FAO Chris Lowe - if u are starting off a thread can u please get the heading right !
It was hardly a performance to warm the cockles on a cold damp January afternoon.
No skill in midfield.
Lack of strikers.( Should be 4-4-2 )
Easy for Chasetown who look a decent bet for promotion.
Yet again caught on the break for the first goal as at Chasetown.
Overloaded squad.
Urgent times now both on and off the field.
Two tough games coming up now.
There is no balance to the squad. 2 left wingers, 3 strikers (when only playing 1 upfront this leaves 2 very capable ones sat on the bench), but very few options at the back.
There are good enough players in the squad to challenge for promotion, but we cant put a run of wins together. How we can walk all over Sheffield like we did but then pick up 1 point from the last 2 home games is beyond me.
Unless we can go on a massive winning run then i think it really is season over…
why oh why keep playing nevelle at left back he has nothing going for him. also why keep our leading goalscorer on the bench when we cannot put the chances away. maybe the maqnager has lost his way.all season the obvious position we needto fill is left back, why hasn’t this been addressed. another season in this crap league is beckoning.
7 points from the top, with 4 play off places underneath that. Only halfway through the season. Season over??? You make some good posts Robbo but that certainly isn’t one of them!
I just knew walking away from yesterdays game that some persons would be calling for the manager to go WHAT A TOTAL NON-SENSE! Another new manager another new set of players etc etc etc etc every year NO NO NO NO when will you ever learn that just does not work!
LOOK AT THE TABLE we would be third on goals against only Cheatstown and Glapwell have conceded less goals how does that reflect on our defence???
You got what you wanted yesterday it was changed to 4-4-feckin-2 well before halftime and we still lost!
I just think we missed Jamie Tandy giving that other attacking option and Cheatstown were just the better/luckier team on the day AND we played some brilliant stuff first half on Tuesday just at least another one before half time and we’d have won and taken much more confidence into yesterdays game.
Some behind the goal were slating thier keeper from the very first goal kick the ref is LESS likely to “have” him put under pressure from the off like that, I thought the ref was very good wasn’t taken in by the early Cheatstown dive (I didn’t see the sending off challenge so can’t comment!)
Extremely sensible post Mauler!!!
If we continue as we have done so far this season, then we wont challenge for a play off place. We are falling further and further off the pace. We haven’t put an extended run of wins together all season - which any championship/promotion chasing team HAS to do.
So to go back to my previous point; if we don’t put a run of wins together soon, then yes it will be season over. How can you disagree with that? We wont get anywhere near the play offs unless we start winning games - that’s pretty simple maths!!
Some interesting points there!
Love the one about we’d be 3rd on goals conceded - lets turn that round then and look at Goals Scored on that basis we’d be 12th!!! Brilliant MM - you can do anything with statistics! The FACT is we’re NINTH - not disastrous but a long way from automatic promotion, and we’re fighting 8 other teams for the play offs.
I looked at the league table on Tuesday and thought with 3 good results we’d be right in the mix, 2 of those games have now gone.
Some people behind the goal are just on a different planet and 1 in particular changes into a different species when at a Football ground, the silence of all those around makes these people all the more vociferous. (There were very few of us shouting encouragement to the team yesterday).
Referee - should have booked the full back after 5 mins, should have sent the guy off for the assault on Dylan Adams, should have clamped down on the timewasting. But ultimely disn’t cost us the game. Poor Finishing AGAIN did.
How does it go - KTF?!?
MM do you mean to look at the table to see witton in 9th position and in a very poor quality league - that says to me the manager has to improve surely, if he shows no sign of doing that then his position is questionable , so give him a bit more time because he has good contacts, he is a well qualified coach but can he manage a succesful team ? not much of a track record of achievement so imo the clock is ticking, the squad needs better balance cetainly a leftback as others have suggested and something else in centre midfield eg creativity, the club has to get out of this league just look at the gates ! if he does not do it his season I would not give him another chance next season, there are other good managers out there with track records.
Ok right well where to start…
Played against a good team who were fighting to be first to every ball. Good following and a ridiculous amount of flags! - they will be up there come the end of the season.
As for us (in my opinion)…
We aint going anywhere fast at the moment but it isnt too late as long as things are sorted now
Foster simply has to play… he usually gets a couple of chances a game and often scores them. Lamb wins a hell of alot of headers but isnt a big goal threat.
New winger seemed clueless, wasnt suprised he came off in 1st half.
Why dont our midfielders and wingers (maylett, henry etc) HAVE A SHOT! - they aint all gonna go in but we can’t pass it in. A re-bound off the keeer and our forwards would be in.
I think Dylan Adams is playing ok but Neville gives the ball away too cheaply (you know where the balls gonna go every time he kicks it - usually to the oppositions keeper) but he aint a bad player just needs to form a partnership with a winger.
Pritch and mcallister are playing well and grundy looks confident although caught in no mans land a couple of times.
Heler is a good player but is a confidence player, he also needs to shoot more.
I think we will get there but time isn’t on our side - see you at Kidsgrove.
Yep good points!! My comment about goals conceeded was due to criticism of the defence (fullbacks no good no options etc), I fully agree we should have scored more in this wretched league! The clock may well be ticking for the manager, but you have to give a manager a damn good chance at sometime surely? One year/one season is never enough really, lots of potential managers have allways applied at the Albs so there is allways someone willing to step in (maybe less at this level though!) but even though I hate 4-5-1 AT HOME I am willing to keep supporting the team whilst they are out there! Andy Chad yes maybe the ref should have sent thier player off that was a bad one on Dylan Adams I certainly shouted at him taht it was a terrible challenge!!
My major concern is that we have players in our team who have dropped down the leagues very quickly. On ability players like Maylett, Heler, Tandy, Foster, and i would expect Doherty, should all be playing in at least the league above. I don’t understand how we manage to look so ordinary at times. Where is the effort and fighting spirit from the Matlock replay?
We played well enough in the first half on Tuesday, but Lamb just isn’t enough of a goal threat at the moment. 4-5-1 worked really well for a few games, and Lamb is definately the best man to play that lone-striker role. BUT, this system relies on Maylet, Tandy, Heler all being on top forma nd providing us with options and goals. When it isn’t working, such as second half on Tuesday, then we need a Plan B. Credit to Gary for changing the system yesterday, and when Foster came on we looked much more likely to gte something from the game.
In hindsight, maybe once we got back to 1 each maybe a draw would have been a good result rather than trying to push for the win.
I am not suggesting that we should change the manager, however something certainly does need to change somewhere as we just don’t seem to be firing at the moment - and as i have said earlier, we haven’t been consistent at all this season.
I don’t know if it is that we have had too high a turnover of players, or if it is a confidence thing, but whatever it is needs to be addressed quickly - which is what Gary is paid to do. We are in a position at the moment from where we can push on if we get it right. My worry is that January is a bad time of the season to have gone 7 games without a win (not all league of course), and if we go another couple then it just puts pressure on the team as we will begin to feel that we need to win every game.
A run of 4 or 5 wins and everything will change. It’s just whether we can hit that kind of form or not (we have’t done so far).
So as not to cause too much disruption we have the personnel in place already !
Surely those players WILL be playing in a league above, with the Albs!, if we get our act together and hit form 4-5 wins and all will start to seem so different surely we can do it (might have to be via the playoffs though!) COME ON ALBIOOOOOOON!!!
Am waiting for CHADS report on the game on the official website :ohmy:
Not the playoffs!!
:ohmy: :woohoo:
No probs with playoffs B) we’re due some playoff good fortune!
Good report CHAD !
Good match report and some very good posts above. The posts all demonstrate how much the fans of the club care about performances and making progress up the league.
I honestly believe that with the squad of players we have we should be doing better than we are, however if you look at the performance yesterday there appeared to be very little game plan. Totally agree with Robbo’s comments regards balance. Why Foster and Broadhead didn’t start is beyond me.
Moseley looks to be completely out of favour and with the arrival of Morgan we risk losing a committed player for one that will probably be up and off for the chance of an extra £10 a week!
We need to stop signing a bunch of mercenaries and build a stable starting 11. I have lost count of the number of formation changes we have had this season, sometimes when you watch the play you are not sure yourself of who is supposed to be playing where!!! I think you can see this in the players reactions too.
Morale and camaraderie appear to be at a real low and this needs sorting out as much as anything else. When Ruffer’s fit will Pritch get dropped again? If Henry is captain and Broadhead the best box to box midfielder we have then where will Doherty be playing.
The chairman and board have backed the manager in letting him continue to sign new players, but frankly at the moment all the new faces do is throw everything up in the air. We need to pick our best 11 and then tweak it a position at a time.
We should not make knee jerk reactions when it comes to the managers position but so far Gary has achieved relegation last season and 9th in the table after half of this season, patience may run out very quickly. I would not be upset to see Brodie given the job and Pritch as assistant. Brodie is a pro, reads the game very well and has the respect of the lads, all good qualities to start with!
The_Wincham_Rabbit wrote:
[quote]the arrival of Morgan we risk losing a committed player for one that will probably be up and off for the chance of an extra £10 a week!
We need to stop signing a bunch of mercenaries[/quote]
I’m not quite sure we should be making sweeping statements like the one above!!! However, i do agree that at this level we do need committed players who know what our Club is all about. Other players may have been quick to jump ship when left out of the team, but we are very fortunate that first Pritch - and now Mike - have chosen to stick around and fight for their places. That could prove vital between now and the end of the season.