|
Braintree
Feb 14, 2017 23:46:52 GMT
via mobile
Post by spitfires123 on Feb 14, 2017 23:46:52 GMT
Yes it was a poor performance this evening! Only positives I can say is McLeod was our best player. Odoffin impressed me and Cole at left back certainly has potential and 1 for the future. The players, manager and fans knew it was a poor performance. Some positives and a hell of a lot of negatives. Played reasonably well at guiseley to a shambles this evening. Let's forget this game and move on.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2017 5:41:47 GMT
It's a work in progress....we have some top quality coming in the summer.....though they might change their minds if we continue in this form.....the only grouse is if you set up 4-5-1 then there is no point playing long balls from defence, surely playing that system the defenders ought to be finding, and passing to the midfielders. MA will get it right, but you know, we've struggled to win home games since January 2015 cos teams have worked us out.
|
|
|
Post by efctommygreen on Feb 15, 2017 6:26:17 GMT
Valentines Day Massacre
|
|
|
Post by westendspitfire on Feb 15, 2017 7:04:55 GMT
Pretty sure we are not losing because anyone has worked us out. We are just not good enough to beat anyone. Would be difficult to work out a team that the majority of fans don't even know. We are not strong enough physically or mentally and were completely out muscled last night by a team who played together and had clear instructions which they followed. At times it looked like they had 3 extra players.
|
|
|
Post by merlin on Feb 15, 2017 8:46:56 GMT
It's a work in progress... .we have some top quality coming in the summer.....though they might change their minds if we continue in this form.....the only grouse is if you set up 4-5-1 then there is no point playing long balls from defence, surely playing that system the defenders ought to be finding, and passing to the midfielders. MA will get it right, but you know, we've struggled to win home games since January 2015 cos teams have worked us out. So we will have to wait to see what next season brings then. The problem I have is why would a top quality player drop down to non league? In my mind it boils down to two reasons, coming to the end of their career or money (a final pay packet), in either case they are not the right type of player we need. At least with Todd we had young hungry players trying to build a future in the game and MA has thrown that away. MA has brought in players he wanted and they are just not performing, that is down to him and he needs to take a long hard look at what he has done so far.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2017 9:05:56 GMT
Any club that has three managers and all the changes in playing personnel in barely 7 months is going to struggle on the pitch. You're talking about players not knowing each other very well, you're talking about players lacking in belief and confidence at the moment, it will take time to bear fruit. Ask yourself this....would you prefer we didn't start to prepare for next season now, or would you think it far better to bring in an entirely new squad in the summer who haven't played together? I know which one I'd choose. We have 15 games left and if we can obtain 24 points from those 45 left I would be entirely satisfied as we enter the close season because 11 of those 15 games are against former league clubs....that would be a good marker for next season in my opinion.
|
|
|
Post by Spitfire Bea on Feb 15, 2017 9:09:10 GMT
It's a work in progress.... we have some top quality coming in the summer.....though they might change their minds if we continue in this form.....the only grouse is if you set up 4-5-1 then there is no point playing long balls from defence, surely playing that system the defenders ought to be finding, and passing to the midfielders. MA will get it right, but you know, we've struggled to win home games since January 2015 cos teams have worked us out. One thing I am learning very quickly is to take everything MA says with a pinch of salt. MA has made a number of transfers in and out to mould the team to his liking and to add his style of play to our game, it's been nearly 3 months now! MA will say whatever he needs to say to keep people happy. We should be looking at the rest of this season as to what can be expected for next season and right now, looking at the players being brought in and the style of play we have nothing to look forward to. Are we writing this season off too early there is still 15 games to play in the league and we are only 12 points away from the relegation zone, probably 7-9 from the battle. On our current form that will get much closer very quickly. Our recent games Woking, Guisley and Southport could soon be our relegation rivals and we are gifting them points, we only picked up 2 points out of 9!!! As someone said before I think MA, Togwell and Henderson are all aware they are at the end of there respected careers and have come for that final big retirement payout!!! MA nearly quit the game just weeks before coming down here for health reasons, I imagine this job is more stressful then when he was at Barnet!
|
|
|
Post by taylov on Feb 15, 2017 9:15:19 GMT
I came away disappointed - not perhaps as low as some, but just plain disappointed in a lack of progress. Agree with many comments above the bright spots were McLeod, Cole and Odoffin.
The player we should have been raving about this morning was Sam Muggleton who looks as if he could get a throw into the box from the other side of the M27 but what's the point if there's not a tall brick out-building of a forward to use the ball when it gets there. 6 times he turned a throw-in into a corner only to see it headed away by a well organised Braintree defence because of our lack of a target man who can't be intimidated by defenders.
I agree with westendspitfire, our team looks physically like a puff of wind would blow them away.
|
|
|
Post by Spitfire Bea on Feb 15, 2017 9:41:45 GMT
Any club that has three managers and all the changes in playing personnel in barely 7 months is going to struggle on the pitch. You're talking about players not knowing each other very well, you're talking about players lacking in belief and confidence at the moment, it will take time to bear fruit. Ask yourself this....would you prefer we didn't start to prepare for next season now, or would you think it far better to bring in an entirely new squad in the summer who haven't played together? I know which one I'd choose. We have 15 games left and if we can obtain 24 points from those 45 left I would be entirely satisfied as we enter the close season because 11 of those 15 games are against former league clubs....that would be a good marker for next season in my opinion. Haha Christ you're optimistic! we picked up two points out of 9 against 3 teams in relegation battles. Fixtures are going to get harder and if last night was anything to go by we wont be getting anywhere near 24 points. I would rather we make sure we don't get dragged into the bottom 4 right now rather then start planning for next season. The end of this season is still a long way away and the start of next is even further. There is plenty of time in April and post season to plan for next season, if MA doesn't think that is enough time then is he really good enough?
|
|
|
Post by hantslondoner on Feb 15, 2017 9:59:00 GMT
I've already had my say above on last night's game but will add some more thoughts:
1) I would hope for an improvement in performances/results this season as the players get used to playing with each other, with MA's system, and his new fitness regime. Obviously far too late for anything other than mid-table.
2) We have a lot of loan signings and young players at the moment - how many of them (particularly the loan signings) will be here next season? If there are big signings in the summer how much is it worth investing in the current players now - how many of them feel they will still have a future here next season?
3) I've already said I think it's a gamble to hope that everything will suddenly come right for the start of next season, with these amazing new signings in the pipeline, etc. Will this new team gel immediately, and (as mentioned a few times above) will MA actually be here to see it through (apart from the health aspect, just ask Barnet fans - how many times has he left the club now?)
|
|
|
Post by spitfire63 on Feb 15, 2017 13:24:40 GMT
The light at the end of the tunnel is the light of an oncoming train! It is always stated that this is a very hard league to get out of. With performances like last night and our last home match, we will have no trouble getting out of this league and this has to be a real concern.
When I saw the starting eleven I couldn't work out how we would line up. When we kicked off I couldn't foresee how we could have any success with what I could see was a 4-5-1 formation. That could be successful with a target man and two strong attacking midfielders. But guess what, we had no suitable players on the pitch! Maybe with Bird or Lafayette, Reason and Drury it would have have worked but they have all departed. Henderson is also allegedly out for the season but there has been no official announcement.
Muggletons throws could work well if we were a "big" team, but too much reliance is on our centre backs. How ironic is it that we allegedly had too many centre backs earlier in the season, now to suit our style we may play better with four on the pitch! We seem a very light weight team now that is incapable of playing the MA way.
Its all very well having fast tricky wingers getting decent crosses into the box but with no one on the end, what is the point? I bet every team in our league can't wait to play us, especially at the Silverlake!
I have written this season off and cannot see any evidence of green shoots appearing. I am also concerned that attendances will start to decline as the results and performance continue to disappoint.
MA still talks the talk but I will still judge him solely on the teams performance and results. I have faith that SD will do the same!!!
|
|
|
Post by spitfire63 on Feb 15, 2017 13:58:56 GMT
Do I recall rightly that we lost 2-0 at home to Braintree last season as well? I'm sure someone on here will know!
|
|
|
Post by efc21 on Feb 15, 2017 14:21:01 GMT
We did lose 2-0 at home to Braintree last season. It was our second match after the Dover defeat. we then went on a run of 7 wins and a draw (Away to eventual champions Cheltenham).
|
|
|
Post by spitfire63 on Feb 15, 2017 14:24:30 GMT
We did lose 2-0 at home to Braintree last season. It was our second match after the Dover defeat. we then went on a run of 7 wins and a draw (Away to eventual champions Cheltenham). Thanks efc21. At last a burst of optimism!!!
|
|
|
Post by taylov on Feb 15, 2017 15:18:48 GMT
At times like this I recall the words of the great Bill Shankly - 'Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.'
Although Jill thinks "When you come to a fork in the road, take it" - the late Yogi Berra - might be more appropriate.
|
|