Home thoughts from abroad

Well, apart from medicine, irrigation,
health, roads, cheese and education,
baths and the Circus Maximus, what has Grimsby Fc  done for me
I'm off to Colchester  on Tuesday  to support the team .Yes you pay your money you can have your say. Yes happy clappy  .I work with the premier league supporter tourists  who leave after 30 min of the game .But I come from a Town called Grimsby not mallice .If ever was a time to get behind a team was now .It's interesting watching the home and away performances by the team and supporters  over the season .There a tension at home and I feel its transfered to the players and the way they play .Spend energy getting behind them .There is always my allotment you could digg over on Saturdays if need something to do .Because I've  put that on the long finger over past 65 years and followed my team .So come on Town

Quoted from ex-merseymariner

'Some alright performances'?

We've won one of 6 at home under this boss.
Our last 5 home games have an aggregate score of 18-9 to the opposition.
Our last home clean sheet was 2nd September.

We lack bite, aggression, and are predictable.

Our manager has insisted twice that we won't go down, which is terrifying those of us who have watched us all season.

Every single side that's visited BP since 2nd September have scored against us, some of them have scored 5 or 6 times.

Note to jt/matt dean want to know when we will prioritise keeping a clean sheet and if not, why the hell not?!

The Crewe performance was a decent performance. Away we had decent performances at MK, Oxford, Salford, and Accrington.

I didn't see Notts County but it sounds like we were great 1st half but our defensive frailties showed once more. We certainly are inconsistent even within games but people on here seem to have forgotten the good spells of play. I completely accept that we need 90 minute performances to win though.

We've signed three new defenders that everbody has appeared to have written off already. If we lose both games this week, I can completely understand the reaction. I'm pretty certain we won't.

Quoted from ex-merseymariner

'Some alright performances'?

We've won one of 6 at home under this boss.
Our last 5 home games have an aggregate score of 18-9 to the opposition.
Our last home clean sheet was 2nd September.

We lack bite, aggression, and are predictable.

Our manager has insisted twice that we won't go down, which is terrifying those of us who have watched us all season.

Every single side that's visited BP since 2nd September have scored against us, some of them have scored 5 or 6 times.

Note to jt/matt dean want to know when we will prioritise keeping a clean sheet and if not, why the hell not?!

You conveniently failed to mention that since DA took over we have won 1, drawn 3 and only lost 1 away from home.

6 out of 15 is your convincing argument???

🙄

Quoted from marinerjase

6 out of 15 is your convincing argument???

🙄

I'm not trying to convince people we've been brilliant. My point is that we're not that likely to go down. 6 wins out of the next 15 would keep us up. I'm not without my worries either I just think people are overreacting and only seeing the negatives (and there are plenty) and forgetting that at times we've looked decent.

Fair do’s.. for the record I don’t think Artell leaving/getting the push is even a consideration/thought by the powers that be..he’s only been here 11 weeks or so, signed in a 2+ year deal. I very much doubt they’d want to be paying him off. That said..IF, and it’s a big if..we’re in similar position beyond Christmas then there may be a question to ask.

This season we’ll get lucky and be fortunate to stay up, so it’s all about next season and beyond. Of course the aim/hope is things change when/if Artell gets own squad in, and they can play to the standard/style he’s insisting on. That would be the perfect scenario for all obviously.

My own personal thoughts/question marks on him are thus so far:

You take over a struggling side..devoid of confidence, forgotten how to get a result etc..you see them ship goals in left, right and centre..but there’s been no thought process to make them more compact, build from the back etc ..in some respects you’re asking them to do something they can’t - but insist on carrying on - regardless of results - as ‘it’s worked before’ ..

Players need to take responsibility but also need help. Why not try to adapt/play in a way that helps them, ditch ‘philosophy’ for now and grow confidence by working with said players to help improve them - ie give them a better chance. Because it could be argued that insistence on playing one way - when know they can’t - is throwing them under a bus, until you get own players in..

Artell was brought in with a view to coaching/improving players, giving players opportunities etc .. at present I’m questioning that (just being honest) - see above.

I don’t see a point of bringing a young lad in on loan and giving him 5 mins every week..(not the only manager we’ve had to do that) - not sure it helps the player or us.

Personally I don’t think you need ‘lots’ at this level to do ok.. yes there’s money flying around but in respect of playing - organised at back, bit of pace in side, combined with some physical attributes, and someone who can stick chances away. It’s not complicated..fans will accept defeats if they see players trying, and effort, mixed with a bit of entertainment - but also not rolling over when it doesn’t go your way. We’ve seen sides in the past that have done that last part..under Groves as an example..everyone saw what was happening. This , at present, has a similar feel for me. There’s a disconnect.. be it between manager, players, crowd.. or all. It doesn’t look or feel right. I hope im wrong and it isn’t the case, because if there is a disconnect - it doesn’t end well. Be it sooner or later.

So I guess for now as said - the perfect scenario is we scramble to safety and have yet another ‘start from scratch’ scenario, and things get better from August. I do have reservations, and do feel the manager needs to be more flexible, but hope for his and our sakes, if he’s prepared to live by the sword and die by the sword, and the board have ultimately put all their eggs in his basket - that he turns it around and come next March we’re not talking about possible relegation, or getting a battering regularly - and it’s more a case of talking about opportunities moving forward.

Quoted from Bawmariner

I'm not trying to convince people we've been brilliant. My point is that we're not that likely to go down. 6 wins out of the next 15 would keep us up. I'm not without my worries either I just think people are overreacting and only seeing the negatives (and there are plenty) and forgetting that at times we've looked decent.

Am not trying to be negative, but we conceded once in our first 4 home games, with Eastwood in goal as it happens.

Since then, with a new manager, I don't even want to say how many goals we've conceded in our last 4.

I hope we can keep a clean sheet tomorrow and Saturday, but the number of goals we are leaking is scarey, and the boss's response is that's the first time we've conceded directly from playing out from the back.   No comfort!  

6 wins, we are managing 1 win per month currently and there's 2.5 months left in the season......

Quoted from davmariner

Similarly we know you’re a big fan of Artell, though it’s not particularly clear why. Just accept that I have a different view to yours and move on - it’s a good life lesson.

I’m a firm believer that you can’t develop a style or ethos over night, if we went for a quick fix it would be papering over cracks. A longer term fix takes longer to do and often involves pain. It’s not about being a fan of Artell but more of a fan of having a long term strategy.

It’s painful at the minute, we were warned of that in the first place. None of us expected this level of pain and the next month could really derail us. However, I’ve sat through years of stagnation with no plan, I’m happy to see us take a different approach with a man who has quite literally done this before.

Happy to see people with different opinions, what I’m not happy to do is watch people hang him out to dry and seemingly will him on to fail.

Quoted from arryarryarry

If it pans out as Dav is suggesting then of course the board should take the blame as did JF for 2010 and 2021.

Alan Sugar once said that the first rule of business is to make sure you are offering your customers what they actually want.  With that in mind, the board would have been well aware  of countless posters on here, and other platforms, complaining of boring football and the lack of entertainment at BP.

I'm sure that this would have shaped their thinking as they looked for a replacement for Hurst, and let's face it, who doesn't want to come away from BP having been entertained?  Before I get lots of criticism, I am most definitely NOT blaming the fans, I am simply proposing a bit of understanding as to why the board may have made an appointment that they hoped would fix this.

As regards David Artell, I hope we haven't swapped one stubborn manager for another.  The fear is that the Cowleys will know exactly how we will play tomorrow night, because we never do anything different, and will have a well prepared plan to exploit that.  We will see.

Quoted from Captain Sensible

Alan Sugar once said that the first rule of business is to make sure you are offering your customers what they actually want.  With that in mind, the board would have been well aware  of countless posters on here, and other platforms, complaining of boring football and the lack of entertainment at BP.

I'm sure that this would have shaped their thinking as they looked for a replacement for Hurst, and let's face it, who doesn't want to come away from BP having been entertained?  Before I get lots of criticism, I am most definitely NOT blaming the fans, I am simply proposing a bit of understanding as to why the board may have made an appointment that they hoped would fix this.

As regards David Artell, I hope we haven't swapped one stubborn manager for another.  The fear is that the Cowleys will know exactly how we will play tomorrow night, because we never do anything different, and will have a well prepared plan to exploit that.  We will see.

Artell is being slagged off but we’re twerking for the Cowleys who haven’t won since their arrival at the start of Jan.