Darlo Uncovered

Only mid-week but it seems like ages since we've played so thought we might as well start looking ahead to this weekends game. It's another opportunity to turn around our slightly dull home form against a side in turmoil.

I wrote in another thread that our form was improving. To repeat, our form in the first 8 games compared to our last 8 looks like this:
First 8
W: 1
D: 3
L: 4
GF: 12
GA: 18
Points: 6

Last 8
W: 3
D: 4
L: 1
GF: 10
GA: 6
Points 13

We are slowly building into a tough team to beat, but we will have to work to transform some of those draws into wins which could pick us up to the coat tails of the playoff contenders. We have the attacking players to get us the goals it's all about keeping them out at the other end, we need to keep our shape and concentration for 90 minutes and be more professional when were ahead. Slow games down, get compact. In addition, I'd really like to see us improve at both ends from set pieces. With Galbriath, Hughes, Ainge and Thompson etc we have players who can win the ball in the air, yet i can't remember the last time we scored from a set piece. In addition, I really hate this bringing everyone back for corners routine. Surely leaving someone like Saunders or Nicholson up the pitch give us the opportunity to get up the pitch and remove the pressure.

Our opponents Hereford are without a win in 13 league games, their last 5 results reading LLDDL and leaving them in 21st place. Having been sat just 3 points outside the playoffs at the beginning of the season, with a game in hand, when their manager was sacked. The board claimed this was to put in place a structure (Director of Football and Head Coach) that would help them build back towards the football league. It's fair to say it hasn't worked. Their most recent outing on Tuesday night ending in a 3-0 home defeat to Southport and with only 10 men on the field. The suspension comes too late for the player to miss the game against us, but you've got to be thinking if there was ever a time to play Hereford it's now.

Our team has been fairly settled in recent weeks but keeping this consistency will depend on the fitness of Ainge and the hamstring injury of O'Hanlon. We haven't seen O'Hanlon in the team since the switch to 3-5-2 and it seems like a formation that would suit him. If both players are fit I'd like to see both included from the start and so would set us up as:

--------------------------- Maddison -----------------------------

------------- Trotman ----- Hughes --- Galbraith -------------
Thompson ------------------------------------------- O'Hanlon

------------ Wheatley ---- Nicholson ---- Elliott -------------

------------------- Saunders ------- Aigne --------------------

Subs: Syers, J Burn, Hemmings, Henshall, Glover.

They got beat last night and another player sent off , so we all know what's gonna happen[GRINNING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

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JE93 wrote:....
Our opponents Hereford are without a win in 13 league games, their last 5 results reading LLDDL and leaving them in 21st place. Having been sat just 3 points outside the playoffs at the beginning of the season, with a game in hand, when their manager was sacked. The board claimed this was to put in place a structure (Director of Football and Head Coach) that would help them build back towards the football league. It's fair to say it hasn't worked. .....

Thats an understatement!

The previous manager had taken them from Step 5 to the NLN including to a Vase final in a very short period.

The Director's decision to remove him in their first season in NLN when placed so well can only be described as a monumental c*ck up

There is a lot of anger among the Hereford fans directed towards the board and the new management team. On Tuesday some of their fans were singing songs in support of the former manager and there were unsavoury scenes at the end with allegations that a fan threw punches towards one of their players. It's looking a bit fractured now after the euphoria of the new club's rise through the leagues.

LoidLucan wrote:There is a lot of anger among the Hereford fans directed towards the board and the new management team. On Tuesday some of their fans were singing songs in support of the former manager and there were unsavoury scenes at the end with allegations that a fan threw punches towards one of their players. It's looking a bit fractured now after the euphoria of the new club's rise through the leagues.

Doesn't that sound familiar?

Obviously excluding the "new club" part.

quaker4life wrote:

LoidLucan wrote:There is a lot of anger among the Hereford fans directed towards the board and the new management team. On Tuesday some of their fans were singing songs in support of the former manager and there were unsavoury scenes at the end with allegations that a fan threw punches towards one of their players. It's looking a bit fractured now after the euphoria of the new club's rise through the leagues.

Doesn't that sound familiar?

Obviously excluding the "new club" part.

The difference is the Hereford manager didn't slag off the clubs fans or behave towards them in a disrespectful way.

At Hereford the fans are turning on the board, not the former manager. I can understand their anger at the board.

I thought Hereford would be a force this season. As is, we need to be aiming for all three points if we have ambitions of pushing up the table.

I wish Hereford well though. A proper club.

We won at Manchester only just and only just at the ideal time. FC have not looked back since and maybe Hereford reached their nadir the other night so it could be another tense game on Saturday. This league looks harder to understand than an EU proposal. Incidentally, if Quakers did change their manager which Government minister could you imagine in place ? Rees-Mogg would talk nicely to the press but Anna Soubry could dish out a half-time bollocking. They're so bad I reckon Billy McEwan could sort it out in a week. He'd get Boris fit as well.

H1987 wrote:I thought Hereford would be a force this season. As is, we need to be aiming for all three points if we have ambitions of pushing up the table.

I wish Hereford well though. A proper club.

In my opinion, suffering from similar issues in terms of geographical location and the team's they are competing with to bring in players. Location is out of the way, Kidderminster are bigger spenders and Forest Green/Cheltenham are higher placed teams. They have risen in a similar way and have probably hit the same ceiling as us at the moment.

H1987 wrote:I thought Hereford would be a force this season. As is, we need to be aiming for all three points if we have ambitions of pushing up the table.

I wish Hereford well though. A proper club.

And an extremely proper ground.

Took the kids to that play-off semi final win. One of our best ever Darlo days out. The atmosphere was fantastic!

And a very supportive town council who own the ground, refused to sell it off for development when the club was liquidated. They had the foresight to realise a football club in the heart of the town is an asset.

Apparently game is segregated as police expect 150 from Hereford.
don't know how true this is

banktopp wrote:And a very supportive town council who own the ground, refused to sell it off for development when the club was liquidated. They had the foresight to realise a football club in the heart of the town is an asset.

Yes, I agree. I have family nearby to Hereford and occasionally visit the club and town. DBC never really put themselves out for us

darlo reborn wrote:Apparently game is segregated as police expect 150 from Hereford.
don't know how true this is

150 yeah right

don'tbuythesun wrote:Took the kids to that play-off semi final win. One of our best ever Darlo days out. The atmosphere was fantastic!

Do you remember that looping header, that seemed to take an eternity to go in? Great day out.

Game is segregated got email this morning so must be expecting a few from Hereford

Yes, a proper ground indeed. Oh for something similar at Blackwell.... (we'd need to move that fking pipe to get even close).

150 seems reasonable. Surely they have a reasonable travelling support? We take more to most, and their home gates are better than ours.

Darlington: Hemming, Trotman, O’Hanlon, Elliott, Hughes, Galbraith, Nicholson, Wheatley, Saunders, Syers, Thompson

Subs: Glover, Maddison, Henshall, Burn, Ainge

Looks about 60 away fans

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Good to come back from 2-0 down - how did we play?

Comfortably_numb wrote:Good to come back from 2-0 down - how did we play?

Didn't play too bad but we need to stop giving teams a soft goal..

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I don't know how you go about selling the TW product to the people of Darlington, given that we have now won the grand total of 2 games in the last 14 at BM. Today we were playing the worst side I have seen in a long, long time and we huffed and puffed for the first 45, in which there didn't seem to be much urgency, pattern or grand plan before handing them two soft goals. It was largely awful to watch.

Then we decided to play in the final 40 minutes and managed to scramble a point against a side who I am fairly certain will be relegated unless some miracle is performed on their part. They were woeful and looked in the main like a bunch of kids. It's a real pattern to our game now that we do very little for large stretches of games and turn it on for a time.

I don't know how you convince people to part with their hard-earned cash with the kind of home record we are now assembling. I still think we will be in a battle to avoid the relegation fight due to our alarming inconsistency with this wafer thin squad, although I expect Nuneaton and Hereford to occupy two of the slots.

Interesting that TW is saying that Hereford are a good side, which flies completely in the face of what their own fans say and the undeniable stats... they have collapsed dramatically into a heap of no wins in their last 14 games.

HarrytheQuaker wrote:

Comfortably_numb wrote:Good to come back from 2-0 down - how did we play?

Didn't play too bad but we need to stop giving teams a soft goal..

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Didn’t play too bad????.We were fuckiing woefull.Slow,ponderous,aimless,predictableand And clueless against a side in the worst form in the league.The penny didn’t drop until the last 25 minutes or so that they had work to do.And let’s be honest here,most of the dross we have put up with this season is down to the one man who thinks we are a good side.He has to go.

Played 17,won 4 ....nuff said

Emdubya wrote:

HarrytheQuaker wrote:

Comfortably_numb wrote:Good to come back from 2-0 down - how did we play?

Didn't play too bad but we need to stop giving teams a soft goal..

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Didn’t play too bad????.We were fuckiing woefull.Slow,ponderous,aimless,predictableand And clueless against a side in the worst form in the league.The penny didn’t drop until the last 25 minutes or so that they had work to do.And let’s be honest here,most of the dross we have put up with this season is down to the one man who thinks we are a good side.He has to go.

I bet ur one of the knobs calling Ben all game...

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There are some OK footballers in the squad and I actually think the individual components within it could be drilled into a more effective side with the right organisation, leadership and tactical nous. We are what Nuneaton used to be under TW... capable of some good football and results at times but scarily inconsistent and just not solid or organised enough overall.

HarrytheQuaker wrote:

Emdubya wrote:

HarrytheQuaker wrote:

Comfortably_numb wrote:Good to come back from 2-0 down - how did we play?

Didn't play too bad but we need to stop giving teams a soft goal..

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Didn’t play too bad????.We were fuckiing woefull.Slow,ponderous,aimless,predictableand And clueless against a side in the worst form in the league.The penny didn’t drop until the last 25 minutes or so that they had work to do.And let’s be honest here,most of the dross we have put up with this season is down to the one man who thinks we are a good side.He has to go.

I bet ur one of the knobs calling Ben all game...

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There’s something else you’re wrong about.Wanna try for the hat trick?

Loidlucan makes a number of good points, too many soft goals and not able/willing to penetrate into the opposition box. Side to side stuff is OK when we are winning, but we need to drive at their defence when we are behind, particularly if we don't shoot on sight. Too many times it seemed like we wanted to take that extra touch, when really it needed a first time effort. The way we played today is not good enough to attract new fans to Blackwell Meadows, and in the long run, that is what the club needs to continue to grow and prosper.

Completely agree with Lucan.
We have a few good individual players who can play well for 30mins out of 90 but as a team we are lacking physicality in midfield and we just get out fought. Tell me any other team at any level who,s midfield 3 are all slim and about 5’6”, it just doesn’t work, they get out muscled as they did for the first goal.
Not their fault, but it is TW fault. I reckon every one of our teams over last 5 years would out battle this team.
Again, TW,s poor recruitment and poor tactics equals poor team. If we were not in a financial challenge again, then surely he would have gone by now. 4/17 wins overall and 2/14 at home is shocking, and that’s apart from the utter lack of excitement on offer.