trying to be subjective

sorry but this might be a fairly long post but thought it might be an idea to try and be subjective after the disastrous last month.

whatever happens between now and may i think it's pretty obvious that we have seen an improvement from last season.

if 12 months ago we'd asked what our hopes were then i think a play off place and  a wembley cup final would have been at the upper end of the spectrum.

i think the signings of hannah, pond and neilson were master strokes but they set gtfc up as a hostage to fortune; it would be almost impossible to replace the latter 2 players of such obvious quality.

on one hand look at the stats -29 points gained in hannah's 14 games when he scored 9 goals; 22 points gained in neilson's 10 games, 48 won during pond's 26 matches. since the latter left we have won 5, drawn 1 and lost 5 16 points in 11 games.

i don't think the table lies and we are probably about where we deserve to be. the disappointment comes because we  'flattered to deceive' with the natural goalscoring prowess of hannah, the skill and creativity of neilson and the leadership, calmness and organisation of pond. you can also throw into the mix the chaotic re signing of hannah who now looks a shadow of his former self

s n h have then been unlucky with their replacements; the signings of brodie, devitt and marshall looked like great pieces of business but none look like they have settled or to have really helped the side. the first 2 have been major disappointments; brodie in particular has probably negatively impacted the team. he seems an antagonistic character to friend and foe alike. i don't think that he gels with anyone in the squad on the pitch and i think that cook almost looks intimidated by him. btw does anybody else get the impression that cook is a bit weak psychologically?
i know several pro players and he just doesn't seem to have their swagger/self belief/arrogance / self confidence/

another area is the left hand side where i think we have been sussed out by opponents. both thomas and marshall in the early games of their gtfc careers were almost unstoppable - they looked dangerous every time they got the ball in the attacking half. now however i've noticed that every team makes a very conscious effort to double up on the pair of them, and so it hugely nullifies the threat they previously caused.

i think niven's absence recently has just shown that he is the new coldicott or hunt - you never realise how much you need them until they are gone.
lastly you will never convince me that the trophy has been a major distraction - since we got to the final by beating dartford at home we've played 6 and lost 4.

so, where do we go from here?

well, we've got v.little chance of winning the pay offs - a 1 in 5 chance and the other teams are all playing better than us. so in betting terms you'd be sticking money on another season of non league shiite. in which case the money from the trophy might prove to be a god send if s n h can use it to improve us further.
i'd get pond back in a flash if available. i'd seriously look at getting a better right back than hatton who hasn't lived up to his c.v. imho. i'd look at improving the midfield with a tall, athletic up and down youngster and i'd either be getting a winger who could cross or having all 3 of em in every day during the summer practising how to cross a ball!
and lastly i'd plead with s n h to work out thier first choice striking partnership cos at the mo i don't think anyone's got the foggiest as to who should play up there! (if it were down to me i'd stick with cook and hannah and get shot of broide with john lewis to chase around late in the game

I would agree with most of  what you have said. Devitt and Brodie have not taken us to a higher level of performance, major disappointment, but probably explains why neither have stayed long at other clubs. I can see something in Marcus Marsall but he needs to improve his play in the final third and linc up better with strikers and play better balls into the danger areas. Definitely need a strong attacking midfield player. Although he has had a good season Disley will not get any better. He should be replaced as first choice next season and used as back up  Same goes for Derek Niven, valuable squad player but we need to find better. Need to fid 2 new wide attacking players and another full back and not sure if Bradley Wood deserves a new contrat. Happy with Pearson and Miller but clearly need cover. pond perhaps but he seems to be injured now. Agree about Cook but he is here next season. Sure Hannah will score goals f we give him the right service and of course if Liam fully recovers we have the makings of a good strike force.

that's a good description of devitt and brodie's (non) contribution.
the central midfield to me is an improvement from last season but still not good enough if you want to win the league: they're good but i'm sure there's better out there, especially as neither are getting any younger

Interesting, personally I think the two unbeaten runs (last season and this season) have papered over the cracks. There are too many supporters so desperate for success they will not look objectively at the team, the management and our overall place in the league.

For me the midfield has been better than previous years but isn't actually good. I was very disappointed we did not strength across the midfield in the summer. Even with our first choice midfield can we dominate the opposition? I doubt it.

Having a goalscorer like Hearn took a lot of pressure off the side and I suspect when Hannah and cook knocked in the goals pre Christmas  the pressure was lifted as well. Now the pressure is back on no one is presently standing up to be counted. This was backed up a little by PH's comments on player attitudes and desire to work hard.

What is our game plan? I'd suggest really we are a defensive, direct high tempo team.
What is plan B? Not sure we have one.

The loan signings saved a poor start and without doubt galvanised the side. The signings at Christmas have quite clearly had little impact. When we look at those signings lets ask why? Brodie, played for the last few years in a three up front. Where do we play him? Up front in a two. Devitt, good skilful winger with an eye for goals under woods. Hardly gets a touch under H&S and when he does he is on the half way line with a team to run past. Add to that the midfield is bypassed so often do we ally need someone with that kind of touch and skill? We might as well have another workhorse in there. Marshall, possibly the best of three in terms of performances but do the managers know his best position, left or right or up front as he has played all of them. Hannah, stupid rotation has not allowed him the game time required to get his partnership with cook back on track.

433, mentioned preseason as our preferred choice of formation when H&S needed to change a game , have we used it? About once or twice it think.

We have a chance of a good season if the managers put right some of the mistakes made since Christmas,starting on Sunday with a balanced side, less direct football and cook and Hannah up front.

Good post. We're definitely missing Neilson's creativity and I said at the time he would be a big loss. He could cross a ball or slide a pass in behind the defence for Hannah to feed off, I don't think it is any coincidence that since he has left Hannah hasn't scored. Even if he didn't get the ball, the other team were scared of him and this created space for the others to exploit.

I also said at the time I thought Brodie would be a poor signing, he never impressed me when he played against us and he hasn't impressed me yet when playing for us. How the hell he got 30 in a season I will never know. Having said that, he is up against it at the minute because our service to the strikers is abysmal. Plus he played no part last night so can't be blamed at all for that but I doubt he'd have made a difference.

I really cannot understand why nobody in our team can cross a ball. Even if its not a perfectly whipped ball in, just get it into the danger area and players at this level will make mistakes and we'll score. As it is they either go too long, don't beat the first man or end up behind our players. Nuneaton put some dangerous balls into our box last night and were unlucky not to score from some of them. Though having said that, we've got players in Marshall and Devitt who are supposedly quick and tricky. Why don't they do what the Nuneaton RW did yesterday? Get past the man, get to the byline and pull it back across the six yard box on the floor. You do this enough times, the goals will come. Hannah would absolutely love this sort of service but the poor lad hasn't had anything since he signed permanently.

I also don't know why we've stopped attacking quickly on the counter. We looked good doing this. Now we are pedestrian and one dimensional. As soon as we get the ball we all know what is going to happen, the defenders all know what is going to happen and it's so frustrating. Play the long ball sometimes but if you do, get someone running in off the target man. But more importantly, mix it up, get people buzzing in and out, creating space, getting it to feet, keep the opposition guessing and working hard, they will tire and things will open up.

The point about the left hand side is also a good one. Teams obviously know this is our strong side and are putting men there. But on both wings when a player passes the ball to someone further down the line, they seem reluctant to overlap and go for the ball again. I don't understand this, is it manager's instructions? The over lap will mean we're either a) in behind their full back from which we could get into the area or to the byline or b) creates space for the man on the ball by pulling one of the defenders away. If it is too congested on the left side though, the obvious option is for someone to look to get it to feet, turn and play it out to the right where there will be space. But this has to be done quickly. We attempted it last night sometimes but it was pedestrian and 90% of the time the pass wasn't good enough or the control on the end of the pass let it down. It's basic, simple play but we seem incapable of doing it at the minute. I might go whack a load of money on us missing out on the play offs, then at least if we do I'll have got something out of it.

Quoted from lowerfindus

Having a goalscorer like Hearn took a lot of pressure off the side and I suspect when Hannah and cook knocked in the goals pre Christmas  the pressure was lifted as well. Now the pressure is back on no one is presently standing up to be counted. This was backed up a little by PH's comments on player attitudes and desire to work hard.

I hadn't thought about this but I think you're right. I don't think we have players with the balls to stand up and be counted when it matters. Last night was crying out for someone to take the game by the scruff of the neck and nobody looked bothered.

Quoted from lowerfindus

What is our game plan? I'd suggest really we are a defensive, direct high tempo team.
What is plan B? Not sure we have one.

You don't need a Plan B if your team are playing well and I don't think you'll find many (if any) Conference teams who play in more than one style. The fact that so many of our players have suddenly dropped out of form is the issue. You can understand it when one or two players have a bad day or even a bad month but too many of them are doing terribly and have to take the responsibility for such non-performances as last night and Braintree of late.

I'd disagree with your assertion that we are a high-tempo team. We're anything but.

We have no pace (at all) up front, little pace in midfield and aren't the most dynamic of teams. We play defensively and sit deep but don't pressurise the opposition much when they are in possession. This isn't necessarily a bad style of play and it worked for a good while this season but our lack of quality in delivery from corners, crosses and free-kicks is a real issue. We aren't going to create too many opportunities so need to make the absolute most of them and this isn't possible with such rubbish delivery.

Quoted from forza ivano

btw does anybody else get the impression that cook is a bit weak psychologically?
i know several pro players and he just doesn't seem to have their swagger/self belief/arrogance / self confidence/

I was speaking to a Barrow fan before our game away against them and he warned that he was weak mentally. I think he has shown some promise but he is going to have to develop his mental side, he can't sulk/become shy every time a gobshite like Elding or Brodie are at the club. There are so many footballers with attitudes he is going to struggle if that's the case.

Quoted from Maringer

You don't need a Plan B if your team are playing well and I don't think you'll find many (if any) Conference teams who play in more than one style. The fact that so many of our players have suddenly dropped out of form is the issue. You can understand it when one or two players have a bad day or even a bad month but too many of them are doing terribly and have to take the responsibility for such non-performances as last night and Braintree of late.

I'd disagree with your assertion that we are a high-tempo team. We're anything but.

We have no pace (at all) up front, little pace in midfield and aren't the most dynamic of teams. We play defensively and sit deep but don't pressurise the opposition much when they are in possession. This isn't necessarily a bad style of play and it worked for a good while this season but our lack of quality in delivery from corners, crosses and free-kicks is a real issue. We aren't going to create too many opportunities so need to make the absolute most of them and this isn't possible with such rubbish delivery.

Listen to any of the pre match interviews by H&S , they constantly speak about starting at the right tempo and playing at a good pace and pressuring the opposition.

thanks for such interesting responses.
on the winger issue i did begin to wonder last night whether colbeck or devitt were an improvement on the hard working artus who was playing so well in the 2nd half of last season.
the points about the dead balls and lack of pace are very valid ones imho.
also the idea of 'mobbing' the opposition seems to have disappeared - i'd remind people of cambridge away last season when we did precisely that to greta effect