Just back

We’re in a precarious position here. No win in four league games is concerning , regardless how you dress it up.

I’m immensely fortunate to not have missed a game this season and what concerns me is the lack of ability to maintain our opposition under pressure for a prolonged period of time. Irrelevant of results all season, all our goals have come; out of the blue or in quick succession. This makes our style of football quite bland and at home in particular, not overly effective.

However, my bigger concern is with 6k worth of season ticket holders, we’ve got a special opportunity to secure a larger fan base for both this season and beyond. Have we taken that opportunity thus far? No.

In my very humble opinion, a change of style and intensity is required. We’ve all seen how sticking centre forwards has changed the last two home games, so perhaps now is the time to try that from the off?

What I will say though is Hursty deserves our full backing (and I’ve not always been the most pro-Hurst fan). The bloke worked wonders last season and I don’t think he’s too far from building a squad that can challenge again.

UTM

Quoted from DB

Taylor had his normal game with no support, there's no point in playing him without 1/2 others to feed off
him. The opposition knows the long ball is going to Taylor, because that's all we have done.

Time for a change of tack up front and give Taylor a rest, not that he's playing bad.

This,
If you want to play a system of lumping it up front to a target man then Taylor is your man but….no point playing him if the rest of the team can’t take advantage of his way of playing. Add to the fact in my opinion he hasn’t played well as a target man this season Town should play without him, look at the difference when he went off, Orsi is more mobile and can bring players in without giving away so many fouls, rest Taylor for a few games, I’d have him as a sub to have a plan “B”

Carlisle were very well organised, so you can see why they haven't lost many. Typical that they should score with their first shot (sloppy defending in the lead up) but, in many ways, it was similar to the weekend as the forward intended to play off Taylor simply didn't get involved. Simmonds simply lost possession every time he received the ball, generally by dwelling on it and Carlisle pressed very well for the first hour especially. Orsi and Richardson did a little better when they came on but still very much in and out of it.

We played some nice football at times, but almost always in front of them and the few occasions we got in behind, the final ball just wasn't good enough. As others have mentioned, delivery from pretty much all of our set pieces was poor and we kept failing to beat the first man with loads of crosses as well. Need to do better than that.

I wasn't surprised that Khan set up the goal as he looked the most likely to do something and he certainly ought to be a good player for us. Maher was fine - can't say he did anything wrong but didn't stand out either. Not keen to try and pick a pass and perhaps a bit too cautious in possession, but then the same was true for most of our players. Amos did OK defensively but didn't get forward enough really, considering they were sitting back and we needed to overlap.

I've never been overly convinced with Efete, but he had a poor one tonight, especially given the member-up for the match-winner. Links up well at times then doesn't quite find the cross or pass and, to me, he always looks like a midfielder playing slightly out of position.

JMD was tidy and played some good stuff but is another who takes too many touches - he missed a great chance to put Taylor through in the first half when all he needed to do was flick it with the outside of his boot. Tried to dribble instead.

Hunt was tidy in possession, but that was it. Need better delivery and more incisive passing from him than we've seen in the past two games.

Ultimately, it feels as though there is still a lot more to come from this bunch of players, but it's not ideal for us to be just trying to keep things ticking over until McAtee is hopefully able to bring some impetus when he returns.

I do wonder if giving Kiernan a try as a forward might be worth a go. I know that Walsall fans indicated he often does better in the middle and it doesn't seem as though either Simmonds or Richardson are going to be affecting the game enough from the last couple of games. Desperately need a home win, that's for sure.

Was Expecting a win tonight and then we could have moved on  after Sat but the two now linked
Absolutely woeful performance especially 1st half
So Poor
Hurst made too many changes and we did indeed look like a team of strangers
No cutting edge at all
We will have to play tons better than that in forthcoming games to avert a rapid slide down the table
Any connection between the two recent below average home performances to PH been linked with Millers job?
We very rarely do well v Salford and another defeat and you could say a wheel has come off
Come on Town!!

Despite much more possession, more shots, more corners, we just don't look threatening enough, and if the defence has an off day, as they now have for 2 games in a row, we haven't got the goals in us to rescue the situation. Think that was the 8th goal for Dennis this season and I am struggling to see any of our current forwards scoring that many all season as things stand.

Four goals from five home games is a poor return and the natives are getting restless.

Nothing to add really, except that we can't afford to be giving away defensive howlers every game.

The crowd are already starting to get on the players' backs, we need a home win and soon!

I was one of the posters who expressed concerns over Taylor and it was not about his abilities as a player but his inclusion dictates the way we try to play and without McAtee linking up with him it just doesn’t work and I feel PH has been guilty of trying to fit some square pegs into round holes in an attempt to find someone capable of filling this void. We don’t have such a player so we need to move on and play a different style. Think in his post match interview interview he mentioned that Taylor had picked up a calf injury so change may well be forced upon us.

Personally I think our midfield tonight lacked both a physical presence and creativity. Hunt, to his credit kept wanting the ball but his passing and dead ball delivery were both poor and Harry is not the greatest on the ball at the best of times and I believe he is better playing in a three man midfield.

Khan and JMD both had their moments tonight so hard to leave one of them out but I would, in the absence of Morris, like to see Green join Hunt and Clifton on Saturday with Khan, Orsi and Richardson/Pepple up front. Richardson had a good cameo tonight but maybe I would go for Pepple initially as his physical attributes give us something different going forward.

To date our mid season signings all look ok but none of them have, as yet, have really  set the world alight but I remain hopeful that by the end of October PH will have identified his preferred starting eleven and got us playing better than at present in front of the home fans.

Taylor too isolated imho, need to play a runner off defenders shoulder - not someone 15 yards behind. That said it sounds like he’ll be out at weekend so change of tactic/thought needed. At home though it’s probably more of an issue and maybe worth a go playing two ‘runners’ up top rather than a target man?

Khan is useful, thought Hunt was a bit disappointing tbh - both delivery wise and distribution in general. And Clifton I’m not sure is a good combination with Hunt. Hope Morris/Green can return and do a role a la Khan on Saturday, JMD was alright, no better than that but still the best option/likelihood to create something. Wasn’t a ‘bad’ performance by the team, neither was Saturday tbh, just look a tad predictable and easy to defend against.

Maybe Orsi/Richardson up top at home , with JMD, Khan wide and Greenor Morris with Hunt central. Or Clifton/Khan wide, Morris and Hunt/Holohan?
Defensively Maher didn’t do much wrong but I’d expect Waterfall and Smith return as a partnership, Glennon and Efete.

Gut feeling though that PH might go like for like up top and play Pepple.

So I think Saturday will be something like

   Crocombe
Efete Waterfall Smith Glennon
JMD/Kiernan Hunt Clifton Khan
Richardson
Pepple

In that sticking with what’s worked away from home.

Quoted from Lincoln Mariner 56

I was one of the posters who expressed concerns over Taylor and it was not about his abilities as a player but his inclusion dictates the way we try to play and without McAtee linking up with him it just doesn’t work and I feel PH has been guilty of trying to fit some square pegs into round holes in an attempt to find someone capable of filling this void. We don’t have such a player so we need to move on and play a different style. Think in his post match interview interview he mentioned that Taylor had picked up a calf injury so change may well be forced upon us.

Personally I think our midfield tonight lacked both a physical presence and creativity. Hunt, to his credit kept wanting the ball but his passing and dead ball delivery were both poor and Harry is not the greatest on the ball at the best of times and I believe he is better playing in a three man midfield.

Khan and JMD both had their moments tonight so hard to leave one of them out but I would, in the absence of Morris, like to see Green join Hunt and Clifton on Saturday with Khan, Orsi and Richardson/Pepple up front. Richardson had a good cameo tonight but maybe I would go for Pepple initially as his physical attributes give us something different going forward.

To date our mid season signings all look ok but none of them have, as yet, have really  set the world alight but I remain hopeful that by the end of October PH will have identified his preferred starting eleven and got us playing better than at present in front of the home fans.

To be fair, the 3 strikers are all young and raw, with little or no experience in men's football.  Of the 3, I think Richardson has shown the most promise, in patches - however, he is very lightweight.  He's got quick feet and a good turn of pace though, so I think there's a player in there somewhere.

The game passed Simmonds by tonight, he showed glimpses of quality at Newport though, so will improve with minutes.

Pepple looks well off the pace so far, and his injury has set him back again, his finishing is poor however.

Anyone got a link to PH post match please?