Just back

Quoted from barralad

I haven't seen it mentioned and he is making a habit of it but a big shout out for Macca for the schmeichelesque save in the first half where he pushed away the header. Looked a goal all day to me...

Nobody mention s him because he's reliable and does his job it's the others or at least some of the others I'm worried about. Extend maccas deal because I know for a fact another league 2 club have watched him a few times this season

Quoted from 120912[b

]I can’t remember seeing a football league team with so little composure in front of goal![/b] If Cardwell had scored that chance early in the second half, that would’ve been the game. We also manage to scuff so many shots and the ball never seems to fall for us at set-pieces. This isn’t a coincidence.

Well, this is the squad that Jolley inherited from Slade and it shows how poor Slade's judgement was in recruitment. We have a poor squad and yet we seem to expect them to be world beaters. Jolley can only do so much to inspire some belief in his players and use them in positions that suit them. That, coupled with some practical tactics and match substitutions might just get us through. Jolley is still learning his trade whereas Allan has been there, done that and got the T-shirt. That showed today in how he assessed the game and made telling substitutions. Jolley will learn this but  unfortunately we can't afford the patience of him acquiring that this season. I've been a big critic of Woolford on here despite his obvious experience at a higher level. He isn't a winger but he showed his worth in a more central role and that is where his strengths lie at this stage of his career.

The Dembele substitution was justified in my opinion. A few minutes before the sub Dembele received the ball on the right, lost possession to their full back and then made no effort to chase back as their full back marauded forward. I sit in the main stand and you could see Jolley shouting at him to to get back (as were half the main stand) but he didn't. MJ obviously decided he was either knackered or being lazy and subbed him within minutes. Good decision in my view, plus as has been said Clifton came on and played a key part in getting the penalty.

What Jolley has quickly done is realise that our strikers are not going to win games for us. That has been compounded by losing all three loan strikers, who were brought in to rectify this problem, and now the long term loan stiker Matt, to injury. Vernon also gets injured and that leaves us with Cardwell, Hooper and the returning Jackson. We have been extremely poor up front this season, compounded by bad luck with injuries. We actually don't look too bad at the back and midfield when everyone is available. He's also realised that Berrett is not up to it. One thing that has pleased me and gives me hope is the three late goals we have scored at home, without which we would be doomed. Throw ins, free kicks and corners have been markedly improved to compensate for our lack of striking ability. We have also had a lot of penalties, which means we are doing something right in the final third. If we had just one decent striker, we would be half way up the league.

Barnet's home form worries me - I can see them winning both, especially an already relegated Chesterfield on last day, who I think are now doomed with matches v Wycombe and Exeter to come

We will therefore have to win one cos out goal difference won't be better than Barnet - and we have three tough games

Who knows? Pointless speculating really (but you can't help it) and Barnet might lose all three

As for the team... back five are decent at this level with RHJ impressing me the more I see of him; midfield looks better with Woolford more central, penalty king Rose giving his all, and Summerfield covering every blade of grass

It's the other front 3 that is the worry - Dembele has flattered most of the season for me (poor decision making and poor first touch); Cardwell is raw and ineffective; Hooper is just an average L2 striker (although I thought he did well first half)

Poor quality squad that Jolley is somehow finding enough from to makes us competitive, has won a big game, and perhaps might eke out a couple more draws

It will go down to the wire IMO

Seeing hooper and cardwell leading the line for us is just painful, not to mention the cart horse of a central defence.

RHJ  has impressed along with mckeown doing what he does , i honestly wouldnt give a toss if we only had macca to start the season as the majority of the whole squad aint good enough bar a couple.

This season cannot end soon enough , i just hope we survive and this mess can be sorted out.

In the first half Dembelle ran them ragged and they often had two or three players on him. He then found himself being forced back to get the ball which meant that he ended up loosing the ball in dangerous areas. I think the answer is to keep him up and not let him drop so deep. They would be frightened to death of him up front and force them back to cover him.

He's a flair player and you don't waste their talent in your own penalty area IMHO.

Positives and negatives from the game, aside from the points gained/lost issue.

Positives are that we responded to a set-back in the best possible fashion and Barnet are another game down with no in-roads made on us, Chesterfield are another game gone and a point further behind.

Main negative was that Allen showed that he had the better of Jolley on the day.  That's probably down to experience and know-how.  But Allen mixed things up at half-time and Jolley didn't really respond in the way that either countered or even went back at Allen.  Yes, his three subs combined to create the penalty.  But that was more a result of Clifton's sheer determination and Jackson's movement in the box than tactics.  

Barnet dominated the midfield and we needed to counter that but we didn't.  I can understand bringing Clifton on because Hall-Johnson was getting a roasting down our right and Dembele doesn't offer a lot defensively.  That said, Dembele was someone capable of offering something to extend our lead so I'd have kept him on.  Either behind Cardwell or out on the left in the place of Hooper.  Either way I thought Hooper faded badly in the second half and should have been taken off far sooner.

Which brings me onto our fitness which is my main concern as we go into our final games.  An awful lot of our players have had stop-start seasons be it through injury or if they've simply been out of favour.  The lack of ability to last 90 minutes showed on Saturday and there was a point just before the first changes were made where we looked dead on our feet.  From front to back - Hall-Johnson, Fox, Rose, Woolford, Dembele, Hooper and Cardwell all looked absolutely shattered.  The subs who came on have all had similar seasons, arguably even less game-time in the cases of McSheffrey and Jackson.    

There's nothing that can be done about this from Jolley's perspective because he's not only inherited this mess but also is a victim of bad fortune to an extent with injuries for the likes of Jackson.   What we have to expect is that there will be changes that we won't agree with but Jolley will make because he knows players have nothing else to give.

It looks to me like Jolley has been approaching games in two stages, the first 60 is about keeping things tight and steady.  Making it hard to break us down.  The first 30 is when he lets a little bit more attacking intent out and wants to go at teams a bit more.    Because of that I can't see him changing too much in his line-up, there will be calls for Jackson to start games but he simply won't last 90 and he'll probably be more effective with his movement against tired defenders than fresh ones.  

Just watched the extended highlights, Clarke really is a sh1te defender.

Quoted from Madeleymariner

Just watched the extended highlights, Clarke really is a sh1te defender.

I still can’t get it out of my head when somebody at the fans forum said Pearson was better than Clarke and slade replied that’s  your opinion you utter illegitimate slade