Just Back

Quoted from Knut Anders Fosters Voles

I’m not saying Efete or Amos were anywhere near good enough for L2 but I genuinely think Efete is better defensively than any current Town defender (inability to protect the far post and all).

Efete and Amos paid the price for Rodgers, Maher, Mullarkey, Glennon and the other bunch of thick, half-arsed wǎnkstains we’ve brought in being on longer contracts and more expensive to get rid of.

I think you can add Waterfall to that list too. By no way am I suggesting that he wasn't ready to move on, far from it. But once again, be it under Hurst or someone else, we've replaced players with downgrades.

I actually thought Hume did OK today but looks ring rusty. But other than him, Artell's transfer business is woeful. Smith looks a pub footballer, Tharme incredibly limited, Thompson is made of glass, Wood clearly is too lightweight and Obikwu looks like he's won a competition.

After that initial flurry and hope, we've got progressively worse under Artell.  Not just in terms of actual ability but more worryingly in terms of aptitude for a fight. That was honestly the meekest defeat I've seen in 35 years of watching Town. We just rolled over and had our bellies tickled by a really, really excrement side.

I'm still adamant that we're not leaky because of a style of play. Although his post game interview was another nail in his coffin, Artell was right when he put back to JT that it's errors and basics that are costing us, not the style.   But it begs the question why the intercourse can't players do the absolute basics at the minute? We do the basics and we're not losing games.

But I'm not even sure what our style is now. Early doors it was clear we were going to be expansive, aggressive, pressing, quickly turning over play and moving freely with and without the ball.  Last month of so we're just excrement, minus the excitement of the attack.

Glennon and Mullarkey were defensive liabilities but at least they offered bits going forward. Smith and Hume look scared of going over the half way line. Rodgers, again, a liability but wants to bring it forward. Tharme wouldn't know a forward pass if it hit him on his nose.  A midfield of Green, Clifton and Andrews has no creativity at all, hell based on that performance it has no footballing ability at all either.  I get that they're not part of his future plans, but Holohan and Hunt offer something for the here and now that the aforementioned 3 don't. We're in a state where we need something, be it a bit of drive from Holohan or something creative from Hunt. It's not as if any of Green, Andrews or Clifton are going to part of a bigger picture under Artell beyond the summer is it? Genuinely not sure what he's trying to achieve in persisting with them (and others).

Eisa isn't interested and frankly can intercourse off for me. That he's in the side ahead of Arthur is baffling. Yes, he's scored goals.... But his overall contribution is zero otherwise. Unless he's scoring at least one goal a game he's of no benefit to the team.

Vernam is the only recent addition to the starting eleven in recent weeks who is adding something. Everything else is backward steps.

The point when I lost all faith with Artell was when he opted for Obikwu off the bench ahead of two guys in Wilson and Pyke who have genuinely good goal returns this season. It's harsh on Obikwu as he's only a kid, but he's really excelling in that competition for the worst young loanee from an elite Academy award. I didn't think the likes of Tom Dickson-Peters and Kiki Simmonds could be beaten but this lad is smashing them out the park. At least Dickson-Peters and Simmonds were of a squad that had little alternative. You could almost forgive Hurst for going with them when the other option was throwing Shaun Pearson up top.

Artell's post game interview clearly saw him go from a man who blindly believed we won't go down to someone who has suddenly realised and is panicking.  Talking about cup finals and doing it for the club staff etc. is hopeful at best.  I was fortunate enough to play on BP a few days after the last home game of the 09/10 relegation season. The home dressing room was filled with good luck letters and cards from fans, all pinned up around the walls. Absolute desperation and with hindsight pitiful. Artell's rally reminded me exactly of that. It might not be his team fully but he's sure as hell picking it. There isn't a single position on the pitch where he's not got alternatives yet isn't using them. If he's resorting to such desperate cries of 'do it for the tea lady' and isn't getting a tune, why the hell is he not switching it up?

My old man said at the end of the game, I think half-joking, that he wants to see the Youth Team lads start the next game. I'm genuinely struggling to disagree with him on that. With the exception of Vernam and Rose, maybe Hume at a push, I wouldn't be gutted to see all of the Starting XI against Donny told to urine off and prove in training that they want it. The sad thing is he could actually do it, or very close to it. Eastwood, Mullarkey, Glennon, Rodgers, Khouri (back soon I think), Holohan, Hunt, Arthur, Wilson, Pyke.  There's almost a team there of out of favoured players. Is it the best team? Probably not. But it can't be any worse.

There's still 15 games left to improve things and I think we've seen enough in flashes from this team to suggest they can do better. But the worry is 15 game is a long old time to hold onto a 6 point cushion.  Those FGR and Sutton games in the space of a week are massive.  FGR have Tranmere next week and Sutton have Colchester, possibly a draw the best result for us to keep them still in it. But we have to get 6/6 in those two games. Normally I'd say just avoid defeat but the remainder of the fixture list fills me with dread.

Quoted from Maringer

I'm surprised that Andrews is getting the stick as he was the best of the midfield three. Which isn't saying much. There is no way that Clifton and Green will ever be capable central midfielders in League football. Both fluffed easy chances to equalise and when we were doing OK and they just don't have the ability on the ball to play that role. I reckon Andrews will be a capable League player at some point. If Thompson stays fit, we've got a chance, I suppose. If not, we're going to lose midfield in every single game for the rest of the season and the chances of winning enough points in that case are slim.

I feel sorry for Obikwu to some degree as he's a kid with absolutely no experience and he's expected to come on and change things around, but little sympathy with most of the rest of them who simply aren't good enough. Even Rose missed a sitter near the end today, getting dragged down to the level of the rest of them.

Hurst built a flipping rubbish squad, Artell hasn't done much to improve it and the team are playing like a bunch of clowns at the moment. I really hope two of the three teams below us don't show any improvement whatsoever.

Pep couldn't get a tune out of this bunch so I'm not sure changing the manager would make much difference, either!

Just to be clear the player you arre saying is great (Andrews) Is worse by your own judgement than (Clifton and green) as he can t make those goal scoring opportunities even not scoring them. So a it's irrelevant to now we want to avoid relegation,.but. Plus it's excrement anyway when we want players better than we have and he already isn't!

Keep Rose (although we might have to chain him up to a goalpost at cheapside all summer to do so) and keep vernam and pay the rest up.

Goalkeeper never makes a save just seems to find a way of moving out the way of everything.

Defenders don’t defend we stand off and allow shots thinking said goalkeeper has to eventually make a save.

Midfielders that midfield three today probably would struggle to get a regular game for Cleethorpes Town.

Strikers Danny Rose I apologise you was sold a timeshare scam in the summer and now you’re locked in. And I think we all saw yesterday that the Coventry lad is just another one who looks like he’s won a competition to play.

We have to go 532 asap. There’s one reason you play 3 centre halves and that’s because the two aren’t good enough and none of our combinations of two are good enough.
Hume looks decent going forward but I’m not sure he can defend and a wing back role with cover behind should suit him. Play Clifton right wing back since he has such a ‘engine’ and at least that means we don’t have to watch him butcher playing centre midfield anymore because clearly he has it in his contract he has to play every game because he’s a Grimsby lad.

                                 Cartwright
              Mullarkey      Tharme     Rodgers
Clifton                                                           Hume
                                 Thompson
                       Hunt                    Holohan
                       Vernam              Rose

Can anybody in all honesty say a back five of crocombe efete amos waterfall maher/ smith wasn't streets ahead of this load of tosh , i blame hurst in the first instance for getting rid of a great lge 2 keeper who is now proving his worth in lge above , the fullbacks & centre backs we have now are non lge at best , i actually think rodgers & waterfall was the best pairing but wasn't given enough time , maher as been woefull all season he just cant defend at all & he been involved in all these goals conceded , eastwood not great but young cartwright needs taking out his confidence is shot playing behind these clowns

Quoted from headingly_mariner

It's absolute balderdash and people have short memories.
Missed a golden chance today, but should absolutley be first pick behind Rose.
He's the only one who breaks the lines from midfield other than occasionally Holohan when he plays and I would hazard a guess that he has most touches in both Boxes of our players.
If people think Clifton is the problem, then there's no flipping hope for us.
It's a massive problem to play Andrews who is male masturbation. Green has struggled without legs next to him and struggles to take the ball off the defence. Holohan should start over those two and it amazes me Hunt can't get on the bench.

You have to have a balance and Artell cannot get that right.

Honestly,  Clifton will run all day for you, but he couldn't trap a bag of sand or pass wind successfully!!..
He may have the most touches in the box but he doesn't do anything with them, if he were not "one of our own" I'm convinced most supporters would see  how poor of a footballer be actually is..

Quoted from diehardmariner

But I'm not even sure what our style is now. Early doors it was clear we were going to be expansive, aggressive, pressing, quickly turning over play and moving freely with and without the ball.  Last month of so we're just excrement, minus the excitement of the attack.

Thought this was interesting/terrifying last night -



Like you’ve pointed out & has been said elsewhere, defending both as individuals and as a unit is just non-existent. I wasn’t too bothered in the week but now my head’s absolutely fallen off, well and truly. Either Artell goes or we are done I reckon.

Lose at Morecombe and most of the fans will gone for the FGR game. We are in dire streets and need Artell to go.

Quoted from DB

Then he went down the tunnel. He failed to shake hands with the ref and asst's, and also notably failed to go onto the pitch to clap the few fans left. Perhaps that is a major reason, apart from the results, that the fans no longer like him.

Or maybe because he was getting dogs abuse for the best part of the match.

Quoted from 123614

Or maybe because he was getting dogs abuse for the best part of the match.

Poor lamb, I wonder why he’s getting abuse from the stands.

There’s a much deeper problem here the squad is miles off the level it needs to be to comfortably stay in this league.

Away from Chas (potentially) & Rose can you look beyond the 11 that started yesterday and say you can identify 2 or 3 consistent decent players who could come in and make us better? Almost every player in this squad can’t string 2 decent halves of football together never mind decent games.

Which then begs the wider point about investment, reliance on data & the value of Joe Hutchinson as the recruiter. Despite what some people think Hutchinson doesn’t sign players but he does identify them and put them in front of the manager, and I suspect outlines the cost to get their signature. You have to say Conteh, & Rose apart Joe’s not knocked us out has he?

Then you have to ask the question about investment, if we had a decent budget we’ve been massively stitched up by agents and we’re paying these donkeys much more money than they’re worth. If we didn’t have the money then I’d question why? I know money has been spent on & set aside for BP but if you get what you pay for then we can have had much to spend.

Looking at this squad you could expect start a sentence with “in defence of Artell……..” but though the squad is poor he can’t recognise that and try & set us up to not be so soft, instead he’s gone total football with players that struggle to play football at this level. His arrogance is off the chart & he’s making it worse every week.

The other thing that resonates is that the owners bang on about culture but other than Rose, Clifton, maybe Gav, Shaun, Ben and possibly Steve Croudson I’m not sure I can identify anyone who appears truly invested in GTFC, I guess that’s how football works now.

It’s written in the stars, last day of the season Orsi a player not deemed worthy of the playing out revolution scores the winner to send us down - irony in spades.

We are so far off being able to win a game of football I’d be amazed if we don’t go down.

We all took the p1ss when the Scunts went down, so I just hope like hell they don’t get promoted as karma is a horrible b@stard.