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Post by marketharborough on Nov 22, 2016 23:18:24 GMT
At the beginning of the match I would happily have taken a point from this very testing away match but looking back on it now, I'm a little disappointed with dropping two. An interesting game as it was out first trip to a 3G surface this term. Ball bounced truely, but did not stop like it would on grass - but it certainly did not spoil the match.
Positives for me - everyone put a great shift in tonight, played really well in spells as a team, standout players Ross (for some of his interceptions), Lloyd (for his continual running, his goal and assists), Felix ( skinned their fullback quite a few times in first half, faded a little come second half), the rest of the team (including Josh's scuffed 1st kick of the match and the 121 County faithful present (there were more than 121 in the away end and certainly more than 710 in the whole ground.
Negatives - too slow at times, Tamworth would get a throw in or free kick and were like lightening to get moving, we however were more like a snail in those scenarios, not prepared to take shots - wanted the extra touch, standing off players when defending (get stuck in and personal with the opposition) and allowing Tamworth too much space to score both goals.
Having said that there were long periods of play where we dominated and could and should have gone and got more goals. County could take note from the long sweeping balls that the Lambs played - they were very quick on the counter attack.
Don't forget they have beaten Fylde and Darlo at home so a 2-2 result is a good one - so let's not be too downhearted by the result.
Good to catch up with Shropshire and Collinge (both fairly conspicuous from their absence of this forum for some time).
I also brought with me a colleague who lives in Tamworth, not been to the Lamb in about 30 years and is normally seen frequenting Stamford Bridge and he was pleasantly impressed with the standard of football and the banter and said he'd go again - it is better than the Nou Camp, the Bernebeu, Old Trafford, Emirates etc etc I keep telling him!
So in 10th place and seven points away from a play off berth, we need to get a few results under our belt otherwise it will be midtable mediocrity, something the performances do not deserve, we just need to be more clinical in front of goal.
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Post by gazz on Nov 23, 2016 1:35:07 GMT
Excellent report, MHH, many thanks for writing it up.
What I will say is that whether we go up this season or not is nowhere near as important as preparing the club for the eventual jump to the higher level, that is what Jim is doing this season - I personally don't think we will be ready this season.
If it means we go up next season then fine, I'd rather not scrape into the playoffs and go up with an unfinished squad, I'd rather we got all our ducks in a row before that so we are less likely to struggle in the division above.
Togetherness and team spirit cannot be just bought and thrown together, it has to be built, and that takes time - but there's nobody better than Jim when it comes to doing that.
We need to be patient and give Jim our unconditional support until he has the squad exactly how he wants it, no matter how long that takes - I have 100% faith that he will get there.
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Post by jimboslovechild on Nov 23, 2016 7:26:22 GMT
I see what you mean Gazza, but if Lloyd gets a better offer in the summer then the squad doesn't really look all that strong to me.
We began last season really tight at the back, but then started conceding more and more goals because we were having to try to compensate for the lack of goals up front (how many games did we draw???). It feels a bit similar at the moment. I think we have decent defenders and good defensive midfielders but they are getting caught out of position because they are trying to make up for the fact we lack mobility when Kay plays, or lack sticking power when Amis plays. The balance seems to be broken.
Sounds like Felix did well, and I'm glad Jim obviously reads CH and has taken my advice on Amis. From what people are saying, it might be time to give Ball some time out of the starting 11 too.
Can we please practise attacking corners at some point? It is stressing me out!
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Post by gazz on Nov 23, 2016 7:47:30 GMT
I know where you're coming from, jlc. I do agree with you, we're going to look seriously light without Lloyd if he goes, but that happens when you have players that stand out - they attract attention.
This is why I don't think we're ready to go up, but you only have to compare the 9 in a row squad with the one that won at Wembley to see how quickly Jim can change things to get where he wants to be.
This time next season we'll be in far better shape, of that I have no doubt.
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Post by countybenno on Nov 23, 2016 8:39:38 GMT
I'm a bit mixed about last night's result, I'm fairly happy with a point but we should have had all 3 yet again throwing points away at the end of the match, I really do think that we are close to be challenging to get out of this division we just need to stop giving goals away, teams don't seem to be earning goals against us at the moment, we are gifting them with silly mistakes and how can we not score from corners, I think it's around 33 corners we have had now without managing a goal from them, are we going for a record for this!!!
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Post by hermannsays on Nov 23, 2016 10:23:48 GMT
Looks like Tamworth wanted Lloyd in the summer... but who wouldn't?!
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Post by gazz on Nov 23, 2016 16:56:45 GMT
Thought Morrell spoke respectfully about Jim and his team there, Matt Jansen would do well to watch that interview - he might just learn sumat!
Interesting that they were trying to get Lloyd in the Summer. The real worry now is - as jlc has already alluded to - will Lloyd be tempted away if a big offer comes in?
His stock continues to rise and it is inevitable that we will see some attempts to lure him. I just hope he wants to stay with us.
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Post by dudleyhatter on Nov 23, 2016 17:25:20 GMT
A decent interview but when you compare it with the analytical way Jim discusses games he is a world apart.
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Post by gazz on Nov 23, 2016 17:32:36 GMT
A decent interview but when you compare it with the analytical way Jim discusses games he is a world apart. This ^^^
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Post by ceefer on Nov 23, 2016 19:27:47 GMT
And as each season goes by we have to pitch up against bankrolled teams ... this year its Fylde so 1 of 2 places gone from the start, and the money men at 92 city and Darlo. Brackley have signed a decent team which cant have come cheap. Next season some of the above will still be here with a couple coming down from the National League.
So what I'm trying to say is getting out of the league is going to a mammoth task and we may well have a get back to the FL by 2020 plan , but realistically speaking I think its gonna take somewhat longer. (unfortunately)...
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Post by ceefer on Nov 23, 2016 20:06:47 GMT
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Post by another_ruined_saturday on Nov 23, 2016 20:18:08 GMT
not so sure about the risk of losing lloyd. he doesn't want to go full-time, which tends to rule out some of the bankrolled clubs; and where else is he going to play in a proper stadium in front of 3,000 fans at this level? i think the greatest enemy to keeping lloyd is promotion - and that's the difficult thing this time. it's not about building a squad for promotion and the next level if we are to go full time. if we're not going full time immediately after promotion, then there's still that transition to handle at some point. in a lot of senses, i think the next promotion will be the most difficult county have had to handle.
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Post by another_ruined_saturday on Nov 23, 2016 20:22:07 GMT
cheers for the report, MHH. my brother and one of my mates were there and both pretty positive about the performance. i turned pure off at half time because i was getting that weirdness of getting a phone call from my brother when a goal went in, and it was a couple of minutes ahead of pure. rendered it a bit pointless to sit through because the interesting bits i would already know about well before they were described on countyplayer.
i think the consensus we came to was that it was saturday that killed us. the gainsborough win hadn't been inspiring, but was a win; and if we'd followed that with a win on saturday (as looked likely a goal up and about to take a penalty), last night's point away at a form team would have meant seven from nine and kept us ticking over nicely.
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Post by another_ruined_saturday on Nov 23, 2016 20:58:20 GMT
pretty positive from jim. dunno where the highlights are. are tamworth f***ing about again?
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Post by another_ruined_saturday on Nov 23, 2016 21:03:12 GMT
liked morrell's interview as well. started by saying he'd really enjoyed the game - refreshing for a manager to say that, particularly when it was a draw not a win. i'm glad that the pressure -even at this level- doesn't necessarily have to grind all the enjoyment out of football.
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