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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2016 12:13:30 GMT
Ok, thank you for the reply, Stew.
I guess a lot of what you refer to as scouting, really depends on what you expect from a scout, which for me that's watching a player upto 6 times at least.
Today's "scouts" don't always go to even watch players, they are more like footballing "contacts" than scouts, and i may still be wrong, but i suspect the scouts that you reference & are using, are simply that, contacts who have decent knowledge of players, passed onto them buy other "scouts" or agents, or players they know, or "having worked with the said player in the past". None of that is scouting, IMO. I know that historically most of the players that Hilly brought in, he brought in through the contacts of playing staff he had in his own team. So for example, Jamie Collins would recommend players, Toddy even recommended players, and Macca & Midson have recommended players & as have some others. That's not scouting, that's "recommending through contacts". Not many of the players who have come in through this route have worked out well for us. We can all recommend a player or two. "He'll do well for us, he's a good winger, he's good in the air" etc, but until you really scout them and watch them 6 times, you are just chancing it based on a recommendation. You watch a player 6 times and you can see how he plays, see how he behaves & conducts himself in games, see how he talks and organises etc & you have a much better chance of getting the player you really need, rather than a player you are told you need, based on his reputation or based on a "scout" or agents need to move him on from his current club.. I'm not arguing the point with you, just stating that i feel we need to go back to that kind of scouting. If that's what your scouts do, then fair enough, but based on whats come in over the last 6 months or so, they are not really doing a very good job are they? The ones you mention as contacting you prior to joining us, are all doing ok, but the ones that were "scouted" have been poor.
Matty Fanimo Robbie Willmott Kai Mohammad Ross Lafayette Jack Alexander Probably a few more that i have long forgotten about.
You could argue, and some posters will, that some in my list did ok, but clearly the manager didn't think so, otherwise they would still be at the club (Kaid aside). As for the bonuses, it sounds like you already have that in most contracts, if so, then clearly they don't need the bonuses, because only a small handful appear to be trying their best...? Signing a player is always going to be considered hit or miss, but the more you actually have him watched by someone who doesnt have a direct interest in the player, the better the chance of it working out and you getting a player knowing what he can do, rather than being told what he used to do at former clubs, which will be more about his form 2 years ago, that what he can give us now...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2016 12:14:36 GMT
Keep up the good work, Stewart. If it doesn't come right this season, it will next year. I'm glad that I've renewed our season tickets, and am looking forward to a rosy future. Well done, Stewart, and thank you for all your hard work. Excellent, but we said that last year too....
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Post by back4more on Feb 17, 2016 12:22:52 GMT
Having missed this game I can't comment on the performance but I did listen to the excellent commentary and co commentary.
What came across to me was the Chairman's awareness and recognition of what the real problems are within the team, which his comments conveyed without expressly criticising individual players.
I feel though that the two bare patches we've suffered under Richard and Chris Todd respectively have told Stewart and Chris a lot about the limitations of some of our players and the importance of others, if that's not stating the obvious.
I'm confident that with most of the key players in the side and a couple of fresh faces which, combined, should allow us to set up a more reliable unit, we should be able to put the lessons that have been learned to good use.
I think Paul Reid makes a major difference to the performance of the players around him. Our destiny this season might depend on keeping him fit and in the side and getting Joe P and Andy D back as quickly as possible as well as keeping Jai out of trouble on the pitch and at his best on the ball.
I'm a bit surprised some people are complaining about Michael Poke because anyone listening to last night's commentary would have believed he was keeping the Gateshead score down and, having seen most of his other games for us, I have been impressed. I do think however that he has been let down by some very weak defending immediately in front of him.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2016 12:35:47 GMT
John, good post & i agree with some of your points, but the part i struggle with is your statement about the "limitation of some of our players & the importance of others". More so with the second part of that statement. You go on to elude to the fact that the certain individuals have been missed recently. Reid, Joe P, Drury & Jai. All of those players have featured in at least half of the current winless streak we have gone through, so i dont think its solely down to missing these players over a couple of games. 3 of those are certain starters for me, so have been missed, but they have been playing in most games, yet we lost or drew those games, so maybe they have not been quite on it either. I'll excuse Drury though, as i feel he has been excellent in most games of late. Interestingly, even when Reid is fully fit, he has not really been Toddys first choice CH. I've never really been a fan of his, as i think he is too slow and his best days are behind him, although i do admit that he won me over for his performances around the Stourbridge game and i could fully understand why the manager will have picked him last night. But even so, we conceded 2 goals again..which is a bad habit of ours and one that even recently changing the keeper and the CH pairing were not able to halt.
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Post by blackie on Feb 17, 2016 12:56:04 GMT
Out of your list Sattsy - the only one who has shown anything was Lafayette but then only really as an impact sub off the bench. I agree with all the others. Kaid is an enigma - looks to have all the attributes until he comes up to be tackled and then decides not to take the man on and look for a pass instead, I can see why he's not made it higher! Just bringing Flits back is not going to solve our ills, the keeper is only as good as the defence in front of him and sometimes Flits is prone to a calamity moment. Saturday will be an acid test of the teams resolve and willingness to fight for the shirt. Even if we don't get a result I will be looking for more commitment from the team than has been displayed in the 3 performances before Gateshead as I didn't go last night so can't comment on it.
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Post by hantslondoner on Feb 17, 2016 13:06:24 GMT
'the keeper is only as good as the defence in front of him'
Sorry, don't agree with that. As well as the keeper's individual skills it's about how he communicates with his defenders, and to some extent, how he helps organise them. It's a back 5 rather than a back 4. Plus some of the rest of the team who do some defending too.
I've not seen Michael Poke enough to say how good he is on that front, but surely if you change the keeper it takes a while to get that communication going again.
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Post by theduck on Feb 17, 2016 13:48:34 GMT
I agree with Sattsy regarding our transfer policy but don't think it's a bad decision. It appears to me we tend to look at players with lots of appearances in higher divisions, almost Wikipedia scouting and then ring around and make sure he's a decent bloke rather than old school employing scouts. Those old school scouts come at a cost and I guess we spend that money elsewhere.
Buying those 'hungry' players from the same division or lower, I reckon for every one that works well, the next won't work and we waste a salary. We've done well again this year, especially the cup run but part of finding our feet in this league is the size of the squad and I'm sure it will be bigger next year.
I might be mad but I am still 100% convinced we will make the play offs. The teams around us are no better and I think with a couple of home wins the doom will lift.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2016 14:26:08 GMT
Perhaps we should use Football Manager. It's good enough for Sky Sports
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Post by blackie on Feb 17, 2016 15:58:48 GMT
hantslondoner - FWIW Poke does shout out at his defence, he was doing it at Kidderminster but sadly it generally fell on deaf ears. As for the back 5, it needs to be a collective defence from the whole team, the Kiddy winner was because the midfield switched off first from the quick free kick. Personally I don't mind who is in goal, if we defend properly as a team we have a good chance of whoever it is between the sticks getting a clean sheet.
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Post by hantslondoner on Feb 17, 2016 16:30:54 GMT
Agree with you Blackie about defence involving the whole team, although if they're not listening to Poke that's precisely what I mean about taking time to set up communication. If it's not working it needs to PDQ.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2016 16:37:11 GMT
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Post by back4more on Feb 17, 2016 17:44:56 GMT
Paul, the players I've mentioned are all quality and clever with it. Each of them has shown unwavering commitment in their play and has proved their ability to change a game. With all of them in the team you get higher class cohesion and greater fluency. That's taking nothing away from some I haven't mentioned such as Dan Harding and Josh Payne.
I take the point about Paul Reid's pace but his reading of the game in front of him is unsurpassed and you get the feeling he'd throw himself in front of a bus if it was going towards goal. The main point with him though is what he gets out of some of the players around him and I think Will Evans benefits from playing alongside PR. He has produced some man of the match stuff when he's had Reidy there with him.
Re the recruitment side we were probably spoilt with the inspired signings that Richard came up with. He might have got one or two wrong towards the end but I doubt if any other manager got such a high percentage of good deals. The problem with relying a lot on dedicated full time scouts is that one man can only be at one game at a time. I'd advocate having someone going to watch players who have been identified through the network once you've more or less decided you want them, but if a player is any good there will always be the risk that he gets picked up by someone else before you make your mind up.
I like the loyalty being shown towards Ross Flitney by some forumites (though Michael Poke wouldn't deserve to be dropped right now?) but am a bit surprised there hasn't been some questioning re Jack Midson being on the bench. I'm not trying to call CT's team selection there but Mids is such a good player I'd have thought he would have had his advocates.
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Post by theduck on Feb 17, 2016 17:52:27 GMT
Jack Midson has been a mystery ever since he's arrived IMO
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Post by michaelefc on Feb 17, 2016 18:02:08 GMT
Of all the problems we have at the moment (and we have a few), the goalkeeper position is not one. Both keepers are top drawer at this level. The fact is performances and results started to dip around the time of the Bolton saga. I heard major alarm bells in the trophy game v Gateshead. Okay it wasn't a vital game, it was a few days before the Bolton replay and blah, blah, blah. That was a shocking performance, in the first half as bad as I have seen us play for a long time. It seems to me, that we have been well below par since then (Bolton excepted). Have we started to believe some of our own publicity, did it all go to our head? TBH I don't know or really care, what I do know is by hook or by crook, we need to get back to the side we were when CT first took over, a team who cared passionately, would throw themselves in from of the ball to save a dangerous situation. We had a team of battlers. Frankly I think on block the squad need telling that anyone who doesn't perform like that in the next couple of weeks, can go. It may sound a bit clichéd, but for me at least I will never criticise a player who is giving 100% the whole time. It is clear in recent times we have some players who haven't been doing that.
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Post by boyatthood on Feb 17, 2016 18:10:42 GMT
Paul, the players I've mentioned are all quality and clever with it. Each of them has shown unwavering commitment in their play and has proved their ability to change a game. With all of them in the team you get higher class cohesion and greater fluency. That's taking nothing away from some I haven't mentioned such as Dan Harding and Josh Payne. I take the point about Paul Reid's pace but his reading of the game in front of him is unsurpassed and you get the feeling he'd throw himself in front of a bus if it was going towards goal. The main point with him though is what he gets out of some of the players around him and I think Will Evans benefits from playing alongside PR. He has produced some man of the match stuff when he's had Reidy there with him. Re the recruitment side we were probably spoilt with the inspired signings that Richard came up with. He might have got one or two wrong towards the end but I doubt if any other manager got such a high percentage of good deals. The problem with relying a lot on dedicated full time scouts is that one man can only be at one game at a time. I'd advocate having someone going to watch players who have been identified through the network once you've more or less decided you want them, but if a player is any good there will always be the risk that he gets picked up by someone else before you make your mind up. I like the loyalty being shown towards Ross Flitney by some forumites (though Michael Poke wouldn't deserve to be dropped right now?) but am a bit surprised there hasn't been some questioning re Jack Midson being on the bench. I'm not trying to call CT's team selection there but Mids is such a good player I'd have thought he would have had his advocates. When we lost to Grimsby in the play offs I said at the time the back four are not good enough to go up. The Turley/Evans centre half partnership was not effective enough. I have been critical of Evans in the past and I am really not going to start that again. I agree that Reid brings out the best from him and others around him. Yes Reid lacks pace but he is a real organiser and I am surprised he has not be used more this season. Getting him fit is key. Midson's goal return is woeful for a forward so I can see why he has his detractors as well as fans.
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