Scunthorpe Reports & Reactions (the latest place to throw away 2 points?)

[JTofBFC]

To be brutally honest I think anyone who is anyone knows it's a very week division this year, relatively speaking. No real stars or massive spenders. Not saying there's a lot of dreadful teams but it's very open this year.

...................and of particular worry is that 10 of our 12 games this season have been against teams below us and we are still no better than mid table. We will be coming to a sequence of games fairly soon. (6 in a row starting November 17th) when we play the current top 6 every week and unless we seriously up our game in front of goal we will be found out at that stage for what we are. A decent footballing side who don't especially trouble good defences and can be beaten by a team that know how to put the ball in the net.

[fencer/bee]

...................and of particular worry is that 10 of our 12 games this season have been against teams below us and we are still no better than mid table. We will be coming to a sequence of games fairly soon. (6 in a row starting November 17th) when we play the current top 6 every week and unless we seriously up our game in front of goal we will be found out at that stage for what we are. A decent footballing side who don't especially trouble good defences and can be beaten by a team that know how to put the ball in the net.

Tranmere know how to put the ball in the net, 29 league goals to date, so your argument dosent really stand there, lets just take it one game at a time and hope we come out on top!

[Markybee]

...................and of particular worry is that 10 of our 12 games this season have been against teams below us and we are still no better than mid table. We will be coming to a sequence of games fairly soon. (6 in a row starting November 17th) when we play the current top 6 every week and unless we seriously up our game in front of goal we will be found out at that stage for what we are. A decent footballing side who don't especially trouble good defences and can be beaten by a team that know how to put the ball in the net.

I don't think anyone is denying we are not yet putting away the chances we are creating. I'm sure the management are very well aware of it and will do all they can to put it right - although this will not involve your wish to get rid of Clayton Donaldson. This might not happen overnight either. I'm sure we are the best footballing tem in this league, quality goalkeepers and a solid defence. An abundance of talent in the midfield and exciting youngsters. Yes, we can't put teams away at the moment but we soon might do. We have no reason to worry about other teams IMHO. We can beat any of them (admittedly by 1-0 only!) and whilst we are throwing away points, so will other teams.

We remain tough to beat and for all your teams you say "know how to put the ball in the net" they can equally conceed. It's still very early days, yes we should have more points but we are still doing ok. I would be both suprised and disappointed if we don't make the top 6, we are making it harder for ourselves with a turgid start but we'll get going on a good run and once we are up there, we won't be falling away.

[JTofBFC]

I don't think anyone is denying we are not yet putting away the chances we are creating. I'm sure the management are very well aware of it and will do all they can to put it right - although this will not involve your wish to get rid of Clayton Donaldson. This might not happen overnight either. I'm sure we are the best footballing tem in this league, quality goalkeepers and a solid defence. An abundance of talent in the midfield and exciting youngsters. Yes, we can't put teams away at the moment but we soon might do. We have no reason to worry about other teams IMHO. We can bet any of them (admittedly by 1-0 only!) and whilt we are throwing away points so will other teams.

We remain tough to beat and for all your teams you say "know how to put the ball in the net" they can equally conceed. It's still very early days, yes we should have more points but we are still doing ok. I would be both suprised and disappointed if we don't make the top 6, we are making it harder for ourselves with a turgid start but we'll get going on a good run and once we are up there, we won't be falling away.

Hope you are right obviously but I know what our record against the top teams was last year and it is a concern that we have played so few of them so far this year. I genuinely don't believe we have the fire power to beat many of these teams but admire your optimism and hopefully the striker we are alleged to be bringing in next week will be capable of scoring a few.

As for Donaldson, I don't disagree that he is a workhorse and can cause problems for defenders running the channels etc. Unfortunately that is only part of his role and unless he can fulfil the other part or we can find someone else who can to partner him then ultimately this is going to be a season of "if only".

[Markybee]

Hope you are right obviously but I know what our record against the top teams was last year and it is a concern that we have played so few of them so far this year. I genuinely don't believe we have the fire power to beat many of these teams but admire your optimism and hopefully the striker we are alleged to be bringing in next week will be capable of scoring a few.

As for Donaldson, I don't disagree that he is a workhorse and can cause problems for defenders running the channels etc. Unfortunately that is only part of his role and unless he can fulfil the other part or we can find someone else who can to partner him then ultimately this is going to be a season of "if only".

Uwe said after the Crawley game he knows CD is better when he is instinctive as (IIRC) it looks like he worries. In nearly one and a third seasons I dont think Ive ever seen a striker miss so many chances BUT who has eqully impressed so much with his pace, hard work and ability to never go hiding. I'd still play him every week, just needs the right man with him to take off some of the load, so to speak

[Kingston Bee]

Uwe said after the Crawley game he knows CD is better when he is instinctive as (IIRC) it looks like he worries. In nearly one and a third seasons I dont think Ive ever seen a striker miss so many chances BUT who has eqully impressed so much with his pace, hard work and ability to never go hiding. I'd still play him every week, just needs the right man with him to take off some of the load, so to speak

If Uwe says CD is better when he is is instinctive why give him the penalty? You could not make it up.....

[robBEEh]

This is nonsense. How can you possibly know that Scunthorpe will "almost certainly get relegated"? What evidence do you have that this year's L1 is "so poor"? Weren't people saying the same about last year's L!? And the L1 of the year before? How do you measure such things?

As for Clayton Donaldson seeming "incapable" of earning his wage, have you forgotten already that only a week ago he scored both goals in a 2-1 win, effectively earning us all three points?

With respect, what position are you in to question this opinion and refer to it as nonsense?

It's not unreasonable to say that they will almost certainly be relefated

[robBEEh]

With respect, what position are you in to question this opinion and refer to it as nonsense?

It's not unreasonable to say that they will almost certainly be relefated

Relegated if they stick with Knill. They are literally on their knees and there's a lot of bad feeling there at the moment. Anyone there on Saturday could sense that.

[nick logan]

i reckon theres a good job in propaganda for our country for you if we have to go to war

its almost as if uwe rights the script though

He's right though. Someone mentioned a win would have relaunched our season! We are unbeaten in 6 lost 1 in 11 and that was a ridiculously unlucky one at orient. Once we get a bit more ruthless we will rise into the top 6 and stay there.

[AB]

A pretty dreary game where we looked much the better side without really opening them up other than for the missed penalty and Forrester's goal. I can see the logic in Saunders coming on, even if he is a limited player - we'd had a number of free kicks in areas he might have done something with one but which came to nothing before he came on.

Donaldson needs someone reliable alongside him - although it was a freak result, I thought that the Crewe performance showed that with El Alagui. It was a poor penalty though so maybe there needs to be a more reliable designated penalty taker, if only to take the responsibility off his shoulders and let him carry on playing freely (frustrating though his conversion rate is, we'll just have to live with it and play to create enough chances to let him get one in unless someone can see an alternative striker who would be less pigate).

Game apart, a nice day out. I was struck by the uniform pleasantness of the Scunthorpe matchday staff, even if the chattiness of the stewards who let me nip out for a fag at half time meant that I missed the begining of the second half engaged in a discussion about how Orient think they're our rivals but we don't care (apparently the East End gobshites try to have some perplexing rivalry with Scunthorpe too).

[Voice from the Braemar]

He's right though. Someone mentioned a win would have relaunched our season! We are unbeaten in 6 lost 1 in 11 and that was a ridiculously unlucky one at orient. Once we get a bit more ruthless we will rise into the top 6 and stay there.

i hope youre right

he'd still give that iraqi propaganda minister a run for his money though

[NorthamptonBee]

i hope youre right

he'd still give that iraqi propaganda minister a run for his money though

To be fair though, he goes to every game and I respect what he says, he see a lot that is totally different to how I see things but he is watching the same game. I read his reports and wish I could see it like that but I couldn't dream of saying anyone had a stromer at the weekend as we weren't that good but really didn't need to be.

[jimchelsea]

Was I the only one who missed some of the game being stuck on the M1? From the 65 mins I saw I though we always looked comfortable. Personally like Donaldson - think he is a constant threat and on a few occasion went like a greyhound to pick up through balls that looked 50/50 at best and always looked like he was causing them problems ( penalty aside )

[Voice from the Braemar]

To be fair though, he goes to every game and I respect what he says, he see a lot that is totally different to how I see things but he is watching the same game. I read his reports and wish I could see it like that but I couldn't dream of saying anyone had a stromer at the weekend as we weren't that good but really didn't need to be.

i'll be at doncaster saturday so i'll be able to see for myself how great we are

guarenteed good turnout if im going

[Brentford_till_die]

Was I the only one who missed some of the game being stuck on the M1? From the 65 mins I saw I though we always looked comfortable. Personally like Donaldson - think he is a constant threat and on a few occasion went like a greyhound to pick up through balls that looked 50/50 at best and always looked like he was causing them problems ( penalty aside )

Also heard of a few others who were stuck on the M1. Any idea what happened?
We drove up the A1 was clear on the way up and back.

[staines_bee]

First chance to comment since Saturday. I thought we played well in spells against an extremely poor and limited opposition, however it wasn't enough to win it. A one goal lead was never going to truly be enough especially considering all the omens (missed penalty, red card etc.)

One thing I can say is that we are the epitome of work in progress. Having dominated the majority of games played so far and not getting the results we deserve, it may be evident that next season may be our time to shine. I'm not writing us off just yet for the top six, it just cannot be coincidence that nearly every game pans out the same way (apart from Crewe) and that we end up having to work really hard at the end of the match to either save a point or go for all three.

About the missed pen, I think everyone in the away end was expecting CD to miss. Forrester was madly gesticulating to Uwe that he wanted to take on the responsibility, however having scored 2 at home to Crawley, maybe Clayton felt he had it in him to do the business. But having skewed it horribly wide, it maybe confirms that someone else should take on the mantle for any future opportunities from the spot.

Harry's very well taken goal should have spurred us on to better things in the second-half but the game continued to lack any particular urgency or energy from both sets of teams. Ultimately, it was typical that that **** Leon Clarke got the equaliser in the most unenterprising of fashions. The red card that followed should have been a straight sending off regardless and sort of summed up the dull afternoon affair.

They'll go down without a doubt. So it's all rather disappointing that yet again it was another case of failing to close out a game we looked fairly comfortable in.

On a brighter note, saw Donald Kerr from the board on the train back to Donny and was able to grill him on another version of groundhog day!

[Brentford 4 Life]

This is nonsense. How can you possibly know that Scunthorpe will "almost certainly get relegated"? What evidence do you have that this year's L1 is "so poor"? Weren't people saying the same about last year's L!? And the L1 of the year before? How do you measure such things?

As for Clayton Donaldson seeming "incapable" of earning his wage, have you forgotten already that only a week ago he scored both goals in a 2-1 win, effectively earning us all three points?

I cant "possibly know" Scunny will get relegated which is why i said almost certainly, but anyone at the game (including home the home fans) knew Scunny were well short of what is required.

Of the 14/15 games i have seen this season Scunny were by far the worst, even bottom of the league and mangerless Bury looked more competent and caused us a lot more scares at the back (despite us parking the bus with a back 5) than Scunny would have done if they were still playing now! The crowd were on their back after 15 mins and fans are boycotting games, as RoBEEh and others have mentioned, they are a club on their knees.

Yes people were saying League 1 has been poor for the last few years because it has been weak since our 1st season back under Scott - 09/10. Last season had a strong top 5 but the rest was not all that. If you require evidence then here you go:

How can newly promoted Crawley and Swindon be favourites for promotion before a ball has even been kicked?

How can Pompey, a club with no players and even less hope be comfortable in mid table at this stage of the season?

How can Stevenage be a promotion contenders despite losing their manager and the spine of their team from last season, not to mention their poor attendences and small budget?

How can Tranmere (a team that has struggled for a number of years) be romping the league with a squad of journeymen and unknown youngsters?

How can Sheff Utd sit in 3rd having drawn almost 60% of their games?

How can smallest budget and favourites for relegation Walsall be rightfully hovering under the PO's?

Need i go on? The league is very weak, i cant understand how anyone could suggest otherwise. I have yet to see a decent team, even Brentford have only looked decent in 1 game (Crewe) and good in another (Tranny) but the rest of the time its been fairly average and were only 5 points off second spot having thrown loads of point away!

Regarding my Clayton point i didnt express that very well but i sense your intelligent enough to know what i was trying to say.

Leon Clarke did nothing in comparison to Donaldson but each had one moment to "earn their money" Clarke took the chance whilst Clayton fluffed his. At the end of the game all of Clayton's endeavour counted for nothing whilst no one from Scunny cared that Clarke had done nothing in comparison. The point i was making is that Clayton seems incapable of doing what the best, or at least the strikers that top goalscoring chart come May, seem to do, which is score without being in the game or playing well. Bradley Wright Phillips is the most recent example of this (over the course of a season) whilst Akpa Akpro, Hayter, Clarke have all done that against us this season. Sometimes i dont care if Clayton scares fullbacks for 90mins, i would prefer him to do sweet feck all and pop up with a goal.

[scruff puppy pup]

Leon Clarke did nothing in comparison to Donaldson but each had one moment to "earn their money" Clarke took the chance whilst Clayton fluffed his. At the end of the game all of Clayton's endeavour counted for nothing whilst no one from Scunny cared that Clarke had done nothing in comparison. The point i was making is that Clayton seems incapable of doing what the best, or at least the strikers that top goalscoring chart come May, seem to do, which is score without being in the game or playing well. Bradley Wright Phillips is the most recent example of this (over the course of a season) whilst Akpa Akpro, Hayter, Clarke have all done that against us this season. Sometimes i dont care if Clayton scares fullbacks for 90mins, i would prefer him to do sweet feck all and pop up with a goal.

Good post, my friend.
We have nothing to fear from the other sides in this division. Unfortunately, up to now, they have little to fear from us either.
What you say about a forward earning his money is key. I would love to see Billy Clarke in our side and I reckon a Billy Clarke would love to play in a side like ours. I really believe that with Clayton, what you are seeing with him this season is pretty much what you are going to get from him and it's not enough to get us promoted. It might be if the rest of the side were chipping in with lots of goals, but that's not the case.
(And yes, I do know that your post referred to Leon Clarke and mine refers to Billy Clarke).