn't have done any more"

At the end he came right over to us applauding and looked genuinely upset I just don't know how Jolley can save us to be honest.

Wow, mixed conclusions from you guys who went. Some sounding a little bit positive, others distinctly not. I'm going to clutch at the straw that it sounds we played better and were a little bit unlucky. And it was them. So pretty much where we expected to be.

Notts fan for the day now.

Quoted from AndyGTFC

Thought we were very unlucky to lose 4-0 on the day but the way almost every game follows the same pattern obviously isn't.

We played okay without creating much but just consistently shoot ourselves in the foot. Were well in the game first half but conceded a daft goal and we started the second well too but again gifted them a goal. After that, the players were just gone mentally.  

I would definitely keep a similar sort of side to the one that started though, and hope they can perform against lesser teams in these big home games that are coming up.

This.
Think the first half we looked pretty solid.
Just been thinking what my will have learnt in his 3 games.
Think that back 5 today have to be the defence,even though Davies wasn't terribly good.midfield is a problem.McAllister deffo for me and probably Clifton as at least he is spirited and forward thinking.either DJ or dembele just in the hope that they could produce a bit of magic.mcsheffery definitely slots in there as well.he is obviously desperate to get Jackson back so he gets partnered with wilks or vernon .wilks  has obviously got some ability but I could imagine Vernon n jackson working i f we can just get the ball to them.I'd try and feed everything through mcsheffery as well since he alone seems to know how to create and play a final ball

Only crumb of comfort I can think of is that IF we can actually score in the first half when we tend to play well  then we might actually play with confidence and go on to win.

Under Slade we would have sat back with a lead. Maybe under Jolley we might take it to the opposition and put them under pressure.

Only problem with this theory is that we have to actually score first. That's a massive problem!

SO, how was McAllister? An improvement? Did he look fit, strong enough (both mentally and physically)?

Quoted from sam gy

SO, how was McAllister? An improvement? Did he look fit, strong enough (both mentally and physically)?

Yes.what we've needed all season.just 38games too late

Well, like Bignot said, he can be ‘like a new signing’,  just 14 months too late  

Fixed odds indicate 3-2 for a Town home win and 12-5 the draw. Not encouraging, obviously, but anyone daft enough (?) to take those odds would win something if Town avoid defeat. For example £10 put on both games would see a return of £25 for the home win (£5 profit) or £34 the draw (£14 profit) Might have a wee punt on that basis....or should I be certified?

Jock Tower, get in touch with Fenty, get him to put £1 million on each, gets his benign loans money back and can then walk away not being out of pocket. Should be a safe bet as we are not going to win.