Bob's Board: Arrogance? - Bob's Board

I'm absolutely convinced Paul Cook won't allow it.

I'm also absolutely convinced none of our players would ever admit to it.

But there's a line between knowing we're the best team in the division - in other words confidence - and just expecting to win.

I wonder if we've crossed that line recently.

For the first twenty minutes we were sloppy. No other word for it. We then turned the Spireite screw, as is our game plan, and could've/should've been well in front.

Albeit having conceded, too.

Our quality once more turned to goals second half. Delivering what was a comfortable position. Yet more sloppiness put ourselves under unnecessary pressure.

We all know what happened next.

Rochdale were the latest outfit to see any kind of result against CFC as a cup final win. Which is an enormous compliment. But they're also the latest outfit to benefit from casual defending when three points were there to be had.

My head tells me we're actually better off than this time last week. Twenty points in front with twelve to play. It also tells me it's only a matter of time before we go up. Five games? Six? Seven?

On the other hand my forty plus years supporting blue and white heart is desperate to do it yesterday.

But we have to earn that promotion, not sit back and expect others to hand it on a plate...

This post has been edited by The Earl of Chesterfield: 24 February 2024 - 09:29 PM

The Earl of Chesterfield, on 24 February 2024 - 09:27 PM, said:

yep, with you on all this, the sloppiness is part of our dna, we just have moments in games where we slip into it and it often leads to concessions. webb alluded to it in his post match so i'm sure it will be addressed.

The Earl of Chesterfield, on 24 February 2024 - 09:27 PM, said:

The Earl of Chesterfield, on 24 February 2024 - 09:27 PM, said:

I'm right there with ya, especially the last 3 paragraphs

This post has been edited by spireitetoo: 24 February 2024 - 09:59 PM

The Earl of Chesterfield, on 24 February 2024 - 09:27 PM, said:

We’ve won this league by a mile. Our competitors will struggle to get the points tally we have now. The players know that and however professional it impacts. Look at Liverpool’s end of season results when they walked Div 1 in the eighties. A huge reason why we should have competed in the FA Trophy and set Wembley as a goal for the players. We didn’t set a stretch target.

The Earl of Chesterfield, on 24 February 2024 - 09:27 PM, said:

I agree with much of that, Chris, but whilst we may have dominated the ball after the first 20 minutes we did very very little with it. I could have played in goal for them in the first half.

The quality of our corners was very poor. Our build up play lacked any form of urgency. Our formation seemed baffling. Yet we didn’t change anything or pick up the pace until the last 10 minutes or so when it proved too late. Make no mistake about it, Rochdale deserved a point if not 3.

Logically, there was a tactical reason why we set up like we did today but I felt it wasn’t working and was disappointed it wasn’t changed within the game and before the substitutions which came to late in the game.

I just hope this run of 3 games, being in front in all of them, but losing 1 and drawing 2 is the wake up call needed. It isn’t won until it’s won and it isn’t won yet. No room for complacency or arrogance. Teams are going to come and raise their game. We need to raise ours.

However, Cook should now be able to see our frailties and it is these frailties he needs to work on, not only for what’s left of this season, but in preparation for next season.

dtp, on 24 February 2024 - 10:20 PM, said:

frailities... good word, biggest one is that we simply struggle to keep the ball out of our net, at 2-0 today we should have just closed out that game, we seem to struggle with this, not just today but it has been there all season, 4-0 up at fylde, 4-0 up against barnet, 2-0 up against halifax, 3-0 up against eastleigh, would you say dtp that this is our biggest fraility and what is the answer? i keep beating the mike jones drum as i just think he is such a key player for us but has not featured for a while, is this too simple a solution?

jack bauer, on 24 February 2024 - 10:25 PM, said:

A proper leader at the back.

Bobby Darling, on 24 February 2024 - 10:02 PM, said:

I can’t believe you’re typed this, when I mentioned a couple of weeks ago we were in danger of taking our foot off the gas and becoming complacent you completely decried it!
Well I never ! A charlatan poster like the rest of us! I always knew you were shallow.

This post has been edited by Mr Mercury: 24 February 2024 - 10:45 PM

dtp, on 24 February 2024 - 10:20 PM, said:

Felt today everything was 75%. Are we tired? Are we seeing the effects of grimes, Naylor playing every game? Is it arrogance? The team misses someone with pace. Colclough is missed as is berry, players that can beat a man. Left today feeling very frustrated

We seemed to have returned to the start if the season when it seems teams are just coming and having a go, probably as we're seen as a free hit

We had the desire to keep going to the end early in the year and knicked winners to make it 3-2 etc... but our almost insurmountable lead probably rings subconsciously in the back of the players heads and they only go 75% rather than 100% to grab that winner or equaliser.

The pitches arent helping, ours included, boggier than they were at the start of the season which is more draining, let alone the difficulty in playing the fluid style

Mr Mercury, on 24 February 2024 - 10:38 PM, said:

We have won it now. You were mathematically calculating how Bromley could catch us up. That was daft. As it is now. No good bemoaning lower key performances when we are where we are. Shallow? You have reported folk to the mods for less? Haven’t you?

Bobby Darling, on 24 February 2024 - 11:05 PM, said:

Lol you’re good at this squirming I’ll give you that. Wriggle wriggle.
Of course I reported you to the mods, never denied it, you kept mentioning my mum in a derogatory way after I asked you politely on numerous occasions not to, why would I deny that? That’s shallow.

This post has been edited by Mr Mercury: 24 February 2024 - 11:20 PM

Mr Mercury, on 24 February 2024 - 11:13 PM, said:

Stop drinking and posting. It’s daft.

The Earl of Chesterfield, on 24 February 2024 - 09:27 PM, said:

Nope, we’ve crossed another line - nerves. Oldaker, Sheckleford, Horton, Williams have all stopped being able to complete their passes, and all have something in common. They’ve never won owt. I think Cook will pull them out in favour of experience until we get over the line.

Bobby Darling, on 24 February 2024 - 11:19 PM, said:

Is that the best you’ve got?
No it’s not, it’s the best time to post.
Loving your little sneers.

This post has been edited by Mr Mercury: 24 February 2024 - 11:23 PM

The Earl of Chesterfield, on 24 February 2024 - 09:27 PM, said:

I also agree with most of this, but also need to say if not for Tyrer,we would have been going in at halftime four down.

jack bauer, on 24 February 2024 - 10:25 PM, said:

Obviously, our frailties lead to us conceding goals whereas our strengths lead to us scoring goals. So, it’s a conundrum and one difficult to address so I don’t necessarily think it’s down to one man because it’s a team game and we have given goals away when your “one man” has played too.

Yesterday, we seemed to play in a different formation and were often left with just 2 defenders at the back and Oldaker in front of them. Naylor was further up the pitch along with our full backs which left massive areas of our half for them to attack when they broke. Even when Naylor plays deeper we still leave space behind our advanced full backs which is targeted by the opposition.

So, our strength becomes our weakness. We score goals at a rate of knots but concede more than we should. We normally have the giants share of possession but become very vulnerable when we misplace a single pass.

So, without changing tactics too much because I like to see goals scored is it possible that the frailties come back to the quality of player we have and coupled with, in my opinion, a lack of genuine pace throughout the team. A bit more pace throughout gives more chance to recover a situation. Freckleton at CB against Watford displayed this and probably his current injury is proving more costly than it should. But, then again, we conceded soft goals when he played too. Hence, the conundrum!!!

We are not up yet. The last 3 games have not produced the best performances but we’ve led in all 3. at the moment it’s ‘don’t worry lads not the best day but we’re still 20 points clear. My worry now is that turning into ‘don’t worry lads not the best day but we’re still 10 points clear’ and so on