Todays team v Salford away

[Jonty]

Cant be too downhearted with this result as I know Evatt and the team will keep improving and keep giving it everything. That first away win wont be too far away. We should have a couple of players close to returning from injury soon also.

[BoltonBlue]

Can’t really argue with the result or the performance. I can’t remember a game however where a ref has been so easily influenced, their players literally directed her every move it was bizarre.

Salford’s 2 Centre backs dealt with our small frontline with ease, we have zero physical presence upfront.

Josh Granite is quality at this level, really impressive.

[blumooncrab]

Thought we got bullied today and we lack height at the back - and the front- giving too many headed goals away from set pieces - usually at the back post . I like Granite but I think he's a bit too short for a centre half . Thought Dan Jones was excellent again - apart from an obvious error in the first half which nearly gifted Salford - our Rooney was fantastic first half ; Hindle and Kay made no impact - but no lack of effort. Some good passing moves but we lacked penetration. Smith ran his socks off and Waterson improved - one of his better games - we need the 20goal Centre forward to be fit soon - overall not too bad - we will surprise a few teams that's for sure

[Middleton Nick]

Couldn't go today, disappointed but not too downhearted. We are doing better than I thought so we dust ourselves down and prepare for Saturday.
Got to applaud the number of Barrow support, fantastic effort.

[boyliegladbach]

I think defensively and midfield not bad, it’s our forward 3 which are weak,
Waterstone produces and offers nothing, hindle after a bright start to season hasn’t done a great deal in last couple of games, Smith isn’t a lad who can play against 2 centre half’s on his own.

Hope Blythes a good player.

[xerxes]

Half time. Salford only watering the side their attacking 2nd half.

Yes, I thought that at first, but they did switch to watering the other end after a few minutes.

[xerxes]

I can’t remember a game however where a ref has been so easily influenced, their players literally directed her every move it was bizarre.

She was no worse than most of the other numpties we get in this league. The penalty was a travesty, but most refs give those now, regardless of whether it was deliberate handball or denying a goalscoring opportunity. The most bizarre incident was when she gave Salford a free kick when one of their players was poleaxed by a clearance by his own defender. No excuse for our bench to get involved with verbals though.

There were a couple of dubious free kicks she gave in dangerous positions, one for us, one for them. One or two others that she let go which should have been penalised. Par for the course.

[barrowaberdeen]

Positives
1) We move the ball around well and troubled them- were always in the game, 3-1 flattered them
2) The support in terms of noise and numbers was fantastic
Negatives:
1) We are too easily bullied, especially at crosses and too small, especially through the middle, although I thought Taylor and Granite did well. Give Rooney that space and he'll score- he will get 30 goals this season in this league
2) Must we get our phones out to photograph and film every moment? I would prefer not to be faced with 5 or 6 phone cameras every time we tried to get the crowd going. Can't we get in the moment?

Thanks to our guests from FC Koln and alsoto a busload of Man Utd fans from Barrow who were in our end backing us, rather than the 'project'.

Funny ground, good for generating noise and well set out but soulless identikit and there is nothing there at all.

I found a much loved hat

[Hitthebar22]

Agree with most of the posts of those who saw the match. After a slowish start we were outstanding for about 15 minutes. Then for some reason we let Salford back into the game.
Didn’t think they were particularly good, but we lost it, rather than them winning it.
Good goal by Taylor, and a good finish by their Rooney when Molyneux went missing. Penalty understandable, just bad luck really and their header from a set piece was extremely poor defending.
Being hyper critical I think our defence is shaky, we look superb in attack some of the time, but give the ball away such a lot when trying to play on the floor, but I’d much rather see that than giving it away by hoofing it up the field.
Didn’t think the ref was terrible, and for a new ground it was a bit soulless as you’d imagine, but quite good for atmosphere.
Barrow fans superb

[blumooncrab]

did anyone pick up on the Salford `city post match irony, ? on the way out - playing 'Money Talks' over the tannoy ?? Who says united fans don't have a humour ???

[Bluey VIII]

I’m not sure I agree with IE’s interview comment about us “dominating” the game but I thought we did Ok today. They’d obviously had us watched and knew Hindle was our main attacking threat, and fair play to them for nullifying him by almost man-marking him out of the game...

Defensively we’re paying the price for not getting in a decent centre-half cover for the injuries. Jones did OK on Saturday but against quality strikers today he really struggled, and regularly got caught in possession by expecting the amount of time on the ball that central defenders just don’t get. I’ll be surprised if he plays centre-back again this season!

For their first goal 3 of our lads kept backing off without any of them actually closing the ball down. That allowed the Salford player to get his head up and play an inch perfect pass to Rooney who finished it well. But it could’ve been stopped if we’d been a little less naive and someone had taken charge and pressed the ball.

For their 2nd it was another worrying header.....if we’d had a Moussa or Livesey I don’t think we’d have conceded it......As aggressive as Granite is, he needs some help from an experienced CB. Hopefully IE has seen enough of Jones at CB and will now look to bring someone else in....

Salford looked average and I don’t see them going up this season. Unfortunately we made mistakes which flattered them.

[Bluebird_john]

512 away fans, superb

512 Amazing Support

More than that. A few of us went through the home end to get to the away end cause the stewards outside were sending us in circles and didn’t know where we were to go

[thegaffer77]

512 Amazing Support

More than that. A few of us went through the home end to get to the away end cause the stewards outside were sending us in circles and didn’t know where we were to go

One of the stewards didnt know where the away turnstyles were!! Tinpot!

[McMark]

Not too disheartened with today, overall they had more savvy and nous than us. Great to see so many making the journey and getting right behind the team. Another game where the players and the management will learn much about each other. Big points on Saturday to play for and earn against Solihull.

[Si_Nichols]

We were second best today though not by much and certainly not by the same margin as the gap in salaries. They have superior quality individuals who seem to be finding their feet as a team and we were never going to out football them on their own turf.

We don't much of a plan B at the moment (presume Blyth will be it) and pretty football only gets you so far - against better opposition like this it isn't going to be far enough. We were bullied in certain areas at times but they were a bunch of huge physical units with some pace to burn and quality where it mattered most. Strangely though when it got niggly and we got in their faces and started mixing it we started to get back on top of the game and finished well - it was too late however at 3-1 down.

The officials were all appalling and extremely weak. losing control of the game entirely. The ref let Salford players dictate the game and gave us very little throughout. The penalty was given from a crowd reaction and not the incident itself however it was given not by the ref but the linesman.

Dan Jones, for all his effort is not a central defender and his mistakes indirectly led to one goal and should have led to another. I like the guy but he needs to be at left back if he can displace Molyneux (possible Jones at LB and Molyneux in front of him may work). We let their number 4 dictate the game today, letting him have too much space and someone needed to stamp on him. For us, Taylor was not given the same freedom and it showed. I am a little worried about our attacking threat though I thought Waterstone was reasonable today and Smith worked really hard with little help. Hindle toiled today however and looked like he needed a rest.

All this said it is a million times better than last season and I don't go away from any defeats downhearted. I think we will be bottom half this season but if we continue the progress on and off the field with Evatt then we should be fine and it should be enjoyable.

Great support from the 512 Barrow fans, in total contrast to the Salford plastics, two thirds of whom had left well before the end, presumably to go and get their tea before watching their main team get stuffed by Spurs. Less said about the ground and club as a whole the better - Horrible horrible place. The only good thing was it cost half as much to get in as Halifax.