Awful defence

yesterdays goals was nothing to do with defence , our most experianced operator making a schoolboy error & an own goal cost us a game we was in complete control of for half hour proble is the other 60 we was poor

Quoted from fishcake63

yesterdays goals was nothing to do with defence , our most experianced operator making a schoolboy error & an own goal cost us a game we was in complete control of for half hour proble is the other 60 we was poor

We are a bit did organised at set pieces though, against Chesterfield the defence left LJL to look after Tshimanga and we all know how that ended.

Quoted from fishcake63

yesterdays goals was nothing to do with defence , our most experianced operator making a schoolboy error & an own goal cost us a game we was in complete control of for half hour proble is the other 60 we was poor

Maybe.. but.. anyone seriously think that a Waterfall/Pearson pairing is a promotion winning centre back partnership?

Quoted from Bigdog

Maybe.. but.. anyone seriously think that a Waterfall/Pearson pairing is a promotion winning centre back partnership?

I’m not sure to be honest. We were conceding enough early season but just scoring more. It’s the failure to convert chances that’s costing us.

Macca would of been flapping about, that’s if he came off his line, playing against their defenders yesterday, and as the majority of teams at this level play the high ball into the box then Crocombe is an improvement.

Quoted from blundellpork

Coke shilly shallying towards his own goal was just a complete disaster.

It was a time to hack it clear, and you can’t lay the blame with the defence or goalkeeper.

Was screaming for him to get rid of it. Just kick it anywhere at that point with three players around you. Wtf was he doing!?

As someone that has played in goal, I find the criticism of Crocomb bizarre.  He was cleanly taking the ball off the heads of their forwards and is a vast improvement of Macca when it comes to crosses. The 2nd goal they put players on the line that stopped him from getting to the cross. What could he have done to stop it?  It was just one of those things that can happen in a crowded area. If we concede a goal do we have to change the defence? Of course not. You don't win games chopping and changing all the time.

Quoted from Bigdog

Maybe.. but.. anyone seriously think that a Waterfall/Pearson pairing is a promotion winning centre back partnership?

There are other areas of the team that need addressing like the midfield, but my point is, at the start of the season our current pairing were probably most people's third and fourth choice centre halves when imagining us to be a promotion winning team. Waterfall has out performed expectations true, but how has Hurst mismanaged the squad so quickly for them to be first choice? Apart from two or three exceptions, we've got a team full of solidish mid-table National League players achieving less than solid mid-table National League results, and managed by someone who's got a 10% winning record over the past three years or so. Taking our home gates and income into account, we should be mixing it with Wrexham, Stockport, Chesterfield and Notts County and if a couple of them have got extra income streams we should be trying to compete with them on that level. Those clubs will be top four by the end of the season, so it proves that they're using a winning formula for this division. And if two of them go up, there will be a couple coming down and a couple more existing clubs down here that find that extra funding for players. JS has stated there are people in the wings he can call on if needed for infrastructure investment, but in the short term it may be a sounder investment to boost the playing budget as we go into life without EFL funding and try and win that EFL funding back sooner rather than later.

Start with a new manager, compete on an even footing with the biggest in this division until will get promoted. If we don't, we'll be down here a very long time and all the long term planning in the world will be meaningless and have very little outcome value..

So it wasn't a dig specifically at Shaun and Luke, but more of a point about how we've settled in at this level again. Solid 5th tier but never threatening the top end of the table and the acceptance of a bit of mediocracy sprinkled with the ever existing virtuous vain loyal hope rather than seeing things for what they really are..

Positives at the minute are three or four quality players, improved playing surfaces, higher home attendances (for now), our amazing away support and vastly improved matchday fayre, but is it enough and are we doing anywhere near enough to get us out of this division? Real world results suggest we're way off..

Defence did well yesterday , under a lot of pressure … 2 errors , and as usual for us , paid the highest price for both … was a horrid scrappy game with little quality .. point each would have been fair ..