Just back.

Quoted from Bigdog

Probably not that much. A sense of squad togetherness needs retaining rather than rebuilding season after season. We need to use the FA Cup money to invest in five or six players that are clearly better than we've got in the starting eleven, moving some of the regulars to squad players.. On occasions every player has had good games, but without enough consistency to be part of a team that wins regularly enough to get promotion at this level. Pace, power and creativity definitely needed..

I'd agree with the number of players needed bringing in, as long as they're all improvements. To me that's quite a bit of surgery but that's purely semantics  

Quoted from Bigdog

Probably not that much. A sense of squad togetherness needs retaining rather than rebuilding season after season. We need to use the FA Cup money to invest in five or six players that are clearly better than we've got in the starting eleven, moving some of the regulars to squad players.. On occasions every player has had good games, but without enough consistency to be part of a team that wins regularly enough to get promotion at this level. Pace, power and creativity definitely needed..

I think the major difference between players at this level and the level above is more about consistency rather than ability.   On a few occasions earlier this season Kiernan tore teams apart, definitely against League One leaders Plymouth.  The problem was he couldn't do that in consecutive weeks, regardless of the opposition.

On our day, we're better than anyone else in this league.  But not every day is our day, in fact they're few and far between.  To my eyes there's 3, maybe 4, players in our squad who are consistently good enough to in a promotion challenging side.  They are Crocombe, Waterfall, Clifton and Emmanuel.  It's Emmanuel who is the 4th as whilst his ability is without question, we've not seen him on a consistent basis yet.  Either way, quite confident he can and would do it so let's go with 4.

You're rarely going to get 11 players at the top of their game every week unless you're Manchester City and you don't need that to win League Two.  But the majority is needed.  8 would be the magic number of players who get 8 or 7 out of 10 each week to be a threat, that leaves us 4 short with no accounting for injuries etc.  

With Crocombe, Waterfall and  Clifton there's a decent spine.  Emmanuel on the right gives you an outlet but for those who are delivering more often than not there's a big gap in the attacking options.  

I think there's a category of our players who are nearly there in terms of being good enough to join the other 4.  Smith, Maher, Glennon and perhaps Khan.  Possible argument for Lloyd if he stayed permanently and is used properly.  For Maher he's taken time to get going and is still stepping up a level.  Glennon is still relatively inexperienced and like Khan has suffered bit with knocks and niggles.   If all of them added the consistency to their game I would feel much more comfortable with our numbers.

But it still leaves a big attacking hole.  No two ways about it, that's got to be the focus area in the summer.

For reference, the 2006 side was the last one that came close to getting out of this league at the right end.  From memory we had Mildenhall, Macca, Whittle, Jones, Bolland, Gary Jones and Reddy as those who could consistently deliver, with an able support cast of Newey, Cohen, Parkinson, Toner et al.  Even that wasn't enough, for a variety of reasons.

Quoted from diehardmariner

I think the major difference between players at this level and the level above is more about consistency rather than ability.   On a few occasions earlier this season Kiernan tore teams apart, definitely against League One leaders Plymouth.  The problem was he couldn't do that in consecutive weeks, regardless of the opposition.

On our day, we're better than anyone else in this league.  But not every day is our day, in fact they're few and far between.  To my eyes there's 3, maybe 4, players in our squad who are consistently good enough to in a promotion challenging side.  They are Crocombe, Waterfall, Clifton and Emmanuel.  It's Emmanuel who is the 4th as whilst his ability is without question, we've not seen him on a consistent basis yet.  Either way, quite confident he can and would do it so let's go with 4.

You're rarely going to get 11 players at the top of their game every week unless you're Manchester City and you don't need that to win League Two.  But the majority is needed.  8 would be the magic number of players who get 8 or 7 out of 10 each week to be a threat, that leaves us 4 short with no accounting for injuries etc.  

With Crocombe, Waterfall and  Clifton there's a decent spine.  Emmanuel on the right gives you an outlet but for those who are delivering more often than not there's a big gap in the attacking options.  

I think there's a category of our players who are nearly there in terms of being good enough to join the other 4.  Smith, Maher, Glennon and perhaps Khan.  Possible argument for Lloyd if he stayed permanently and is used properly.  For Maher he's taken time to get going and is still stepping up a level.  Glennon is still relatively inexperienced and like Khan has suffered bit with knocks and niggles.   If all of them added the consistency to their game I would feel much more comfortable with our numbers.

But it still leaves a big attacking hole.  No two ways about it, that's got to be the focus area in the summer.

For reference, the 2006 side was the last one that came close to getting out of this league at the right end.  From memory we had Mildenhall, Macca, Whittle, Jones, Bolland, Gary Jones and Reddy as those who could consistently deliver, with an able support cast of Newey, Cohen, Parkinson, Toner et al.  Even that wasn't enough, for a variety of reasons.

Good post and I’d agree about the impact of consistency.

I don’t know what to make of Lloyd or should I say what to make of the way we use him which is generally receiving the ball with his back to goal, I’ve seen him do some really good stuff with his head up going forward and the ball at his feet.

Quoted from ginnywings

Are we getting on their backs, or just using a forum to discuss why we are having problems breaking teams down at BP?

We can play well, as we did against Northampton and Orient recently, but too many times we put in displays like last night and Harrogate and Colchester.

Yeah we’re allowed to critique the constant poor home performances , we’d all be a lot more happier if we at least got to see a dozen shots on goal in a game

Quoted from HertsGTFC

Good post and I’d agree about the impact of consistency.

I don’t know what to make of Lloyd or should I say what to make of the way we use him which is generally receiving the ball with his back to goal, I’ve seen him do some really good stuff with his head up going forward and the ball at his feet.

Not just Lloyd but Orsi has been used pretty much in the same way when he’s started. If you look at the goals he scored, v Luton & Mamas & Papas Cup, they were both really well taken and showed he could be a quality finisher given a longer run.

As for other posters and comments on persisting with the long ball this, IMO, is for one of two reasons, Manager instructions or midfield players not demanding the ball or getting into space to receive it. Given PH’s comments I don’t believe it’s the former thus it’s the midfield hence why Hunt needs to play more regularly. Yes he was at fault for the goal at Carlisle but sometimes that’s the price you pay if you want to play better football on the ground.

Personally would like to see, for home matches, a return to 4-3-3 or 4-2-1-3 whatever they call these systems nowadays with Khan playing as an out and out wide man.

Great posts...
I think a big issue is our identity
We are neither a cracking football-playing team or a strong 'direct' team
Slade mark 1 was the latter - and we had some very good technical players who could pick the ball up in final third and deliver

We fall between two stools on a regular basis - we are not strong enough to stand up to several 'bully boy/hoof it merchants and get dragged into a dog fight where to be honest I'm grateful for a point (las night) and we don't have enough guile/craft to break teams down; especially at home

'I don't want us to be a 'direct' team cos it can be ugly to watch but if it's the best way to go and with end product then fine

Sutton - horrible long ball team but 2pts off play offs... this backs up my point

Hopefully PH will look at this - and he's already mentioned getting bigger players in - and with Cup war chest can make some big improvements in key areas; namely up top and in midfield, where we need more variety

I don't think PH instructs or wants the team to play like they did last night and other occasions. He seems quite frustrated that they do.

Problem is that the players we have don't seem to have the ability to do anything other, often resorting to just clearing their lines.

A lot of our headers are just that; headers with no thought of direction toward a team mate. Just head it as far as you can in the direction you are facing. There are loads of clearances that are just pumped away from the box as far as possible, when a lot of the time they have the space to bring the ball under control and play it with more direction. You see Emmanuel do this, but the others not so much.

It's about confidence in your own ability, and I don't see a lot of it in our side sadly. Some don't have the ability and some do, but they probably get swept up in the panic mode.

One of the things we're particularly bad at is clearing the ball effectively. There are two things that usually happen:

1. We scuff the ball to the edge of the box, allowing the opposing team to maintain the attack
2. We clear the ball sideways, often directly to an opposing player or out for a throw-in, allowing the opposing team to maintain the attack

We never seem to be able to clear the ball diagonally, either out for a throw-in (but with good distance from our area) or to a Town player for a quick break. It would allow us to relieve any pressure much more effectively, but we can't do it. It's partly why we'll eventually concede if we start slowly or lose momentum during a match. And because our midfield players can't seem to maintain possession under pressure, we can't play our way out of the opposing team's press very often.

I think the one thing that's happened since the switch to wingbacks is that we're less dominant and present in central areas.

I wonder if this is partly because we're now not benefiting from Clifton dropping in from wide to overload teams. Fatigue is playing a factor in there but I think the style Green brings would really suit the current system. Something completely different to what we've got.

Quoted from devs

Great posts...
I think a big issue is our identity
We are neither a cracking football-playing team or a strong 'direct' team
Slade mark 1 was the latter - and we had some very good technical players who could pick the ball up in final third and deliver

We fall between two stools on a regular basis - we are not strong enough to stand up to several 'bully boy/hoof it merchants and get dragged into a dog fight where to be honest I'm grateful for a point (las night) and we don't have enough guile/craft to break teams down; especially at home

'I don't want us to be a 'direct' team cos it can be ugly to watch but if it's the best way to go and with end product then fine

Sutton - horrible long ball team but 2pts off play offs... this backs up my point

Hopefully PH will look at this - and he's already mentioned getting bigger players in - and with Cup war chest can make some big improvements in key areas; namely up top and in midfield, where we need more variety

I agree about the lack of identity in our playing style.

Hurst is more pragmatic than having a playing philosophy ala Buckley and I think far too many mistakes are made in recruitment because of this.

Sometimes pragmatism works wonders -like utilising Croppers long throws in the play-offs,  but it usually results in the team losing their way, too much chopping and changing formations and players unsure what they are trying to do. We can be great but it's too few and far between and we don't create or score enough. We are hard working but we don't spread the play so when we regain possession there is nobody to pass to in any space.

Having said all that we might produce a miracle at Brighton and that will be typical Hurst.