If we crave success, then we need to get the hell out of RP. I would rather us play at Spytty than on any pitch that would make the Gleblands seem like Wembley.
We talk about grounds having to meet League standards, yet I bet a fair few complaints are already being filed with the EFL about the state of the pitch at RP.
Never mind, any remaining grass should be eliminated come Saturday morning.

Just out of interest did anyone else notice their goalkeeper stepping outside of the box on numerous occasions with his kicks from hand and also how long he held onto the ball (over 30secs on more than one occasion)

Papski2 wrote:

bigfan wrote: "we are still outperforming pretty much everyones expectations" are you for real?

Was your expectations that we would be 5th in the middle of February? Then fair play.

Was your expectations that we would be 5th in the middle of February and that the manager should be sacked for it? Then what's the lottery numbers tonight.

What do people want from this club? Terrible boardroom, terrible management, terrible pitch, terrible players, terrible leadership... bUt WhY ArEnT wE ToP?!?!?!

my expectations in Mid november was we would be top of the league and by now maybe 6 points at least clear then armageddon struck. terrible pitch I assume you agree on that? All the other points I would say the jury is out, maybe not the board who have given Flynny the funds to get us in the top 3. iapplaud that point.

Willthiswork wrote:Just out of interest did anyone else notice their goalkeeper stepping outside of the box on numerous occasions with his kicks from hand and also how long he held onto the ball (over 30secs on more than one occasion)

The timewasting, whilst annoying, is easily dealt with by adding on time. Five minutes extra wasn't far out. I too thought the keeper was kicking from outside the box.

In hindsight I think his subs in the 30th minute were correct, but it wasn't only a reaction to the sending off, it was a reaction to playing the wrong formation at the start. Farquharson is not a right back, not mobile enough and especially once playing against 10 men we needed an attacking option. The diamond in midfield was wrong to begin with, Sheehan was playing on the right of a diamond to allow Dolan to play in front of the back 4. This clearly wasn't working.

His subs in the second half though were baffling at best, bringing Collins on for Gambin, unless because of an injury was completely wrong and Collins provided nothing. Chucking on 4 strikers didn't work against Southend so why do it again? We can use 5 subs, but we don't need to. Changing that many players can be counter productive.

We need to revert to 5 at the back, if we were going to go to 4 at the back we should have kept Willmott, as he is the only right winger we had.

We need to play Maynard and Telford and stick to it.

Sheehan needs to step up again, last night he didn't dictate play enough, stayed too deep and either spraying wayward 30yd passes or twirling around and passing it sideways.

We need to work on set pieces and crosses, nearly all last night were woeful.

The situation we’re in at the moment has, to a degree, been a replication of the last few seasons. A good start to the season followed by a downturn in Winter, followed by improved form in the Spring. This season it’s been a very good start to the season followed by a very bad Winter. On the evidence of previous seasons, I’d back Flynn to pull us out of our current form.

bigfan wrote: my expectations in Mid november was we would be top of the league and by now maybe 6 points at least clear then armageddon struck. terrible pitch I assume you agree on that? All the other points I would say the jury is out, maybe not the board who have given Flynny the funds to get us in the top 3. iapplaud that point.

I did mean from the start of the season but your expectations were not unreasonable at that point.

The pitch is a killer. I appreciate the away form argument but between the pitch, losing Twine and Cooper, Cup runs and a 30%ish turnover of personal in the dressing room.. it feels like we haven't come through this period in a positive manner at all.

If we were in a good run of form we'd all be bullish in our position but the form cannot be denied.

19/20 - 19 points from the last 19
18/19 - 32
17/18 - 25
16/17 - 25 from 12

3 of those finishes, all under Flynny, would probably get us playoffs minimum. 100% 2 of them would.

I appreciate emotions are high because it is very frustrating at the moment.

But calls of sacking are madness.

A few of my observations:

1 - I did not hear a single voice during the second half apart from Norman Parselle. Who is demanding more of their team mates?
2 - We just seemed to persist with the quarterback approach of giving it to Josh so deep and letting him spray it (often too slowly) side to side. The number of times Lewis was free on the right for Townsend to start a quick attack but we just kept trying the same old thing.
3 - I can't believe that with 11 v 9 that we couldn't get 2 v 1 in the wide positions. I put that down to poor leadership (both on and off the pitch) for not seeing that. When Lewis got the ball there was no support at all other than expecting him to beat his man.
4 - The strikers just lined up in a row of 5 or 6 across their defence. Only once or twice I saw Labadie try and drop into the space between their bank of 5 defenders and 3 midfielders to mix things up.

Unfortunately I just can't see how this group are going to turn things around quickly enough. For the life of me I can't see us winning our way through the playoffs against the teams around us but (maybe luckily) I can't see us making the playoffs anyway. Hoping there is a miracle that proves me wrong!

Collars wrote:A few of my observations:

1 - I did not hear a single voice during the second half apart from Norman Parselle. Who is demanding more of their team mates?
2 - We just seemed to persist with the quarterback approach of giving it to Josh so deep and letting him spray it (often too slowly) side to side. The number of times Lewis was free on the right for Townsend to start a quick attack but we just kept trying the same old thing.
3 - I can't believe that with 11 v 9 that we couldn't get 2 v 1 in the wide positions. I put that down to poor leadership (both on and off the pitch) for not seeing that. When Lewis got the ball there was no support at all other than expecting him to beat his man.
4 - The strikers just lined up in a row of 5 or 6 across their defence. Only once or twice I saw Labadie try and drop into the space between their bank of 5 defenders and 3 midfielders to mix things up.

Unfortunately I just can't see how this group are going to turn things around quickly enough. For the life of me I can't see us winning our way through the playoffs against the teams around us but (maybe luckily) I can't see us making the playoffs anyway. Hoping there is a miracle that proves me wrong!

Spot on!

Why was Matty subbed,was he still injured after last week,if so,he shouldn’t have started.If he wasn’t injured,why take him off.He has had a resurgence this season playing out from the back,and he is our dead ball specialist.Most free kicks and corners were awful,in fact one corner went straight out.I think Dennis will be a good player but,he is a CB,why play him at RB,especially when there were two available.What has Baker done wrong,he should have started but didn’t even make the squad.Why was our most skilled player just sat in the centre circle,has Lewis ever played RW before,why leave him and Haynes without support when we had two extra players,why leave four strikers in the box waiting for crosses that may or may not arrive.

bigfan wrote:Incredulous the Happy clapping on here. That was truly awful as have been every game since early December. we are so lucky to be 5th still due to swings and roundabouts everywhere else.
this garbage that we are small club with a low budget is rubbish. as Rob sant stated yesterday the borad have given our manager a top 3 budget. A total hero with the cup runs but cluelss with tactics in the bread and butter matches. At very least Wayne must go. No inovative tactics these days just imo taking the wage and going through the motions. 31 shots 16 corners you really cannot make it up against 9 men and the comment was 2a point gained2 thats a sackable quote.

The budget must be higher than some fans think,we have used over 40 players this season,including 12 loan players.It is a myth to think that these players are costing us peanuts,I can’t imagine Colchester loaning us Gambin and picking up most of the tab.Maynard is probably costing an arm and a leg,that’s why Robbie and Abrahams were loaned out.We are still probably paying at least 50% of their wages and don’t forget,we are still paying Leadbitter and Whitely as well.

Percy plunkett wrote:Why was Matty subbed,was he still injured after last week,if so,he shouldn’t have started.If he wasn’t injured,why take him off.He has had a resurgence this season playing out from the back,and he is our dead ball specialist.Most free kicks and corners were awful,in fact one corner went straight out.I think Dennis will be a good player but,he is a CB,why play him at RB,especially when there were two available.What has Baker done wrong,he should have started but didn’t even make the squad.Why was our most skilled player just sat in the centre circle,has Lewis ever played RW before,why leave him and Haynes without support when we had two extra players,why leave four strikers in the box waiting for crosses that may or may not arrive.

As I have posted elsewhere, I think Dolan was sacrificed to put Sheehan back in the middle, but as you say he was too static. I also mentioned that Farquharson is not a right back and especially when we were a man up needed someone more mobile there.

Lewis wasn't playing right wing, he was right back but because of our total dominance played most of it in their half, he was very willing but as you say he could have done with some help out there in playing 1-2s around their defenders and doubling up.

Taking Gambin off and flooding the frontline wasn't the answer.

Caerleon Exile wrote:Any talk of sacking Flynn is just madness. We've not become a bad team overnight. Results will change but its down to Mike to find that way, which I'm confident he will, we just need to get that winning habit back.

I agree but it is a concern that last night there appeared to be a lack of idea, commitment or desire to win, it was pretty clueless. Is this management or players - the players do not look motivated.

County ranger wrote:

Caerleon Exile wrote:Any talk of sacking Flynn is just madness. We've not become a bad team overnight. Results will change but its down to Mike to find that way, which I'm confident he will, we just need to get that winning habit back.

I agree but it is a concern that last night there appeared to be a lack of idea, commitment or desire to win, it was pretty clueless. Is this management or players - the players do not look motivated.

How many of the current squad with contracts expiring at the end of this season would be renewed if promoted to League1? The answer may in part be the underlying motivation issue, play well, get the Club promoted, and possibly lose your job.

I try to be a glass half full chap but yesterday takes the biscuit (apologies for sort of mixing metaphors!). Try as I might I cannot think of many positives to say about the 90 minutes, other than possibly the fact I was warm, had drinkable tea to hand and iPlayer froze for about 10 minutes of the second half. I don’t think I have enjoyed watching County for weeks but yesterday..…come on!!

I cannot believe it but this is my 53rd season of watching County and the last few years of FA Cup runs etc. have been brilliant. However, for the first time ever I was actually hoping County didn’t equalise last night and I cannot believe I’m saying that! Flynny has been a legend for us but I’m concerned now this is all getting a little cosy and stale. I really hope he can turn this around as I don’t want his undoubted legacy to become tarnished. On last night’s performance I have concerns that he can. Yes, we are still in a play-off position but on the evidence from recent matches, I doubt for much longer.

Having said all of that, I’ll be on iPlayer again on Saturday, hoping for the best and expecting the worst. The curse of being a County supporter !