Accrington 3 Morecambe 1 [O.G.] LIVE THREAD

[Born again Bill]

Any news on if the club have appealed Arthurs red card ???

Was wondering the same , but seeing as it’s now Tuesday I guess not, which I find strange due to the number of injuries we are carrying . And the fact everybody bar MrMagpo the ref didn’t think it was a red !

[Little Shrimp]

Well, I'm not sure why Stockton has been so completely isolated then? What would you say it was on Saturday? Four at the back, two defensive midfielders, two wide players, one central midfielder and one up front?

Tracking back, defensive positioning, dropping deep to receive the ball in build-up etc. Lots of reasons why players might end up a bit further away than you might want. For example, against Wednesday they played a back four, which was a bit unusual for them so Phillips was forced to start tracking their right back Palmer.

In regards to Saturday, it was a 4-2-3-1 kind of shape with Taylor playing right wing and Gnahoua on the left, then with Weir playing in the more attacking midfield role ahead of Gibson and Fane. I was pleased to see a return to a back four, especially against Accrington who rely on their wide players for a lot of creativity. Just we're lacking in personnel to pull it off as best we could at the moment, which is incredibly frustrating. I think in an ideal and injury free world it would be great to see something like this:

Ripley
Love - Rawson - Bedeau - Gibson
Taylor - Shaw - Weir
Hunter - Phillips - Watts

Got to say I disagree that Accrington were any better than us in the first half. They didn't really have much of a sniff. It was a pretty poor and scrappy game, but ultimately a fairly even one for 45 minutes.

[red shrimp]

Any news on if the club have appealed Arthurs red card ???

The club has appealed it, but I can't see it being overturned as Arthur did lead with his elbow and it does look quite bad on the reply.

We could have 8 players out on Saturday, could end up a cricket score!

[Keith]

Tracking back, defensive positioning, dropping deep to receive the ball in build-up etc. Lots of reasons why players might end up a bit further away than you might want. For example, against Wednesday they played a back four, which was a bit unusual for them so Phillips was forced to start tracking their right back Palmer.

I understand that, but, I feel that we're pulled around far too often. Stockton, albeit, off-form for much of the season, looks entirely isolated. I think Phillips, being nippy & skilful, playing closer to him, would create more space for both. On Saturday, Phillips was never in the game, chasing shadows, even before the sending off.

Got to say I disagree that Accrington were any better than us in the first half. They didn't really have much of a sniff. It was a pretty poor and scrappy game, but ultimately a fairly even one for 45 minutes.

They had a header wide, that he should have done better, and Rawson cleared one off the line. I don't recall any decent chances for us? One long range shot from Weir[?] which went narrowly wide, but I think the keeper had it covered anyway, so I'd say it could have been 2-0 at half-time without too many complaints. Agreed, it was a poor, scrappy game and once we went down to ten men, the 0-0 we were aiming for became unlikely. Accrington are not much better than us, but miles ahead in the league. Shrewsbury aren't much better than us, but miles ahead in the league. Milton Keynes are barely ahead of us in the league, but tore us apart. Bristol Rovers are barely ahead of us in the league, but we left feeling it was a 'well-earned point' against a good team, even though the table suggests otherwise.

I think we have a decent squad (accepting the limitations that injuries are forcing upon it) but I don't think this style of football will work in League One.

[Little Shrimp]

They had a header wide, that he should have done better, and Rawson cleared one off the line. I don't recall any decent chances for us? One long range shot from Weir[?] which went narrowly wide, but I think the keeper had it covered anyway, so I'd say it could have been 2-0 at half-time without too many complaints. Agreed, it was a poor, scrappy game and once we went down to ten men, the 0-0 we were aiming for became unlikely. Accrington are not much better than us, but miles ahead in the league. Shrewsbury aren't much better than us, but miles ahead in the league. Milton Keynes are barely ahead of us in the league, but tore us apart. Bristol Rovers are barely ahead of us in the league, but we left feeling it was a 'well-earned point' against a good team, even though the table suggests otherwise.

I think we have a decent squad (accepting the limitations that injuries are forcing upon it) but I don't think this style of football will work in League One.

The header off the line was from a corner, which obviously is still a chance but it's hardly like they were carving us open. Accrington were not dominant in the game, and neither were we. If it had been 2-0 to Accrington at half time it would have been a very harsh scoreline on ourselves.

The limitations that injuries are forcing upon the squad are exactly why we can't play as well as we'd like.

The concept that certain styles won't work at certain levels is, generally speaking, nonsense. Rotherham bossed the league for most of last season playing a direct and counter attacking style, and are doing a decent job in the Championship currently. If you recruit good players for a system and execute it well, there's no reason why a more direct/lower possession style can't work.

The issue is we're not executing the style as best we could - IMO the main factors are a less settled pre-season given the turnover and the timings of transfers, the Stockton situation probably didn't help, and the every increasing injury list.

[Phil Anderer]

They had a header wide, that he should have done better, and Rawson cleared one off the line. I don't recall any decent chances for us? One long range shot from Weir[?] which went narrowly wide, but I think the keeper had it covered anyway, so I'd say it could have been 2-0 at half-time without too many complaints. Agreed, it was a poor, scrappy game and once we went down to ten men, the 0-0 we were aiming for became unlikely. Accrington are not much better than us, but miles ahead in the league. Shrewsbury aren't much better than us, but miles ahead in the league. Milton Keynes are barely ahead of us in the league, but tore us apart. Bristol Rovers are barely ahead of us in the league, but we left feeling it was a 'well-earned point' against a good team, even though the table suggests otherwise.

I think we have a decent squad (accepting the limitations that injuries are forcing upon it) but I don't think this style of football will work in League One.

The header off the line was from a corner, which obviously is still a chance but it's hardly like they were carving us open. Accrington were not dominant in the game, and neither were we. If it had been 2-0 to Accrington at half time it would have been a very harsh scoreline on ourselves.

The limitations that injuries are forcing upon the squad are exactly why we can't play as well as we'd like.

The concept that certain styles won't work at certain levels is, generally speaking, nonsense. Rotherham bossed the league for most of last season playing a direct and counter attacking style, and are doing a decent job in the Championship currently. If you recruit good players for a system and execute it well, there's no reason why a more direct/lower possession style can't work.

The issue is we're not executing the style as best we could - IMO the main factors are a less settled pre-season given the turnover and the timings of transfers, the Stockton situation probably didn't help, and the every increasing injury list.

Sincerely hope you're right Little Shrimp. We really need to turn things around soon.

[Keith]

One week later, same old Stanley.

A collision between Accrington & Plymouth player. Accrington players surround the ref, calling for the Plymouth player to be sent off (he was).

But, the ref booked two Accrington players.

Accrington & Plymouth down to ten men.

A few yellow cards last week, might have stopped Stanley players from surrounding the ref? Clamp down on them.