Hurst has said his confidence is still high but I find it hard to believe. Most strikers like him score goals, he doesn't. I have been saying for a while now that he is not good enough.

Compare him to Lenny (who a large proportion of BP dislike) Lenny is better in the air, holds the ball up better, Links the play up brilliantly, Hannah is hardly ever involved in the build up, Lenny has 15 goals to Hannah's 3, We average 3 offsides per game when he's not in the team compared to 11 when he is. People say "well he's a good finisher", he evidently isn't missed a sitter on Saturday and an absolute golden opportunity against Forest Green the rebound in particular. He had a goal chalked off because he was offside and clearly was (because he always is). In my opinion he's not good enough, enough get rid of Hurst, get rid of Hannah.

Well he's a good finisher.

IMO he gets caught offside so much because he doesn't have confidence that he can outpace defenders any more. He does seem to have lost quite a bit of pace since we signed him but needs to adapt his game.

To be fair to Ross strikers find it hard to be sharp when they don't play regularly. Sadly for Ross he hasn't really improved since he has got here, in fact he's gone backwards. He'll end up next season at a relegation threatened conference side next season - a team like Lincoln  ;)

Quoted from SamTheMariner

Hurst has said his confidence is still high but I find it hard to believe. Most strikers like him score goals, he doesn't. I have been saying for a while now that he is not good enough.

Compare him to Lenny (who a large proportion of BP dislike) Lenny is better in the air, holds the ball up better, Links the play up brilliantly, Hannah is hardly ever involved in the build up, Lenny has 15 goals to Hannah's 3, We average 3 offsides per game when he's not in the team compared to 11 when he is. People say "well he's a good finisher", he evidently isn't missed a sitter on Saturday and an absolute golden opportunity against Forest Green the rebound in particular. He had a goal chalked off because he was offside and clearly was (because he always is). In my opinion he's not good enough, enough get rid of Hurst, get rid of Hannah.

I would say that lewis has missed ten sitters to Hannah's one in the last two seasons.

Did you find my thread the other day after slagging me off, because you've been very quiet mate.....just wondered like

How much game time has LJL had compared Hannah this season. How many sitters has LJL missed this season as for the offsides dodgy decision's lack of match sharpness who knows. I for one like both but both lack consistency.  

Lewis - played 810 mins of football - scored 1 goal (penalty v Barnet)
Hannah - played 65 mins of football - scored 1 goal

So tell me, who has the better strike rate again???

Quoted from Tangerine Chris

Lewis - played 810 mins of football - scored 1 goal (penalty v Barnet)
Hannah - played 65 mins of football - scored 1 goal

So tell me, who has the better strike rate again???

Interesting selective cutting of stats there! (using 3 games for Hannah and 9 for JOHN-Lewis (2 of which he didn't play 90 minutes in))

Using The Fishy stats (so blame Rob if it's wrong) LJL has 15 in 2800 minutes and Hannah has 3 in 828.

I don't think that Hannah has played as well as when he was here on loan, and yes he does get caught off-side quite a bit but comparing him with LJL is just barmy and as for taking about missing chances, LJL in his first season or so was one of the worst strikers we have had in along time at that.

There have been times in some games we have played this season that we have never looked like scoring but bringing on a sub with 15 minutes to go is pointless so to be fair to Ross Hannah he should have been given more game time when for example LJL has been firing blanks, but we all know what PH thinks of LJL. :-/

I would think Hannah will start at Barnet if Palmer is not fit,

I would rather give Watson a start but you know Hurst.

Quoted from grimsby pete

I would think Hannah will start at Barnet if Palmer is not fit,

I would rather give Watson a start but you know Hurst.

I wouldn't start either of them. I'd go with Parslow in front of the back 4 and play Jolley and Arnold wide of Lenny.

You always feel there is a goal or two in Hannah given 90 minutes, his offside goal against Bristol was a true poachers goal and its true he could have done better with the one scooped over the bar, but in truth if it had been Ollie nothing would be said, the inns and out of footballers Eh!

I liked him when he first came as he used to have that goalscorer’s instinct and seemed to be a confident finisher. I think he has certainly lost something and this could be attributed to not playing regularly.

I have said it before on here but I think he was good in the pub leagues as the keepers are rubbish. He often looks to make a bit of space and drill a shot on target. Against the Dock and Duck if you get enough on target some will go in. As he is moved up he has found it harder to score when playing against professional (mostly) keepers and defenders.

I still like the way runs though. The way he flaps his little arms when sprinting is wonderful.

If he doesn't get the nod on Saturday, and Watson does, then the writing is on the wall, as a fixed sub, not trusted to play a full game as the main striker.

Hannah needs fast service from the wings, so as not to be caught offside so much

If Watson isn't picked either, then we have two strikers that Hurst doesn't think or trust will do the business.

Whoever, and best of luck with that one, Mr Hurst, we need 3 points on Saturday !

The shock may be Brown back in to strengthen the midfield, but getting injured again by returning too soon??

I know it was a few years ago now - and a couple of leagues below - but the guy scored over 50 goals in one season.

At any level, that's quite impressive.

He did well on loan, when he went straight into the side and played games. But this is where I think it went wrong...

The deal to sign him was tricky, and I think Scott and Hurst went out and got Brodie in case the Hannah deal fell through. As it happened, we got both. The managers didn't want to bring Brodie in on loan, only to bench him, so they played him.

Hannah, meanwhile, is thinking "So you wanted me, you paid money for me, you signed me... and now I'm on the bench behind him?!"

When the Brodie experiment ends (badly), Hannah's dragged back into the side, but by now he's lost his sharpness.

He got it back for a bit the following season (last season) when he developed a decent partnership with LJL. But then that ended (can't remember why).

Since then he's always been third choice. He's a striker that needs to be playing all the time. He's not tall or fast, so he's always relied on his sharpness - quickness of thought could buy him a yard or two over someone who was actually faster.

I feel sorry for Hannah a bit, because I don't doubt that he wanted to give his best for the club. I bet if you spoke to him, and he was able to speak candidly, he'd say that he's done well when given a prolonged spell in the side, but hasn't really been given a fair chance this season.

Hence he'll probably leave when his contract is up this summer.

Quoted from SamTheMariner

I wouldn't start either of them. I'd go with Parslow in front of the back 4 and play Jolley and Arnold wide of Lenny.

Therein lies the problem, PH could well go with that but what message does it send out, the three players who were particularly crap last week starting again. :-/

Ross was the lone forward in one of our best performances of the season away at Halifax, where we actually passed the ball rather than lump it to Shop and pick up the second balls. He hasn't scored many this season because he hasn't played, simple.

Hope he starts Saturday.

Quoted from itsnotcoditshaddock

Ross was the lone forward in one of our best performances of the season away at Halifax, where we actually passed the ball rather than lump it to Shop and pick up the second balls. He hasn't scored many this season because he hasn't played, simple.

Hope he starts Saturday.

If he starts he will score 2,

Then Hurst has a problem , what to do with Palmer when fit.

Yeah he also said there was not a problem with Scott Neilsen.

Quoted from arryarryarry

Therein lies the problem, PH could well go with that but what message does it send out, the three players who were particularly crap last week starting again. :-/

I suspect that P.H.s professional opinion on how the three played might be different to a fans. My opinion is that Jolley didn't tear up any trees, LJL had a reasonable first half but tailed off in the second when he seemed to go deeper and Arnold, to an extent, suffered from a lack of movement by his colleagues. The instance where Jolley stood two yards away from him doing nothing wasn't the only one....
Perhaps a different message might come across?

It's a difficult decision to be sure. I haven't heard many people fault Hannah for his work rate and effort. He suffered on Saturday from a lack of service that one could reasonably have expected LJL to supply for him but the two of them were yards apart. He is still probably the best (only?) poacher we have. I'd still prefer him to start over Hamish...

It does feel like Hannah might be able to turn it back on again given a bit more time on the pitch, but he doesn't seem to see much of that these days. I wish he could return to his on-loan form days - he was incredible. Still don't understand what happened there!

Quoted from chicaneuk

It does feel like Hannah might be able to turn it back on again given a bit more time on the pitch, but he doesn't seem to see much of that these days. I wish he could return to his on-loan form days - he was incredible. Still don't understand what happened there!

How many times have we seen a player who looks sharp on loan, we sign them and it all goes mammaries up. Barry Conlon is a primary example.

Quoted from barralad

I suspect that P.H.s professional opinion on how the three played might be different to a fans. My opinion is that Jolley didn't tear up any trees, LJL had a reasonable first half but tailed off in the second when he seemed to go deeper and Arnold, to an extent, suffered from a lack of movement by his colleagues. The instance where Jolley stood two yards away from him doing nothing wasn't the only one....
Perhaps a different message might come across?

Erm it was PH's professional opinion that last weeks defeat to a promotion rival wasn't too bad.