Stockport County Thread

i must have been witnessing a different game - apart from a 5/10 minute spell it was a poor performance. I overheard a few Stockport fans annoyed that even playing a team as bad as us they still couldn't get anything - over the top, but we were mostly poor. First half, we lacked urgency, none of the playerws wanted the ball, when we did keep possession it was pedestrian and mostly sideways. Hall was isolated upfront and Woods rarely saw the ball and looked frustrated for periods of the game. We scored a goal and things changed all of a sudden, played with confidence and the signs were good. However, the second half was arguably worse than the first half, we were complacent and struggled to get going. Ok, we took our chances and the game was probably won, which is great and demonsrates the quality of players we have, but it could have so easily been a differnt story if Stockport had made the most of their chances. Pleased about the result but we simply must raise our game if we're going to secure a play off spot this season.

Felt for the Stockport fans, not nice to see an established league side fall as they have done. The supporters i saw in the bar were enjoying themselves and having a good laugh - no trouble as far as i could tell. Didn't witness the scenes at the end of the game so couldn't comment

Finally, credit to the steward, (young lad, Andrew i think), handled some difficult situations trmendously well, including a couple of lads I wouldn't have fancied my chances with, but they did exactly as they were told. Deserves a mention, probably my man of the match in fact so if you're reading this then well done mate.

Oh what joy - given I was traversing between Town and Rail, I only saw 1 goal at the CNG and that was Stockport so we lost 1-0 and saw WEst AUckland score 2 and missed the 2 Rail goals:affraid: 

town supporter wrote:i must have been witnessing a different game - apart from a 5/10 minute spell it was a poor performance.

Don't get me wrong I could pick plenty of holes today too but that flurry of goals and the fact we won gave me some satisfaction. I wasn't that confident we would to be honest! I thought there were a lot less long balls today, Craig Mac continues to excel between the sticks, back four are pretty consistent, Woods was great. On the negative side, same old story with Hall like you said. And I hate to single players out but again Anton Brown spent the afternoon in some kind of sleep walk. Innocent Bystander promised he'll be a "Rolls Royce" when he gets going, presumably he didn't mean big, slow and cumbersome. WAKE UP AND PASS THE BALL LAD!!!

town supporter wrote:I overheard a few Stockport fans annoyed that even playing a team as bad as us they still couldn't get anything

You can take most of what they said today with a very large pinch of salt.

We certainly haven't got going yet this season, thats for sure but to be 5th and playing well under par compared to what we should be playing does give a lot of hope this season.

Brown looks about 3 yards off pace but more worrying today he always looked like he would give the ball away and was far too casual at times - I hope that is addressed.

Hall was a passenger most of the game and get Samuels back in there as I lost count of the times Bloomer was caught out ball watching...We are just missing the urgency right now and defiantly need to concentrate on the passing.......I can handle the sideways passing as it draws opposition players out of position and creates space in the middle but to do that, have faith in your team mates...there were times when the ball could be passed rather than pumped forward but felt as though they don't trust each others abilities enough.

Think it is worth trying Worsfold upfront against Telford and completely forget about the long ball.

Great result today. Solid at the back and clinical with our finishing. Did not play our best however got the win which is the main thing. Good atmosphere which was great to see and hopefully this will continue to the Histon game. Slightly surprised by the attendance as thought this would have been higher. Tough trip to Telford next week and hopefully we can come away with at least a point.

ok the result flattered us a bit but i will take the 3 points, i found the Stockport fans i talked to a good bunch they certainly made a noise and i enjoyed the banter, good to see Woodsy back he makes all the difference to Town i thought some of the passing in the first half from Town was the best i have seen for a long while but why dont we play well in the second half of games? Simon tell the lads it's a 90 min game

[quote="town supporter"]i must have been witnessing a different game - apart from a 5/10 minute spell it was a poor performance.  I overheard a few Stockport fans annoyed that even playing a team as bad as us they still couldn't get anything - over the top, but we were  mostly poor.  First half, we lacked urgency, none of the playerws wanted the ball, when we did keep possession it was pedestrian and mostly sideways.  Hall was isolated upfront and Woods rarely saw the ball and looked frustrated for periods of the game.  We scored a goal and things changed all of a sudden, played with confidence and the signs were good.  However, the second half was arguably worse than the first half, we were complacent and struggled to get going.  Ok, we took our chances and the game was probably won, which is great and demonsrates the quality of players we have, but it could have so easily been a differnt story if Stockport had made the most of their chances.  Pleased about the result but we simply must raise our game if we're going to secure a play off spot this season.  

Felt for the Stockport fans, not nice to see an established league side fall as they have done.  The supporters i saw in the bar were enjoying themselves and having a good laugh - no trouble as far as i could tell.  Didn't witness the scenes at the end of the game so couldn't comment

Finally, credit to the steward, (young lad, Andrew i think), handled some difficult situations trmendously well, including a couple of lads I wouldn't have fancied my chances with, but they did exactly as they were told.  Deserves a mention, probably my man of the match in fact so if you're reading this then well done mate.[/quo

Can't disagree with this assessment, apart from a 10 minute spell, we weren't that great. In the first 30 minutes, they were the better team and for most of the second half, they were the better side also. This game also highlighted how important Michael Woods is to the team.

I think there's a fair bit of negativity on here. It's still early days and we're roughly where we want to be without having played our best. Of course it's wise to be cautious and keep feet on the ground rather than be unrealistic but I'm sure it will be a long old competitive haul this season. If we can iron out the kinks we're definitely going to be in there.  

Yes Anton is a Rolls Royce, he is getting games under the belt after the double calf strain and his class oozes out of ever touch and shimmy!

It isn't negativity, it's looking at it in a realistic manner. I'm happy with the table position, but I'm also noting that Ferriby could have scored a few as well when we played them, the scoreline flattering somewhat. We also went missing in the second half against Vauxhall and we fortunate to get a point. We didn't turn up against Barrow and for 30 mins in the first half and most of the seconds half, Stockport were better. I counted maybe 30 minutes against Stockport where we were the better team.

What I am pleased with is our ruthlessness in front of goal and the Defensive situation. 4 goals conceded in just 5 games?

I'm not being doom and gloom, but I hope that the squad can kick on from this game now.

Don't they always say however:

"That the sign of a good team is when they can play badly yet still get the points?"

Although I concede that Barrow disproved that a wee bit!

Goal difference is also often a very good indicator of who the better teams are. The table looks very healthy right now.

Hey look, I've had a few moans myself but you'd have to be Ray Charles to look at this forum and say there isn't a lot of negativity.  

Yes, the table looks healthy and i'm happy when I look at it and the Goal Difference is good.

However, in my previous post, it is all true, factual and can be backed up by people who watched, player interviews or manager interviews.

There is a bit of negativity. because after the amount of time, effort and resources that the staff have put in, and the fact that we have to pay £12 to watch our club at home, gives us the right to expect better from the team, and even Irving and Simon would agree with this.

TheNeil29 wrote:Yes, the table looks healthy and i'm happy when I look at it and the Goal Difference is good.

However, in my previous post, it is all true, factual and can be backed up by people who watched, player interviews or manager interviews.

There is a bit of negativity. because after the amount of time, effort and resources that the staff have put in, and the fact that we have to pay £12 to watch our club at home, gives us the right to expect better from the team, and even Irving and Simon would agree with this.

But, as I keep stressing, it's still early days. No matter how bad that second half was against Vauxhall Motors, some of the tirades after the FIRST home game of the season were a bit much. That's the kind of bad fan behaviour you expect from the sky tv/talksport nouveau football fan generation.

And even if we don't end up where we want to be you've got to remember that we're not the only club in this division with ambition and expectations. We have no divine rights. Could we have done better? Yes of course but some people round here seem miserable even when we win 5-0!  

I'm aware that it is still early days, but there are people on here who are a lot more negative than me. I am just pointing out salient facts so far this season. After the amount that has been invested in the grounds/facilities and playing staff during the last 3 seasons gives us the right to have high expectations, especially this season with the Pre-Season signings that have been made. This is also a view that would be shared with Simon and Irving also.

Last season we completely outplayed teams and lost games, can work both ways.

If we put things into perspective, the majority of us wanted 20 points from 30 in the first 10 games and that was with the expectation that we would play from game one at a very high tempo/standard. As it is we have had a slow start out of the blocks and are bang on target...Would rather us hit peak form mid way through the season whilst in a healthy league spot than peak too early and fade out like last season.

TheNeil29 wrote:I'm aware that it is still early days, but there are people on here who are a lot more negative than me.

I never singled you out mate, apologies if you felt I was aiming my comments at you, I wasn't. I just feel that this place seems quick to be negative.

trevdee wrote:

Last season we completely outplayed teams and lost games, can work both ways.

If we put things into perspective, the majority of us wanted 20 points from 30 in the first 10 games and that was with the expectation that we would play from game one at a very high tempo/standard. As it is we have had a slow start out of the blocks and are bang on target...Would rather us hit peak form mid way through the season whilst in a healthy league spot than peak too early and fade out like last season.

Forgive me if I'm wrong but we haven't played 10 games yet and having 10 points from 15 is bang in line with that expectation anyway. And isn't playing at 100% capacity from day one of a football season a pretty unrealistic expectation no matter who you are? There's been a mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly that's for sure but I still feel you're painting a far more negative picture of things there than it really is. We've played what? 5 games? Slow out of the blocks? If we'd beaten Barrow we'd be top! You make it sound like we're floundering!

Dark Knight wrote:

TheNeil29 wrote:I'm aware that it is still early days, but there are people on here who are a lot more negative than me.

I never singled you out mate, apologies if you felt I was aiming my comments at you, I wasn't. I just feel that this place seems quick to be negative.

trevdee wrote:

Last season we completely outplayed teams and lost games, can work both ways.

If we put things into perspective, the majority of us wanted 20 points from 30 in the first 10 games and that was with the expectation that we would play from game one at a very high tempo/standard. As it is we have had a slow start out of the blocks and are bang on target...Would rather us hit peak form mid way through the season whilst in a healthy league spot than peak too early and fade out like last season.

Forgive me if I'm wrong but we haven't played 10 games yet and having 10 points from 15 is bang in line with that expectation anyway. And isn't playing at 100% capacity from day one of a football season a pretty unrealistic expectation no matter who you are? There's been a mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly that's for sure but I still feel you're painting a far more negative picture of things there than it really is. We've played what? 5 games? Slow out of the blocks? If we'd beaten Barrow we'd be top! You make it sound like we're floundering!

Don't try and act the smart ass, you know what I meant with the target and secondly in terms of performance we have defiantly been slow out of the blocks but we have still managed to get the points/wins....You may need to read my post again, because you have misinterpreted my whole point.

[quote="Dark Knight"]

TheNeil29 wrote:I'm aware that it is still early days, but there are people on here who are a lot more negative than me.

I never singled you out mate, apologies if you felt I was aiming my comments at you, I wasn't. I just feel that this place seems quick to be negative.

Not taken offensively mate, drop me a PM, and next time you are at the home game (Histon) we can have a pint together, unless you are now playing for the club, which according to your age on your profile would make you Shane Killock?   

My post was positive, just stating we aren't playing great but still winning which is a bonus and I would rather peak at the right time than lose form late into the season like last season...On the whole I am happy with the start.

The only reason we lost form late into last season was 2 factors. The pitch issues, which caused the backlog, and Knowles and Platt departing.

They are both not factors this season, so I expect the team to maintain good form during the whole of the season. We will win a lot more than we will lose and draw this season, but as long as all the players give 100%, there will be no complaints when the losses and draws come.

I'm satisfied with the start, but it could be better. But then i'm just being picky :-)

TheNeil29 wrote:The only reason we lost form late into last season was 2 factors. The pitch issues, which caused the backlog, and Knowles and Platt departing.

They are both not factors this season, so I expect the team to maintain good form during the whole of the season. We will win a lot more than we will lose and draw this season, but as long as all the players give 100%, there will be no complaints when the losses and draws come.

I'm satisfied with the start, but it could be better. But then i'm just being picky :-)

Factors that contributed us into losing momentum late...Alty had a slow start last season, beat us at the start playing mediocre and then raced up the gears........I'm just saying would rather the latter, although my preference is to perform consistently like Chester or Guiseley but we don't do that well

I guess we all see different games. I thought Brown was excellent, that is just the way he plays, he controls the midfield, and made some sublime touches on Saturday. I agree that County were (marginally) better before we scored, but I was never unduly anxious. We did score three superb goals (and great photographs to capture them Peter, by the way!), they will stay in my memory a long time.
Second half I felt was a 'non-event', how often when teams have a healthy lead do you get that? A lot! But again until the last 5 minutes, when they did put us under pressure, I never felt worried (and I am a born worrier where Town are concerned).
I thought everyone played well (including Hall!). And I thought County were a half decent team...still, as I say, I guess we all watch different games. Tough about their manager, did a great job with Gateshead before this one.

TheNeil29 wrote:
Not taken offensively mate, drop me a PM, and next time you are at the home game (Histon) we can have a pint together, unless you are now playing for the club, which according to your age on your profile would make you Shane Killock?

I'm not sure The Batman is ready to be unmasked just yet! Maybe later in the season

Killock? I wish. I'm closer to Alan White unfortunately

paulstreet wrote:I guess we all see different games. I thought Brown was excellent, that is just the way he plays, he controls the midfield, and made some sublime touches on Saturday.

 I've already lost count of how many times he's dwelled on the ball and lost it or given it away with a sloppy pass and put us under pressure. Thought he was a passenger at the weekend. In fact my mate came down for the first time on Saturday and before the match I said keep an eye on Brown and tell me what you think. After the game he just said "I see what you mean". I hope for much better going by what some of you are saying.

trevdee wrote:
Don't try and act the smart ass.

Friendly bunch round here aren't we? Just as well I've got my batsuit on. Gives me that thicker skin I understand is required in these parts

Did you read the Alfreton fan forum when Brown left, they all rated him, he won their player of the year etc.etc. Simon's choice of signings this summer has been top notch (Wright needs time), and there are many Conference Premier sides who would have signed Brown like a shot. We are [u]very[u] lucky to have him.