Just back

Quoted from arryarryarry

I thought our midfield as a whole was cack, that was Clifton's poorest performance for me and I don't know what Hessenthaler did to earn that praise.

I thought our best player by a mile was Vernam.

I think your reading skill are going down the pan.
Every player on the pitch was carp (including those two) but imo those two were the only ones who wanted to play for the shirt.

I don't rate Dennis.

Quoted from chaos33

I don't rate Dennis.

You may be right but we all said we need a goalscorer. We sign a goal scorer with a decent record. He scored early on and looked quite bright. Within a few games and fewer goal chances he is now as rubbish as the rest! There is a moral there somewhere.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

You may be right but we all said we need a goalscorer. We sign a goal scorer with a decent record. He scored early on and looked quite bright. Within a few games and fewer goal chances he is now as rubbish as the rest! There is a moral there somewhere.

Always seem to be the same with us.... Connor Jennings for example. Scores for fun except for when he played for us

I know that was under Hurst but maybe Jolley is too conservative too in the approach play which means fewer chances in and around the box for the out and out goalscorers we bring in

Quoted from TAGG

I think your reading skill are going down the pan.
Every player on the pitch was carp (including those two) but imo those two were the only ones who wanted to play for the shirt.

I have no idea what you are on about sunshine.

Quoted from FishOutOfWater

Was it Vernam who played the ball across from the right in the first half when Dennis got a foot on it but it just went the wrong side of the post?

Yes

Quoted from chaos33

I don't rate Dennis.

Must admit I was expecting him to have a little more impact....there's still time.

Let's put it this way, if the season was 4-6 games longer than this I would be nervously looking over our shoulder at what's happening below.

Absolutely turgid following a bright start when Hendrie and Hessenthaler had shots saved and blocked respectively.   Formation wise it took me about 25 minutes to figure out what we were trying to do.  I think it was a 4-1-4-1 with Davis in a holding role that he never quite settled into and Vernam and Cardwell wide, which meant we had a left hand side pairing of RHJ and Cardwell, balanced it was not.

Vernam was by far the stand out player and showed a few moments of class to get away from his men but was not only wasted  in a wide role but also lacked any support or ability around him.  Clifton and Hessenthaler both ran their socks off but look tired and as if a hard season has taken it's toll on them.  Cardwell has really gone backwards since last season when he showed promise if not the goals, didn't help him playing out of position on the left wing but basics like first touch and short passes don't matter wherever you play.  

Collins and Whitmore (Davis too) aren't up to it in my opinion.  Collins has been a great player and we were lucky to have him 2 seasons ago.  The problem is his legs have completely gone, it's like he was running in glue for their first goal.  Didn't help that Davis in front of him was watching play for 10 seconds before he realised what was going on ahead and around him.   Whitmore could do the warrior role and put his head where it hurts, but we've got Ohman for that so perhaps as back-up.  Davis I'm totally unconvinced by, in any position.   The back 3/5 was ditched on Saturday but I'm still baffled why RHJ isn't a mainstay in that system.  He and Ohman should be cemented in those roles for next season with a natural left footer brought in to play where Collins is/was.  I thought Grayson did ok when he came on and can't figure out why he's not played more at left-back, especially when Ring has struggled.

Up top Dennis was isolated but he didn't exactly bust a gut to impress either.  Had a decent chance in the first half which he really should have buried.    If he's trying to impress to win a contract, he really needs to do more in my opinion.

Seeing the line-up before the game I thought it was going to be 3-5-2 with RHJ and Hendrie as wingbacks with Vernam behind the front two of Dennis and Cardwell.  I thought that would work and was quite looking forward to seeing Vernman given a free role but also how Dennis paired with someone who would put a real shift in.

At 2-0 down and with neither promotion or relegation to contend with, I was disappointed to see Woolford brought on and then Grayson (as a loanee who probably won't be here next season) when we had 3 home grown lads sat on the bench.  What a perfect opportunity to give them all a chance to get some game time under their belt.  I don't dislike Woolford but there was absolutely no benefit in giving him minutes.  

This season is in danger of becoming one of the dullest in living memory.  For Jolley's own preservation he needs to end this season on something of a high.  Start the season slowly in August after a drab end to this one and the knives will be out.  Absolute priorities over the summer has to be pace and width.  We need a goalscorer and we need a creative midfielder.  But those will be redundant if we don't stretch teams.    A lot of our fans are unhappy with 3-5-2, it's not the system that's letting us down.  It's the players we've got in the building to select from.  We have no width at all, none.  We've no wingers, well we have one and he's playing down the A16, we also have full-backs that are not really attacking ones.  Hendrie is ok at pushing on and can deliver a very good cross from deep but he's not really you're overlapping the striker type.  I'm not sure I've seen Ring go beyond the half-way line too often and whilst RHJ wants to get forward, he's better deployed centrally in my mind.  The two sides running away with the Championship and League One don't play a rigid 4-4-2.  They play with a narrow midfield and raiding full-backs.  All four have been selected in their respective divisions Team of the Year.   Look at the improvement we made when we had Conor Townsend bombing on from left-back.  It makes a world of difference.  

Regarding Dennis, I think he's shown enough good touches to indicate he's a capable footballer. The problem is that most of these touches have come well outside of the box and he's the type of player you want in the mix as much as possible. Not to mention the fact that he's been playing alongside either Thomas (who has either been disinterested or tired in recent months), or Cardwell who probably isn't up to the job. He managed a couple of decent efforts on Saturday though I don't think either was exactly a sitter and the header did bring off a good save.

Any striker is going to struggle when they aren't getting the support from midfield or their strike partner. I think I'd keep Dennis next season, providing we have somebody capable alongside him and can sort out the midfield. Whether or not he'll be staying is a different matter.

seen nothing from Dennis at all. but our team creates so few chances that I cant really blame him