S-Clarke

Yeah, obviously - but the subs then ruined the game because they weren't very well thought through imo. Credit to him for the first half team and performance, spot on, but the way the subs destroyed us in the 2nd half has to be on him.

That's the worry for me, this was a huge game - we put ourselves right back at centre stage with the win against PNE, and we just buckled. (the pressure got to Che as well imo). Had we won it would have been the same at Leicester though, we were always going to lose - at least we now have a few weeks to stew on it, rather than falling at the 95th min on the last day against Leeds. We'd never recover from that.

Yeah the subs were on him today, totally killed our momentum and control of the game. The first half team and performance was spot on, we just couldn't kill them off. 2nd half we started just as well but again couldn't kill them off. The subs were poor as we lost all control at that point, Cardiff edged back into the game and equalised. After they equalised you thought we'd throw the kitchen sink at them, but again the subs (Edozie/Fraser/Sullemana) confused the team and it was like a tombola substitution - no thought, no tactical idea behind them, just a case of throw them all on and see - that's why Cardiff looked more likely to win it with a bunch of kids, and ultimately they did. Frustrating as our subs have often got us over the line, but today it cost us everything.

It was over in Feb if we're honest. Impossible to win every remaining game, we gave ourselves no margin for error because of that run during Feb. That's what did it for us.

Luckily we'll have a new bunch! Hopefully with much better mentality, but ultimately a lot less quality. Cardiff had a great mentality today, bunch of misfits, kids, u21's. Played out of their skin. So far off us quality wise it wasn't even a debate, but they proved that it's not about quality if you have the mentality right.

That's the worry, I don't think these players have the bottle or mentality for the playoffs - absolute pressure caldron games. If they read this and hate us for saying it then I don't really care, but the proof is in the pudding and whenever the pressure has been on us this season we have fluffed our lines, either through overall performances or our goal scorers panicking. We're fine when we're chasing and closing on teams, but when that chasing gets us back centre stage we choke. We did it in February when we got to 2nd after not losing for 24, and we've done it today when we once again got to within 1 point of 2nd with equal games. As much as we like to hope, it's been pretty obvious since Feb that it's 4th for us and nothing else. And as much as I hate to say it, from what I've seen all season it seems pretty obvious that we are a 'gallant' but losing playoff team.

Aribo was great, agreed. He was tiring a bit in that 2nd half though, but the subs were shocking. Once again I don't know what Rothwell is, he's scored some great goals from the advanced position, but he plays like a kitman when he's deeper as a CM. I hope we're not tempted to keep him.

I mean if you're going to blame Martin for that, then you're stretching massively. Criticise him for genuine things but not nonsense like that.

Stu's injury is the worst thing of today, going into a season where he's out of contract as well and with the Euro's. There's been talk of him studying law and focusing on that, I reckon he might retire now.

There was nothing wrong with how we played today, opened them up on numerous occasions and should have been out of sight. As dominant as the PNE game in that first part of the game. Hit the bar, really sloppy finishes from Adams and dallying from Brooks cost us that. Played well enough to have won that 9 times out of 10. We threw the team shape out of the window in the second half at the expense of winning/getting the goal, and it threw us off course. We tried to force it and then lost the composure we had in the first part of the game. It was always a pretty much non-thing for us to win every game, so in a weird way it's better that the final nail is delivered today than the last game against Leeds as that would have been psychologically gut-retching Playoff wise I have no idea what to expect, when the pressure is on and people start to look again this team does seem to buckle and certain players lose their heads/fluff their lines. They're fine when we're on the periphery and coming up from behind, but as soon as we step into the centre stage we lose our heads. And the playoffs are centre stage, all 3 games. Let's see how we handle that pressure, a hell of a lot more than we've had to deal with at any other stage this season.

Sounds like they have some injuries and illnesses, good for us - not sure where he's using that to make excuses though.

Yep, exactly that. Replays against whoever still generate revenue, these clubs down in non-league rely solely on footfall - so more games, more finance. It's a bad move for the non-league clubs and takes away that romance of it a bit in my opinion, bigger clubs won't play as weak a side either as they know they won't get a 2nd chance - so there will be much less chance of a shock.

Another laugh. They're smashing up their own town again, they really are a special sort. O'Neills bar severely damaged after Pompey title win with staff member racially abused (portsmouth.co.uk)

Wow, that's horrendous for him. Same injury as Ross Stewart. Don't forget that we have Lis coming back, so that issue may already be covered.

I'd also add that Ng is their best player, plays at RB. He'll be out. Wouldn't mind him as a replacement for KWP, he was in the running for team of the season.

I don't think the non-league clubs ever have any aspiration for winning the thing or getting that far, so sticking as many games as they can into any run they have is beneficial. More ticket revenue, more TV money if it's selected. If they get a draw at OT they get to take them back to their patch, sell out and get a massive ticket bonus plus TV revenue for the home game. If they lose they lose, they've just made a fortune. It's about the revenue for the lower league clubs and the replays provide that. Who gives a shit if Haaland or Foden are a bit tired because of their trip to Madrid the week before.

Makes me nervous. Didn't Boro have half a team missing when we played them at home? I remember their CM Howson playing at CB

Yeah he was shocking for them in that first half sadly, can see why he's been a sub for them. Not sure if they went weak generally in that first half, but they were tons better 2nd.

And also play glam friendly's, 3 days after the end of the season half way around the world. The changes are nonsense because it removes a chance for those lower league clubs to take a big side to a replay, you see it so often - massive money spinner for these lower and non-league clubs as the replay is more likely to be selected for tv etc. This just removes that opportunity and sucks the money back to the teams who have it all anyway. I heard that this decision was made without any consultation with lower league, non league and grassroots football - an absolute slap in the face of 'real football'. Check out Tranmere's statement, I think it says all that needs to be said - Club Statement: FA Cup replays - News - Tranmere Rovers Football Club

Yeah Trafford is very much the Bazunu of this season, how Man City got around 40m combined for Gunn, Trafford and Bazunu is insane. We've been bitten twice by them. They'll all have decent careers without doubt, but they were blooded in the top league too soon. I'm all for signing a young keeper as backup to an experienced lad but it's hard to justify spending £15m on a backup keeper, so he kind of has to play by default.

Absolutley that. That back 4 is my starting back 4 and it shouldn't change again. Maybe Stephens can come on in games where we need him, but there's no need to mess around with that 4 from the start if they are fit (well, 5 if you class Downes as the deepest CM). The back 4 are going to be slightly rocked with a slight change in the way they play without Bazunu to use as an out ball, so playing the guys who have already established relationships makes the most sense to me.

Hard to really gauge much conclusiveness on the GK situation from tonight, although we didn't use him as much as we used Gav - that's one takeaway I saw. PNE were utterly awful though, as bad as Blackburn and Swansea. They just stood off us and let us play and move around them, they played like training cones in that first half it was embarrassingly easy.

I wasn't saying that, I just said how we'd adjusted to play with a different type of GK. I think we'll miss what he gives us with the ball playing and giving us an extra man in midfield at times. It's hard to really come to any conclusion that we're a better team until his replacement has been put under any sort of pressure. I'm not alone in being disappointed with the goals he lets in and how limp wristed he can be, but the comments and celebrations about him getting a long term serious injury are absolutley classless and the sort of thing you get from anonymous trolls on twitter, not fans of a football club.

To take it away from some of the classless comments on this thread, I thought it was notable how the team slightly adjusted their approach at the back tonight. We obviously appreciate that McCarthy isn't as good with his feet (no one can deny that Bazunu is top draw with that element), so I noticed much less tight passing around the back. Hard to say conclusively though as PNE didn't press us a great deal and we weren't put under much pressure, but it did look as if we moved the ball away from the back 4 much quicker - and McCarthy wasn't as advanced as Bazunu often is from his penalty box.

We were shit hot in that first half, we tore them to pieces. PNE did make it easy for us as they seemed to stand and watch us a lot, rather than engage in that first half - made it really easy for us to do those quick 1 2's as they simply weren't tracking. But we were totally on it, sharp and quick - unlucky not to have a couple more goals. I thought the team looked so balanced, we attacked down the left or the right and had players crossing on their natural sides - it made such a difference to the speed of our attack and how often we were able to get into advanced positions without having to turn back. The second half was as I expected it to be, a bit of a training ground effort really. PNE came out to play for a bit of pride, so they got tighter, we slowed down and just played out the 45 mins really. Not much to say about that second half as it was just a training kick about - players should still be pretty fresh after that! My overall takeaway from that game is how balanced we looked, Manning made a huge difference - when he doesn't have to defend he's a really good outlet. It makes such a difference having players on their natural sides as you reduce the need to cut back, or turn back to get it on your favoured foot - so the pace is kept up and the forward movement is retained. MOTM for Che well deserved, unlucky not to get 3. He's hit form at exactly the right time. Special mention to Brooks and Armstrong as well, I thought their movement and the way they were coming inside was causing PNE so many problems - the cute pass for Che's second goal was PL class from Brooks. So, that's 1 down! Hasn't changed anything in terms of the outlook though, we still need to win all our remaining games and cannot drop a point. Let's get it a good go.