Taking Stock; A visit from the neighbours. V Hatters, Sat, 15th Mr. 12-30.

[Mar]

This is a team of Evatt signings let us not forget. Not going to be that easy to shift the mentality, despite some positive signs.

[DJBlu]

Referee letting players go through Collins now.

4th official puts up 4 minutes. Derek Clarke and John McGinlay both shocked. How are they shocked after this display from the officials?

Hard to play against 11.

We'll be out the top 6 come 5 o'clock.

Too much for this squad I think. Going to need some investment in summer to carry us higher in the league.

[DJBlu]

Baxter the difference between that and an embarrasment.

Not good enough.

[DJBlu]

Talk about reverting to type, did you see Schumacher's face when they took the quick free kick? Oh dear Bolton.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Well.

On the one hand, if the ref doesn't bottle two big calls then we're a goal up in the first minute and a man up by half-time.

On the other, I'm afraid that's another defeat to nil against a promotion team, another loss in a derby, and more recently a third game in a week where we've had a reasonable first half but watched our opponents improve past us to dominate the second.

Hopefully Stevenage and Crawley can spring a surprise this afternoon at Readng and Huddersfield but I reckon we're starting the international break in 8th - and remember not all sides are off next week.

[Mar]

Referee letting players go through Collins now.

4th official puts up 4 minutes. Derek Clarke and John McGinlay both shocked. How are they shocked after this display from the officials?

Hard to play against 11.

We'll be out the top 6 come 5 o'clock.

Too much for this squad I think. Going to need some investment in summer to carry us higher in the league.

Collins didn't get anything from the ref.
Stockport played well, but we just didn't try. There's a substantial difference between when we went for it and when we didn't.

We've got to work the goal keeper. It's way too easy.
We can look back and think the ref can change the game with that non-sending off and the penalty.

It's an Evatt-esque performance that. Too much respect for the opposition, too much passing around the back and not enough action up top.


Schuey's got a week to fix it and get the squad believing again.

[Worthy4England]

Meh. Regroup in the break for the last 9 (+ 3 hopefully) games of the season.

Be good news for the lad on the Buff podcast who’d rather we be playing catchup. We might be 8th by teatime.

There's a reason folks not getting too excited at catch-up. It's hard to maintain over extended periods. It's why generally shit don't change much after the end of October. Sure there's some and always outliers and cases to disprove the generality...

[DJBlu]

Well.

On the one hand, if the ref doesn't bottle two big calls then we're a goal up in the first minute and a man up by half-time.

On the other, I'm afraid that's another defeat to nil against a promotion team, another loss in a derby, and more recently a third game in a week where we've had a reasonable first half but watched our opponents improve past us to dominate the second.

Hopefully Stevenage and Crawley can spring a surprise this afternoon at Readng and Huddersfield but I reckon we're starting the international break in 8th - and remember not all sides are off next week.

Don't worry, we're great with games in hand.

[Mar]

Well.

On the one hand, if the ref doesn't bottle two big calls then we're a goal up in the first minute and a man up by half-time.

On the other, I'm afraid that's another defeat to nil against a promotion team, another loss in a derby, and more recently a third game in a week where we've had a reasonable first half but watched our opponents improve past us to dominate the second.

Hopefully Stevenage and Crawley can spring a surprise this afternoon at Readng and Huddersfield but I reckon we're starting the international break in 8th - and remember not all sides are off next week.

I'd disagree that Stockport dominated the second half. We had good periods, but it feels that their goal was self inflicted. Sheehan not fouling their man, Toal diving in. We had Collins' efforts and Sheehans shot. So there were chances, but none of them really worieed the goalie.

Infuriating to watch, as we know we can be much better.

[DJBlu]

Referee letting players go through Collins now.

4th official puts up 4 minutes. Derek Clarke and John McGinlay both shocked. How are they shocked after this display from the officials?

Hard to play against 11.

We'll be out the top 6 come 5 o'clock.

Too much for this squad I think. Going to need some investment in summer to carry us higher in the league.

Collins didn't get anything from the ref.
Stockport played well, but we just didn't try. There's a substantial difference between when we went for it and when we didn't.

We've got to work the goal keeper. It's way too easy.
We can look back and think the ref can change the game with that non-sending off and the penalty.

It's an Evatt-esque performance that. Too much respect for the opposition, too much passing around the back and not enough action up top.


Schuey's got a week to fix it and get the squad believing again.

I think it's 2 weeks. Internationals next week.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Schuey's got a week to fix it and get the squad believing again.

A fortnight, really. Which is a good thing as we've lost the precision and decision-making we were showing earlier in his time.

[Spartan2]

352 is fecking shite. We've got one of the best wingers in the league if not the best, and he's playing wing back. Just put him on their full back and he'll dominate him. All we do in this formation is play safe passes backwards and sideways then a play a Hollywood ball forward that never comes off. Schumacher needs to get a grip, we've been shite in the last three games.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I'm afraid that's another defeat to nil against a promotion team, another loss in a derby, and more recently a third game in a week where we've had a reasonable first half but watched our opponents improve past us to dominate the second.

I'd disagree that Stockport dominated the second half. We had good periods, but it feels that their goal was self inflicted. Sheehan not fouling their man, Toal diving in. We had Collins' efforts and Sheehans shot. So there were chances, but none of them really worieed the goalie.

Infuriating to watch, as we know we can be much better.

Fair - 'dominate' may not be le mot juste - perhaps it's 'control'. They looked much more like scoring until they did, then they looked very confident keeping us out. That looked to me like the sort of away performances we displayed in promotion seasons under Allardyce and Parkinson: threatening up top, unthreatened at the back. Sure, Sheehan's ping might have wrested a goal out of Collins, and Josh scuffed a couple of left-footers through the crowd, but we didn't have any clear-cut chances and Hills had Collins pocketed.

[TANGODANCER]

Have we played it through the middle at all?

Take off Randall if we're not using him. And Josh Sheehan. Playing like he doesn't want to get injured for the Welsh game.

Didn't want to say that DJblu, but since you have, Sheehan definitely pulled out of the goal tackle ( and a few more). Mind you, when you're a foot less in height than Goliath..). We're losing to better well drilled teams and Stockport's goal was always on the cards. It's the truth.

[irie Cee Bee]

A loss but an opportunity in my estimation. Schuey is finding out more and more about the players he has. We did not play badly, but it shows that as a team, we lack the attacking quality needed to be at the top of the division. We had a lot of the ball but Randall, Collins and McAtee gave us very little.Stockport attackers on the other hand gave us a hard time, and thanks to Baxter, the score remained respectable. Both he , Thomason and Tutu showed the quality we need throughout this team. Schuey needs the summer to fix this.

[BWFC_Insane]

Got to say we got what we deserved. Baxter made three good saves before they scored with twenty minutes left and we’d not tasted their keeper once or created anything massively meaningful bar the Collins chance that he skied.

I thought we were comfortably second best.

I also think we didn’t get the changes right today nor the starting lineup. We at times looked like an Evatt side today. Sideways with no purpose and zero cutting edge. At no point did I feel we were about to score.

The curse of big local derbies persists and we are now facing two away with pressure. Losing three of these in a row would not only kill the season dead but also bring back the feeling that these players don’t have the mentality or bottle to play for us.

[Bertie Wooster]

Ah well, new manager bounce well & truly over - poor, lethargic performance. We only played with tempo for 5 mins after their goal, far to much sideways & backwards slow passing, zero creativity and no real threat up front.

I thought Stockport deserved it & could have had another if it wasn't for Baxter (who was excellent BTW). Stockport much more physical, hard working, streetwise and had a threat up front, their No9 is the type of striker that we are missing. More for Schumacher to learn about this squad, but Stockport would beat us again IMO if we met them in the play offs.

The team reverted to type as I thought that this was an Evatt like performance and shows why we need a real change in personnel in the summer - our midfield was really poor for the majority of that game (Sheehan & Randall are so lightweight and don't tackle). Apart from Osei Tutu who was good again, we lack pace throughout this team - and the defending for the goal was school boy, but it was the type of goal that we very rarely score.

No blame at all on Schumacher, these are all Evatt signings, Evatt's players - games like today will show him exactly what this team / squad is missing and what's required in the summer.

[BWFC_Insane]

Yeah all the ‘these players are great’ stuff for me was blown away by the last two. They clearly are not and it’s blindly obvious to anyone we need a proper physical striker and a more combative midfield.

Morley our best player today for me was taken off for some reason.

But we can try whatever fiddly hybrid systems we want but they don’t obscure the need for big changes in the summer.

[Bertie Wooster]

Yeah all the ‘these players are great’ stuff for me was blown away by the last two. They clearly are not and it’s blindly obvious to anyone we need a proper physical striker and a more combative midfield.

Morley our best player today for me was taken off for some reason.

But we can try whatever fiddly hybrid systems we want but they don’t obscure the need for big changes in the summer.

Yes big changes are required, hopefully the combative midfielders & physical pacy striker is something that Schumacher has already noted. We also need a proper no nonsense centre back, however I'm not sure who would take some of our under performing players to create the necessary squad places.

[BWFC_Insane]

Yeah all the ‘these players are great’ stuff for me was blown away by the last two. They clearly are not and it’s blindly obvious to anyone we need a proper physical striker and a more combative midfield.

Morley our best player today for me was taken off for some reason.

But we can try whatever fiddly hybrid systems we want but they don’t obscure the need for big changes in the summer.

Yes big changes are required, hopefully the combative midfielders & physical pacy striker is something that Schumacher has already noted. We also need a proper no nonsense centre back, however I'm not sure who would take some of our under performing players to create the necessary squad places.

Few out of contract. Loans go back. Schumacher has to make some decisions I suspect. Few you could say are vulnerable - Lolos, Schon for example.