| Has everyone calmed down now? 07:44 - Apr 4 with 7731 views | Steve_M |
We weren't very good on Saturday, both individually and collectively and Cambridge played very well. I'm not sure it really told us anything that we don't already know: chiefly that our strikers aren't playing well enough and we need to do more from set pieces.
We don't need big changes to our approach, we don't need to be hoofing the ball to two big forwards to compete in this division but we do need to play better against teams who play their game plan well and are good at sh1thousing. Having seen us totally dominate Oxford and largely dominate Portsmouth despite the amount of sh1thousing those two did it's far more about us playing well than not being able to cope with it.
Shame this season is done now, would have liked to keep it going until Easter at least but 2022-23 should finally be the year we get it right. |  |
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| Has everyone calmed down now? on 10:21 - Apr 4 with 1890 views | homer_123 |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 10:14 - Apr 4 by FrimleyBlue |
Most have been calm tbh, some random posts about the size of the club, but in general people just asking questions about the side and what can be done to it to make it a promotion ready team next season. Some posters have asked questions of KM's time here so far and suggested some things, but probably no different to what KM will be asking of himself tbh. |
Based on your post Saturday I think you have very unrealistic expectations of a L1 side and individual players. |  |
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| Has everyone calmed down now? on 10:26 - Apr 4 with 1855 views | FrimleyBlue |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 10:21 - Apr 4 by homer_123 |
Based on your post Saturday I think you have very unrealistic expectations of a L1 side and individual players. |
I guess we'll see Homer. KM will obviously judge if he's happy with the contributions of the final third over the past 25+ games, Based on his statement of it not being just about strikers, I don't he is. |  |
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| Has everyone calmed down now? on 10:44 - Apr 4 with 1813 views | LankHenners |
Yeah, we didn’t play well, the other team did so we ended up losing. That, as they say, is football. It happens sometimes and it won’t be the last time it happens to us under McKenna.
Think the overreaction was in part that most people had got themselves pumped up for a magic run-in and now the dream is most likely over earlier than we all wanted. Anyway, as you say we’ve played well enough since McKenna came in to be enthused that with some streamlining of the squad we can be proper challengers for promotion next season.
One thing I picked up on from the reaction to the game both on social media and in the press was the jitteriness about how we’re not physical enough or big enough to beat awkward hard working teams, with references to the Gillingham game where we needed a goal out of nowhere to win. Interesting that the home win against Accrington was ignored despite us playing a similar team to the weekend and having to come from behind where, instead of changing tactics drastically by sticking a load of bigger men on the pitch, McKenna stuck to his guns and we ended up playing our way into dominance and of course won the game.
Obviously Saturday was very disappointing but it’s an outlier against the rest of McKenna’s matches unlike earlier in the season where we were regularly bullied out of games and had no answer for it. |  |
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| Has everyone calmed down now? on 10:52 - Apr 4 with 1781 views | portmanroadblue |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 09:16 - Apr 4 by Churchman |
Shane Long and Billy Sharpe, combined age 71. A massive no from me. Old has-beens looking for pension contributions seem completely at odds with the type of player the club are after - young, fit and hungry.
I think an Ivan Toney style player is what we need. Mobile and physical with an eye for goal. Whether we can find one is another matter. |
we have one, Tyreece Simpson |  | | |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 11:00 - Apr 4 with 1767 views | Steve_M |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 10:44 - Apr 4 by LankHenners |
Yeah, we didn’t play well, the other team did so we ended up losing. That, as they say, is football. It happens sometimes and it won’t be the last time it happens to us under McKenna.
Think the overreaction was in part that most people had got themselves pumped up for a magic run-in and now the dream is most likely over earlier than we all wanted. Anyway, as you say we’ve played well enough since McKenna came in to be enthused that with some streamlining of the squad we can be proper challengers for promotion next season.
One thing I picked up on from the reaction to the game both on social media and in the press was the jitteriness about how we’re not physical enough or big enough to beat awkward hard working teams, with references to the Gillingham game where we needed a goal out of nowhere to win. Interesting that the home win against Accrington was ignored despite us playing a similar team to the weekend and having to come from behind where, instead of changing tactics drastically by sticking a load of bigger men on the pitch, McKenna stuck to his guns and we ended up playing our way into dominance and of course won the game.
Obviously Saturday was very disappointing but it’s an outlier against the rest of McKenna’s matches unlike earlier in the season where we were regularly bullied out of games and had no answer for it. |
"One thing I picked up on from the reaction to the game both on social media and in the press was the jitteriness about how we’re not physical enough or big enough to beat awkward hard working teams"
Yes, same as the cries that we can't deal with teams that sh1thouse. It's just very selective and overly laden with angst. I watched Sutton work Rotherham's defence all over the place yesterday by intelligent running into channels and clever use of the ball. It's about playing well not making the kind of mistakes we made a bit too often on Saturday.
It's also like everyone has forgotten the reality of the Burley years, we were very good at home but still lost a couple of matches a season like Saturday. | |
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| Has everyone calmed down now? on 11:08 - Apr 4 with 1744 views | HighgateBlue |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 10:52 - Apr 4 by portmanroadblue |
we have one, Tyreece Simpson |
I've no idea whether Simpson is going to be worthy of leading the line in a team that expects to be challenging for the title. But the best way to find out is for him to play a part is EVERY one of the remaining league games this season. He must be thinking what more he has to do in a loan spell to get a look in, especially when our strikers, with respect, have been really really disappointing since the autumn. |  | | |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 11:20 - Apr 4 with 1717 views | Illinoisblue |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 09:50 - Apr 4 by BiGDonnie |
Great post.
Absolutely pathetic on here since Saturdays result. |
People are STILL surprised that people vent and moan on here after a poor performance? |  |
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| Has everyone calmed down now? on 11:45 - Apr 4 with 1679 views | JDB23 |
Don’t think the reaction was that bad tbh, a few people going OTT but you always get that. It goes the other way too, we’ve had our first run of decent performances for a while and some people were thinking we’d cracked it and are already champions in waiting.
We’re a good team who have improved a lot since McKenna has come in and laid the foundations for a top team, but we still have areas to address before we are genuine title contenders. |  | | |
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| Has everyone calmed down now? on 11:49 - Apr 4 with 1664 views | LankHenners |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 11:00 - Apr 4 by Steve_M |
"One thing I picked up on from the reaction to the game both on social media and in the press was the jitteriness about how we’re not physical enough or big enough to beat awkward hard working teams"
Yes, same as the cries that we can't deal with teams that sh1thouse. It's just very selective and overly laden with angst. I watched Sutton work Rotherham's defence all over the place yesterday by intelligent running into channels and clever use of the ball. It's about playing well not making the kind of mistakes we made a bit too often on Saturday.
It's also like everyone has forgotten the reality of the Burley years, we were very good at home but still lost a couple of matches a season like Saturday. |
And of course we were embarrassed by Barrow who very strictly kept the ball on the deck and passed their way through us.
Can see McKenna bringing in at least 1 other striker similar to Jackson - one thing you could draw from Saturday was we could have done with someone with his pace to get the opposition back line turned towards their own goal, plus his composure at picking out players in the box would’ve helped on the occasions we did get into promising positions. | |
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| Has everyone calmed down now? on 11:54 - Apr 4 with 1635 views | BlueBertie |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 09:50 - Apr 4 by BiGDonnie |
Great post.
Absolutely pathetic on here since Saturdays result. |
Welcome to the world of the TWTD forum melts, plenty of them on here, embarrassing. | | | |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 11:57 - Apr 4 with 1633 views | JDB23 |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 11:49 - Apr 4 by LankHenners |
And of course we were embarrassed by Barrow who very strictly kept the ball on the deck and passed their way through us.
Can see McKenna bringing in at least 1 other striker similar to Jackson - one thing you could draw from Saturday was we could have done with someone with his pace to get the opposition back line turned towards their own goal, plus his composure at picking out players in the box would’ve helped on the occasions we did get into promising positions. |
I think our attacking players need to work on their positioning in the box, happened yesterday and a lot when Jackson puts in some quality crosses/cut backs. I’d need to go over it more but feels like firstly we don’t get enough people in the box and secondly they all rush to the goal line. I expect that will be something that is worked on a lot in pre-season. | | | |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 12:02 - Apr 4 with 1618 views | Churchman |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 11:00 - Apr 4 by Steve_M |
"One thing I picked up on from the reaction to the game both on social media and in the press was the jitteriness about how we’re not physical enough or big enough to beat awkward hard working teams"
Yes, same as the cries that we can't deal with teams that sh1thouse. It's just very selective and overly laden with angst. I watched Sutton work Rotherham's defence all over the place yesterday by intelligent running into channels and clever use of the ball. It's about playing well not making the kind of mistakes we made a bit too often on Saturday.
It's also like everyone has forgotten the reality of the Burley years, we were very good at home but still lost a couple of matches a season like Saturday. |
Indeed we did lose a few at home in the Burley years. I’m still getting over that dismal loss at home in the rain and puddles to Crewe at this stage of the season that effectively cost us auto promotion. Grrrrr |  | | |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 12:04 - Apr 4 with 1621 views | PhilTWTD |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 11:57 - Apr 4 by JDB23 |
I think our attacking players need to work on their positioning in the box, happened yesterday and a lot when Jackson puts in some quality crosses/cut backs. I’d need to go over it more but feels like firstly we don’t get enough people in the box and secondly they all rush to the goal line. I expect that will be something that is worked on a lot in pre-season. |
That's something I've thought as well, we don't get enough players in the box most of the time and on Saturday agree they were all going to the same areas. Something that frustrates me is how often the ball drops loose in the area but how rarely it falls for one of our players. That's not all bad luck. |  | | |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 12:15 - Apr 4 with 1574 views | homer_123 |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 11:49 - Apr 4 by LankHenners |
And of course we were embarrassed by Barrow who very strictly kept the ball on the deck and passed their way through us.
Can see McKenna bringing in at least 1 other striker similar to Jackson - one thing you could draw from Saturday was we could have done with someone with his pace to get the opposition back line turned towards their own goal, plus his composure at picking out players in the box would’ve helped on the occasions we did get into promising positions. |
We really didn't get in behind them on Saturday at all - they really did keep their shape well. | |
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| Has everyone calmed down now? on 12:17 - Apr 4 with 1567 views | Ewan_Oozami |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 12:02 - Apr 4 by Churchman |
Indeed we did lose a few at home in the Burley years. I’m still getting over that dismal loss at home in the rain and puddles to Crewe at this stage of the season that effectively cost us auto promotion. Grrrrr |
Wasn't it the 4-1 home loss to QPR that prompted Burley to put Mogga back in at CB during the promotion season in 1999-2000? |  |
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| Has everyone calmed down now? on 12:19 - Apr 4 with 1553 views | Keno |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 12:04 - Apr 4 by PhilTWTD |
That's something I've thought as well, we don't get enough players in the box most of the time and on Saturday agree they were all going to the same areas. Something that frustrates me is how often the ball drops loose in the area but how rarely it falls for one of our players. That's not all bad luck. |
This was mentioned recently and I posted about a comment Joe Royle years ago as a summariser on R5.
During a match where something like you said was happening he told the story of when a young striker (unamed) arrived at Everton he and Howard Kendall spent time teaching him not to rush into the box but wait, run to the spaces and let the ball "find him".
it worked and he went on to become a leading scorer |  |
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| Has everyone calmed down now? on 12:20 - Apr 4 with 1555 views | Steve_M |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 12:15 - Apr 4 by homer_123 |
We really didn't get in behind them on Saturday at all - they really did keep their shape well. |
Chaplin did just after halftime, Norwood should have scored that one but was a fraction too slow. But, yes, very much an exception. | |
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| Has everyone calmed down now? on 12:51 - Apr 4 with 1477 views | Churchman |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 12:17 - Apr 4 by Ewan_Oozami |
Wasn't it the 4-1 home loss to QPR that prompted Burley to put Mogga back in at CB during the promotion season in 1999-2000? |
I’d forgotten about that one. What a miserable performance that was! I thought Mowbray was already at CB by then, but given my abject memory I may be wrong. That QPR performance was dismal through. Another that depressed was the 0-0 with Millwall and the animals jumping up and down on the exec boxes and ripping up the seats. | | | |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 12:53 - Apr 4 with 1475 views | LankHenners |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 12:15 - Apr 4 by homer_123 |
We really didn't get in behind them on Saturday at all - they really did keep their shape well. |
Outside the ones Steve mentioned there was the instance where Norwood went to ground under pressure (which only ended up in a goal kick) where Jackson would have had the legs to get away and go 1v1 on the GK.
Poor Tom Carroll's got a lot of stick for Saturday but he was guilty of waiting far far far too long before playing a pass. We had players peeling off looking to get in behind but he held onto it and the option was closed off. By the time he came off for Aluko who is a more progressive passer Cambridge were sat so deep with so many men behind the ball it was almost impossible to make those runs.
He doesn't always get it right but Lee Evans is often very quick to sweep the ball out wide or into the channels behind the opposition wing/full backs which we've obviously missed in his absence. | |
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| SACK MCKENNA (n/t) on 14:44 - Apr 4 with 1342 views | unstableblue |
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| Has everyone calmed down now? on 17:44 - Apr 4 with 1262 views | southnorfolkblue |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 09:16 - Apr 4 by Churchman |
Shane Long and Billy Sharpe, combined age 71. A massive no from me. Old has-beens looking for pension contributions seem completely at odds with the type of player the club are after - young, fit and hungry.
I think an Ivan Toney style player is what we need. Mobile and physical with an eye for goal. Whether we can find one is another matter. |
We just need a finisher, whatever their age. Norwood and Bonne are not clinical enough. Norwood should have buried that chance on Saturday. That goes in and we’re probably looking at a completely different outcome. | |
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| Has everyone calmed down now? on 18:27 - Apr 4 with 1230 views | pointofblue |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 09:42 - Apr 4 by hype313 |
Bet wetter...Jokes aside, I was with you, it was just more frustration than anything else, sun was shining, good crowd, good week from a PR point of view and it ended up just being quite flat.
It's fine for players to have an off day, but the trouble with Saturday was quite a few had an off day and when that happens it's hard for a small minority to carry the rest. And to be fair, they have all been excellent over the past few months, add in a very solid, well organised Cambridge side, you could see from the outset it was going to be a frustrating day.
Think most of us knew deep down that the PO's were a bit of a pipe dream beforehand, but it's always nice to dream.
At least this now gives McKenna the chance to have a look at the squad and give him plenty of time to plan for our assaults next season.
Chatted to a mate after the game on Saturday and wondered if that was the last time we would see Norwood, Carroll and potentially Thompson in a town shirt. |
I understand what you're saying but if we'd beaten Cambridge we would have been three points off the play offs, albeit with Sunderland having a game in hand. Then take into account the limp performance against Cheltenham, failure to hit a cow's backside with a banjo at Morecambe and the last minute equaliser against Oxford ... suddenly that's an extra six points and we're three points ahead of the Black Cats instead of six behind. We'd actually be ahead of Wednesday too. And I'm not even taking into account the matches against Portsmouth or MK Dons. This is McKenna's tenure alone.
So I'm not sure whether the play offs were a pipe dream or a very possible target which we allowed to slip through our fingers.
(In response to the OPs question, have I calmed down now? Um, maybe not) | |
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| 2 tickets for Crewe available. (n/t) on 18:35 - Apr 4 with 1225 views | Bloots |
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| "Great to see you back on here mate, I was considering deactivating my account if you hadn’t returned" - TWTD User (Aug 2025) |
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| Has everyone calmed down now? on 18:37 - Apr 4 with 1227 views | patrickswell |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 18:27 - Apr 4 by pointofblue |
I understand what you're saying but if we'd beaten Cambridge we would have been three points off the play offs, albeit with Sunderland having a game in hand. Then take into account the limp performance against Cheltenham, failure to hit a cow's backside with a banjo at Morecambe and the last minute equaliser against Oxford ... suddenly that's an extra six points and we're three points ahead of the Black Cats instead of six behind. We'd actually be ahead of Wednesday too. And I'm not even taking into account the matches against Portsmouth or MK Dons. This is McKenna's tenure alone.
So I'm not sure whether the play offs were a pipe dream or a very possible target which we allowed to slip through our fingers.
(In response to the OPs question, have I calmed down now? Um, maybe not) |
Factor in the 18 points dropped from winning positions under Cook and the margin for error in trying to make up the play offs was always going to be a small one. |  | | |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 18:58 - Apr 4 with 1185 views | RonFearonsHair |
| Has everyone calmed down now? on 11:00 - Apr 4 by Steve_M |
"One thing I picked up on from the reaction to the game both on social media and in the press was the jitteriness about how we’re not physical enough or big enough to beat awkward hard working teams"
Yes, same as the cries that we can't deal with teams that sh1thouse. It's just very selective and overly laden with angst. I watched Sutton work Rotherham's defence all over the place yesterday by intelligent running into channels and clever use of the ball. It's about playing well not making the kind of mistakes we made a bit too often on Saturday.
It's also like everyone has forgotten the reality of the Burley years, we were very good at home but still lost a couple of matches a season like Saturday. |
I remember a 1-0 home defeat to Grimsby in a season under Burley where we were otherwise flying. Quite reminiscent of Saturday. It happens. |  | | |
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