How have we gone from championship winners to what I saw today? An absolute shambles. Outplayed by a conference north team, to whom the result must feel like a defeat. We'll likely go on and win the replay but surely, surely we should be beating a team three or however many leagues below us. Had it not been for a great save from Nelson in the first half and the crossbar, it would have been a whole lot worse.
That's what happens when plastics focus on silverware. I said it time and time again last season when MadDog was dismantling our youth. Lucky for us young Bradley Dack remained and that's thanks to Peter Taylor's substitution. MA created a white elephant all for the sake of self promotion and glory hunters. At least 3,004 bothered to turn up today at £15 a throw. I guess if we make it to the third round and the possibility of a Premiership side their all crawl out the woodwork again. I await the excuses. MOM Bradley Dack for making my day.
brb Taylor only started Dack as sub don't think he likes the youth players either. Scally cannot keep Taylor, there has been no improvement at all since Allen sacked. He had the last 2 matches to impress and has not, needing a pen to beat Carlisle who were awful against us and now a 97th equaliser at home to non league Brackley.
Its irrelevent who the manager is, the squad is not good enough and as brb says was slowly ripped apart by Allen last season and now both Allen and Taylor have failed to get them going this season and whoever the permanent manager is wont either without quite a large overhaul of the squad giving a stronger depth to it!
Truly shocking. BRB your right about last season, all along I kept my counsel as I knew it would end in tears at some point. How're PT has to take a lot of the blame today, poor starting line-up choice and worst substitutions. This was an ideal opportunity to give the fringe players a chance to impress, they would have hunted the ball from the first minute and put us on top, why was Dack in the press conference, on the cover of the programme and mentioned by PT in the pre match write up all to sit on the bench?! This game was clearly perfect for him and he deserved it after last weeks performance, add to that the fact that it was a matter of time before Lee got booked. On the subs, yes ok Davies was poor today, however to replace a centre half with a striker at 0-0 is ridiculous, you just don't change the defence unless you have to, utterly ridiculous. Other than that each and every player was just simply rubbish, no heart, fight or quality and Brackley were surprisingly good, not only in their endeavour and work rate, but they also showed signs of quality. I'll be at Sheffield next week but I'm concerned, if we play like we have in the first half as we did today and Carlisle then regardless of heir current league position, we'll be dead by half time.
Yes, all agreed, Jaygills has the right interpretation and Alex Ferguson could not have achieved any more than PT. The team were already playing at the limit of their ability under MA. It has at least been a bit more attractive to watch under PT but it needs half a dozen new players to change results.
I tend to disagree, not with the overall lack of quality in the squad but the with the PT got the best out of them. yesterday's performance was tepid and passionless, without the zest and fight we had under Allen. Taylor's team my be prettier but I don't think they are any more effective in a relegation dog fight.
I agree with BSG to be honest. There has been some improvement on individual performances under PT such as Whelps and Kedwell. However the the team ethic and workman like performances that we often saw under MA seem to be long gone. I did not go yesterday so can't comment on our FA cup performance , however, unless things change rapidly I scan see us getting stuffed at Sheffield next week. I don't know now as to whether PT is the right man for the job but the rot seems to be setting in so decisions need to be made and soon.
I thought Whelpdale didn't look interested yesterday. I think its clear that he much prefers playing on the right and is getting fed up being played on the wrong side. When your best midfielder is not even bothered then you are always going to struggle.
I had to feel for the Brackley supporters yesterday, they were in fine voice throughout the game, far more so then their outnumbering hosts. 2,800 v 200 and if it was about vocal passion I know where i would have preferred to have been standing. I even noticed that one of their fans got slightly over exuberant, however, it appeared for once the stewards used common sense and let him return to the stand again. That same passion was shown on the pitch but not by the boys in blue but the team in red & white. Brackley and their supporters should be proud of themselves today, great team, passionate supporters, true lower league traditions. Whilst us, well we are still champions of league two...huh don't make me laugh, that silver pot ain't a pot worth peeing in now, leaving a white elephant that PT now has to sort out, or who ever takes over the reigns. I said to my son at half-time that Brackley will not beat us, despite all the effort and all the leg work, fitness was always going to tell near the end. Sadly for Brackley there must have been 7/8 minutes of extra time agony to follow. Young Bradley Dack being let loose from his reigns to rip the heart right out of every Saints supporter. The young lad deserved it but the team as a whole did not. We will win the replay i have no doubt, that's how these things play out, failure to do so, would mean dismantling the squad in the January window and replacing a so called league one team, with players three leagues lower would be a cheaper and more effective option. Yeah ok, i joke but then what a joke we are. But guess what i enjoyed the game, normally i would have wished i had stayed in the pub. Having met another 606 member yesterday...it would have been so tempting for a few more beverages. I enjoyed the game because Brackley supplied the entertainment and finally proved how poor we are. Over reaction you say...did you go to Wolves, Northampton (Coventry), Shrewsbury...performances so bad i can no longer remember. We have lost our fight, we have lost our midfield, we have lost our metal and most importantly we have lost our desire. Unless this squad can stand up and fight against Sheffield United, with true guts, true blood, passion for the badge, for every second of every minute of the 90 and beyond, then those players need go find that exit right now. Some players are more interested in self promotion then ever promoting our team, quite simply we can't afford this, our budget is strained with the remnants of MadDog's days. We now need to build again and this will take two to three seasons to get back to where we were before MA's dissection. Outspoken maybe but i'll still be there.
brb - best post ive read in ages. Like you say i'm afraid some of these players are more interested in their social media and how they come across on there rather than on the pitch. MA (as cheltenham fans warned us) ripped the soul out of this club and we have to somehow build this up again. We as fans have a lot to do with the rebuilding process but i feel we need to be shown something to get excited about before we can get behind the players and the manager (whoever that may be)
Agree with all of that BRB, and it's not a kneejerk reaction, it's a view from not just this season but large parts of last as well when we were slightly above terrible in what was a very poor league 2. Even our wins (Crewe exempt) have been poor, as is said to someone in the dieing minutes of the game on saturday, the only reason we won last week (Carlisle) is because they were worst than Brackley! I fear for this Saturday, but i'll still be there and enjoying it as much as one can. I just hope now that everyone understands the implications MA has had on our CLUB as opposed to just the team, it's going to take some time getting over it and if we stay up it will be a small miracle which will push us in the right direction. If we go down, it would be disastrous when you take into account the players that are out of contract at the end of this season.
What a shock. We sack MA allegedly due to behind closed doors problems with players and now none of them seem to have any fight. I have said it before and I will keep saying it. MOST PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE THEIR BOSS. This idea Allen was mean to them doesn't rub with me, Ferguson was a complete arse to his players when he wanted more out of them, so are almost all world class managers, would you want to put in a poor half and go into the dressing room with any football manager? No. MA might have been old school and harsh on them but now they have an easier ride and can't be bothered. Scally has messed this all up, and the players who went crying to him when Allen called them out on being lazy and **** should walk away as well.
MA's issues extended to non playing staff too so ive heard. Scally had the decision made for him im afraid
Throwoff your comment is wildly inaccurate If all succesful managers are hated by their players how do you explain grown men literally crying whenever Mourinho leaves a club behind?! (Except Real of course) because that is exactly what the players of Inter, Chelsea and Porto did, and i'd say he's been pretty succesful! Every player who has played under Ferguson has praised him, as have those who played under Wenger in terms of not only tactical ability but how they are as people, maybe they had to shout at 1 or 2 or if they have played badly that's to be expected, but i assure you Managers who rule on fear will last a maximum of 2 years at any club before they have enough of it, just look at MA's career and Roy Keanes (managerial) career as examples.
I’ve read some of the negative (almost paranoid) comments after the Brackley game and decided to give my slant on things. We started last season by storm winning games and scoring goals largely because the Hess team was still intact, this was all part of the 5 year plan to build for the future (unfortunately the fans got impatient and MA arrived). Things started to go wrong around the November time when MA had dismantled the Hess team and started to dismantle our future (get rid of our youth) in favour of nepotism, luck and the poor quality of league 2 last season allowed us to stumble over the line. Anyone who regularly attended matches toward the second half of last season knows how poor our performances were and how little we looked like champions, we started this season little changed and thought hoof ball would get us through, football and tactics had no part in our game and kick and rush was the order of the day. Our current players will never compete for top spot in this league but can improve enough to achieve survival; the odd loan player would of course help this cause. Against Carlisle last week the first half was dull, but was it poor, we had no real pressure on their goal yet equally they were unable to put pressure on ours, something that we had struggled with in previous games under MA. Against Brackley we were always going to be up against it, a non-league team playing their biggest game in over 100 years versus a team who are low on confidence, scared of mistakes, and expecting the groans and boo’s with every bad pass, and just to add to the pressure with a new manager who is trying a new style. I think we have witnessed improvement in the squad as players are trying to adapt to keeping the ball down and playing on the ground, and we will continue to improve with time and “support”, the changes Taylor is trying to introduce will take time and patience, there will be good and bad performances, two steps forward, one step back but we will survive in league 1. A lot of people were happy to give MA until Christmas even allowing for the poor form, lack of tactics, lack of ideas; I think Taylor deserves the same time to get his ideas across and the players to adapt their style.
The same Ferguson who cut Beckhams head open? Or who literally had the term hairdryer treatment coined after him?! Come off it, he ruled that club through fear, the reason they were so upset was that he was so successful.
