Sutton v Rovers

[Cowshed Kid]

BT commentators kept going on about GB being a great 'man manager'
What?

 

[Ian]

I don't care what they think of him. What we do know is that this club is a laughing stock and something needs to change.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Apparently we are signing Louis almond. A good player but not what we need. We have good strikers we don't get anything out of and not a fit or capable midfielder in the club! We know brabin is clueless but is palios really daft enough to sanction this nonsense ? Seriously beginning to doubt the capabilities of our owner. Brabin should not be given another penny to waste.

 

[Mal]

I agree. Signing Almond is nuts.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Very good mal.

 

[Ian]

It's all panic stations and emergency signings now. What we really need is to remove the poison first.

The owners need to swallow their pride and make the right decision.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Same mistakes as last season - and the one before. Instead of removing the manager throw money at the problem with a shed load of signings that further destabilises the squad. They never learn.

 

[Colin K]

One of those he said she said things but a pal of mine has just heard Brabin has gone? Any truth?

 

[Mal]

I doubt it. He just asked to be judged at end of season. And technically, we are still in the mix, as Lincoln lost. Also, who is available? I honestly don't see him turning things round though. He has better forwards than last year but the midfield is still poor as far as chance creation is concerned. Bringing more forwards in is somewhat fatuous. We know that we have forwards who can score with the right service. Today's performance was so devoid of ideas and motivation it was dreadful. Still, the 3G is always greener...

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

You all saw the 'performance' in its ghastly detail so I won't bore you with a report. However, there were a few tactical issues which I think highlight Brabin's ineptitude:

1) Dropping Cook. Cook has actually been our best forward in recent matches, played pretty well at York and scored a good goal at Aldershot. His scoring ratio is good, despite being starved of decent service or a strike partner. Dropping him for the ineffectual Kirby smacks of dressing room politics rather than a considered tactical move, and the Almond signing seems to confirm this.

2) Playing Mekki in centre midfield when Harris went off. Mekki played this role in the previous two matches and was dreadful. The tactic did not work, yet Brabin repeated it for a third time. He was awful again. Sutton won all the physical battles in the middle of the pitch and Adam looked completely at a loss. The manager should learn from his mistakes, not repeat them ad infinitum.

3) Sticking with the 4-5-1 formation when Harris went off. Without Harris we only had two available midfielders. Any sane person would have switched to 4-4-2 at that point, with two of the three available wingers out wide. This would have given us a balanced side, with players in their correct positions, and a positive line-up - after all we were chasing an equaliser. Yet the manager in his wisdom tried to find a third midfielder he did not have and stuck the hapless Mekki in there.

4) Bringing on Jones. Today was not the right time to throw a young kid in at the deep end. We were playing dreadfully, the team was under pressure and the supporters were restive. Yet Brabin replaced Stephenson (who admittedly was crap, but no worse than anyone else) with Nathan who, predictably, struggled. Not only that, but Jones was played out of position, stuck out on the right hand side. What else would we expect from our esteemed leader ?

5) Not a point solely related to today's game, but why is Steven Jennings captain ? He contributes nothing in this role. The only leadership today was shown by McNulty, who at least dished out a few bollockings and seemed to care. Jennings only contribution was to 'lead by example' by continually dribbling ten yards, meeting an opposition player, panicking and losing the ball. He never opened his mouth once. Several of his recent performances have been lamentable yet he retains the captaincy and is never dropped: a sacred cow. Brabin is responsible for choosing the captain and should appoint someone deserving of the role.

6) The lack of spirit, effort and basic professionalism shown by the side, in the second half in particular. That was a team clearly not playing for the manager. Every fifty-fifty tackle shirked, sloppy passing, zero imagination, a complete lack of spirit. It is the manager's job to inspire the players and on today's evidence, he has lost the dressing room. The recent nonsense involving Norwood and Cook suggests this is the case, and the manager has a track record in this regard (Mangan, Margetts, Sutton).

In my view, the above amounts to a sackable offence in itself. Brabin has shown he is completely unfit for the job, and that is without even considering thee other tactical failings we have witnessed in the last thirteen months.

 

[drwhoman]

From all I have read this just does me. Brabin out. The problem is service to the strikers, not the strikers. Bite the bullet please Mark and Nicola. We will never leave the NL with this guy in charge and all your magnificent investment will be down the toilet. Nothing has changed. Just inept and not of the standard needed.

 

[Boz]

It all sounds grim, didn't see or hear any of the match. Couldn't understand the Kirby for Cook after the battling performance at York. Our chairs are out of the country apparently, but the fact resources have been made available to sign Almond, coupled with the manager suggests they won't do what's necessary.

 

[Ian]

Great points RLC and we can rewind 12 months and it's the same thing over and over again. No lessons have been learnt at all and the squad is yet again underperforming. Completely agree with point six. He has lost the dressing room and you could see that a few weeks ago.

One thing Brabin is consistent at is getting the boot so lets hope the board don't disappoint.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Our chairs are out of the country apparently, but the fact resources have been made available to sign Almond, coupled with the manager suggests they won't do what's necessary.

If they keep him they risk losing the fanbase. I spoke to a number of fans during and after the game today - the vitriolic to the mild-mannered - and none of them wanted Brabin. The chants of 'Brabin out' and general hostility to the manager were not restricted to the usual suspects.

On the football side I am beginning to lose patience with Palios. On the pitch, his tenure has been a car crash. Sorry if that appears ungrateful, but I believe it is true.

 

[Boz]

If they keep him they risk losing the fanbase. I spoke to a number of fans during and after the game today - the vitriolic to the mild-mannered - and none of them wanted Brabin. The chants of 'Brabin out' and general hostility to the manager were not restricted to the usual suspects.

On the football side I am beginning to lose patience with Palios. On the pitch, his tenure has been a car crash. Sorry if that appears ungrateful, but I believe it is true.

Understood. I made my doubts clear regarding Brabin when he was appointed, although felt relatively positive after the York game and the way the side were set up there and don't understand how it all went quite so wrong today. I also agree that however much things on the commercial side have improved, without a decent football side it is pointless.

 

[drwhoman]

Agree. All the activities off the field are those of a club in a higher league than the NL. We HAVE to get out before we get dragged down permanently as seems to be the case with the other local NL teams.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

On the live commentary Adam Virgo repeatedly said: 'Norwood is too far out wide, he needs to get closer to Andy Cook and link up with him. I want to see him in the box on the centre back's shoulder.' Amazing what is obvious to an ex-player after watching us for ninety minutes but passes the manager (and chairman) by.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

felt relatively positive after the York game and the way the side were set up there and don't understand how it all went quite so wrong today.

In the period towards the end of Les Parry's reign as manager, or even under Adams to a degree, you would get occasional upturns in performance as happened at York, usually at away matches when the players were feeling less pressure. I remember a game at Carlisle under Les when we drew 0-0 and played ok: I eulogised about the performance on here and said we had turned a corner, but nobody believed me. The following Saturday we were dire and lost again. I believe we are in a similar pattern now under Brabin. However you dress it up, we are not scoring goals and not picking up points, regardless of improved performances for periods of games, as at Aldershot and York.

 

[Ian]

I think MP has worked wonders off the pitch but he really needs to concentrate on what's happening on it too. There's something fundamentally wrong when you are struggling against the likes of Sutton Utd. Half these teams are part timers, some not getting paid and at times our away support outnumbers the home.

It's so ridiculous to the extreme it's almost comical. We weren't even competitive. It was just lifeless and completely unacceptable. Backed by the vast majority that want Brabin out its beyond me how this farce can continue.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Obviously I didn't see any of the game but again it's clear we failed to perform. Injuries clearly didn't help but to be successful a team has to win matches against the odds. We managed that last season a few times, but not so far this term. I don't think we failed to score for three consecutive games either.

For me, Woking next Saturday is the last chance to put things right. After a bad start, our opponents have taken 7 points out of 9, but surely we'll need to beat this mediocre side if the home fans are to be placated. After that, we have Dag & Red, Gateshead and Wrexham in eight days. Not a prospect I would relish at the moment.

If Brabin does go, I wonder who we would get to replace him. Who is available? Who is affordable? Who would want it? It must be worrying that the Palioses have failed with three managers now, despite giving all of them excellent support.