Just Back on the Bus

Quoted from headingly_mariner

We had some good players in the Holloway squad and some shite ones. Remember his wasn't sacked he just dropped us in it on the Eve of the window when he realised whatever dodgy deal he'd done wasn't coming in. I fancy with the window he'd have kept us up, as much as I despise Fenty and Holloway, i think without Covid we wouldn't have had a change in ownership as we were just starting to look a good side as Covid hit.

That’s true, and it’s easy to forget that some of that side would take part in our play-off heroics less than 18 months later, but the balance of players in that squad that were negligently sub-par was, in itself, negligent.

Danny Preston, Bilel Moshni, James Morton, Danny Rose, George Williams, Luke Spokes, Filipe Morais, Kyle Bennett, Montel Gibson, Ira Jackson Jr, Owen Windsor, Alhagi Touray Sisay, Virgil Gomis. That’s 13 players right there, plus Terry Taylor who was poor in his time for us but has since gone on to disprove his critics. Enough to put out a team plus a partial subs bench, if you’re not fussed about playing a goalkeeper or many defenders.

Our worst player today is still better than the best of the above lot. We are night and day; hence why it’s so perplexing that we’ve manage to accrue fewer points than they did after 18 games.

There’s no doubting that the quality of League Two is much stronger than it was 3 years ago, but that’s far from the whole story. What I see, and it’s even clearer now Pearson and Davies have had a few games to re-instil some fight and belief, is that we’ve had a decent squad of players devoid of the right systematic guidance and, subsequently, bereft of confidence. Regrettably, that’s on Hurst and Doig.

More so than I was three weeks ago, I am confident that a competent manager comes in, corrects the basics, grows belief and confidence and brings about incremental improvements at both ends of the field over time. If that happens, and we hit the ground running, I don’t think we have to consider this season a complete right-off just yet, and I certainly don’t think we should have too much to worry about as the next few weeks play out.

Yesterday’s point keeps us in touch with the teams above us rather than those below, and I think that’s really important in how it affects we, the fans, the players and prospective managers think about where and what we are.

I don’t believe Shaun and Ben will get the gig, nor do I believe they should, but they deserve immense credit for the way they have conducted themselves and got a tune out of a badly faltering side. Whatever happens from here on in, they can hold their heads up high.

Individual errors aside, we seem to lack any clear direction when the game’s there for the taking. I’ve said it elsewhere, but we seem to be fine when the pressure’s off or nobody’s expecting a performance, like against Morecambe or when we’re a goal or two down. But once we pull level or take the lead, it’s like we’ve got no idea what the plan is.

We’re like a dog that’s finally caught the car he’s been chasing, and doesn’t know what to do next.

It’s a similar kind of phenomena we see when we have a decent opening 20 mins, then run out of ideas. I’d be interested to see how many goals we’ve conceded in the second quarter of games, seems to be most weeks. Not to speak ill of the departed, but that goes back to Hurst for me.

Quoted from ska face

Individual errors aside, we seem to lack any clear direction when the game’s there for the taking. I’ve said it elsewhere, but we seem to be fine when the pressure’s off or nobody’s expecting a performance, like against Morecambe or when we’re a goal or two down. But once we pull level or take the lead, it’s like we’ve got no idea what the plan is.

We’re like a dog that’s finally caught the car he’s been chasing, and doesn’t know what to do next.

It’s a similar kind of phenomena we see when we have a decent opening 20 mins, then run out of ideas. I’d be interested to see how many goals we’ve conceded in the second quarter of games, seems to be most weeks. Not to speak ill of the departed, but that goes back to Hurst for me.

That’s a great analogy, and the sheer number of points dropped from leading positions this season absolutely backs up the theory.

If there’s a difference now though, it’s that we’re gaining points from losing positions. If I’ve done the maths correctly, we dropped 19 points from losing positions under Hurst this season (not double counting the two times we led at Notts County), and gained literally zero from losing positions (and we gave ourselves no shortage of opportunities in this regard.

For a bloke with over 700 games in management under his belt, this is simply appalling game and man management. Hard to believe that this is the same guy who oversaw almost superhuman levels of mental and physical resilience in the play-offs not much less than 18 months ago.

It does all sadly rather point to something having been seriously off behind the scenes. Hurst’s rep will take some time to recover from this one.

I didn't expect  a classic it and it wasn't. But happy, we had enough to battle back and take a point either side could of won it at the end but FG created  clear cut chances but Cartwright made a great save which is not shown on the Sky Highlights strange. Disappointed with the pen given but it happens.I thought it was going to be a tough physical encounter it was Defence still worries me as we seem to show our frailties and lack ability to snuff out any danger. Sutton will be another such encounter

Quoted from Eastendmariner

I didn't expect  a classic it and it wasn't. But happy, we had enough to battle back and take a point either side could of won it at the end but FG created  clear cut chances but Cartwright made a great save which is not shown on the Sky Highlights strange. Disappointed with the pen given but it happens.I thought it was going to be a tough physical encounter it was Defence still worries me as we seem to show our frailties and lack ability to snuff out any danger. Sutton will be another such encounter

Disappointed with the penalty and only just now did I realise that it was our one-time (albeit brief) loanee, Callum Jones, who went down like he'd been shot.

Quoted from ska face

Individual errors aside, we seem to lack any clear direction when the game’s there for the taking. I’ve said it elsewhere, but we seem to be fine when the pressure’s off or nobody’s expecting a performance, like against Morecambe or when we’re a goal or two down. But once we pull level or take the lead, it’s like we’ve got no idea what the plan is.

We’re like a dog that’s finally caught the car he’s been chasing, and doesn’t know what to do next.

It’s a similar kind of phenomena we see when we have a decent opening 20 mins, then run out of ideas. I’d be interested to see how many goals we’ve conceded in the second quarter of games, seems to be most weeks. Not to speak ill of the departed, but that goes back to Hurst for me.

Absolutely, you could see that yesterday, caused them loads of problems 2nd half, got back to 2-2 and immediately we struggled and nearly conceded. It's that panic of having something to lose, a bit of mental strength is needed. Sometimes that comes from a couple of leaders on the pitch.  

Quoted from Poojah

That’s a great analogy, and the sheer number of points dropped from leading positions this season absolutely backs up the theory.

If there’s a difference now though, it’s that we’re gaining points from losing positions. If I’ve done the maths correctly, we dropped 19 points from losing positions under Hurst this season (not double counting the two times we led at Notts County), and gained literally zero from losing positions (and we gave ourselves no shortage of opportunities in this regard.

For a bloke with over 700 games in management under his belt, this is simply appalling game and man management. Hard to believe that this is the same guy who oversaw almost superhuman levels of mental and physical resilience in the play-offs not much less than 18 months ago.

It does all sadly rather point to something having been seriously off behind the scenes. Hurst’s rep will take some time to recover from this one.

I'm not sure that Hurst's rep will have been unduly damaged. If it was Christmas and we were in the bottom 2, then maybe. The decision was made before many of the fans had turned and was handled with a fair degree of mutual respect. I expect him to rock up at a big NL club soon. Whether he can change his spots.......I am not so sure.

Quoted from smokey111

I'm not sure that Hurst's rep will have been unduly damaged. If it was Christmas and we were in the bottom 2, then maybe. The decision was made before many of the fans had turned and was handled with a fair degree of mutual respect. I expect him to rock up at a big NL club soon. Whether he can change his spots.......I am not so sure.

That’s kind of the thing though. If I’m chairman of Rochdale or Hartlepool and find myself looking for a new gaffer in the next couple of months, I know where my first phone call would be.

But in July, the idea of Hurst’s next job being in non-league would have been unthinkable and any notion of him leaving the club before November would have been on the assumption he’d gone on to something bigger and better.

That’s quite an alarming fall in stock in such a short space of time.

Quoted from Poojah

That’s quite an alarming fall in stock in such a short space of time.

I haven’t seen a fall in stock that alarming since that recurring fantasy where Bellingham (*) spills piping hot oxo over my kimono.

*Linda, not Jude or Jobe

Quoted from Knut Anders Fosters Voles

I haven’t seen a fall in stock that alarming since that recurring fantasy where Bellingham (*) spills piping hot oxo over my kimono.

*Linda, not Jude or Jobe

Not to take us any further down an already surreal tangent, but I once spilt the entire contents of a boiling hot cup of tea onto my crotch, whilst both in a church and surrounded by a group of polite, devout Christian old ladies. I’m not a religious man, as you might have guessed, but this was a compulsory meeting my then fiancée and I had to attend a few weeks before our wedding.

Not being adept at balancing a teacup on a saucer, the accident and semi-serious burns to my fella that ensued were simply waiting to happen, as if from a mid-90s episode of Casualty. Rarely in life have I felt a conflict such as the desire to turn the air blue with profanity and to spare the innocence of those kind old ladies.

Fortunately, this unfortunate incident did not prevent me from consummating my marriage on the day of my wedding day. No, the fact that I was absolutely shítfaced saw to that…