O's scorefred sponsored by 'There's trouble at t'Mill'

[Tippy Tappy Football]

Smith should’ve replaced Tomlinson. He was knackered from 60 minutes.

I agree. When we saw Alistair Smith warming up we all thought that he would replace Will Tomlinson. I couldn't believe that JD brought off Otis Khan who in the absence of Jacob Mellis is our only midfield player who provides a bit of quality on the ball. We were then playing with three defensive midfield players which was a clear signal to Orient that we were trying to hang on for a 2-1 win with around 25 minutes to go. We had nobody to play the ball to who could put his foot on the ball and pass it forward. It was a poor substitution. We missed Neal Bishop and Jacob Mellis massively tonight. We needed some more experience and a bit of quality on the ball to see the game out.

[Tippy Tappy Football]

The subs criticism is a bit harsh. Yes I agree Smith should’ve replaced Tomlinson rather than Khan. But CJ for Maynard was a fair change. Maynard was offering as much as CJ did when he was on the pitch. White was an injury. The subs available to him didn’t leave him a lot of option.

I would have left Nicky Maynard on and brought CJ Hamilton on to try and get the ball into the box for Rose and Maynard. Hayden White was struggling so you could have subbed him and gone to a flat back four.

[Tippy Tappy Football]

Khan for Smith at 2-1 down was a daft sub to make though.

Agree with that one.

[Tippy Tappy Football]

Our second penalty was nailed on from the camera angle I was watching from.

I thought they deserved a penalty too when Benning was really late if that's what you're referring to.

I agree with Stoney.

[Tippy Tappy Football]

Smith may be a decent player one day. He is not ready now. Taking Maynard off for CJ was a mistake. CJ has to play on the wing.Maynard is a good footballer and will always score goals. Midfield not good enough.

Agree with that Geoff.

[Tippy Tappy Football]

The subs killed us tonight, blame unfortunately has to lie with dempster l, as soon as he took Khan off for smith it was a signal to attack for them. Smith touches the ball once to be fair and I know he's a "local boy" but he needs to be better then that, go and impose yourself on the game, and cj for that matter too. We need about 3 players and fast.

2nd half was no way near acceptable.

Alistair Smith is not a local boy Dan. He's from Hull. However the key question is whether he is good enough to play regularly in a midfield for a team going for promotion in League 2. The answer would be "No" based on tonight's performance. He doesn't look ready yet. We need more experience and quality in midfield otherwise our only weapon will be hitting long balls to Danny Rose and the opposition will work that one out sooner or later.

[Dan]

logan making some good saves tonight. not bad a for a fat lad eh

*cough*

[bobbystagsfan]

logan making some good saves tonight. not bad a for a fat lad eh

*cough*

well, cheers Conrad

[Chrisuknottm]

logan making some good saves tonight. not bad a for a fat lad eh

*cough*

well, cheers Conrad

Made up for it in the second half though didnt he.... so nice he didn't get our hopes up for too long

[yorkshire stag]

so wazzed off with that second half performance, i just cannot shake it

[spanishstag]

The second half was abysmal ,but its still only four league games ,the bench didn't help us last night but to call for the managers head is ridiculous ,he,s young and learning ,mistakes are bound to happen ,but we have to give him time ,think he needs to get an experienced midfielder in though and drop logan ,he just does not have the defenders trust imo ,anyway we go again

[bobbystagsfan]

The second half was abysmal ,but its still only four league games ,the bench didn't help us last night but to call for the managers head is ridiculous ,he,s young and learning ,mistakes are bound to happen ,but we have to give him time ,think he needs to get an experienced midfielder in though and drop logan ,he just does not have the defenders trust imo ,anyway we go again

I agree. I think we need Bobby back in nets, a new centre mid and another centre half. We are very short on numbers already and were only 4 games in

[Sneag]

Well it's the morning after the night before, and I'm still fuming!!

[Conker]

Well it's the morning after the night before, and I'm still fuming!!

Same, cannot believe how dejected I am.

I’m just praying Dempster knows his tactical decisions messed that up last night, I also hope he knows Logan needs dropping and we need a couple of extra bodies because that bench was ridiculous.

[Sandy Pate Best Stag]

Having slept on it and re-read the comments, I feel we are being a tad unfair on the manager. Yes the substitutions weren't top class but the team wa very short of quality with little options on the bench.

Without the schoolboy errors we should have been capable of hanging on but the players let JD down with the lack of fight and ambition. I don't think an experienced manager would have got much more with the players available.

Saturday's game is now massive to show the type of manager we have. I expect nothing short of a change of goalkeeper and a committed performance from the squad with every player giving their all.

Ideally I would like new players in the door, 2 midfielders and a rock of a centre half but also realise that will not be easy and will require investment from the owners. I also think this could indicate the thoughts of the owners on the fate of the two suspended players as their wages could be needed to get the quality we need. Of course that is only a theory and I should never underestimate the Radfords' commitment to the club but new players who are top class could point to departures.

Although bitterly disappointed with last night, it shouldn't have been unexpected given the level of injury and turmoil at the club at this moment in time. Maybe we should look at it as we do conceding an early goal in a match, unfortunate but plenty of time to pull it back and believe we will succeed in the end.

[arsene wengers coat]

Well it's the morning after the night before, and I'm still fuming!!

Yep infuriated. Actually pissed off at JR too now.

[Amber Andy]

Well it's the morning after the night before, and I'm still fuming!!

Yep infuriated. Actually pissed off at JR too now.

Why ?

[adamstag]

Maybe just maybe it could be a blessing in disguise.

However you dress it up conceding 5 goals combined to Morecambe and Orient is pretty concerning and should be setting alarm bells off across the board.

The problems have already been highlighted - lack of depth, struggling in midfield, god-awful GK, naive manager - but maybe this could have been brushed under the carpet had we got off to a good start.

The lack of depth and the midfield option can both be remedied before the window closes and we'll hopefully have a decent GK back when Bobby is back from injury.

Bad night last night by the sounds of it - and by the goals conceded - but who knows it might do us good in the long run?

[geoffhill]

Just because we played poorly and the manager made some bad substitutions like Taking Khan and Maynard off.What has JR done wrong.Stupid rant.

[The One]

Just because we played poorly and the manager made some bad substitutions like Taking Khan and Maynard off.What has JR done wrong.Stupid rant.

Think he means appointing JD

[arsene wengers coat]

Well it's the morning after the night before, and I'm still fuming!!

Yep infuriated. Actually pissed off at JR too now.

Why ?

Because we've bought into #projectpromotion, we were so close last season. I think the DF sacking was a hasty mistake and I think the hasty appointment of JD was an even hastier mistake.

We're going backwards, quite quickly and JR is nowhere to be seen.

Maybe it's all still too raw, I dunno.

[Jimstag]

A good post by sandy pate best stag, in addition to the players missing I felt we were carrying a couple of half fit players as well.

I feel we have been especially harsh on the midfield, I think our best 3 were unavailable in Bishop, Mellis and Donahue. Smith wouldn’t be near the team if these were available and adds to my disappointment on two of them.

The question becomes can we bring better in than the four we have available in the next week? We only seem to want to play Khan for 60 mins so need creative cover and Tomlinson doesn’t look fully fit to me as he’s only just got back from injury. I’d also ask Dempster to ask himself if we’re reliant upon those 4 (Khan, Macca, Tomlinson and Smith) for the rest of the season are they good enough for your targets? I’d say 1 or 2 so we need more depending on what happens with the investigation.

[Vicar Jeremiah]

That was painful, nearly as painful as the Bristol City added time defeat. Being ancient and having watched stags since time. began, I am confident in my assessment, that what we have here, is an average mid table side, that will win some and lose some.

With investment in January we may make a late run for the last play off place, and hit it with some momentum

[Tippy Tappy Football]

weak bench that have to agree, let’s hope we don’t need it

That must be one of the weakest and inexperienced benches we have seen at the Stags for a long time probably since Duncan Russell was manager. There was only CJ Hamilton who had any real experience (89 league starts). Omari Sterling James has only started two league games for us in 2 years and the rest were young kids. We are not going to get promoted unless we strengthen the squad.

CJ Hamilton - 89 (22)
Omari Sterling James - 2(12)
Lewis Gibbens - 1(0)
Alistair Smith - 0(1)
James Clarke - 0(0)
Jason Law - 0(0)
Aidan Stone - 0(0)

[I am Spartacus]

Could make the game because I was sipping cocktails, in the casino of a cruise ship in the Mediterranean Sea. Did I miss anything?