The Official Mansfield Town Match Thread (Sponsored by Birthday Laxatives "for all your party pooping needs") | Page 11 | Vital Football

The Official Mansfield Town Match Thread (Sponsored by Birthday Laxatives "for all your party pooping needs")

markinkent said:
I've said multiple times back him or sack him but be decisive. That decision needs to be made the week after the Doncaster game.
Click to expand...
Agree with this. Either sack SC and RS at the end of the season and being in a new team to rebuild the whole squad or back him and give him the season. What we can’t afford is to allow SC to build his own team/squad and then sack him at Christmas or before and lumber some other poor old sod with his squad. That’s exactly what happened to SC when he inherited Harris’s negative set up then wasn’t backed to change it in January.

Players still good enough for the playoffs and the failed, but something hasn’t been right all season with the team. Without even talking about ability, their spirit, passion and fitness just isn’t good enough.
 
Jerryattrick said:
Out of interest does anyone know how much the water feature actually cost?
Click to expand...
Or how much we can get for it, or is it out of contract?

We are receiving reports of intense fighting having broken out in areas of ME7. The proximate cause appears to be a water feature widely recognized as sacred by some portions of the community, while the minority so-called rationalist sect regards it as a load of old guff and an insult to reasonable people everywhere. Of course, as our reporter in the region, Orlord 'Erewegoagain, emphasizes, this is not just another example of people being silly. Indeed, until the deep rooted underlying causes of the dispute are addressed...etc etc.
 
markinkent said:
People come to watch successful teams first, entertainment second so I agree with you on that. Spending cash on things that don't generate money is pure vanity - the water feature being the best example of that.
Click to expand...
Which people want "success first, entertainment second" ?
May I suggest that might apply to a vocal subset of 3,000 / 4,000 Season Ticket holders.

But they aren't the spectators who pay for that extra striker.
Clubs like GFC need another 3,000, 4,000 and more extra paying punters to fund squad improvements....
....and my belief is that those slightly less devoted want to be entertained.

They don't want to repeat the weekly despair during half a season knowing that if we go 0-1 down there is no way back.

Right up to the whistle of a 3-4 defeat, fans know that their team has goals in it - so a chance.
 
Tarian said:
Which people want "success first, entertainment second" ?
May I suggest that might apply to a vocal subset of 3,000 / 4,000 Season Ticket holders.

But they aren't the spectators who pay for that extra striker.
Clubs like GFC need another 3,000, 4,000 and more extra paying punters to fund squad improvements....
....and my belief is that those slightly less devoted want to be entertained.

They don't want to repeat the weekly despair during half a season knowing that if we go 0-1 down there is no way back.

Right up to the whistle of a 3-4 defeat, fans know that their team has goals in it - so a chance.
Click to expand...
As it happens Tarian I think I am one of a minority who would take entertainment over lots of dull 1-0 wins. My favourite league game this season was a 2-2 draw with swindon much preferred than dull 1-0 wins, but I suspect the majority would prefer top of the league by any means.

Might be wrong though.

Crowds normally hit their maximum when we are winning, even if 1-0.
 
Defenestrator said:
Picked this quote out as I guess we were all thinking that. Thankfully, the real Gillingham came out second half 🙄

I'd like somebody to prove me wrong on this next statement, but it's something I think I've noticed recently about our style of play.

When Josh Andrews is buzzing around up front, the whole team seems more assured. Our passing seems to be crisper and we move forward more. That's my impression.

Now, Josh got injured by a tackle and when he got up, he was still limping (he went down again later). But from that first incident, he definitely didn't appear to be as mobile as he had been. And I remarked to the guy next to me that we seemed to have stopped going forward for some reason. We seemed to have lost our confidence that we could make something happen in the box.

Now, my opinion of Hawkins is that if the ball gets to him, he'll do something with it, but what he doesn't do is go to get the ball. Which I think Andrews does. And that seems to lift the team.
Click to expand...
Yes that’s a very good point about Andrews, Clemence said after the game he had to sub him off due to a knock he picked up.
Hawkins is far less mobile, and seems out of form lately, I actually thought he played better when he first came back into the team after his long injury layoff.
Another key factor in the difference between the halves yesterday was their best player Keillor-Dunne started on the bench, and when he came on in the 55th min he helped turn the game for them, which combined with our more effective first half players tiring or getting injured and going off.
Our subs had little to no impact on the match, theirs helped them to win.
 
Tarian said:
Which people want "success first, entertainment second" ?
May I suggest that might apply to a vocal subset of 3,000 / 4,000 Season Ticket holders.

But they aren't the spectators who pay for that extra striker.
Clubs like GFC need another 3,000, 4,000 and more extra paying punters to fund squad improvements....
....and my belief is that those slightly less devoted want to be entertained.

They don't want to repeat the weekly despair during half a season knowing that if we go 0-1 down there is no way back.

Right up to the whistle of a 3-4 defeat, fans know that their team has goals in it - so a chance.
Click to expand...
Do you think the extra fans are more likely to show if we are top with dull 1-0 wins or bottom with entertaining 4-3 losses?
 
mehmets_curlies said:
Do you think the extra fans are more likely to show if we are top with dull 1-0 wins or bottom with entertaining 4-3 losses?
Click to expand...
Yes, I do.
Unfortunately, evidence this season is very thin.

The top three home League attendances were:
8,693 v Wrexham (bizarre celeb curiousity ?)
7,150 v Crawley (Boxing Day, local opponent)
7,112 v Crewe (after our highest scoring win, 3-2 at Morecombe)

The August Home League games included 6,489 v Accrington - not bad.
It was followed up with the 4th highest 6,991 v Col.U (local-ish) - lost 0-3.

The next 2 home games had 5,775 and 5,915.
Were those from losing v Col. U - or low scores ?

The 5th highest attendance was 6,983 v Notts County.
As that was after the 1-4 loss at Walsall, I'll try citing that as "conclusive" evidence that high scoring games encourage more spectators.

And you may rebut with:
"Notts County take a lot away."

So actually I can't "prove" my belief....
....but I see no evidence the other way.
 
Tarian said:
Yes, I do.
Unfortunately, evidence this season is very thin.

The top three home League attendances were:
8,693 v Wrexham (bizarre celeb curiousity ?)
7,150 v Crawley (Boxing Day, local opponent)
7,112 v Crewe (after our highest scoring win, 3-2 at Morecombe)

The August Home League games included 6,489 v Accrington - not bad.
It was followed up with the 4th highest 6,991 v Col.U (local-ish) - lost 0-3.

The next 2 home games had 5,775 and 5,915.
Were those from losing v Col. U - or low scores ?

The 5th highest attendance was 6,983 v Notts County.
As that was after the 1-4 loss at Walsall, I'll try citing that as "conclusive" evidence that high scoring games encourage more spectators.

And you may rebut with:
"Notts County take a lot away."

So actually I can't "prove" my belief....
....but I see no evidence the other way.
Click to expand...
It's impossible to know why the crowds were as you say, but I guarantee they would all have been bigger if we were top by sneaking 1-0 wins.
 
Tarian said:
Yes, I do.
Unfortunately, evidence this season is very thin.

The top three home League attendances were:
8,693 v Wrexham (bizarre celeb curiousity ?)
7,150 v Crawley (Boxing Day, local opponent)
7,112 v Crewe (after our highest scoring win, 3-2 at Morecombe)

The August Home League games included 6,489 v Accrington - not bad.
It was followed up with the 4th highest 6,991 v Col.U (local-ish) - lost 0-3.

The next 2 home games had 5,775 and 5,915.
Were those from losing v Col. U - or low scores ?

The 5th highest attendance was 6,983 v Notts County.
As that was after the 1-4 loss at Walsall, I'll try citing that as "conclusive" evidence that high scoring games encourage more spectators.

And you may rebut with:
"Notts County take a lot away."

So actually I can't "prove" my belief....
....but I see no evidence the other way.
Click to expand...
That reminds me of what a sickener that Colchester match was, we brought a couple of extra people who only go to the odd game, all hoping for a good home win after our amazing start to the season, and it was a shocker.
I think Chris Who’s comments about the effect of the Bonne car crash just days before that game are spot on.
Thankfully I missed the Crawley Boxing Day match due to family commitments.
At least the Wrexham game was a money spinner for the club, I recall Shannon saying they had to open up an extra room upstairs for hospitality that isn’t normally used due to demand.
 
Playing for boring 1: 0 wins will draw more crowds than achieving high scoring defeats for sure if successful, but playing for 1: 0 wins and failing to achieve them is the road to perdition. The low risk strategy on the field can paradoxically be the high risk strategy in terms of the mood of the toiling and previously toiling masses.
 
jokerman said:
Playing for boring 1: 0 wins will draw more crowds than achieving high scoring defeats for sure if successful, but playing for 1: 0 wins and failing to achieve them is the road to perdition. The low risk strategy on the field can paradoxically be the high risk strategy in terms of the mood of the toiling and previously toiling masses.
Click to expand...
But that's the point. Under NH once we were ahead, 90% of the time we went on to win, and the other 10% we didn't lose or fail.

The paradox was that when we went behind under him, we nearly always lost but that statistically happened less often, hence our outstanding form from Jan 23 to Oct 23, and why it is difficult to accept that any of our 1-0 wins (or the three consecutive 1-0 wins just achieved by Millwall) were just lucky.

There is already a band of fans at Millwall that apparently want NH out soon, so maybe we are not alone in our expectations of having it all.

NH was originally brought in as a firefighter similar to Allardyce and Pulis, and has been successful in that endeavour at the Gills, Millwall and probably Cambridge. The trick is to find someone to take us on to the next stage.
 
Bit late to this thread, I stayed a while in Notts !

Well done to Mansfield Town, table doesn`t lie - their captain, Aiden Flint, was immense, as he has been all season (received a hat full of awards prior to kick-off) and he completely nullified Josh Andrews as a threat. He was also spraying perfect pitch-wide passes around throughout the game. Add Davis Keillor-Dunn into the equation and with that kind of quality up front and at the back it`s no big surprise that the Stags have performed so well.

For us on Saturday our wide play was rarely a threat to Mansfield. It seems that Hutton struggles a bit when we`re four at the back (SC changed us to 5 at the back but, it was game over by then). Clark was pretty solid at the back but his forward play, on this occasion, was weak and mistake ridden.

Another stylish performance from Jonny Williams. He was making things happen and, IMO, once again looked our best and most savvy player on the pitch. I remain puzzled as to why he was substituted when we were still leading 1-0. SC has since stated “We played well first half, we had penetration, but unfortunately we ran out of steam and I think had we not run out of steam it could have been a different day". Now, I get that in relation to Jefferies who had a really good comeback game but looked knackered early into the second half. But Williams, the guy that repeatedly unlocked the Mansfield rear line with smart plays through the middle, was our first guy subbed at 59 mins. Looked full of beans; maybe he has a fitness issue.

For me, that (the Williams sub) was the turning point of the game. If it was done to enable us to play more defensively, it didn`t work. Has happened several times recently and seems to backfire on us regularly. Much as i`m not in the sack SC camp, i`ll admit to having growing doubts about him.

Off the pitch, another fine turnout and a very buoyant, bouncy, loud and cheerful bunch we were !

Think we need more than a couple of changes for 24/25 season. COYG
 
Defenestrator said:
Picked this quote out as I guess we were all thinking that. Thankfully, the real Gillingham came out second half 🙄

I'd like somebody to prove me wrong on this next statement, but it's something I think I've noticed recently about our style of play.

When Josh Andrews is buzzing around up front, the whole team seems more assured. Our passing seems to be crisper and we move forward more. That's my impression.

Now, Josh got injured by a tackle and when he got up, he was still limping (he went down again later). But from that first incident, he definitely didn't appear to be as mobile as he had been. And I remarked to the guy next to me that we seemed to have stopped going forward for some reason. We seemed to have lost our confidence that we could make something happen in the box.

Now, my opinion of Hawkins is that if the ball gets to him, he'll do something with it, but what he doesn't do is go to get the ball. Which I think Andrews does. And that seems to lift the team.
Click to expand...

Josh certainly appears to be the most potent of our forwards and will hopefully continue to impress into next season. But, at Mansfield on Saturday, he was marked out of the game by the very impressive Aiden Flint, both before he was the hittee of a knock (by Flint iirc) and subsequently.
 
GillsBluenose said:
But that's the point. Under NH once we were ahead, 90% of the time we went on to win, and the other 10% we didn't lose or fail.

The paradox was that when we went behind under him, we nearly always lost but that statistically happened less often, hence our outstanding form from Jan 23 to Oct 23, and why it is difficult to accept that any of our 1-0 wins (or the three consecutive 1-0 wins just achieved by Millwall) were just lucky.

There is already a band of fans at Millwall that apparently want NH out soon, so maybe we are not alone in our expectations of having it all.

NH was originally brought in as a firefighter similar to Allardyce and Pulis, and has been successful in that endeavour at the Gills, Millwall and probably Cambridge. The trick is to find someone to take us on to the next stage.
Click to expand...
Didnt we get relegated under Harris, if so he failed.
Maybe i was just dreaming, not sure about much nowadays.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.