Just Back (Merged)

Quoted from arryarryarry

So where  you actually there?

No, thats why I said people I have spoken to stated it, not me

Quoted from barralad

One of the few areas I agree with Pontoonlew and Johnny on is the ponderous nature of our build up. It is very frustrating when we go forward and then come backwards only to end up hoofing it to no-one in particular..

Most of our players (in midfield especially) wouldn't know a first time pass if it kicked them up the bottom. Metaphorically speaking.

Disley has never been the most dynamic of players for all his other assets, Brown gets the ball, twists, turns then passes it backwards. Clay probably plays it a little quicker than these two but not by much. Mackreth never seems to hit a first time cross and neither does Arnold.

With the arrival of Robertson, I think we're actually a bit better with the ball at the back and it is only really Toto that worries me when in possession. It's even worse when he's given time to pick a pass as he invariably whacks it straight to an opposition player.

The big problem (as ever) is the midfield isn't quite good enough in my opinion. No pace in the middle of the park and Wrexham chased us down in numbers there much to easily yesterday.

Quoted from Maringer

Most of our players (in midfield especially) wouldn't know a first time pass if it kicked them up the bottom. Metaphorically speaking.

Disley has never been the most dynamic of players for all his other assets, Brown gets the ball, twists, turns then passes it backwards. Clay probably plays it a little quicker than these two but not by much. Mackreth never seems to hit a first time cross and neither does Arnold.

With the arrival of Robertson, I think we're actually a bit better with the ball at the back and it is only really Toto that worries me when in possession. It's even worse when he's given time to pick a pass as he invariably whacks it straight to an opposition player.

The big problem (as ever) is the midfield isn't quite good enough in my opinion. No pace in the middle of the park and Wrexham chased us down in numbers there much to easily yesterday.

Wrexham had a very narrow midfield diamond and not for the first time such a formation resulted in us Being toothless. With them being so narrow we had to get the ball wide quickly and then attack immediately. We don't do so. We are ponderous, deliberate and slow. The opposite to how we often play away where Arnold seems two or three times as quick and direct than he is at BP. Similar with Mackreth.

I want to see us retain possession but equally I want to see our wide players running at full backs, ( there is no more exciting play in football as that IMO)turning attack into defence quickly.

Interesting. So then, with lots of people making these well argued points and fairly widespread agreement on where it is we might be going wrong at home, do we still want to blame the players?

The management have had a long time to recognise and address these shortcomings (I'm not saying the odd poor performance you could put down to the players isn't to be expected), and have they? An emphatic no. Are we an effective attacking unit at home? The facts say no. We've won only 11 games out of 22. Is this the reason why we're not going to be promoted as champions? Categorically yes. We will go into the play offs under immense pressure with no self-belief amongst the players or supporters in terms of winning that home game, and a very obvious tactical and technical weakness that a decent opponent can exploit.

Quoted from chaos33

Interesting. So then, with lots of people making these well argued points and fairly widespread agreement on where it is we might be going wrong at home, do we still want to blame the players?

The management have had a long time to recognise and address these shortcomings (I'm not saying the odd poor performance you could put down to the players isn't to be expected), and have they? An emphatic no. Are we an effective attacking unit at home? The facts say no. We've won only 11 games out of 22. Is this the reason why we're not going to be promoted as champions? Categorically yes. We will go into the play offs under immense pressure with no self-belief amongst the players or supporters in terms of winning that home game, and a very obvious tactical and technical weakness that a decent opponent can exploit.

Been saying this since his first season in charge and still say he won't get us promoted......but some people can't/ won't see it

Quoted from ackomariner

Been saying this since his first season in charge and still say he won't get us promoted......but some people can't/ won't see it

If come the end of the season he hasn't got us promoted I will come on here and praise you for your incredible foresight. Until then it is just a matter of opinion and, needless to say mine is that we have a more than evens chance of getting promoted with the current manager.

Quoted from chaos33

Interesting. So then, with lots of people making these well argued points and fairly widespread agreement on where it is we might be going wrong at home, do we still want to blame the players?

The management have had a long time to recognise and address these shortcomings (I'm not saying the odd poor performance you could put down to the players isn't to be expected), and have they? An emphatic no. Are we an effective attacking unit at home? The facts say no. We've won only 11 games out of 22. Is this the reason why we're not going to be promoted as champions? Categorically yes. We will go into the play offs under immense pressure with no self-belief amongst the players or supporters in terms of winning that home game, and a very obvious tactical and technical weakness that a decent opponent can exploit.

Wow that's a very sweeping statement even in Fishy terms! Isn't every team in the play offs under "immense pressure"? The players I'd argue have been under that sort of pressure from day 1 given the expectations of the fans.
For what it's worth I believe we can do it-I won't be on my own amongst the fans. I suspect the players believe they can do it.
If I was putting myself at risk of being accused of making similarly sweeping statements I'd say that the players categorically believe they can win an away leg which as it comes first may mean a draw at home would be good enough!

Quoted from barralad

Wow that's a very sweeping statement even in Fishy terms! Isn't every team in the play offs under "immense pressure"? The players I'd argue have been under that sort of pressure from day 1 given the expectations of the fans.
For what it's worth I believe we can do it-I won't be on my own amongst the fans. I suspect the players believe they can do it.
If I was putting myself at risk of being accused of making similarly sweeping statements I'd say that the players categorically believe they can win an away leg which as it comes first may mean a draw at home would be good enough!

Well, if I played for a team that has beaten the leaders home and away, I would expect to beat the teams below them.

Ooh Barra, the splitting of hairs. What fun.
You know exactly the point I'm making - a team who were confident and competent at home, with season-long results to back that up would be relishing that home game, with a big crowd in to support them. Our players would appear to not really know what they're doing more often than not at home, or if they do, they seem unable to reproduce that away form in terms of individual and collective performances. As I have stated - I'm not blaming them anyway. It's something in the way the Manager is preparing, organising, coaching them (call it a combination of all of those) that has seen us fail to function consistently as an attacking unit at home.

A good performance against Aldershot will go some way to restoring confidence, but I suspect that the players are all too aware of their difficulties in many home games and that doesn't really breed confidence does it. I'm sure the fans will keep on 'giving it a go' as they always do - giving the team another chance, hoping to see their faith rewarded with a real 'up and at 'em' performance, but in the back of our minds, we all know that when it really counts, and when we're all packed in at BP, what we tend to see is the opposite of that.

The 'fans' seemed to have loads of self belief before yesterday but have abandoned it after one poor performance. We have beaten Barnet, Woking, Eastleigh and Forest Green at home this season. We won't have to play Nuneaton, Altrincham or Southport in the play offs.