Today.

[Badger]

Can't believe nobody has made a post about today, to be honest probably says it all. Today was an embarrassment, either Rory hasn't got a clue or the lads don't want to play for him. We're putting square pegs in round holes, one of our best players Niall at leftback, Evra somewhere on the wing, a 4-4-2 formation that for some reason looks totally narrow. In friendlies and at the beginning of the season we played this system effectively, but in recent games it's clearly not working. Rory doesn't make changes when we need them, we go two down easily, create nothing, then he expects us to get back in the game somehow. I can't understand why we have let a young fit proactive left back go on loan to a rival. It needs to change fast

 

[Tom1989]

Unfortunately missed the game today due to work or rather not unfortunately I was there on Tuesday away at Hanley and thought that was poor also. After getting a positive result against Colls away I thought that was our push on point but seems we have gone backwards

 

[Briswa]

Terrible performance today. Worse than Tuesday at Hanley.
Poor in every department. Defence give too many silly goals away, midfield creates nothing and attack is toothless.
Also physically look weak and to lose most of 50/50s.
At present players don’t look anywhere near good enough at this level.
Going to take some effort to turn this form around.
Wish I could be more positive but didn’t see anything to be positive about today.
Perhaps better at Mossley or is that wishful thinking.

 

[Badger]

Terrible performance today. Worse than Tuesday at Hanley.
Poor in every department. Defence give too many silly goals away, midfield creates nothing and attack is toothless.
Also physically look weak and to lose most of 50/50s.
At present players don’t look anywhere near good enough at this level.
Going to take some effort to turn this form around.
Wish I could be more positive but didn’t see anything to be positive about today.
Perhaps better at Mossley or is that wishful thinking.

No effort, no fight, no confidence, no plan, no sequences, no combinations, no crosses, no shots, no passion.

 

[Jack Owen]

On behalf of the board would like to thank all our supporters for coming out today and backing your club. We couldn’t do it without you. 315 is another great crowd.

The result and performance was well below par, everyone knows and is aware of this.

Stick by Rory and the lads and we hope for a change in fortunes quickly.

 

[Tom1989]

Can't believe nobody has made a post about today, to be honest probably says it all. Today was an embarrassment, either Rory hasn't got a clue or the lads don't want to play for him. We're putting square pegs in round holes, one of our best players Niall at leftback, Evra somewhere on the wing, a 4-4-2 formation that for some reason looks totally narrow. In friendlies and at the beginning of the season we played this system effectively, but in recent games it's clearly not working. Rory doesn't make changes when we need them, we go two down easily, create nothing, then he expects us to get back in the game somehow. I can't understand why we have let a young fit proactive left back go on loan to a rival. It needs to change fast

Reading through this and agree with the comment on the left back after what I've seen of him he looks a good player would this rival be quick to help us out I think not

 

[SteveR]

On behalf of the board would like to thank all our supporters for coming out today and backing your club. We couldn’t do it without you.

Stick by Rory and the lads and we hope for a change in fortunes quickly.

Rebuilding any squad is an onerous task for any manager. Even more difficult when having to navigate a promotion into a much much competitive league.
Finances dictate the quality and experience of players that the management can recruit, I know that some will comment that its not all about the money. Unfortunately, in football it is.
The club has a budget to work with, nobody pumping in money and limited off field fundraising opportunities.
As a supporters owned club the buck stops with us all, the owners / supporters.
If we want better players we have to increase revenue so before criticising let's make sure that as supporters we are supporting not only the team on the pitch, but also the team working to raise club funds. Golden goals, 50 /50, TMFG, buying a brew, the beer festival, other social events. If anyone has any suggestions as to how to increase income, I'm sure that the Board would be happy to listen.
Don't forget it's OUR club and OUR responsibility.
Personally I think that we have the right manager in Rory. It will be difficult, it was always going to be. Success this year will be measured by staying in the league and only time will tell if that is achievable.

 

[Shona]

Rebuilding any squad is an onerous task for any manager. Even more difficult when having to navigate a promotion into a much much competitive league.
Finances dictate the quality and experience of players that the management can recruit, I know that some will comment that its not all about the money. Unfortunately, in football it is.
The club has a budget to work with, nobody pumping in money and limited off field fundraising opportunities.
As a supporters owned club the buck stops with us all, the owners / supporters.
If we want better players we have to increase revenue so before criticising let's make sure that as supporters we are supporting not only the team on the pitch, but also the team working to raise club funds. Golden goals, 50 /50, TMFG, buying a brew, the beer festival, other social events. If anyone has any suggestions as to how to increase income, I'm sure that the Board would be happy to listen.
Don't forget it's OUR club and OUR responsibility.
Personally I think that we have the right manager in Rory. It will be difficult, it was always going to be. Success this year will be measured by staying in the league and only time will tell if that is achievable.

Lots of things here I agree with. We try with the fundraising but there could be more done - perhaps a poll or anonymous suggestions things for people to put ideas. Pushing people towards things like golden goals is doable without being overbearing. What happened to the raffle tickets? Go round and ask people if they want to have one - other places do this.

 

[Greengage]

Did not attend today but looking at the starting XI from a month back half the team has changed as a result of injury and suspension. Unfortunately we’’ve got a load more midweek games soon so by the end of October we could be
adrift. Those hard pitches in Aug and early Sept cost us dearly and we may rue those rearranged games. I can’t see us back to full strength until November at the earliest when fixtures then are far less frequent. Our first XI is just about good enough to survive but it seems clear that the fringe lads are struggling …great pity after an encouraging start …..onwards and hopefully upwards ….

 

[SteveR]

Lots of things here I agree with. We try with the fundraising but there could be more done - perhaps a poll or anonymous suggestions things for people to put ideas. Pushing people towards things like golden goals is doable without being overbearing. What happened to the raffle tickets? Go round and ask people if they want to have one - other places do this.

Shona,
If you will commit to selling the tickets, I will commit to providing a bottle prize at every home game.
The club would provide the raffle tickets.
Happy to have a chat.

 

[Mick]

We didn’t deserve anything out of the game today and VEO might show otherwise but how was their first goal not given as a handball?
Their centre forward has got his hand above his head from where I was stood and it gets palmed down and he’s clean through.
That changes the whole momentum of the game.
It looked like Nantwich’s third goal was also punched on by one of their lads in the build up to the goal?
We didn’t play well enough to force the win but decisions like that don’t help anyone. Happy to be proved wrong ️

 

[James Wood]

Terrible performance today. Worse than Tuesday at Hanley.
Poor in every department. Defence give too many silly goals away, midfield creates nothing and attack is toothless.
Also physically look weak and to lose most of 50/50s.
At present players don’t look anywhere near good enough at this level.
Going to take some effort to turn this form around.
Wish I could be more positive but didn’t see anything to be positive about today.
Perhaps better at Mossley or is that wishful thinking.

The only positive thing about that game was that it finished!

Poor across the whole park and I just couldn’t understand the logic of swapping Niall from his usual
berth on the right side to the left.

But more worrying for me was that without Jonah we don’t appear to have any leaders on the pitch.

I said at the start of the season that we’d need to wait until the end of September until we’d get a better idea out massively changed squad would cope this season.

Unfortunately recent results - and performances - haven’t been great and the injuries to Jonah and Elliot have exacerbated the situation.

We know that we don’t have bags of money available to throw at the problem, so we can just hope that Rory has now had sufficient time to assess the strength and weaknesses of the squad and can use his contacts to bring in players he thinks who can start to turn things around.

I’d also like to see us adopt a 4-4-2 formation which would allow us to use the pace and strength of Kenny and Evra on the flanks

 

[Alan Riding]

I really don't think it's as bad as everyone is making out. I am frustrated with some of Rory's decisions but you can see he's determined to get it right.

I thought we were well in the game until we conceded when confidence drained quickly from our players. We didn't really create that much but neither did Nantwich. The second goal again from a corner was the killer and even with the substitutes we couldn't get back into the game.

Money is a big factor especially in this league, but I don't think money gives you fight and passion. You have to have the right players and drive on the field no matter how much you pay them. I am sure most of our members would be happier if all the players showed as much of this as Niall Osborne. There were three or four yesterday who didn't show enough for me. Money doesn't change this.

We have injuries and a suspension to deal with at the moment and it is difficult to cover these, but I get the "square pegs in round holes" mentioned previously. I think Rory needs to gather his management team together and make some tough decisions. Look at who he is paying the most money for and decide if they are worth it.

It is not easy and it will take time. We as supporters need to stick with it and do our best to attend games and support Rory and the lads. I believe played in the right positions we have 8 or 9 good enough players for this league but the other 6 or 7 need to be replaced or improved. This league isn't as good as I thought it would be on the evidence so far. At least we are seeing away support boosting our gate receipts.

Stay positive and see everyone at Mossley. A Saturday off may well assist us!

 

[Badger]

It's frustrating, I agree with Alan, money is important in terms of bringing in quality, but some of these lads need to look at themselves, they're not giving enough once they cross the white line. The Vauxhall game is the benchmark, effort, passion, determination, fighting for each other. Big game Tuesday

 

[Ben]

I really don't think it's as bad as everyone is making out. I am frustrated with some of Rory's decisions but you can see he's determined to get it right.

I thought we were well in the game until we conceded when confidence drained quickly from our players. We didn't really create that much but neither did Nantwich. The second goal again from a corner was the killer and even with the substitutes we couldn't get back into the game.

Money is a big factor especially in this league, but I don't think money gives you fight and passion. You have to have the right players and drive on the field no matter how much you pay them. I am sure most of our members would be happier if all the players showed as much of this as Niall Osborne. There were three or four yesterday who didn't show enough for me. Money doesn't change this.

We have injuries and a suspension to deal with at the moment and it is difficult to cover these, but I get the "square pegs in round holes" mentioned previously. I think Rory needs to gather his management team together and make some tough decisions. Look at who he is paying the most money for and decide if they are worth it.

It is not easy and it will take time. We as supporters need to stick with it and do our best to attend games and support Rory and the lads. I believe played in the right positions we have 8 or 9 good enough players for this league but the other 6 or 7 need to be replaced or improved. This league isn't as good as I thought it would be on the evidence so far. At least we are seeing away support boosting our gate receipts.

Stay positive and see everyone at Mossley. A Saturday off may well assist us!

I agree with most of your post, Alan. I do think the situation is bad right now though and I can’t see where the next result is coming from.

The worrying thing for me is of the 8 or 9 players you rightly identify as being good enough for this league, a number of them will remain out for a while.

By the time we have a full strength squad it could be too late as another poster has alluded to. We need changes to fill these gaps with new players now in the meantime which I appreciate isn’t easy with our financial constraints and current league position.