Scunthorpe v City - Build Up & Discussion Thread

[Colesman Ballz]

1-1 draw

Jake Taylor for us. Massive shift from Ryan Bowman but no cigar.

Jay misses a pen, Big Nige comes on as sub and is sent off after 5 minutes.

Have you been reading too many Royal Family conspiracy stories Al ?

 

[IndoMike]

I’m hoping Matt will pick the strongest available lineup for Scunthorpe and have real good go at claiming the 3 points, to rest players with an eye on Cheltenham could be a costly strategy as it’s by no means certain we will beat Cheltenham even with our strongest team.

Absolutely right. Play each game on its
merit and pick the best team. These are young professional footballer at their peak. If they can't play two matches a week there's something wrong. Look at pro tennis players who might play 3 matches a week : matches might be 2 hours or even 4 hours + long.
To risk losing points in a game by playing a clearly weakened team to hypothetically ensure 3 points in the following game is nuts, unrealistic and frankly very annoying.

 

[Hants_red]

Threads merged

{sigh}

 

[Alistair20000]

Have you been reading too many Royal Family conspiracy stories Al ?

No Mr Ballz. I have been eschewing those. The Me Me Me Meghan & Hapless Harry interview will be enough for me and I anticipate reaching for the sick bag. I did get an Alice in Wonderland question correct on a recording of The Chase I watched last night though and that may have influenced my match perdictions.

 

[budegrecian]

I'd be tempted to go with the same side again. We had the luxury of substituting several players yesterday to give them a rest, particularly Page, who would normally be a concern playing two games in quick succession. We were also able to cruise through the last 30 minutes without over extending ourselves.
The pitch is now that much firmer, which means it's not quite as energy sapping.
We could possibly bring in Caprice for Key ; he's as good if not better defensively, which may be useful away from home, but he doesn't have that drive going forward, that Josh has. Other than that, I don't see what other changes we should make.

 

[Legohead]

Also, i've not seen the state of the Scunny pitch recently but usually the groundstaff there keep it in superb condition so that will help us.

 

[The Proper Chap]

Back on the road again for Tuesday's game at Scunthorpe in what i believe is now called the Sands Venue Stadium (Glanford Park) and with the lads looking to kick on from the demolition of Orient at the weekend. I'm disappointed there's no fans for this game as i grew up around the Donny / Scunny area and still have family living about 10 miles from the ground. It's a more than familiar place to me is Scunny. As it is to Rory McArdle, who i've seen score a few goals during his time at the Iron last season. I am presuming it's McArdle and Hartridge to start again at the back in the absence of both Parkes and Sweeney, which could benefit us as McArdle will know Hallam / Eisa / Van Veen well.

We should respect Scunny of course but if we don't 'do a Crawley' and play as we have done in our recent games then i would expect 3 points here. I liked what i saw of Abu Eisa when i watched a bit of Scunny last season and he's definitely a player of quality at this level and is capable of scoring and creating. They also have the big Dutchman Kevin Van Veen who can be hit and miss but has obvious quality on his day.

I'm surprised McGahey is still featuring at the back for Scunny as from what i saw of him in a few Iron appearances last season he looks a sluggish clogger to be kind to him. He can do a job for sure but he's someone that both Jay and Randall can skin alive really if they can get at him. I really don't want to see a physical battle of wills between him and Bowman as i can't imagine that would be either pretty nor effective.

I noticed that McGahey got pulled at H/T against Salford at the weekend so he might be injured? Which would be a positive for us as Scunny don't have the quality needed in back up defensively to be able to deal with our expansive, high tempo approach. Jordan Clarke replacing McGahey last Saturday. An experienced replacement but not an improvement on McGahey IMO.

They have Alex Gillead who on his day can pose significant problems on the wing, supporting Van Veen but he doesn't score nowhere near as many as i think he should. I think if we can stop Gillead and Eisa with supply to Van Veen on that side then it's job done IMO. Eisa is the big danger IMO.

Jordan Hallam joined the club on loan from Sheff U at the beginning of last season and looked promising initially but he only seems to offer industry these days and seems a bit lightweight to me. Also for an attack minded player, his goals record is shocking.

So all in all i think think this game is one which we need to win really going into a far tougher one against Cheltenham on Saturday. I was in the away end to see Matt Jay's excellent daisy cutter that pulled us level at Scunthorpe last season, although it was in vain ultimately as we lost. I'd like to see Jay repeat the feat and the team get the 3 points. This Scunthorpe side are a bit of a rag tag mix and are under the stewardship of boss Neil Cox in his first full season as a stand alone pro football manager so there is lots for us to take advantage of.

I do believe that if we repeat the recent performances then it's 3 points in the bag, but we all know that this level of football doesn't always give you what you expect. Can see an open game and lots of goals actually so i'm going 3-1 to us. The key being stopping the likes of Eisa and Gillead and the supply to Van Veen. Don't need to worry about Hallam et al IMO.

Watching this on ifollow again and looking forward to it. COYR!!

Good post Lego.

 

[tonykellowfan]

I think changes are highly likely. McCardle has played Tuesday - Saturday so I can't see him starting. Page may rotate with Sparkes.

 

[The Proper Chap]

I think changes are highly likely. McCardle has played Tuesday - Saturday so I can't see him starting. Page may rotate with Sparkes.

Who plays instead of McArdle ?

 

[tonykellowfan]

Sweeney or Parkes.