Monday v Marine

Relegation six pointer, four games in.

Can't wait.

Leaking 12 goals in 3 games is not good keeping a clean sheet would help. Missing the work that Billy and Craig did

And also Gav and Ricky.

Defence was a shambles yesterday. Got back into the game at 3-2, gave their striker a free header from a corner, 4-2, got a penalty then missed it and finally a woeful back header presented them with a fifth. We will definitely struggle if we don't sort out our defensive problems.

I'm trying very hard to remain positive! Three points on Monday could move us up the table a number of places, & hopefully give the team some confidence, which we seem to be sadly lacking. Again on Saturday we conceded goals in "clumps", in fact from following Nantwich's twitter, we could've been 5 or more down at half time. At this point I was ready to dismiss PB's claim that morale in the squad was good was wondering if certain people's attitudes may actually be right. However, the fact that we managed to pull two goals back, & should've had at least one more gives me some hope. Yes, defensive frailties need addressing, but at least that is something that can be worked on. We have good, experienced players who should be able to deal with this. I'm withholding any further judgement until after Monday's game.

Our central defenders, (Steel/Stanley/Williams) all seem to be in/around their mid 30s. Experience is valuable but could it be we need some younger blood? We were given the run around at Matlock and it sounds like the same yesterday.

Who missed the penalty?

Winder from watching the highlights which confirmed that we look clueless at the back

Highlights here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSgp05vJo_U&feature=youtu.be

Not good viewing for Stanley and Steel. I wonder if the younger legs of Fensome might be more useful than one of the older heads, or a change of shape to 343/352 although players at this level don't necessarily play that sort of shape as well as the pros.

Even a change to 4-4-2, despite it being a horrifically rigid setup, would be an instant improvement.

No point being defensive if you can't defend.

Brown is loathed to play two up front because he is stubborn and prefers the single striker option. We can hype up the missing Akrigg, Carney, Clark and Mercer issue all we want but they were there last season and we finished 18th so that's that theory out the window. What is logical is the Manager that coached them all is still there and we are now rooted to the bottom.