Rocking The Robins

[Ron Obvious]

We looked worse today after Foley went off and one other thing of note, Taylor and Pierre ended up grappling with each other at a Cheltenham corner in the second half thinking it was a Cheltenham forward. Thankfully Cornell claimed the ball just in front of the free as a daisy striker.

[guest2995]

We have to stick with Austin .
We really cannot keep swapping managers as soon as we hit trouble .
He knows the players and knows the weaknesses . Let him try and resolve them .
The players are behind him and they have to take responsibility .
Defensive mistakes are costing us dearly and that’s where we have to concentrate.

[Ron Obvious]

We have to stick with Austin .
We really cannot keep swapping managers as soon as we hit trouble .
He knows the players and knows the weaknesses . Let him try and resolve them .
The players are behind him and they have to take responsibility .
Defensive mistakes are costing us dearly and that’s where we have to concentrate.

Austin needs to take charge and drop Taylor.

[everbrite]

Austin needs to take charge and drop Taylor.

You keep saying that without coming up with proposal. Terrible !  How long do you think that DA has? After today am really not sure about him. Subbing  Foley was not exactly a master stroke.

[The Rauldinho]

Left ten minutes early today, shortly after the third goal went in. We are so soft at the back at the moment we need to be scoring four to win a game, and it's not happening at that end either.

Cornell had no chance with any of the goals that I could see, his distribution was good as it has been all season (apart from the one he kicked off a player!). The rest of the back four were appalling today, especially Taylor who just doesn't seem to be able to pass a ball five yards. Pierre looked okay in the first half but was just as bad in the second. Facey gave away a poor penalty and Buchs looked unconvincing.

We dominated the midfield in the first half, without really creating many chances. Crooks tried too much, Foley got stuck in but was guilty of giving the ball away. McWilliams looked like a player coming back from injury unfortunately, but am sure he will be up to speed soon. Bridge showed some good touched but was a shadow of how he played last week. Poor Hoskins (who was getting stick from people behind me in the East, and no doubt will on here) was the only player that seemed to be able to make anything happen, even if the end product isn't always there. Won the penalty for us. Powell won a header today, best moment of the game. Typical he got injured as he looked good when he came on.

JJOT has lost his mojo without his ponytail, someone needs to find it and glue it back on.Van Veen skied the clear chance he had and seemed to be blaming everyone else. Took the ball away from Hoskins when it seemed he was in a better position. Worked hard though, and buried the penalty. Williams offered someone else to hoofball it up to, not sure why Waters didn't get the call when it was clear to me that pace (Hoskins, Powell) could hurt them.

Football still better than last year but am really starting to wonder now if that is enough to keep going. I will though, but pretty pissed off tonight and worried that we will be fighting for league status this year.

[Ron Obvious]

You keep saying that without coming up with proposal. Terrible !  How long do you think that DA has? After today am really not sure about him. Subbing  Foley was not exactly a master stroke.

Barnett? I thought that was Obvious.

Austin needs to win one of the next two.

[crazycobbler]

Poor performance today. Looked in control at times but rarely threatened their goal. Too often the ball is worked into good areas and the end product is wasteful. Combine that with lapses in concentration at the back and it’s a recipe for disaster. I think there was an arrogance amongst some fans and the manager himself during the summer. Hopefully those who thought we’d be fine without significant change now see the true picture. I’ve mentioned it before but a team that concedes 77 goals and gets battered every week, doesn’t just miraculously learn to win football matches. It’s going to be an uphill struggle I feel. If they’re so fragile now, how are they going to cope later on in the season when there’s potentially more at stake?

On a brighter note, Foley has been excellent the past two games and looks like he may become a key man in the middle of the park. Thought Buchanan was pretty solid today too. Their number 20 was the best player on the pitch, ran the show in the second half.

[Glastonbury Cobbler]

Same old s*** and will continue whilst we continue along the same path.

Continue to keep missing chances when on top, always look like conceding a goal or three at the back.

Continually playing players that are simply not good enough.

What do we expect?

[Vintage Cobbler]

If Thomas wasn't looking for the exit door DA would be going through that door about now.  We are a mess on and off the pitch and for that I don't blame Austin but our owners. Enough said.

[guest2090]

If Thomas wasn't looking for the exit door DA would be going through that door about now.  We are a mess on and off the pitch and for that I don't blame Austin but our owners. Enough said.

You simply cannot blame the owner for inept tactics, substitutions, lack of effort, poor set pieces, players playing out of position.  I could go on, the blame with that sits squarely at the managers door and the players he puts on the pitch.  Enough said.

[Vintage Cobbler]

Any organisation needs leadership and that begins at the top. Enough said (Part 2)

[guest3023]

Left ten minutes early today, shortly after the third goal went in. We are so soft at the back at the moment we need to be scoring four to win a game, and it's not happening at that end either.

Cornell had no chance with any of the goals that I could see, his distribution was good as it has been all season (apart from the one he kicked off a player!). The rest of the back four were appalling today, especially Taylor who just doesn't seem to be able to pass a ball five yards. Pierre looked okay in the first half but was just as bad in the second. Facey gave away a poor penalty and Buchs looked unconvincing.

We dominated the midfield in the first half, without really creating many chances. Crooks tried too much, Foley got stuck in but was guilty of giving the ball away. McWilliams looked like a player coming back from injury unfortunately, but am sure he will be up to speed soon. Bridge showed some good touched but was a shadow of how he played last week. Poor Hoskins (who was getting stick from people behind me in the East, and no doubt will on here) was the only player that seemed to be able to make anything happen, even if the end product isn't always there. Won the penalty for us. Powell won a header today, best moment of the game. Typical he got injured as he looked good when he came on.

JJOT has lost his mojo without his ponytail, someone needs to find it and glue it back on.Van Veen skied the clear chance he had and seemed to be blaming everyone else. Took the ball away from Hoskins when it seemed he was in a better position. Worked hard though, and buried the penalty. Williams offered someone else to hoofball it up to, not sure why Waters didn't get the call when it was clear to me that pace (Hoskins, Powell) could hurt them.

Football still better than last year but am really starting to wonder now if that is enough to keep going. I will though, but pretty pissed off tonight and worried that we will be fighting for league status this year.

No disagreement about us being soft at the back but to say we need to score four a game when this is the first match this season we have conceded three is a tad over the top.

No qualms with most of your thoughts though like you say about McWilliams I think JJOT also looks a bit like a player coming back from injury, which in a way he is.

Perhaps that's why he was subbed at half-time as as he was feeling these effects at half-time.

The McWilliams for Foley switch seemed to be like-for-like. Had Foley picked up a knock also?

Waters didn't get brought on as it was really either him or Williams as choice for final sub after Powell pulled up injured. Austin plumped for Williams.

The defence was shocking today though, no doubt, though I thought Facey had a decent enough game, bar conceding the penalty.

[1HorshamCobbler]

After a long journey up from Sussex this AM I came away thinking that was by far the worst performance of the season, left at around the 85 minute mark and usually try to catch BBC Northampton for the first part of the journey home, often losing signal before Austin get interviewed. On this occasion I switched across to listening via the Internet and was left shaking my head at the stance Austin has taken over tehat performance. Complaining about the referee for their goals, it was our defending thats not up to scratch. He stated it was teh best 35 minutes of our season so far, it wasn't it was boring possession with no threat. No shots on target in the first half aside from their playing almost chipping their keeper. When he was questionned on how he intends to improve if I hear 'this and that and whatever' ever again it will be too soon. He sounds like he has no clue. I was initially lulled with some of the attractive passing earlier in the season but now think no Leadership, no strength in depth, Hoskins continues to run around a lot with no end product, Taylor clearly not a leader and taking no reasponsibility for his part in our predicament, Van Veen looking more disinterested by the week. He takes Foley off, I don't think we woudl have conceded again if he had remained on. Austin states the players are giving their all, well based on my 7 hour round trip for home games recently I really don't see anywhere near the same level of commitment from them. Oh and he also seems to have lost interest in 'he is going to score buckets of goals fro us Williams'. I coudl go on. Sammo seemed to sum up an accurate view of the game in his summary, Austin's view is coloured and until he moves into some sort of reality check I don't see any improvement soon.

[guest3023]

Having seen their penalty again, it was actually a brilliant piece of play by their number 20, who basically engineered it. Not even sure you could say Facey made a 'challenge' so much as the attacker threw himself into Facey. Any contact was on the edge of the box so it was a wrong call anyway.

Both first and third goals were much worse defensively.

[The Rauldinho]

No disagreement about us being soft at the back but to say we need to score four a game when this is the first match this season we have conceded three is a tad over the top.

Yeah, maybe a tad harsh but I'm so angry today that we failed again to get the job done against one of the "weaker" sides in the division.

Never really leave early but had seen enough today.

[Manwork04]

That "performance" was as bad as anything under JFH.
Get rid of Austin now, it just postponing the inevitable, I posted he'd be gone by xmas, then bonfire night now I don't think he will make October.

[guest3023]

Yeah, maybe a tad harsh but I'm so angry today that we failed again to get the job done against one of the "weaker" sides in the division.

Never really leave early but had seen enough today.

Fair enough. Second half was a shambles today, no question.

[Macc Cobbler]

Not sure about looking good for 35 mins thought it was more like 35 secs from the kick off.

Even when we made it 1-1 thought we would push on .... How wrong could I be.

We made Morecambe look good, now Cheltenham ... I bet Notts County can't wait !

[clarkeysntfc]

I don't know why everyone is so surprised. This group have been specialists in failure for the best part of a year now, and I don't see why being a league lower would suddenly change that.

I don't think sacking Austin will change much. Almost any manager would struggle with this lot.

[BackOfTheNet]

I basically f***ed up today by arranging something on the basis it was a home game last week so was presumably an away game today. I was a bit gutted that I'd be missing the game as a result, but given the result and the comments I can't say I'm sorry I got it wrong!