Just Back

Clueless, hopeless monotonous crap. 3 games against 3 average sides including bottom of the league stevenage we have scored 1 conceded 7 and picked up no points. And from the minute we went behidn today i never thought for a moment we’d get back into it. A weird team selection with clifton who has been excrement this season alongside hewitt who does nothing in the middle just screams out no creativity. Vernam and rose not close enough to hanson when he did win a header from our only tactic. Can see why vernam hasnt been playing. Defending was schoolboy like, hendrie at fault for the second with a lazy swing of the boot, no idea whats happened to him. Looked okay at start of 2nd half when we used moses but apart from that we were woeful. And what worries me most is i dont think orient were that good, ffs James alabi outpaced us from our own half. We have problems all over and i sensed a lot of anger from
The crowd today, turning on MJ. Who for all i care can go, i am seeing no improvement whatsoever, fed up of this club amd its inability to move forward.

Thank god there is only one relegation place this season and on that performance I'm not sure we are safe.

Shocking, mostly down to Jolly with his poor team selections square pegs, dropping or moving form players and 433 really isn't working either but he keeps going back to it, then after were losing he realises 442 might work.

Sounds like a collective, systematic  failure today.  Very worrying.  All this against mediocre teams,
how bad does this make us?

  

Just looked at the table amazingly we are still only 3 points off the playoffs  

I didn’t go today, and I did expect a defeat, but still, WOW. I’m like others on here, not fussed whether MJ stays now. Dreading the next game I go to......

Do we need to get Hanson booked a few times thus incurring a suspension, then we may start playing it on the deck, giving time for the midfield to get into the oppositions penalty area.

I'd just like to know what the plan is? Whacking it to Hanson isn't a plan, especially when he's never got anybody close enough to pass it to. It seems more and more hit and hope each week. What do they actually work on in training? It's just a mystery what Jolley is trying to do and the high tempo, attacking game we've been promised certainly doesn't look like it is going to materialise this season.

In initial defence of Jolley...
i think everyone expected changes given the no show last time out...5 might have been a suprise but, Gibson back in and Green out were widely called for, as was the lack of width/ pace so Rose and Vernam in again a generally positive idea.  Clifton in after a few games out seemed a suprise as was Hewitt chosen in midfield where he truly has shown little.
However from the off whatever Jolley had tried to do didnt work, none of the midfield 3 seemed clear on what they were doing and Rose and Vernam miles away from Hanson.
Jolley's decisions also not helped by the whole side looking like it was sleepwalking, zero anticipation, minimal desire to want the ball or to win it back when we didnt have possession.

In defence of Jolley again, he identified some of the problems and made subs at half time, Green and especially Ogbu livening things up and in reality we should have been at least back in the game with Hanson, Whitehouse and Rose all having chances during a bright start to the 2nd half. Those chances werent taken and proved costly when we got caught twice after that.

I think today proved a few things;
too many changes are counter productive
Rose should be used as an impact player
Vernam isnt the answer ( i wouldnt be suprised if he goes in Jan )
Hewitt is NOT a midfielder
the quality of the squad is too thin

Three losses on the bounce but still close to the play off's. The last three performances though are a worry as is Jolley's tinkering.

Quoted from moosey_club

In initial defence of Jolley...
i think everyone expected changes given the no show last time out...5 might have been a suprise but, Gibson back in and Green out were widely called for, as was the lack of width/ pace so Rose and Vernam in again a generally positive idea.  Clifton in after a few games out seemed a suprise as was Hewitt chosen in midfield where he truly has shown little.
However from the off whatever Jolley had tried to do didnt work, none of the midfield 3 seemed clear on what they were doing and Rose and Vernam miles away from Hanson.
Jolley's decisions also not helped by the whole side looking like it was sleepwalking, zero anticipation, minimal desire to want the ball or to win it back when we didnt have possession.

In defence of Jolley again, he identified some of the problems and made subs at half time, Green and especially Ogbu livening things up and in reality we should have been at least back in the game with Hanson, Whitehouse and Rose all having chances during a bright start to the 2nd half. Those chances werent taken and proved costly when we got caught twice after that.

I think today proved a few things;
too many changes are counter productive
Rose should be used as an impact player
Vernam isnt the answer ( i wouldnt be suprised if he goes in Jan )
Hewitt is NOT a midfielder
the quality of the squad is too thin

Three losses on the bounce but still close to the play off's. The last three performances though are a worry as is Jolley's tinkering.

Good post.

Jolley Out?
Mmmmm m, just asking?
Who would steady the ship?
Is it MJ or are the players not good enough?
Wish I knew
Very depressing tonight

Absolutely bloody awful, no plan, no drive, no thought.
Midfield was dire again, Clifton especially so. Vernam was bad, Rose out his depth and Hanson was as bad. What made it worse was at 0-2 down, Hanson and Whitehouse missed chances when it was harder to miss, but miss they did.
I don’t think we had a single shot on target. We livened up a little when Green and Ogbu came on, but still didn’t look like scoring.
We surely can’t play as badly, as we have in the last three games, for much longer can we ?
Absolutely p***** off again.

[quote=34917]Jolley Out?

"Is it MJ or are the players not good enough?"

Well sydney its Jolly's players, so either way he is culpable!

Quoted from sydney

Jolley Out?
Mmmmm m, just asking?
Who would steady the ship?
Is it MJ or are the players not good enough?
Wish I knew
Very depressing tonight

M.J.  and  M.J.'s Players.  Steady the ship?  All we can do until Jan sales is pray that we can pick up the odd point

Just listened to MJ , took Vernam because we didn’t get service to him as we didn’t play through the lines - well, noshit Sherlock, there’s no point playing flair players when the rest of the team play the default ‘hoof it to Hanson’ ball.

Another thing, make an outfield player captain and give someone responsibility, Macca as skipper doesn’t work.

Collectively, we were rubbish. Individually, Ohman was dreadful, Waterfall nearly as bad, and, unsurprisingly our best player was our left footed left back who was benched last week.

Agree with your post Codger but your fav. player for whatever reason was shite today as he has been all season.

excrement team, excrement tactics, excrement manager, excrement ref but apart from all that I thought it was a great game.

Their keeper made good saves from Hessenthaler and Green so at least a couple on target. On another day we'd have scored two or three and they had a very high conversion ratio from their own chances.

I've seen us play worse and get something from the game, but that's neither here nor there. The issue was the terribly soft goals and the general lack of nouse and purpose about the team.

What went on with Jolley at the half-time it looked like he was having a pop at a supporter

Quoted from golfer

Agree with your post Codger but your fav. player for whatever reason was shite today as he has been all season.

Don’t have a favourite player, we have good footballers at the club who seem to have forgotten to move off the ball. It seems to be because we are one dimensional and predictable. Our best performance of the season was only three weeks ago with Ogbu up front, two players with pace alongside and an 18 year old centre back who hasn’t played since.

We seem to always have to accommodate players who are out of form or seem to be the Manager’s favourites, namely Hanson, Othman and Hendrie.

Has the confidence been knocked out of the players since the Mansfield game?

What I saw today.

No midfield,no idea, Defenders looking for players to pass to in the end lumping it up to Hanson.

Not sure that anyone wants the ball at times players hiding instead of making themselves availiable or even having a run or two.

This is a million miles away to what we were seeing at the start of the season.

WTF has happened to all that promise????????????

Didn't go, but think because our two most creative players in Robson and Wright were missing, that would have an impact.
Not sure what other reason can be put forward.

From the games I have seen this season we have looked competent if lacking penetration
Hanson has lost his shooting boots which doesn't help

Hope we turn the corner soon, as someone has pointed out we are only 3 points off playoffs.

That's three crap teams we have made look like top oof the table sides sorry but this is diabolical. Second half we looked a bit better but bad finishing cost us . We were the comeback kids but now we are just fodder how many games have we given goals away early on now?? This time we never looked like a threat very disappointing.

Jolley will get some grief and rightly so some of those players needed a bottom kicking today as well they looked so disjointed and bereft  of any game plan by one.

I still think we lose possesion far to easy and have done for most of the season the stats back me up on  this.

My five penneth, no width , no wide players, and no wingers see what I did with that. Thought our mid field is non existent , all three of them sit in front of the back four allowing the opposition so much room ( there is always 5 of them) so what do you expect . A forward line...   Well,  bring back Tony's Rees please . Michael grow some and drop Hanson and make us play foot ball instead of the Beckham 40 yard wonder passes.
All in all very disallusioned with the football being played.

Every ball is a hoof towards Hanson and immediately we are having to fight for a second ball. So frustrating to watch.

Seen a post on FB claiming hanson is lazy, completely disagree with that, i just cannot understand that if we are playing like we are why on earth we dont have anyone near him

If that's the extent of Jolley's team and tactics after three transfer windows, he isn't cut out for management. Long diagonal to the big man is quite frankly nowhere near good enough.

Waterfall/Ohman is not our best CB pairing..
What's happened to Hendrie?
Our midfield three is just not good enough whoever plays..

We can't play through other sides to get the ball to Rose, Vernam, Ogbu with the ball at their feet or on the half turn to run at defenders. CV has come in for a lot of criticism today but he was the only one moving, showing or making runs first half, never got picked out and when he was the pass was poor.

We are formulaic, static, ponderous and non-creative with the ball..
We are slow, absent-minded ball watchers without it at crucial moments..

Gibson and Macca were the only two who did their jobs today..

Until we pass and move and be mentally switched on for 90 minutes, we're never going to be anything other than inconsistent mid-table or lower table fodder..

Jolley has got to pull his finger out and look at himself today. Drags Vernam off because our midfield can't get the ball to him or Rose. How about sorting out our midfield and style of play to get the ball to our danger men in dangerous positions rather than giving up and reverting to crudely lumping it to the big man? A tactic that any Sunday League manager could employ..

Got a feeling that our squad of players has got more to give if they were managed better..

I felt sorry for Hanson last week because he never got a decent ball all game and by the sound of things it was the same today.

Come on Jolley come up with a plan and stick to it stop messing about  with selections and tactics.

Quoted from grimsby pete

I felt sorry for Hanson last week because he never got a decent ball all game and by the sound of things it was the same today.

Come on Jolley come up with a plan and stick to it stop messing about  with selections and tactics.

Hanson was crap today..

Quoted from Bigdog

If that's the extent of Jolley's team and tactics after three transfer windows, he isn't cut out for management. Long diagonal to the big man is quite frankly nowhere near good enough.

Waterfall/Ohman is not our best CB pairing..
What's happened to Hendrie?
Our midfield three is just not good enough whoever plays..

We can't play through other sides to get the ball to Rose, Vernam, Ogbu with the ball at their feet or on the half turn to run at defenders. CV has come in for a lot of criticism today but he was the only one moving, showing or making runs first half, never got picked out and when he was the pass was poor.

We are formulaic, static, ponderous and non-creative with the ball..
We are slow, absent-minded ball watchers without it at crucial moments..

Gibson and Macca were the only two who did their jobs today..

Until we pass and move and be mentally switched on for 90 minutes, we're never going to be anything other than inconsistent mid-table or lower table fodder..

Jolley has got to pull his finger out and look at himself today. Drags Vernam off because our midfield can't get the ball to him or Rose. How about sorting out our midfield and style of play to get the ball to our danger men in dangerous positions rather than giving up and reverting to crudely lumping it to the big man? A tactic that any Sunday League manager could employ..

Got a feeling that our squad of players have got more to give if they were managed better..

Couldn’t agree more. At risk of some prat saying I have my favourites, could MJ please stop making Charles Vernam a scapegoat. If you’re going to get your team playing like they did today, don’t pick him. Sell him. Because if you can’t get your defence or midfield to pass the ball, you might as well leave any flair players in the stands.

Quoted from Bigdog

If that's the extent of Jolley's team and tactics after three transfer windows, he isn't cut out for management. Long diagonal to the big man is quite frankly nowhere near good enough.

Waterfall/Ohman is not our best CB pairing..
What's happened to Hendrie?
Our midfield three is just not good enough whoever plays..

We can't play through other sides to get the ball to Rose, Vernam, Ogbu with the ball at their feet or on the half turn to run at defenders. CV has come in for a lot of criticism today but he was the only one moving, showing or making runs first half, never got picked out and when he was the pass was poor.

We are formulaic, static, ponderous and non-creative with the ball..
We are slow, absent-minded ball watchers without it at crucial moments..

Gibson and Macca were the only two who did their jobs today..

Until we pass and move and be mentally switched on for 90 minutes, we're never going to be anything other than inconsistent mid-table or lower table fodder..

Jolley has got to pull his finger out and look at himself today. Drags Vernam off because our midfield can't get the ball to him or Rose. How about sorting out our midfield and style of play to get the ball to our danger men in dangerous positions rather than giving up and reverting to crudely lumping it to the big man? A tactic that any Sunday League manager could employ..

Got a feeling that our squad of players has got more to give if they were managed better..

Absolutely this

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Couldn’t agree more. At risk of some prat saying I have my favourites, could MJ please stop making Charles Vernam a scapegoat. If you’re going to get your team playing like they did today, don’t pick him. Sell him. Because if you can’t get your defence or midfield to pass the ball, you might as well leave any flair players in the stands.

This

My first game since Crewe due to illness and what a disappointment. That first half reminded me of the performances in the latter days of Slade Mk 2. Hanson is getting some stick on here but in that first half he didn't get one decent delivery. For me though the most worrying aspect was that half of them appeared not to be bothered. At one point Hess had the ball about 10 yards from the main stand corner flag. He looked up several times and absolutely nobody made themselves available. In the end he knocked it back at least forty yards in a sort of least dangerous move. The first goal was dreadful. Great save from Macca but where were the early season defenders throwing themselves in front of the ball?
The second half was better apart from the finishing. Their keeper made a fantastic save from Green. Hanson and I think Whitehouse missed sitters. Gibson was easily man of the match. Put in a real shift today.  The third and fourth goals were gloss but on that showing the next win could be a long way off.

Today we could have gone 7th if we had won but the selection and as RRFC points on another post out the lack of any form of “up an at end” approach didn't really illustrate that we could do anymore than finish mid table.

So I get there needed to be changes and that Robson was set to play but should Ludwig have come straight back in? In reality Is Hewitt aggressive & creative enough in the middle and was it right to throw Clifton and Charlie in considering their patchy form and lack of starts? Far too many gambles for me in what if we where still doing the coupon would probably have gone down as a home win.

Then we look at the shape, could we have gone a bit less open with so many risks to protect? Is 4-3-3 the right shape if we’re insistent on banging it up to Hanson. Would 4-4-2 or even 3-5-2 worked better in terms of getting the ball forward?

Jolley over complicated it today he needed to leave the data, Opta stats, lap top and the diagrams in the office and understand we where playing a side that may not have real quality but after the sad passing of Justin Edinburgh are massively tight and in appointing a new manager mid week would have (as it proved) real desire to take the spoils.

As for the game, not great to watch, poor in tempo and quality and from a Town point of view urgency in what from a Our perspective felt like a morgue only broken by frustrated heckles and boos at the end of each half.

So a day to forget one made worse (again) by a referee who I suspect if the pipeline was better would probably be rated at County level never mind taking charge of a professional game.

There will always be bad days but in the last 3 games we lost at the end to 10 men, lost away to a side that hadn’t won all season and got smashed 4 - 0 by a mid table side. Also with the amount of chopping and changing we’ll never find consistency and face face the danger of p1ssing off senior pros who expect to play most weeks and not be replaced by square pegs or gambles.

Also I love Macca as he’s GTFC through and through but get an outfield skipper please as there will be times like in the last 3 games when we need someone to sort out a mess.

Let’s see what Tuesday brings....... 🙈

UTM!!!

Quoted from Bigdog

If that's the extent of Jolley's team and tactics after three transfer windows, he isn't cut out for management. Long diagonal to the big man is quite frankly nowhere near good enough.

Waterfall/Ohman is not our best CB pairing..
What's happened to Hendrie?
Our midfield three is just not good enough whoever plays..

We can't play through other sides to get the ball to Rose, Vernam, Ogbu with the ball at their feet or on the half turn to run at defenders. CV has come in for a lot of criticism today but he was the only one moving, showing or making runs first half, never got picked out and when he was the pass was poor.

We are formulaic, static, ponderous and non-creative with the ball..
We are slow, absent-minded ball watchers without it at crucial moments..

Gibson and Macca were the only two who did their jobs today..

Until we pass and move and be mentally switched on for 90 minutes, we're never going to be anything other than inconsistent mid-table or lower table fodder..

Jolley has got to pull his finger out and look at himself today. Drags Vernam off because our midfield can't get the ball to him or Rose. How about sorting out our midfield and style of play to get the ball to our danger men in dangerous positions rather than giving up and reverting to crudely lumping it to the big man? A tactic that any Sunday League manager could employ..

Got a feeling that our squad of players has got more to give if they were managed better..

Agree especially re Charlie who is potentially our most difficult player to play against when he runs at defenders with the ball at his feet. Under MJ he’s never going to flourish.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

Agree especially re Charlie who is potentially our most difficult player to play against when he runs at defenders with the ball at his feet. Under MJ he’s never going to flourish.

Flair isn’t important apparently. Thankfully England rugby have got a decent Aussie coach.

I think Jolley at the moment is guilty of overthinking things.
Some fans have been crying out for Vernam, Clifton and Rose to be given more gametime and with the usual 'squad rotation or needing to rest players' despite only being in October we were less effective than usual at home and gifted Orient 2 soft goals. We had to go for it in the 2nd half but when you commit numbers forward chasing the game then holes appear at the back. The game was lost in the 1st half imo.
Clifton was asked to play left side of 3 in midfield and completely innaffective. Vernam was right side of front 3 and is so lightweight even widdowson could easily knock him off the ball and at the moment Rose is nothing more than an impact player from the bench as i dont believe that his legs/hamstrings can do 90 minutes.

I think the message to Jolley should be PLAY YOUR BEST TEAM. That includes Green and Ogbu from the start and i'd like us to start with Pollock. He is very solid for a player of such age and Ohman was awful today. Waterfall was strangely poor today but has had 3 different defensive partners in the short time he's been here so cant be easy to form a partnership.

We set up incorrectly centre midfield today with 3 similar and defensive minded players together. Whitehouse and Cook should have started and we missed Robson.

The team picked 1st half was devoid of creativity and so we resorted more and more to lumping it to Hanson. In the 2nd half when we got Green close to him we could have created more and missed 2 sitters before the sting in the tail with there third.

In short for tuesday I think we should revert back to the tried and tested experienced heads, work on the defence and try and instill some creative play from midfield to give us some chance of points at Cambridge.

Today in general was an awful day at the office and we need to stop this mini run of defeats quickly.

Quoted from Hagrid

Seen a post on FB claiming hanson is lazy, completely disagree with that, i just cannot understand that if we are playing like we are why on earth we dont have anyone near him

Agree completely. He won plenty of headers but there was never anyone near him to pick it up. He did loads of running as well today which is commendable but it’s hardly his strength. Rose and Vernam were too wide for me.

Today was a wake up call. The mass walkout at 80 minutes should have focused minds. I want Jolley to succeed. Sticking to the best team and Max Wright coming back ought to get us out of this downward spiral.

Shite today, truly one dimensional and urine weak at the back.

Any truth in Jolley throwing an off air wobbler in the press room
after the game?

Quoted from headingly_mariner

Shite today, truly one dimensional and urine weak at the back.

Any truth in Jolley throwing an off air wobbler in the press room
after the game?

It would appear so, as I heard the same rumour.

Quoted from arryarryarry

It would appear so, as I heard the same rumour.

Oh dear. 😐

Quoted from arryarryarry

It would appear so, as I heard the same rumour.

What happened?

Quoted from Madeleymariner

Just looked at the table amazingly we are still only 3 points off the playoffs  

Not really amazing. Under Slade II we were only 4 points off the playoffs on Boxing Day (after 24 league games).

Quoted from GollyGTFC

Not really amazing. Under Slade II we were only 4 points off the playoffs on Boxing Day (after 24 league games).

At our present rate of demise we'll be lucky to be only 4 points off the relegation spot on boxing Day!!🤔🤔

I'll stay as more a neutral onlooker for now as was bed ridden yesterday but on listening to post match interview on RH I found Jolley's faux-upbeatedness a bit perplexing.

No one has mentioned the player's point of view.
However good or bad they play, they can never be certain to play the next game.
How would anyone react?
Is this affecting their confidence?
All this changing of tactics and so forth must be confusing.
Do away with these clipboards and coaching manuals.
Confused you will be.  ( Rowan and Martins laugh in. 1965 ).

Agree with Canny that any successful side will have 8 or 9 regular starters and we should be no different.

The other continual problem and disappointment I have had with town for god knows how many seasons is our inability to put together a decent midfield. We have Hess who is of the required standard and Robson with potential but Harry has gone backwards ( but may come again), Whitehouse who in all honesty is just a guy who gives 100%, Cook does not have the pace to get up and down the pitch and Rose was a better midfield player then Hewitt. Why do successive Managers keep getting this so wrong it was the most important part of the team?

I reiterate we are two or three players short of a decent team but at present matters are made to look a lot worse by a Manager who believes he is tactically smarter than his peers but is fast proving that he does not have ability to determine a style of play and recruit the required players to deliver that style. Like many others I have no idea what type of football he is trying to deliver and this probably changes on a weekly basis hence players looking lost.

Time for Buckley to pop in to his managers room lock the door and give him some father to son advice which if he would do well to take on board.

Finally, his after match interviews are more and more like a Hursts and actually say sod all. He gives the same answers whatever the questions and all sounds prescripted to me.
.

Gave up watching after going 2-0 down..... just p1ss poor play from our lot with Michael giving the same spiel in the last 3 post-match interviews

At least the ladies side are winning games

Teams that win things are the ones that play the same players apart from injury and suspensions, in the same formation,and let the opposition worry about them and not worry about the opposition.

Quoted from 139881

Gave up watching after going 2-0 down..... just p1ss poor play from our lot with Michael giving the same spiel in the last 3 post-match interviews

At least the ladies side are winning games

So with effectively  75 minutes or so of the game still to go you gave up on it?  Unbelievable?!?!?

Quoted from FishOutOfWater

So with effectively  75 minutes or so of the game still to go you gave up on it?  Unbelievable?!?!?

Or damn good judgement...

in a word or two one dimensional and embarrassing   23 hours away from the Bed sit

Quoted from FishOutOfWater

So with effectively  75 minutes or so of the game still to go you gave up on it?  Unbelievable?!?!?

I was watching it on my phone and besides after 20 mins in X Factor looked more appealing

Quoted from Ipswin

Or damn good judgement...

An awful lot to pick to bits so probably best to start from back to front.

Back four looked solid earlier this season because, in my opinion, it was settled.  Davis' injury and then with Ohman having time out it's become disrupted.  Waterfall is a good addition but I think we've got 4 centre backs all relatively similar, all big commanding types without any who are really the type to bring it out from the back. Of the four, Davis and Pollock are the better with the ball at their feet.  I think in terms of balance it's a strong argument that it has to be one of Ohman/Waterfall and then one of Davis/Pollock.  I dare say Davis and Pollock are the quicker of the four two and as both are quite commanding anyway, you could pair them together.  But Ohman and Waterfall is far too rigid and don't have the ability to bring it out from the back, resulting in every ball being long and relatively aimless/hopeful.  In all honesty I would go with Davis and Pollock as the pairing.  

At full-back, Hendrie is bang out of form.  It's that simple.  I think he's a fine player but if he's out of form he needs dropping and resting.  I don't think Jolley has helped him with switching him all over the place.   Hewitt is on current form a far better right-back plus offers his delivery from wide which we've stopped utilising.  Gibson on the left is absolutely fine and should be first choice on merit.  

Midfield - Problem we've had for the last 20 years.  We've a fair few decent midfielders, none of whom appear comfortable playing in a 2.   Hessenthaler is quality if he's got that quarter back style role where he shields the defence and breaks everything up in front of him.  Put him into a two and he's lost.  Clifton and Whitehouse are both very busy, industrious and eager players.  Neither has real quality or the ability to dominate games from a 2 man midfield.  Craig Clay, a man we all deemed probably not good enough to step up into League Two, bossed us from start to finish.   In hindsight we probably discarded Clay a bit too eagerly but he's not a world beater.   In my opinion the limitations of our midfielders to play in a 2-man midfield means we have to play a 3.  It's a bit limiting but when yo factor in our lack of width, 4-4-2 isn't a real option anyway.  

Early season we got away with packing the midfield with energy.  Hessenthaler is one of the first names on the sheet and I'm still comfortable with that, he's one of (if not the) best players and one of the very few who can dictate our tempo.  Ahead of him going with Whitehouse and Clifton isn't enough I'm afraid.  We lack creativity anyway so our attack-minded midfielders need more than just the ability to run and get stuck in.   One but not both for most games, of course there will be occasions where you want both in there - I'm thinking something like the Scunny games where you anticipate it will be blood and thunder.   That leaves the other slot for either Robson or Cook to fill in.  I like Cook and I think if you play him off a striker he can be effective, Robson on the other hand bring natural balance with his left foot and passing range but your energy levels drop with him in the side.  It's a fine balance needed.

Attack - Hanson is fine as the centre forward, as long as the service is good and varied.  Long punts up are pointless.  Teams have soon realised that everything is aerial and through him, one defender in front and one behind and we're screwed.  For most of Saturday he was chasing balls down into the corners, he'll do it as he's a professional but it's a waste of time.  We might as well put Rose as the centre forward to chase loose balls down as at least he's got the pace.  Play Hanson, but play him effectively.  We can of course go long when we need to, but not every time!

Partnering him is a different issue.  We've a lack of width (none in the absence of Max Wright) so it becomes naturally very narrow.  Saturday was a classic example with Rose and Vernam (then Ogbu/Green) out wide.  All four did their best to stay out wide but they're not wingers so look lost.  Rose has the physical attributes but not the footballing savvy at this stage, Vernam is in danger of falling off the radar whereas Green is a player who I'm struggling to see what he offers.  Ogbu is an enigma and unless he's deployed as a centre forward doesn't really know where to play/stand.   When Wright is fit he has to be one of the players to go up top with Hanson, the other berth is up for grabs.  I want it to be Vernam because he's probably the only player in our squad with genuine technical ability better than this league.  He needs to deliver though and his bits of games here and there isn't giving him the time to deliver either.