City chief Mills plots new run of defiance (From York Press)

It is similar to last season - I had this
'crossroads ' feeling at this time last year - is it up or down ?
Anyway last year we chose the right road and I'm sure Millsy will sort it out .
UP THE CITY

You can't write off Cheltenham after reaching the play-off final last season, this will be a tough game. However we are a team with great belief and GM has got the team playing as a team with a never say die spirit. We will climb the table so Gary is right not to worry about the league table now. Its great to be facing a fresh challenge every week. Lets get a win tomorrow

Watching the Grimsby/Luton match, have a soft spot for Grimsby and obviously despise Luton so it's entertaining stuff. The Grimsby left-back (Thomas) is VERY impressive, reminds me of Meredith at his best. Luton, once again, are awful.

Need a clean sheet tomorrow, the defending is getting silly.

reading various predictions for this game, it seams almost every city fan is convinced well win this.
for the life of me i just dont get this.
1, they very very impressive lasy yr, going on a long unbeaten run.
2, now, i beleive currently 6 away unbeaten.
3 the cheltenham captain returned to action midweek. by all accounts v impressive.
4, weve only managed 2 wins in 7 lge games. one of them against the leagues whipping boys, the other against oxford whose boss wilder reckoned even a point for them wouldnt have made him happy.
5, our defence is a shambles, and now no carlisle.
6, we have a make shift midfield.

so finally my prediction, 2-1 city.
3400.
its a funny old game.

We seem to be leaking more goals now that we have a specialist defense coach - than we did without one.

andy jamo wrote:
reading various predictions for this game, it seams almost every city fan is convinced well win this.
for the life of me i just dont get this.
1, they very very impressive lasy yr, going on a long unbeaten run.
2, now, i beleive currently 6 away unbeaten.
3 the cheltenham captain returned to action midweek. by all accounts v impressive.
4, weve only managed 2 wins in 7 lge games. one of them against the leagues whipping boys, the other against oxford whose boss wilder reckoned even a point for them wouldnt have made him happy.
5, our defence is a shambles, and now no carlisle.
6, we have a make shift midfield.

so finally my prediction, 2-1 city.
3400.
its a funny old game.

Looking at the above and our poor home form this should actually be an away win, however we usually bounce back under Mills so I'm hoping for the best and a city 2-1 win. Kerr can't come back soon enough for me though from what i'v seen this season, the midfield is getting the run around most games,with Bullock and McReady looking more and more out of the picture we need him back.

Blair on the bench yet again!!

People were justifying it by the fact York had picked up points while he wasn't in the team as if that wouldn't have happened had Blair been playing, but right this second with a draw v Cheltenham, York would be down in 16th, so are people still claiming it's a potential master-stroke to keep your best player on the bench every game.

If I was Blair I'd be looking elsewhere in Jan since his efforts and importance of last year to York have been seemingly forgotten in an instance just because he got injured at the end of pre-season, and one of his replacements has scored a few goals. At the very least Blair could play instead of McLaughlin, but he's still better than Walker or Chambers imo even though Chambers did well while Blair was injured.

Maybe when York hit the relegation zone Blair will be asked to help put things right.

andy jamo wrote:
reading various predictions for this game, it seams almost every city fan is convinced well win this.
for the life of me i just dont get this.
1, they very very impressive lasy yr, going on a long unbeaten run.
2, now, i beleive currently 6 away unbeaten.
3 the cheltenham captain returned to action midweek. by all accounts v impressive.
4, weve only managed 2 wins in 7 lge games. one of them against the leagues whipping boys, the other against oxford whose boss wilder reckoned even a point for them wouldnt have made him happy.
5, our defence is a shambles, and now no carlisle.
6, we have a make shift midfield.

so finally my prediction, 2-1 city.
3400.
its a funny old game.

Very presise on the attendance today

Dburns70 wrote:
Blair on the bench yet again!!

People were justifying it by the fact York had picked up points while he wasn't in the team as if that wouldn't have happened had Blair been playing, but right this second with a draw v Cheltenham, York would be down in 16th, so are people still claiming it's a potential master-stroke to keep your best player on the bench every game.

If I was Blair I'd be looking elsewhere in Jan since his efforts and importance of last year to York have been seemingly forgotten in an instance just because he got injured at the end of pre-season, and one of his replacements has scored a few goals. At the very least Blair could play instead of McLaughlin, but he's still better than Walker or Chambers imo even though Chambers did well while Blair was injured.

Maybe when York hit the relegation zone Blair will be asked to help put things right.

You are back again spinning the same old record! In a sense you may have a point in that it is probably time Blair got a start now - but the fact that your observations are so clouded and rambling discredits your postings. Were you at the game today? Bit wierd if you were, posting on The Press website at 4.11pm! Walker was stand out the best player today so your lazy suggestion that Blair is "better than him" is pointless and irrelevant. For what it's worth McLaighlin did have an absolute shocker today but that doesn't mean that Blair should slot into centre mid either. I like Matty Blair a lot, as a player and a character, but the way you go on you sound like his mum or something (are you his agent perhaps??...) and if you were at the game today you would know that Matty's first contribution was to trip over himself, do a complete air shot and fall over - I hope Matty gets the chance to show the same stunning contribution as last year but I do find your posts on the subject I bit odd...

nicko75 wrote:

Dburns70 wrote:
Blair on the bench yet again!!

People were justifying it by the fact York had picked up points while he wasn't in the team as if that wouldn't have happened had Blair been playing, but right this second with a draw v Cheltenham, York would be down in 16th, so are people still claiming it's a potential master-stroke to keep your best player on the bench every game.

If I was Blair I'd be looking elsewhere in Jan since his efforts and importance of last year to York have been seemingly forgotten in an instance just because he got injured at the end of pre-season, and one of his replacements has scored a few goals. At the very least Blair could play instead of McLaughlin, but he's still better than Walker or Chambers imo even though Chambers did well while Blair was injured.

Maybe when York hit the relegation zone Blair will be asked to help put things right.

You are back again spinning the same old record! In a sense you may have a point in that it is probably time Blair got a start now - but the fact that your observations are so clouded and rambling discredits your postings. Were you at the game today? Bit wierd if you were, posting on The Press website at 4.11pm! Walker was stand out the best player today so your lazy suggestion that Blair is "better than him" is pointless and irrelevant. For what it's worth McLaighlin did have an absolute shocker today but that doesn't mean that Blair should slot into centre mid either. I like Matty Blair a lot, as a player and a character, but the way you go on you sound like his mum or something (are you his agent perhaps??...) and if you were at the game today you would know that Matty's first contribution was to trip over himself, do a complete air shot and fall over - I hope Matty gets the chance to show the same stunning contribution as last year but I do find your posts on the subject I bit odd...

I thought Paddy had a good game. Apart from a couple of poor shots, he played well and was more tenacious than of late. He remained the only creative outlet in an increasingly pedestrian central midfield three.

Got to say, I thought Paddy was very poor today too. Can't fault his effort, but his distribution, control and shooting were all WAY off his normal standards. Hopefully just a blip for him. Thought Fyfield was good and Walker deserved his MotM

YO1 wrote:

nicko75 wrote:

Dburns70 wrote:
Blair on the bench yet again!!

People were justifying it by the fact York had picked up points while he wasn't in the team as if that wouldn't have happened had Blair been playing, but right this second with a draw v Cheltenham, York would be down in 16th, so are people still claiming it's a potential master-stroke to keep your best player on the bench every game.

If I was Blair I'd be looking elsewhere in Jan since his efforts and importance of last year to York have been seemingly forgotten in an instance just because he got injured at the end of pre-season, and one of his replacements has scored a few goals. At the very least Blair could play instead of McLaughlin, but he's still better than Walker or Chambers imo even though Chambers did well while Blair was injured.

Maybe when York hit the relegation zone Blair will be asked to help put things right.

You are back again spinning the same old record! In a sense you may have a point in that it is probably time Blair got a start now - but the fact that your observations are so clouded and rambling discredits your postings. Were you at the game today? Bit wierd if you were, posting on The Press website at 4.11pm! Walker was stand out the best player today so your lazy suggestion that Blair is "better than him" is pointless and irrelevant. For what it's worth McLaighlin did have an absolute shocker today but that doesn't mean that Blair should slot into centre mid either. I like Matty Blair a lot, as a player and a character, but the way you go on you sound like his mum or something (are you his agent perhaps??...) and if you were at the game today you would know that Matty's first contribution was to trip over himself, do a complete air shot and fall over - I hope Matty gets the chance to show the same stunning contribution as last year but I do find your posts on the subject I bit odd...

I thought Paddy had a good game. Apart from a couple of poor shots, he played well and was more tenacious than of late. He remained the only creative outlet in an increasingly pedestrian central midfield three.

It's certainly a game of opinions! :) I think Paddy deserves some credit for - as you say - at least being an outlet when the rest of the midfield was pretty anonymous... But as the other poster suggests - and in particular in the second half - his touch and passing seemed to totally desert him. He is a quality player tho so hopefully just a one-off dip.

YorkCityLuke wrote:
Got to say, I thought Paddy was very poor today too. Can't fault his effort, but his distribution, control and shooting were all WAY off his normal standards. Hopefully just a blip for him. Thought Fyfield was good and Walker deserved his MotM

I would have to agree, I can't say Blair did enough to force Mills to start him either. All yesterday did for me was yet again show our struggling midfield desperatly needs Kerr back. Walker was easily MOM and looked like the old class act at times.

I'm probably going to get stick for this but as much as I think Parslow has had way too much abuse in the past, for me he has to be replaced in midfield, he just does not offer enough drive and creativity and at times the game just passes him by. And Mills for gods sake stop stating a point at home is massive, its driving me nuts and is **** on a day like yesterday when we really needed a win to climb back up the table.

duffy wrote:
I'm probably going to get stick for this but as much as I think Parslow has had way too much abuse in the past, for me he has to be replaced in midfield, he just does not offer enough drive and creativity and at times the game just passes him by. And Mills for gods sake stop stating a point at home is massive, its driving me nuts and is **** on a day like yesterday when we really needed a win to climb back up the table.

Have to agree re Danny Parslow, he is competent in midfield when not pressurised, nothing more. He lacks the creativity that we currently need and loses possession when pressed by the opposition; much better at centre back. Roll on the return of Scott Kerr alongside Paddy and Jonathan Smith.
Yesterday was a good preformance in terms of domination, but again we did not create clear cut chances in the penalty area. Time for Dobie alongside Walker?
Too many draws duew to not capitalising on overall control.

Agree with most of the posts, we need Kerr back as creativity is zero and has been poor all season, Walker MOM and played well, we lost the ball far to often and passing was poor and very misdirected, clean sheet but not much you can take from that, on the showing yesterday and previous matches this season, mid table finish at best, the standard in this league is higher and this has been very evident in games played so far, there are a lot of teams with a similar standard to city so it doesnt make for great entertainment.
coyr prove me wrong.

We've only lost twice in 8 league games and the Cheltenham game was always going to be tough. They had a strong season last time and had won on all their previous 4 visits to York. I thought we played ok but lacked a little in midfield. Paddy's passing was a little wayward, Dan Parslow has had better games and J Smith was anonymous for large periods. The midfield will improve for Scott Kerr's return and it was a real blow to lose McReady as this lad's a real promising footballer. At least we got a first clean sheet of the season and I though Chris Smith played a blinder before his injury. Fancy us to go to Aldershot and win 1-0.

I'm afraid Nicko75 your abusive bullying nature, as if this is your forum, means all your points get lost, whatever they were. Just try and accept someone has a different opinion to you, and of course I'm going to continue saying I think Blair should be starting matches when he isn't. It would be rather weird and inconsistent if I didn't! If you're happy with 15th and would like to see last season's top scorer continuing to warm the bench then fine, but I'd like to see him on the pitch. If you agree he should be playing now then you wrote a lot to say you agree.


I do find it strange that people can say Blair didnt do enough to make Mills start him. How on earth is a player supposed to get any sort of form and match fitness when he is getting 1 minute here, 15 minutes there, and only one start in about 10 games? All that happens in that scenario as a player is you try too hard to make an impact in the brief moment you are given, and start snatching at things, especially when you aren't match sharp either.

Blair did more than enough last season to show why he should be getting a chance to start, or at least get more games than he is, and in form terms he did nothing to deserve to be dropped for so long. He simply just got injured in pre-season. The only time he has been given a start this season he scored.

Anyway it's all about opinions, and despite Nicko's best efforts, I'll continue to hope Blair is given the best chance to shine as brightly as he did last season when getting York into this division. If he isn't given starting chances, don't be surprised and dont complain if he leaves, they'll be plenty of takers.

Dburns70 wrote:
I'm afraid Nicko75 your abusive bullying nature, as if this is your forum, means all your points get lost, whatever they were. Just try and accept someone has a different opinion to you, and of course I'm going to continue saying I think Blair should be starting matches when he isn't. It would be rather weird and inconsistent if I didn't! If you're happy with 15th and would like to see last season's top scorer continuing to warm the bench then fine, but I'd like to see him on the pitch. If you agree he should be playing now then you wrote a lot to say you agree.


I do find it strange that people can say Blair didnt do enough to make Mills start him. How on earth is a player supposed to get any sort of form and match fitness when he is getting 1 minute here, 15 minutes there, and only one start in about 10 games? All that happens in that scenario as a player is you try too hard to make an impact in the brief moment you are given, and start snatching at things, especially when you aren't match sharp either.

Blair did more than enough last season to show why he should be getting a chance to start, or at least get more games than he is, and in form terms he did nothing to deserve to be dropped for so long. He simply just got injured in pre-season. The only time he has been given a start this season he scored.

Anyway it's all about opinions, and despite Nicko's best efforts, I'll continue to hope Blair is given the best chance to shine as brightly as he did last season when getting York into this division. If he isn't given starting chances, don't be surprised and dont complain if he leaves, they'll be plenty of takers.

Regarding Blair I would offer the arguement that its a league higher and he does not have the best technical ability in the world. He is a big game player but let's not forget he was dropped last season at conference level. I think as it stands Walker, Coulson, and Chambers are rightly above him in the pecking order.

Fair enough Duffy if you prefer other players to Blair, I dont profess to have the one true answer, just a personal view that Blair did nothing in football terms to lose his place and imo isn't being given the opportunities he deserves this season. I believe Blair should be starting by now, and certainly more than 1 game in 10.

It's also interesting that prior to the season starting many independent observers had Blair down as one to watch across the whole division this season, not just within the York team, and yet due to one minor pre-season injury he can barely get a game in a side currently 15th in the league and who play a formation containing plenty of potential places for him.

If you don't agree with me, can anyone seriously argue with a childhood favourite like Shoot? ;-)

http://www.shoot.co.
uk/news/latest_artic
le/C50/leagues_1_2/l
eague_two_five_to_wa
tch/

Dburns70 wrote:
Fair enough Duffy if you prefer other players to Blair, I dont profess to have the one true answer, just a personal view that Blair did nothing in football terms to lose his place and imo isn't being given the opportunities he deserves this season. I believe Blair should be starting by now, and certainly more than 1 game in 10. It's also interesting that prior to the season starting many independent observers had Blair down as one to watch across the whole division this season, not just within the York team, and yet due to one minor pre-season injury he can barely get a game in a side currently 15th in the league and who play a formation containing plenty of potential places for him. If you don't agree with me, can anyone seriously argue with a childhood favourite like Shoot? ;-) http://www.shoot.co. uk/news/latest_artic le/C50/leagues_1_2/l eague_two_five_to_wa tch/

Time to give Blair a start Chambers has been playing well at times but we need to try something different, as we neeed to start winning.
No slight on Chambers but a bit of squad rotation necessary as they are both very good players who play similar roles, and both need decent match time. Agree with the philosophy of not changing a winning team, but we are not such a team atthe moment.