Dagenham and Redbridge match thread

It just doesn't feel like a promotion season or even like we are watching a team with who feel like they have a chance of promotion. Albeit we are only challenging for the last play off space you would think that there was some zip/chutzpah/pride/determination amongst the playing and coaching staff (and fans) but you just don't get that feeling. A promotion chasing team would have come out all guns blazing - at least buzzing with motivation and some kind of self confidence but it just didn't happen at all.

What we ended up with was a edgy dour defensive display of long slow diagonal hoof ball, misplaced passes, no shots on goal, nearly ever player playing at a least 50% below par (even Luke had a dodgy moment when a back pass squirmed off his boot and was arcing into his goal).

What we ended up with was Sheridan slumped in his dugout, making dubious substitutions (which must have been totally pre planned as they happened exactly on the hour mark), smirking and shaking his head at fans calling for him to sort it out at half time and telling fans to calm down at full time.

What we ended up with was fans arguing with each other during the game, booing at the end and leaving in droves (something I've rarely seen in such dramatic numbers in all my Argyle away supporting even in the worst on times).

Can I put in a positive for the Daggers stadium announcer - who won't be everyone's cup of tea but put in a good enthusiastic shift. And for the comment of the night from the fan who in response to Argyle fans arguing loudly with each other told them to be quiet because 'I'm trying to sleep down here' to a round of applause from the green army and daggers stewards because it totally summed up in a moment the trash we were witnessing.

They were too scared of losing to Oxford Dougie that they bottled the fight to go on and win it. The frame of mind to go out and get at them just isn't there and hasn't been for a while now. There's some bewildering assumption from the team, it seems, that if they just defend well then they'll keep knicking wins - an expectation to score a goal, rather than motivation or true plan to. Then, inevitably, like last night, our usually solid back line will make mistakes and we'll be rocked by losses. It really feckin sucks. What happened to mentalities like attack is the best form of defense? We've got 3 quality centre backs who know how to handle themselves, they're protect by O'Connor in front and have the insurance of the best keeper in the division in McCormick. This should give plenty of licence for the other players to push forward, but we keep bypassing the midfield and expect Reuben and Lewi to be the target men they aren't. The wingbacks have become full backs, so often we have a flat back 5. They weren't always so deep though, they've receded back to this deeper role - tactical cowardice from Sheridan or just the player's fear of losing/conceding as Talbot expressed after Saturday? Probably a bit of both.

Swampy. I remember QPR '04 well. I remember playing Palace, Norwich, Sheffield Wednesday, etc. etc. when we still had players who could put up a fight against them. I remember that we belonged among them, we weren't some two-bit chancers that got a lucky promotion from League One (ala Yeovil, Doncaster). This is why I don't accept this reductionist mentality that seems to be trying to be installed on the club by Brent & co. They weren't around during 2000 - 2009. They don't have a sodding clue how it could be. They only see us now, in this sorry state that we are and this, as far as they're aware, is the norm. Pure nonsense. Get us the hell out of this division and right the feckin wrongs of the previous regime that fecked us over. I concede that they inherited a shit heap of a club, but we put trust and faith in them to restore it - so far they're failing and I have little faith that that will change. They're reducing us into a club that accepts our position in the basement division and maybe chances it in League One.

Another excellent game by the sounds of it........

Wrong spowell we didnt 'belong' we were better than........ Brent out now !

Imagine what would happen if we did somehow fluke a promotion? We'd get thrashed every single week.

It's my fault they lost......this would have been one of my pencilled in games at the beginning of the season......but my plans changed last weekend....so I didn't go last night.....and they lost.

I haven't seen them lose since the 3-0 spanking we got at Gillingham under Reid.....not long after administration....a mixture of pro's and youngsters......Reid looked completely lost and had no idea how to change it.....ok he had the short straw and was in the wrong place at the wrong time......and then we had Fletcher .... ......a nice enough chap....but what a first job to be given.

I'm glad I'm not going to the Newport game this weekend, though we'll probably scrape a 1-0 win, climb back up to 7th and the embarrassment will subside for a bit.

Two winnable games - because one is at home and the other to a team in the relegation mire - to finish March which if it did happen would brighten the mood going into a mad mad April.

Cornish Chris wrote:

Imagine what would happen if we did somehow fluke a promotion?  We'd get thrashed every single week.

This is the thing. League One sides seem so beyond us, let alone the Championship. feckin playing Gillingham, Rochdale, Walsall seems totally beyond us.

Sheridan 'mystified' - so answers on a postcard to Give Him a Clue, Home Park, PL2 3DQ

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Dougie wrote:

Sheridan 'mystified' - so answers on a postcard to Give Him a Clue, Home Park, PL2 3DQ

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Always great when the man you pay to actually sort these problems doesn't even know what's going wrong.

Dougie wrote:

Sheridan 'mystified' - so answers on a postcard to Give Him a Clue, Home Park, PL2 3DQ

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From that article that Dougie's linked:

Shez in tut 'erald wrote:

"I have asked the players questions and didn't get any answers. So we have just got to go onto the next game."

Sheridan thought his players had also been lethargic when they drew 0-0 away to Oxford United on Saturday.

He said: "I have asked them 'is there any reason for those two performances?'

"We know the importance of both games, and I didn't get an answer."

And then from the end of last season after defeat at home to Wimbledon:

Shez in Beeb wrote:

"We are so quiet as a group and I really do think that's the biggest problem we've got," he told BBC Devon.
"Sometimes I sit there and I've asked the question and no-one says a word. They're a good group of lads, but we're not going to get anywhere being nice."
Sheridan says he would welcome his players standing up to him in the dressing room and criticising him.

.

So its a recurring thing for the players to start shying away from Sheridan, especially towards the end of the season.

After losing 1 nil away at 10 man Hartlepool last season we heard

Shez - Herald wrote:

“I will make sure no-one goes hiding – me, my players, anyone. I will make sure we stand up and be counted.

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You've let them hide AGAIN John. There's no inspiration there. I've defend him so feckin much this season, but he's leading another team of bottle jobs into another boring run of the mill season.

Josh Pope wrote:

Dougie wrote:

Sheridan 'mystified' - so answers on a postcard to Give Him a Clue, Home Park, PL2 3DQ

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Always great when the man you pay to actually sort these problems doesn't even know what's going wrong.

When your boss the chairman and owner of the club doesnt know what he's doing either its a perfect match

The thing is we should have improved but we're basically the same as last season. Only the defence has got better but we no longer have Hourihane. Sadly they just cancel out. Our attacking players certainly haven't got better. Bobby Reid and Olly Lee? Not overly bought by either of them and especially the former who we've seen has been very good has been average to very poor in his latest spell.

Bristol fans told us he lost his place there because he went off the ball, seemed to think he had 'made it' and for whatever reason he just ended up blowing out. His end product has always been poor but he needs to start pulling his weight a bit. Perhaps dropping him for a game or two might give him the kick up the backside he needs.

We haven't really got a whole host of alternatives. With not a single winger in the squad, we can't alter the formation. So we're stuck. Sheridan's unbalanced recruiting is to blame here, no budgetary excuses there. Still, he's performing exactly as the lower estimations of his budget suggests he should.

I think Brent has given more than enough money to get a team promoted out of this division. I've been worried for a while that it was actually a boom or bust budget with Brent releasing more money to fund loanees with the aim to get us into League One. I can't believe that there will be the same amount of money available next year or Brent will be as 'generous'.

spowell92 wrote:

We haven't really got a whole host of alternatives. With not a single winger in the squad, we can't alter the formation. So we're stuck. Sheridan's unbalanced recruiting is to blame here, no budgetary excuses there. Still, he's performing exactly as the lower estimations of his budget suggests he should.

No budgetary excuses here? What about being made to sell his captain for feck all and try and replace him with players for feck all or other loan players who get recalled, have you been asleep since last May?
If Shez was backed we would have kept Hourihane, then we could have had the odd loanee and we would be sitting pretty at the top of the pile now. You can't polish a turd, you know this after forty years of watching it being tried.

7th to 9th best budget though Dougie. Several teams with greater budgets than ours. It doesn't mean that we can't exceed our budget, but it sure as hell makes it harder for us. 7th to 9th best budget doesn't inspire a we're going for it mentality. Its an, yeah, we'd like to go up of course attitude. Even deducting the initial 2000 off the gate to deal with the admin debts, we should be able to put in a greater playing budget than 7th to 9th best. The attitude of many supporters seems to be that enough is enough, they won't be committing themselves for next season. The budget then will surely shrink with attendances and the opportunity of getting out of this division will be even less likely. This season was our best shot. The ship had been steadied, confidence had largely returned, the fans have turned up, yet the budget was average and the results disappointing. A very depressing time to be an Argyle fan, acceptance that we belong with Dagenham & Redbridge, Accrington Stanley, Morecambe, rather than with 2nd/3rd tier sides.

Iggy wrote:

spowell92 wrote:

We haven't really got a whole host of alternatives. With not a single winger in the squad, we can't alter the formation. So we're stuck. Sheridan's unbalanced recruiting is to blame here, no budgetary excuses there. Still, he's performing exactly as the lower estimations of his budget suggests he should.

No budgetary excuses here? What about being made to sell his captain for feck all and try and replace him with players for feck all or other loan players who get recalled, have you been asleep since last May?
If Shez was backed we would have kept Hourihane, then we could have had the odd loanee and we would be sitting pretty at the top of the pile now. You can't polish a turd, you know this after forty years of watching it being tried.

Read my posts Iggs, I've been criticising the budget. But Sheridan doesn't have any excuses for building a squad made up of mostly defensive minded players and totally bypassed hiring any creative types. He didn't sign any wingers, bar the 5 minute loan of Bray. He tried fiddling with players out of position to make 4-4-2/4-3-3 work, but it just wouldn't. He had players on the wing who aren't wingers, a CB at LB, 2 defensive minded midfielders and expecting them to create for those in front. He really fecked it up a bit and created a totally unbalanced squad. Yes it was made difficult for him because of the sale of Hourihane, but he still had time and he should have brought in players of the correct style of play - he failed to identify his targets properly.

Then the players we do have and he ignored Thomas, he continues to ignore Harvey and Purrington. They put a foot wrong in one game and they're out of the team for months. Yet he regularly sticks by other players continuously through poor form. McHugh at left back for example, how long did it take for him to realise that that was a feckin disaster? Sheridan isn't without faults. Shit budget or not, he's been a bit of a tool too often. Look at the quotes I've taken above. "I won't let my players hide"... a few months later and its "my players are hiding". I thought you weren't letting that happen mate? A season later and its the same shit again. Then there's the inability to change a game from a losing position.

Wipe, rinse, repeat.

Guess what Spooly, talent is more expensive than mediocrity, we don't seem to posses the talent that clubs with much less turnover than ours do, go figure.

The manager is "mystified" at losing to a fairly shite team, the fans are angry and losing interest, the players suddenly decide to play like donkeys, it all adds up folks to a re re run of last season, when we hit the dizzy heights of 7th. And then finished with a run of relegation form e.g no wins in the last eight games.
Here we go again (probably).

Iggy wrote:

spowell92 wrote:

We haven't really got a whole host of alternatives. With not a single winger in the squad, we can't alter the formation. So we're stuck. Sheridan's unbalanced recruiting is to blame here, no budgetary excuses there. Still, he's performing exactly as the lower estimations of his budget suggests he should.

No budgetary excuses here? What about being made to sell his captain for feck all and try and replace him with players for feck all or other loan players who get recalled, have you been asleep since last May?
If Shez was backed we would have kept Hourihane, then we could have had the odd loanee and we would be sitting pretty at the top of the pile now. You can't polish a turd, you know this after forty years of watching it being tried.

Hourihane was off anyrate.....we got what we could before he just walked away....an unhappy player isn't worth keeping....they don't go that extra mile for you.

akagreengull wrote:

The manager is "mystified" at losing to a fairly shite team, the fans are angry and losing interest, the players suddenly decide to play like donkeys, it all adds up folks to a re re run of last season, when we hit the dizzy heights of 7th. And then finished with a run of relegation form e.g no wins in the last eight games.
Here we go again (probably).

Even then..... we where only three goals away from being 6th in the league....small margins between success and failure.

But.....three goals when your averaging 1.135 goals a match .....is a bridge too far

zyph wrote:

Hourihane was off anyrate.....we got what we could before he just walked away....an unhappy player isn't worth keeping....they don't go that extra mile for you.

Not strictly true Zyph, he was contracted until the end of this season and for the paltry sum we actually recieved by the time everyone else had taken their bunce, we'd surely have been better off keeping him if it meant a realistic chance of promotion rather than trousering a measly 60-80 grand, speculate to accumulate and all that. He would also be foolishly unwise to give anything less than 100% for the team if he's looking to move on to bigger and better things once his contract has expired. A costly mistake imo and I'm not just saying that in hindsight, many of us have been saying so since the day he was 'sold'.