Just back.

Last night screamed that the manager and players have given up this season and will be happy to finish around where we are. I think their eyes are on nothing but the FA Cup.

Newport were there for the taking, but we were too slow, too defensive (why make attacking subs in the last 4 minutes) and generally lacked any quality, barring McAtees out of the blue goal.

I support Hurst, like him as a person and believe he has done well for the club, however this FA cup run is saving him from some serious stick from some fans I think.

Without the FA cup run, we would have to say its been a poor season, especially our home form.
Based on our start to the season alone, I would of liked to think we could of finished around 10th and pushed on next season.

Blundell park is more of a Funeral than a fortress and to be honest, I don't enjoy going at the minute.
After the FA cup game, if the season was to finish then, I think I would be relieved.

Its a big summer for Hurst. He has been told he will be given most of the FA cup money for his budget, so we would have to say that if we aren't hitting the playoffs come May 2024, maybe we would need  a change of personnel.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

No disrespect to Ollie Battersby but we also need an experienced keeper to put Max under a bit of gentle pressure. The inability to pass the ball is my biggest frustration, potentially we will have healthy budget so I'm optimistic.

Can someone tell Max he doesn’t need to timewaste when we are drawing at home at against a team lower then us in the League

Quoted from Corkyefes

Last night screamed that the manager and players have given up this season and will be happy to finish around where we are. I think their eyes are on nothing but the FA Cup.

I agree the league form has been poor, but I don't personally think the comment above is right.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

If it wasn't for the cup run Hurst would be facing some difficult questions, let's be honest about it.

The style of play, the transfer policy,  the terrible home results and performances and the inability of the team to get on the front foot and give the crowd something to get behind.

The cup run has kept interest going and it has been great, but I think a lot of fans would be completely fed up by now otherwise.

Regardless of whatever happens at Brighton a big re think is needed in the summer.

In absolute buckets!

The cup run has masked a pretty drab and awful season, at home especially.  I was bored to tears last night and it isn't the first time, in fact I've lost count of that feeling this season.

But the fact is we have had that cup run and Hurst is as much responsible for that as he is the poor showing in the league.  I don't think the mass changes each game are helping but I don't think there's an option to not do it either.  Key players are starting to look a bit leggy too.

12 months ago I'd have bitten your whole arm off if you said we'll be stable if dull in League Two and in the last eight of the FA Cup.  But right now I wouldn't mind getting a bit of entertainment from the home games in the league too.

Quoted from heppy88

Good post. Some have mentioned we should have more money to splash around after the amazing cup run. But I don’t believe money has been, or is the main issue with Stockwood/Pettit at the helm. I just don’t think enough good players want to come to Grimsby, giving Hurst a minimal choice of candidates to choose from. I really hope we can push further up the league with our remaining games, which will hopefully demonstrate intent and that we can be a good option to potential future players. Every little helps.

The better players will come, but not if they can command bigger wages elsewhere and have a few clubs interested.

I have reluctantly accepted we are not in the market for the better known better players at our level, but I hope the cup run income will enable us to tempt a level of player that will give us a chance of the playoffs.

I wouldn't like to have to determine player budgets as there are a number of clubs that will pay considerably more in wages.

The reality of the situation is that we were an average NL side that through sheer grit and determination got promoted, a season earlier than planned. We were late into the summer transfer window, mainly because we didn't know which league we would play in.

Who would want to come to an ex NL team that didn't finish in the top 4 that season and had the remnants of the old regime weighing down their past?

The reality of our position was highlighted in the January transfer window, 'Can we talk to you about coming to Grimsby? NO'. I think this was a revelation to 1878. So Hurst has to field a team that he basically set up for the NL.

Although I thought the momentum of promotion would carry us to League 1 this is now nowhere achievable, but a midtable finish is. All of us have opinions and can call various players but not one of them are without fault, some are clearly out of their depth in League 2.

Another dire home game showed this with bits of good play in the 90 mins, but not enough. While I always try to look on the positive side I think we will have to reluctantly accept this, as Hurst has to utilise who he has.

Let's enjoy the cup run and Brighton game and now we will become an established League 2. A rebuild in the summer is a necessity and we have some money to do it with. Sustainability is great but 1878 has to realise that it matters on the pitch first so I hope they learnt a lesson in the January transfer window.

At the end of the day, I believe we all want the same, a successful team.

UTM

I think Stockwood said the cup run money goes into the budget?  Or something similar to that.

That's a massive boost and welcome one to be honest, as largely we've come a up bit short this season when trying to recruit.

Whilst a sizeable sum, over the course of a season or two and stretching across a squad, it might not be the game changer we would hope.

With a better budget Hurst will have two options:

1) Spread that increase across the whole squad and look to get a reflective improvement in every position.
2) Go for broke on a couple of big signings that will eat into the budget considerably.

Guess there's the third option which is a bit of a blend of both.   Likelihood is he goes for the first option.  I get that, it doesn't upset the balance too much but I think there's an argument that we're in greater need of a bigger boost in certain areas.  

What frustrates me is when we keep doing the same things when it clearly isn't working.  For instance,  playing long high balls against another huge side. We are not a particularly tall side , especially up front so the balll invariably goes straight back to our defensive area. The only time we looked decent last night was when we kept the ball on the deck.

Last night, as against Colchester the other week and quite often this season, we were bullied by the opposition (though Newport could also play a bit). They had a few players who were quicker than any of ours, our midfield and forward line was relatively diminutive in comparison to the opposition (though our defence competed well in general) and we just didn't win any of the second ball from challenges to get it down and be able to pass it.

McAtee competed well last night but I can only think of a couple of occasions where he received the ball on the deck facing their goal and one of these led to his goal. For all his efforts, Lloyd simply cannot play as a 'target man' because referees just let smaller players get shoved and pulled around with impunity at our level and then, of course, penalise them as soon as they give something back.

We need to make some signings this summer to allow us to get parity in the physical side of the game at the very least as we're going to struggle to get the ball down and play otherwise. We were much improved last night after Smith came on for the utterly ineffectual Emmanuel and Taylor came on to occupy their defenders and help to link up play. A bit more strength and dynamism helped a lot there (Smith did extremely well on a couple of occasions), but that needs to be the minimum we see every game.

Unfortunately, I don't see any way that Hunt can be the answer as he's not consistent enough or reliable enough. Green has his limitations, but we perhaps need him to help win the midfield battle in games like last night.

Another rebuild required in midfield and up front this summer, I think. It will be interesting to see if we go back to 4 at the back or persist with a three and perhaps sign players more suited to play as wing-backs.

Quoted from mariner91

Crawley's complete capitulation has helped ease the relegation worries. They'd need to average a point a game just to catch us now and they've managed 5 points in their last 10. Rochdale have also managed 5 points from 10 games and have even fewer games to catch us.

However, the squad needs quite a lot of surgery in the summer. We haven't got anywhere near enough pace. We haven't got anywhere near players who are comfortable on the ball. And we've got virtually no creativity. Midfield needs a rethink and we desperately need three or four good attacking players.

Probably not that much. A sense of squad togetherness needs retaining rather than rebuilding season after season. We need to use the FA Cup money to invest in five or six players that are clearly better than we've got in the starting eleven, moving some of the regulars to squad players.. On occasions every player has had good games, but without enough consistency to be part of a team that wins regularly enough to get promotion at this level. Pace, power and creativity definitely needed..