[lindave]

Going down on Tuesday wanting to see Duffy, Fleck and Banks give a runout, leaving Out DJ, Ogilbie? and Madden. It will probably be Grimes, Palmer, Shecks and Sparkes at the back. Hope Dobra is okay, I hope they'll work on Pepple's heading in the box, other than that, he had a cracking workmanlike game today. Metcalfe played quite well but can Manders find his old form to replace him. Its been an aweful couple of weeks can anyone see us winning soon unless grigg returns soon.

[Bluekent]

Misnomer, on 01 March 2025 - 06:40 PM, said:

It's nice you have such a mature appreciation of how far fans are willing to travel (at considerable cost) and an encouraging view of how to increase attendances. I'd call it 'thick' as f?ck; you'll understand that because, you've used it several times to describe your fellow Spireites. What a lovely bloke 👍🏻🤷🏻‍♂️

Not interested to be honest. If you think the club owe you a performance because you?ve travelled 400 miles then I?m not sure you understand how football works and it?s you who?s thick 😂

[warfey is a spireite]

spireitetoo, on 01 March 2025 - 06:43 PM, said:

Can't deny his quality, but if we can't get him fit and finish the season on a run of games... he's gotta go.

But cook told us he wasfit

[Blue roan lily]

Benno Spire, on 01 March 2025 - 06:27 PM, said:

Trying to find a positive I quite liked the Crewe away kit

Well atleast we beat them 6-3 on aggregate

[Westbars Spireite]

Benno Spire, on 01 March 2025 - 06:27 PM, said:

Trying to find a positive I quite liked the Crewe away kit

I quite liked the Bob Marley song.

[Exharboroughspireite]

I?m not sure where to start but there are lots of questions. Recruitment for a start. So many poor signings in January. We need a huge clear out and we will get one. Only 7 players (including dunkley) in contract. Also we need to have a question asked about training methods. Why has JD broken down again? Where is coco? Why has fleck not shed any of the weight that he clearly has despite being on the books for 6 months? Finally, a question about selection. Why did we abandon the 4141 formation that we stumbled upon yet served us well? Like lots of managers before us, seems like cook has stumbled into the picking teams in the hope that something will come off whereas the bottom line is the squad is poor and it?s our scouting team that has got them here.

[TJ Blue]

A midfielder of Oldaker and Metcalfe just did not work at all today, I?m not sure what Metcalfe adds and Oldaker slows the play down way too much, Fleck was on a different level when he came on.

[Blue roan lily]

Exharboroughspireite, on 01 March 2025 - 07:12 PM, said:

I?m not sure where to start but there are lots of questions. Recruitment for a start. So many poor signings in January. We need a huge clear out and we will get one. Only 7 players (including dunkley) in contract. Also we need to have a question asked about training methods. Why has JD broken down again? Where is coco? Why has fleck not shed any of the weight that he clearly has despite being on the books for 6 months? Finally, a question about selection. Why did we abandon the 4141 formation that we stumbled upon yet served us well? Like lots of managers before us, seems like cook has stumbled into the picking teams in the hope that something will come off whereas the bottom line is the squad is poor and it?s our scouting team that has got them here.

Probably the most sensible post on this thread for a while

[jack bauer]

60s 70s Spireite, on 01 March 2025 - 06:52 PM, said:

I cant recall any of central midfielders, starters or subs, winning one turnover. We were swatted away like flies. And our lack of pace in most areas is frightening.
Its ok saying we can rebuild on the summer, but we will be needing 9 or more new recruits, and whats the chance of such a number gelling enough to challenge for promotion in their first season together?

i think you make a really good point in respect of both the numbers we require to rebuild this side and then the knock on of them gelling to be challenging at the top end, for me we are carrying too many players not at this level so yep agree we will need to recruit, it may be that we have to understand that promotion may take a couple of seasons, i would add though that if we do get it right, football seasons are so long that even with an average start, we could see that gelling you talk of taking place over that long haul of a season.

[Blue roan lily]

TJ Blue, on 01 March 2025 - 07:14 PM, said:

A midfielder of Oldaker and Metcalfe just did not work at all today, I?m not sure what Metcalfe adds and Oldaker slows the play down way too much, Fleck was on a different level when he came on.

Flecks quality shines through we just need him to get proper fit and get established in the side
Get him fit and playing regularly hes top draw

[diddyuk]

Bluekent, on 01 March 2025 - 05:44 PM, said:

What crap situation? Mid table in league 2 in our first season back after 6 long years. Some of you need to grow a pair of b?llocks. It?s pathetic to read. It?s disappointing, a season that promised so much just fizzling out but good god , get a hold of yourselves. We?ve had an injury hit season , not had a settled side all season and some performances have been very very below par but some of you calling for cook to be gone etc are genuinely thick. Unbelievably thick in fact. I?m as frustrated as any one in today and certain other performances but I also understand things take time. No manager I?d rather have in place than cook to build a promotion winning side as long as he?s given time. There are even better times to come at this football club with the people in charge and it?s about time some of you got on board.

Injury-hit look at the age no wonder, I don't think Cook will be here next season, he has done as much as he can for this club

[Bluekent]

diddyuk, on 01 March 2025 - 07:20 PM, said:

Injury-hit look at the age no wonder, I don't think Cook will be here next season, he has done as much as he can for this club

😂😂😂 ok mate. Who do you want?

[Westbars Spireite]

Exharboroughspireite, on 01 March 2025 - 07:12 PM, said:

I?m not sure where to start but there are lots of questions. Recruitment for a start. So many poor signings in January. We need a huge clear out and we will get one. Only 7 players (including dunkley) in contract. Also we need to have a question asked about training methods. Why has JD broken down again? Where is coco? Why has fleck not shed any of the weight that he clearly has despite being on the books for 6 months? Finally, a question about selection. Why did we abandon the 4141 formation that we stumbled upon yet served us well? Like lots of managers before us, seems like cook has stumbled into the picking teams in the hope that something will come off whereas the bottom line is the squad is poor and it?s our scouting team that has got them here.

Fleck looks the same as he did when he was playing for Sheffield United. He doesn't look athletic and never has done.

[Bluekent]

Westbars Spireite, on 01 March 2025 - 07:20 PM, said:

Fleck looks the same as he did when he was playing for Sheffield United. He doesn't look athletic and never has done.

The amount of times this needs saying is astonishing.

[valemadness]

I think people need to remember that the players are human, 3 weeks ago they saw a team mate have a fit on the pitch which he has thankfully fully recovered from and a week ago they saw a team suffer a freak injury that may be in the back of their minds that it could have been them.
When was the last season when we suffered 15/16 players getting injured and most of them being long term (6+ weeks)?
Consolidation the season after promotion is fine, we're probably going to have a large clear out in the summer due to who is out of contract and then push for automatic promotion next season. That's the way Cook seems to do it with us any way in the league, 1 full season in the league and then followed by promotion the next season.

[warfey is a spireite]

Bluekent, on 01 March 2025 - 07:20 PM, said:

😂😂😂 ok mate. Who do you want?

How do we know u keep saying were all thick

[Blue roan lily]

valemadness, on 01 March 2025 - 07:30 PM, said:

I think people need to remember that the players are human, 3 weeks ago they saw a team mate have a fit on the pitch which he has thankfully fully recovered from and a week ago they saw a team suffer a freak injury that may be in the back of their minds that it could have been them.
When was the last season when we suffered 15/16 players getting injured and most of them being long term (6+ weeks)?
Consolidation the season after promotion is fine, we're probably going to have a large clear out in the summer due to who is out of contract and then push for automatic promotion next season. That's the way Cook seems to do it with us any way in the league, 1 full season in the league and then followed by promotion the next season.

Here Here

[Bluekent]

warfey is a spireite, on 01 March 2025 - 07:30 PM, said:

How do we know u keep saying were all thick

You definitely are but come on. Who would you want in charge next season? Throw a name out there. He doesn?t need to be 6 foot either.

[azul]

Will Fleck become a regular, he looked ok when he came on, unfortunately Crewe were just letting us play so hard to judge.

I might give him start next week because surely he can be as bad as the midfielders we fielded today

Westbars Spireite, on 01 March 2025 - 07:20 PM, said:

Fleck looks the same as he did when he was playing for Sheffield United. He doesn't look athletic and never has done.

He was always chunky that is for sure

[Blue5]

I've said it many times this season and I make no apologies for saying it again, the risk of bringing a lot of players in (admittedly, some have been to cover injuries) is that we lose our identity.

Our identity has been that for 99% of the time, Paul Cook's sides turn up and the opposition know that they have been in a game. That's not been the case today and it hasn't been the case for a few matches this season. Both from an attacking and defensive point of view, we've developed a trait where we can blow our own brains out without too much trouble. As costly as our defensive errors were today and at 2-0 down, some of our decision making in Crewe's half was mind blowing. We need players who can punish teams and not act as one of the opposition's best players by taking the sting out of our play by holding on to the ball for too long and allowing players to get back.

Some fans are getting excited about our recruitment this season but what's done is done. However, the Tyrer situation didn't help us because we've ended up with two keepers who appear to struggle to offer what we want from that role. We also never signed that A N OTHER to play alongside Tom Naylor in CM which even based on last season's success many of us were calling for, certainly as far as I was concerned it should have been our first priority in the summer. Then we chose not to introduce any pace into the CD pairing. Injuries aside, the goalkeeping situation, having no pace or bite in CM and no pace in the CD pairing has proved to be our biggest downfall this season as far as I'm concerned.

I'm a big believer in marginal gains and continued improvement therefore avoiding wholesale changes, but the conundrum for me is trying to establish what we need to do with the squad and our starting 11 to regain our identity.

Finally, putting Crewe's timewasting to one side, you look at the profile of their starting 11, how they played and I wonder if that should be our next target.

On a bit of a downer tonight .