Stockport County - Are they back?

[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 14

Wolves 1 - 0 Stockport County

Heart break at Molineux! Second game in a row we play a former premier league team. A great team with a great manager. We would need to be at our best to take anything from the game and we did our best.

Unfortunately, luck again wasn’t with us. The flimsy Alario once again got injured and had to be replaced in the 4th minute. Replaced once again by the sub standard Dembele. This was the worst thing that could happen, I just felt Casemiro would get sent off again. He didn’t and we dug in. With no goal threat we aimed to take a point from the game . That was on cards until the 87th minute when Bernat with an insane tackle gave the home side a penalty. Up steps league top scorer N Jackson and squeezed the penalty home and squeezed all 3 points. Sam Johnstone did nearly save the pen, but didn’t quite keep it out. Jackson until that point had been kept relatively quiet, so it’s so frustrating we gifted Wolves the points!

Stats wise the home side more than shaded the game so probably deserved the points, but we would have been much more competitive had Alario carried on and we had his skills on the pitch. This is the week at the deadline that Williams would come in and replace Casemiro, age clearly catching up with him! He’s become a burden on the club.

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 15

Stockport County 2 - 0 Stoke City

Williams first game with the club and he started up top with Alario moving into the attacking midfield slot. This worked a treat with Alario getting back on the score sheet and also picking up the man of the match award. Stoke City are a great side and we were clinical despite the closish stats. L Henderson, Alario’s attacking midfield partner scoring the other goal of the game making it comfortable in the end.

County despite some poor results in a handful of games have conceded the least goals across the whole four divisions. This is something to be very proud about. Also pushing for promotion with a mid table table team. The only thing I want is more goals, Williams thinks he’s the guy for this and demanded to play up front rather than drop into the attacking midfield slot. He didn’t score and Alario did. Worrying red flags from Williams already more with his attitude will persuade me very quickly to move him on if these red flags don’t clear.

Very happy with the result and to keep pressure on the top teams. Fulham now at the top of the league and we have them next. If we have aspirations of promotion we need a result against them. Then we have Milwall who have improved indefinitely recently with great work from Gary W. Let’s look to be top by the time we hit half way through the season in 3 games! Or try as hard as possible!

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 16

Fulham 0 - 2 Stockport County

County beat top of the league away to put them second in the league, right on the heels of Fulham. Just as they approach Hal way through the season.

County were able to get to second after some fortuitous result ls with the other teams in the top four.

County dominated the game and had to rely on Sykes and kalas, goals from the defence to take the points. Sykes taking the man of the match too. The only blemish from the game was a yellow card for Bernat who will now miss the next league game against the high flying Milwall. Another must win game for the Hatters! For that game I’ll look to bring in cover at the back on loan. A Bell has been linked from Shaktar and he is a player that would fit our needs and we will push for this to be completed as soon as possible! In other news Williams has moved on, his attitude was something that I couldn’t work with. In that regard we’ve swapped him with Barnsley to make Bellegarde’s stay permanent, 13 million in cash and a very decent back up striker in L Haraslin who won’t start but will replace Dembele on the bench. I’ve crunched some numbers and I feel Alario up top with L Henderson will solve our low goal scoring problems. I’ve manipulated these current transfers to facilitate that and set us up for a very tough run in the league!

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 17

Stockport County 1 - 1 Millwall

After a couple of great results against a couple of great teams we hit a brick wall in the shape of Millwall.

The stats show the game was even and open enough, however this halts our strong run in the league. Gary Windebank was heard saying after the game that his side deserved victory but I couldn’t see anything but a draw on the cards. Seven points in the last three games sees us still going in the right direction though. We don’t actively want to get promoted as it would be a very difficult for us to compete and stay up. But we still want to win every single game.

We took the lead in the 47th minute through L Henderson and we could only keep the lead for seven minutes and the away side drew level in the 54th minute through Y Kabadayi, who took the man of the match award too. Nothing much more happened in the game, but both sides can be happy with their performances. The away side having the slightly better players on paper means the home side can take a moral victory but that means little as I don’t see many if any players surviving the changes that need to be made to get this side to the top.

The final word is that the first issue County has is the lack of goals. How can they turn being tight at the back into opening up and winning more games?

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 18

Ipswich Town 3 - 0 Stockport County

What a bump back down to earth this game has been. What seems to be our bogey team strikes again. We’ve not taken any points from the tractor boys since Stockport County came back into the game.

The sides pretty even ability wise and County doing much better in the league, you could only see one team winning. The game started and County were setup with tactical advantage and we were confident of a positive result.

That feeling dissipated as the game went on and in the 41st minute the home side took the deserved lead and even a tactical switch couldn’t stop the tractor boys scoring two more and comfortably taking the points. The stats heavily in the home sides favour meant I was scratching my head to find any positives from the game and I couldn’t.

Sometimes you learn a lot more from defeat than a win but there are so many things to work on from a result like this, so where do you start, firstly dissecting and then actioning the positive changes.

So, I’m thinking let’s play more positively, no defensive midfielder or fifth defender could be an option. More chances are needed than the five we created in this game. Compared to the 21 the home side created. We may list Seguin and hopefully pick up an attacking midfielder or a striker in his place. It’s a start as I still think we lose this game even if we’d had more chances.

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 19

Stockport County 0 - 1 Bristol City

They say use the same tools in the same way and expect a different finish is foolish, so why expect a result anything other than a loss against a strong team like Bristol City. Using a similar formation and players even at home meant a shoddy job and a shoddy result.

Around the same time last season, we were top of the tree and then lost four in a row to take us out of the playoffs let alone off of the top spot.

We need to turn this bad turn in form around quickly. Bristol are on paper stronger than us, so losing to them isn’t really a big deal. We have played much better though and with no disrespect teams that are better too.

The away side scored the only goal of the game in the 48th minute via L Davis, who got man of the match too. Disappointing that he plays in defence and didn’t really do much defensively meant he earnt it without us testing him at his true job.

Another game where the team we play against get the lions share of the chances and possession. Worrying for the fans as the whole league is tight and we can easily shift south nearer to the bottom. We may need to make some drastic changes in the transfer market to turn this around but the market seems to be stalling, so we think a spot auction could be the ticket.

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 20

Huddersfield Town 1 - 0 Stockport County

Another game where the slide continues, an even game so the silver lining is that we created some chances. So, the main negative is the fact we were on the wrong side of the scoreline. Everything else can be looked at in a positive light.

We conceded again straight after half time, 49th minute, via a R Andrew’s strike, another man of the match for him and another from a defender. We’ve gone from conceding very little and scoring very little to conceding little and scoring none.

Maybe we need to shift our goals for the season. We’ve lost as many in the last few games as in the first half of the season. Quite frustrating and we can’t even blame me caretaking Monaco for me taking my eye off of the ball. We just seem to be ambling to the end of the season. I’ll give the players a rocket though to get them trying as hard as they did at the start of the season, maybe they need to be reminded of what the shirt and the badge mean to the fans and how much harder they need to show it to them and to me how they deserve to continue to play for this amazing club.

If not we can easily replace them with the youth players I’ve seen in our youth setup. They do have the desire and will take this club forward maybe sooner rather than later.

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 21

Stockport County 2 - 0 Middlesbrough

Back at Edgeley Park needing a performance and back to winning ways. I have to say this was a need to win game as the pressure mounts on me as a manager and the players in general.

We setup without tactical advantage and I thought this may be a sign that the dreadful run will continue. However, a stern word to the players before the game seemed to hit the mark. On loan player A Bell scoring in the 17th minute, Beundia the other loanee scoring in the 30th to put us two up. From there we were able to shut out the away side and took a clean sheet, the points as well as A Bell taking the man of the match award.

Overall a satisfying performance and satisfying result. It stems the tide for a short period of time but this kind of performance is required each week going forward now and until the end of the season. Anything less will be unacceptable to the board, the fans and especially me. I will definitely be dropping the 5th defender and the defensive midfielder as they are stifling our attacking flair. Seguin has been listed and has so far had little or no interest from other clubs. He will need to find another club before the end of the season or he will be released on a free, his impact at the club has been severely underwhelming after having more than enough chances to prove himself.

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 22

Stockport County 0 - 0 Brentford

Another tough game against a tough team in Brentford. Although we didn’t win, we didn’t lose and we had the lions share of the chances. With 11 shots on target you would have hoped for one of them to sneak in.

Despite this we put on a good show for the fans and deserved more from the game. It’s been the story of the season though. Not scoring enough. It’s something we can work on and we can be more deadly in front of goal. We are still teetering around the playoffs not being able to put a long run of positive results together to mount a real challenge to win the championship. With that in mind it’s time to let A Wisdom go and one other first teamers to generate funds for the end of season overhaul. We have 60+ million to add more training to our youth team, add further scouts to increase intake and increase the stadium capacity. That will be all of that money spent. That’s even before any prize money were owed.

The only problem I foresee is if an interesting players comes available in a spot auction. But even in that scenario we will buy as low as possible to then release a current first teamer to mitigate going into the cash pot too much. This puts the future of Stockport County in the hands of of the youth team and this won’t be a quick fix.

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 23

Coventry City 1 - 0 Stockport County

Back to square one again after coming unstuck again against one of the leagues strugglers Coventry.

Each time we’ve playing a team at the bottom end of the table we’ve gifted them the points. This is so frustrating as with the points we’ve lost against the lowbies would put us comfortably top as we’ve more than held our own with the stronger teams in the league. Pushing well above our weight but being so inconsistent. Maybe next season will be our year to finally mount a strong push to be champions. If it is great if it isn’t there is no pressure now we have our long term plan to look to youth well under way.

Let’s not justify the loss though, the home side scored in the 9th minute and despite both teams having chances after this the game petered out and the home side took the points. Maybe if we’re gifting points out we should become a charity as this is the only explanation as to why we gave up. A bid in the spot auction has gone in for Zubueldia a strong centre back, we won’t bid more than 34M and we have options in terms of who to purge to replenish the coffers. Let’s see if the bid prevails and if this is the turning point for the team becoming consistent in this tough league.

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 24

Stockport County 3 - 0 Luton Town

Who are the real ‘Hatters’ I hear you ask? After this game there is no question. A demolition job from start to finish. 20 shots, compared to the away sides 8. 64 percent possession in the home sides favour. Where is this kind of performance each week? Surely we can do this every game? Luton are a great side, up there with us around the playoffs and we put them to the sword.

Goals from R Fraser in the 44th minute, the second from P Canales in the 46th and finally E Buendia in the 61st minute meant we were cruising at 3-0 and shut out the away side to make it the perfect game and result. Topped off by another man of the match performance from A bell, I couldn’t have asked for more.

Let’s see if this is the setup we need to take us forward.

Zubueldia will be coming in after our 34 million pound bid was accepted and ratified by the FFO, we will just need the papers to be signed an he will be in the squad for next week. We’ve decided that the player to make way for him would be the fill in striker P Musa having not made an impact since coming in. R Fraser will fill in up front in the mean time.

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 25

Brighton 1 - 0 Stockport County

A tough game against a tough opponent in Brighton and Hove Albion. Definitely a premiership team and we gave as good as we got in the game stats wise. The leagues top scorer and a moment of brilliance from S Haller was the difference. This shows the difference in the sides having the players that can have that moment of quality.

This is despite having tactical advantage to counter the home advantage. Once again there are questions over if Alario is the striker to lead the team forward into next season. I’m delighted we’ve conceded so little, but our goals for are embarrassing. I’m sorry to say Canales as an up and coming talent is behind the curve and he’s start to the season was amazing, but that has dissipated as the season has gone on. Bringing Buendia in to support Canales hasn’t worked and the chemistry overall in the final third is at an all time low. Rather than change the back 5 and the DM maybe we need to replace all of the front four players if they don’t pick their socks up. Blasi from the youth setup will be promoted and he will fill the DM / All rounder role. Any current DM in the first 11 will be moved on to generate cash to support our youth investment and increasing the stadium capacity. All more important than the current situation, but I believe in going for the win in every game!

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 26

Stockport County 0 - 0 Birmingham City

We setup to counter Birmingham City, but our lack of goals reared its ugly head once again. We used one less defender to push another player forward to help with the elephant in the room. It didn't work as nothing has done this season. The stats in the game were very even, credit to the away side. As on paper we would expect to take the points in this game. The main positives are that we didn’t lose and kept a clean sheet. The attacking players once again didn’t cut the mustard and we will be actively looking to replace 1 maybe 2 player to get a new striker / striker force. As mentioned above Canales can’t be moved on for another season, so he has a stay of execution until the end of season 5. So the front four will need to be moulded around this for the time being.

The plan right now is to have a back 5, then Blasi in some capacity in front of them in a DM or MF capacity. Canales will partner Fraser in the AM position and then Alario and another are likely to be in place up top until a plan can be devised to switch it up up top.

We are in many discussions to bring in a rival championship teams top striker and also a youth striker force next season from a top premiership side. This will set us up for season to come, but it must mean we score more that’s a definite.

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 27

Norwich City 0 - 0 Stockport County

Another game, another clean sheet and another draw.

This game overall was a dire affair with little or no action from either side really. The main change in this game was to push R Fraser up top. He’s scored some good goals before coming to County and I was hoping that would continue but another idea and another blank.

Since the second half of the season started we’ve played terribly. Only our first half of the season has meant we’ve not been closer to the bottom of the league. It’s a puzzle I’m keen to solve in terms of winning every game and putting in a constant good performance for the fans and win this league. There will be some big teams available to manage come EOS and I’m fully committed to Stockport County and this club has a special place in my heart.

With planning for next season, Blasi will be a definite promotion, Matterazi will be a definite too. The main question will be do we promote Amelia or do we keep him in the youth setup and ramp his training until he’s automatically promoted when he hits 22 years old? Will he hit 26 rated at that point and do we release S Johnstone then. I think the later is the better way forward, but things change and can change fast in the world of FFO. I may see what Gary Windebank does and use the same idea.

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[Bridgey@Stockport]

Championship league game 28

Stockport County 0 - 1 Nottingham Forest

Statistically we created enough to win this game but once again, we’re toothless up top. It was heading for another nil nil draw until the away side got a penalty and took the points. That after shutting County out at home.

Once again making subtle changes to try and get the best out of the guys in the final third and once again getting nothing from them. Maybe we need a different way of motivating them, with little or no depth threatening them with time on the bench can’t really be used. So I need to keep tweaking to see if I can do it by moving their positions. There aren’t too many variations though and we may have to bide our time and do as best as we can until the end of the season and make the changes then.

The negotiations between the various clubs to bring in those better attacking players are continuing but are a slow process to make it right for both clubs and the players. So we will take our time and will sacrifice some results this season. The supporters need to understand this is a patience game this season and maybe next, they’re class though and no matter what they will support the team in these struggles and then when the good times hit they will get what they deserve and hopefully that will be Premiership football and see what else we can get them!

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