Barrow v Forest Green Rovers, match thread

[32mile_cul-de-sac]

Put our strongest team out and we win that game. But i do understand Wild has to rotate his squad with three games in 7 days. Pitch is costing us now.

What in last night's game are you putting down to the pitch? Their second goal he ran from his own half and I don't recall us getting a bad bounce / the ball sticking in mud.

We've changed the way we play purely down to the pitch state. The way we now play does not suit us but the pitch dictates.

[behind the goals]

About time the EFL/EPL came up with some funding for pitches you only have to watch the EFL highlights especially in league 2 to see how poor the playing surface is, our pitch is bad but Mansfield & Bradford who also have poor pitches did pretty well in midweek if we fail to reach the playoffs it won't be just the pitch to blame.

[Cokey]

I agree with just about all of this Cokey. But I wonder if there is another factor at play also.

I’ve rarely come across a manager that studies his opposition more than PW. His knowledge of the clubs, the managers, the systems and the players in League is really impressive. He’s used his knowledge to good effect many times

However I wonder whether he might on occasion over-analyse the opposition. Didn’t see the FGR game but it sounded like a full- blooded gutsy performance (by them). Sometimes that is enough. As has been said before, at this point in the season hearts and heads are almost as important as style and systems. Getting teams over the line is something that PW for all his many talents has yet to do.

I agree SB, regardless of formation/system and tactics, it's ultimately how the players perform and execute it. I think the lads work hard, that's not a concern, it's just we need to change when it's not working.

I think we need to be a little bit braver at times, could our central midfielders get into the box more often to be on the end of crosses? They certainly have the engine to do it.

Also, like Pete said in his latest interview, it's about getting across your defender, one running for the near post/one for the back post, rather than everyone in one place. Mixing it up.

We always do our homework, but unfortunately our opponents do too, and they have a plan in place for how to play against us. By mixing it up at times, we are making ourselves more difficult to play against.

[Bingo]

I know it gets talked about a lot but we don't have the mentality to be a top league 2 side. How many times have we set up to defend, this negative football. Its not complicated play your best team score more than the opposition, to set like we did against a side that hasn't won for months is poor.

I noticed that that piece on North West tonight that the last 3 seasons, according to Paul Hornby, the manager has been given a play off budget. So where this nonsense about lowest budget in the league comes from I have no idea.

I know this sounds controversial but with someone like Paul Cox in charge of this side we would go on and win the league. He had that winners mentality, you need have some swagger about you. Being scared of forest green the worst side in league two when playing at home isn't a winning mentality.. it's a we need to remember who we are mentality. We are a side with a play off budget according the chairman.

[Jonty]

I know it gets talked about a lot but we don't have the mentality to be a top league 2 side. How many times have we set up to defend, this negative football. Its not complicated play your best team score more than the opposition, to set like we did against a side that hasn't won for months is poor.

I noticed that that piece on North West tonight that the last 3 seasons, according to Paul Hornby, the manager has been given a play off budget. So where this nonsense about lowest budget in the league comes from I have no idea.

I know this sounds controversial but with someone like Paul Cox in charge of this side we would go on and win the league. He had that winners mentality, you need have some swagger about you. Being scared of forest green the worst side in league two when playing at home isn't a winning mentality.. it's a we need to remember who we are mentality. We are a side with a play off budget according the chairman.

This Barrow side still has a real chance of achieving something very special but we need to playing on the front foot at home to the bottom of the table side. We gave them far too much time on the ball. I know we’ve got to balance the team but I think we approached the FGR game in the same way as if we had been playing a top of the table side away.

[Matty]

I don't think the formation is necessarily the whole issue, the 3-5-2 is adequate if we play our best XI to suit that (which IMO the team against MK Dons was), at the end of the day it's got us to fifth after 32 games.

4-3-3 is an option with Feely and Mazeed as full backs though given a seemingly large number of the goals we've recently conceded have come from wide areas as teams have established it is a weakness of ours. The conundrum raised in that scenario however is what would be the best forward line?

A central midfield three of Campbell, Spence and Foley picks itself if all are available IMO, no matter which formation you play. Ahead of them Stockton and Telford need a run of games together if we persist with the 3-5-2.

[Cokey]

What about 4-4-2 Matty?

A solid defensive back 4 (take your pick).

Spence and Campbell in the middle of midfield, Newby and Whitfield on the wing.

Stockton and Telford up top.

[Fazered]

The whole team just looked jaded and listless. Out of form and so much slower than FGR who played with energy and looked much better than a relegation team.
We need to rotate players as best we can with what we have

[blue nige]

What in last night's game are you putting down to the pitch? Their second goal he ran from his own half and I don't recall us getting a bad bounce / the ball sticking in mud.

We've changed the way we play purely down to the pitch state. The way we now play does not suit us but the pitch dictates.

Rubbish the pitch was no worse than against M K Dons, we lost because of not closing down enough , lack of commitment and poor defending !

[Wintergreen]

I know it gets talked about a lot but we don't have the mentality to be a top league 2 side. How many times have we set up to defend, this negative football. Its not complicated play your best team score more than the opposition, to set like we did against a side that hasn't won for months is poor.

I noticed that that piece on North West tonight that the last 3 seasons, according to Paul Hornby, the manager has been given a play off budget. So where this nonsense about lowest budget in the league comes from I have no idea.

I know this sounds controversial but with someone like Paul Cox in charge of this side we would go on and win the league. He had that winners mentality, you need have some swagger about you. Being scared of forest green the worst side in league two when playing at home isn't a winning mentality.. it's a we need to remember who we are mentality. We are a side with a play off budget according the chairman.

This Barrow side still has a real chance of achieving something very special but we need to playing on the front foot at home to the bottom of the table side. We gave them far too much time on the ball. I know we’ve got to balance the team but I think we approached the FGR game in the same way as if we had been playing a top of the table side away.

Agree with you both totally. Someone also mentioned 'Swagger' in another previous post - or the absolute lack of it. We looked 'frit' on Tuesday "By all means have the ball all you want but please don't hurt us" Tuesday night was a stark reminder of how bad a Tuesday night can be down in LA14 5UW when nobody - including the crowd, isn't really up for it.

[Hadrian]

Some good points by Cokey in his points on page 7 - Maz for me as the extra defender, when a back 4 is required.

We do, however, already vary the shape in games in different ways.

[Hadrian]

Typical, BBC Northwest at game last night to see defeat
[/quote
Thankfully they were more interested in getting in the presenters' failed crossbar challenge rather than highlighting the defeat.

Poor Ian Haslam - nicely set-up by his colleague and the back-room staff! He doesn't learn though - white shoes again on a February pitch will never end well. At least he remained upright.

[Matty]

What about 4-4-2 Matty?

A solid defensive back 4 (take your pick).

Spence and Campbell in the middle of midfield, Newby and Whitfield on the wing.

Stockton and Telford up top.

Also a possibility.

[DDevine]

Teams will have a drop in form at some point, and it would be naive to think they wouldn’t.
This is clearly it.
Just a blip, tiredness, niggles, complacency even..
But what narks me slightly is that this particular nose dive for me has more to do with the juggling of personnel than anything else, and PW has taken no responsibility for that.
100% get you can always give 100% (if 100% fit) whilst on the pitch but the team can not settle into a starting 11.
Changes started Christmas time for no apparent reason, hence the drop in form.
It reverted back to a pretty standard ‘pick itself 11’ for 2 huge games in Notts County & MK Dons, of which they battled for 4 points out of 6 (wasn’t pretty but was effective) but then its all change for Wimbledon.
Didn’t agree with the change in formation personally, and disagree with the ‘proactive’ changes on 36 minutes, they were reactive panic for me, as neither of the 2 who came off were at fault. No one really was.
The formation and team selection was, if anything.
It didn’t work. But it wasn’t horrific, unlike Tuesday.
Team selection for FGF was even more bizarre, which fills me with apprehension as to what’s coming Saturday.
He alluded to bringing in fringe players, which is all well and good but all that is, is more reaction changes, more juggling.
Strikers have fed on scraps because of the way the team plays, but it was working, but its chop change week in week out.
Firm believer in pick your strongest 11/stay with your unbeaten selection kind of motto.