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League Two Cambridge (4) V Rovers (2)

Ian said:
The worry for me is Crosby just doesn’t have an answer. You can see in the interviews, he doesn’t know what to say and week by week nothing changes.
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On the one hand I think Crosby is out of his depth. He was a number two for many years, perhaps for a reason.

Then again and playing devils advocate, we’re in an overall better position points wise than this time last season so can we expect much more?
 
There were actually some positive performances today, particularly from the younger players. Jones was lively and scored a good goal before, somewhat mystifyingly, being substituted after fifty minutes. Blacker was very good, Whitaker was outstanding when he came on. However, it counts for nothing because we are such a shambles when we are out of possession.

I have not seen Crosby's interview yet, but he has apparently singled out individual defenders again. Aside from McGowan, that is a cop out. I don't believe the defenders are so poor individually that the defensive displays we have seen in the last two months are inevitable. It is the lack of organisation that is the issue, not just in the back five but throughout the team. Switching to a back four might help, but unless the players are drilled on a daily basis in where they should be and what they should be doing out of possession, we will continue to concede.

We look completely uncoached when we lose the ball, which perhaps is not surprising given that we don't have a coaching staff.

Crosby's substitutions don't help, and were baffling again today. At 2-2 we should have at least been trying to hold on to what we had, instead of which he messed around with the midfield, bringing on Kennah and Patrick, which immediately made us more vulnerable. We could not accommodate both Whitaker and Patrick at that stage of the game. His changes invariably weaken us and he repeatedly fails to respond adequately to tactical changes made by the opposition manager.

Crosby is being massively let down by the darling owner, but irrespective of that I don't think he is up to it. However, I don't see how he can be replaced effectively this side of a takeover.
 
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I am concerned that even the matches we have won in the last few months have been far from convincing.

The only game where we were defensively solid was Harrogate, who are abject and will finish bottom. We were incredibly fortunate against a Fleetwood side who could have been three up in fifteen minutes. It took a man of the match performance from Murphy to (somehow) get three points at Grimsby.

I think performances have been poor for the majority of the season, and results are now simply reflecting those performances. I think Shrewsbury is the only match where we have performed consistently for ninety minutes.
 
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Rockford's Love Child said:
580 Tranmere fans there today, and there will be another 3-400 at Barnet on Tuesday night.

The clowns running the club don't deserve such support.
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we simply want and need better . we have a fabulous support base home and away this magnificent support just keep giving, to the way the club is run is crap the palios and Crosby please just leave and we move on we are a joke at the moment and we are in freefall and if the bottom clubs start picking up we will be fkd
 
Extended highlights. They simply waltzed through us so so easily. Starting to get really nervous here as as others have said Crosby has no idea what to do. Naive team selections. Naive subs though of course he is let down by absolutely useless defending. McGowan so slow - turns like a super tanker. Tamen completely out of position for their fourth. It's not good enough plain and simple. Harrogate are down that is clear but it is very fortunate there are so many teams down the bottom who are as useless as us that we are probably safe but gifting goals as we are it is very concerning and we can't rule out being dragged into a relegation battle if teams below us bring in 2 or 3 decent players each.
 
MancunianWhite said:
The aim is to stay in the division which right now looks likely, who realistically could we attract to come in and replace Crosby (with the ownership) just need this season to finish, new owners come in clean slate fresh investment
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In the event Crosby was to leave, Parky would replace him. We don't even have the bare minimum of coaching staff, it's embarrassing.

If the takeover does not go through before next season then I can see only one outcome and that is relegation
 
bigmart said:
In the event Crosby was to leave, Parky would replace him. We don't even have the bare minimum of coaching staff, it's embarrassing.

If the takeover does not go through before next season then I can see only one outcome and that is relegation
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Yes, under the current ownership our luck will run out eventually.
 
Don't rely on highlights and certainly not the comments on audio, the analyst is prize grade plum.
We competed and led twice against a better side who as a novelty played football. Some curious manning decisions and the continual use of having three ahead of the over run midfield didn't help. Individual errors led to five goals the last was out of context, but nearly all are at this level.
At least Davison never appeared but kenneh did and every time he shows the ball he gets robbed, I worry if you play McG on the left what else don't you see.
No need for hysterics some decent performances in there, if we keep our nerve we'll grind it out. Issues at home seem likely to have a disturbing cause as we don't set up differently and don't attack more!
 
Rockford's Love Child said:
Yes, under the current ownership our luck will run out eventually.
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already run out mate we are only 12 points from the bottom 2 its only a couple of results as we all know we look in free fall, and with the twit in charge and MP just sitting by watching the place crumble. its quite a shocking situation
 
Where do I start after a game like that, sadly at the problem the defending for seventy or seventy five minutes we were well in the game and looked like we could come away with either three points or at least one, then like so many times this season once Cambridge went in front it was game over and we never looked like getting back in the game. Four goals conceded in the second forty five minutes, ten goals I think it is in the last three games and its not worth celebrating that we are the only team that has scored in every away game when we are letting in more than we are scoring. We all see and know where the problems are in the team, will they be rectified, I very much doubt it, so we just have to hope that we can accumulate enough points to see us through till the end of the season without being dragged into the relegation fight. On the good side it was good to see Patrick back playing, Whitaker looking more like himself and Jones, getting his first league game as disappointing as the game finished their were a couple of pluses we could take out of the game so it was not all doom and gloom.As Stickman said it is only a game and that was brought home to me by a video one of my friends from Druzkivka in Ukraine sent me on Friday evening of the town destroyed and burning after being hit with bombs and drones. Football is only a game.
 
Am on mobile said:
already run out mate we are only 12 points from the bottom 2 its only a couple of results as we all know we look in free fall, and with the twit in charge and MP just sitting by watching the place crumble. its quite a shocking situation
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What exactly do you want the owner to do, he's pumping money in and we are famously for sale? If someone wants a add a grand a week to his 40k, I'm sure another loan player could be signed. 12 points is huge when you consider the bottom six aren't managing a point a game. It's not freefall when you are weeks away from dropping two places!
 
Alun said:
Where do I start after a game like that, sadly at the problem the defending for seventy or seventy five minutes we were well in the game and looked like we could come away with either three points or at least one, then like so many times this season once Cambridge went in front it was game over and we never looked like getting back in the game. Four goals conceded in the second forty five minutes, ten goals I think it is in the last three games and its not worth celebrating that we are the only team that has scored in every away game when we are letting in more than we are scoring. We all see and know where the problems are in the team, will they be rectified, I very much doubt it, so we just have to hope that we can accumulate enough points to see us through till the end of the season without being dragged into the relegation fight. On the good side it was good to see Patrick back playing, Whitaker looking more like himself and Jones, getting his first league game as disappointing as the game finished their were a couple of pluses we could take out of the game so it was not all doom and gloom.As Stickman said it is only a game and that was brought home to me by a video one of my friends from Druzkivka in Ukraine sent me on Friday evening of the town destroyed and burning after being hit with bombs and drones. Football is only a game.
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Jones getting his first league goal it should have been
 
As RLC says, you do have to look at the coaching. The squad is half decent despite signing the odd nugget in the previous regime, and as I understand the wage bill is mid table, where the he lowest wage bill ie Bromley are right up there. Yes they play a certain way, but the players know exactly what they are supposed to be doing. And that's down to constant drills with and without the ball.
You do wonder a few of our current players would fare in another team. Would someone else improve them? - Probably.
 
Alun said:
Where do I start after a game like that, sadly at the problem the defending for seventy or seventy five minutes we were well in the game and looked like we could come away with either three points or at least one, then like so many times this season once Cambridge went in front it was game over and we never looked like getting back in the game. Four goals conceded in the second forty five minutes, ten goals I think it is in the last three games and its not worth celebrating that we are the only team that has scored in every away game when we are letting in more than we are scoring. We all see and know where the problems are in the team, will they be rectified, I very much doubt it, so we just have to hope that we can accumulate enough points to see us through till the end of the season without being dragged into the relegation fight. On the good side it was good to see Patrick back playing, Whitaker looking more like himself and Jones, getting his first league game as disappointing as the game finished their were a couple of pluses we could take out of the game so it was not all doom and gloom.As Stickman said it is only a game and that was brought home to me by a video one of my friends from Druzkivka in Ukraine sent me on Friday evening of the town destroyed and burning after being hit with bombs and drones. Football is only a game.
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I think you touch on an inevitable cause of leaking goals later on. We have injuries and players who you'd rather not have, therefore the bench is impotent. Finley is playing more minutes that I would guess anyone else in his role does, his shocking clearance may have come from fatigue but in case as he had no one to play it to it was coming back anyway.
I try to keep a balanced view at all times and don't buy the built in biases many have plus or against. The new loanees are young but that doesn't alter facts. Jones scored well and harried opponents down but that is a mere given if you can't manage that you are failing. Jones made some poor decisions and completed one telling pass into the path of Ironside sadly who isn't a channel player. I'd try Jones off the bench, Whits is ours and has progressed forget the nonsense 'he scored because he had a kick up the a$rs'- he was the only one last week who looked like creating a chance, his dropping to me was inexplicable.
Tamen was made to look awful by playing in a new side as the spare central defender, he literally watched crosses that were his to deal with. However playing the LOC/Norman role of late he looks a unit who might prosper, much will depend on keeping his erro count very low which is what that area needs and we are currently failing. Norman will go to RWB as JJ will be out now, round peg round hole we hope? How we played 20 minutes yesterday before Tamen and Smith switched will baffle me to the end of my days. They looked like the Chuckle bros last week, what revelations came in training?
 
Crosby's post-match was pretty depressing, didn't explain why he started with Tamen as the 'spare' defender in a back three then switched it, as DB alludes to above, or why he left Bristow out~ too many players doesn't cut it as an explanation. Things didn't improve in the Walsall game when he took Bristow/Joseph off last week and Norman's main contribution was clattering his own players. A starting xi with Brough replacing McGowan would have made more sense. It sounds like Joseph may be missing for a bit, needing a decision there, though hopefully it's permeated through to the manager that McGowan doesn't function as a left-sided defender.

How did Murphy play on his return? On the last goal, Joe had a decision to make, might he have done better coming off his line rather than waiting for the shot?
 
Boz said:
Crosby's post-match was pretty depressing, didn't explain why he started with Tamen as the 'spare' defender in a back three then switched it, as DB alludes to above, or why he left Bristow out~ too many players doesn't cut it as an explanation. Things didn't improve in the Walsall game when he took Bristow/Joseph off last week and Norman's main contribution was clattering his own players. A starting xi with Brough replacing McGowan would have made more sense. It sounds like Joseph may be missing for a bit, needing a decision there, though hopefully it's permeated through to the manager that McGowan doesn't function as a left-sided defender.

How did Murphy play on his return? On the last goal, Joe had a decision to make, might he have done better coming off his line rather than waiting for the shot?
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People hunt for verification of their prejudice over Joe's age. He did better than his opposite number, he and Luke have done this consistently. My problem is if he got properly injured we would lose one of our strong suits.
Not as glaring as other obvious issues hard to imagine tamen would be so lost on the left. McG is proven but really plummets in standard on his wrong side, quite exceptionally, wonder what the answer is lol
 
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