Just Back

Oof that was tough to watch.

Credit to Crewe though played some lovely football as opposed to our version of it. Would be kind to call it agricultural.

The penalty miss by us was a game changer, it was a chance to put them under pressure and unfortunately we didn't take it.

We move on now, still a great start to our season.

Beaten by a better team today, that is it really. They passed the ball round us while we were limited this week to just kicking it long. I do think we got our tactics wrong we should of pressed higher and forced them to play more long balls I thought their CBs were a little suspect on the ball the few times we did press them but it is what it is, when you miss a peno in the first half you know its going to be a hard day don't you.

Generally behind Crewe in all aspects of the game. That said the penalty would have changed their mindset but too many individuals not at the races, particularly Ohman, Green and Ogbu.

Also wondering why Vernam only got five minutes and we never seemed to try and stifle their midfield. No doubt Crewe are decent and we go again.

No complaints, not up to our usual standard today but beaten by a side that really know how to pass a ball.
Probably the best footballing side we will see at BP all season.

2 very different styles - their patient build up vs our more direct approach. They had us chasing shadows but we had our chances and it was one of those days s when wit just didn’t fall for us.
Hanson got to everything first but hardly ever found a Town player.
Still looking effective and if the penalty had gone in would have been a very different second half.
Crewe definitely one of the better sides but I feel the stats reflected the different styles rather than being outclassed.

Crewe looked a slick passing side, using width to good effect, especially down the right. The first goal was a good move but disappointed that it went straight through McKeown at the near post. The second was a well executed counter attack (6 on 2?) , well finished. The other thing Crewe did was to be one of the few opponents so far to nullify Hanson, exposing how little else we have going forward.
The penalty was tame and an easy height for the keeper although the save probably looked good for the cameras.

An off day against a good side. No need to go overboard with criticism (except to say that Ogbu, for all his endeavour and energy has the ball control of a Dalek).

We were very pedestrian with shades of couldn't be arsed.

They were better, we were poor, they took their chances and we fluffed a penalty.

Can't believe how cold it was in the Ponny.

Whether this is a criticism of Jolley or not but, shouldn't he have been aware of their style, they've been playing it for the last 20 years, and had a plan to stop them. Or do we make the opposition worry about us more then us about them.

Oh dear.-that was schoolboy football. With the wind and at home we played too defensive -don't think Hess or Cook entered their box in the first half. They played 2 skilful wingers who stayed out wide thus their midfield had all the time in the world to be creative. Basic football - keep ball on ground against the wind.They showed us how to do it-so what did we do-up and under but with no under. What tactics did we use except big boot to Hanson-so predictable. One bad game-let it be the last one. Jolly get a plan B sorted.

Quoted from Gaffer58

Whether this is a criticism of Jolley or not but, shouldn't he have been aware of their style, they've been playing it for the last 20 years, and had a plan to stop them. Or do we make the opposition worry about us more then us about them.

he noted in his pre match notes how they play and how we play and said he has no apologies about that, while in the first half their superior possession didnt really create anything, one glancing header chance but otherwise i though they were boring, overpassing it in every direction except the goal...whilst we did our containing job and but just gave them it back within a couple of touches.
Felt we sat back and just let them knock it about, as someone posted earlier we didnt look that @rsed first half , the only time we moved the ball with some controlled urgency we got the penalty, score that and it would have been a different proposition.
Second half they started brighter, too easy for their goal and then Macca made a few good saves as we looked all at sea, the relentless long punt wasnt working and Jolley took too long to switch or try something different.
Second goal on the break but overall Crewe deserved the win and 2-0 kind of flattered us on the second half chances they had.

A Mansfield win the only bright spot of the day.

Could have been worse today. 1 off the line 1 blocked by hewitt when going in. Just wernt with it. It happens.

No complaints today, we were beaten by a better side.
We could do nothing right, they did everything right.
And if it wasn’t for Waterfall with a clearance off the line, and a block by Hewitt after McKeown came out and totally missed the ball,  it would’ve been 0-4.
Hope for better things on Tuesday.

UTM

As for the penalty,  the keeper moved off the line before Henson hit it. The linesman was on the line and should have signalled it to be retaken.

What's the point of the linesman on the touchline if he doesn't do his job properly?

I felt the atmosphere was different today when we went behind in the Bradford and Vale game the the crowd and players got back in straight away. Everything felt off today

Quoted from sapper mariner

I felt the atmosphere was different today when we went behind in the Bradford and Vale game the the crowd and players got back in straight away. Everything felt off today

hard for the crowd to get going when we hardly touched the ball for the first 15 mins and we were basically just watching Crewe keeping possession.

frustrating game our formation helped them and we didn't change it so they had loads of time on the wings giving them 2 vs 1, should of been changed after about 20 mins but we didn't change it at all and was punished.

The penalty miss was crucial. We weren’t at our best and they were decent, but it was close.

Shocking start to the second half. Did they hear the whistle? They played the conditions so much better than us by patient pass and move. The moment to change things was right after they scored by getting pace and width on the pitch. Each of the subs were 15 min too late. I don't get the reverence for Whitehouse. When he gets forward, he lacks ideas and then struggles to get back. It's either him or Cook for me. Not both.

We won't get the best out of Ogbu with hoof ball. When we did win the ball in midfield, Crewe pressed in groups. We played as individuals. Despite his work rate, Green is not quick over 5 yards and seems not to anticipate where the flicks and passes might go. Their wide men gave a lesson in how to find space and stretch our defences.

Our lack of width causes problems for our defence in that Crewe, and most of the teams we have played, always have a player available near the touchline so our three in the middle are bypassed.

It's not enough to say 'It happens, move on' . We have a systemic weakness which needs addressing so that we can react more quickly to events.

Thought Ethan Robson looked tidy. Hope he gets a longer run out on Tuesday.

Owing to illness first game I've been to in the league since Morecambe..
Crewe kept the ball well first half but apart from Hendrie being under some pressure from their excellent right winger they didn't really threaten much. The back four looked generally well organised, the midfield put a shift in although looked a bit too deep at times. Ogbu has the capacity to cause delight and despair in equal measure. First half he looked on occasions like the ball was stuck to his feet. It was a remarkable piece of quick thinking which led to the penalty. Second half he looked like he'd have trouble trapping a bag of cement.
Hanson is huge in every meaningful aspect of the word. Massively important player for us and has more to his game than being the best target man since Lump.
Even allowing for any goalkeeping infringement the penalty wasn't great.
Second half we were caught cold and from then on in were really up against it. For all the times we got the ball into their box we failed to work the keeper.
The subs failed to give us the extra impetus we might have expected-particularly Wright who was eased out of the game by their defence.
The second goal was inconsequential other than to cause a mass exodus. We had to go for it and got caught with a very well taken effort.
Doubt we'll come up  against many better sides both ability and organisationally wise.

My thoughts also, Barralad. My first game this season, and I have to say Ogbu reminded me of Serge Makofo. Hopefully he was just having an off day.

Crewe set their stall out in the first 10 mins.  Good passing, movement, pressing and pace.  They deserved their win.

Our plan A was to hit it long to Hanson.  Many of the lay-offs did not work.  Plan B to stop them having possession  was for Ogbu to run the ball out of play.

The penalty summed up our day.

Crewe were always keen to break in numbers.  They had 6 players in our box in an attack exactly on 80 mins.  They were far more mobile than we were.

We move on - after given a football lesson today.

Quoted from barralad

Owing to illness first game I've been to in the league since Morecambe..
Crewe kept the ball well first half but apart from Hendrie being under some pressure from their excellent right winger they didn't really threaten much. The back four looked generally well organised, the midfield put a shift in although looked a bit too deep at times. Ogbu has the capacity to cause delight and despair in equal measure. First half he looked on occasions like the ball was stuck to his feet. It was a remarkable piece of quick thinking which led to the penalty. Second half he looked like he'd have trouble trapping a bag of cement.
Hanson is huge in every meaningful aspect of the word. Massively important player for us and has more to his game than being the best target man since Lump.
Even allowing for any goalkeeping infringement the penalty wasn't great.
Second half we were caught cold and from then on in were really up against it. For all the times we got the ball into their box we failed to work the keeper.
The subs failed to give us the extra impetus we might have expected-particularly Wright who was eased out of the game by their defence.
The second goal was inconsequential other than to cause a mass exodus. We had to go for it and got caught with a very well taken effort.
Doubt we'll come up  against many better sides both ability and organisationally wise.

Hope you’re fully recovered Barra. Thought there was something missing from this board 😊.

What Barra said really.
Really disappointed tonight.  

Disappointed, but no complaints. Everything seemed to start with their no.2, Ng. Faster in thought and physical movement all over the pitch. Best team I’ve seen at BP for some time. Onwards. Still a very good start to the season and we may have just played the champions.

My view? We where not careful enough with the ball, passed it poorly, wasted too many dead ball situations  and allowed Crewe’s movement to break our shape on too many occasions.

I would say though that we where beaten by a better side and credit to them they have some good footballers at this level even though their manager is an ignorant tw@t.

I was really disappointed that Jolley didn’t cotton on that from early on we where struggling in the middle of the park and add a man to midfield. A mid field that at times looked a bit disorganised with Cooke being pushed back far too deep stifling any creativity.

After they scored the first I think we lacked the composure on the ball that has brought us back from behind in recent weeks but we still got into some good positions without working their keeper too hard.

Not going to single out anyone for criticism as you can’t be on top form every week but thought both CB’s actually looked solid and Hess was good once again.

So I don’t think it was even “a bad day at the office” just that the best team won.

The good thing is there is a game on Tuesday where the players can put today to bed with a good win, Mac are flying in comparison to last season so we’ll need to be much better than today, from what I’ve seen this season I’m sure we will be.

UTM!

Big disappointment was that they clearly decided to sit back for the last 15 minutes or so to defend and try to break. Our tactic of whacking it forward from our own half didn't change as we'd given up all semblance of trying to pass by then. Nothing wrong with using Hanson, but you've got to try something else as well.

Suggest the max exodus at the end was people scurrying home to watch England

Quoted from mimma

As for the penalty,  the keeper moved off the line before Henson hit it. The linesman was on the line and should have signalled it to be retaken.

What's the point of the linesman on the touchline if he doesn't do his job properly?

Just watched the highlights, keeper was ar least a foot of his line when ball was struck

Think most posters have hit the nail on the head and the better team won. Penalty may have changed the course of the game but we will never know. First half whilst Crewe managed the ball better without really creating any problems but that changed immediately after the break and after that we were at time reminiscent of last seasons team and a little clueless on the creative front.

Hendrie, Ogbu, Green & Whitehouse all below par today which doesn’t help but as others have said the big disappointment was MJ’s failure to adjust our tactics after half hour but certainly at half time. The current formation is too narrow leaving the opposition’s wide players/full backs the freedom of the park to advance play or provide the option for an easy ball to relieve pressure on their defence. Surprisingly, given we are very narrow Green & Ogbu are very rarely close to Hanson and a lot of second balls just fall to the opposition. Thought we should have switched to 4-4-2 today with Wright and Robson coming on much earlier.

Would also agree that in home matches we are not good at times in getting behind the team and tend to be reactive rather than proactive in giving verbal support, I being as guilty as everyone else but found the mass walk out a bit embarrassing as would have been good to demonstrate we are still behind the team despite this setback.

Let’s hope it is a blip and no reason tonight to think it is anything worse and a good result Tuesday would certainly help recovery.

I remain of the belief that Hanson and Green as a two would operate better than in a three. By all means play 1 behind (Cook or Vernam) but in a three, they are too far apart.

Quoted from Garth

Suggest the max exodus at the end was people scurrying home to watch England

Nah, we wanted to get our Oldham and Salford tickets. Exiles and Away fans have priorities in order!

Quoted from MuddyWaters

I remain of the belief that Hanson and Green as a two would operate better than in a three. By all means play 1 behind (Cook or Vernam) but in a three, they are too far apart.

And with Max Wright starting wide right.

Crewe better than us - go and win at Oldham next week and it becomes an insignificant loss. We’ve had a horrible habit of losing back-to-back (to-back (and even to-back again)) in recent years so let’s shake that off this season.

Crewe, like Colchester, showed how one dimensional our play is. High balls pumped diagonally to Hanson looking for knock downs. The angle of the balls in make it difficult to head towards goal. Would prefer to see at least one winger who can get the ball to the byline and pull it back for an onrushing Hanson.

We will get results playing like this, but attractive to watch it ain’t.

Nice to see the majority walk away yesterday saying fair result, beaten by the better side on the day rather than moaning.

We need to work out a way to get our midfield 3 in to the game more. We seem to skip them out transitioning from defence to attack and it feels like they are only used when we don’t have the ball and are trying to win it back. I think that may be the last of the Cook experiment and I would expect to see Robson starting there next weekend.

Bit disappointed yesterday but that’s how it goes. Hopefully learn from it and back to winning ways next weekend.

I thought Whitehouse was really poor today. Hendrie well below par but not in his natural position.

Not sure where Cook should be playing but pretty sure its not central mid or up front, i suspect somewhere in between would suit.

Allround off day today but the subs and cjange in shape that proved effective came much too late but Jolley in all fairness is still learning his trade.

Quoted from Maringer

Big disappointment was that they clearly decided to sit back for the last 15 minutes or so to defend and try to break. Our tactic of whacking it forward from our own half didn't change as we'd given up all semblance of trying to pass by then. Nothing wrong with using Hanson, but you've got to try something else as well.

I must admit it was my concern that when we signed Hanson we would play to a "target man" too much. I got the impression that MJ decided that the long ball was the main tactic to use against Crewe but it was obvious after about 20 minutes that we needed to " mix and match it " more. I hope MJ learns from this. We need to implement a Plan B sooner in the game if Plan A is floundering. Crewe showed the kind of football we need to aspire to - a passing game, use of wide men when appropriate but still go long if and when that option is on.

Quoted from rancido

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I must admit it was my concern that when we signed Hanson we would play to a "target man" too much. I got the impression that MJ decided that the long ball was the main tactic to use against Crewe but it was obvious after about 20 minutes that we needed to " mix and match it " more. I hope MJ learns from this. We need to implement a Plan B sooner in the game if Plan A is floundering. Crewe showed the kind of football we need to aspire to - a passing game, use of wide men when appropriate but still go long if and when that option is on.

Similar to last season he hasn't quite got the balance right so that we can get wide players in behind and have full backs working in tandem with the mid field.

I feel that on reflection both yesterday and versus Colchester it was the 4-3-3 that caught us out and not the personnel, We need to find a way to get Hanson & Green closer together with a bot of supply on the deck.  .    

I thought that Crewe were quite a bit better than us. They played the ball about with ease and whilst not creating too many chances in the first half I think in the second McKewan had to pull off two good saves, Waterfall made a great goal line clearance, they should have scored when McKeown came rushing out and fluffed it and they scored two good goals whilst all we had all game was the penalty and a tame shot by Ogbu on target.

Whilst a number of our players didn't pIay that well I think that MJ was out thought by their manager and hopefully we can learn from it and improve.

PS: Would someone have a word in Ogbu's ear and tell him not to fanny about with the ball in front of our penalty area.

Just looking at results so far I'd guess we are looking at a mid table or upper mid table side..lost to 2 of the top sides and drawn with Bradford who your expect to be right up there but beaten 4 mid table/ lower league teams.still a vast improvement on last year when we were still on 11 points in mid October

Ogbu reminds me a bit of Darren Mansaram, all legs and when he gets the ball, no-one knows what he's going to do with it, including him.

Quoted from Les Brechin

Ogbu reminds me a bit of Darren Mansaram, all legs and when he gets the ball, no-one knows what he's going to do with it, including him.

good old flash!

Quoted from HertsGTFC

Similar to last season he hasn't quite got the balance right so that we can get wide players in behind and have full backs working in tandem with the mid field.

I feel that on reflection both yesterday and versus Colchester it was the 4-3-3 that caught us out and not the personnel, We need to find a way to get Hanson & Green closer together with a bot of supply on the deck.  .    

3-5-2?

Let’s not forget though, whilst they outplayed us we were still in the game and won a penalty fair and square. If Hanson had put it away who knows what the end result would of been. My point is even though we were outplayed all over the park we could of still got a result with this team.UTM!