Grimsby scorefred sponsored by let’s keep winning

[Captain Cunno]

JR would not have liked that....
Bit embarrassing innit

[cassellswasmagic]

In reference to Gazzas post earlier:
Correct…we definitely ’needed’ players then. We don’t now…Clough is in a great position. He will only add quality, if he thinks he needs it. I personally think we do need a striker, but am scratching my head as to which type and where from. Also, Swan just needs more game time imo.

[cassellswasmagic]

JR would not have liked that....
Bit embarrassing innit

It sure is!

[Sneag]

What about bringing in a striker on loan and send Will Swan out on loan to rebuild his confidence?

Or how about this for a wild idea. Let play our players more. Send Swan out on loan and bring someone else is. We inform him he will get an average of 28 mins per appearance.

His last start was 7th October, since then he's appeared 7 times. Only 2 of those were over 20 minutes one was after 63 minutes of a game and he got an assist, the other was after 69 minutes of a game and he got a goal. The rest are in the 80+ minute, with 1 in injury time and 1 in 79th minute.

Bear in mind that that the player he's replacing last scored a month ago and since got 2 bench appearances on minutes 88 and 85 of a game.

There's players positively fighting at the door to get in for that kind of game time.

We can't offer more or Swan would have more game time.

Saturday & yesterday were both games where Swan would have benefitted from at least 20 minutes in games where Stags were totally dominant.

Personally I don't think 5 minutes here & there does any player any good.

I guess Swan's problem is, he's not scoring in U23 kickabouts either.

[Bradders]

In reference to Gazzas post earlier:
Correct…we definitely ’needed’ players then. We don’t now…Clough is in a great position. He will only add quality, if he thinks he needs it. I personally think we do need a striker, but am scratching my head as to which type and where from. Also, Swan just needs more game time imo.

I really don't think that we need a new striker, despite all the chances missed. I don't see who Clough would drop, and how he would change the system to suit an expensive star, without losing our ability to create half chances.

And if the striker isn't an expensive, star goalscorer in good current form, then we already have three strikers who can't finish well enough to hold down a regular place in the starting lineup, so why a fourth?

[adamstag]

Thought grimsby were tidy first 30 minutes and presented us with problems only really stockport and wimbledon have done so in the league, and could well have been ahead at halftime - the 2nd goal knocked the stuffing out of them.

2nd half reminded me of the 2nd half against stockport where we just took them to the cleaners, another professional display.

We’re fortunate that our ridiculously dreadful wastefulness infront of goal isn’t costing us.

[oldweststander]

We played some absolutely stunning football there, missed some unreal chances but the creativity has just been a joy to watch.

37 shots for the second time this season. Not even Man City have managed that.

Brilliant to a man but special mention to Brunt who looks a real class act in that midfield role.

I know folk are crying out for a signing and I get the logic behind it BUT... we're 10 points better off, we've scored 10 goals more and conceded 6vgoals less than this stage last season.

Honestly I'd be so tempted to leave things well alone. This squad is just fantastic.

you don’t want a striker ? wow

It's not that I don't want one. I want one.

You'd have to be blind not to see we miss too many chances. The issue for me and I guess the challenge for Nigel and the recruitment team is can they find one who fits our style and isn't just an out and out poacher.

I also wonder who would be dropped. DKD has missed two absolute sitters today and is generally wasteful but then has games where he pops up with goals that take your breath away.

Do we "need" another striker? I'm not sure.

Would I like another striker? Yes please.

Do I think we'll sign another forward? Yes I do.

What would be the point
He's not gonna drop Dkd or Akins for any reason. So we want to sign another forward to compete with Swan for the last minutes of a game or compete with Oates for the last 10-15.

Where does this new forward fit into the squad?

Injuries, they will happen, they will happen to forwards. Another striker as insurance, we don't want to be starting with Gale and Swan up front in the run in and as I said earlier, for some reason Oates looks to be a shadow of his
former self and we cannot rely on him to put chances away at the best of times.

Rumours around certain player leaving, if that happens cash will be available.

[oldweststander]

What about bringing in a striker on loan and send Will Swan out on loan to rebuild his confidence?

Or how about this for a wild idea. Let play our players more. Send Swan out on loan and bring someone else is. We inform him he will get an average of 28 mins per appearance.

His last start was 7th October, since then he's appeared 7 times. Only 2 of those were over 20 minutes one was after 63 minutes of a game and he got an assist, the other was after 69 minutes of a game and he got a goal. The rest are in the 80+ minute, with 1 in injury time and 1 in 79th minute.

Bear in mind that that the player he's replacing last scored a month ago and since got 2 bench appearances on minutes 88 and 85 of a game.

There's players positively fighting at the door to get in for that kind of game time.

We can't offer more or Swan would have more game time.

Saturday & yesterday were both games where Swan would have benefitted from at least 20 minutes in games where Stags were totally dominant.

Personally I don't think 5 minutes here & there does any player any good.

I guess Swan's problem is, he's not scoring in U23 kick abouts either.

Swan missed most, if not all, of pre season, has picked up knocks since and not regained last season's form.
A spell elsewhere would, imo, be of huge benefit to him and us with two years left on his contract.




Swan had not caught up from missing preseason

[Dave Wayne]

JR would not have liked that....
Bit embarrassing innit

It sure is!

What is more embarassing ? Having a 3 sided ground and selling out because you are in the automatic promotion mix ? Or having a 4 sided ground with a capacity only about 500 more than ours, and only two thirds filling it because you are sitting in 19th place ?
Nothing is going to happen with the stand this season do why does it need to get brought up every week ?

[HitchcocksShins]

Yeah, let's build a players confidence by telling them we don't even want them playing for us for a while. Brilliant.

[Dave Wayne]

We played some absolutely stunning football there, missed some unreal chances but the creativity has just been a joy to watch.

37 shots for the second time this season. Not even Man City have managed that.

Brilliant to a man but special mention to Brunt who looks a real class act in that midfield role.

I know folk are crying out for a signing and I get the logic behind it BUT... we're 10 points better off, we've scored 10 goals more and conceded 6vgoals less than this stage last season.

Honestly I'd be so tempted to leave things well alone. This squad is just fantastic.

you don’t want a striker ? wow

It's not that I don't want one. I want one.

You'd have to be blind not to see we miss too many chances. The issue for me and I guess the challenge for Nigel and the recruitment team is can they find one who fits our style and isn't just an out and out poacher.

I also wonder who would be dropped. DKD has missed two absolute sitters today and is generally wasteful but then has games where he pops up with goals that take your breath away.

Do we "need" another striker? I'm not sure.

Would I like another striker? Yes please.

Do I think we'll sign another forward? Yes I do.

What would be the point
He's not gonna drop Dkd or Akins for any reason. So we want to sign another forward to compete with Swan for the last minutes of a game or compete with Oates for the last 10-15.

Where does this new forward fit into the squad?

Injuries, they will happen, they will happen to forwards. Another striker as insurance, we don't want to be starting with Gale and Swan up front in the run in and as I said earlier, for some reason Oates looks to be a shadow of his
former self and we cannot rely on him to put chances away at the best of times.

Rumours around certain player leaving, if that happens cash will be available.

I'm still wondering where people are expecting to find a striker who will offer us more than Oates or Swan, and will be happy to join us knowing he is just 'insurance' in case we get injuries and will spend most of the next 5 months sitting on the bench ?

[gazza1988]

Injuries will happen. That's the bonus of squad rotation though. Not only does it reduce the risk of injury due to fatigue but it also keeps players match-fit. 10 minutes here and there isn't doing anyone much good.

Akins got injured and Will Swan didn't start, it was Bowery and Oates up front. The game Akins missed Swan didn't even get off the bench. Gale did though.

WHat are the rumours of players leaving? Or is that reference to Boateng?

If we were to sign Lee Gregory (IF) then he would likely replace Maris. No way will Clough ever drop DKD or Akins. So Maris/Oates would be candidates.

[Marky Mark]

The 2 penalties Artell is on about came in the first half but neither player went down, 1 just before they hit the bar and the other one Bowery kicked his man. He was telling us behind the dugout that if they had gone down they would of been given.

You must sit near me then as I heard that too. To be fair to Artell, that interview can only have been directed at his own fans, there was none of the histrionics that you usually get from opposing managers stalking the touchline and he must have been happy to walk off at the end only having conceded 2. I thought he'd got them playing some decent stuff in the first half and it'd have been very interesting what would have happened if they'd taken one of their earlier chances, they wont go down and he'll probably improve them. It was interesting to me that when he saw something that his own players had done wrong on the pitch, rather than berate them, he turned to the subs and told them what he'd have wanted them to do if they were in that position. He spent most of the game looking back to his own bench rather than watching the pitch - I don't think he even saw the second 'stonewall' penalty as it took him about 5 seconds to run up to the 4th official. I think he's right though, if that player had gone down then it'd have been a penalty, but until he does go down then it's nothing like a penalty - it's about 1.04 on here: https://www.skysports.com/football/mans ... own/484432
Our second goal came directly as a result of the irony of Pym being booked for time wasting and then play starting about 30 seconds after it otherwise would have if the referee had just let him carry on - I thought their keeper had it covered but it seemed to take a bounce just before him and then went over his hand.

[victor A block]

Strong performance after sitting off them too much for the first 10 minutes.

We have a very strong goalkeeper, defence and midfield. Its how he is going to keep them happy now with Brunt taking up a midfield berth.

Benching Clarke after his MOM performance at Sutton seemed absurd at KO and he certainly added something when he came on, but who makes way?
Nice problems.

The striker debate will linger on. 39 shots, 2 conversions. You still cant help the analysing the scoring record and noting its mostly coming from midfield if you include DKD.
Oates is a major frustration (and seems actually frustrated) . Please can he be advised he doesn't have to smash every single effort on goal as if he is trying to clear the Quarry Lane dam.

Others will add to their squads if they can . It's the one position Clough still really has to consider.

Great to see the owners there. Hopefully they avoided the West Stand Lower bogs which were a river of free flowing ----

Chuckled at the cod heads taking it out on the derelict Bishop St. Its about all they had to go on though.

[Frontrowhero]

JR would not have liked that....
Bit embarrassing innit

It sure is!

What is more embarassing ? Having a 3 sided ground and selling out because you are in the automatic promotion mix ? Or having a 4 sided ground with a capacity only about 500 more than ours, and only two thirds filling it because you are sitting in 19th place ?
Nothing is going to happen with the stand this season do why does it need to get brought up every week ?

I get what you are saying and would have totally agreed when gates where below 5k, but in a week where Wrexham have opened a temporary stand until there’s is built, did get me and lads asking how many extra home fans would we have got in yesterday. Surely close season we must start the groundwork of at least clearing the bishop street end and just flattening it out in preparation of deciding what to do next. If we get to league 1 (looking good) surely a temp stand not for next season but the following. Then re-assess from there get onto the council, possible grants, funding. Think positively if we get to league 1 we are going to need a bigger ground for home fans and espically more away fans.

[Amberheart]

A good solid win ,after Grimsby had hit the bar twice . From my view behind the goal in QLE Akins could’ve had a hat trick in the second half .
It was uplifting to see the Radfords at the game .

[DoomMerchant]

I had to laugh, there's a lad sits next to us who for a kid in his early twenties has to be the most pessimistic young un I've ever come across. First half in a 5 minute spell:
Grimsby rattle the bar, quickly followed by a Pym save - "We're shyt at the back"
Then up the other end we have two quick in succession chances saved by the keeper - "We're shyt up front".

Not quite sure where he thinks the team is good enough to be honest.

[scotsstag]

I had to laugh, there's a lad sits next to us who for a kid in his early twenties has to be the most pessimistic young un I've ever come across. First half in a 5 minute spell:
Grimsby rattle the bar, quickly followed by a Pym save - "We're shyt at the back"
Then up the other end we have two quick in succession chances saved by the keeper - "We're shyt up front".

Not quite sure where he thinks the team is good enough to be honest.

Midfield by the sound of it Doomy

[Dave Wayne]

JR would not have liked that....
Bit embarrassing innit

It sure is!

What is more embarassing ? Having a 3 sided ground and selling out because you are in the automatic promotion mix ? Or having a 4 sided ground with a capacity only about 500 more than ours, and only two thirds filling it because you are sitting in 19th place ?
Nothing is going to happen with the stand this season do why does it need to get brought up every week ?

I get what you are saying and would have totally agreed when gates where below 5k, but in a week where Wrexham have opened a temporary stand until there’s is built, did get me and lads asking how many extra home fans would we have got in yesterday. Surely close season we must start the groundwork of at least clearing the bishop street end and just flattening it out in preparation of deciding what to do next. If we get to league 1 (looking good) surely a temp stand not for next season but the following. Then re-assess from there get onto the council, possible grants, funding. Think positively if we get to league 1 we are going to need a bigger ground for home fans and espically more away fans.

Totally agree, hence the reason I said nothing is going to happen with it this season. JR isn't stupid. He knows something needs to be done going forwards, but we have to accept that it won't be today, tomorrow, or the day after, so it doesn't need to infiltrate every match thread.

[DoomMerchant]

I think he watches all of our games through his fingers Scot. Almost every single opposition cross is greeted with the comment "Goal!"....... eventually he'll get one right I suppose; unless a cardiac arrest beats him to it.

[bear 73]

Like all football matches a game can be turned on its head, Pym makes some good saves and we get a deflected goal, but to be fair we have a team that can adapt to challengers.
And in the end a comfortable win, and spending Xmas in the top 3 put the icing on the cake .
A lot of games are won in midfield this is the engine room of a team and Brunt has added a new spark to a very effective unit.
The more we shine the bigger the incentive for the opposition to dull our effectiveness putting that extra yard in and being very competitive , to stop our gallop.
Every game is a challenge for us,
We have 5 strikers and 4 who are playing a bit part role, at the moment.
We are creating chances because of our style of play, and having another striker works only if we lose one, and the only one playing regular is Akins, and he is going nowhere.
I feel its the goals against column the team is built around with the demise that this team is capable of scoring.
Clean sheets means points,
So January will be interesting i can see someone coming in, If someone leaves. .

[Amber Ad]

Where has artlell got two stonewall penos from?

Bearing in mind he was screaming for the game to be stopped for a head injury when their player was clutching his shoulder after Quinn steamrollered him, I would take his words with a pound of salt

He was loosing his mind at a steward 2nd half about someone in the crowd. Think he should have been paying more attention to the game all round...

[HitchcocksShins]

Just watched Artells post match interview. I thought pre match assessment where he said we were on par with Harrogate was some sort of kidology. Completely rubbish attempt at kidology, but kidology non the less. Having seen his post match I just think he's actually just a complete and total idiot.

[The One]

DKD and Maris in team of week. Weird Grimsby goalie is also

[scotsstag]

DKD and Maris in team of week. Weird Grimsby goalie is also

They probably think he saved 37 of our 39 shots.