Jourdan

6 minutes ago, PistoldPete said:

We were poor against Lincoln. Against 10 men and we still couldn't win. Giving up a 2 goal lead at home to Shrewsbury. And today (as others have said) taking all things under consideration, if we have ever played worse in our history I cannot ever remember ,certainly not in any home game.

Didn’t Sibley hit the post and McGoldrick have a winning goal marginally and contentiously ruled out for offside v Lincoln?

Didn’t Dobbin force the keeper into a last gasp save v Shrewsbury? Didn’t we squander chances in the first half to go 3-0 up and put the game out of sight?

On another day, we win both games. I stand by what I said. We’re having a wobble but today is the only really alarming result and performance in this current run.

21 minutes ago, PistoldPete said:

We have got 10 points from 9 games.  That is relegation form. And we have dropped seven points against lowly opposition .. at home. It's not just a wobble, its a full on meltdown. 

Since beating Morecambe at home 5-0, we have won 3, drawn 2 and lost 4. 11 points from 27.

It’s only three points worse than Rosenior’s opening salvo which had us in the top 10 but apparently it’s relegation form?

Let’s not overreact. We’re having a wobble. If we had lost four out of nine and were fully deserving of that, you’d have a point that it’s heading for a meltdown.

However we have fallen on the wrong side of fine margins in several games. We could have beaten Lincoln and Shrewsbury and we could have drawn v Plymouth and Wycombe on another day. Even the same could be said for Barnsley too. Some of those goals were fortuitous in the extreme.

The only result and performance that has been genuinely poor is today’s. We have showed signs of what we are capable of in all other games otherwise.

5 minutes ago, Leeds Ram said:

Our record against the top-half sides is really poor and our performances are getting worse rather than better. Does anyone really think we will beat either Barnsley, Plymouth, or Ipswich or Bolton? This has all the hallmarks of 2014-2015 at the moment. Losing 4-1 at Barnsley, screwing up a 2-0 lead at home to Shrewsbury, losing 2-0 at home today against Fleetwood this performance is not a 'one off' but an increasingly common occurrence under Warne. 

2014-15 was completely different. We went from 1st in February and looking like the best team in the league to 8th in May.

This season we are going from 4th at our best but still some way off the top two to maybe 7th if we have a poor run in and other teams capitalise.

It’s not the huge drop off you think it is. We have only ever been 2-3 poor results from looking over our shoulders. Promotion has always been an outside chance not a certainty.

I think we could beat all four of those teams if we play well and play to our potential. We have beaten Barnsley and Bolton and competed in tight games with Ipswich, Plymouth and even runaway leaders Wednesday.

It’s up to Warne to find a way to deliver that and time is still on his side. Yet you have written us off in March when there’s still so much life left in the season. You’re making yourself look silly.

8 minutes ago, Leeds Ram said:

my patience snapped today tbh. Watched a lot of crap live recently but this was almost another level of bad. 

If your patience snapped today, it would suggest that it was probably never there to begin with.

We are still in the top six and still in with a chance of promotion and you think we should be considering Warne’s position?

Today was one very bad result and very bad performance in a largely positive season where the club is getting back on its feet and working under restrictions in a league that similarly big clubs under no such restrictions have laboured for years to get out of.

You’d rather us be spared embarrassment in the play-offs? You might need to take some time to cool off because you’re missing a lot of perspective.

13 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

I agree except for the last line and the players bit. I've had a real wobble.

It's plain Fozzy is no LB and is a decent CH. It's clear we play little football from the back with Curtis, it's one thing him playing when there's injuries but not out of choice. The difference in the second half was like night and day.

Why on earth take off Sibs when we need goals, why leave Collins on who did almost nothing (I'm being kind) all game. He could have started a dustbin up front and there'd have been more interchanges!

They are the two biggest questions, there are others but they're lesser.

If he's not figured it out by next match then I'll have a little panic.

You’re absolutely right. You have to play players in positions that they have grown comfortable in and where they have built up understanding and partnerships.

Forsyth and Cashin should be playing at centre back, Roberts or Sibley at left back and Smith at right back, not flitting from one position to another one week to the next. Similarly McGoldrick and Knight should have started or not been in the squad at all. It was a horrible miscalculation by Warne and Fleetwood punished us for our worst 45 minutes of the season.

It just puts pressure on the games v Peterborough and Ipswich really. We probably need four points now whereas before we probably could have got away with picking up just one or two.

The magic 80 looks a canyon away if we continue in the same vein as today.

We’ve had a few disappointing performances and results in Warne’s time and usually there’s a logical explanation or defence for it.

But today? I can’t defend Warne or the players.

A whole week to prepare for the game, midweek results giving us a boost, time to go on a day out to the races in an attempt to galvanise the group...and this is what is served up!

It’s so disappointing and it does raise concerns for the last nine games because we are starting to look truly vulnerable. 4-5 weeks ago, we’d have blown Fleetwood away. We are fading fast and the rotation options we have just won’t cut it. They won’t give us the second wind we need.

We got away with it once but if we try to move away from the XI who went on the unbeaten run, there’s a obvious lack of cohesion and understanding that will hamper us.

Wycombe losing is no consolation because we have given Peterborough an opening. Looking at today, those two will be smelling blood.

I still back Warne to the hilt, but he’s giving the doubters plenty of ammunition at the moment.

Derby 2-0 Fleetwood

Hourihane FRGS

43 minutes ago, plymouthram said:

They will have to improve their away results and their goal difference, be very surprised if the top 6 changes, Wycombe, Peterboro and Shrewsbury all lose to many to sneak a play-off place.

Of course it would be a surprise, but it doesn’t mean it’s not possible.

With 10-11 games to go, anything can happen.

The last thing we want to do is get complacent and think our work is done.

Fortunately we still need 5 wins and a draw to reach 80 points so you would hope the boys are still laser focused!

2 hours ago, RoyMac5 said:

Has anyone got a good guess as to when the PO dates might be?

I would guess first legs on the weekend May 12-14th and then second legs in midweek May 16-18th.

80 points is our target, so in that sense, we still have work to do. It’s in our hands, which is what is most important.

16 points from 10 games sounds simple enough but a few unfavourable results would put us under pressure once again.

I don’t think we can get too comfortable. Who would have seen Burton beating Wycombe yesterday? Or Cheltenham beating Peterborough? There are bound to be more twists and turns to come.

I am also not worried about who we get should we finish up in the play-offs. There is very little to separate the teams in the mix. We can beat anyone on our day and we can also be beaten if we have an off day or make mistakes at key times.

The question is whether we can dig down deep and find something from within to give the play-offs a really good go. I think players, fans and coaches are starting to feel the effects of a long, gruelling season.

Oxford 1-3 Derby

McGoldrick FRGS

1 hour ago, sage said:

I fear the worst for the rest of this season.

Bird and Chester coming back will help but I can't see a material increase in our stamina for thr rest of the season.

 

So would I if we were outclassed from minute 1 tonight.

The first half reminded me of a Billy Davies performance tonight. It was like going to Preston away in 2007. A very astute game plan being applied very well - defend well, stay organised, capitalise on a mistake or an opening. 

Had we gone 2-0 up, I think we go on to win the game. But we lost our way.

I think we’ll be fine. It’s not like we escaped a 4 or 5 nil hammering. For two thirds of the game, we were very much in it.

The time to worry is if we mishandle the games v Oxford, Bristol Rovers, Exeter and Forest Green. Tonight we were frustrating not concerning. It’s a game we could have won and we were edged out.

7 minutes ago, The_Sheriff said:

Couldn’t disagree more. They weren’t exactly peppering wildsmith so if then pen isn’t given I can’t see them scoring.

our xg is higher too by the way.

And if players are taught to cheat it should be condemned.

No, you’re right, they were not.

But they were growing in confidence and the nervous tension in the stadium completely disappeared. I think they would have continued to apply pressure.

The second goal in the game changed everything.

2 minutes ago, sage said:

We lost 2-1. The winner was the penalty. Wildsmith never has to make a save despite their late dominance 

We were shocking the last 20 minutes, but we were (badly) chasing the game.

So any time you go near the opposition player without touching the ball it's fair game for a penalty?

 

 

If VAR was in League 1, it likely gets overturned for simulation.

But it’s not and we know referees have quick decisions to make and can make mistakes whilst having to do that.

I am not saying it’s right but we know modern players are well versed in simulation and the only way you can get around that is by making a challenge you are going to win or not at all.

Everyone knows players are taught to go down in the box - touch or no touch.

At the end of the day, as a opposition player, if you move towards the ball, you have to win it.

If you don’t, you give the referee a decision to make.

Tough to take, but you only have to look at the last 20 minutes to see that the penalty decision wasn’t the reason we lost the game.

We lost our heads and never recovered from the first goal.

1 hour ago, rammieib said:

It was a dive for me yes but let’s be honest, we were dog ****.

Stop coming on here B4 blaming others and look at ourselves. We’re pathetic against the other big boys in this league.

Also - whilst I agree the ref was conned fair play to the lino for getting the offside call correct on NML. 95% put their flag up there.

We weren’t **** at all.

It was a competitive game between two well matched sides, won and lost on fine margins.

If Barkhuizen gets some purchase on that header to direct it into the corner, it’s 2-0 and it’s a different game and the mood feels different tonight.

The second goal in the game was crucial. We get it and we win because Plymouth and their home crowd were nervous and flat. But as it happens, they did and the game and the atmosphere was totally different.

Looking back at the penalty decision, which was hard to see at the other end of the stadium, it does look like a dive.

But if you are in the penalty area and motion towards the ball, you have to time everything to perfection. If not, you are leaving the referee with a decision to make which is what happened here.

It was very much a game of fine lines.

On the way back from the game.

I think we executed our game plan well for 50-55 minutes. We battled hard and contained Plymouth really well. The only chance of note they had was the one that flashed past Wildsmith’s right hand post.

Mendez Laing took his goal well and in the first half, we looked really comfortable. We looked like a really well organised and hardworking team and up to that point, it was a really professional away performance.

The game hinged on that Barkhuizen chance early in the second half. In a game where you might only get four or five good chances, we had to take it. 2-0 and it’s a different game.

Plymouth made some changes to give themselves a second wind and then got the luck they needed with the deflection and after they scored, there was only ever going to be one winner.

It sounds like we were desperately unlucky with the penalty but Plymouth would have eventually scored if I am honest. Their tails were up and the home crowd had finally woken up.

We lost our heads after the first goal. It seemed like we didn’t believe. The substitutions didn’t really help - it really underlined why Warne relies on the same players. We lost all composure and all sense of a plan.

Plymouth relaxed into it and we looked nervous and were making sloppy mistakes all over the pitch. Credit to them - they edged a good tactical battle and very much a game of two halves.

For us and for the boys, we just have to lick our wounds and get back up and come firing back v Oxford. We weren’t outclassed. We just have to learn to be more clinical and ruthless when on top in situations like tonight.

Don’t be too disheartened - tonight shows we can mix it with anyone but we still have things to iron out.

Wishing everyone a safe journey down!

At work until 5 but hopefully in Plymouth at 6.

See you all there.

PS. @Foreveram, are you sure you don’t need restaurant recommendations? ??

8 minutes ago, sage said:

I go to Plymouth a lot as I have friends nearby 

The best pub I've found by a mile is The Fisherman's Arms, just off the Barbican. 

I’ll be avoiding that particular establishment then. ??

4 hours ago, Foreveram said:

We’re here in Plymouth, sausage sandwich to keep me going till evening meal.

How are you finding it?

If you need any recommendations, let me know.

50 minutes ago, Carnero said:

I don't think it was a huge point at all.

A win would have been huge as it would have put them 7pts clear of the bottom 3.

A draw puts them 4pts clear and a defeat would have meant they were 3pts clear (of Leeds), neither here nor there really.

Today was a big missed opportunity for Forest.

Today was a must not lose game for Forest, so yes they will be disappointed not to win, but it’s still mission accomplished. A four point gap is a healthy one at this stage.

They have six teams below them and all of them are averaging less than a point per game. 

It would take a collapse for the ages for Forest to go down now. The teams below them are somehow even worse.

They might stay up on 35 points or fewer with the way things are looking.

6 minutes ago, StrawHillRam said:

Pilgrims 2 rams 4

frgs knight

Four? Those amigos shaking maracas are going to need a spa break in the Cotswolds.