Friday Night Football - 29/12

[AmberAndy]

Getting feisty outside the ground by all accounts.

 

[AmberAndy]

Match abandoned . Hoorah

 

[EricSabin]

Lincoln player booked for smashing Leonard after we kept the ball for a good minute and a half. Sums the half up so far. May not get all 3 points but for our style of football to completely change in the last 2 seasons is remarkable. For the 30 years I’ve watched us we’ve been direct and physical.

 

[SVH]

That’s a bit of a result for us given the amount of games played over the Xmas period and our injuries to strikers. Hopefully go back there is Feb or March with a much better team.

 

[Gassy]

Well apart from the opening 5 mins, we’ve absolutely dominated Charlton, but have nothing to show for it.

Would have been 1-0 if Collins hadn’t decided to tap the ball into the net, that was already going in - from an offside position ffs

 

[kieran_vale]

Vale and Blackpool are basically the Spider-Man meme how they’ve played. Both teams done very little other than play very slowly but one goal out of nowhere for Garrity has us in front. To be fair to the young lads tonight they’ve competed well.

 

[valefan16]

Vale and Blackpool are basically the Spider-Man meme how they’ve played. Both teams done very little other than play very slowly but one goal out of nowhere for Garrity has us in front. To be fair to the young lads tonight they’ve competed well.

Yeah up to know Shorrock has been excellent against Hamilton but long way to go yet.

Slow tempo poor game but we had the moment when Garrity was put through.

In fairness after the goal we’ve looked better.

 

[CTFCfan99]

Genuinely speechless. Not seen us dominate a half like that for a long time only to completely lose the plot in added time.

 

[Floreat Salopia]

Well… after nine consecutive years of being a League One club, we’ll be heading down to League 2 come May. Udoh confirmed pre match that he’s out for 6 weeks, that’s zero attacking threat for a good 8/9 games. 14 goals in 25 now (there’s no way we’re scoring tonight) and the most games lost in the league in the live table now I believe. We’re dropping like a stone!

Brilliant experiment from our chairman to bring in a DOF and a coach instead of the old school manager method. Really brilliant idea, kudos. To think we were promised Championship ambitions with the stadium move… LOL. Club needs a big fuck off clear out from top to bottom, it’s rotten and stagnant for far too many years now. Seems a lifetime a go we finished 3rd under Paul Hurst.

 

[valefan16]

What do I know eh… Shorrock man of the match and Hamilton had to get dropped out his pocket when he went off.

 

[EricSabin]

Absolutely superb win. What a way to bounce back, squads turning into the walking dead out there but they’re finding ways to win games.

 

[kieran_vale]

Best result of the calendar year saved for our last one of it. Credit to the youth lads who came into the lineup tonight they were not overawed and Shorrock deserved his MOTM award.

Nice for a change to see the opposition fans resort to the gallows humour chants of “we’ve had a shot” and “we pass the ball and do fuck all”. In fairness I can empathise with the Blackpool fans as that has been us a lot of this season. They’re also not wrong, for a team with some good players they weren’t half innocuous a lot of it.

 

[Gassy]

Phew, we made hard work of that in the end, but we absolutely deserved the full 3 points. We gifted Charton an equaliser, our customary gift per game but thankfully some quick thinking from a freekick and lapse in concentration gave us our deserved winner in added time.

We’re still not the finished article, we need to break teams down better in and around the box. A good striker in Jan could make all the difference.

But Rovers under Taylor are a different team. So much fight, hunger and pace. 7 points off the top 6 with a game in hand. 9 points from Bolton, Blackpool, Pompey & Charlton - amazing.

 

[valefan16]

Great win, especially as we were down to the bare bones, both youth full backs did well, Shorrock was excellent against CJ Hamilton and deservedly man of the match.

Defence solid and Uche and Wilson caused problems, Wilson’s second was a beauty of a strike.

10 points from 15 Crosby gets out of jail again but if we can put more in like that fans will be happy.

Really surprised at how bad Blackpool were, they were slower tempo than us and that says something!

 

[denzel ecfc]

I think we shaded that. Numerous chances including hitting the post. Had a shout for a penalty too.
Last two games have shown what we are about. Add a striker to that team tonight and we will have no problem surviving in the league.
Two big games to come though..

 

[Don Tonberry]

We were really poor tonight and it looks like the wheels are coming off. We look like a far cry from the team that beat Bolton so convincingly and took the piss out of Northampton at the start of the month.

January gives us a chance to freshen up the squad a bit, but we might well have lost our grip on top spot since then. I'm getting PTSD flashbacks from 2018/2019...

 

[The Terminator]

0-0 was what our game deserved, we was better second half and dominated in terms of territory and possession but we did nowhere near enough with it apart from two Tom James long range shots which were saved.

Wycombe looked like a team who hadn't won for a while and we looked like a team with not enough quality and options at the top end of the pitch.

I don't think Wycombe had a proper effort or clear cut chance all evening.

Back to back clean sheets for us are very welcome.

 

[CTFCfan99]

Mad 2 minutes has cost us 2 points. So frustrating we've blown enough leads in the past month to be well out of the relegation zone.

 

[hellogregory]

A walk in the park for Wigan. Only surprise is it wasn’t the 4 or 5 I expected. It probably would have been had they not stepped off it second half.

We have to be the worst team this league has ever seen. I can’t think of any worse I saw during our last spell at this level. Last seasons Forest Green would have beaten us.

Simpson is talking about 5 or 6 January signings. I’m now thinking we need 10 or 11 just to make us competitive and to go down with some dignity.

 

[E10rifle]

0-0 was what our game deserved, we was better second half and dominated in terms of territory and possession but we did nowhere near enough with it apart from two Tom James long range shots which were saved.

Wycombe looked like a team who hadn't won for a while and we looked like a team with not enough quality and options at the top end of the pitch.

I don't think Wycombe had a proper effort or clear cut chance all evening.

Back to back clean sheets for us are very welcome.

Wycombe came for a point and got it. They were fucking awful - not surprised their fans booed them off at the end of the game. The closest they came was a Sadlier cross that went vaguely within about 5 yards of our goal.

We badly require a focal point in attack and our decision-making in the final third needs to drastically improve but I still think we’ll stay up comfortably. So many poor sides outside the top 8 and I think we’re amongst the best of a bad bunch.

 

[leedsvaliant]

Blackpool looked decent up until they got to the penalty area, then they were utterly clueless. Dembele is decent but end product is poor, Rhodes looked dreadful. They reminded me of us at times...possession for possession sake.

We played more direct and it really suited us. We've been trying to over complicate things by this possession based style and we just haven't got enough decent ball players to play it. Football is simple, get it into a forward player and get others to play off him.

Hopefully a bit if form starting to build. 3 wins and a draw from 5 games. Win on new year's day and we could be in the top half! But we all know Carlisle in stinking form will turn us over.

 

[deanureeves]

Fleetwood a very passive team & a struggling one at that but under the circumstances of horrible weather conditions to play in it's a very pleasing professional away performance one that we'd usually struggle with in seasons gone by.

 

[thewwfc]

Generally agree with everything the Orient fans said, don’t think either team deserved to win but they were certainly the better team in the second half and created far more than we did.

Some absolutely fucking crazy “tactics” on show tonight - who plays hoofball to a relative shortarse (Dale Taylor) who is not particularly strong, and then expects anything other than the ball to come straight back?

I hated the anti-Bloomfield booing at full time, but at the same time I can’t defend some of his decisions today.

We’re certainly in the relegation dogfight, if not yet in points total, then certainly in spirit.

 

[Guernica]

Urgh! Thank god the year is coming to an end.

The line-up seemed a bit off to me. Out of Northampton and Blackpool away coming up, it would be this game where I thought Skubala would go with a slightly more attacking team and have a go (granted our attacking options are either injured or not good enough at this level).

I thought we started the stronger, Jensen imo came needlessly out and Northampton score. We then shit the bed and go back to needlessly long balls from centre half to no-one and Northampton control the rest of the half. Second half again very much a repeat of the first, we start fairly bright and again get suckered by a really well worked Cobblers second. Eyoma then gets us back in it with a bit of momentum which is then extinguished with another red card for Paudie O'Connor, I thought it was harsh at the time with I think Simpson who got him off but I've yet to see it back. We huffed and puffed and tried to go for it but it was realistically game over. When we attacked and played through the thirds, we hurt Northampton but we're in a rut and couldn't sustain it. I like Simpson for the Cobblers - big, mobile, held the ball up and 'wins' his free kicks and helped to get O'Connor sent off.

I thought Northampton clearly learned lessons from Stevenage and were very streetwise which the ref should have been more proactive on. Slowed the game down, lots of niggle, manager kicking balls away, it wasn't until it was far too late, where the ref tried to gain control of the game back but it was already lost. Losing Erahon to injury and it was a real poor tackle is just more icing on the cake. My mate said there was some needle at the end? Brady deciding to do a Mourinho rather than shake oppositions hand? Not that it matters.

As for us, geez we're in a real spot and it has been coming since September. Our attacking options have been lacking all season and the past few weeks has been a real tough watch. The thing that I am surprised about is that Skubala hasn't really tried to do much different in terms of style and approach. We've been shoe horning players into the already established 5-2-3 who just can't make the system work and it's been a poor watch. I can't be bothered to go through what I'd like to change but please no more CMs on the wing! Lots to do and whilst we are going to slide down the table, it's nuts to see where we still are with all that's gone on.

Skubala, jury still very much out.

 

[EricSabin]

https://x.com/ntfc/status/1740874621673746886?s=46&t=-qU5mr4z65XROuQ-S9hcZA

Our second goal last night is a thing of beauty

 

[EricSabin]

Urgh! Thank god the year is coming to an end.

The line-up seemed a bit off to me. Out of Northampton and Blackpool away coming up, it would be this game where I thought Skubala would go with a slightly more attacking team and have a go (granted our attacking options are either injured or not good enough at this level).

I thought we started the stronger, Jensen imo came needlessly out and Northampton score. We then shit the bed and go back to needlessly long balls from centre half to no-one and Northampton control the rest of the half. Second half again very much a repeat of the first, we start fairly bright and again get suckered by a really well worked Cobblers second. Eyoma then gets us back in it with a bit of momentum which is then extinguished with another red card for Paudie O'Connor, I thought it was harsh at the time with I think Simpson who got him off but I've yet to see it back. We huffed and puffed and tried to go for it but it was realistically game over. When we attacked and played through the thirds, we hurt Northampton but we're in a rut and couldn't sustain it. I like Simpson for the Cobblers - big, mobile, held the ball up and 'wins' his free kicks and helped to get O'Connor sent off.

I thought Northampton clearly learned lessons from Stevenage and were very streetwise which the ref should have been more proactive on. Slowed the game down, lots of niggle, manager kicking balls away, it wasn't until it was far too late, where the ref tried to gain control of the game back but it was already lost. Losing Erahon to injury and it was a real poor tackle is just more icing on the cake. My mate said there was some needle at the end? Brady deciding to do a Mourinho rather than shake oppositions hand? Not that it matters.

As for us, geez we're in a real spot and it has been coming since September. Our attacking options have been lacking all season and the past few weeks has been a real tough watch. The thing that I am surprised about is that Skubala hasn't really tried to do much different in terms of style and approach. We've been shoe horning players into the already established 5-2-3 who just can't make the system work and it's been a poor watch. I can't be bothered to go through what I'd like to change but please no more CMs on the wing! Lots to do and whilst we are going to slide down the table, it's nuts to see where we still are with all that's gone on.

Skubala, jury still very much out.

That’s pretty much how I saw it. You reminded me of us a couple years back, pretty toothless and with no cutting edge whatsoever. With our injury issues and the subs we were forced to make tonight and how changed our back line was by the end, it was fairly comfortable in the end.

 

[Guernica]

That’s pretty much how I saw it. You reminded me of us a couple years back, pretty toothless and with no cutting edge whatsoever. With our injury issues and the subs we were forced to make tonight and how changed our back line was by the end, it was fairly comfortable in the end.

Attack last night was:

- Hamilton - A box to box CM playing on front line as he can carry the ball
- Adelakun - Playing down the middle but is a winger who turns up 1 in 10 and was close to having his contract terminated in the summer and played no part in pre-season
- Sorensen - A CM turned RWB who played RW again because he has a good engine.

On the bench:
- Jovon Makama a young lad who has struggled and barely played for Brackley when on loan last season.
- Jake Vale - On loan from Blackburn was signed injured and intended to be back-up to House/Walker

Unavailable:
- Ben House, Tyler Walker, Hacket, Mandriou

The lack of forward options have been massive not just on personnel but every department has been affected as we've had to play players out of position and simply without a striker has put more pressure on midfield and defence as there's been zero out ball/channel runs/buying free kicks for months. It has been a tough watch - like watching your mate get piled on by 10 guys in a fight and not been able to do anything.

 

[EricSabin]

Attack last night was:

- Hamilton - A box to box CM playing on front line as he can carry the ball
- Adelakun - Playing down the middle but is a winger who turns up 1 in 10 and was close to having his contract terminated in the summer and played no part in pre-season
- Sorensen - A CM turned RWB who played RW again because he has a good engine.

On the bench:
- Jovon Makama a young lad who has struggled and barely played for Brackley when on loan last season.
- Jake Vale - On loan from Blackburn was signed injured and intended to be back-up to House/Walker

Unavailable:
- Ben House, Tyler Walker, Hacket, Mandriou

The lack of forward options have been massive not just on personnel but every department has been affected as we've had to play players out of position and simply without a striker has put more pressure on midfield and defence as there's been zero out ball/channel runs/buying free kicks for months. It has been a tough watch - like watching your mate get piled on by 10 guys in a fight and not been able to do anything.

Yep we’ve been there, start of the season our attacking change off the bench was 19 year old centre half Max Dyche who was sent up to win some headers.

Skubala doesn’t seem too popular from what I’ve seen?

 

[Claret Forever]

Having watched the game on I-follow, I think my takeaway from the game was that the difference on the night was that we didn't waste many chances, and Lincoln missed a few. I can only really think of Simpsons shot late on that we sort of blew as half decent chance, and Lincoln missed two or three times in the box, including just before their picked off the header from the corner.

We are pretty bad aerially all over the pitch according to the stats, other than the Centre-backs who are around 33rd and 38th in the table for headers won, so I think long ball probably could have some reasonable success against us, but the best chances for Lincoln really came from Lincoln players running past the full backs and the centre backs, they just didn't capitalise on them.

This was by far Simpsons best performance of the season, while I'd probably chalk it up to confidence rather than effort, he has played no where near that standard over the course of the year. It was the kind of performance that we expected from him when he signed, an Appere who has the ability to run at the attackers at the same time, but with the willigness to run and close as well.

 

[Si Robin]

Mad 2 minutes has cost us 2 points. So frustrating we've blown enough leads in the past month to be well out of the relegation zone.

I'm working on the premise that these performances show we're plenty good enough to get out of it. Best not to focus on those two mins, but on the other 95 mins where we were easily the better team. Even some of the dross from early on in the season are starting to look like decent players now (hello Oli Hammond).

That first 45 was outstanding and I honestly think we're a match for any team in the league at the moment.

That being said, I've predicted a defeat against Northampton on Monday.