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The thing that worries me though is that we have played two sides in  the last 3
days - admittedly from higher leagues, but we have failed to score in either game,
the one thing we have learned from our seasons in this league is that almost every
side, full time or not, are tight defensively, particularly when they come to BP, we
have signed the right type of  pacey player, but unless we come up with the right
sort of tactics to get behind teams and get the best out of these players ,we will IMO
fall short again and this goes back to something myself and many others have
mentioned - the lack of attack minded coaches at the club- in the final third of the
pitch we have the right players, but  we have to get the right tactics and to be honest
this is precisely what worries me about Paul Hurst - i hope i am wrong, but i fear i
may not be.

Quoted from petethemariner

The thing that worries me though is that we have played two sides in  the last 3
days - admittedly from higher leagues, but we have failed to score in either game,
the one thing we have learned from our seasons in this league is that almost every
side, full time or not, are tight defensively, particularly when they come to BP, we
have signed the right type of  pacey player, but unless we come up with the right
sort of tactics to get behind teams and get the best out of these players ,we will IMO
fall short again and this goes back to something myself and many others have
mentioned - the lack of attack minded coaches at the club- in the final third of the
pitch we have the right players, but  we have to get the right tactics and to be honest
this is precisely what worries me about Paul Hurst - i hope i am wrong, but i fear i
may not be.

P t M - I think you are right. There is not one coach at the club who is / has been a forward - who understands the mentality of forward play (to my knowledge). At this level is the coach imbalance, and Mr Fenty needs to recognise this and address it in my view.

Alan Buckley was a very fine striker, but under him we have kept the highest number of clean sheets in the clubs history. Point is you don't have to have played in that position to be good at coaching it, perhaps even just the opposite. As a keeper, I can tell you about all the attribute that would make a striker more likely to score against me, better than I could tell you what makes a good keeper.

Yeah, Thanks Tees, can i add a bit to my opinion, for what its worth, i played the
game for 30 odd years at a decent  (but not  pro, i admit) level - i was a goalkeeper,
i spent all of my playing days looking down the length of the pitch, this is a similar
view a full back  has(which is where PH played his entire career) - i like to think
defensively i knew the game inside out, but stick me at the half way line looking
across the pitch and  trying to analyise attacking play, i wouldn't have a clue, i know
PH has achieved his coaching badges, but once a defender, always a defender i
believe and we need someone who  has played in the final third, often with his back to
goal to give a different perspective to our play IMHO - at the moment we have  an ex
fullback and a central defender.
I might be doing PH a diservice, but i think  without addressing this we will continue to
struggle to break teams down and resort to the long boot game that will not be successful
on its own.
Just an opinion.

Imperial, you make a very valid point about AB, he was a good manager, who not only
played the right way in the final third, but also gave the defensive side of his teams a
high priority (and had good players in those positions), what he never did (and i am not a Buckleyite before anyone says so) is launch the ball from deep, because he knew as an ex forward that the odds were always in the favour of a defender attacking the ball - this
IMO is what has happened too much under PH and some of the many good players we
have had at the club  c'ant  and haven't blossomed under such tactics.
PH is a very good manager from a defensive point of view, but IMO he  isn't from an
attacking point of view, if he had someone to give  him a different perspective i believe he
would become a better manager.

Quoted from petethemariner

Imperial, you make a very valid point about AB, he was a good manager, who not only
played the right way in the final third, but also gave the defensive side of his teams a
high priority (and had good players in those positions), what he never did (and i am not a Buckleyite before anyone says so) is launch the ball from deep, because he knew as an ex forward that the odds were always in the favour of a defender attacking the ball - this
IMO is what has happened too much under PH and some of the many good players we
have had at the club  c'ant  and haven't blossomed under such tactics.
PH is a very good manager from a defensive point of view, but IMO he  isn't from an
attacking point of view, if he had someone to give  him a different perspective i believe he
would become a better manager.

Which is maybe why he cannot seem to get a striker by now..

He has always come across as a very defensive manager which is not always bad but when you play like that you need to make sure you have a man who can put it in the onion bag, we don't have that at the minute.

Quoted from Theimperialcoroner

Alan Buckley was a very fine striker, but under him we have kept the highest number of clean sheets in the clubs history. Point is you don't have to have played in that position to be good at coaching it, perhaps even just the opposite. As a keeper, I can tell you about all the attribute that would make a striker more likely to score against me, better than I could tell you what makes a good keeper.

I can't remember but I expect Alan Buckley had a decent team of coaches helping him. Paul Hurst has Chris Doig and Dave Moore.

Alan Buckley's right hand man was the late Arthur Mann - a defender of very good repute. These were an excellent coaching team- you build teams from the top.

Quoted from petethemariner

Yeah, Thanks Tees, can i add a bit to my opinion, for what its worth, i played the
game for 30 odd years at a decent  (but not  pro, i admit) level - i was a goalkeeper,
i spent all of my playing days looking down the length of the pitch, this is a similar
view a full back  has(which is where PH played his entire career) - i like to think
defensively i knew the game inside out, but stick me at the half way line looking
across the pitch and  trying to analyise attacking play, i wouldn't have a clue, i know
PH has achieved his coaching badges, but once a defender, always a defender i
believe and we need someone who  has played in the final third, often with his back to
goal to give a different perspective to our play IMHO - at the moment we have  an ex
fullback and a central defender.
I might be doing PH a diservice, but i think  without addressing this we will continue to
struggle to break teams down and resort to the long boot game that will not be successful
on its own.
Just an opinion.

best post ever
lets start smelling the coffee

We should get Jack Lester in as a coach. I don't know if he can coach, but he was a striker so he'll turn LJL into a 20 a season man.

If there was a position or area in football on the pitch which lead to a player being a good manager, then I think it would have become apparent by now. You don't even need to have played football to be a good manager. I don't believe Roy Hodgson played. Some managers are more defensive minded than others I agree but there are many ways to skin a cat. At the end of the day you need to score more goals than the opposition by one means or another.

Having slept on what we saw last night .
First half thought we kept it tight , midfield was working well . The ball was kept on the floor and we did creat chances . Manfield were much larger than us in every department , Pearson and Toto would have made if more even . Unlucky to go in one down .
Second half midfield reverted to normal , big holes appeared . Lumping the ball up front like last season .
Forth preseason friendly I have seen , can't see much change , first 10 games will see how we fare .

Quoted from petethemariner

Yeah, Thanks Tees, can i add a bit to my opinion, for what its worth, i played the
game for 30 odd years at a decent  (but not  pro, i admit) level - i was a goalkeeper,
i spent all of my playing days looking down the length of the pitch, this is a similar
view a full back  has(which is where PH played his entire career) - i like to think
defensively i knew the game inside out, but stick me at the half way line looking
across the pitch and  trying to analyise attacking play, i wouldn't have a clue, i know
PH has achieved his coaching badges, but once a defender, always a defender i
believe and we need someone who  has played in the final third, often with his back to
goal to give a different perspective to our play IMHO - at the moment we have  an ex
fullback and a central defender.
I might be doing PH a diservice, but i think  without addressing this we will continue to
struggle to break teams down and resort to the long boot game that will not be successful
on its own.
Just an opinion.

Me too, I've been a keeper - just about played my last game at 38 at Preston with the Intranet Mariners I think as I've become frustrated with my declining reflexes recently.

I've never had too much interest in what goes on after the half way line. My 18 yard box belongs to me and I take great offence if Jonny Striker impeeds my territory. I constantly monitor opposition runners, keeping my back four informed, pulling full backs in if needed, watching the space between the centre backs. Big shouts of 'away', not too concerned if the player can maybe hit the channels instead as I want my clean sheet!

I've a good understanding of defensive positioning, less so from an attacking perspective.

I think you have to consider that Mansfield also improved a great deal in the second half with their changes last night. They changed from the Plan A of lumping it forward towards big strikers to add a bit of pace and more skill in midfield and I thought they played better after that (though they still rarely threatened too much).

In the second half we were similar to last season, where things just never quite worked out for us. Some excellent crosses never quite fell to our strikers, the final pass never quite found the man, a couple cleared off the line and so forth. We still played the better football of the two teams but only in fits and starts. I just get frustrated by the way in which some of the players just don't keep it simple enough - Neilson will burst past a couple of players but then keep trying to run with it instead of just looking for the pass, inevitably losing the ball! LJL similarly guilty last night as well as he did some really good stuff turning away from defenders and then running with the ball but then never moved the ball on fast enough.

I'm hoping that the extra pace in the team will help a bit compared to last season as well and the addition of Brown will make us a bit more effective as he can pick a pass through midfield and looks likely, but we're not looking like we'll be scoring goals hand over fist. A lot will depend on which other strikers we can sign.

The first half for me was easily forgotten, the second half though, once the three trialists had gone off was a lot better.

At last we started to put things together in the middle with Brown and Disley together. And although we didn't score, LJL and Hannah were a lot more of a threat.

I thought the back four were good, and my MOM by a long way was Paddy, he covered every inch of grass, and it was made harder for him I thought with Clay in the middle.

Even the most dishonest Mansfield fan who attended last night would have to admit that we deserved at least a draw, we were so much better than against Donny maybe due to the different class of opposition, having said that we looked better with Hannah, Arnold and LJL on. I hope we persevere with Pittman and can`t think why he did not complete the match.
Obvious I know but a goal scorer is required ASAP

It was a lot better than the Donny game where we were completely outclassed and all over the place defensively.

Mansfield certainly weren't any better than us but there are still signs that we've got the same problems as last year in terms of taking chances. Really do need a goalscorer in before the start of the season.

Doc Tower had got it right, first half against Mansfield we looked good, second half like watching last season. No creative play from Disley and no captain quality/ability shown as per last season.I know he scored last season but how many did he create? As stated first half midfield looked better plus keeper didnt have to wait with ball in hand to find an outlet and allow opposition to organise. This time not worth reporting on LJL. ::)