Just wondering what people’s thoughts were on James Hanson so far,

After the first 5 games of the season with 5 goals and 3 assists his form his really plummeted especially with no goals in 15 or so games since,

Do you think he deserves to keep his first team place?
Is the return in goals tally minus the first 5 games good enough?
Should we try something new with maybe Ogbu in middle and Vernam/Green/Wright wither said in a front 3?

Me personally am disappointed after a great start he made, fair enough the service has been poor but in between them games
His missed a penalty and a few really good chances and should at least have a few more goals upto now, if this was Cardwell we would be moaning like mad for him to be dropped in my opinion,

That’s my opinion though

We don't play to his strengths. We hoist it to his head to flick on but don't support him. At the beginning of the season we got the ball wide and put good crosses in to him. That's when he was at his best. Unless we change our formation he is wasted playing with his back to goal.

six of one, half a dozen of the other.  He really hasn't had service and when he does get the ball with his back to goal he needs support to be able to lay the ball off.   On the flip side, his head does go down easily and hence his workrate. To sum up , not really his fault and you can see he's a versatile player but his lack of interest irks me.

The problem was Jolley changed the formations and players that often even after we had a good win .

Nobody really knew what they were supposed to do.

Quoted from Mayaman

six of one, half a dozen of the other.  He really hasn't had service and when he does get the ball with his back to goal he needs support to be able to lay the ball off.   On the flip side, his head does go down easily and hence his workrate. To sum up , not really his fault and you can see he's a versatile player but his lack of interest irks me.

Have you actually watched him play? I've been amazed at his willingness to chase lost causes and continue to put in a shift when he'd have every right to just shrug his shoulders at the lack of decent service or support.
For me his dip in form happened when other teams started to put two and sometimes three men on him. What should happen then is that other players exploit the space but we just haven't been good enough to take advantage. It reminds me a bit of when teams swamped Dembele (obviously a different style of player but similar example of having more ability than the players around him).
So on balance maybe put him on the bench for a while so that we have more balance and are less tempted to punt it long just because he's there. Then bring him on fresh when defenders start to tire, and give them a new problem to deal with.

He is so much more than just a target man, probably the best player on the team with his feet as well as his head... The limited possession we have had in any game for months means that the front 3 are redundant every game. As mentioned above, when we played to his strengths we were at the right end of the table, but I really believe we allowed ourselves to be sucked into the hype about the statistics of 'aerial duels won' and 'goals from set pieces' and allowed those to define our style of play.

10 players on the team I'd drop before Hanson at the minute.

Every game I've seen Hanson play the one thing you cannot fault is his work ethic.
He never stops running, chasing balls down, trying to press keepers, defenders in the vain hope he'll get something from it.
Other team sussed us out very quickly by putting one man Infront and one behind Hanson yet Macca still pumps the ball aimlessly up to him
It must be as frustrating for him as it is for us watching hoof ball, time to get the ball to his feet, let him hold up play and bring others into the game.
The man can bulky defenders but needs some assistance off his team mates!!

If we play to his strengths and give him the right service we will fly up the table. Case example the Matt Green cross for him against Walsall , no keeper on the planet saves that header.  Cast your minds back to last season how many did Hendrie put on Wes Thomas's head , that for me has been what we have missed as he was played out of position then injured.

A player with his attributes needs crosses from out wide to attack and plenty of them he seldom gets anything like that just straight balls to battle for.

Runs his heart out feeds off scraps all game watching long high balls come to him, if I was him I would be pretty p*%sed off with the lack of service, thrived off crosses into the box early season so what’s changed ?

Quoted from Mendonca1995

Runs his heart out feeds off scraps all game watching long high balls come to him, if I was him I would be pretty p*%sed off with the lack of service, thrived off crosses into the box early season so what’s changed ?

We aren’t getting to the byline enough

Quoted from livosnose

We aren’t getting to the byline enough

Hit the nail on the head there, but playing the 433 the way we do we are never going to be getting to the byline enough. Too many triangle passes on the halfway line and not enough actual forwards passing. Hopefully Wright and Rose will have a bit more joy getting to the byline to bang some crosses in!

We've seen that there is a good striker in Hanson and I dont think his work ethic is ever in doubt we just need to be using his head to knock it into the net from crosses rather than lumping it up to him to flick on. Or if we do use lump ball the the other 2 forwards need to be running to get onto these flick ons.

It seems so obvious to all of us, so my question is, why can't our management and coaching staff see it, and sort it out?

I'm baffled!

Quoted from mimma

It seems so obvious to all of us, so my question is, why can't our management and coaching staff see it, and sort it out?

I'm baffled!

Because they follow there silly coaching badges and have to do things the way they are taught,, Someone once said that football is a simple game... no one seems to be able to play it that way nowa days

Quoted from Oly1987

We've seen that there is a good striker in Hanson and I dont think his work ethic is ever in doubt we just need to be using his head to knock it into the net from crosses rather than lumping it up to him to flick on. Or if we do use lump ball the the other 2 forwards need to be running to get onto these flick ons.

I've always understood that if you have the ball the opposition can't do much other than try to win it back or to stop you doing anything with it while you have it

Yet our main tactic seems to be to hit it long, for it to be " flicked on " which immediately relinquishes that possession

There is then a 50/50 chance that we keep the possession IF we have someone in support near to Hanson but 9 times out of 10 the ball in the air goes nowhere in particular and because the opposition usually have 2 or 3 players around they will mop up and then start to build up an attack of their own

We just don't learn.... putting the ball on Hanson's head in and around the six yard box is a different matter but just hoofing and hoping is so frustrating and even more than that, totally ineffective

I recall Glen Hoddle ( when he was Swindon manager ) having a dig at John Beck's Cambridge who favoured aerial bombardment.... he said the game is called FOOTBALL for a reason

I don't expect us to be Barcelona-esque because our players have limited ablilities but watching us play lately has been akin to watching a rugby team just punting it upfield and trying to gain some territorial advantage and nothing more

We have so little chance of scoring from this style of play.... surely AL must know this and the players themselves must be as frustrated at us just gifting the impetus to the opposition with every long ball forward

Attack is the best form of defence

Quoted from golfer

Attack is the best form of defence

Is it really attacking when all you are doing is speculatively and not spectacularly launching the ball forward?

I've been listening to the podcast Undr The Cosh (spelling mistake intentional). This week, they had Gary Taylor-Fletcher and his insights into life under Keith Alexander at Northwich and Lincoln is fascinating. What Keith did at Lincoln to Taylor-Fletcher left everyone speechless.

But regards tactics, Jon Parkin said he used to hate playing against Big Keith's teams because he had to sprint back to defend goal kicks as his teams used to send 2 centre halves up for goal kicks.

I've been listening to Top Flight Time Machine - tactics are for girl privates!

Quoted from jamesgtfc

I've been listening to the podcast Undr The Cosh (spelling mistake intentional). This week, they had Gary Taylor-Fletcher and his insights into life under Keith Alexander at Northwich and Lincoln is fascinating. What Keith did at Lincoln to Taylor-Fletcher left everyone speechless.

But regards tactics, Jon Parkin said he used to hate playing against Big Keith's teams because he had to sprint back to defend goal kicks as his teams used to send 2 centre halves up for goal kicks.

If Parkin was playing with us right now he'd be back there all the time anyway defending corners with the other 10 teammates

Hanson injured out for the Christmas programme.

Quoted from Sigone

Hanson injured out for the Christmas programme.

Just listening to RH who have said that's how it's looking

Don't know if it's a good thing or not....time will tell

Quoted from FishOutOfWater

Just listening to RH who have said that's how it's looking

Don't know if it's a good thing or not....time will tell

Funnily enough, probably our best performance came when Hanson was left out...
Not to say Hanson isn't a decent/good player, I just think without him we had change our tactics which lead to good football, kept the ball on the floor and outplayed the top of the table team at that point..

Quoted from GollyGTFC

HARRY CARDWELL

Deserves a chance to lead the attack.

The fact AL didn't bring him on last week gives me hope that he won't start him on Saturday.

Quoted from Sigone

Hanson injured out for the Christmas programme.

Doesn't surprise me - he knew straight away that the game was over for him last Saturday. He is a big loss. Max Wright was a big player for us in the first half last week and did show he can get to the by - line to get a decent cross in.

Not sure who he's going to hit this week.

nothing like telling the opposition . they will have prepaired for him playing and we should not have said anything untill before the game

Quoted from Teestogreen

Doesn't surprise me - he knew straight away that the game was over for him last Saturday. He is a big loss. Max Wright was a big player for us in the first half last week and did show he can get to the by - line to get a decent cross in.

Not sure who he's going to hit this week.

Hopefully agent Hurst straight in the mush with a wayward pass!!

Quoted from denni266

nothing like telling the opposition . they will have prepaired for him playing and we should not have said anything untill before the game

Lincolnshire is hardly North Korea. I am sure Scunny will have been aware.

Quoted from denni266

nothing like telling the opposition . they will have prepaired for him playing and we should not have said anything untill before the game

They probably prepared for him not playing too, seeing as he went off injured last week

Quoted from jamesgtfc

I've been listening to the podcast Undr The Cosh (spelling mistake intentional). This week, they had Gary Taylor-Fletcher and his insights into life under Keith Alexander at Northwich and Lincoln is fascinating. What Keith did at Lincoln to Taylor-Fletcher left everyone speechless.

But regards tactics, Jon Parkin said he used to hate playing against Big Keith's teams because he had to sprint back to defend goal kicks as his teams used to send 2 centre halves up for goal kicks.

Brilliant podcast that. Did you hear Parkin say that the best player he played against was James Hanson!!

This could be a double bluff.......and he is playing.......mind games?
Or Matt Tees is recalled........remember when town beat Scunny 4-1 ......first game of the season....
Dementia set in so forgot when,but it was bloody good!
Merry Christmas to all.......

I remember that game to the extent that Tees outsprinted the defenders from just inside the halfway line  to score - can't remember who they were playing - but next game won 4-3 away to Exeter - Laurie Mac was starting to implement his influence on a squad that Bobby Kennedy assembled.

Oh! and merry Christmas everyone.

Already a good Xmas for me with the possibility of Cardwell leading the line for the next 3 or 4 games. Great news for a team that has a complete inability to score ......... :-/

Quoted from forza ivano

Already a good Xmas for me with the possibility of Cardwell leading the line for the next 3 or 4 games. Great news for a team that has a complete inability to score ......... :-/

Sarcasm, the lowest for of whit, yet by far, the funniest.  😂😂

Quoted from Northbank Mariner

Sarcasm, the lowest for of whit, yet by far, the funniest.  😂😂

Sarcasm isn't the lowest form of witt, Jack Whitehall is!