How can we be..

So poor at the back when we have had an experienced defender as first team coach all season?
Sorry to say it but maybe Ben Davis isn't the right man for that job
Great lad, used to love watching him, oozed class, but I think as a coach he has to take some culpability for our shocking defensive record

It's Ben's turn in the stocks is it?

I don’t think we can just distribute the blame around, it starts at the top.

People swallowed the bollcoks we were fed since about May, we made excuses for only having one pre season game, people justified the ridiculous  Covid contracts even though we could all see it we chose not to call out Holloway for assembling what was a truly woeful squad before a ball was even kicked...those that did were shot down.

The current coaching team will be fully aware of how excrement we are. You can coach as great as you want but if players intercourse up like they have done this year sometimes you can’t legislate for that...

Quoted from ginnywings

It's Ben's turn in the stocks is it?

No one's putting him in the stocks but he's coaching these boys, an apprentice is only as good as his teachers
Questions need to be asked, that's all I have done

Quoted from Northbank Mariner

So poor at the back when we have had an experienced defender as first team coach all season?
Sorry to say it but maybe Ben Davis isn't the right man for that job
Great lad, used to love watching him, oozed class, but I think as a coach he has to take some culpability for our shocking defensive record

Because the players and keeper are not up to the task and appear to have very poor communication and concentration skills. I was also getting really p1ssed off then both CB's tried to play numerous killer balls yesterday instead of just giving it to the midfield.

And he has also been coaching the midfielders, the forwards, the reserves and probably doing the assistant managers job as well, as we have had no coaches. I bet with covid they do a lot more work in smaller groups, therefore having to split their time between these groups.

This isn't all the coaches fault, we haven't had a coaching team thanks to decisions made by the inept board re covid. They got it wrong and now it looks like it was so very wrong. Also, both Hurst and Doig were defenders, they have been here a month and it has got worse. But I'm not blaming them, it is confidence that is causing this. Look at Pollock pre Christmas, there was talk of him going to the Premiership, he doesn't look anywhere near that now. Waterfall was winning everything and scoring last season, now look at him, Hendrie was one of our best players last season, he is playing horrendous this season. It is all down to confidence, but making mistakes like yesterday will just destroy that.

To be fair it is impossible to blame the coaches. A blind man can see that we ALWAYS concede stupid balls over the top - basic stuff. It is also easy to defend against (too high a line for slow defenders, and two centre backs chasing the same ball).

the problem is the lack of competition at centre back.

It’s been Pollock and Waterfall all season. If we’d kept Ohman  or signed Menayese earlier we’d have been able to rotate and keep it fresh and drop when out of form.

Our current woes land at the feet of Fenty and Holloway - fact.

Quoted from Nutsy

To be fair it is impossible to blame the coaches. A blind man can see that we ALWAYS concede stupid balls over the top - basic stuff. It is also easy to defend against (too high a line for slow defenders, and two centre backs chasing the same ball).

the problem is the lack of competition at centre back.

It’s been Pollock and Waterfall all season. If we’d kept Ohman  or signed Menayese earlier we’d have been able to rotate and keep it fresh and drop when out of form.

Our current woes land at the feet of Fenty and Holloway - fact.

To be fair if we always concede stupid goals, balls over the top, slow defenders and too high a line these are exactly the situations a coach should be able to address, however, many of our goals have been conceded as a result of individual errors. For example, Harrogate and Carlisle at home all goals attributable to Macca, and without those we might 3 to 5 points better off, massive difference. Obviously others have also made horrendous errors and these cannot be addressed easily by coaching.

I do agree that there is too little competition in this area and Holloway kept banging on about playing 16 year old Ben Grist which demonstrates the failed signing of Moshni and release of Ohman left us totally exposed at the back and I would like to see Hewitt given a run there as think he has something to offer at the back, has pace and will be more comfortable on the ball.

It’s shocking to think that we would be happy to replace pretty much the whole of the team Holloway was selecting and I don’t recall any other manager, in my time watching town, ever inheriting a side that individually and collectively is as poor as this one.

Is he excrement at darts? Is that the issue?

Sorting the back line out is easy if we just keep us shape

I was pretty angry yesterday and fired off countless anx ridden posts.

Today I have calmed down a bit and hope to be more considered.

I think we have made some steps forward in the composition of the squad in the past couple of weeks, though this has yet to translate into results.

Certainly Matete is a huge improvement in midfield and that has been an area of terrible weakness all season. If Idris can also step up, and it seems he does have the ability to do so given comments from fans of his former clubs, then that will be huge for us. Once Morais and/or Scannell are match fit, we will start to have a more energetic and creatively functional midfield.

Stefan Payne is still building up his match fitness after a lengthy lay off, but initial signs are that he is a real threat up front. We scored from open play yesterday, and I think with Hanson returning to fitness, and especially if the rumours of LJL signing are true, we may at last have some goal threat going forward.

Sadly, however, our defensive frailties were once again exposed yesterday. Both goals were down to sloppy defending and lack of concentration. We have to stop leaking goals. That is difficult with such an error prone keeper. I think that both Waterfall and Pollock need a rest. I would put Hewitt in there. Yes, Menyase made an error yesterday, he should have put in a challenge for their first goal, but he does have height and pace and I think the jury is still out on him. Regardless, we do need to tighten up at the back but you would hope that Hurst, Doig and Davies between them have the experience to improve things.

We have had a string of winnable games in December and January, but managed to win just one. However, as others have mentioned, the standard of teams further up the table is nor great, and it is certainly not an insurmountable task to compete with most of them.

But with just 21 points on the board and 20 games remaining, a further 29 points from those games to hit the 50 point 'safety' mark is a tall order. Basically it means winning every other game. That is play-off form. It seems unlikely. But survival means finishing ahead of Southend and Barrow.  So that is not impossible.

Let's see who else we sign on Monday, and how we do in February. We still have a chance. But time is running out. That turnaround in results needs to start very soon.        

I have tried not to criticize the players until 24 hours after the game has finished.

But

Can not wait until five o clock as I have other things to do.

Most of the goals we have let in this season could have been stopped by either the defender ( insert name here ) messed up by either not sticking with his man or giving him the ball instead of passing to one of our own.

The other is Macca he has never commanded his box but made up for it with some great saves in the past now sad to say he is playing with no confidence and any half decent keeper would have come for the last goal and collected before their player had a chance to score.

While at the other end we have no one able to stick the ball in the net on a regular basis ..

Let's hope we get a keeper a striker and someone to control the back four or five and midfield.

I will not hold my breath. ,I think we might have to rely on what we have and hope Hurst can sort it out enough so we don't finish in bottom two. Third bottom will do me this season.

All management teams are judged on results and they all know that.
If the current management team takes us down i think they are intelligent enough to realise their future opportunities in the football league will be non existent.

The same applies to our players it’s the last chance saloon for most of them as a full time professional player.

Personally  i would like to see Limbrick back , he did a good job untill the master plan to feck Town by  HORROR WAY by making it  not  viable for the guy  to travel back and forth on a 25%  wage cut. Just my opinion.

Quoted from 140348

Personally  i would like to see Limbrick back , he did a good job untill the master plan to feck Town by  HORROR WAY by making it  not  viable for the guy  to travel back and forth on a 25%  wage cut. Just my opinion.

Completely agree. My son was mascot last season when Limbrick was in temporary charge and you could just sense from talking to the non playing staff he was very respected and there was a belief and confidence in him. Not saying he should have got the manager job ( but in hindsight now that would not have been a bad thing!) but he should have stayed as assistant. I always noticed at the end of matches he would go to the players, especially younger ones and speak to them. I imagine he had a lot to do with the younger players progress and development, maybe another reason the likes of Pollock and co have gone backwards.

I have spoken to Anthony Limbrick and found him to be the most approachable Town mangager I have had the chance to meet.

However I cannot ever see him returning under Paul Hurst.

You can be the best coach in the world, but that doesn’t necessarily stop individual errors.

Their winning goal was not necessarily a tactical error that you would coach out. Although I maintain that Maccas starting position was awful. It was an indivisible error, a simple out muscling and failure of two centre halves to simply take control of a long direct ball and clear the lines. Were they tactically out of position, that you would coach day in and day out? No they weren’t. They simply both dropped the baton and failed to do what they so easily should and could do. Simply clear that ball away from danger first.

The first game the same. That ball behind the lines was the new centre halves to look after all day long. He’s there, alongside the attacker, but he makes an unfortunate error, ends up wrong side as a result of that error, and their player gets away from him to score.

It’s not a tactical coaching issue and so let’s not look for a scapegoat.

If anything it’s a loss of concentration and urgency that now just needs addressing.

Quoted from Northbank Mariner

So poor at the back when we have had an experienced defender as first team coach all season?
Sorry to say it but maybe Ben Davis isn't the right man for that job
Great lad, used to love watching him, oozed class, but I think as a coach he has to take some culpability for our shocking defensive record

1) Ben Davies isn't an experienced defender. He played as a right-back for a few years at the end of his career (presumably to prolong his career). But he was a midfielder.

2) Davies. Ben Davies.

Quoted from RonMariner

I was pretty angry yesterday and fired off countless anx ridden posts.

Today I have calmed down a bit and hope to be more considered.

I think we have made some steps forward in the composition of the squad in the past couple of weeks, though this has yet to translate into results.

Certainly Matete is a huge improvement in midfield and that has been an area of terrible weakness all season. If Idris can also step up, and it seems he does have the ability to do so given comments from fans of his former clubs, then that will be huge for us. Once Morais and/or Scannell are match fit, we will start to have a more energetic and creatively functional midfield.

Stefan Payne is still building up his match fitness after a lengthy lay off, but initial signs are that he is a real threat up front. We scored from open play yesterday, and I think with Hanson returning to fitness, and especially if the rumours of LJL signing are true, we may at last have some goal threat going forward.

Sadly, however, our defensive frailties were once again exposed yesterday. Both goals were down to sloppy defending and lack of concentration. We have to stop leaking goals. That is difficult with such an error prone keeper. I think that both Waterfall and Pollock need a rest. I would put Hewitt in there. Yes, Menyase made an error yesterday, he should have put in a challenge for their first goal, but he does have height and pace and I think the jury is still out on him. Regardless, we do need to tighten up at the back but you would hope that Hurst, Doig and Davies between them have the experience to improve things.

We have had a string of winnable games in December and January, but managed to win just one. However, as others have mentioned, the standard of teams further up the table is nor great, and it is certainly not an insurmountable task to compete with most of them.

But with just 21 points on the board and 20 games remaining, a further 29 points from those games to hit the 50 point 'safety' mark is a tall order. Basically it means winning every other game. That is play-off form. It seems unlikely. But survival means finishing ahead of Southend and Barrow.  So that is not impossible.

Let's see who else we sign on Monday, and how we do in February. We still have a chance. But time is running out. That turnaround in results needs to start very soon.        

Hopefully, it might only need 45/46 points. So that would require 7 wins and 4/5 draws. Seems a tall ask with current form, but I agree that there doesn't appear to be a clutch of sides that are unbeatable.

Just a run of maybe 8 points from 15 would drag a couple more into the mix. If we had done a poll after 40 minutes on Saturday, that wouldn't have seemed beyond the realms of possibility. Granted after 94 minutes, it seems highly unlikely. Just need to keep the faith and hope we can scratch out an ugly win to start some momentum.

Quoted from Fillipe Noche

You can be the best coach in the world, but that doesn’t necessarily stop individual errors.

Their winning goal was not necessarily a tactical error that you would coach out. Although I maintain that Maccas starting position was awful. It was an indivisible error, a simple out muscling and failure of two centre halves to simply take control of a long direct ball and clear the lines. Were they tactically out of position, that you would coach day in and day out? No they weren’t. They simply both dropped the baton and failed to do what they so easily should and could do. Simply clear that ball away from danger first.

The first game the same. That ball behind the lines was the new centre halves to look after all day long. He’s there, alongside the attacker, but he makes an unfortunate error, ends up wrong side as a result of that error, and their player gets away from him to score.

It’s not a tactical coaching issue and so let’s not look for a scapegoat.

If anything it’s a loss of concentration and urgency that now just needs addressing.

Aye. Coaches don't get you 3 points, do they?

And they cost money, and we don't want that do we?

To be fair, I am not sure why honest John hasn't tried to have a season without a manager. I mean, do we really need one? Really? Surely some senior players could sort it out between them. Think of all those savings!

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

Aye. Coaches don't get you 3 points, do they?

And they cost money, and we don't want that do we?

To be fair, I am not sure why honest John hasn't tried to have a season without a manager. I mean, do we really need one? Really? Surely some senior players could sort it out between them. Think of all those savings!

Good plan. Also, it is often said that ten men play better than eleven. So just have ten players for each game, thereby saving on unnecessary wages.  They should discus this at the next board meeting because it can hardly do more damage than everything else they have tried.

and to be fair to Ben Davies you cant pollish a turd.

The number one thing id be telling our centre backs is - as soon as the ball comes near you, hoof it and far up the pitch as possible.

They obviously struggle bringing it down and into play to progress our attack.

At this stage not conceding is as important as scoring.

Quoted from Nutsy

At this stage not conceding is as important as scoring.

Especially given the goal drought. Can't remember when we last scored more than one in a home game.

Quoted from RonMariner

Especially given the goal drought. Can't remember when we last scored more than one in a home game.

In the league, 25th Feb 2020 (4-2 against a Newport team not trying too hard)

Playing out fro the back didn't work, macca didn't like it the pitch didn't help. The ball didn't stay up the top and kept coming back. Ollie lost interest when his friend died. Confidence oozed out the team,  good and steady players lost form. We played to our positioning in the table. We had too many changes, so consistency was not achievable. No supporters at BP, all contributing to  the current situation. Alex May issue didn't help. Take over talk does affect players.
Well PH as changed things. UTM. Let us keep faith.

Really impressed with the signings so far (the results will come good) Saturday was a blip as we played ok but some tired and lazy defending screwed us

Ben gone to Liverpool 2million