[spireitematt]

So there's 16 games to go I've worked out we need at least 7-8 wins to have any chance of staying up but as it stands I don't know where the next goal is coming from never mind a win. The next two games against Colchester and Crewe will be vital as there is 6 pts on offer and we need to win those if we don't then we are in real trouble. I won't blame DW as its not his fault and he's trying his best with the player's and resources he's got. I don't think we should have got rid of Armand though as he can cause trouble for defenders and wasn't really given a chance under Saunders but we've been unlucky with injuries and things not going our way.

[bluepooch]

I dont really know what to make of it .I went last night and there were two ways of looking at it .The optimists would say we matched the top of the league away from home and there was nothing in it .The pessimists would say two poor teams lacking quality and we wouldn't have scored if we had played all night.
One point to make is thats how Burton have got to the top of the league with a solid defence who dont ship many goals combined with enough quality going forward to create a goal .
As for the immediate future we are desperately lacking in attackers with quality,I think we missed Novak last night and Danny needs to recruit urgently ,a goal scorer and a quality attacking midfielder either central or wide .
Two massive games this week and I'm still trying to be optimistic that we can get something from both of them .

[spireitematt]

I dont really know what to make of it .I went last night and there were two ways of looking at it .The optimists would say we matched the top of the league away from home and there was nothing in it .The pessimists would say two poor teams lacking quality and we wouldn't have scored if we had played all night.
One point to make is thats how Burton have got to the top of the league with a solid defence who dont ship many goals combined with enough quality going forward to create a goal .
As for the immediate future we are desperately lacking in attackers with quality,I think we missed Novak last night and Danny needs to recruit urgently ,a goal scorer and a quality attacking midfielder either central or wide .
Two massive games this week and I'm still trying to be optimistic that we can get something from both of them .

Colchester game we should have a good chance of getting the points as they've not won a league game since the 20th October and there in the same boat as us as they have only won 3 home games all season as well. The Crewe game I think will be a lot more difficult as they are trying to put some form together albeit draws.

[Devongone]

I'm assuming we must be recruiting a player/s this week or we really have made the daftest decision of all time.

I imagine we must think Novak and SEB are coming back immediately and have sufficient goals in them and that we sent out Harrison to create space in our tiny budget for an incoming midfielder or defender.

Otherwise we let a forward to whom we have never really given a chance in a whole calendar year, who has been scoring in every reserve game, go out to a club where he immediately scored two in a game ........ the day after we were proving ourselves completely impotent in attack. Personally I'd try loaning out Chapman, maybe Mani too and gamble on not having a keeper on the bench in order to get more outfield players.

I've been trying to tell you the aim for the season was just 51/52 points to avoid relegation. Colchester would need a miracle to avoid the drop, Crewe are going well, but have ground to make up, Oldham, their fate depends on Mr Sheridan - luckily he seems to be following the same pattern as he did for us and trying to defend and draw his way out of trouble, which won't work for them either. At the moment it looks as though someone wants us to go down (and it certainly won't be Danny). Bad luck is part of it, but at the moment our decision-making takes some explaining beyond a death-wish.

The simple way to avoid relegation is to win games. To do that we have to score goals. It doesn't matter if we lose a game 2-4 if we win the next one 2-1. You don't get anything for losing 1-0 in the 93rd minute to a wicked deflection, and if you miraculously hold out for an heroic 0-0 it's a measly point.

Of the teams currently around us for the last relegation spot, without Evatt and Raglan we look the worst. Any team that reaches the outskirts of success and then lets more than half of its team and its manager go without drafting in adequate replacements is dicing with death. We are getting what we deserve. I'm sad that a good man like Danny Wilson might be dragged down with us, but he's a battler and our best hope in the current predicament. Beating Colchester and Crewe would indeed shrink the mountain we have to climb, and if we save ourselves then long-term policies under a manager who actually cares about the club could see us rise from the ashes.

[bluepooch]

Burton have proved you dont need lots of goals to be top .its clean sheets that count .

---

An old sage once said "Goals win games but defences win championships"

[spireitematt]

Like you say Dev I don't understand why we've sent Harrison out on loan he's top scorer in the reserves and got a brace for Stevenage yesterday. Colchester need a miracle to avoid relegation, Oldham and Crewe are still with a chance of staying up. Two teams which could end up getting dragged in is Rochdale and Bury.

We need a striker and a defender. Maybe we should have got Bowery back because since he went to Oxford he's scored nearly in every single game he's played in.

If we get relegated will we bounce straight back or will we be in L2 for a few years?

[Devongone]

It's not loads of goals I'm after Pooch. It's goals to win games. No one wins a league match scoring 0 do they?

Burton are maybe the worst example possible for us because they are top. A draw when they should've won won't be a disaster for them, but for us it'll be nearly a defeat. A huge two points lost.

Burton have been defending well all season. In comparison three of our defenders are injured. Hird is our most experienced natural defender. Talbot spent a lot of his career playing elsewhere. Everyone laughs if I mention using Humphreys experience. Anderson, Donohoe, O'Neil all lack experience, Maguire's never played. It doesn't realistically sound, taking all that into account, that we'll climb the league with a series of clean sheets.

So we have no option but to score.

We have proved at times we can do it. And whilst we are doing it we reduce the pressure on our weak defence, which will then improve. Hopefully.

If it were the start of the season and I was thinking about winning a league I'd be trying to build on a firm defence. If you know you've got foundations of sand you're likely to build a very crooked spire indeed.

(Whenever I played behind a good defence they were playing behind an attack that looked like scoring when we were in possession. If you look toothless up front, you eventually concede at the back.)

[bluepooch]

I agree Dev.As the song goes .All we are saying is give us a goal ...
Just one suffices for Burton a lot of the time
To be fair our defence has looked ok lately the new lad has settled in well but like you say we cant win if we score zero .

[Devongone]

Yeah we are largely singing from the same song sheet Pooch.

If you do concede a goal, which happens, you don't feel as though the game's over if you think your forwards can get two. Bizarrely when you know that you become less likely to concede the one in the first place.

I think Burton can hold out at 1-0 partly because they have tended to get another when an equaliser went in. (Though I do also think they are over-achievers who know it and are beginning to struggle a bit.)

No news of defensive reinforcements in time for tomorrow. O'Neil's out for a fortnight. Colchester were too good for us at the Proact, but their most dangerous player has gone back to Charlton, where he's now a first choice.

What we need is someone like Banks to step up and say "I AM THE MAN!" instead of lurking around the fringes and offering occasional promise. Between now and the end of the season this could be a career-changer for someone like him. Players who come through when the going's tough are wanted throughout the football world. Herd could get the career back he's lost ...... And for someone like Anderson, well, it's all to play for. We lose, no-one blames an eighteen year-old. We suddenly stop conceding. Does Hird collect the applause, or Tommy Lee? I think they'll focus on Anderson and Burnley will be thrilled.

[spireitematt]

Jordan Slew has been training with the club and he's been offered a deal till the end of the season. He's scored 8 goals in 90 appearances for all the clubs he's played for.