Saturday 6th August

[Soup Ladle]

I wouldn't be surprised in a few years if we see Frank Lampard and/or Steven Gerrard at this level.

Both are hugely overrated but neither of them will fall that far that soon.

 

[pontoonlew]

Sounds like we were reffed out of it and Anthony Glennon is still class despite what Barrow fans claimed, neither are a surprise.

 

[JaredSUFC]

Injury time is an abomination and should be banned.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Most comfortable I've been watching us for a long time. Harrogate incredibly poor and didn't lay a glove on us. Luke Armstrong is a total carthorse and I believe he's on a fair whack? I didn't even have anything positive to say about one of their players and there's always 1 or 2 that catch the eye even if we win. Rochdale had a wing back last week who I thought was a cracking player for instance. It just looked like their tactics were to play for a 0-0 from the get go and when that went out the window they didn't have a clue how to react.

We look dangerous from set pieces which is very unlike us. That's 3 set piece goals so far this season. And our best striker is still injured. Tougher tests will come for our defence but very happy with both performances so far. Look World's apart from last seasons horror show.

A win and a clean sheet without having to work particularly hard for it feels like a novelty these days. I do think Harrogate and Rochdale will both struggle, mind. So I'm not getting carried away just yet.

 

[Soup Ladle]

Most comfortable I've been watching us for a long time. Harrogate incredibly poor and didn't lay a glove on us. Luke Armstrong is a total carthorse and I believe he's on a fair whack? I didn't even have anything positive to say about one of their players and there's always 1 or 2 that catch the eye even if we win. Rochdale had a wing back last week who I thought was a cracking player for instance. It just looked like their tactics were to play for a 0-0 from the get go and when that went out the window they didn't have a clue how to react.

We look dangerous from set pieces which is very unlike us. That's 3 set piece goals so far this season. And our best striker is still injured. Tougher tests will come for our defence but very happy with both performances so far. Look World's apart from last seasons horror show.

A win and a clean sheet without having to work particularly hard for it feels like a novelty these days. I do think Harrogate and Rochdale will both struggle, mind. So I'm not getting carried away just yet.

They definitely have some dirt on Luke Armstrong, they're forcing him to sign new contracts there. The strain and pressure of being held against your will inevitably has effects.

 

[DearneValleyRover]

Injury time is an abomination and should be banned.

I was surprised how tired as a team you were from about 70 mins, if we had put Agard and Kuleya on earlier I doubt it would have been as late in the game before we scored. It all should have been irrelevant given the chances you had in the first half. Yeah injury time

 

[chipmunx]

Injury time is an abomination and should be banned.

after 95 mins yesterday i would have agreed - but changed my mind a minute later.

 

[Chief Rocka]

Pissed as a fart yesterday so having watched the highlights back we had a lot more clear cut chances than I first remembered, second half especially, got to stick with 532 going forward, don't think I wanna see Featherstone and Sena in the same midfield trio again, Cooke looked a lot better and even Killip was coming off his line to catch and punch.

 

[BarraMatt]

I was surprised how tired as a team you were from about 70 mins, if we had put Agard and Kuleya on earlier I doubt it would have been as late in the game before we scored. It all should have been irrelevant given the chances you had in the first half. Yeah injury time

Just had a look at the two minute highlights on YouTube for most games and you looked like you have some donkeys at the back.

 

[Ellis]

Well that was brilliant. I would've been so angry with a draw because it felt like we'd put a right shift in second half. The win felt deserved and I think the overall performance was better than last week. The feel-good factor is back for the first time since we got promoted.

Also, what a signing Whitfield is! Can't believe Stockport couldn't find a role for him.

Whitfield is ace, I rated him higher than Crankshaw and would have kept him.

We’ve put all our eggs in one basket on our 3-5-2 formation which worked last season but the recruitment looks like we’ve identified the wrong kind of players for it.

Concerning.

 

[chipmunx]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1556183835943096320

 

[JaredSUFC]

I was surprised how tired as a team you were from about 70 mins, if we had put Agard and Kuleya on earlier I doubt it would have been as late in the game before we scored. It all should have been irrelevant given the chances you had in the first half. Yeah injury time

We have a habit of conceding in injury time.

We need to manage our substitutions better, we play a physical brand of Football which can take it’s toll. Bringing on our sub at 75 minutes yesterday (and for an injury) wouldn’t have helped.

 

[chipmunx]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1556180844376735745

"We got sucked into a game we are clearly not very good at"....

yeah it called football Mark.

 

[Cas]

To be fair, maybe listen to the entire interview instead of judging him from one quote. The sentence afterwards he gives you credit. He thinks you're a good side but whatever.

 

[DearneValleyRover]

Just had a look at the two minute highlights on YouTube for most games and you looked like you have some donkeys at the back.

Our back line is very young and also shipped 80+ goals last season (apart from Maxwell) yeah they were poor and unorganised in the first half but totally in control the second. It’s definitely a work in progress especially against big physical strikers

 

[chipmunx]

To be fair, maybe listen to the entire interview instead of judging him from one quote. The sentence afterwards he gives you credit. He thinks you're a good side but whatever.

yeah i listened to the whole interview but the sentance was highlighted by BBC Radio Cumbria not me.
Your forums had a mini meltdown after the game and it's been interesting reading the comments on Platt etc.
my views on the Barrow goals ;-
Platt was the only 1 to come out to try to close down Whitfield for the 1st goal, but when he got past Platt no one else reacted.
2nd goal - pinball in the box, but the only clear thing was the defender by the line didn't react as quickly as Josh Kay.
3rd goal was down to a half hearted attempt to stop Whitfields cross and then Critchlow being asleep.
Your keeper got some stick - but i don't think any of the goals were his fault.

Other than that Critchlow was lucky not to be sent off for taking Josh Gordon out on halfway when he was already on a yellow.
Oliver nearly got on the end of the only 2 good crosses in the 1st half - but apart from that he was too busy trying to intimidate and out muscle Canavan which he failed to do.
Your midfield was just anonymous as was Lee Angol - Young was way way better when he came on.
As with Stockport last week you're not a million miles away from being a good side though.

 

[hellogregory]

People need to just hold their hands up and accept that they were playing Barrow so these things can happen. You aren’t going to be coming up against forces like Barrow every week so no panic. And both Bradford and Stockport did keep the margin to one.

Even Chipmunk is saying that they are not a million miles away from becoming a really good side like Barrow. If that doesn’t give Bradford and Stockport great confidence I don’t know what will.

 

[RiftHouseLad]

Injury time is an abomination and should be banned.

Along with drums,lol

 

[Cas]

yeah i listened to the whole interview but the sentance was highlighted by BBC Radio Cumbria not me.
Your forums had a mini meltdown after the game and it's been interesting reading the comments on Platt etc.
my views on the Barrow goals ;-
Platt was the only 1 to come out to try to close down Whitfield for the 1st goal, but when he got past Platt no one else reacted.
2nd goal - pinball in the box, but the only clear thing was the defender by the line didn't react as quickly as Josh Kay.
3rd goal was down to a half hearted attempt to stop Whitfields cross and then Critchlow being asleep.
Your keeper got some stick - but i don't think any of the goals were his fault.

Other than that Critchlow was lucky not to be sent off for taking Josh Gordon out on halfway when he was already on a yellow.
Oliver nearly got on the end of the only 2 good crosses in the 1st half - but apart from that he was too busy trying to intimidate and out muscle Canavan which he failed to do.
Your midfield was just anonymous as was Lee Angol - Young was way way better when he came on.
As with Stockport last week you're not a million miles away from being a good side though.

Can't say I disagree with too much of that really. Angol was excellent last season when he wasn't injured but so far he's been crap in both games and the games in pre-season. Jake Young should be starting over him; He's direct, will take players on and can actually finish. I'd also be benching Oliver to be honest. We played some really nice football at the end of last season so I'm a little stumped at us opting to launch long balls to Oliver, especially when we've no width.

Not keen on Platt so far. Looks to be pretty hesistant and slow. Wouldn't be starting for me.

 

[GEORGE]

Most comfortable I've been watching us for a long time. Harrogate incredibly poor and didn't lay a glove on us. Luke Armstrong is a total carthorse and I believe he's on a fair whack? I didn't even have anything positive to say about one of their players and there's always 1 or 2 that catch the eye even if we win. Rochdale had a wing back last week who I thought was a cracking player for instance. It just looked like their tactics were to play for a 0-0 from the get go and when that went out the window they didn't have a clue how to react.

We look dangerous from set pieces which is very unlike us. That's 3 set piece goals so far this season. And our best striker is still injured. Tougher tests will come for our defence but very happy with both performances so far. Look World's apart from last seasons horror show.

A win and a clean sheet without having to work particularly hard for it feels like a novelty these days. I do think Harrogate and Rochdale will both struggle, mind. So I'm not getting carried away just yet.

Remember watching Luke Armstrong at Rovers last season. I thought he was a sunday league player ( no dissrespect to sunday league players ) but he was bloody awful, Cannot believe he is playing league football.

 

[AdamStag]

Pretty comfortable 1-0 for mansfield, wa surprised how poor tranmere were, offered little though appreciate they’ve injuries.

We need to be more clinical

 

[JaredSUFC]

Along with drums,lol

At some point I will present a list of things that should be banned from Football.

 

[immariner]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1556183835943096320

Hahaha all those knobbers, including a couple of dwarfs, about to get bans because they thought they'd got a late equaliser at Barrow in the second game of the season. Love it

 

[chipmunx]

Hahaha all those knobbers, including a couple of dwarfs, about to get bans because they thought they'd got a late equaliser at Barrow in the second game of the season. Love it

yep - and then losing the game 60 seconds later too.

 

[joethegill]

We haven't dominated a side for a while in the style we bossed Rochdale for the first 45. Scored after 10 minutes and it'd been coming at that point. Good to have someone who can deliver a set piece in Will Wright, and it's an excellent header from Kashket.

Further chances for Lee, Williams and Reeves in the opening exchanges could've seen us extend the lead before the break and to be honest 2-0 wouldn't have been unjust at the half. Second half was a touch more even in terms of possession but we still had the best chance through a Reeves snapshot from 15 yards which was tipped over. Dale had too much of the ball in the final 15 but I don't think they had a chance in that time.

Our midfield basically was considerably better than theirs on the day. Williams walked through the game but was absolutely class, Reeves and Lee took the piss at times with their interplay and quick feet, Jordan Green on the right was exceptional and spent most of the game terrorising Aidy White, eventually forcing him off the field. We still need another centre back and a forward player, but our first 11 is looking more or less what we thought itd be - really good for the level, and too good for the poorer sides in the league.

I'm under no illusions that Rochdale aren't one of the big hitters in the league by any stretch, and we need to be more clinical, but I know a decent side at this level when I see one, and we looked one yesterday.

 

[RiftHouseLad]

At some point I will present a list of things that should be banned from Football.

I,ll start the ball rolling, Sutton FC.

 

[chipmunx]

I,ll start the ball rolling, Sutton FC.

how did you manage to spell Salford wrong?

 

[JaredSUFC]

I,ll start the ball rolling, Sutton FC.

What’s a Sutton FC?

 

[TheDon]

The switch from 5 at the back to 4 made a difference as did the subs. Darcy, Hutton and Clayton all looked decent second half. I hate to comment on referees but Woolmer was ridiculous, handing out cards like confetti when there wasn't a bad foul in the 90. Mckirdy's second yellow when you see it again looked really harsh, but you knew he was just waiting for an excuse to give him a second yellow, the first was for mouthing off, surprise surprise!!

Hopefully we sack off the 5 at the back permanently, we are generally crap when adopted. It happened last season and Garner eventually changed it for the better, so not sure why the manager thinks it would be a good idea to go back to 5 this season. Oh and it was good to see Sol Brynn get man of the match after suffering some 'abuse' pre match from some of our fans.

Couldn't go to the game as currently about 20 miles south of Indian Dan. Think it's really early to tell management wise but the second half changes seemed to make a difference. If we could have kept last season's better players then I think we would have cruised the league but seems Garner was well respected by them. Harry Mac will never change but I think that's not a bad thing, every team needs a mad twat and he's up there with the best of them.

 

[Agombar stool]

Couldn't go to the game as currently about 20 miles south of Indian Dan. Think it's really early to tell management wise but the second half changes seemed to make a difference. If we could have kept last season's better players then I think we would have cruised the league but seems Garner was well respected by them. Harry Mac will never change but I think that's not a bad thing, every team needs a mad twat and he's up there with the best of them.

Absolutely right re the management. We are only 2 games into the season and in my eyes we still seem very much a 'work in progress'. I obviously hope we click sooner rather than later but think that August might be a bit of a bumpy month whilst we get 'organised'.

My concern with Harry is that whilst we are not playing well he is going to get more and more frustrated.