Loose lipped leadership?

Quoted from 1mickylyons

Our Manager has two left backs yet plays his second choice right back instead of either.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

Haven’t posted this season as I’ve missed a few more games than usual and wanted to have a look before any comment.

What I’m seeing is a set of players who are reasonable 4th Division players who haven’t gelled or aren’t set up properly both in terms of game plan & concentration.

I’m not seeing a team with 5/6 lads each week who are performing consistently at a level above they’re playing which is arguably the starting point for being contenders.

So why aren’t we seeing this after PH had a £1m budget as some believe he did?

I doubt that was the budget and maybe Jason (who has my 100% support) regrets what was could be seen as IMHO loose lipped comments about (paraphrase) all the cup money going into to strengthening the team when at best that would have been a net amount and not £1m gross.

That £1m probably took another hit with the work that needs doing to BP, it may not have been done but I’d be amazed if 1878 hasn’t made provision within the accounts to do it when cash flow is good from the cup money & ST sales.

The budget was no doubt much better nobody on here knows the facts but I suspect many clubs in L2 had better budgets to strengthen better 22/23 squads than we had.

Like many I was overall pleased with our signings especially Eissa & Rose who I’ve seen play well for other clubs but I was also disappointed we didn’t add at the close of the window.

The other signings all have context,

- The keepers, one lad who has ability has never settled and appeared to lack confidence in a relegation side last term. The other a youngster with potential but a lot of development to do.

- Mullarkey has some ability but was playing mid table in the NL & a relegated EFL side last season.

- Rodgers, again has ability but was also relegated last season, maybe that takes longer to recover from mentally.

- Conteh, brilliant mid/long term prospect but he’d never played in the EFL (I think) there was no way he was going to be a midfield general from the off.

- Wilson & Pyke, like many I didn’t know much about them and for different reasons neither have been able to get established.

- Arthur looks like a journeyman but has skill and Andrews scenario is a bit like Conteh

The lads above where added to a squad that had lost Smith who was good for us & Orsi who CDAJATL if not prolific.

Though they never fired last season McAtee & Taylor left and we haven’t found a combination who can do what they did the season we came up.

Add the above to Amos, Glennon, Michee, Hunt, Holohan Khan and Green who are all good lads but whether it’s down to experience, injury, ability or not getting a run of games have all lacked consistency.

Maher is good but Clifton has come on massively but sometimes hasn’t got the X factor when required and this will be controversial for some but I thought the writing was on the wall for Waterfall last season in terms of the sun going down on his EFL career.

Though this post isn’t to debate what PH has & hasn’t done well season to date personally I think he’s made some mistakes, we’ve defended poorly which definitely isn’t his “brand” and I’m not sure why we have our main striker as captain when Waterfall doesn’t play?

That said I’m still broadly supportive of what PH is  trying to do with what he has but when you look at the back story of many of the players who are starting regularly you can see why we’ve not quite gelled.

Like I say my opinion is that Jason probably got a bit carried away in the moment when he talked about the cup money, who can blame him the run was great. Whether or not his comment was “loose lipped” is a matter of opinion too, but maybe it set expectations high for some.

Though it’s listing a bit especially in the second half of games the ship isn’t sinking, at some point it will right and we’ll gain some consistency but unless we have a brilliant January (is there such a thing in reality?) we won’t go up, personally I never expected us to, as there are a good 8/9 maybe 10 teams with better squads that and are further on in their development or indeed gambled to press on.

I must say I’d love to see our first away win at Stockport again though 😉

UTM!

Quoted from FishOutOfWater

Well reasoned & well articulated HM

Have a gold star!  ⭐️

Quoted from 1mickylyons

Cut it anyway you like but the budget must have almost doubled in the past two Seasons Fenty never saw much of er 3k sth. The FA Cup money on top plus the sale of Mcatee we should be better than 18th in League 2. Our Manager has two left backs yet plays his second choice right back instead of either .He spent a substantial amount of his budget on Hunt a player he had on loan for a lengthy spell but doesn't play him . The gripes about budget are not ignorant they are valid as are the gripes about lack of entertainment or inability to see out games.1878 have the fans backing but what's on offer on the pitch is no better than what we got under Fenty thus far.

Quoted from ancientmariner54

Another one who doesn't seem to know much about the game

Quoted from ancientmariner54

Another one who doesn't seem to know much about the game

Quoted from ancientmariner54

Another one who doesn't seem to know much about the game

Quoted from jamesgtfc

The simple fact is that only 55% of our income can be used on the playing wage budget, which Jason later clarified.

Conteh, Rodgers and Vernam came in on 3 year deals. Eastwood, Eisa and Rose were 2 year deals. I imagine most of them are earning more than those they have replaced, but I do agree that increased expectations is a byproduct of last years cup success. Our start to the season hasn't been very good, but most of our opening 10 games were against teams expected to be up there this season. We have now played against half of the league and our form does need the improve.

The owners talk about continuous improvement, that means we need to be pushing for the play-offs this season.