Tarn v Burton MATCH DAY THREAD

The back 4, Connell & Yoganathan saw way too much of the ball in the first half. We didn’t get our creative players into the game at all.

I didn’t think the players were brave enough in the first half. Too many taking extra touches & playing ‘safe’ passes.

A combination of us taking more risks & them not being able to press as well second half made the difference.

Adam Phillips was the best player on the pitch for me. His delivery was top drawer.

McGoldrick showed his class. Not many with the touch & control he has playing at this level.

Good to see some pace on the flanks.

Less said about the centre backs the better. They were the only real negatives. Predictably error prone.

 

Brilliant second half that! Well done to the lads for keeping at it after a poor first half.
Not seen the penalty incident yet but I didn’t see a foul at the time - hate calls like that.

The attacking players showed their quality today. Excited by all of the new boys.
Yoganathan started well but struggled a bit later on, with a few dodgy touched and fouls. Kelly looked great. Cleary and Vickers both seem to have a lot of skill.

As for the defence… some work needed. Bland did well.

 

I also bashed him in every game for the last 5/6 games he played of last season when he was truly awful. Today I thought he did well. Today he made minor mistakes like every other league one defender does. I think I'd give him a 6.5/10 overall but a couple extra for some of his passing.
Thought Bland looked assured. Wasn't keen on Ogbeta though he did try some things. Thought Earl was really poor. I think with the return of Roberts and Shepherd we will look much better.

 

Some top notch effort 2nd half and some of the debut guys gave ya hope for the future but the new LB is seriously awful. As we were the wrong way round he was in front of us in the 1st half..Never took a man on, never jumped for a header, never made a move that didn't end in a backpass..Yep it's game one for him but I can't see how he can make the grade. hope am wrong but I can see Earl at LB against Bolton.

 

Oh and McGoldrick of course! Showed his class whenever he got on the ball. Brilliant. Not sure about some of the long balls up to him - he gets up for the flick ons but there’s nobody anywhere near him to run on to them

 

Fair enough. I think I’ve mainly seen you defend him when others are slagging him.

I thought Bland struggled first half (like most of the team tbf) but looked much better second half.

With you on Ogbeta. I thought he looked a bit clumsy on the ball at times. He also wasn’t really attacked by their players. Was it Lofthouse playing on their right because I didn’t notice him once.

Shepherd will definitely help. With Roberts’ injury, we will have to see what he’s like when he’s back. I think we need to sign someone to play with Shepherd but I’m not sure we will.

 

I’ll bite on this one.

MDG had a poor game. The mistakes, the poor balls, the fouls, the foul throw. But also his passing generally - a few times his pass to Earl was poor enough that Earl had to change direction back to goal to get to it, inviting the pressure back on. He just didn’t look good enough.

Ogbeta also looked poor, but it was his debut so he’s got plenty of time to turn it around.

 

The difference between having McGoldrick and Watters upfront is night and day. Ball sticks to him where it bounces off Watters and when he gets his chance he sticks it away. Looking forward to seeing more of him this season, and great if he can regularly play 90 minutes.

 

Yeah people only ever seem to comment when I 'defend' him mate. But I do it too, youre more likely to comment disagreeing with someone than you are when in agreement, usually you just like the comment.

First half I thought they played it spot on, there was always 2, sometimes 3, players overloading on Bland. We struggled because of it, I think they definitely targeted down that side. Second half, I think a combination of both them not being as aggressive and us improving, they stopped doing it anywhere near as much as they were first half, and I think that gave Bland a bit more breathing room and could come forward a bit.

I still maintain Earl hasn't been the same since giving away THAT penalty against Bolton a good while ago. He looks good at times going forward when he runs with the ball.
Ogbeta was definitely bit and miss.

Ideally for me it'll be Watson, Roberts, Shep and pick one of Earl, Gent or Ogbeta when everyone is fit. I do think with game time Gent could be a very good player for us. I would like another centre half in, and a striker. But honestly I don't think we are too far off mate.

 

Said the same to my mates they caused us more trouble by giving cheap free kicks away and we won despite them not because of them , we need better if we are serious about mounting a top six challenge.

 

I mean alot of them shouldn't even have been free kicks today - but the 2 combined do do really silly little stuff, even just hand on the shoulder, even if it is a soft free kick, just don't do it then, there's no reason to do so.

I honestly can't wait for Roberts and Shep back because I think we will be dominant in the air, and our full backs will add a bit of pace to the slow back line.

 

I think we were really nervous first half, likely due to the home form last season. The early penalty clearly didn't help with that.

Second half we looked much better.

In other news, I'm in love with Yoganathan

 

Id say there still ALOT of things that need to improve if we are to have a good season, especially defensively of course.

BUT..... we are so much fitter.
We've seen today and at Plymouth what difference it can make just by being fit.

 

Fantastic 3 points!
Imho i didn't see that coming....first half ....two down and deliberate with no killer touch....second half , totally different side led by the ever young mcgoldrick...who was excellent we overcame a poor first half with a terrible defence....and credit where's its due turned it around, I'm giving Connor a big thumbs up.
Positives...Vickers, Cleary and the brilliant mcgoldrick

 

ANOTHER foul throw!? He’s done plenty of them in the last couple of seasons you’d think he’d learn by now ffs! It’s just basics! He really is usesless. The sooner he’s moved on the better.

 

Nearly everyone is commenting on how poor we were first half but surprised no one has mentioned how good Burton were on the press. Not just in our defensive third but all over midfield. They just stopped us playing. As they tired 2nd half we got better. Our fitness levels this season are much improved.

 

Reminded me of Mansfield last season, worked hard and organised and made us look bad - and we were very very bad first half.
Credit for the second half, more optimistic now but we'll face teams better than Burton.

 

At halftime I thought it was much the same as last season. Burton were all over us, closing down and looking far better- we were forced to play between the defenders and midfield in our own half much of the time and managed what - 2 shots?

better 2nd half obviously and you have to give credit for the attitude shown - in the prediction thread I said 3-2 reds due to the defence being really poor but we have the ability to out score them.

Just hope we can sort out the defence and not end up like last season having to score 3 to win games.

 

Their penalty was justified 1-0 their second was the goalie thinking he could play football better than the outfield players 2-0. But it took a lot to come back from 2 down credit to the lads. Only a couple of our players struggled but the rest did well. Impressed with clearly when he came on Phillips,Vickers Mc godrick earned their tea tonight. Happy days.

 

It's good fun reading the MDT after the game has finished.
My take:
Generally speaking ....First half was ****, but second half, I've not been as positively engaged for at least two seasons.
Terrific comeback after a first half in which Conor was utterly out tacticked by Bowyer.
That must have been some half time team talk.
Just goes to show that if we have players who fight and work their ****** off, then we can grow and develop.
They did fight and they did work off their ******.
Well done boys.