Barrow v MK DONS match thread

[bluebird90]

Whether your budget is 1st or 15th, we should be going out to win every football game. Wild would at times refer to the budget but have the mentality of ‘we’ve got to find a way around that’ and at times that was to out-battle and out-run teams. Evatt had a similar mentality of getting everything from the players he had.

Cresta at Barrow Rugby is the same, low budget and an injury ridden squad but finds a way to compete against teams with a much bigger budget and you see it in the players. Yesterday they were beaten by an Oldham team whose two half backs are on more than the entire Raiders squad. Nobody will be complaining they got beat, because they went there and had a real go and scored 5 tries.

That’s what my problem is with our first two games. Yes, the likelihood is that we’ll get beat, but at least go and have a shot at winning the game, rather than just ‘’frustrating them’.

If you want a bigger budget or people to invest, then go out and make something happen on the pitch. Entertain the crowd to maintain attendances, get yourself highlighted as a team that likes to have a go, that people admire and show the spirit that has got us where we are.

Whing post match first two games has mentioned our “off the ball shape”. He knows which teams are going to dominate the ball, whether that’s home or away. He said himself after MK that we need to be braver when we have the ball. To go 90 minutes at home without a single shot on goal is not going to have fans queuing up for tickets, but, that said, its largely a new group and the team will need time. We have to show more intent when we get the ball, especially at home where we will have our best chance of getting results. That doesn't mean opening up and going gung-ho or we’ll just get spanked.

The fear factor - ‘if we have a go, we’ll get spanked’ - very rarely happens because when you attack teams you end up spending more time in the opponents half and not sat back inviting pressure.

The Raiders could’ve said the same thing yesterday, Crystal Palace could’ve said it against Liverpool, we wouldn’t have won the national league with that attitude, we wouldn’t have won the trophy final against Stevenage. In Scotland, Rangers and Celtic get beat fairly regularly by teams that have a go.

Harrogate Town have a lower budget than us and went to Bristol Rovers last week and won. They then followed up with 3 goals against Grimsby on Saturday.

Every team in every league has an ‘off the ball shape’. If it’s our focus and that’s his main topic of pre-season then we’re in trouble, not least because it isn’t preventing the opposition from scoring.

[Scott5]

I think the biggest issue is we haven't sufficiently strengthened the forward areas but finances have probably gone a long way to dictating that.
Top players in that area cost top money and we don't have that, and in the past we've been stung with the likes of Telford, Garner and Proctor.
Wingbacks was another area we needed to improve and having had MacDonald on trial it's an area Whing obviously wanted to strengthen in but hasn't been able to find the right player, similarly on the right hand side too but when that's his preferred system it's imperative to have at least two players who can play that role whereas I'd argue we even have one at the minute. Still would've liked to see Pat Brough come back.

If we think back to three years ago when Wild took over he had a mentality of we were underdogs and relished that and used it to gee up the players and fans which is probably what Whing needs to do more of. There are better teams with better players out there than us but the goals we've conceded so far haven't been due to us being opened up or outplayed, we've played ourselves into trouble and made basic errors which we've been punished for. With the best will and defence in the world it only takes one error to lose a game and if you've nothing upfront or a way of getting back into a game or even getting ahead then the defence will always be under pressure.

It is still early days but I think everyone knows the weak areas and we just have to hope that a couple of loans or last minute signings happen in the window to kick start us. Tomorrow night we've nothing to lose it's a cup game against a superior opponent but lets have a go and show some intent, the Wild team of three years ago took it to the likes of Stockport and Bradford and got results, that team sat back when they needed to but had the right balance of pressing and attacking and getting numbers forward.

[Main Stand SeasonTct]

I think the biggest issue is we haven't sufficiently strengthened the forward areas but finances have probably gone a long way to dictating that.
Top players in that area cost top money and we don't have that, and in the past we've been stung with the likes of Telford, Garner and Proctor.
Wingbacks was another area we needed to improve and having had MacDonald on trial it's an area Whing obviously wanted to strengthen in but hasn't been able to find the right player, similarly on the right hand side too but when that's his preferred system it's imperative to have at least two players who can play that role whereas I'd argue we even have one at the minute. Still would've liked to see Pat Brough come back.

If we think back to three years ago when Wild took over he had a mentality of we were underdogs and relished that and used it to gee up the players and fans which is probably what Whing needs to do more of. There are better teams with better players out there than us but the goals we've conceded so far haven't been due to us being opened up or outplayed, we've played ourselves into trouble and made basic errors which we've been punished for. With the best will and defence in the world it only takes one error to lose a game and if you've nothing upfront or a way of getting back into a game or even getting ahead then the defence will always be under pressure.

It is still early days but I think everyone knows the weak areas and we just have to hope that a couple of loans or last minute signings happen in the window to kick start us. Tomorrow night we've nothing to lose it's a cup game against a superior opponent but lets have a go and show some intent, the Wild team of three years ago took it to the likes of Stockport and Bradford and got results, that team sat back when they needed to but had the right balance of pressing and attacking and getting numbers forward.

Excellent well thought out post Scott that I agree with. I think the cost of financing a team this season is hitting us harder than any time since we came back into the EFL. Clubs are spending more and more on players wages and we are finding it harder and harder to compete. We have to get the best out of what we have but with a massive squad overhaul it will take time.

[McMark]

Let’s look at it another way if Andy Whing was an artist then realism would be his brand. He puts it down as it is warts and all. Yes it can be graphic, not pretty to see but it’s as true to life as he can be. I would rather have an honest assessment coming from AW than the usual hyperbolic nonsense many churn out.
Now let’s get our season kickstarted we have a free hit tonight a chance for some experimentalism before Notts County come to town on Saturday.

[blue nige]

Let’s look at it another way if Andy Whing was an artist then realism would be his brand. He puts it down as it is warts and all. Yes it can be graphic, not pretty to see but it’s as true to life as he can be. I would rather have an honest assessment coming from AW than the usual hyperbolic nonsense many churn out.
Now let’s get our season kickstarted we have a free hit tonight a chance for some experimentalism before Notts County come to town on Saturday.

See your point Mark BUT sometimes you can be too honest he needs to find a middle ground because every interview is becoming the same mantra !

[McMark]

Let’s look at it another way if Andy Whing was an artist then realism would be his brand. He puts it down as it is warts and all. Yes it can be graphic, not pretty to see but it’s as true to life as he can be. I would rather have an honest assessment coming from AW than the usual hyperbolic nonsense many churn out.
Now let’s get our season kickstarted we have a free hit tonight a chance for some experimentalism before Notts County come to town on Saturday.

See your point Mark BUT sometimes you can be too honest he needs to find a middle ground because every interview is becoming the same mantra !

Two games in Nige. Let’s see what AW and supporters are saying after a dozen games in excluding tonight. For what it’s worth I thought we set ourselves up wrong on the day. But I’m confident AW will get it right just needs to find the right balance that he trusts.

[Big E]

Let’s look at it another way if Andy Whing was an artist then realism would be his brand. He puts it down as it is warts and all. Yes it can be graphic, not pretty to see but it’s as true to life as he can be. I would rather have an honest assessment coming from AW than the usual hyperbolic nonsense many churn out.
Now let’s get our season kickstarted we have a free hit tonight a chance for some experimentalism before Notts County come to town on Saturday.

See your point Mark BUT sometimes you can be too honest he needs to find a middle ground because every interview is becoming the same mantra !

Trouble is doing 4 interviews a week will always lead to repeated quotes, or a comment added to add variety that comes out slightly wrong and gets misunderstood or twisted. That comes from experience of doing the socials, sometimes it's hard to find fresh views on the same things.

Id rather have a bloke that wears his heart on his sleeve than someone churning out a load of tosh.
We have a decent squad that im sure will get things sorted, we just need to be patient

[Hadrian]

Fully agree.

[Pastor]

Let’s look at it another way if Andy Whing was an artist then realism would be his brand. He puts it down as it is warts and all. Yes it can be graphic, not pretty to see but it’s as true to life as he can be. I would rather have an honest assessment coming from AW than the usual hyperbolic nonsense many churn out.
Now let’s get our season kickstarted we have a free hit tonight a chance for some experimentalism before Notts County come to town on Saturday.

See your point Mark BUT sometimes you can be too honest he needs to find a middle ground because every interview is becoming the same mantra !

The interviews remind me of the ones that Paul Simpson used to deliver on Radio Cumbria when Carlisle were getting beaten week in week out.

[McMark]

See your point Mark BUT sometimes you can be too honest he needs to find a middle ground because every interview is becoming the same mantra !

The interviews remind me of the ones that Paul Simpson used to deliver on Radio Cumbria when Carlisle were getting beaten week in week out.

Jeez mon, nobody can be that dour, without prescribed medication.

[Pastor]

The interviews remind me of the ones that Paul Simpson used to deliver on Radio Cumbria when Carlisle were getting beaten week in week out.

Jeez mon, nobody can be that dour, without prescribed medication.

Not so much the tone, but the content.

[Hadrian]

Worlds apart.