MotM: 03-03-26. Alfreton (H) Reynolds

[HarrierN2]

Thank God McDonagh hasn't lost his touch - executing a near perfect defensive header, putting the ball out of play, in a very dangerous situation.

[Dead Man Walking]

I've seen some poor decisions over the 30 years I've been supporting the club but seeing Seb go off for TSS was one of the worst I have seen.
As for talk from Murray and also some on the fans podcast about the league 'being stronger' this season, what a load of bullshit.
The league is so bad that we are fourth, We dont score many goals and we are miles away from last season. Yet somehow in the hunt for 3rd place!

Said exactly the same…but then we went on to win the game so what do we know?

The late winner shouldn’t distract from the fact we were dreadful - it was like a training session. Some of the setups for corners were reminiscent of a 9 year old messing about on football manager…. 5 players on the halfway line?!?!

The tactics are so negative, boring and predictable. How we are 4th is beyond me. We don’t look anywhere near a top 7 side at the moment, let alone playoff contenders….
Clearly AM’s matchday data tells a different story…

[COYRedder]

I've seen some poor decisions over the 30 years I've been supporting the club but seeing Seb go off for TSS was one of the worst I have seen.
As for talk from Murray and also some on the fans podcast about the league 'being stronger' this season, what a load of bullshit.
The league is so bad that we are fourth, We dont score many goals and we are miles away from last season. Yet somehow in the hunt for 3rd place!

Said exactly the same…but then we went on to win the game so what do we know?

The late winner shouldn’t distract from the fact we were dreadful - it was like a training session. Some of the setups for corners were reminiscent of a 9 year old messing about on football manager…. 5 players on the halfway line?!?!

The tactics are so negative, boring and predictable. How we are 4th is beyond me. We don’t look anywhere near a top 7 side at the moment, let alone playoff contenders….
Clearly AM’s matchday data tells a different story…

re five players on the half-way line, it strikes me as a tactic that's working. It gives Dibble much more freedom and space to react to what comes in. If four of them had been back in the area it would mean, with their markers, eight more bodies to create the sort of congestion that keeps GK's pinned to the line. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Dibble asked for it.
Could we soon see Prem teams using this against Arsenal? (Chelsea tried a variation of it against them recently.)

[Sam ETP]

A game that sums up this very odd season.

This feels like a poor team. Certainly I'm struggling to care much about it, with 'the revolving door' contributing to that feeling. I'm turning up to home games and the odd away fixture, but not watching any of the interviews or highlights.

(Actually I managed to get excited in the Trophy, with a proper away crowd).

Yet here we are, 4 points off of third spot, with three games in hand.

[Monty]

With a large number of away games coming up, methinks we'll do well to hold on to fourth spot let alone third in spite of games in hand.

[Cyberia]

I think AM probably got the timing of AMS's introduction about right - we know that we cannot expect 90 minutes from him every match. An alternative would have been to start with TSS - but on second thoughts .....

Do we? Okay, then start him and play him for 70 minutes. I don't think he's particularly unfit, especially for his age!

I don't get the TSS hate. Not saying start him, but he's a professional footballer, he's scored goals for us this season (yes, with an awful miss on top). To have him as an option is fine...taking Seb off for him is another matter (although from what I've seen, I'm not convinced yet).

On the sprinklers, they're broken according to H&W.

Sadly can't see us signing a Worrall and Morrison type duo - but I hope to be proven wrong!

TSS has scored just one goal not goals - hardly prolific.

[Dr Shrimp PuertoRico]

I've seen some poor decisions over the 30 years I've been supporting the club but seeing Seb go off for TSS was one of the worst I have seen.
As for talk from Murray and also some on the fans podcast about the league 'being stronger' this season, what a load of bullshit.
The league is so bad that we are fourth, We dont score many goals and we are miles away from last season. Yet somehow in the hunt for 3rd place!

We’ve got more points this season after 33 games than we had at the same point last season.

[HarrierN2]

I've seen some poor decisions over the 30 years I've been supporting the club but seeing Seb go off for TSS was one of the worst I have seen.
As for talk from Murray and also some on the fans podcast about the league 'being stronger' this season, what a load of bullshit.
The league is so bad that we are fourth, We dont score many goals and we are miles away from last season. Yet somehow in the hunt for 3rd place!

We’ve got more points this season after 33 games than we had at the same point last season.

That's an insane statistic, as Fylde are 16 points ahead of us.. Granted they've played two more than us, but one of Fylde or South Shields are going to be gutted. One of them could finish second on 110 points!

[Mirage Molby]

I've seen some poor decisions over the 30 years I've been supporting the club but seeing Seb go off for TSS was one of the worst I have seen.
As for talk from Murray and also some on the fans podcast about the league 'being stronger' this season, what a load of bullshit.
The league is so bad that we are fourth, We dont score many goals and we are miles away from last season. Yet somehow in the hunt for 3rd place!

We’ve got more points this season after 33 games than we had at the same point last season.

I had to check… and you’re absolutely right!

32 points in our final 13 games last season. 36 goals scored. Incredible really. Should have been 35 points as well!

[Sheffield Harrier]

I've seen some poor decisions over the 30 years I've been supporting the club but seeing Seb go off for TSS was one of the worst I have seen.
As for talk from Murray and also some on the fans podcast about the league 'being stronger' this season, what a load of bullshit.
The league is so bad that we are fourth, We dont score many goals and we are miles away from last season. Yet somehow in the hunt for 3rd place!

We’ve got more points this season after 33 games than we had at the same point last season.

And lost once in 14 games.

We’re in the hunt for 3rd place because of how many points we’ve got compared to other sides.
We all wish it was more attacking and we scored more goals. I’m sure we’d find other things to moan about though

We all want to get out of this league. Things could be better and they could be a lot worse. Astounds me how some are always so utterly convinced by their own views and I wonder if they actually enjoy watching the club. That’s if they go to the games in the first place.

It’s been a tough watch at times. I get that.
We are hard to beat. Defensively we are very good. We’ve beaten Fylde and Shields. Beat Hereford on their patch (ok, they’re struggling but always nice to beat them). Beaten two sides from higher leagues in the trophy.
Recruitment in the summer didn’t work out. That’s on Murray and Holdsworth. BUT we’ve managed to bring in some good players (albeit some on loan but kudos to the chairman for giving the manager backing to shuffle the pack) and seen a squad come together as the season progresses. Not a perfect squad but one that is keeping us in the play-offs. But I get that’s the minimum requirement for most of us.
The ups and downs are meant to be fun folks. And I’d like to think the idiosyncrasies of following a non-league club is an antidote to the hype of the Premier League. A league with its over analysis and fans and owners who have the patience of a toddler and want the manger out every two months.
But maybe it’s not so different here.


Anyway, onwards.

[tonythescout]

Some of us who do go regularly sheff speak as we find we arent as wishy washy or liberal as some others
Clearly want murray to succeed but this side is no where near any side ive seen go up. No where near last years bottle jobs either
Who gets promoted scoring something like 50 goals?

[tonythescout]

I think AM probably got the timing of AMS's introduction about right - we know that we cannot expect 90 minutes from him every match. An alternative would have been to start with TSS - but on second thoughts .....

Do we? Okay, then start him and play him for 70 minutes. I don't think he's particularly unfit, especially for his age!

I don't get the TSS hate. Not saying start him, but he's a professional footballer, he's scored goals for us this season (yes, with an awful miss on top). To have him as an option is fine...taking Seb off for him is another matter (although from what I've seen, I'm not convinced yet).

On the sprinklers, they're broken according to H&W.

Sadly can't see us signing a Worrall and Morrison type duo - but I hope to be proven wrong!

TSS has scored just one goal not goals - hardly prolific.

If you want to win promotion and thinking bringing on tss (who no one wants by the way and he’s apparently been made available since November) then it’s like asking for a Morgan when you only have a grand in your bank with a shit credit score.
Rather Minaker come on

[ograzebrook]

I've seen some poor decisions over the 30 years I've been supporting the club but seeing Seb go off for TSS was one of the worst I have seen.
As for talk from Murray and also some on the fans podcast about the league 'being stronger' this season, what a load of bullshit.
The league is so bad that we are fourth, We dont score many goals and we are miles away from last season. Yet somehow in the hunt for 3rd place!

Said exactly the same…but then we went on to win the game so what do we know?

The late winner shouldn’t distract from the fact we were dreadful - it was like a training session. Some of the setups for corners were reminiscent of a 9 year old messing about on football manager…. 5 players on the halfway line?!?!

The tactics are so negative, boring and predictable. How we are 4th is beyond me. We don’t look anywhere near a top 7 side at the moment, let alone playoff contenders….
Clearly AM’s matchday data tells a different story…

Didn't our goal come from such a set play?

Moreover, the points statistic compared to last season tells a very different story to the accepted narrative of disappointment.

Frustration is understandable because we have high standard and expectations, especially among those of us old enough to have seen free flowing, high scoring teams under Allner and Burr. But we have to be realistic and those kinds of teams are rare and it may be a while before we see anything like that again, especially with the way the game has evolved tactically. Premier League fans complain about the same thing.

3 points is what mattered, boring games will occur, the manager saw what we saw and seemingly felt the same way.

TSS is still an employee of the club and can offer something different up front so even though he's not popular, it seems a bit OTT to get upset at the idea of him coming on at all.

Lets keep the good support up. It's been a lot more positive in recent months and the fact that some were saying that a crowd of 2000 was low for a Tuesday night shows how far we've come in recent years. We struggled to get that many for some of our football league matches on occasion.

I'd much rather be forcing our way up into a possible 3rd spot than leading the table and then blow it on the last day. Phytologically, we stand a better chance of play off success this way round, especially with our defensive record (and ideally avoiding plastic pitches).

[Phil]

Not quite sure of the usage of that word Owen:

Phytologically is an adverb meaning in a manner relating to plants or from a botanical perspective, acting as a rare, formal synonym for "botanically". It derives from "phytology" (the study of plants) and has been in use since the 1840s. It relates to the scientific study of plant life.

Oxford English Dictionary

Definition: Relating to or in the manner of botany.
Usage: Rare; synonym for "botanically".
Root: Derived from phytology (botany) + -ically.
Context: Used to describe analysis or classification based on plant characteristics.

[Phil]

Now I'm being slightly more vindicated about the usage of TSS I'll just put this out there.

Remember when a player who was criticised by many came on towards the end of a game a while back now. Scored a hatrick and went down in history.

A true Harriers legend and when his name is mentioned now old men weep.