Statistics

Quoted from Jarmo.Is.God

21 games in, pretty much half way through the season.

First 10 games;
Won 7
Drew 2
Lost 1
Scored 24 (avg 2.4 goals a game)
Conceded 11 (avg 1.1 goals a game)

Last 10 games
Won 2
Drew 1
Lost 7
Scored 7 (avg 0.7 goals a game)
Conceded 12 (avg 1.2 goals a game)

Its easy to see whats changed....

We are still pretty solid at the back, but become terrible going forward

2 outfield players started yesterday that didn't start against Weymouth on the opening day
Maguire-drew & Waterfall / instead of Hunt & DLK

3 outfield players started yesterday that didn't start against Wrexham when we won 3-1
Maguire-Drew, Pearson & Fox / Instead of Coke, Towler & Hunt

Is Hunt the missing piece that makes it all fall apart when not put in the middle?

Other than that, not a lot has changed at all, except the results

The crucial stat for me is that if you look at the 11 games in all competitions since we beat Yeovil 2-0 while top of the league, we have scored 5 goals. That, obviously, isn’t going to be good enough. We’re just not creating enough clear cut chances anymore.

Is anyone clamouring to drop Taylor, or McAtee, or any one player in particular? I’m not seeing a great deal of ire being directed at individuals, because I don’t think individually anyone is doing anything fundamentally awful.

The personnel isn’t the biggest issue here, the system is, and I’m concerned we don’t have the necessary skills amongst our coaching team to go and sort that out.

We're not creating loads of chances, but we're still creating enough to have scored several more goals during this bad run. I'm thinking of events like Crookes knocking it wide from about 1 foot in the last minute of a game. That sort of thing. Sounds as though we could have scored last night but didn't once again.

The defence is generally playing OK, but it only takes one mistake to lead to a goal and we're making that one mistake in pretty much every game during the bad run.

For what it's worth, I'm still expecting us to finish in the play-offs providing injuries don't hit us too badly, but it might require a couple of decent signings to make this come off.

Quoted from Maringer

We're not creating loads of chances, but we're still creating enough to have scored several more goals during this bad run. I'm thinking of events like Crookes knocking it wide from about 1 foot in the last minute of a game. That sort of thing. Sounds as though we could have scored last night but didn't once again.

The defence is generally playing OK, but it only takes one mistake to lead to a goal and we're making that one mistake in pretty much every game during the bad run.

For what it's worth, I'm still expecting us to finish in the play-offs providing injuries don't hit us too badly, but it might require a couple of decent signings to make this come off.

We’re currently 6 points off the play-offs with an inferior goal difference, with 7th and 8th position occupied by Wrexham and Stockport respectively, both of whom are improving. If we’re going to make the play-offs, we’re going to have to see an upturn in form and fortunes very, very soon.

If this baron run of PPG continues for another 3 or 4 games, the season is done for us.

Quoted from Poojah

The personnel isn’t the biggest issue here, the system is, and I’m concerned we don’t have the necessary skills amongst our coaching team to go and sort that out.

Which is a terrible indictment of our current set up as we're now fully loaded with all the backroom staff a manager at this level could need.

Quoted from Swansea_Mariner

Which is a terrible indictment of our current set up as we're now fully loaded with all the backroom staff a manager at this level could need.

Do we though, have anyone with a proven pedigree of setting teams up offensively? We are predictable and have been sussed out as an attacking force.

When Hurst went to Shrewsbury in 2016 having scored 15 goals in 15 games. They ended up in 18th having scored 46, maintaining that same rate of a goal a game, but having slashed the number of goals they were conceding by more than half. That’s what Hurst does.

They finished third the following season having scored 60, the same as 13th placed Bristol Rovers, but with the second best defensive record in the division. The sides that went up scored 73, 82 and 89 respectively.

Other than signing some players right now, the biggest thing Hurst can do is accept his terminal weakness in his inability to instil attacking flair in sides and bring in someone who is capable of doing so.

What I meant was we have a range of professionals in a range of disciplines. Now if those professionals don't in combination have the right mix of skills then that is also a terrible indictment of our current manager. It's the same whichever way you cut it up.

Hurst has been given a massive opportunity here in terms of set up. The owners have clearly said is for the manager to decide what he needs to create a functional environment to facilitate change on the pitch. If we don't have that despite employing more people than ever before, then something is really wrong.

Quoted from Poojah

Do we though, have anyone with a proven pedigree of setting teams up offensively? We are predictable and have been sussed out as an attacking force.

When Hurst went to Shrewsbury in 2016 having scored 15 goals in 15 games. They ended up in 18th having scored 46, maintaining that same rate of a goal a game, but having slashed the number of goals they were conceding by more than half. That’s what Hurst does.

They finished third the following season having scored 60, the same as 13th placed Bristol Rovers, but with the second best defensive record in the division. The sides that went up scored 73, 82 and 89 respectively.

Other than signing some players right now, the biggest thing Hurst can do is accept his terminal weakness in his inability to instil attacking flair in sides and bring in someone who is capable of doing so.

Does being a defender mean you can't coach attacking play or set up a team to attack though?

Our 3 coaches were all defenders (although Davies was a central midfielder for at least 10 years) and if Dave Moore has any input into our tactics, he was a defender too.

Mark Hughes was a great striker but I don't ever remember his teams being absolutely lethal up front and terrible defensively.

Quoted from Jarmo.Is.God

21 games in, pretty much half way through the season.

First 10 games;
Won 7
Drew 2
Lost 1
Scored 24 (avg 2.4 goals a game)
Conceded 11 (avg 1.1 goals a game)

Last 10 games
Won 2
Drew 1
Lost 7
Scored 7 (avg 0.7 goals a game)
Conceded 12 (avg 1.2 goals a game)

Its easy to see whats changed....

We are still pretty solid at the back, but become terrible going forward

2 outfield players started yesterday that didn't start against Weymouth on the opening day
Maguire-drew & Waterfall / instead of Hunt & DLK

3 outfield players started yesterday that didn't start against Wrexham when we won 3-1
Maguire-Drew, Pearson & Fox / Instead of Coke, Towler & Hunt

Is Hunt the missing piece that makes it all fall apart when not put in the middle?

Other than that, not a lot has changed at all, except the results

Undoubtedly. Yes he had the odd game where he was off the pace but he's a youngster playing non-league football, he isn't going to be Pirlo-esque every game. But the rest of our midfield is too workman-like without the speed of thought or deed to unlock the opposition. Look at the first goal against Wrexham for just how different he is to the rest of the central midfield. Starts the move off with a quick pass round the corner after coming and showing for the ball from the defenders. Then plays an incisive pass through a small gap that's perfectly weighted for Sousa which, frankly, none of the other midfielders would have seen let alone been able to execute.

If he's not coming back, which is a real shame, then he needs replacing or we are going to struggle significantly. No point having players like McAtee and Taylor further up the field if the service to them is slow and inconsistent.

Quoted from Shaymen

If only how many fans you got mattered even remotely to the outcome of football matches. You. Wrexham. Notts and Stockport and Chesterfield keep wanking yourself off with how big your gates are. We'll just win the games.

Shayman, don't you know who we are? We were in the equivalent of the Premiersh*t as recently as 1948. We went to 2, yes 2 FA Cup semi-finals in the 1930's, one of which still holds the record of attendance at Old Trafford. We are a massive club with a great  history and we shouldn't be down here with all these glorified pub teams 😉.

Quoted from Poojah

Other than signing some players right now, the biggest thing Hurst can do is accept his terminal weakness in his inability to instil attacking flair in sides and bring in someone who is capable of doing so.

Yet we were almost swashbuckling at times earlier in the season.

No doubt, Hurst's preferred approach is one of caution.  I think he admitted as much during his first spell with a comment along the lines of 'I always preferred those 1-0's when you're defending for your life for 89 minutes than thumping someone 6-0'.   But I think it's unfair to say he can't install attacking flair, nor bring in players who are capable of doing it.  His first spell proved with countless signings that he could bring in genuinely exciting players.  Hearn, Neilson, Arnold, Bogle, Nolan....all players who looked to do something.  Even Conor Townsend is someone who I would count as a player who always looked to go forward.  McAtee and Sousa are both attack minded players who have the first thought of attacking the defence rather than playing safe.  

What I think is evident is that Hurst, his teams too, get more defensive when they don't get the rub of the green.  It becomes a vicious cycle, you've not scored for a few games so you defend deeper...before you know it you've got 10 men parked in front of your own goalkeeper.

The only stat that matters is the points column.   At this minute in time we're struggling on that front.  We need to arrest that decline, get back on track regardless of how we get there.  With the defence still fairly solid, I think there needs to be a bit of unshackling.  However I'm not convinced that we've enough quality to consistently hurt teams.  Sadly, I think a few posters have already summed it up in that we've been sussed out already.  Taylor has been nullified as the focal point, similarly to how Hanson was 2 years ago.  Without him bringing others into play we're down to Sousa and McAtee.  Sousa is erratic and lacks end product, whereas McAtee has barely played for two months. There's not really much creativity in the rest of the team to look at.  A lot of endeavor but few who will change a game.  Huge couple of weeks ahead in terms of recruitment.