Just Back?

Any chance of a ‘Just back’ thread please
(Sorry I couldn’t be there today)

It's a fair old trek!

They’ve still got an hour or so to drive haven’t they?

Ok I will dive in with a few observations.and they are precisely that observations NOT criticisms. First time I've seen them this season. Much better quality players compared to last season  who are hard working and well organised. Very disciplined but not much flair or pace. Definitely need 1 or 2 left footed players, far too much time wasted by players cutting back to get it on to their favoured foot. We have been transformed into a mini lincoln, it's long balls ,hard work, long throws with attempted quick breaks. Trouble is that with no pace you're going to struggle with that strstegy! We created very little  and it's very reliant on the impressive Hanson winning headers and the rest feeding off those knockdowns.
FGR were much nicer on the eye despite them playing the ref like a fiddle all game and going down like they'd been shot. They were the only team really looking to win the game and they'd argue (probably rightly) that they deserved their bit of luck for all the probing and nice clever football they'd played in the previous 75 mins. We created very little and looked like we'd come for the point. We won't go down but we'd  need a bit more to be challengers.
Impressed with new boys hewitt, Hanson green (especislly) and whitehouse.hess and Davis looked good but Clifton was poor.Moses is going to be a marmite player, looks like he could be a handful but made a couple of v poor decisions, hanging on to the ball for too long. Overall much more effective and efficient than last season but it won't great to watch. We really need a player like their no.14 adams

Been back ages all kebabed and cidered up
Brief synopsis:
They had lots of possession but did nothing threatening with it
We looked the more dangerous of the two first half, they did second half
They passed it a lot square and backwards, we were largely direct
When we got it down we were pedestrian

They fell down a lot and the ref bought it and had cheery conversations with their players
Friendly ground and people, totally devoid of atmosphere
Odd experience to be on a country lane with passing places less than 100m from the ground
Excellent cider
AWFUL vegan burgers. Disappointed to learn that they’re not actually made out of vegans, surely a trades’ description transgression right there?

All in all a very forgettable game

My takeaway (apart from the kebab made from animals when I got home) is: it’s ok to go direct, but not at the expense of some pass and move at pace when the opportunity presents

To be fair, if they’re at home they’re going to look more like they are trying to win it. Agree though - think it’s pragmatic for us to adopt the approach we have but we need more attacking and creative impetus from midfield, missing since we lost Embleton, and I hope Jolley is on the case to address it.?

What was so striking is the change in approach.It's almost like we've got a new manager, the idealistic young coach has suddenly been transformed into a mini Cowley, it's all about effectiveness, directness, discipline and hard work. It was a Paul Hurst ' keep us shape' performance. Can't say I enjoy it but if it improves us then who am I to be critical?

Depends how much you read into this sort of stuff but our xG was 2.0 while FGR was down at 0.7. Obviously this data eliminates the human factor but it shows how little we allowed FGR to create.

That said, using the same stats, FGR have barely created in their other games either and have taken the good chance presented to them in each game. Their luck will run out eventually.

We failed to stop FGR 's keeper playing the Beckanbauer role. He enabled their wing backs to be advanced which tied up Green and Ogbu. Wright or a fit? Vernam could have played in advance of Hanson to disrupt their leisurely faffing around at the back. Jolley just let it happen til it was too late. Played it like a pre season game.

Locals here wondered why we didn't sing 'we urinate on your fish'!

The main thing I took from the match was, I am glad town do not play football like FGR. No wonder they get small no vocal crowds. I would not buy a ticket to watch that every week.
I has been said we did not let them play, but all the passing across their defence even when they did have options to go forward I do not think they wanted to play football.

Quoted from Grantham_Mariner

The main thing I took from the match was, I am glad town do not play football like FGR. No wonder they get small no vocal crowds. I would not buy a ticket to watch that every week.
I has been said we did not let them play, but all the passing across their defence even when they did have options to go forward I do not think they wanted to play football.

Maybe they wanted to win, wouldn't you buy a ticket to see Town win every week?

To me we’ve had 2 of the teams defiantly going to be in the top 7 and for me the probable league winners in Bradford, my expectations from them 3 games are what I thought in beating Morcambe, drawing with Bradford and loosing to forest green,

The encouraging thing is we could of easily beat Bradford and picked up a draw with FGR minimum.

We have to push on now and I believe we can beat any team
At home, Colchester have started bad with one point, we need to beat them and we really should be beating port vale.


For me now it’s consistency, am happy enough in the first three games to see we have a team that’s improved on last season and could possibly sneak the play offs seeming as we was around that spot by Christmas last season before the dire run after new year, now it’s all about doing what we didn’t do last season and go from playing well picking up points to loosing and playing crap, I think the next 4-5 games will tell us this and we will understand more of what to expect this season

Quoted from forza ivano

Ok I will dive in with a few observations.and they are precisely that observations NOT criticisms. First time I've seen them this season. Much better quality players compared to last season  who are hard working and well organised. Very disciplined but not much flair or pace. Definitely need 1 or 2 left footed players, far too much time wasted by players cutting back to get it on to their favoured foot. We have been transformed into a mini lincoln, it's long balls ,hard work, long throws with attempted quick breaks. Trouble is that with no pace you're going to struggle with that strstegy! We created very little  and it's very reliant on the impressive Hanson winning headers and the rest feeding off those knockdowns.
FGR were much nicer on the eye despite them playing the ref like a fiddle all game and going down like they'd been shot. They were the only team really looking to win the game and they'd argue (probably rightly) that they deserved their bit of luck for all the probing and nice clever football they'd played in the previous 75 mins. We created very little and looked like we'd come for the point. We won't go down but we'd  need a bit more to be challengers.
Impressed with new boys hewitt, Hanson green (especislly) and whitehouse.hess and Davis looked good but Clifton was poor.Moses is going to be a marmite player, looks like he could be a handful but made a couple of v poor decisions, hanging on to the ball for too long. Overall much more effective and efficient than last season but it won't great to watch. We really need a player like their no.14 adams

Some FGR fans on their site suggested we were playing like Lincoln, if only we could be as successful.

My twopenneth :-

Listening to MJ before and after the match he suggested that FGR have a certain style of play and it seemed he set us up to combat that and for most of the game it worked.

I disagree about your opinion of the way FGR played, acccording to some of their fans the were "turgid" and I agree for 45 minutes they were terrible it was only after half time that they looked to get forward a bit quicker with their substitutions, it was a shame that poor defending by not closing them down then a dreadful error by Waterfall gifted them that free shot on goal. Other than that effort they never really looked like scoring.

As for us, we obviously worked hard to defend their style of play and as I mentioned it just about worked but I agree with you, as for us scoring a goal we are obviously going to rely on the long ball and crosses into the opposition's penalty area to get a knock down off Hanson.

I also agree about Clifton's performance I thought he struggled to make any impact on the game. As for Green I do like his running and the effort he puts in but so far he doesn't look like he will get that many goals, I hope he proves me wrong and that he starts on Tuesday.

I also think you are right about Ogbu, no where near as effective as he was against Doncaster, only time will tell.

So far I don't think we have been outplayed this season but I worry where the creativity and goals will come from.

I think goals will come Harry but I don't think they are going to be things of beauty! Jolley seems to have had an epiphany over the last 3 months. Was this idealist hel l bent on 3-5-2 come hel l or high water ,now he's been transformed into a calmer version of Cowley, big centre forwards, long throws, percentage football,  physicality and the rest that comes with it.not the old fashioned grimsby way but after all these of shiite seems a bit churlish to be critical when and if the new way wins matches.
Ps on Clifton one of the lads yesterday made an interesting point in that he looked good in last year's v.average midfield but doesn't look as good when surrounded by better player's. Got to remember he's young and been injured , but just maybe he's not quite as good as we hoped

We need more creativity at our level.  Ironic that we “lost” Osborne, who scored again for Solihull as they remain top of the NL pyramid.  

Quoted from forza ivano

I think goals will come Harry but I don't think they are going to be things of beauty! Jolley seems to have had an epiphany over the last 3 months. Was this idealist hel l bent on 3-5-2 come hel l or high water ,now he's been transformed into a calmer version of Cowley, big centre forwards, long throws, percentage football,  physicality and the rest that comes with it.not the old fashioned grimsby way but after all these of shiite seems a bit churlish to be critical when and if the new way wins matches.
Ps on Clifton one of the lads yesterday made an interesting point in that he looked good in last year's v.average midfield but doesn't look as good when surrounded by better player's. Got to remember he's young and been injured , but just maybe he's not quite as good as we hoped

I agree that we look to be set up to play with a certain style i.e. get the ball foward and high balls into the opponents area, I do wonder if we should have looked for a Podge type player for the knock downs.

Quoted from arryarryarry

Some FGR fans on their site suggested we were playing like Lincoln, if only we could be as successful.

My twopenneth :-

Listening to MJ before and after the match he suggested that FGR have a certain style of play and it seemed he set us up to combat that and for most of the game it worked.

I disagree about your opinion of the way FGR played, acccording to some of their fans the were "turgid" and I agree for 45 minutes they were terrible it was only after half time that they looked to get forward a bit quicker with their substitutions, it was a shame that poor defending by not closing them down then a dreadful error by Waterfall gifted them that free shot on goal. Other than that effort they never really looked like scoring.

As for us, we obviously worked hard to defend their style of play and as I mentioned it just about worked but I agree with you, as for us scoring a goal we are obviously going to rely on the long ball and crosses into the opposition's penalty area to get a knock down off Hanson.

I also agree about Clifton's performance I thought he struggled to make any impact on the game. As for Green I do like his running and the effort he puts in but so far he doesn't look like he will get that many goals, I hope he proves me wrong and that he starts on Tuesday.

I also think you are right about Ogbu, no where near as effective as he was against Doncaster, only time will tell.

So far I don't think we have been outplayed this season but I worry where the creativity and goals will come from.

Ir was NOT a dreadful error by Waterfall, he stretched to intercept the ball which was going straight to one of their players who would have been through on goal, if you have played football then you will know that when stretching like that you cannot control where the ball goes.

Quoted from Croxton

We failed to stop FGR 's keeper playing the Beckanbauer role. He enabled their wing backs to be advanced which tied up Green and Ogbu. Wright or a fit? Vernam could have played in advance of Hanson to disrupt their leisurely faffing around at the back. Jolley just let it happen til it was too late. Played it like a pre season game.

Locals here wondered why we didn't sing 'we urinate on your fish'!

i hope the answer was..... "because you're vegans and you dont eat fish... numbnuts"

Quoted from Grantham_Mariner

The main thing I took from the match was, I am glad town do not play football like FGR. No wonder they get small no vocal crowds. I would not buy a ticket to watch that every week.
I has been said we did not let them play, but all the passing across their defence even when they did have options to go forward I do not think they wanted to play football.

i would think any neutral would think,  i wouldnt watch either of them every week. It really was an awful watch.

Quoted from forza ivano

I think goals will come Harry but I don't think they are going to be things of beauty! Jolley seems to have had an epiphany over the last 3 months. Was this idealist hel l bent on 3-5-2 come hel l or high water ,now he's been transformed into a calmer version of Cowley, big centre forwards, long throws, percentage football,  physicality and the rest that comes with it.not the old fashioned grimsby way but after all these of shiite seems a bit churlish to be critical when and if the new way wins matches.
Ps on Clifton one of the lads yesterday made an interesting point in that he looked good in last year's v.average midfield but doesn't look as good when surrounded by better player's. Got to remember he's young and been injured , but just maybe he's not quite as good as we hoped

Look at the goal we scored against Doncaster though.
Midfield turn over, break with pace, incisive one-two, great return, great finish.
If Jolley is smart (and he is) he’ll get us to mix it but play with pragmatism and stats evidence. Facts are that most goals arise from crosses and set pieces. I think we are a quality centre mid short but then who isn’t..?!?!

I’m gonna wait a bit because I think the balance is nearly right for what we’ve got and we could do alright.

Quoted from chaos33

Look at the goal we scored against Doncaster though.
Midfield turn over, break with pace, incisive one-two, great return, great finish.
If Jolley is smart (and he is) he’ll get us to mix it but play with pragmatism and stats evidence. Facts are that most goals arise from crosses and set pieces. I think we are a quality centre mid short but then who isn’t..?!?!

I’m gonna wait a bit because I think the balance is nearly right for what we’ve got and we could do alright.

Plus transfer window doesn't close for another couple of weeks. CM loan incoming from higher up the pyramid nailed on imho..

I like MJ a lot, but feel we could of done with Wright on instead of Ring, but all in all, we played ok, and against a team who will be there or there abouts again, nothing to be ashamed off