The Iron - AGAIN (H) 18th November

[Dr Feelgood]

0-3 FFS pathetic.

Hass OUT!!!!!

[Dr Feelgood]

I'm done this week.

We could be 4 or 5 down..We've just given up.

[Baldy]

I'm done this week.

We could be 4 or 5 down..We've just given up.

Part timer!

[Glastonbury Cobbler]

I blame cj and Glasto

Cheers Doc 😂

[GrangeParkCobbler]

I’m glad we rested our big guns in the Cup game.....it’s worked a treat hasn’t it?!

[WasRambo]

Pretty dreadful result. All blew up after we lost JJ

[guest3103]

All blew up after we lost JJ

I'm not sure about that, I mean we missed JJ immensely but we'd lost our grip 5 mins before that. From my POV we were playing some lovely passing  football, spreading the ball around, Grimes and McGugan dominating and then Hasselbaink had a go at them for not getting the ball forward quick enough and it seemed to unravel after that.  To be fair I was not paying attention to how Sc***horpe were lining up, I'm not sure if they changed it.

[guest2995]

JFH got it right in his interview - we had decent spells in this game but were not at it throughout the second half .
Too many players went missing in the midfield and we couldn’t retain the ball. McGugan , Waters , Crooks and foley all faded to nothing .
The referee and Lino were poor but so were we in the second half.
We had two gilt chances and we didn’t take them in the first half and as soon as JJOT went off , we lost the cohesion .
The big difference between them and us was pace . They had it all over the pitch and we had very little .
MOM was Taylor by a country mile .

[Cobbler78]

Baffled by the berks in the West Stand having a go at the Lino, he got every offside spot one, both their breakaway goals were at least a yard onside. The foul for their 1st goal by Crooks was dubious, but if roles were reversed we would have called for a free kick.

[guest2487]

Losing JJOT changed the game imo. Also replacing him with Foley instead of McWilliams or Poole was a mistake. If we'd have scored when on top it might have been a different outcome.

Thought Sc***horpe were okay, not amazing or anything but we made it easy for them in the 2nd half. Certainly not a class above us or anything.

[Cobbler78]

Losing JJOT changed the game imo. Also replacing him with Foley instead of McWilliams or Poole was a mistake. If we'd have scored when on top it might have been a different outcome.

Agree, putting Foley up front was madness, Rico should have come on as Long can’t play up front on his own. The most worrying thing was after JJOT went off we won nothing from goalkicks with Long and Foley up front, but not once did JFH or the players think to play it out on the floor from the back.

[guest2995]

Baffled by the berks in the West Stand having a go at the Lino, he got every offside spot one, both their breakaway goals were at least a yard onside. The foul for their 1st goal by Crooks was dubious, but if roles were reversed we would have called for a free kick.

Wrong . The second goal was 3 yards off side . The Lino was not in line with play .

[Cobbler78]

Wrong . The second goal was 3 yards off side . The Lino was not in line with play .

I’ll await your apology when you see the replay.

[guest3063]

Just a point, some are suggesting Foley came on as a striker to replace JJOT. Neither were playing as strikers, they were in the hole between Long and the midfield to attempt to win headers and link the play. JFH did experiment with Crooks in the hole and Foley on the left at the start of the 2nd half but soon abandoned it. In hindsight Rico may have been a better choice at least he would of given McArdle something to think about, as it was he just headed and kicked everything as he always seems to do against us.

[guest2677]

It's worrying to me that we went two down and Jim sits on his hands and does nothing by way of substitutions whilst Scunny are the proactive ones making two changes before Bowditch comes on (who's cameo was good I thought). True there's not too many options on today's bench but we have a huge squad and it's the managers job to be creative and change things when required.
I agree that McWilliams should have replaced JJ, with Grimes or Mcgugan being pushed further forward. I also think there's an argument for playing the pair of them further forward from the start.
Scunny are a well drilled team who know their individual and team responsibilities but no more.
we made them look good today.

[Bertie]

Finished the first half well and just about had the better of it, despite a dodgy first 10 minutes. But just got blown away in the 2nd half. Didn't think JJOT was having a great game but we seemed to unravel after he went off. Foley very lightweight as a replacement and with him and Long both going awol at every opportunity the ball just came straight back every time it was pumped forward. Scunny used the wings very well and just bypassed our midfield big guns. Crooks wasted at wide left, and wonder if Grimes and McGugan can play together in that formation. We have good players, but not a team.

[defender]

What a load off crap

[Vintage Cobbler]

JJOT was imposing himself physically on the game and this provided the space for McCugan, Grimes & Crooks to move the ball around. The injury to JJOT was the turning point.  I'm afraid JFH got it badly wrong in putting on Foley in preference to Poole or McWilliams.  That doesn't explain it all though since midfield went missing in the 2nd half after looking good for much of the 1st half. Up front both Long & Waters struggled and Long missed a very good chance at 0-2 with 20 minutes to go.

So once again we struggled against a top 7 side in this league.  The next 2 matches will be telling.

[BackOfTheNet]

I don't think you'll ever see a more vivid illustration of what JJOT brings to the team than today's match. First half, I thought we were great. Yes, we should have put a couple away, but we created multiple chances and played some of the best football I've seen us play in ages.

And JJOT was the fulcrum of all of it.

He won the ball time and again and then played the simple pass to bring other people into play. When he didn't have the ball, he bullied and harassed and made room for others to do their thing; as a result Grimes, McGugan and Waters flourished under the protection he gave them. Once he went off, all fluidity went out of our play. The 3 previously mentioned players all but vanished out of the game and we resorted to hoofing the ball down the field. It's worrying how reliant we are on one player, and from the look of how he hobbled off, I fear for us in the next few matches...

[GrangeParkCobbler]

So many posts on here and on FB saying we put our strongest team out today....we lose one player and go totally to pot!

Is that the definition of a strong team??