Cheltenham (A) match thread - 17th Feb

[osprey]

1 minute ago, Hoppers said:

In fairness iv not seen the interview, but the guy can't come out after the first 90 minutes and say "I can't believe this load of <ovf censored> iv got to deal with" can he?

Would have been great if he had 

[Spunk Trumpet]

Well what a state of a football club we’ve turned into!!!!

Again.

[Hoppers]

7 minutes ago, Spunk Trumpet said:

Well what a state of a football club we’ve turned into!!!!

Again.

Mate I fookin luv your screen name 😍😍😍👍👍👍

[Biddulph_PV]

37 minutes ago, NW9Valiant said:

3-5-2 is what DM will play, maybe 5-3-2 as Sheff Weds did that. Anybody hoping for 4 at the back (me included), and especially now, in for a shock. Very unlikely 

Our flank options are not good enough to defend, but then our midfield is just so easy to walk through at present. Centre Mid is the biggest issue. We only got our second because of a lumped ball up from the back. 

I have no idea when Garrity is back, but god we need him. Gore too when is back should be able to step in and allow Ojo to move into the back three again as a wide cb on the right (Dan Jones will be on the left). Weir has been a bit disappointing for me, but after half a season of Arblaster and Devine, hard to live up to.

I despair at the system too. I never quite liked it under DC either. But one thing I'm sure of, is DM is the better choice to motivate and organise these players to get some results. We struggled after 30 mins today, we don't have enough bite in the midfield and it does no help to the front 2 if everything falls apart in the middle. 

We'll get some results, I'm sure of that. Question is whether there are enough points for us to get in the remaining games - keeping in mind we are dependant on other teams being awful too. 

I'm looking at the team sheet today and seeing us needing 4 or 5 players just to stay up and give this 'system' the chance it needs to succeed. 

Hopefully we get some more pragmatism in coming games. Mighten looked bright. We run at teams but never cross, too often running into brick walls or hoping Chiz can fashion something. Let's use our wingers and whip some crosses in early, give them something to think about. Teams know all they need to do is flood the middle of the pitch and we will just go backwards.

I agree re pragmatism, and that’s exactly what Moore said he’d play to. But irrespective, 3-5-2 hasn’t worked for over 18 months now, and other than the play-offs, arguably longer than that (remember that hideous televised Newport game?) so I don’t feel we’ve really anything to lose by doing something different. I’d go something like:

Ripley

Smith-Jesse-Kasper-Yak

Sang-Ojo-Chiz

Massey-Wilson-Mighten

[DazFred]

If you lose twice to a team who were rock bottom then you deserve to be in a relegation dogfight.

Moore should have come out and said,"Not good enough. We shouldn't be losing to teams around us." Instead he made it sound like we were the team on top and better than Cheltenham. If he feeds the players the same vibe then they will think it's ok and acceptable.

The fans aren't all complete idiots. Prove me wrong and get at least a point on Tuesday otherwise 31 points from 31 games leaves us needing around 19 points from the last 15 games

[Granville]

22 minutes ago, The Master said:

I want a manager who speaks from the heart and answers with passion.

Now, I’m not saying Moore isn’t that man but alls I keep hearing is cliches and <ovf censored> that Crosby was fed!

And fed being the operative word. Everything at this club is robotic and being drummed into the management and players. And that’s coming from the top. And the top, Mr everything to do with football, is the smug <ovf censored> that is Flitcroft.

Im not having 5 and a half years of a scripted interview week in week out.

Stand up for yourself Darren. 
Carol, sack the incumbent who’s overseeing football and THEN AND ONLY THEN will you get a United fanbase.

Flitcroft for me has to be up there with Norman, Dean Glover and Jim Gannon.

Get him gone for <ovf censored> sake.

I found it interesting that the club did their own post match interview as opposed to just filming the Radio Stoke one. Having listened to them both, Moore says pretty much the same thing in both despite being asked different questions. I think he has rehearsed answers and you could stick five different interviewers in front of him and he'd give the same interview each time. To be fair Crosby did the same thing - but I agree, its clearly sanitised, robotic, pre-prepared rhetoric. 

[darren1810]

7 minutes ago, DazFred said:

If you lose twice to a team who were rock bottom then you deserve to be in a relegation dogfight.

Moore should have come out and said,"Not good enough. We shouldn't be losing to teams around us." Instead he made it sound like we were the team on top and better than Cheltenham. If he feeds the players the same vibe then they will think it's ok and acceptable.

The fans aren't all complete idiots. Prove me wrong and get at least a point on Tuesday otherwise 31 points from 31 games leaves us needing around 19 points from the last 15 games

12 games 

Not a prayer we getting anything at Derby Posh or Bolton. Bellies tickled job. 

[soothsayer]

31 minutes ago, Hoppers said:

1st match FFS 🤣🤣🤣. Had you written him off by half time??? 

I’m glad he’s our manager and not half of the people who post here otherwise we might as well not play our other 16 games. We are one win from being above the dotted line. Yes we been useless for a six weeks but we have a new manager with hopefully new ideas and a couple of players coming back who’ll make a difference. 
It’s not over yet but the fat lady is warming up but one thing’s for sure you don’t get anywhere by throwing in the towel.

[valefan79]

10 minutes ago, Biddulph_PV said:

I agree re pragmatism, and that’s exactly what Moore said he’d play to. But irrespective, 3-5-2 hasn’t worked for over 18 months now, and other than the play-offs, arguably longer than that (remember that hideous televised Newport game?) so I don’t feel we’ve really anything to lose by doing something different. I’d go something like:

Ripley

Smith-Jesse-Kasper-Yak

Sang-Ojo-Chiz

Massey-Wilson-Mighten

That would be my team but Debrah at right back and not Smith.  For me I keep hearing we can't play anything other than 3-5-2, why can't we just give 4 at the back a go and see how it goes, we are losing every week with this 3 at the back.

[JoeB2]

Moore has got to shift a club that has won 1 in 5 for over 12 months to one that wins at least 1 in 3.

If he does it with this squad then he deserves a statue. 

[darren1810]

5 minutes ago, soothsayer said:

I’m glad he’s our manager and not half of the people who post here otherwise we might as well not play our other 16 games. We are one win from being above the dotted line. Yes we been useless for a six weeks but we have a new manager with hopefully new ideas and a couple of players coming back who’ll make a difference. 
It’s not over yet but the fat lady is warming up but one thing’s for sure you don’t get anywhere by throwing in the towel.

It's all on Garrity mate. Mitch Clark was hardly pulling up any trees anyway. 

Garrity has the season on his shoulders. 

[NW9Valiant]

28 minutes ago, osprey said:

Would have been great if he had 

Didn't help Troy Deeney when he did it. 

Moore has been there less than a week, he needs to get the players onside before flaming them as a motivation tool. 

He's also not going to throw them under the bus in a public interview either; behind the scenes, who knows.

I rarely ever listen to manager press questions or conferences for precisely this reason. They are a public relations exercise and a waste of time.

Let's see what he does next, because there is a lot wrong at the back and in midfield regardless of scoring 2 goals today.

3 minutes ago, valefan79 said:

For me I keep hearing we can't play anything other than 3-5-2, why can't we just give 4 at the back a go and see how it goes, we are losing every week with this 3 at the back.

It's not that we can't, it just isn't what Moore is likely to play. We'll go 5 at the back before we try 4, I think based on his time at other clubs.

If we can get Lowe out of the starting XI then the midfield might get a little better but we don't have many options at the moment. I'd like to see our wingers / wing backs actually doing more than they are now offensively. Our front two will never score if its just going to rely on luck in the midfield.

[Guitar Ray]

51 minutes ago, 1 said:

I’m worried that Moore said outright that some players could not thrive in their current positions, then no real changes. Largely the same formation but for a bit of doubling up from time to time. 

He can’t change it in a couple of days even if he wanted to, even then he can’t change the players he’s inherited so the system is virtually cast in stone.  A result of our recruitment policy.

In terms of the interview after the match, he’s no different than any other manager, they all say the same stuff, fairly predictable comments.  Clarke was no different, predictably talking us up after his team’s victory in order to curry a bit of favour.  It’s all BS so I rarely listen unless there’s good reason, today being old manager v new.

[Biddulph_PV]

4 minutes ago, valefan79 said:

That would be my team but Debrah at right back and not Smith.  For me I keep hearing we can't play anything other than 3-5-2, why can't we just give 4 at the back a go and see how it goes, we are losing every week with this 3 at the back.

Yes, this being the formation which has seen us concede 7 for the first time I can remember, and concede 3 goals in a game three times in 2024, two of which were against sides in the bottom 4. But yes, let’s keep going with it 👎

[Chris123344566]

6 minutes ago, valefan79 said:

That would be my team but Debrah at right back and not Smith.  For me I keep hearing we can't play anything other than 3-5-2, why can't we just give 4 at the back a go and see how it goes, we are losing every week with this 3 at the back.

I agree. We need to give 4 at the back a chance we are to easily overrun with 3 and its so easy to get past the wing back. To many players playing out of position