#GTFC XI - McKeown (c), Hall-Johnson, Davis, Öhman, Whitmore, Hendrie, Woolford, Clifton, Hessenthaler, Cook, Thomas

Subs - Russell, Dennis, Vernam, Rose, Collins, Embleton, Ring

Based upon the last couple of games that starting XI makes sense.

Edits prediction in prediction thread..

Would have liked to see Vernam in for Woolford and Clifton play a bit deeper, but happy with the rest of the changes overall..

Quoted from Meza

#GTFC XI - McKeown (c), Hall-Johnson, Davis, Öhman, Whitmore, Hendrie, Woolford, Clifton, Hessenthaler, Cook, Thomas

Subs - Russell, Dennis, Vernam, Rose, Collins, Embleton, Ring

I would have had Embleton in although not on top form we all know what he can do. Pleased that Hall-Johnson is playing.

Does not seem to matter who plays, we are so up and down , it just if they turn up  on the day

What formation is this looking to try to be ? Doesn’t look good to me . RHJ is more of a CD than wing back , and Hendrie is far more effective as RWB . If Ring is going to get his head round L2 he needs to be playing week in week out

Much better so far then Saturday (not hard I know) playing a high line and pressing them all over the pitch and shock and behold we're giving them a game not just rolling over. Hopefully we can come away with a result as well.

Another set piece, 15th goal this season conceded from a set piece now

Useles defending

ffs town

Once again half asleep in defence...... very unprofessional!!!

As usual asleep at the back and a goal from a needless freekick

Quoted from sonofmadeleymariner

As usual asleep at the back and a goal from a needless freekick

A free kick incidentally taken a good 7/8 yards further forward than where the offence occurred 🤬

Couldn’t make it tonight
But we are 1-0 down already
Hope it’s not a hammering
Come on town get back into it

Had two very good chances through Clifton and Thomas to go 1-0 up before we conceded. Hendrie setting both of them up brilliantly.

I really like Hess my POTY to date but his corners are not good.

Quoted from sydney

Couldn’t make it tonight
But we are 1-0 down already
Hope it’s not a hammering
Come on town get back into it

Its nothing like Saturday we're giving as good as we've got only difference (important difference) is they've put the ball in the goal

1-1. Thomas missed his penno, THINK woolford put it in, cant be sure

Thomas steps up and... its MISSED! CLIFTON ON THE REBOUND!

Get in........1-1   :)

Quoted from Hagrid

1-1. Thomas missed his penno, THINK woolford put it in, cant be sure

we need a new penalty taker...missed 2 scored 1 ??

Get in!

I'm not confident with Thomas on pens, bit like when Bogle took them.

Quoted from moosey_club

we need a new penalty taker...missed 2 scored 1 ??

scored 2 missed 2

intercourse off 2-1. Cannot defend from set pieces

Macca fumbles a drifter that comes straight in un expected and Tranmere finish it off.

Quoted from moosey_club

we need a new penalty taker...missed 2 scored 1 ??

Scored 2, missed 2

Ffs

maccas fault then defence just watch

Oh balderdash

Quoted from zorro_is_a_Mariner

scored 2 missed 2

50% strike rate then...not good enough.

Pathetic defending again!!! Grrrrr

Quoted from moosey_club

50% strike rate then...not good enough.

defo not good enough

what a useless bunch of *******

FFS, again complete lack of accountability, then again when you don’t play the same defence twice what do you expect?

Quoted from HertsGTFC

FFS, again complete lack of accountability, then again when you don’t play the same defence twice what do you expect?

Rubbish, the defence- all of them- have been hopeless recently. And even more so tonight. 2 horrendous goals to concede. Now 3

No Idea!!!!

It’s a shame that we can’t concentrate at the back. We’re playing well overall and much the better side but stupid needless mistakes are costing us.......

Looks like we've returned to that half man half zonal balderdash again at set pieces we were dojng when Jolley first arrived and were shipping a fair number of goals at setpieces

Quoted from Hagrid

Rubbish, the defence- all of them- have been hopeless recently. And even more so tonight. 2 horrendous goals to concede. Now 3

What was rubbish about my post?

Good job we're already on 47 points.

How has Macca been chipped like that at his near post from iutside the area   ??)

Defence switches off again and then Norwood scores a complete fluke. Nice to see we're really bothered about finishing the season well.

Double FFS, what was Macca doing, game over!

Quoted from HertsGTFC

What was rubbish about my post?

No i meant the whole lot of them been rubbish recently mate.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

I really like Hess my POTY to date but his corners are not good.

And I thought he was a player that didn't take a lot of sh?t

Quoted from Hagrid

No i meant the whole lot of them been rubbish recently mate.

😉

Poor at free kicks, corners, throw ins, goal kicks ,wing play and marking forwards. Just what goes on at Cheapside?

Cross shot from Norwood!      Where's the goalie?

Beginning to look like another mass sort out in the summer!

Simply not good enough. We looked the better side but they score 3 goals from 3 attacks.

Watching on i-follow, feel a big urge to switch to Man City in a minute!

4 now looks like a thrashing then!

Quoted from promotion plaice

Good job we're already on 47 points.

We’ll be stuck there for a while yet I’m afraid!

Why do I have to accept that I sort of knew it would be tuff tonight and we would probably / definitely lose
This is a team we murdered earlier in the year
Are we moving forward as a unit?

Jolley out ..  ;D

This is the hammering that we have been lucky to get away with so far this season

This is flipping disgraceful

4 now
Jolly?

Jesus

Only one more defeat to go after this then we can win 4 in a row ..

FFS! Wheres the defence  ??)

This is what happens when a team that is pushing for promotion takes on a mediocre L2 side. I'm not sure why everyone sounds surprised, they are on the up and we have lost our last 2 games in a row. We have no consistency and can't keep our form up because we can only sign mediocre players in this league.

Sack all these defenders. They're utterly inept.

It's no surprise really. We win a few games, we lose a few games, and repeat.

Baaaaalllldddddeeerrrrrdaaashhhhhhh

Fukin embarrassing!!! They are defending like cowards, 3 free kicks and a lucky cross

Put DC back in😉 whats worrying is they havent even scored a good bloody goal. Awful defending and a keeping error

Sorry but 4-1 is before HT is not acceptable , total lack of character balls and desire.

Useless again at free kicks - suckers-can't tackle without fouling.

We were lucky to beat Cheltenham and have been bang average (at best) since. The 352 system has been sussed.

Key words about the first half. Needless fouls, freekicks, absent defending.  :'(

Quoted from hheh2

Baaaaalllldddddeeerrrrrdaaashhhhhhh

FFFFFFKKKKIIINNNGGGGSSSHHHIIITTTT

Quoted from MuddyWaters

We were lucky to beat Cheltenham and have been bang average (at best) since. The 352 system has been sussed.

Completely agree, both at the back and in mid field.

Who was it on here who wanted to give MJ a three year contract?   8)

Quoted from promotion plaice

Who was it on here who wanted to give MJ a three year contract?   8)

Ipswin😉😂

Oh dear oh dear oh dear

This is a bit of a crisis now for the manager. Needs to seriously consider this system and whether he thinks we can acquire the personelle in the summer to make it work. He needs to find a way to steady these results because losing now will increase the pressure on the start to next season.

Does he stick with this making minor changes and try and turn it around like he has managed to previously, though it might be harder now some of the players may be less motivated.

Does he experiment with a big switch up, try something new, yes it could backfire but this bad result could make it look like less of a backfire unless we lose like 6-0. Id go for this and use tiredness as a reason to make a switcharound, and play something safer, hopefully give the team a bit of a breather and releif from the mounting pressure.

I've said all season that this team is very poor. We need a Board with cash to bring in decent players. If we continue like this, at some point in the near future we will be non-league again
Crowd on Saturday?

I’m sick to death of bloody 352, we’re not good enough to play it and too inconsistent, totally p**** off with it

I’m sorry but Davis and  Whitmore are just mediocre non league players who will never be good enough to keep clean sheets . We were lucky on Saturday to get away without letting in 2/3 goals second half from calamitous defending that was only saved by a lucky hack away .
Ohman probably needs to a pre season but tbh he looks like an accident waiting to happen unless he’s heading it and the jury is still well and truly out on him and Ring . The only one I have confidence in is RHJ and he’s better than all the other CBs

I hope jolley has got a few defenders in mind as our back line is so weak .

I know where am not going on saturday

Obviously the scoreline isn't acceptable, as wasn't the concentration for the first goal but Tranmere have been fortunate for three of the goals. The second, free kick catches the wind last minute and Macca flaps at it, the ball falls straight to their one player when we have three in the vicinity. The third is a cross that catches the wind and drops in the top corner, (Macca's positioning a bit iffy maybe but I don't think any keeper's stopping that). The fourth drops kindly straight to their man on the volley when we've got bodies around. Has it been good enough? Of course not, but Tranmere have had their fair share of luck. Shame really because we started really well.

As upsetting as it is losing 4-1, we responded well after conceding a soft goal and then after that not really had the luck of the bounce in our box. Don't think Macca's covered himself in glory though..

I'm sure several people on here was saying in January that defensively we don't need improvements, we need improvements in all areas next season.

Quoted from Kris2

This is what happens when a team that is pushing for promotion takes on a mediocre L2 side. I'm not sure why everyone sounds surprised, they are on the up and we have lost our last 2 games in a row. We have no consistency and can't keep our form up because we can only sign mediocre players in this league.

Looking at that defence I wish they were as good as mediocre.

A bit harsh some of the comments cos i don't think we've been that bad. We've played worse this season and won. Numerous times.
Just one of those games. Another day we'd be level at half time at the very least

* I swear half the people commenting only bother coming on here when we're losing. When we're winning, you don't here from em

Quoted from denni266

I know where am not going on saturday

And I went and picked up 4 tickets today for Saturday. My first game in a while. I wonder if the dentist might be open instead ;-)

The formation is all wrong. How many teams can you think of that have been successful playing it at any level. Yes England got to a world cup semi using it, but they scraped through. To even make it slightly effective, you need incredibly dynamic central midfielders, the type you don't find at this level. Your wing backs also need to be athletic, again most aren't at this level. Even top class players struggle to make it effective, so putting all our eggs in this one basket, which we've definitely done, was a very naive move.

Based upon what we’ve seen in that half MJ needs to take full accountability, he changed 2 of the back 5 with I would imagine only one full training session to work on it.

If we don’t tighten up in the 2nd half we’ll be in for a real pasting.

Take a CB and Woolly off add Embleton and Vernam and go to 4-3-3

Quoted from Bigdog

Obviously the scoreline isn't acceptable, as was the concentration for the first goal but Tranmere have been fortunate for three of the goals. The second, free kick catches the wind last minute and Macca flaps at it, the ball falls straight to their one player when we have three in the vicinity. The third is a cross that catches the wind and drops in the top corner, (Macca's positioning a bit iffy maybe but I don't think any keeper's stopping that). The fourth drops kindly straight to their man on the volley when we've got bodies around. Has it been good enough? Of course not, but Tranmere have had their fair share of luck. Shame really because we started really well.

As upsetting as it is losing 4-1, we responded well after conceding a soft goal and then after that not really had the luck of the bounce in our box. Don't think Macca's covered himself in glory though..

Nothing fortunate about them, we can’t defend set pieces, just like the previous matches, training ground stuff to defend a set piece, we switched off and didn’t re act fast enough, it’s embarrassing to concede 3 set pieces in one half.

Thank God I'm on holiday for the next 2 Saturday's. Will check the results against Northampton and Bury with one eye closed. lol

Quoted from promotion plaice

Who was it on here who wanted to give MJ a three year contract?   8)

:B :B  It's not the first time I have said stupid things on here PP. ;D

Quoted from nightrider

A bit harsh some of the comments cos i don't think we've been that bad. We've played worse this season and won. Numerous times.
Just one of those games. Another day we'd be level at half time at the very least

Football is a game about attack and defence. If you can’t defend, you lose and our defence is shocking.

Neither Cook or Thomas have the strength or poise to worry defences. Unless we get forward with pace and turn defenders we are again tooling around in front of a packed defence.  This game is gone so give some subs a decent run out.

Quoted from Davec

I'm sure several people on here was saying in January that defensively we don't need improvements, we need improvements in all areas next season.

We need off the pitch improvements aswell. Hursts comments keep ringing in my ears and I don’t know how this club expects to operate in league 1 or the championship when we don’t even operate as a league 2 club still. I understand weve made some improvements since hurst but not many, if you could see the board visibily back this intellegent young manager with serious intent, and then it backfired, i‘d have sympathy if they reverted to a more conservative style of operating after, but currently it looks like we’ll just keep playing roulette and then actually wasting money with managerial and then large squad changes, and potentially wasting lots of money with an eventual return to none league

Quoted from Bigdog

Obviously the scoreline isn't acceptable, as was the concentration for the first goal but Tranmere have been fortunate for three of the goals. The second, free kick catches the wind last minute and Macca flaps at it, the ball falls straight to their one player when we have three in the vicinity. The third is a cross that catches the wind and drops in the top corner, (Macca's positioning a bit iffy maybe but I don't think any keeper's stopping that). The fourth drops kindly straight to their man on the volley when we've got bodies around. Has it been good enough? Of course not, but Tranmere have had their fair share of luck. Shame really because we started really well.

As upsetting as it is losing 4-1, we responded well after conceding a soft goal and then after that not really had the luck of the bounce in our box. Don't think Macca's covered himself in glory though..

Too many free kicks given away around our area not just this game but just about every game. Considering MJ & AL spend so much time analysing games I'm surprised they haven't done something about it.

ok...lets harness the power of positive thinking.....

its a great opportunity to pull off an amazing comeback

433 is my favourite formation, with 1 cdm and I use it for my Saturday league side. Easy to adapt to any sort of game, if you're under the cosh you go 451, if its going well you stay as you are if you feel you can push you can go for annlflat 3 in the middle or even push 1 further forward to support the Central striker to almost make a 424 formation

I Think Golfer will be stuck with his free ticket for Saturday ,

Unless he pays someone to take it off his hands  :B

Quoted from Mariner93er

The formation is all wrong. How many teams can you think of that have been successful playing it at any level. Yes England got to a world cup semi using it, but they scraped through. To even make it slightly effective, you need incredibly dynamic central midfielders, the type you don't find at this level. Your wing backs also need to be athletic, again most aren't at this level. Even top class players struggle to make it effective, so putting all our eggs in this one basket, which we've definitely done, was a very naive move.

I don't think the formation is anything to do with how we've defended from set-plays.

Hope that 3 year contract got lost in the post.

I would imagine no one wants to see town losing 4-1 at HT.  I also think they want revenge for the dubbing at our place, and we've lost the last 2 making reaching the play-offs harder, I wonder if the players lack belief, or are feeling down.  I guess the wind hasn't helped but they've probably used it better than us.  Oh well lets just hope they show some desire after the break.

Bring Rose on early this half if nothing changes. The games lost and it'll give him plenty of needed experience. And you never know he might get a goal or two with his size and pace.

There was a comment made by MJ before the Crawley game and it has stuck in my head since he said it.

JT asked something about analysing the game from height as it's different to seeing it at pitch level. MJ said he understood the reasons for it but he has his reasons for staying pitch side. The bit that sticks though is where he said that the players don't listen to anything he tells them in the match anyway.

Think positive !!!
Just got 66/1 on a draw.

🤞

And yes I’m deluded... but that’s situation normal after following Town for over 50 years  ;)

We have pace on the bench and a proven striker at this level why no changes at HT?

Quoted from arryarryarry

Too many free kicks given away around our area not just this game but just about every game. Considering MJ & AL spend so much ime analysing games I'm surprised they haven't done something about it.

Agree with that totally, and I don't think our central midfield as a unit giives enough protection too.. Still don't think that all of the four goals warrants the blanket shite defending comments though. Understand people being upset, but some of the comments are over the top, which seems strange when we're 4-1 down. The bounce has favoured Tranmere on two occasions and the cross going in top corner was a fluke, we had bodies there, happens sometimes. I'm not writing off Ohman, Davis and Whitmore like some people are tonight on one half of football when we've been unfortunate to a certain degree. We've played a lot worse recently and got results..

Quoted from lukeo

433 is my favourite formation, with 1 cdm and I use it for my Saturday league side. Easy to adapt to any sort of game, if you're under the cosh you go 451, if its going well you stay as you are if you feel you can push you can go for annlflat 3 in the middle or even push 1 further forward to support the Central striker to almost make a 424 formation

I agree Lukeo 433 its my prefered formation and what have we got to lose now. We're already losing.

On a positive note....I decided last minute not buy the game on iFollow for £10 tonight   :)

We’ll get a result Saturday Northampton have no former loanees to bag a brace against us.

How did Harry Davis not score that! Cracking save from their Davis

We play or have played arguably our best football this season in a 433 .

Quoted from sonofmadeleymariner

How did Harry Davis not score that! Cracking save from their Davis

Maybe putting a big lad up front might make a difference 😂

there keepers made a few good saves to be fair

And on the bright side...no cards.......yet!

At 4-1 down there isn’t a bright side

Quoted from Tommy

I don't think the formation is anything to do with how we've defended from set-plays.

No, but the formation has everything to do with giving away free kicks around our area, as our centre backs are always exposed. When was the last time we dominated a team and put them under the cosh? There's just not enough attacking fluidity within the formation to do so.

JJ scores against Chesterfield.

Quoted from mariner tommy

At 4-1 down there isn’t a bright side

It's not 5 .... ;D

BBC web page has got Russell replaces Woolford,

Are we playing two in goal now ?   ;D

Quoted from HertsGTFC

We’ll get a result Saturday Northampton have no former loanees to bag a brace against us.

I hope so; Northampton fan at work smugly assured me they were going to thrash us when I bumped into him last week. On our sudden downturn in form, I'm concerned that may actually happen now. A month ago I would have laughed in his face!

Quoted from Mariner93er

No, but the formation has everything to do with giving away free kicks around our area, as our centre backs are always exposed. When was the last time we dominated a team and put them under the cosh? There's just not enough attacking fluidity within the formation to do so.

Personally think the 5 across the middle is leading to us over passing it a bit, the times we’ve played 4-3-3 we’ve looked more urgent and it’s allowed the bit of pace we have in the side to come to the fore.

Quoted from Mariner93er

No, but the formation has everything to do with giving away free kicks around our area, as our centre backs are always exposed. When was the last time we dominated a team and put them under the cosh? There's just not enough attacking fluidity within the formation to do so.

Tranmere at home ?? ;)

Very strange game where we've been the better team for the majority but lost 4-1.

FT  4-1   :o

Notts County pick up a massive 3 points at Carlisle tonight.

How did we lose 4-1, were our players simply slower to the knock downs, parried saves from both keepers or was it just one of those nights when it drops wrong every time, I think the latter, we played really well for most of the game and it just didn't drop  for us. Macca had only 5 saves to make all night and 2 he parried stright to their feet and another a fluke cross theat the wind whipped in, Their keeper had more to do but it always dropped to their defenders, sometimes your luck is in but tonight we had none. Ring not good enough when he came on, otherwise everyone had a decent game.

Quoted from promotion plaice

FT  4-1   :o

Notts County pick up a massive 3 points at Carlisle tonight.

Despite this 😂

https://twitter.com/nicohillkenberg/status/1105579752189054976?s=21

Strange match that. A ten minute spell of poor defending and goalkeeping cost us.  Played the better football, had more chances and possession than Tranmere but didnt take our chances.  Lets get back to winning on Saturday.

Quoted from Croxton

FAO HertsGTFC , I second your question for JT to ask MJ as read out on RH.  Poor use of subs.

PS despite the goals I wouldn't even think of bringing Collins back, because we were more compact. Tranmere produced almost nothing from open play because we defended much higher up the pitch tonight which allowed the midfield to press and close down.

Im not including the goal, so, we havent scored from open play. We had a couple of good chances to score before they got the first. Jennings looking very lively, alert
We then had about 4 half chances in the first 10mins of the second half.
We then get the Davis chance. Ffs stick one of them away. Are they not on a goal bonus??
Granted weve let 4 in and their keepers got mom but we don't score enough.

I would have liked Rose to have been brought on for a good half hour. Obvious the other 3 wouldn't do anything in that time, and they didn't. Nobody lively up front. I'm amazed he wasnt brought on. He would have terrorised their defence, that last half an hour was crying out for somebody to have a go at them
A shame for the town fans who made the journey. I didn't rate Tranmere, we should have done better

I'd drop Thomas. intercourse knows who for but I want to see a bit more. No real intent from him.
Id try cook and Dennis for a few games, it can't be much worse. And get rose on the pitch. Every match he should be on at some point if we're chasing the game. I don't see what he's done wrong.

* oh and you know you've got problems when in the first half, RHJ looks the most likely to score.
One minute he's running into their box with a chance on goal. Next time you see him he's in our box kicking it to safety.

PPS Despite this, I know Jolly will bring him back in Saturday. :o

Ring should spend all summer in the gym. There’s a good footballer in there but he just needs to bulk up a bit. So easily knocked off the ball. It’ll come. Just needs time.

Having been to Swindon and Crawley recently, and then watched that in ifollow, I can comfortably say that was the better performance out of the three. Funny old game.

Come on folks, think positively, we drew the second half!

Having just voted back I can honestly say we actually played well up until their second goal. poor in possession and going forward after that. Some slow reactions defensively from us and also a lucky goal from them, so far as I could tell from our end. But we will play like that and win on another day.
Our lack of consistency really concerns me tho, we don't seem to be building towards a better season next year if I'm honest. Still don't have a left footed player who cam be wingback imo and the wingback role is vital in that formation.

Sounds like we gave a good account of ourselves despite the result, the swirling wind was always going to be a show stopper (trying to be positive.)

The plus side is we are not in a relegation dog fight and Jolley can use these remaining games to try a few things out after all no one thought we could reach the play offs did they ???? lol (tongue firmly in cheek) ;D ;D
                                                                                                                      UTM.

If the knockdowns are going to their defenders is it probably a case of not having enough bodies in their penalty area.

Stick R.H.J. on the wing and completely alter this system cos. we don't know how to play it.