MATCHWATCH : Stockport County (a)

[katweslowski]

Agree that Reading were really poor. But I was really impressed by Stockport. They seemed really well organised and very creative in their attacks. They surged forward almost every minute and ripped our team to shreds.

[blythspartan]

LOL at those saying there’s nothing to learn from tonight and it’s only one game.

We’re shit away from home and Selles has done fcuk all about it.

Our goal difference is poorer because of it and the longer it carries on the more the pressure on home results will be.

Oh and look at our next few fixtures!!

Yep, agree we have been sh!t away from home under Selles. I don’t know if we are being too harsh though. I think we only have 11 senior players and is Yids our only senior fullback?

Do we have the players that could make us more difficult to beat away from home atm? Right now I am more concerned about whether we’ll be able to complete the season.

I do feel sorry for all the fans that travelled last night to watch us get pummelled, but Stockport looked decent tbf.

[Mr Angry]

Sometimes you have to credit the opposition; they looked a well drilled, very well organised team with a lot of skill and flair for League One, and at times watching them pass the ball around it was hard not to be impressed. The quality of Lewis Bate's crosses into the box, which caused us problems all night, was excellent.

They are going to be in the mix for the play-offs I suspect.

From our perspective, we shouldn't be too hard on the team and the performance; we all know that we have a threadbare squad and whilst our best starting 11 would be play off contenders, the bench and the squad cannot keep that level of performance up, and it showed last night.

[Dirk Gently]

LOL at those saying there’s nothing to learn from tonight and it’s only one game.

We’re shit away from home and Selles has done fcuk all about it.

Our goal difference is poorer because of it and the longer it carries on the more the pressure on home results will be.

Oh and look at our next few fixtures!!

Yep, agree we have been sh!t away from home under Selles. I don’t know if we are being too harsh though. I think we only have 11 senior players and is Yids our only senior fullback?

Do we have the players that could make us more difficult to beat away from home atm? Right now I am more concerned about whether we’ll be able to complete the season.

I do feel sorry for all the fans that travelled last night to watch us get pummelled, but Stockport looked decent tbf.

Doesn't our financial position mean we're not doing as much to recduce the "impact" of travel as we used to when we had more money? Better coaches/more prep time before the matches/better/longer breaks/overnight stays where appropriate etc etc etc?

It all has an impact on perfromance.

[Hound]

Probably worth remembering that out of our squad of 16 outfield players, 4 were above 21 (Mbengue being one of those at 22, the others being Dean, Knibbs and Wing)

We could basically play that team in the u21 league if we changed the keepers

[stealthpapes]

We've been poor away from home for ages now - it was a jokey meme but wasn't it the case that Stevenage was the first game since Stam we won midweek against a team not beginning with the letter B.

It's just now juxtaposed against this current team threatening to be quite good.

Two major reasons spring to mind:

As dirk said, we're skimping on possible marginal gains wrt rest, comfort etc

As someone else said, we tend to go in with the same mentality - Selles does appear to love a bit of chaos in his mentality - and a big, well-organised team can do us.

I'd add a third, but its relatively minor. We never seem like we'll really get back into it once a games not going our way. I think this is a factor of squad age. Maybe. There's no sense of a senior pro taking things by the scruff of the neck. We reset and the opposition scores relatively similar goals against us (last night and Wrexham for example).

*Last seasons away form was W 4 D 6 L 13 but after the Shrewsbury game (where we played well and only really faded post-90s minutes), we played 15, won 4 draw 6 lost 5. So something did change last season. Maybe just luck of who we played? But the lost 5 includes Derby, Portsmouth and Bolton. Equivalent form, even this early in the season, would be an extra 4 or 5 pts away from home, and right in the play off mix.

And to return to the point - that's what's annoying. Squad is showing real signs of promise. We're not expecting to win every away game but maybe we're expecting narrower defeats, a few more ground out draws and the odd extra win.

[South Coast Royal]

Didn't somebody post a few weeks ago that overnight stays were back on again?

A not totally unexpected result last night taking so many factors into account.
We may have won those last 3 games but in each of them we had some quite poor halves so I guess we are just flattered a bit by our league position.

If Smith is out it is quite a worry as Wareham looks far from ready and who else can play through the middle?
Is it time for that other young lad who has been scoring goals at the younger age level?

With Smith out, possibly Kelvin and maybe Knibbs and Mbengue after their knocks last night I fear that we now won't take the FA Cup game so seriously (if we were ever going to) and so possibly give up on cup run income and that bit of added excitement for the fans that a cup run brings and football clubs just don't seem to understand.

BTW on Mbengue, once again last night he stayed down with what looked a serious injury and then miraculously recovers to make a 40 yard sprint.
With his erratic play (how was he not booked early on?) and his regular second half injury he is an odd one indeed but, in these difficult times, his energy and commitment does bring something to this side.

[Hound]

Okine-Peters?

Thought Tuma has looked quite lively and seems to have the physique to cope. Wouldn’t mind seeing him start one of the next games

[katweslowski]

Sometimes you have to credit the opposition; they looked a well drilled, very well organised team with a lot of skill and flair for League One, and at times watching them pass the ball around it was hard not to be impressed. The quality of Lewis Bate's crosses into the box, which caused us problems all night, was excellent.

Totally agree. I was really shocked at how good they looked. Way better than most other League One teams I have seen.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

LOL at those saying there’s nothing to learn from tonight and it’s only one game.

We’re shit away from home and Selles has done fcuk all about it.

Our goal difference is poorer because of it and the longer it carries on the more the pressure on home results will be.

Oh and look at our next few fixtures!!

Yep, agree we have been sh!t away from home under Selles. I don’t know if we are being too harsh though. I think we only have 11 senior players and is Yids our only senior fullback?

Do we have the players that could make us more difficult to beat away from home atm? Right now I am more concerned about whether we’ll be able to complete the season.

I do feel sorry for all the fans that travelled last night to watch us get pummelled, but Stockport looked decent tbf.

Doesn't our financial position mean we're not doing as much to recduce the "impact" of travel as we used to when we had more money? Better coaches/more prep time before the matches/better/longer breaks/overnight stays where appropriate etc etc etc?

It all has an impact on perfromance.

when you say better coaches, do you mean more luxurious seats on board?

[bcubed]

Sometimes you have to credit the opposition; they looked a well drilled, very well organised team with a lot of skill and flair for League One, and at times watching them pass the ball around it was hard not to be impressed. The quality of Lewis Bate's crosses into the box, which caused us problems all night, was excellent.

Totally agree. I was really shocked at how good they looked. Way better than most other League One teams I have seen.

Yep and posted the same, twice
Impressive outfit

[WestYorksRoyal]

Sometimes you have to credit the opposition; they looked a well drilled, very well organised team with a lot of skill and flair for League One, and at times watching them pass the ball around it was hard not to be impressed. The quality of Lewis Bate's crosses into the box, which caused us problems all night, was excellent.

Totally agree. I was really shocked at how good they looked. Way better than most other League One teams I have seen.

Yep and posted the same, twice
Impressive outfit

Before the season started I said they would be the best of the promoted sides, above Hollywood FC. They have been on a mediocre run, but they still could.

It was both sides though. They were very good, but we were piss poor and allowed them to play their game.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

The fixture computer certainly hasn`t done us too many favours this season, up till January 1st next year the lowest team we would have played away based on the current table will be the next one, Stevenage who sit in 15th place.
After thar we have posh, Barnsley Wycombe and Lincoln.

Are they up there because they're good, or because they played us at home and got an easy 3 points early in the season when it makes a big difference?

I'd say Bolton, Birmingham & Wrexham are up there because they are good and Stockport could join them on the evidence of last night.

I think you'll also find that home opponents like Burton, Crawley & Bristol will be at the lower end of the table all season.

[Hound]

Totally agree. I was really shocked at how good they looked. Way better than most other League One teams I have seen.

Yep and posted the same, twice
Impressive outfit

Before the season started I said they would be the best of the promoted sides, above Hollywood FC. They have been on a mediocre run, but they still could.

It was both sides though. They were very good, but we were piss poor and allowed them to play their game.

They were much better than Wrexham imo. Much more about them
Still might have just caught them on a good night

[AthleticoSpizz]

Pure (unchecked fact) assumption, but haven’t the main nucleus of their team come up as a team together from their recent ‘non-league’ status?

[skipper]

Pure (unchecked fact) assumption, but haven’t the main nucleus of their team come up as a team together from their recent ‘non-league’ status?

I don't think so....

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/stockport-county/transfers/verein/1098

[AthleticoSpizz]

Was just a wistful notion tbf

[URZZZZ]

General observation is that we seem to struggle against teams with 3/5 at the back as opposed to the flat 4, particularly away from home. Birmingham, Exeter and Rotherham played with a back 4, all close games. Wrexham, Bolton and Stockport played with a back 3, we’ve been out the contest before half time in each one.

Struggle both offensively and defensively. Striker (whether that’s Smith or Wareham) too isolated up against three centre backs, don’t hold the ball up and consequently we find it difficult to relieve pressure. Defensively, the press is disjointed. Front three step up to press against the three CB’s, but it’s too often passed around and our FB’s (a 16 year old LB and 21 year old CM) are left isolated as the wingers are out of the game (Wrexham’s second a classic example). When you add in the lack of a real holding midfielder, it leaves us desperately exposed

Admittedly, as mentioned elsewhere, there isn’t a ton of options for Selles at this stage but his real downfall is blindly sticking to things that clearly aren’t working. I don’t think sticking a second striker in there and attempting something like a 5-3-2 and pressing with a front two as opposed to a front three could cause any extra harm. Especially considering the lack of impact Ehib and Campbell (although 3 goals in 7 games is an impressive strike rate!) are offering us currently from out wide

Selles will obviously have the aim of a higher ceiling than us but no matter the situation we’re in, employers will look at 4 away wins in 15 months and highlight it as a major red flag. It’s up to Selles to solidify us and start grinding out points away from home

[RoyallyFcuked]

Yep and posted the same, twice
Impressive outfit

Before the season started I said they would be the best of the promoted sides, above Hollywood FC. They have been on a mediocre run, but they still could.

It was both sides though. They were very good, but we were piss poor and allowed them to play their game.

They were much better than Wrexham imo. Much more about them
Still might have just caught them on a good night

The stream I watched the game on had Stockport commentary, and they were saying it was their best performance of the season. I think they played well, but we were very poor. Other than a brilliant piece of play for the goal, we offered precious little. They're a very physical side and good in the air, we simply weren't prepared for that or even equipped to deal with it.

As others have said, basically a step too far for our young side after a great run in the previous 6 games. Given our circumstances we've done very well to be currently sitting in 9th place. The away form is a worry though, and the fact it is so drastically different to our home form.