|
Post by socrates on Feb 25, 2023 14:29:06 GMT
Some really tough games coming up and we’re not safe yet so this win was absolutely massive for the table but also the confidence. I didn’t fancy our chances v Barnsley before this but reckon we can get a result now. UTG
|
|
|
Post by socrates on Feb 25, 2023 14:24:46 GMT
Well done Gas fantastic result and a clean sheet ! Belshaw !! Belshaw !!!!
|
|
|
Post by socrates on Feb 25, 2023 13:30:31 GMT
Can’t decide if we’re playing really well of if Oxford are just that bad. Either way keep it up Gas! I think we’re playing quite well and Oxford are dreadful The worst thing about Oxford in that half was their effort they really look like they can’t be bothered and possibly want the manager gone. This really is a must win against probably the worst side we’ll play the rest of this season. Some really tough games coming up. UTG
|
|
|
Post by socrates on Feb 25, 2023 13:24:38 GMT
A decent performance and a great half time score. Oxford have been probably the worst side I’ve seen in league 1 this season their work rate and determination is practically non existent and we have hardly got out of 2nd gear to go in 2-0 up. We’ve played quite well but not great and this isn’t won yet if Oxford come out determined second half we could come unstuck , we’ve definitely got another gear and we will need to find it if Oxford improve after the break. Also Great to see Belly back between the sticks , feels like it’s given everyone a lift. UTG
|
|
|
Post by socrates on Feb 21, 2023 11:52:00 GMT
First thing’s first, the chanting of Belshaw’s name whilst Balcombe’s playing is embarrassing and helping no one. However, the whole GK situation and the ill feeling/division it’s created amongst the fanbase is a mess entirely of JB’s making. It’s been handled so poorly by the manager that it’s no surprise to me that we are where we are with it all. The main thing I don’t understand with it is - we went into the Jan window with a young defence that (IMO) desperately needed an experienced CB added to it. Instead we brought in a CB with zero professional appearances and a youngster between the sticks to replace our fan-favourite, player-of-the-season GK with hundreds of appearances to his name. Somebody make it make sense! You’re exactly right , not what we needed at all. Taylor wasn’t experienced but bring in young inexperienced defensive players from the Top divisions will rarely pay off. Wouldn’t have been so bad if we’d had a Steve Elliot type already at the club. But we don’t.
|
|
|
Post by socrates on Feb 20, 2023 7:30:20 GMT
Who was in goal for the 5 games that took us up to 4? points off of playoffs? Who's been in goal for the last 5 games that's seen us take 1 point from 15 and conceded 10 goals? It’s actually one point from a possible 18 now. We really have been crap lately.
|
|
|
Post by socrates on Feb 19, 2023 14:54:44 GMT
Barton would probably take him out before he had chance to strike the killer blow. And then complain that hitmen should be more professional and more consistent. An inconsistent hit man? Yeah. “More work should be done to make hitmen for lower league managers more professional, if Hitmen for premier league managers are professional then the FA need to make them professional further down the pyramid too. Turning up in bright clothes carrying a bell around their necks and armed with a blunt spoon isn’t good enough”
|
|
|
Post by socrates on Feb 19, 2023 13:39:05 GMT
I only want us to lose to get rid of Barton. If there was a quicker way. I'd want that. Maybe we could Crowd Fund a hitman? Barton would probably take him out before he had chance to strike the killer blow. And then complain that hitmen should be more professional and more consistent.
|
|
|
Post by socrates on Feb 19, 2023 13:07:36 GMT
But correlation is not the same as causation. Yeah I’m not saying it’s all down to the change of keeper. But we’ve gone from dodgey as hell at the back with Belly keeping us in games and scoring a lot of goals too which helped us stay top half to worse in every aspect of our play apart from the Ipswich game where we were solid. We can get the points needed to stay up but need to up our game and play more solid like we did Tuesday.
|
|
|
Post by socrates on Feb 19, 2023 2:09:08 GMT
Too early to say if Mc Donald is a good or bad signing. So far none of our new signings look better than what we had and obviously the keeper change has really upset the Apple cart but as another poster said whether it has or hadn’t been a good window we’ll know at the end of the season. I thought Clarke was a very good attacking player and don’t think he looked a left back at all , more of a winger , he’d get the ball run with it at pace and go past people , can’t understand why he wasn’t tried as one or as an inside forward on the right side. But he’s gone now.
|
|
|
Post by socrates on Feb 19, 2023 1:43:26 GMT
Pretty sure Balcombe knew he'd be taking Belshaw's place when he agreed to join Rovers, just why JB decided to replace Belshaw with Balcombe is a bit of a mystery, as he doesn't really look any better, no idea why he choose to punch balls into the box when it looked far to catch them and his kicking looks no better than Jaakola's Our results are just as bad with Balcombe as they were with Belshaw in the side. Worse. Much worse.
|
|
|
Post by socrates on Feb 19, 2023 1:19:26 GMT
Didn’t @claremontgas say we’ve been told that we can sign him at the end of the season ? Why are they so bothered about whether we play him in the first 3 games though to put the clause in?If he stayed there he’d be sat on the bench , there’s no point in sending him on loan somewhere to sit on the bench . Makes perfect sense from their point of view.
|
|
|
Post by socrates on Feb 19, 2023 1:18:01 GMT
reading the post today. Interesting to see there were small plans to move belshaw on in the January window. Think he will be on his way in the summer now and would not be surprised if its to Notts County if they get promoted. Doesn't that leave us with a keeper on loan and nothing else? And Jed
|
|
|
Post by socrates on Feb 19, 2023 1:16:19 GMT
Balcombe was voted into the team of the week Played well in the Ipswich game but over the 5 ? Games so far doesn’t look as good as Belshaw, isn’t our keeper , our defence looks worse and our form is horrendous. I hope he goes on to be brilliant for us and then we sign him and he becomes the next Nigel Martyn but so far it’s been a disaster .
|
|
|
Post by socrates on Feb 19, 2023 1:13:02 GMT
Thought we were all about asking questions and demanding answers these days? The question was asked, an answer was given, and now we're complaining about it? Am I the only one who doesn’t really care what Barton says about the reasons for dropping Belshaw ? As supporters who watch all of the games I’m pretty confident that most of us could see that he wasn’t the problem , the form of our defenders , the injury of Rossiter, coutts lack of form / legs gone , Finley lack of form , not retaining Taylor / replacing him - I could go on were the bigger problems and made more of an impact than anything else. If Belshaw is watered off then I don’t blame him. If he didn’t train as well the day after being dropped and slated and blamed by the manager then well he’s human isn’t he ? We all have bad days at work and speaking as a goalkeeper myself it doesn’t get any worse than that. If I was him I’d knuckle down train hard which I’d imagine he is and get a transfer request in ASAP because he’s a good standard keeper for this level. We’ve gone from mid table with a chance of the play offs to free fall and the new keeper must be wishing he never joined because he must get the feeling around the place and with the fans turning on him too the terraces are now toxic.
|
|
|
Post by socrates on Feb 19, 2023 1:03:15 GMT
All part of JB's plan to force Belshaw out of the club by turning the fan base against him, so he can then bring in another (cheaper?) goalie in the summer. JB's not a total idiot and will have thought about what he was going to say ahead of his pre-match presser. "JB's not a total idiot and will have thought about what he was going to say ahead of his pre-match presser" 😂😂😂😂😂😂 Yeah I’m not sure that’s true , Barton says what he’s thinking as he thinks it.
|
|
|
Post by socrates on Feb 19, 2023 1:02:03 GMT
If he doesn’t want to be here, off he can pop, people criticised O Toole, how’s his behaviour any different? We don’t know do we ? We’ve got Barton’s version of events. One thing I do know is that Belly was our best player last season and this season he made a few mistakes but wasn’t anywhere near as bad as any of our defenders, kept us in games we had no business winning or drawing and we were still picking up 1.5 points a game and on the edge of the play offs with 18 points from our last 12 games when he was dropped.. Without him we have 1 point from 5 games. You sink or swim by these decisions and I hope Barton’s got this one right for everyone’s sake ( apart from Belly’s obviously) because as it looks we are in free fall and our defence is more calamitous than it was with Belshaw in goal and we haven’t got Belshaw making 5-6 good saves every game to keep us in games anymore. We also now probably need to find two new keepers in the next window rather than just one reserve. Belshaw has been hung out to dry to cover the coaching and scouting inability to get the team defensively solid for football matches is the way I see it from the outside, and like I’ve said on the inside we don’t know do we.
|
|
|
Post by socrates on Feb 19, 2023 0:45:50 GMT
I stood to the right of the thatchers in the second half and everytime our keeper had the ball or made a save / dived for a save around a hundred fans maybe more around me were singing Belshaw Belshaw.. Pathetic and I called them out for it told them it was pathetic support and to get behind the team on the pitch , I’m not an aggressive bloke but I stand up for what I believe in and I believe in loyal support but it really made me ready for a confrontation and not one of them stood up to me and made their point they all looked at me and turned away. It watered me off more than the result to be honest and is the sort of thing I’d expect from the sh** not our own. Don’t get me wrong as I’ve said all along Belshaw wasn’t the problem with our goals v record and was bloody fantastic last season and our best defensive player this season keeping goal behind a shambolic defence and defensive midfield and it was / is a mistake to make the change Barton has made but you support your players or you keep schtum you don’t do that if your a proper supporter. Fair play mate I did the exact same thing with my mate , where abouts in the thatchers end were you as I along with others were telling the twats that were singing Belshaws name to shut the Cheese up, I was up near the back to the right of the goal , I may of been stood close to you ! Just off the steps as you walk in from the concourse. Not a good vibe and it certainly doesn’t help when the team is lacking in confidence. Times have changed since the Twerton days I’m not so sure our support is any more loyal than the six fingered knuckle dragging sh** heads anymore.
|
|
|
Post by socrates on Feb 18, 2023 22:18:14 GMT
Chin up mate we’re on a bad run but have been more league 2 than league 1 over the last 20 odd years and although it’s dreadful at the moment we are league 1 and 9 points above the drop so it generally has been a lot worse . It’s hard to see where the 4 or 5 wins we need are coming from but if we can get them ( I think we will just ) then we’ll start again in league 1 next season with a clean slate . This season was always going to be difficult I said when the final whistle had blown at the end of last season that “ this team would make top half next season maybe top 6 but it won’t be the same team because we won’t have Taylor, Thomas Anderson or Connelly” Well we got connelly but he’s lost without Taylor and our squad is much weaker than it was and add to that the Barton / Belshaw fiasco we’ve got problems yeah. But overal this seasons points tally so far has been what most expected so it’s not like we’ve been in the relegation zone all season. All is not lost but Barton needs to turn around the terrible form or he’ll either get sacked or we’ll go down or both. Hopefully he’ll sort it. Dunno why he didn’t go with what he did Tuesday , it was back to 433 today and very poor. We may have the expected points tally but I'd sooner be in Burton's position, picking up points and moving up the table rather than losing and dropping like a stone. Since Thomas departed we've lost 4 and drawn just the 1 game. God knows why JB thought the problems were all down to Belshaw. Yeah I dunno , I don’t think many who have watched every game as Barton and the rest of us have thought it was down to belly. Last season we all thought Taylor and Connelly were great but Belshaw wins player of the season , that’s some accolade for a keeper playing behind a good couple of central defenders who everyone agreed were a good partnership. Then we lose our best one - back to stoke - connellys form drops - Belshaw still making match saving saves - Barton hangs him out to dry in the media, drops him and brings in a keeper on loan who is trying his best but hasn’t been as good. The form goes from 18 points from last 12 games to one point from five games. Barton’s cocked up there’s no other way to put it.
|
|
|
Post by socrates on Feb 18, 2023 21:26:00 GMT
We didn't deserve to lose or win that today. Had we the confidence of early season, it would have been 3 nil at half time. That confidence will be back and soon. UTFG and a pox on those turds calling for Jimmy Belshaw DURING the game. 🏴☠️ I stood to the right of the thatchers in the second half and everytime our keeper had the ball or made a save / dived for a save around a hundred fans maybe more around me were singing Belshaw Belshaw.. Pathetic and I called them out for it told them it was pathetic support and to get behind the team on the pitch , I’m not an aggressive bloke but I stand up for what I believe in and I believe in loyal support but it really made me ready for a confrontation and not one of them stood up to me and made their point they all looked at me and turned away. It watered me off more than the result to be honest and is the sort of thing I’d expect from the sh** not our own. Don’t get me wrong as I’ve said all along Belshaw wasn’t the problem with our goals v record and was bloody fantastic last season and our best defensive player this season keeping goal behind a shambolic defence and defensive midfield and it was / is a mistake to make the change Barton has made but you support your players or you keep schtum you don’t do that if your a proper supporter.
|
|