Just Back

Quoted from Hagrid

Woken up feeling still pretty depressive about yesterday, which is never a good thing as football is ruling your life too much. Just typical town isnt it, always behind. To lose 4-0 at home it just isnt on. The board need to back him because we are woefully under prepared with little or no squad depth.

Keep watching Town and that will pass with time.  

We appear to have a lot of players but their quality is still in question. Losing in this way at home is the worst possible start and I have to say that IH’s negativity towards the seasons’ start date and other FFL decisions may have been a factor in this.

However, if the side includes a fully fit, Hendrie, Waterfall, Pollock, Mohsni, Rose, Scannell and Hanson one would hope that our performances and results will be much improved and with an additional signing in midfield and up front and we should be fine. What is puzzling is the fact that neither Jackson or Sisay have warmed our bench in the league fixtures and as others have said surely they are capable of putting in a 15 minute  stint.

Where like pretty much most teams in this league and have no strength in depth, at the moment that is anyway. What we will benefit from is that when (If) the “1st 11” are fit they’ll be a pool of players underneath them who’ve had game time.

What is a concern though is that when you look at many of the teams above us they have 2 things we lack ..... momentum and/or money.

On the basis of the first 2 games we could flirt with relegation again, but that’s 2 out of 46 and as much as yesterday was shocking from top to bottom it’s too early to tell what will happen.

The only consolation about the fans not being in yesterday was that the boo boys didn’t get on the backs of the youngsters who played badly as that would have really hurt their confidence.

I don't think it's all doom and gloom at all. For 60 minutes, we were the better team. We missed a one on one, an overhead and deflected cross that narrowly missed, two very good saves from headers, a shot cleared off the line and a defender blocked a powerful effort that looked like it was going in the roof of the net.

We clearly need a bit of killer instinct, but if we create that many chances, we will start picking up points soon.

The most worrying part was that when we went 2-0 down, to a really harsh penalty, the heads dropped and we were awful. I don't think fitness looked as much of an issue this week and should be better by next week too.

McKeown - Couple of iffy moments, saved everything you'd expect him to.
Hewitt - Not his best game, but he's looked ok in the previous 3.
Ohman - Was solid until we went 2-0 down then cost 2 goals. Been our best player so far imo.
Idehen - Looks a real prospect. Got pace and deals well against big experienced strikers. With some experience he should improve his concentration
Preston - Looks solid and assured on the ball, very happy with him
Clifton - was very good. Good energy and his passing was better. End product still lacking, but probably MOM for us.
Williams - More involved, looked quick and fitter. Set pieces need working on though...
Taylor - Playing a holding role looks ok. Nice pass one minute followed by shocking one the next. Rose should probably replace him.
Edwards - Great skill and pace, little else. Needs to learn quickly or else he's more in the way than an asset.
Tilley - Poor game all round, Touray had him in his pocket. Has similar issues as Edwards with decision making.
Green - Had 3 good games so far. Unlucky not to have scored a few goals.

With Hendrie, Hanson, Scannell, Rose, Waterfall, Pollock all missing, we have good players to come in. Just need to pick up some points before confidence is shot for the season.

Quoted from pen penfras

With Hendrie, Hanson, Scannell, Rose, Waterfall, Pollock all missing, we have good players to come in. Just need to pick up some points before confidence is shot for the season.

That's a good point pen (you forgot to add in Max Wright). We are missing half a team ,and those 6 are about the best/ most experienced players we have.
McKeown, Edward's, Clifton ,Hewitt and Green would then make up a decent first choice team

Ps wonder if Holloway might be speaking to Bogles agent today or tomorrow with an improved offer??

Quoted from forza ivano

That's a good point pen (you forgot to add in Max Wright). We are missing half a team ,and those 6 are about the best/ most experienced players we have.
McKeown, Edward's, Clifton ,Hewitt and Green would then make up a decent first choice team

Ps wonder if Holloway might be speaking to Bogles agent today or tomorrow with an improved offer??

How do you know the offer was the sticking point?

Quoted from rancido

How do you know the offer was the sticking point?

That was my reading of his comments when he admitted they had been talking to Bogke

Quoted from forza ivano

That's a good point pen (you forgot to add in Max Wright). We are missing half a team ,and those 6 are about the best/ most experienced players we have.
McKeown, Edward's, Clifton ,Hewitt and Green would then make up a decent first choice team

Ps wonder if Holloway might be speaking to Bogles agent today or tomorrow with an improved offer??

Yeah gotta agree with the more positive/optimistic posts towards the end of this thread.

Don't get me wrong, it was bloody dire in the last 30 minutes but again that looked a case more that our legs had gone than anything else.  Can play it up however we like, but we got pre-season wrong. Very wrong.  Yeah it wasn't an easy situation but other clubs seemed to have come out the blocks racing whereas we're still blowing out of our arses after 60 minutes.  

If the issue goes beyond simply a lack of games, then further and more pointed questions need asking as to what's going on behind the scenes because I'd be expecting the players to be there or thereabouts on match fitness about now.

The game itself, we were on top when the first penalty went in.  Sloppy challenge, with no communication.  Even at 2-0 we looked ok but just ran out of steam.  

Third completely killed us off and by the time the fourth goal went in I was pleased it was injury time.

Holloway needs to acknowledge that he can't get away with constant tinkering but also going with an experienced spine in the side. I'm sorry but James McKeown at one end of the pitch and Matt Green at the other does not represent an experienced spine.  The third goal looked to have come from a mix-up and/or no talking between Idehen and Preston, exactly the type of thing you get when your left sided centre back and your left back have so few starts between them.  I think technically he's average but Waterfall is a leader and an organiser.  He needs to be in.  Equally so as much as I'm encouraged by Idehen, Pollock remains our best defender.

In the middle it was evident there was no leadership and at no point was I sure who was playing what role.  I thought Taylor looked quality against Harrogate but he simply had a nightmare on Saturday.  Clifton ran his socks off whereas Williams just seemed to float about a lot.  

Up top I actually felt the much slated Matt Green did ok.  He gave his all, actually held it up a few times and did his best to bring others into play.  But he's not a centre-forward.  Montel Gibson showed how to do that role when he came on.  The other two strikers we signed, Sisay and Jackson, are they injured or just not match fit?  Because it's a month tomorrow since our first pre-season game at Clee Town, you can't tell me these lads don't have 15 minutes in them now!

Get the spine sorted and we'll be fine.  Don't deviate from that, have all the raw talent around it.    

Just listened to the post-match interview and obviously can't play Pollock and Waterfall if they're injured...

Quoted from diehardmariner

The third goal looked to have come from a mix-up and/or no talking between Idehen and Preston, exactly the type of thing you get when your left sided centre back and your left back have so few starts between them.  I think technically he's average but Waterfall is a leader and an organiser.  He needs to be in.  Equally so as much as I'm encouraged by Idehen, Pollock remains our best defender.

I don't really understand this mentality the Waterfall and Pollock are so much better. Watch the games that they play together and the amount of sloppy goals we let in and how easily they're exploited for lack of pace. We let in easy goals from crosses too, which is their main strength. The main thing they are better at is being vocal, leaders and exuding confidence.

I don't know how Idehen gets the blame for that goal either. Their man runs from Clifton, who shouts and points to Ohman who looks around and doesn't get close to him. Idehen is marking the guy behind. Preston and Idehen might have been able to move forward and take the two, but they're not even in the picture until the goal is going in, so we really don't know if Preston had only just arrived in that position. What is certainly clear is that Ohman wasn't marking anybody at any time and heard the call because he looked round.