Boyce's apology

Quoted from forza ivano

Surely a left sided midfielder, along with a pacy centre half are the most urgent requirements? even if you sign another forward and a battling centre mid you're still going to have alop sided midfield with a square peg in around hole. berrett is already reminding me of our league version of Mclaughlin

We need a central player that allows us to play 2 wingers, Berrett could be quality alongside a real athletic ball winner

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Fair enough, he's apologised.

But why is nobody asking why Boyce was playing in the first place? We lost at Wycombe (albeit playing pretty crap) because the defence was ball watching. Boyce isn't the only culprit but he has been the weakest member of that defence and culpable of letting attackers get behind him. Pearson has played well when he has had the chance so you have to ask why was it Boyce and not Pearson out there to start with last night?

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Maybe because Boyce has better innate qualities than Pearson.Eg for one is a good header of the ball.Having said that I think of Pearson,Boyce and Gowling Gowling is the best from what Ive seen. Athletic and reads the game well

I guess you cant win with some people.

He had a bad game, held his hands up , admitted it isnt good enough and took responsibility for his performance. Yet one or two still dont accept it.

Boyce looked a bit shaky in pre-season and has started the season below par as well. He knows he has to be better or wont be in the starting line up.

It's up to him to roll his sleeves up and continue to work hard in training and improve. We know from his previous spells at  the club that he is capable of much better.

Hurst sees him every day in training and will decide who plays the next game. If that's Pearson then fine.

I think Gowling,Boyce  & Pearson are all decent solid centre halves. All have plenty of experience. Dan Jones can also play there. Do we need another ? I dont know tbh. What we do need is to work on our defensive play in training because as a team we are conceding quite a few goals (as we did in pre-season) and look suspect at set plays. That certainly needs more work on the training ground regardless of who plays.

Quoted from BottesfordMariner

Hurst sees him every day in training and will decide who plays the next game. If that's Pearson then fine.

I think Gowling,Boyce  & Pearson are all decent solid centre halves. All have plenty of experience. Dan Jones can also play there. Do we need another ? I dont know tbh. What we do need is to work on our defensive play in training because as a team we are conceding quite a few goals (as we did in pre-season) and look suspect at set plays. That certainly needs more work on the training ground regardless of who plays.

Only problem being that Boyce is playing the same strikers/ midfielders on a daily basis in training and you soon pick up what they are doing and can read them a mile off ,making it look easy.
Face upto someone you have never played before then its a case of doing the basics properly...which he clearly hasnt been doing through pre season or so far in the League IMO.
Pearson IMO does the basics better, he doesnt need to be fancy or overthink the game, he just defends his man.

Quoted from moosey_club

Only problem being that Boyce is playing the same strikers/ midfielders on a daily basis in training and you soon pick up what they are doing and can read them a mile off ,making it look easy.
Face upto someone you have never played before then its a case of doing the basics properly...which he clearly hasnt been doing through pre season or so far in the League IMO.
Pearson IMO does the basics better, he doesnt need to be fancy or overthink the game, he just defends his man.

I wasn't there last night so can't say for sure, but weren't Town using some kind of zonal marking for set pieces rather than taking a man and sticking to him

I'm sure that's what Cockers said on the commentary and our comeback after half time was to some extent as a result of ditching that tactic, which probably helped Pearson after he came on but worked against Boyce while he was out there?  

Quoted from GrimRob

It wasn't the club's choice though, Toto decided to leave. Boyce might have come anyway, who knows, I don't recall many people complaining when we signed him.When you sign 15 players or whatever it was there are bound to be some that don't make the grade. Having said all that it's far too early to condemn him as useless!

Never said he was useless rob just that we need someone to restore the confidence with the know how.

I like boyce just not sure he could or should be a starter for us.

Quoted from Rick12

Maybe because Boyce has better innate qualities than Pearson.Eg for one is a good header of the ball.Having said that I think of Pearson,Boyce and Gowling Gowling is the best from what Ive seen. Athletic and reads the game well

Pearson is a much, much better header of the ball than Boyce. He is far more dominant aerially. His problems come from a lack of mobility.

Quoted from Rick12

Maybe because Boyce has better innate qualities than Pearson.

From what I've seen this is not true. For one, he seems like he can get bullied in the air, and when he does win them they seem to go straight out of play. Not sure you can say he's better at heading than Pearson.

Quoted from jonnyboy82

Gone up a league and swapping toto for boyce is a step backwards imo.

Well if it's any consolation, Hartlepool have leaked the same amount of league goals with Toto playing.

Quoted from FishOutOfWater

I wasn't there last night so can't say for sure, but weren't Town using some kind of zonal marking for set pieces rather than taking a man and sticking to him

I'm sure that's what Cockers said on the commentary and our comeback after half time was to some extent as a result of ditching that tactic, which probably helped Pearson after he came on but worked against Boyce while he was out there?  

No mate. No zonal marking. Saw them trying to organise man for man. We just weren't marking much at all, defenders midfielders alike. I think Boyce's jitters got to everyone. We don't look good as a unit without the ball. Gowling and Davies got tight to their men but the others were all over the place with Danny Andrew often been left with two men. Our defending from midfield was non-existent at times. No leaders, no organisation.