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jamesgtfc |
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Seems that way at the moment, but I wouldn't be surprised to see one team go on a 7 or 8 game winning streak and pull away from the others. The fact that Halifax are top when they don't look anything special is evidence that the league isn't as strong as some have made out. An effective game plan with some nice shithousery has been enough for them
I've said it before but we are too nice. We all sit here moaning that opposition players are pulling our players shirts but it seems to work for them. At this level where referees are poor you need to play that to your advantage. Get a horrible box to box midfielder in who just stays within 5 yards of the referee all game.
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ska face |
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Exactly the point I made before the loss against Halifax yesterday. I do not like the lack of pace in this team And I really hope it is something that Hurst addresses
I don’t think we’re a particularly slow team, but just fail to get into situations where the faster players can take advantage of it. Sousa, Efete, McAtee, Wright, Clifton are all fairly quick, then you look at Bell, Revan, Bapaga who were the same but have now gone. When did we ever make the most of that pace? How often have we got into positions where wingers have a chance to knock it past their fullback & get after it? Since probably late-Oct, the play has been slow & ponderous. Quality of passing isn’t there from anyone but Hunt which limits the use of faster players. Compare that with Halifax, who spent the first half clipping good balls over our back 4 for Slew & others to chase. What seemed like a decent partnership between Sousa & Efete down the right has dropped off through injury, suspension, loss of form and Sousa moving over to the left at times. There’s no pace from left back, as we know. When we have managed to break down the wings, Sousa & Bapaga have tended to cut inside, or haven’t been able to put a decent cross over. If we need a pacey option anywhere, it’s at left back & as another option up top. But it’s not just as simple as getting quicker players in, the system needs to support them.
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chaos33 |
January 13, 2022, 10:22am |
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Great post.
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| "You should do what you love while you can" |
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TownSNAFU5 |
January 13, 2022, 11:02am |
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I remember teams (NL winners) like Crawley and Fleetwood being dirty, ruthless, nasty and doing everything to win. Conning and influencing the referee being the norm. Experts in timewasting etc.
Yes, we have been too nice over the years. Maybe playing in an honourable way and not always streetwise in managing a game..
We could be meaner and still play the game in the right way. As someone said, we probably need a nastier, astute manager to do achieve this. (We are starting off with nice, decent owners. They are more likely to keep, relate and appoint a manager in their own image).
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Maringer |
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I don't want to see us become a team reliant on shitehousery. I've just about got around to accepting that our players will sometimes commit a 'professional' foul to pick up a booking and break up play, but it still doesn't sit well with me.
It would be nice if the referees were a bit more capable so did something about the teams who do little but wrestle players at set pieces (e.g. Halifax), but I don't have any confidence that the referees won't just start awarding penalties against us if we attempted to copy this tactic.
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gtfc_chris |
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I think when you look back at PH Mk1, he had us playing a manner of football that didn't warrant a 'quick route' back to the EFL (if such a thing exists), and instead stuck to his guns in building a team that - in his eyes - played football.
Although that position saw us take a few years to get to the standard good enough to beat enough teams to take us up, once he had and at the point he left for Shrewsbury we were in the play off positions in L2.
To me that suggests he looks beyond using dirty tricks to try and fast track our way because he'd rather build a way of playing and a team that is capable of competing once promoted, and can maintain progression based on understanding rather than sh1thousery.
The huge downside to that both before and currently is whether you're patient enough to ride out the rough patches that inevitably go with it.
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FishGY |
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It wouldn’t surprise me if the champions fail to break the 90 point barrier this season (or even 86 with two fewer matches than usual).
Interesting you say that and people agree. The top 3 teams are all on track to finish on 90+ and yes maybe one or two may slow up, but all of them are on fine form.. Even 4th place Notts County are one point shy of what would be 2 points a game, and they were slow starters. It's a very harsh league with one automatic promotion spot. Normally 2 points a game is a yardstick for promotion but in this league it's likely not enough. That said, I agree the league isn't very strong, but there is a split with teams that are much weaker than the others. Generally that's between the ex-league/professional clubs and clubs that you read and think non-league (slightly disrespectful maybe). The teams at the top presumably are winning against the easier teams hence their high points tallies, something we were doing as consistently until we weren't. Still, there's no excuse for how far down the table we have fallen, especially with the headstart we gave ourselves. But I don't think this is an easy league to win like some imply it should be (sadly)
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