Fkin dreadful - always worries me when we look confident, always worries me when the non-chairman appears on the pitch, always worries me when the ref stops his warm-up for a chat with the opposition manager. Thought Ring looked a bit weak but Ohman looked solid - Hess the best of a bad bunch for me.

Should have man marked for the first half at least like we did at Palace and played for a point!

We weren't in it for the whole 90 minutes. It didn't look to me as if we wanted to score today. Thomas didn't touch the ball until 28 minutes and then only twice more in the first half-not his fault-just showed how bad the rest of team were playing. 2 enforced substitutions didn't help matters but I thought the 2 new signings had good debuts under difficult circumstances.

Today, i hate football.

One of the great mysteries of life to me, is our historic inability to turn up when we play Macclesfield at BP. I have no idea what we were trying to do today, and i don't think the players did either. Time and time again, we just hit straight balls to no-one, most of which just sailed out of play.

They started much the brighter and looked full of confidence given their position. They were threatening to breach us but we gave them a very soft goal, followed by an even softer one, a trait that gets repeated often. After that, we never looked like getting back in the game, and that has to be the easiest game their keeper will have all season. Think he made one save, when Wes overran the ball on the one occasion we managed to get behind them all game. A heavy touch cost him his chance to score, but i doubt we would have got a second one anyway.

We looked very leggy and disjointed all over the park, not helped by losing Clifton, and it also looked like Famewo has done some more damage. Fair play to Macc, they thoroughly deserved their win and i thought their number 27 was the best player on the pitch. Their two little wide men were pretty good too. Hess the pick of the bunch for us, but a bad day at the office all round. Let's hope it's just a blip and a hangover from a tough period.

Definately a reality check. First of all a combination of the manager of the month curse, the unexciting game that comes straight after the biggest game of the season, and the fact that it was a special offer for tickets, maybe we shouldve expected exactly that kind of performance.

We were bad, Ref was awful. I'd give macclesfield credit but don't get why that have to be a bunch of girl privates every season, always seems to be them who go over to our fans when they score

Ring will be good with match fitness I think, had a few skillful moments defending and attacking. Ohman looks a big fella, expect him to start next game.

One chance created in 90 mins....second best in the ball retention stakes.... second best in both boxes....

Thomas's lack of movement stood out for me..

Ludwig very happy to go win the ball... aerially looks good.....

Ring.... actually look the like of him ...once he settled in he didn't lose many tackles and very comfortable on the ball with pretty decent distribution and no slouch.

Two very sloppy goals in a game otherwise scarce on real chances.

Just one of them were everything was dreadful

Ring did pretty well for somebody obviously not fully fit. Won a lot of free-kicks by putting his body in between the opponent and the ball then going when touched, but I suppose that's the game these days!

The problems were that neither RHJ or Famewo knew how to deal with their gigantic No. 10 and, also, neither of them can pass the ball very well. The team as a whole were terrible during the first half but a bit better in the second. The injury to Famewo disrupted any momentum we had and they broke things up with niggly fouls whenever they needed to. They certainly looked well-drilled, however, and not at all bad.

The real killer was the second goal after a catastrophic blunder by Rose. He thinks he's a better footballer than he actually is but looked cumbersome most of the time today. Without looking at the stats, I wonder how much our recent improvement came around because he's not been playing? Hopefully Clifton will be back soon as his energy was badly missed and Embleton was right off his game as well.

I think we missed Clifton today and Hess had to do the role of 2 people once Clifton went off.

Rose was terrible today. Unforgivable error for the goal. Famewo looked off the pace from the start and Ring was a bit shaky, although he grew into the game.

Very impressed with Öhman who can certainly attack the ball. Very hard for substitutes to change the game when 2 were due to injury.

We were poor, but let’s be fair Macc were organised and worked for each other. Every time we had the ball we were marked by 2 of their players. They won’t go down on that showing.

Both goals were embarrassing and should never happen at our level of football. Ring looked ok, he needs time to settle for sure but he looked to play football.

Pringle looked off the pace, shirked a lot of tackles and when he was on the right he cut in constantly to his left, it was so easy to read.

We go again next week

One mistake and bad marking for the two soft goals conceded.

Outplayed by an average side who were not particularly quick, not particularly physical and not particularly tight makers. Just better orgainsed and wanted it more.

Makeshift defence and it showed. Too many players not match ready and there didn't seem to be a single player on the pitch prepared to take up the role of the leader.

Not aggressive enough, not tight enough marking, too deep defending, lack of composure on the ball, lack of movement, poor passing, too slow out wide, poor set pieces, not combative enough in centre midfield and panicky with the ball in the final third and not compact as a side out of possession.

I can't wait to see Whitmore and Davis back in central defence and someone with pace and physicality signed up  to replace the ineffective Pringle to give us a bit more balance across the midfield.

We are still nowhere near the finished article and even though we got a nice haul of points in December we didn't dominate games and in some didn't really play well but fought to hang on, be solid and nick points. Can't do that when conceding two soft goals early on.

Was it after the lord mayors show I'm not sure, maybe it's a bit more of a reflection of exactly where we are and we can't keep consistently pulling results out of the bag unless we have our best defence playing to give us some solidity.

At least it ends the fanciful notion that the play offs were in reach. Wide midfield areas, a stiffening up in centre midfield and an additional option for Thomas need signing before we can contemplate being a promotion chasing side next season.

Not going to judge the Swedish acquisitions after one game when we played a makeshift side..

Write it off and the players better be a lot more fired up for next weeks game..

Thought Hess did ok to be fair..

Not much more to add. Disappointed with the performance especially the lack of intensity in our play that's been evident the past couple of months, but not massively shocked if you looked at the underlying performances over the past six weeks rather than the points gained and taking into account we're missing Whitmore, Davis, Fox and Clifton and having to replace them with players who aren't match ready..

Bad day at the office, too many players off there game today. Badly need Davis,Whitmore and DC back ASAP..

Liked the look of Ring he looks to be positive and didn't go missing, tho his lack of game time seemed to show especially 1st half.

Gutted after so much positivity recently.....the joys of being a Town fan eh.

Just confirms what we’ve known all season. A season of inconsistencies and a mid table finish. With some good signings in the summer we can hopefully push for playoffs at least next year  8)

Quoted from Bigdog

One mistake and bad marking for the two soft goals conceded.

Outplayed by an average side who were not particularly quick, not particularly physical and not particularly tight makers. Just better orgainsed and wanted it more.

Makeshift defence and it showed..

Too many players not match ready.

Not aggressive enough, not tight enough marking, too deep defending, lack of composure on the ball, lack of movement, poor passing, too slow out wide, poor set pieces, not combative enough in centre midfield and panicky with the ball in the final third and not compact as a side out of possession.

I can't wait to see Whitmore and Davis back in central defence and someone with pace and physicality signed up  to replace the ineffective Pringle to give us a bit more balance across the midfield.

We are still nowhere near the finished article and even though we got a nice haul of points in December we didn't dominate games and in some didn't really play well but fought to hang on, be solid and nick points. Can't do that when conceding two soft goals early on.

Was it after the lord mayors show I'm not sure, maybe it's a bit more of a reflection of exactly where we are and we can't keep consistently pulling results out of the bag unless we have our best defence playing to give us some solidity.

At least it ends the fanciful notion that the play offs were in reach. Wide midfield areas, a stiffening up in centre midfield and an additional option for Thomas need signing before we can contemplate being a promotion chasing side next season.

Not going to judge the Swedish acquisitions after one game when we played a makeshift side..

Write it off and the players better be a lot more fired up for next weeks game..

Thought Hess did ok to be fair..

Not much more to add. Disappointed with the performance but not massively shocked if you looked at the underlying performances over the past six weeks rather than the points gained and taking into account we're missing Whitmore, Davis, Fox and Clifton and having to replace them with players who aren't match ready..

Totally agree with you there. Thought Pringle was poor and ineffective and not the long term answer. Thought both the Macc wide men were better than him, and it looks to me that Pringle's best days are behind him. No surprise when he was replaced and i think that's one area we need a new and better signing. Also think we need another experienced striker on the books.

I wonder if Cook will stay at the club? He's not getting a look in at the moment when we're really short of forwards. That said, he doesn't look like a forward to me.

A. Rose has something about his game so potential for the future but looks very naive at times so I think we do need another striking option.

Most frustrating thing is that a win today would have seen us 12th, and only 7 points off the play offs, while putting 16 points between us and the bottom 2. We are now 10 from the play offs and 10 from the bottom. Not a disaster, but we could have made a big stride today at home against one of the league's strugglers.  :-/

Our makeshift defence struggled big time against their big lad, first half we looked a bit knackered understandably after the palace match with ten men doing double shifts.

Aimless balls hit too hard into the channels Ahkeem found it hard to get into the game

Second half we tried but had no idea how to get past them best chance was a wicked cross that just needed a touch to convert other than that nothing.

Only positive for me was the new lad Ring looked promising and later the other lad looked like an uncompromising defender especially good in the air.

They will need time to settle in and the rest of the team to get some understanding going.

Bad mistake by Rose but not playing his natural position got caught with the ball sticking under his foot.

Macc were the better side (especially in the first half) and deserved the win.

Town looked totally out of sorts from the start, although they did improve a little after the break. A key problem was that none of the midfield 5 seemed on their game and so Town struggled to control the game, or create much of a threat in the last third.

Two daft goals gifted and two really good chances not taken summed up the afternoon. I like Vernam and Pringle who are technically gifted, but both need to influence the game more.

That said, the side has been a bit makeshift of late, so hopefully will get back on track when key players return.

Thought Ring looked ok, put in a few good tackles and passed the ball quite well. Hopefully he'll improve further with games.

Oh dear. Am gutted I got the prediction 100% correct.aint it weird how some teams will get a result at town no matter what the circumstances? Was told that ring looked very good so possibly the one bright spot. I suspect that mental as well as physical tiredness may have taken its toll. Some on here will be able to comment better than me but I remember having got a result a
much be tter team I was absolutely knackered mentally having concentrated so hard for 90 minutes, it was the worse than the physical tiredness of putting your body on the line. If you need any more evidence take a look at Newport's result.

Very good and honest appraisal too from MJ - he comes across as being justifiably annoyed with today. I expect there'll be a reaction next week.

Town seem to have a great ability to wazz momentum up the wall when they come back to BP - over the last 10 years we never seem to put in a great shift at home once peoples interest in piqued.

I'm struggling to remember the last time we've come back to BP and really pushed on from great opportunites on the road.  

Of course, Sol is a football genius.....so there is that.

So where did that performance come from?
It’s startling that we still have it in us to look like total stangers
It’s almost like we thought we would win just by turning up after our heroics last week
3 games
3 losses
0 goals
That 2019 so far
Know we have a lot of injury’s so really hope MJ can Put this Down to a one off display and move us forward again when the other players come back
No stand ours today
Rose is often way to casual and he got caught out today
Come on Town we need to improve for next Sat

Without trying to analyse the game to much. I think it’s quite clear games have caught up with us a little.

We’ve had some tough games, with distances to travel and played a huge chunk with 10 men. Not helped that we haven’t been able to rotate much due to injuries.

Not exacusing the bad performance I just think it was always going to catch up with us.

They started much better than we did. It was only a matter of time before they scored.

Nothing else to add.  Bar we did not look likely to score.

A tough game next week might suit us better, especially as we will have key defenders back.

The bloke next to me said he thought it was dreadful and I think he was being kind !

Why persist with aimless long balls to two centre backs who could have gobbled those up all day, totally futile and giving up possession. It was Lincoln City football but they do it much better !

Why continue with one man up front when you are two nil down at home to a team bottom of the league ?

Finally, what does Pringle do ?

On the plus side, Ring looked better the longer the game went on and Ohman looks a good no nonsense centre back who hopefully starts with Davis next week.

All in all a waste of £15.

Quoted from Yossarian

Of course, Sol is a football genius.....so there is that.

Well he's clearly not the idiot many of here made him out to be - he's had a good start at a no-hope job

Think Jolley nailed it in his interview when he said were not very good at breaking teams down who have men behind the the ball.

Without the chance to counter attack and without the aerial threat of collins, davis and Whitmore we are very average at the minute.

At least Jolley recognises this and hopefully we'll get better in time

I thought that was the result of the weeks of backs to the wall performances where our defence could almost afford to be makeshift because we just stuck 9 behind the ball and fought for our lives. Today was a different proposition and we absolutely bottled it. Midfield were anonymous and allowed Macclesfield to control play, first half we could barely string a pass together.

RHJ wasn’t great and Mitch Rose played as though he had concrete in his boots. Pringle is immobile and we looked better without him, Ring especially benefitted from Pringle going off as it allowed him to push up and do a better job of it.

A.Rose looked good when he came on, Hess tried to drive us on but wasn’t helped by his teammates. Vernam and Thomas anonymous.

Put it down to a bad day at the office, but play like that at Lincoln and we’ll get battered.

They just looked worn out. I’ll take one shite performance every couple of months. Missed Clifton greatly.

Quoted from Sir Matt Tease

The bloke next to me said he thought it was dreadful and I think he was being kind !

Why persist with aimless long balls to two centre backs who could have gobbled those up all day, totally futile and giving up possession. It was Lincoln City football but they do it much better !

Why continue with one man up front when you are two nil down at home to a team bottom of the league ?

Finally, what does Pringle do ?

On the plus side, Ring looked better the longer the game went on and Ohman looks a good no nonsense centre back who hopefully starts with Davis next week.

All in all a waste of £15.

You actually attended a game?

Remember we got battered at Exeter, lost to Mansfield, battered by Palace and lost today. It’s a journey and as yet not a revolution. UTM

Just a bad day at the office from a work in progress side and a manager with a depleted squad learning his trade at this level......... It happens and at some point will happen again. Only thing that really makes me feel a bit edgy is no goals in 3 games but take that in context as the opposition in the last 2 have been decent.

Their first goal just like the 2 we've conceded in the last 2 games emphasized our make shift defense and the 2nd though well finished came from an individual error take that in isolation it doesn't sound that bad but when you look at our lack of ideas going forward it was arguably a game too far.

Good thing is that there should be a few lads coming back next week and there is enough belief and desire in this group to pick ourselves up and at least avoid defeat versus a Gimps side that surely have a defeat coming soon.  

All that said even today I can see what MJ is building and trying to do which was never the case in recent years with Slade, Bignot,and at times Hurst.

So as they say "we go again" all being well with Clifton and Cardwlell fit to add to what should be a much more solid back four.

Lets just get to 50 points asap though please.

UTM!        

Bad day at the office.
Hope Clifton is fit for Lincoln, we really missed his passion.
Jolly should knock training on the head for a day or two and take all the lads on a bender, they have had a hard couple of months and done fantastically well.
UTM

A couple of days rest will do the players a world of good.

Bring on the Lincoln . ;D

Well an injured Clifton would’ve been better than Rose today who looked like he’d let the hype get to his head and thought he was a better footballer than he is. It wasn’t only the goal but he tackled himself on a couple of occasions and looked like he might play them in again after his balls up.

I thought Famewo was poor before he was substituted, his distribution was awful and he got bullied by their big No. 10. RHJ looked like the more natural centre half to me! Really hoping Davis and Collins are fit to start as our centre halves next week as I think they’re our most solid partnership.

Hendrie and Hess were my joint MOM’s as they were the only ones who offered any energy of footballing quality to speak of. Harsh to criticise Thomas, he looked very isolated all afternoon and the service to him was almost non-existent. Embleton wasn’t given enough of the ball to make something happen and I feel we missed Clifton’s energy and forward thinking approch when he went off.

The game passed both Pringle ans Vernam by as often happens when we’re not on top in games. Ring looked ring rusty (if you’ll pardon to dreadful pun) but grew into the game. Ohman looked like the sort of commanding centre half we need as well but will reserve judgement on these 2 for the timebeing.

Overall, they looked stronger, faster, sharper and hungrier than we did and even in the 2nd half it looked more likely to finish 0-4 than 2-2 as they always looked dangerous on the break.

Please never call Vernam Little V..... 🤢🤢🤢

Will amend.

Quoted from chipsandgravy

You actually attended a game?

Yes, I went as a representative of the Midlands branch of the GTFC supporters club in case you did not attend.

I wish I hadn't !

See you next week for a full debrief ?

Not just one bad day at the office. Team leader needs to have a quiet word with Wes about the how long it takes him to get back to his desk from the coffee machine. James keeps trying to email him but he's logged out. Office juniors should not follow this example.  HR interview 10.00 a.m Monday by the pool table.

Having a night to reflect back on yesterday Ring was involved a lot more than others not by choice but I thought he battled well and did not let himself down.

Ohman showed glimpses of a Mark Lever type of defender (not a bad trait) Mitch struggled more with their big man than he did against Zaha.

Special mention to Luke Hendry he looks a class signing glad we got him.

Midfield looked weaker once Harry went off Vernam definitely the best of an average bunch.

Embers passing let him down on several occasions.

We really do need a doubled pronged attack up front not sure Akeem is the answer he could not get behind them even with his pace.

Never gave their keeper anything to do which was down to lack of ideas against a big defence bad service and good defending by them.

Could not fault the effort particularly in the second half but I hope we are sharper in ideas against the Imps.

Disappointing but we are still on a learning curve we go again.

Pleased the general consensus is bad day at the office rather than full blown meltdown.

It was just a bad day. Maybe a step too far for the players to keep going and going, maybe the changes (needed and agreed with by most before the game) disrupted things. Who knows? It's done, we go again next week.

These results and performances happen to mid table teams, especially when squads are tired and pushed to the limits numbers wise.

Apart from the non showing, which is a big disappointment nonetheless, the real shame is that we may really come to see this match as pivotal in our attempt to get into the play off picture, or top half. It was a golden chances to move on up and it's been squandered, and I think we may well look back on it with real regret. Still, this happens in football all the time and we must bounce back.

Although I think Thomas looked off his game a bit, he wasn't exactly helped by his team mates. In the first half I can remember about 1 occasion where the ball was played into his feet or for him to run on to and when he did get it, there wasn't a team mate within 30 yards of him.

A bit better in the second half but he has been ploughing a lone furrow up top for some time now and he does look tired. Hence the tardiness in getting back onside too often.

Quoted from chaos33

These results and performances happen to mid table teams, especially when squads are tired and pushed to the limits numbers wise.

Apart from the non showing, which is a big disappointment nonetheless, the real shame is that we may really come to see this match as pivotal in our attempt to get into the play off picture, or top half. It was a golden chances to move on up and it's been squandered, and I think we may well look back on it with real regret. Still, this happens in football all the time and we must bounce back.

I can see what you mean but unfortunately we had a weakened, tired side coming up against a rejuvenated team under a new manager. The way Mac played in the first half was better than I expected from a team that had struggled for most of the season.  Sol certainly seems to have instilled some belief and organisation in them.

I expected this sort of match so I wasn’t especially surprised or deflated. It’ll be fine. Hope Clifton is ok.

Rubbish from start to finish but half expected tbh and definitely forgivable.

The players looked tired, Clifton’s injury was a big blow, the back four looked unsettled, Rose was at his worst. Add to that Macclesfield are now looking like a well coached outfit by Campbell (and fair play to him).

Sounds positive regarding the centre halves for next week. Hopefully two of Whitmore, Davis and Collins will start meaning Hendrie and RHJ can play wide. Harsh on Ring because we couldn’t have expected anything of him yesterday, but I think Lincoln away could be a horrible game for him this early in his Grimsby career.

Hopefully Clifton will be available too but if not I hope it’s Woolford that comes in and not Rose.

Most importantly let’s hope the players can come back reenergised next week because it was really lacking yesterday.

UTM!

Truth be told, I've never seen RHJ have a particularly impressive game at full-back. Good in some aspects but weak in others.

On yesterday's performance I'd be happy to see Ring start, especially with another week of training under his belt. Hendrie a much superior full-back to RHJ at present.

Quoted from Maringer

Although I think Thomas looked off his game a bit, he wasn't exactly helped by his team mates. In the first half I can remember about 1 occasion where the ball was played into his feet or for him to run on to and when he did get it, there wasn't a team mate within 30 yards of him.

A bit better in the second half but he has been ploughing a lone furrow up top for some time now and he does look tired. Hence the tardiness in getting back onside too often.

To be fair macclesfield looked like they’d done their research and seemed to isolate him from the game, he only managed to start getting more involved when akheem came on

Quoted from Maringer

Truth be told, I've never seen RHJ have a particularly impressive game at full-back. Good in some aspects but weak in others.

On yesterday's performance I'd be happy to see Ring start, especially with another week of training under his belt. Hendrie a much superior full-back to RHJ at present.

I have to say I agree, always thought he looked a bit suspect at defending at right back however I thought he had an oustanding game at Palace.

I do like they way he got forward when playing full back so maybe a better option as playing wide midfield.

As regards Ring I thought he played well up to 15 minutes to go when he looked tired so once he is up to speed with his fitness I am hoping he becomes a fine defender.

On the game, probably one of the worst performances of the season although I actually thought Macclesfield played well and looked a half decent side that may well pull away from the bottom two.

I also thought we looked weak in midfield after Clifton was taken off.

Always disappointed to see Thomas plowing a lone furrow up front especially at home as in some games like on Saturday he just doesn't offer that much.

Quoted from arryarryarry

I have to say I agree, always thought he looked a bit suspect at defending at right back however I thought he had an oustanding game at Palace.

I do like they way he got forward when playing full back so maybe a better option as playing wide midfield.

As regards Ring I thought he played well up to 15 minutes to go when he looked tired so once he is up to speed with his fitness I am hoping he becomes a fine defender.

On the game, probably one of the worst performances of the season although I actually thought Macclesfield played well and looked a half decent side that may well pull away from the bottom two.

I also thought we looked weak in midfield after Clifton was taken off.

Always disappointed to see Thomas plowing a lone furrow up front especially at home as in some games like on Saturday he just doesn't offer that much.

RHJ is a young player just developing and learning his trade he’ll have good and bad days, I think he’s done ok recently to be honest.