Salford City v Barrow, match thread

[olbarrafancumbak]

That was as bad as I’ve seen this season, as if Tuesday wasn’t poor enough!
Too much messing about with our better performers, how Gottsy & White are being picked to start games is baffling to say the least. Then to their third (or was it fourth) goal…another stroll past two or three players without a tackle going in.
Gottsy….2-1 and a clear sight on goal and he didn’t shoot! Not many midfielders (apart from White) would’ve turned that opportunity down, one minute later it’s 2-2 and all downhill from there.

We are where we are and it’s a great position to be in but that doesn’t mean PW shouldn’t accept a bit of responsibility for this slump over the last six weeks.

Ian, we are all gonna and fatigue and tiredness can play a part.. we have pushed, punched and achieved massively this season and sometimes we just have to accept a blip, that's all it is... Shoot me if we loose all our remaining games but I think we will will at least half and still be in with a chance, even if that means playoffs.

When your on a crest of a wave, it's great but when you get a wall or a bump, we have to figure that out as a unit and a team.. yes we can all pint fingers but a team takes responsibility together, we are part of that team..

[Bingo]

Had a feeling that we would get beat today we've been poor for a few games now. Nobody to fear but it seems the manager sets us up like we are frightened of everyone.

People talk about lack of confidence- why are we lacking confidence? Maybe the manager constantly saying we have to realise who we are all the time doesn't inspire confidence.

The stench of defeat will linger for a while yet.

[olbarrafancumbak]

Negativity spreads worse than covid .. we all have off days! We are going over the bumps in the road which everyone does, we just seem to be hitting them all at once.. we haven't suffered this al season and it's our turn.. we will get over them but only if we stick together and weather the storm as one! We need a great team yes, but a great team needs great support.. we will get over this but only by sticking together!

We are barrow, we are [SwearFilter] amazing and we stick together through thick and thin..!

Ship builders tea n all that..

[Bakewell Blue]

Send him back to behind the bar or whatever he was doing before this.

Most of your comments on here are just wrong and a massive overreaction - are you a Carlisle fan in disguise? As others have said in response to you, you need to get some perspective. We haven’t played well since Wrexham, but we aren’t rubbish (look at what we did at Notts County and against MK Dons).
All teams have bad patches - look at Stockport County’s recent form. I hate losing and I think PW tinkers a bit but he is a better manager than anyone on this forum. Not making the playoffs would be gutting, but look back at our first two seasons in the EFL and appreciate how far we have come.

[Methuselah]

It amazes me all.the criticism people are giving Pete Wild.He has got us into a great position in this season and the last one.
We all know what the problem.is the defence.He may have told the players what to do to avoid letting the opposition in,but it is down to the players to do it.
Today we scored three goals which is a step in the right direction.Hopefully before we play Bradford the team will have learnt how to.stop.Bradford getting round the back of them.If they do that and carry on scoring we can turn this around.Warren sounded like he has improved massively since he
was injured and even managed to score a goal.
We just have to stay with it and keep the faith.I,m sure the team will turn this around.Just turn up.on Saturday next and support the team.Continual success is a hard thing to maintain,especially in football.It wouldn,t be Barrow if we didn,t do it the hard way.

[russell_anderson]

If I'm honest, I can't say I've enjoyed watching the way we play even though it's been successful until the last 9 games.
I can understand why PW plays 3 central defenders as we don't have any with real pace after McClelland leaving.
However, we are giving every team we play (even teams as poor as the last 2 we've played) the opportunity to attack us for most of the game.
Until lately, our defence was solid but, for some reason, it's blown up recently. However, I don't believe it would look as bad if we actually managed to attack a bit more. Today was a great example. We did a fair bit of attacking in the first half but from the moment we took the lead we did almost nothing more than defend against a team whose defence was shocking. At 5-2 down, we started to throw men forward, scored a goal and could easily have had another.
I felt for Spence who, as usual, ran himself to a standstill. He challenges for every ball and, unlike many others, gives the opposition no time to settle. If others showed a similar effort to close players down we'd be able to play a lot higher up the pitch.
Once Tiensia is fit, I'd try playing 4-4-2 with a back 4 of Stephenson Ray, Canavan and Tiensia which gives us some pace at full back; a midfield of Whitfield, Spence, Campbell and Newby which again gives some pace in the wide positions and a front 2 of Acquah and Stockton. Not much pace in the central defence or strikers but we don't have any central defenders or strikers with pace and hopefully that team would be able to play higher up the pitch and not have to spend 70 or 80% of the time defending!

[bluessupporter]

We did a fair bit of attacking in the first half but from the moment we took the lead we did almost nothing more than defend against a team whose defence was shocking

I believe that is because PW has instructed them that once they go into the lead they try to keep it by defending, rather than increase it by attacking. I believe that's his philosophy.

Like you, I think Tiennsa will make a big difference when he returns. He's not yet the finished article, but I think he will help to refloat the ship, which seems to be on the rocks at the moment. We really need to shore up that left hand side (no pun intended) by instructing the backs to attack the man rather than back off all the time.

Attacking is the best form of defence!

[Rushy]

Those players gave 100% yesterday. Not one of them gave up.
The only thing I would say is we defended too deep at times . 2 banks of 4 is harder to break down than a back 8 and its impossible to counter attack when everyone is defending.
There will be tougher games to come so get behind the team we ve never had it so good so enjoy it while you can.

[spirit of 1990]

That was as bad as I’ve seen this season, as if Tuesday wasn’t poor enough!
Too much messing about with our better performers, how Gottsy & White are being picked to start games is baffling to say the least. Then to their third (or was it fourth) goal…another stroll past two or three players without a tackle going in.
Gottsy….2-1 and a clear sight on goal and he didn’t shoot! Not many midfielders (apart from White) would’ve turned that opportunity down, one minute later it’s 2-2 and all downhill from there.

We are where we are and it’s a great position to be in but that doesn’t mean PW shouldn’t accept a bit of responsibility for this slump over the last six weeks.

Ian, we are all gonna and fatigue and tiredness can play a part.. we have pushed, punched and achieved massively this season and sometimes we just have to accept a blip, that's all it is... Shoot me if we loose all our remaining games but I think we will will at least half and still be in with a chance, even if that means playoffs.

When your on a crest of a wave, it's great but when you get a wall or a bump, we have to figure that out as a unit and a team.. yes we can all pint fingers but a team takes responsibility together, we are part of that team..

Yes, it’s been a fantastic season Mike, plenty to be proud about but things haven’t been right since Christmas & the same happened this time last year which is why what is happening right now is quite worrying because if it isn’t turned around soon we’ll end up finishing mid-table….no amount of positive posts off you or upbeat interviews off PW will make that any easier to stomach at the end of the season.
Just because we’ve had a fantastic run up to Christmas doesn’t mean PW can’t be (constructively) criticised by people. No points from three games, two which should’ve been very winnable surely allows people to be concerned.
I don’t boo players, I don’t give players abuse but after watching the last two performances surely I’m allowed to stick up a post about what I see as faults.

[32mile_cul-de-sac]

Hope the form turns soon or it's goodbye promotion, saying that L2 is our natural level as we have only had two seasons at L1 level in our history.
Saying that wouldn't mind a season or two in league one to go to all the big grounds.We are very similar to Morecambe, Accrington S and Fleetwood as all those teams eventually if Fleetwood go down find their way back to their natural level of L2

[DDevine]

Send him back to behind the bar or whatever he was doing before this.

Most of your comments on here are just wrong and a massive overreaction - are you a Carlisle fan in disguise? As others have said in response to you, you need to get some perspective. We haven’t played well since Wrexham, but we aren’t rubbish (look at what we did at Notts County and against MK Dons).
All teams have bad patches - look at Stockport County’s recent form. I hate losing and I think PW tinkers a bit but he is a better manager than anyone on this forum. Not making the playoffs would be gutting, but look back at our first two seasons in the EFL and appreciate how far we have come.

Why do you think he changed it so much in the games after Notts and MK

[FanzoneFan]

Hope the form turns soon or it's goodbye promotion, saying that L2 is our natural level as we have only had two seasons at L1 level in our history.
Saying that wouldn't mind a season or two in league one to go to all the big grounds.We are very similar to Morecambe, Accrington S and Fleetwood as all those teams eventually if Fleetwood go down find their way back to their natural level of L2

Don’t want to come across as a know all but it was actually 3.

[Jonty]

He’s tried to change things yesterday but if they are not strong enough in the tackle, or get brushed aside too easily in the build up to goals that’s not tactics. Look at the goals conceded in the last two games.

[andyg]

I've never enjoyed going to Salford even though its just down the road and yesterday was no different.

Nothing like standing under a leak in the stand getting wet as they hit the third, fourth & fifth goals!!! Yes I did move but like our leaky defence it seemed to follow me.

What do I make of it all?

Well I will go on record as saying I was fairly impressed with Salford. They totally dominated our midfield and seemed, for most of the game, to be first to the ball. I really feel because of this our defence from about the 15th minute was continually under pressure and those final goals were down to our defensive lapses but the pressure told because our midfield could not get a foothold in the game.

I'm not going to repeat the Gotts/White mantra as I like both players but not together! The killer has to be Gotts decision making at 2-1 up when a side footed shot would have seen us go further ahead then they go up the pitch and score. But they should have made it 2-0 when hitting the bar in an almighty goal mouth scramble before we went upfield and duly scored in the 40th minute.

The irony of all this when we did attack we looked dangerous with Stockton continuing to offload shots through the second half in particular. Farnham was immense Mazeed had his hands full but acquitted himself pretty well. I'm worried for Acquah who really struggle although he got little or no protection from the ref where Smith was always in the ear of that ref. Think Acquah needs to learn from that if he wants to become an effective striker at this level.

We are still sixth & I will be up with the whole family for Bradford next week. We need that win for the sake of my granddaughter who has never seen a Barrow victory yet!! However, Barrow just need a win full stop.

[bhbb]

Send him back to behind the bar or whatever he was doing before this.

Most of your comments on here are just wrong and a massive overreaction - are you a Carlisle fan in disguise? As others have said in response to you, you need to get some perspective. We haven’t played well since Wrexham, but we aren’t rubbish (look at what we did at Notts County and against MK Dons).
All teams have bad patches - look at Stockport County’s recent form. I hate losing and I think PW tinkers a bit but he is a better manager than anyone on this forum. Not making the playoffs would be gutting, but look back at our first two seasons in the EFL and appreciate how far we have come.

I really don’t think they are. I think this barrow team was the real deal and was the best defensive side in the league for a large proportion of the season and now look like a bunch of Sunday league players. Just because where we are now is an improvement on what we once had doesn’t mean it’s exempt from criticism. I just feel that’s an easy excuse, this is the best chance we’ll probably ever have to get into league 1 and I don’t enjoy a team of capable players [SwearFilter] it up the wall.

Promotion this year could set us up for decades in the football league and build us a proper infrastructure. Very annoying watching it slip away from stupid errors and team selections and a lack of character in the team