Matete is suspended after being booked a tackle tonight.

Any volunteers to play in midfield ? 

5 minutes ago, ianofcleveleys said:

I thought they were decent, at least going forward. Keeper was a bit iffy and defence wobbled a bit when had our good little spell up to the goal, otherwise they were quick of thought and movement, tried to get balls in behind us or across goal quickly and positively. I liked how they went about things. 

Yes there were a few comments around us in ESL about how noticeable it was that they didn't hang around, they whipped in quick crosses before our defenders had chance to regroup, they played at a pace we can only dream of.  Wigan were the same in respect of relentlessly crossing the ball, between the two of them we must have faced 40 crosses in the last 2 HOME games.  Under the cosh most of the time, our keeper the busiest player on the pitch in both games.

Record vs teams in the top half slips to...

P:10 W:2 D:2 L:6 = 0.8ppg. And we were fucking lucky to beat Mansfield.

There's no mystery to us, it's just a badly put together squad playing a broken system. Any time we play someone decent we're second best.

What a waste of everyone's time this season has been. And unfortunately Sharon has backed herself into a corner by running the manager's PR the other week.

First half wasn't too bad. Pretty even with both teams missing chances. We had a little spell where we had them on the back foot for a few minutes and got our goal.

Second half I thought they dominated from the first minute. Evatts inability to change tactics during the game was there for everyone to see.

Barnsley deserved the win. 

53 minutes ago, Dr. Feelgood said:

Hey, I am one of his biggest critics & very much agree that he's blown it, but you don't need that long a memory to think of work. My goldfish can manage that !

It is when you consider where we were at and what was expected at the start of the season 

The squad has so much potential but it's imploded 

And it's taking the fans with it 

And it appears no one knows what to do about it

I will reassess Feb 1st

Our first goal was actually quality and a microcosm of the best version of 'Evatt-ball'.

Winning the ball high up the pitch; quick, short passing working the ball into the box for the finish.

Unfortunately in 2024 we have seen far too little of that and too much arbitrary possession-type play, where we meander on the ball with no incision or urgency. And (1) missing a golden chance or (2) conceding from set pieces seem to be a weekly occurrence now.

Everyone wanted this to end well but it's getting to the point where I actually want the fans to turn toxic in the stadium to force a change because it seems to be a necessary evil to make progress again.

13 minutes ago, Mantra said:

Our first goal

Did we get a point?

7 hours ago, Tombwfc said:

Record vs teams in the top half slips to...

P:10 W:2 D:2 L:6 = 0.8ppg. And we were fucking lucky to beat Mansfield.

There's no mystery to us, it's just a badly put together squad playing a broken system. Any time we play someone decent we're second best.

What a waste of everyone's time this season has been. And unfortunately Sharon has backed herself into a corner by running the manager's PR the other week.

Also, we're on 11 PTS from the last 9 games against anyone. Just above relegation form.

Our good spell this season came when we basically played the bottom 6 back to back.

Evatt stating yesterday that an issue was us running at them down the middle. 

Shows that he's telling them they must put the ball out wide, and pass it in, which for us (and pretty much everyone in the stands knows) isn't working anymore.. It did for a short while but if the centre backs over 6 ft, it won't.. 

Out of all the "mistakes" made yesterday, that's the one he picks out?

If you don't have players at your disposal to carry off a particular system, don't continue to play that fucking system.

Just change the bloody system either before or during the bastard game.

9 hours ago, Eagle85 said:

Long time lurker here.

IMO over the last couple of years we have been a joy to watch, and even the pain of missing out on promotion and not having the steel for some of the bigger games wasn't as hard to take as it usually would have been on balance with some of the performances we have seen.

However this season the struggles in those tough/derby games have continued, possibly worsened, and now we are not even good to watch. 

I was excited at the start of this season, and could possibly see Evatts thinking in having the technique of Collins and Mcatee in a front three either side as there were a lot of times we had teams camped in their own box last season but didn't have anyone with the quality to hit decent long range efforts. I think the loss of Maghoma cannot be overstated, it was his quality on the ball that mostly had teams having to retreat and giving us that chance to dictate things. Without him and taking into account the massive absence of Dempsey, our midfield is much weaker, and I cannot for the life of me understand what people see in the clunky, ponderous GT.

Whatever the reasons for the ongoing poor performances, the most obvious and important issue is that we have gone backwards this season despite full backing for Ian and his recruitment team.

I really do feel that a team will automatically display the emotional qualities of the manager especially if they have been in charge for a long time. Whilst I love the way that Ian has tried to to get us to play on the pitch, the players seem to be matching his fragile state that has led to strange excuses, irrelevant counter points and passive-aggressive comments towards fans. The drop off which seemed to start around the time of the Barnsley away 'I'll think about my future' being a catalyst which has only got worse.

You'll do well to have found anyone more pro-Evatt than me over the last couple of seasons but even I'm struggling. I think it would take someone very mentally tough and inspirational to turn things around from here and I don't think that Evatt has the capacity for it, no matter how good his ideas on the pitch moving forward might be.

Good post, welcome to the madhouse 👍 

8 hours ago, Cheese said:

Can't help but agree. This feels like the longest hangover from one shit result I've ever witnessed. Even worse than the 0-5 Stoke semi-final that triggered our plummet from the high echelons. I still believe the entire club - from top down - absolutely shat its brains out after that no-show v Oxford (probably exaggerated by the rapturous love-in for the EFL Trophy victory a year earlier), and they completely lost all sense of focus and reality. We were so near. You could obviously argue we were faltering a few months prior to the Play-Off Final, but we were still ticking over at least. Since that day it feels like everything has descended into an absolute fucking shitshow. Nobody knows our best 11, because it changes every fucking week. Nobody knows what we're trying to do, because it's either ponderous or panic stations. It's fucking mad.

Having said all that, I'm sure my personal feelings are influenced by the timing of it all. My kids have only ever seen us under Evatt, and he's given us some life-long memories. It'll be very bitter sweet when he goes. Gutted.

Spot on 👏 

Not in the good books this morning as I apparently woke up in the night, muttered something about “fucking Cogley in midfield” then went back to sleep. 

13 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

Good post, welcome to the madhouse 👍 

Spot on 👏 

Not in the good books this morning as I apparently woke up in the night, muttered something about “fucking Cogley in midfield” then went back to sleep. 

To be fair to Mrs. Leyther, assuming that's who you were with, waking up shouting about fucking someone & dropping back off is never a winner. Especially,  even in these woke times, if it's a bloke.

Per Frandsen, John McGinlay, great entertainment, decent food, old man had a good time, table of 12 having a good drink.

Enjoyed the Lion of Vienna…..

38 minutes ago, gonzo said:

If you don't have players at your disposal to carry off a particular system, don't continue to play that fucking system.

Just change the bloody system either before or during the bastard game.

We both said it in the hotel before the game, there’s just no width. 2 full backs who both want to cut in. The couple of times they didn’t and actually went outside and got a cross in we looked dangerous. It’s so fucking obvious for all to see.

 

Fuck all happens through the middle come to think of it, which just compounds our problem. 

When did we ever have proper width under this idiot?

1 minute ago, Kane57 said:

When did we ever have proper width under this idiot?

Said it before to play any variation of his systems your wing backs need to be absolutely fucking dynamite.

He had Fossey then Bradley so it/they worked.

Schon and Williams were sound in first half yesterday but struggled getting back then both ran out of legs. Hence we were exploited down the flanks.

He's asking a hell of a lot from division 3 full backs. 

2 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Said it before to play any variation of his systems your wing backs need to be absolutely fucking dynamite.

He had Fossey then Bradley so it/they worked.

Schon and Williams were sound in first half yesterday but struggled getting back then both ran out of legs. Hence we were exploited down the flanks.

He's asking a hell of a lot from division 3 full backs. 

Yeah absolutely and I don't count wingbacks as being capable of providing genuine width on the attack. Schon isn't quick or strong enough and Williams hasn't had a good game since joining 

When was the last game that we played really well in? 

There's bigger issues at the club at the moment, but what on earth has happened to Aaron Collins? That performance from him was honestly disgusting.

Okay, you can have an off day, but it's December and he's been off since the summer and he wasn't even doing the basics yesterday, looked so disinterested, shocking body language and so lightweight. He needs dropping and dropping for a while.

I had a non wanderer sat with me yesterday and he pointed out why McAtee was subbed off but not Collins, he offered nothing.

I heard Vic was ill, but doesn't this just all again highlight the lack of adaptability and tactical flexibility from this manager, where no matter what we have to play this failed system?

Wycombe last week, yes we got a point (how low have we fallen), but we only had 1 fit proper centre back and he still played 3 centre backs!

I have absolutely zero confidence in promotion, our objective was the top 2 and we are so far off it, 16 points off, on -2 GD and it's only December!

We've barely even been in the top 6 all season and even if we do, how as supporters are we supposed to believe that we can win 3 play off matches, when we haven't even won a single top 6 match all season and such a poor record under Evatts 5 season tenure?

To me we have 2 options from here. The worst one in my opinion, is apathy. Losing interest, losing the fight, not really bothered, not much hostility but no belief whatsoever.

Or taking action, a few tweets isn't going to cut it, more banners, strong words to the board and manager and much more hostility.

Sharon can be as positive and as behind Evatt as she wants but she has lost/losing the majority of the fans. The fans are the bedrock of the football club not the manager. She can back him till she goes down with him.

You're entitled to your own opinions and options but I am personally a man of 2. I can't just accept this anymore this is pathetic and quite frankly boring, I am bored of seeing the same pile of shit under this manager.

Edited December 27, 20241 yr by Lostock Whites

2 minutes ago, kent_white said:

When was the last game that we played really well in? 

Peterborough at home I reckon

21 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Said it before to play any variation of his systems your wing backs need to be absolutely fucking dynamite.

He had Fossey then Bradley so it/they worked.

Schon and Williams were sound in first half yesterday but struggled getting back then both ran out of legs. Hence we were exploited down the flanks.

He's asking a hell of a lot from division 3 full backs. 

Fundamental problem with the wing backs though is there’s a greater expectation for them to be forward thinking than defensive. So we’re essentially 3 at the back and non of the 3, whoever they are, are good enough to defend 1v1 in the huge area Evatt is asking them to cover. 
 

the wing backs are piss poor defensively, haven’t got the engines to be up and down all day when we’re broken on by the opposition and are poor going forward. They’re an amalgamation of nothing just playing in the middle 3rd of the pitch 

The wing backs worked well in previous years when they had support from the outside centre back as well.

Jones in particular was a threat doing that and brought the best out of Cogley, but I don’t think he’s got the legs for it anymore. Johnston used to be handy at it but seems to have had it coached out of him. Iredale was always keen to get forward too when he played LCB rather than LWB and was a MOM contender for Hibs yesterday by all accounts. 

16 hours ago, gonzo said:

I'm done me for a bit.

Proper had enough.

 

Got stick for it a while ago, but honestly once you realise we'll achieve fuck all with Ian it takes quite a bit of the pain of individual results away - if anything each loss takes us a step closer to the moment success is possible again.

48 minutes ago, Matt Lofthouse said:

We both said it in the hotel before the game, there’s just no width. 2 full backs who both want to cut in. The couple of times they didn’t and actually went outside and got a cross in we looked dangerous. It’s so fucking obvious for all to see.

 

Fuck all happens through the middle come to think of it, which just compounds our problem. 

It’s actually worse than that. As you point out, no width as there are only 2 players covering both wings and both want to cut inside. Only 2 in midfield, means we’re weak as piss through the middle. Plus only 3 at the back (as the wingbacks are often pushing forward and aren’t “out and out” defenders) means we are short defensively - hence the issues we see from counter attacks and early crosses (look at their second goal).

The formation relies on a strong front 3, but they are left isolated and aren’t getting proper service because we have no wingers making crosses and 2 in midfield means limited through balls. To compound it, Evatt changes the front 3 every week so there is no consistency and chance to create partnerships (of course, it doesn’t help when Collins misses from 4 yards).

Plus Baxter is a great shot stopper, but clearly is not as comfortable with his feet. But Evatt insists on making him play short passes in tight situations which has costs us goals.

Imagine choosing a formation and style which fucks up the keeper, defence, midfield and attack at the same time. Then not changing it when it’s not working.

20 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

The wing backs worked well in previous years when they had support from the outside centre back as well.

Jones in particular was a threat doing that and brought the best out of Cogley, but I don’t think he’s got the legs for it anymore. Johnston used to be handy at it but seems to have had it coached out of him. Iredale was always keen to get forward too when he played LCB rather than LWB and was a MOM contender for Hibs yesterday by all accounts. 

Yep there was always a willingness to under / over lap. Now there’s a clear reluctance. Especially in Johnstones case

wing backs have the ball in an inside left / right position and it’s crying out for someone to go round the outside which is what you think they’ve worked the ball there for, but because no one goes it has to go back and starts all over again 

3 minutes ago, barrycowdrill said:

Yep there was always a willingness to under / over lap. Now there’s a clear reluctance. Especially in Johnstones case

wing backs have the ball in an inside left / right position and it’s crying out for someone to go round the outside which is what you think they’ve worked the ball there for, but because no one goes it has to go back and starts all over again 

Gethin Jones was / is cracking at stepping up from defence and supporting the attack, often overlapping. Although it requires Williams/JDC to spot when he does it and to be able to drop in or get back very quickly if the attack fails.

Edited December 27, 20241 yr by Jol_BWFC