Just Back on the Train.

After what has been quite frankly a negativity induced miserable week what better time to go to Crewe-a team we haven't beaten away since 1990.
It took precisely five minutes for the gloom to be dispelled when Lloyd (one of the bargain basement rushed signings apparently) flicked on in an almost Tayloresque manner for Mcatee to bury the chance for 1.0.
Town went in pursuit of another and after H.Clifton missed a great chance Mr Lloyd smacked an unstoppable shot into the corner for the second.  Crewe huffed and puffed but Town remained pretty much in full control-I cannot remember Crocombe having to make a save.
Second half Crewe tried to get back into it but couldn't get  past the rocks that are Maher, Waterfall and Efete.
Hurst had the luxury of substitutions to give players some "minutes" and lo and behold the young lad on loan from Norwich headed the third.
Crewe were dire but you CAN only beat what is in front of you and Town were superb.
In addition to the two new scorers Josh Emmanuel played very well (for someone allegedly not 100% fit) and Amos had probably his best game of the season.
Three more points-onward and upward.

Safe journey back Ian. Massive well done to the players and the fans. Magnificent, committed effort. UTM

Firstly a safe journey home to you and all the travelling fans. I hope you don't have problems with TPE.
I now have an attendance of 4,460 and need help with the prediction thread for the away figure. If anybody knows please include your source, for fairness to all those who predict.

Just got back home (only a 10-minute drive for me) what a game. That had to be the worst Crewe performance I've ever seen against Town.

The only time they looked like a threat was at corners and even then Max didn't make a save-all game. I think his most challenging moment of the match was when he, Efete, and Waterfall were passing it around the back under a little pressure.

The back 5 were great and were completely in control at the back. Emmanuel looked great going forward and grew threw the game as he worked off the rust. Once he and Efete got used to each other they looked very secure down that side.

Midfield controlled the game, some of the one-touch passing they did was brilliant as was their off-the-ball movement. Special mention to Morris in this game as I think he'll go under the radar a bit. He was everywhere today, making tackles, linking up the play between defense and midfield, and just bullying Crewe at every chance he got.

Up front, Lloyd and McAtee looked like they'd been playing together all season, some of Lloyd's little flicks to McAtee were brilliant. He also ran and ran and ran chased everything, challenged everything and put in a Clifton level of work rate.

Subs all played well, Green took over the Morris role when he came on and did the same, Dickson-Peters chased everything he could and nabbed a goal, O'Neil looked a little lost in the McAtee role but worked hard and almost got a reward for his effort.

Now to reply to some of those DMs I've been getting all week leading up to this game ha ha ha ha

Crewe were awful. Worst team I've ever watched.
But, you can only beat what is infront of you and I felt we played well on such a poor pitch. Great to see some new lads get game time and what a performance from them.
MOTM for me is either Emmanuel or Efete. Felt Mcatee was better than he has been lately but still not as 'busy' as he used to be. Roll on Tuesday

Quoted from lukeo

Crewe were awful. Worst team I've ever watched.
But, you can only beat what is infront of you and I felt we played well on such a poor pitch. Great to see some new lads get game time and what a performance from them.
MOTM for me is either Emmanuel or Efete. Felt Mcatee was better than he has been lately but still not as 'busy' as he used to be. Roll on Tuesday

Ever? Bit OTT😂

Agree about Efete and Emmanuel, i really like Michee in that right sided CB Role

Stacy Coldicott gave McAtee man of the match on Humberside. Scored the first and made the second so 'better than he has been lately' feels a bit like damning with faint praise.

Quoted from Hagrid

Ever? Bit OTT😂

Agree about Efete and Emmanuel, i really like Michee in that right sided CB Role

I've said all along that Efete was better suited to a wing-back role than an out and out right full back.

Quoted from Rodley Mariner

Stacy Coldicott gave McAtee man of the match on Humberside. Scored the first and made the second so 'better than he has been lately' feels a bit like damning with faint praise.

I watch the whole 90mins and rate players on work rate on and off the ball. Stacey obviously goes by key moments in the game, which I have to agree on, McAtee was brilliant.

Pitch made it hard to play any sort of passing game.

Emmanuel is a beast, can tell he plays higher up the pyramid.

Lloyd had a great game

Defence untroubled

Mcatee and Lloyd both scored lovely goals

Crewe are bad, like really bad.

Great afternoons work

Quoted from rancido

I've said all along that Efete was better suited to a wing-back role than an out and out right full back.

He played on the right of a back 3, Emmanuel played as wing back not him.

Quoted from barralad

After what has been quite frankly a negativity induced miserable week what better time to go to Crewe-a team we haven't beaten away since 1990.
It took precisely five minutes for the gloom to be dispelled when Lloyd (one of the bargain basement rushed signings apparently) flicked on in an almost Tayloresque manner for Mcatee to bury the chance for 1.0.
Town went in pursuit of another and after H.Clifton missed a great chance Mr Lloyd smacked an unstoppable shot into the corner for the second.  Crewe huffed and puffed but Town remained pretty much in full control-I cannot remember Crocombe having to make a save.
Second half Crewe tried to get back into it but couldn't get  past the rocks that are Maher, Waterfall and Efete.
Hurst had the luxury of substitutions to give players some "minutes" and lo and behold the young lad on loan from Norwich headed the third.
Crewe were dire but you CAN only beat what is in front of you and Town were superb.
In addition to the two new scorers Josh Emmanuel played very well (for someone allegedly not 100% fit) and Amos had probably his best game of the season.
Three more points-onward and upward.

Hi Ian, it's nice to see that you are still getting to games and giving us all a balanced viewpoint of what you see. After reading some of the drivel on here over the last few days it is good to know that the world is not about to end and that Lloyd, Emmanuel and "the young lad from Norwich" are not bad footballers. I would go further and say that  Emmanuel is a very, very good footballer and Lloyd is probably going to have a good career with a bit of luck and a prevailing wind. But then again I know nothing.- and neither does Paul Hurst...

Quoted from DB

Firstly a safe journey home to you and all the travelling fans. I hope you don't have problems with TPE.
I now have an attendance of 4,460 and need help with the prediction thread for the away figure. If anybody knows please include your source, for fairness to all those who predict.

657 is the number in a Crewe paper

Freaking awesome, well done to all. Safe journey back utm

Quoted from tarka

Hi Ian, it's nice to see that you are still getting to games and giving us all a balanced viewpoint of what you see. After reading some of the drivel on here over the last few days it is good to know that the world is not about to end and that Lloyd, Emmanuel and "the young lad from Norwich" are not bad footballers. I would go further and say that  Emmanuel is a very, very good footballer and Lloyd is probably going to have a good career with a bit of luck and a prevailing wind. But then again I know nothing.- and neither does Paul Hurst...

Obviously PH must know something!!

In Maccies on the way home, great day out, we were good, very good in parts, Crewe were dreadful, highlighted by their 11 getting MoM having had ‘fking useless’ sung at him during the second half.

Our MoM Emmanuel for me.

Quoted from sonofmadeleymariner

Just got back home (only a 10-minute drive for me) what a game. That had to be the worst Crewe performance I've ever seen against Town.

The only time they looked like a threat was at corners and even then Max didn't make a save-all game. I think his most challenging moment of the match was when he, Efete, and Waterfall were passing it around the back under a little pressure.

The back 5 were great and were completely in control at the back. Emmanuel looked great going forward and grew threw the game as he worked off the rust. Once he and Efete got used to each other they looked very secure down that side.

Midfield controlled the game, some of the one-touch passing they did was brilliant as was their off-the-ball movement. Special mention to Morris in this game as I think he'll go under the radar a bit. He was everywhere today, making tackles, linking up the play between defense and midfield, and just bullying Crewe at every chance he got.

Up front, Lloyd and McAtee looked like they'd been playing together all season, some of Lloyd's little flicks to McAtee were brilliant. He also ran and ran and ran chased everything, challenged everything and put in a Clifton level of work rate.

Subs all played well, Green took over the Morris role when he came on and did the same,[/b] Dickson-Peters chased everything he could and nabbed a goal[b], O'Neil looked a little lost in the McAtee role but worked hard and almost got a reward for his effort.

Now to reply to some of those DMs I've been getting all week leading up to this game ha ha ha ha

Did he not scored the 3rd goal?

Well must admit i loved that we was brilliant , lloyd emmanual looked good the back 3 looked like rocks , hunt & morris can we just play these every week , see a pass for fun , lloyd worked nuts off

Great result and nice to be in an away end that didn’t stop from the first minute.

Lloyd is exactly what McAtee needed, he’s an improvement on all our strikers based on that. He’s what we were told we were getting, a deceptively strong lad who will run through walls, the surprising part was how good he was technically. Great work to set McAtee through who finished very well with the help of some bad goalkeeping and then a superb finish himself after McAtee returned the favour.

Emmanuel was so out of place, both from an ability and physicality perspective, he’s the player we’d hoped we’d signed.

The formation is by far our best and I’m pleased it’s been kept, we look absolutely solid and don’t lose any attacking threat which can be the worry.

Thought Hunt had a good game too and proved his worth.

Overall, a very good win against an absolutely shite Crewe side and a lot to be pleased about.

Quoted from pontoonlew

Great result and nice to be in an away end that didn’t stop from the first minute.

Lloyd is exactly what McAtee needed, he’s an improvement on all our strikers based on that. He’s what we were told we were getting, a deceptively strong lad who will run through walls, the surprising part was how good he was technically. Great work to set McAtee through who finished very well with the help of some bad goalkeeping and then a superb finish himself after McAtee returned the favour.

Emmanuel was so out of place, both from an ability and physicality perspective, he’s the player we’d hoped we’d signed.

The formation is by far our best and I’m pleased it’s been kept, we look absolutely solid and don’t lose any attacking threat which can be the worry.

Thought Hunt had a good game too and proved his worth.

Overall, a very good win against an absolutely shite Crewe side and a lot to be pleased about.

Yes, so many positives from one game, especially how well Hunt settled back in and how Emmanuel lasted the course. He was everywhere on that right side, won fouls, held the ball up and put crosses in with left or right. Also pleased that Amos got a deserved assist. Lloyd made the position his own. Taylor with skates on.

Hard to find fault with that performance. Crewe were dreadful again but I do think they looked worse because we were so much better.

We closed the ball down, kept us shape and the 3 at the back works a dream for us.

The pitch didn’t help either side although as the game wore on I suspect Crewe were happy with how shite it was because a few times Town could’ve been away and the ball got stuck.

The soft core man was excellent. A player that looks like he’s not very good and looks like he doesn’t do a lot yet appeared all over the park and their full back didn’t have a clue how to stop it.

Their centre halves were swapped and neither couple could deal with us. They’ll be sick of the sight of seeing us this season.

Link up play between Mcatee and Lloyd was excellent and big shout to Morris who has come in from the cold and looks like he’s never been away.

Max commanding his box again and when ya come away from an away day with three points, three goals, a clean sheet and the home side having only one shot you know it’s been a good day…

Quoted from pontoonlew

Great result and nice to be in an away end that didn’t stop from the first minute.

Lloyd is exactly what McAtee needed, he’s an improvement on all our strikers based on that. He’s what we were told we were getting, a deceptively strong lad who will run through walls, the surprising part was how good he was technically. Great work to set McAtee through who finished very well with the help of some bad goalkeeping and then a superb finish himself after McAtee returned the favour.

Emmanuel was so out of place, both from an ability and physicality perspective, he’s the player we’d hoped we’d signed.

The formation is by far our best and I’m pleased it’s been kept, we look absolutely solid and don’t lose any attacking threat which can be the worry.

Thought Hunt had a good game too and proved his worth.

Overall, a very good win against an absolutely shite Crewe side and a lot to be pleased about.

Love that!

I think it was our best performance of the season.

Clearly McAtee’s best game since before his injury, he had the swagger, that mojo back. When the ball came to him you thought something would happen every time. He scored and set one up, he makes a real difference when he’s at it.

We can attribute McAtee’s improvement to a couple of things. Firstly, the emergence of Lloyd. He is everything as described, he worked so hard, won balls he had no right to win and was better technically than I’d anticipated. He had a great touch and the flick for McAtee’s goal was from beyond this level. Really really impressed.

I also think having three midfielders behind him helped McAtee. Hunt had his best game since he re-signed in the summer. He was given more space than he reckons to get in L2 but moved the ball faster and more accurately than he has been, in those fleeting moments we’ve seen so far.

Emmanuel is on a different stratosphere in terms of ability, both physically and technically. He’s like Michee on steroids as he has the same attributes, strength, pace and athleticism but he’s on a different level in terms his ceiling with those traits. Their defenders didn’t have a clue how to deal with him. He ghosted passed defenders, put nasty deliveries in very early. He grew into the game, he was good in the first half and unplayable after the break. We’ve probably got our hands on the best player in L2 if he can stay fit. Such a shame he can’t play on Tuesday night.

The back three just seems to suit us and our strengths, excellent CB’s, quality wing backs, lots of decent midfielders and the necessity for McAtee to have someone to play off.

Now, it’s only one game and they were truly awful but I’d be surprised if we didn’t move up the table now. The signings definitely appear to have improved us.

Great result. Hursty does it again! After all the 'bargain basement' insults, two of the debutants go on to score.

Lloyd looks like he could be a good short-term replacement for Taylor. He's strong and energetic but also has the intelligence and touch to link-up with McAtee effectively. Emmanuel is as good as Hull fans said he'd be. Dickson-Peters wasn't on for long but poached a goal which is a sign of things to come hopefully.

Crewe were pretty dire and their pitch was atrocious - shows that we aren't the only ones struggling in that department.

I don't think this result turns us into play-off contenders but it hopefully pulls us out of our mid-season slump and puts the worriers' (myself included) nerves at ease. The games come thick and fast now - we should aim to ensure safety by mid/late March and secure a mid-table finish - anything more would be a bonus.

Bring on Luton.

Impressive performance and result when you consider that two players who played very well at Luton last week (Holohan and Orsi) were kept on the bench to protect them for the replay on Tuesday night.

Those that came in gave an excellent account of themselves. We sign a left back, Glennon drops to the bench and Amos puts in a great performance.

I think there's a player in Morris, a run of games and we'll see him start to dictate play. I know a few Hartlepool fans wanted to keep him there (and they tried signing him last month) but he remains with us.

I know some fans were underwhelmed with the January signings but I think it'll go something like this:

Mikey O'Neill and Dickson-Peters will be used fleetingly, mainly as subs to affect games when needed, but will return to their parent clubs in the summer having done what we needed them to do.

I think we'll want to sign Emmanuel but he'll put himself in the shop window and we'll be disappointed when he signs for Blackpool or someone like that.

And we'll probably be disappointed when we can't sign Lloyd permanently because Cheltenham will realise his true potential.

One game, sure — we could get knocked out of the cup on Tuesday and get turned over at home by Colchester next weekend, which would bring us crashing back down to earth.

However, I think these signings, particularly the loans, are gonna be a reflection of the data-led approach we're taking in the transfer market. Seeing something in them that's beyond their goals-to-games ratio on Wiki.

I got the impression with Emmanuel that we had an option if he got himself right again. May we’ll be wrong though.

Great to see McAtee back in his real position. Delighted the new lads scored. But Emmanuel is the one that seems to be genuinely exciting. On paper he seemed a great signing, but thought he’d be getting fit for a few weeks. Straight in and on fire. Could be a massive signing.

Quoted from Theimperialcoroner

I got the impression with Emmanuel that we had an option if he got himself right again. May we’ll be wrong though.

Hope so. We seem to have signed the best player in this league.

How did Efete do in the 3? Did he push forward and support Emmanuel in attacks?

Great game.

Negatives:  Vernam and Dallas never got a touch!

Positives:  Everything.  New lads slotted in exceptionally well.  

WE MADE Crewe awful.  We never let the settle on the ball.  Our shape was excellent, not allowing them to break through.  They did once but Maher who seemed yards behind the attacker, made up ground and got a good tackle in. Seemed to have tons of blue shirts in the box for every cross.

MOM:  Hard to call.  McAtee, Lloyd or Emmanuel (cool as a cucumber)

Quoted from Theimperialcoroner

I got the impression with Emmanuel that we had an option if he got himself right again. May we’ll be wrong though.

According to Paul Hurst there's hardly any chance he will be with us next season.

We should also applaud Tom Dickson-Peters first professional goal.

Probably our best league performance of the season, so so comfortable throughout the game, Crewe never laid a glove on us with the only possible exception being the nervous moment for the shout of handball against was it Morris. We were in control of the game from start to finish and the fact they used all their 5 subs by the hour mark to try and change the game shows that.

Lloyd slotted straight in and seemed that more mobile version of Taylor with more goal threat, albeit probably not as good invthe air given his height. Linked up with mcatee really well and harassed them the same way mcatee does. Anyway the lack of height will hopefully mean we don't revert to simply launching it long, we seemed to stick to passing yesterday. Lloyd's inclusion meant mcatee could play a more natural role and he looked so much better for it didn't he, fantastic goal from him.

O'Neil came on for mcatee and he looks like he is going to be the mcatee understudy, dickson-peters got his poachers goal when he came on. Somebody able to finish off situations like that is what we've been crying out for, and with 2 of the new forwards scoring on their debut hopefully they will be full of confidence.

Emmanuel looked very impressive, a bit rusty but you can see he has quality, a couple of times when he drove forward he looked awesome. As someone else said  he has all the physical attributes of effete (height, strength, pace, stamina) but with a higher skill level. High hopes for his time with us, could he be another townsend and be simply beyond the level we are playing at? Fingers crossed.

Crocombe literally didn't have a shot to save but collected and punched well enough and one pass he did set us off for an effort on goal.

Defence was very solid, surprised to see smith dropped for effete at the back but effete had  a good game and I have said before that I think that being on the right of a back 3 is probably a more natural position for him than full back or wing back. I do worry about his control and passing if we start knocking it about amongst the back under pressure though as we sometimes have in the past.

Midfield was solid enough, a few stray passes from Morris and Hunt but that is tge sort of thing you get from them as they try stuff our other players don't and take a few risks. ObvIously hunt not as strong physically as some of our other options, and did get knocked off the ball too easily on k e occasion but won the free kick. Clifton was absolutely everywhere as usual and driving forward.

I thought the window was disappointing, not disatrous, but definitely disappointing. However looks like even though tge players brought in are only temporary additions they have definitely improved our squad, particularly if we switch to a 3 at the back formation. Reckon hurst might have got a real coup in emmmanuel and have uncovered somebody who really suits us in lloyd but obviously its early days.

Great result and if we can get a couple of wins out of our 3 or so games in hand we are back to looking up the table rather than down.

glad to hear that Efete has put 2 good performances in back to back.
I've said before, I'm sure most of the problem is in his head i.e. a confidence thing. think a few sessions with a sports psychologist would be a good idea which would benefit him immensely

Quoted from forza ivano

glad to hear that Efete has put 2 good performances in back to back.
I've said before, I'm sure most of the problem is in his head i.e. a confidence thing. think a few sessions with a sports psychologist would be a good idea which would benefit him immensely

Emmanuel was talking to him a lot in the first half. Obviously, Smith will be back in on Tuesday with Efete playing wing back, but I expect the back five to be back to yesterday’s set up for next Saturday.

Quoted from rancido

Obviously PH must know something!!

I think that's fairly obvious...but not to everyone, it seems!