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Post by Lobster on Oct 19, 2024 20:25:16 GMT
I thought he was bad with that area of his game today as it goes. Launched quite a lot straight out of play. Also had a silly rush of blood to the head when coming out of his goal in the first half, redeemed himself with the save though. Perhaps my expectations are just too low in that regard… all a keeper has to do is not launch it out for a throw in our own half every time, and that’s me suitably impressed! Agree with you there actually. I'm not sure how necessary it is at this level for a keeper to do any more than keep mistakes to a minimum and inspire confidence in his defence. Look at that Dolman who was in Tamworth's defence last year. If they can win the league with a player like that, it makes me think we really don't have to play our way out of this division. |
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Post by eltonblues on Oct 19, 2024 20:27:00 GMT
Willoughby has to be starting up top in my book, even if it means dropping Peers - I know people like the latter because he works hard off the ball, but I still don’t think it’s a particularly fair trade for the attacking impetus that we sacrifice by playing him as a lone centre-forward. Whisper it quietly, but it’s now been six games since one of our players scored from open play - the last thing we want to happen is to have a repeat of last season, where goalscoring becomes an increasingly pressing issue as time goes on, and so playing our most effective and clinical striker in the position where he’ll find goals easiest to come by would seem like a pretty obvious change to make. Mottley-Henry’s arrival means we could even switch to a 4-4-2 if we want to play Willoughby and Peers together; it’d mean having to drop at least one of Weeks or Glendon, but I don’t think it’d be a bad idea to take one or both of them out of the firing line for a little while, given that neither have particularly impressed of late and both were really quite off-colour with their passing today. When all is said and done, though, I don’t think a draw is a bad result - two strong and pretty evenly-matched sides, who’ll likely both be in the playoff picture right up until May, and who ultimately cancelled each other out. I’d honestly be tempted to give my MOTM to Elyh Harrison, which might seem strange considering he barely had a save to make, but I was so impressed with how commanding and calm under pressure he was - came out authoritatively yet nonchalantly to claim absolutely everything Scunthorpe threw at him, and his distribution was, of course, as good as ever. I know it probably sounds on paper like the bare minimum you’d expect, but there are very few goalkeepers at this level who could’ve matched that performance. I thought he was bad with that area of his game today as it goes. Launched quite a lot straight out of play. Also had a silly rush of blood to the head when coming out of his goal in the first half, redeemed himself with the save though. Every kick out of touch was when it went to his left, and he has made a few odd decisions when coming out of his area recently but am sure the coaches will pick up on that and guide him. He has all the tools to be a great keeper and at 18 he's doing really well overall. |
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Post by oldtimer on Oct 19, 2024 20:36:57 GMT
We suddenly seem to have all the same problems as last season .That's because the manager started the season the way he wanted to play .2 defeats forced him to change tactics but as soon as he got us to a comfortable league position he reverted to type .
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Post by billyw on Oct 19, 2024 20:52:57 GMT
Kev Roberts my MOTM, overall weren’t good enough but I’d have taken a point before the game. Do agree that Weeks & Glendon seem to have been off it the last few weeks. I’d also like to see Kurt in a more central role & changes made earlier when we’re not winning. Sounds more critical than it’s meant to come across, overall I think we’re decent & suffering from a lack of depth who is to be expected when we’ve focused on a smaller squad of higher quality players. Surely Cal knows by now that Kurt is only effective when he is in the middle. Glendon did very little today and I still think that Burke should be given an extended run in midfield with a centre back pairing of Rowlinson and Pollock. |
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Post by Jack on Oct 19, 2024 20:53:22 GMT
I see we’ve drawn at home to top of the league and now the captain, the centre forward and the manager aren’t up to it.
A totally normal reaction.
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Post by Moltisanti on Oct 19, 2024 20:54:56 GMT
I see we’ve drawn at home to top of the league and now the captain, the centre forward and the manager aren’t up to it. A totally normal reaction. Fucking weirdos. Worse than the Goats these lot. |
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Post by Lobster on Oct 19, 2024 21:00:58 GMT
I think the concern though is can we get out of this league? Some people go over the top, certainly, but unless you're happy with another season of "nearly", I do think you have to look with some degree of criticism at a fortnight that's seen four points dropped at home and a Cup exit.
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Post by yoshimitsu on Oct 19, 2024 21:05:57 GMT
I think the concern though is can we get out of this league? Some people go over the top, certainly, but unless you're happy with another season of "nearly", I do think you have to look with some degree of criticism at a fortnight that's seen four points dropped at home and a Cup exit. I’m more arsed that we ain’t scoring. Going out and/or losing is fine if you’re creating and scoring goals. Losing or drawing and not scoring is just disheartening. |
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Post by spencerwhelanleftpeg on Oct 19, 2024 21:09:16 GMT
Regardless of if we have got what it takes to win this league we have once again disappointed
Last season we got into a decent spot and self destructed
This year the league looks like it might be quite tight
Could we have stayed there who knows but if we have won the last two at home we would of been top
Yes we are going ok but every time we seem to
Blow it when it counts
So frustrating
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Post by Imperial on Oct 19, 2024 21:32:23 GMT
I back Cal completely & clearly he knows more than I do, he’s the professional, I’m a fan, he works with the players all the time.
That said I struggle to understand some of his decisions, the consensus was that Willoughby had struggled to find form elsewhere because he wasn’t played regularly as a CF & we’re struggling for goals, he’s struggling for form, seems like a square peg for a square hole to me.
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Post by Harry Lime on Oct 19, 2024 21:50:06 GMT
I think the concern though is can we get out of this league? Some people go over the top, certainly, but unless you're happy with another season of "nearly", I do think you have to look with some degree of criticism at a fortnight that's seen four points dropped at home and a Cup exit. Agreed. I think most people are thinking that with a couple of tweaks we have a chance to do it this season. It looks an open league. A proactive manager might win their team an extra few points that make the difference. |
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Post by oldtimer on Oct 19, 2024 22:31:20 GMT
Unfortunately ,we dont have a pro active manager .he only changes tactics when he is forced to
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Post by Anders on Oct 19, 2024 23:49:43 GMT
I think the concern though is can we get out of this league? Some people go over the top, certainly, but unless you're happy with another season of "nearly", I do think you have to look with some degree of criticism at a fortnight that's seen four points dropped at home and a Cup exit. Agreed. I think most people are thinking that with a couple of tweaks we have a chance to do it this season. It looks an open league. A proactive manager might win their team an extra few points that make the difference. I think it’s very open this year with no standout, everyone up towards the top end should fancy their chances of nicking it, including us.
Scunthorpe are currently top but their fans have been noticeably moany all season and seem to firmly believe they are in a false position. I don’t think they have enough goals in them, look better suited to winning a one off play-off game to me, I’d fear them in that situation. Hereford are a surprise, they’ve played a game more than most and given how tight it is could slip a lot quite quickly. They’ve always lacked since getting up to this level and I struggle to believe they’ve improved enough from last season to last right at the top. Chorley are usually up there, they never stand out with their transfer business but seem to grind out results without looking particularly good. Curzon are perennial overachievers, as usual, rightly or wrongly, there is an expectation that they will run out of steam at some point. Alfreton will do what they always do, Scarborough only get motivated for big games, Kiddy are weak away from home, Darlo I think will do well but have started too slowly. I don’t know what to make of King’s Lynn.
With us, we are strong defensively and have got good options up front, most other clubs would bite your hand off for our forwards. We have the squad, it’s up to Cal to figure out how to use it to best effect and get us over the line. |
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Post by superhans on Oct 19, 2024 23:54:07 GMT
Thought Scunny looked no better than most of the bang average sides we've played at this level to be honest. Their keeper was good with his feet, that's about it. A draw against them isn't a bad result but I see no reason why that isn't a winnable game.
I worry a lot of the complacency of the latter half of last season is creeping in. That's to say, we aren't really creating much in terms of patterns of play in the last three games. Basically just hoping for a moment of magic, which is hard to come by.
Happy to be proven wrong but just feels like a lot of square pegs in round holes across the front three, while the supposedly two best midfielders in the league created nothing again today.
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Post by jimianto on Oct 20, 2024 0:06:35 GMT
Should’ve won that and I get the feeling we may regret not winning it. Scunthorpe not up to much. Really impressed with Mottley-Henry, felt like we lost impetus when he went off but can understand due to his lack of games why he did. Midfield still doesn’t create enough and we’re at that stage where messing about with Weeks’ position to accommodate an anonymous Glendon is starting to affect his form. As for his set pieces, absolutely shocking. Peers brilliant again but should’ve scored at least one. Woodthorpe consistently excellent and Bainbridge a deserved MOTM. Need to win on Tuesday. Referee was a wanker. This. As for Glendon we will never get promoted with him in the team. Can’t tackle, and is so easily dispossessed. Our away form is poor when he’s in the team. The season he was out we were invincible away from home and our only away win this season was when he didn’t play. Send him to Radcliffe like he wanted in pre-season. Agree with these points. GG stops us being the best version of ourselves. That said, I thought he was decent enough against Scunny. I thought any of the back 5 or Bainbridge was good for MOM. We need more from those further up the pitch on Tuesday. |
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Post by Forever Blue on Oct 20, 2024 2:55:10 GMT
Call me an idiot if you like, my first concern was lack of width and the fact we had no idea how to draw players out when they parked the bus, Cal seems to have addressed that by brining in Dylan Mottley Henry.
My second concern is we create so many chances with little end product, I thought the game today was for the taking in the first half but the more it went on the more I was happy to take a draw.
I hope we don't end up like last season not converting enough chances from open play and missing the play offs, Does Cal need to ask himself the same question regards the forward players ? do we need a coach for the forwards ?
I am no football expert but if we fail to convert some of the chances we make then we will slump again like last season and fail to make the play offs.
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Post by Frank Owen’s Paintbrush on Oct 20, 2024 6:26:33 GMT
No scapegoat but I do get the Glendon-Weeks conundrum. It’s a fact that our best season was with one of them not playing.
They’re the same player in a three man midfield and it’s too much of a luxury at this level. If one can deliver 20 assists and the other ten goals then you take it. Glendon is basically Lampard isn’t he? Still don’t know what he does but he does arrive into the box and score a few. You take that if it’s ‘enough’ goals. It was last season, but yet the overall final table was our worst under the manager. Tricky one.
Also understand the criticism about the lack of subs - we were crying out for Murray in the final 15 to get a hold on the ball and draw defenders at him.
Still a good point, and we were the better side, created a fair few chances but just didn’t have our finishing boots on. Can’t agree with people saying it was another borefest, was a decent game for a 0-0. I was entertained anyway.
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Post by agl on Oct 20, 2024 6:59:45 GMT
No scapegoat but I do get the Glendon-Weeks conundrum. It’s a fact that our best season was with one of them not playing. They’re the same player in a three man midfield and it’s too much of a luxury at this level. If one can deliver 20 assists and the other ten goals then you take it. Glendon is basically Lampard isn’t he? Still don’t know what he does but he does arrive into the box and score a few. You take that if it’s ‘enough’ goals. It was last season, but yet the overall final table was our worst under the manager. Tricky one. Also understand the criticism about the lack of subs - we were crying out for Murray in the final 15 to get a hold on the ball and draw defenders at him. Still a good point, and we were the better side, created a fair few chances but just didn’t have our finishing boots on. Can’t agree with people saying it was another borefest, was a decent game for a 0-0. I was entertained anyway. Accommodating Caton and Willoughby seems to be the second conundrum. Won't happen but does anyone think they could play as an old fashioned two up top? I really don't see the point of having Willoughby here if he's going to be played out wide. One goal so far, from outside the box, speaks volumes. |
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Post by Harry Lime on Oct 20, 2024 7:58:49 GMT
No scapegoat but I do get the Glendon-Weeks conundrum. It’s a fact that our best season was with one of them not playing. They’re the same player in a three man midfield and it’s too much of a luxury at this level. If one can deliver 20 assists and the other ten goals then you take it. Glendon is basically Lampard isn’t he? Still don’t know what he does but he does arrive into the box and score a few. You take that if it’s ‘enough’ goals. It was last season, but yet the overall final table was our worst under the manager. Tricky one. Also understand the criticism about the lack of subs - we were crying out for Murray in the final 15 to get a hold on the ball and draw defenders at him. Still a good point, and we were the better side, created a fair few chances but just didn’t have our finishing boots on. Can’t agree with people saying it was another borefest, was a decent game for a 0-0. I was entertained anyway. Accommodating Caton and Willoughby seems to be the second conundrum. Won't happen but does anyone think they could play as an old fashioned two up top? I really don't see the point of having Willoughby here if he's going to be played out wide. One goal so far, from outside the box, speaks volumes. Willoughby needs to be trusted to play central. It's as simple as that for me. His touch is really good, He uses his body well for his size and he's a goalscorer. Caton unfortunately is appearing to be a cameo type player. My take on the midfield issue is the type of player we have in there. I've never been a fan of the tippy tappy sideways backwards type player. Having one or two of them in a 3 man midfield is asking for trouble, especially away from home. I prefer a strong running player who can pass the ball and make runs into the box. Unfortunately not sure we've got one of those. We could stick Hancox next to Bainbridge with Weeks in front? We could put Murray in there? We could go a 442 now we've got a winger? There's a few options available to Cal. Also presumably the option of moving someone out to bring someone else in and keep within the budget limits. |
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Post by Frank Owen’s Paintbrush on Oct 20, 2024 8:07:07 GMT
No scapegoat but I do get the Glendon-Weeks conundrum. It’s a fact that our best season was with one of them not playing. They’re the same player in a three man midfield and it’s too much of a luxury at this level. If one can deliver 20 assists and the other ten goals then you take it. Glendon is basically Lampard isn’t he? Still don’t know what he does but he does arrive into the box and score a few. You take that if it’s ‘enough’ goals. It was last season, but yet the overall final table was our worst under the manager. Tricky one. Also understand the criticism about the lack of subs - we were crying out for Murray in the final 15 to get a hold on the ball and draw defenders at him. Still a good point, and we were the better side, created a fair few chances but just didn’t have our finishing boots on. Can’t agree with people saying it was another borefest, was a decent game for a 0-0. I was entertained anyway. Accommodating Caton and Willoughby seems to be the second conundrum. Won't happen but does anyone think they could play as an old fashioned two up top? I really don't see the point of having Willoughby here if he's going to be played out wide. One goal so far, from outside the box, speaks volumes. Must admit I thought we would go 5-3-2 this season given the makeup of the squad. Harrison Burke Rawlinson Pollock Hunter Weeks Bainbridge Glendon/Murray Woodthorpe Willoughby Caton/Peers |
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Post by RonD on Oct 20, 2024 8:14:35 GMT
Accommodating Caton and Willoughby seems to be the second conundrum. Won't happen but does anyone think they could play as an old fashioned two up top? I really don't see the point of having Willoughby here if he's going to be played out wide. One goal so far, from outside the box, speaks volumes. Willoughby needs to be trusted to play central. It's as simple as that for me. His touch is really good, He uses his body well for his size and he's a goalscorer. Caton unfortunately is appearing to be a cameo type player. My take on the midfield issue is the type of player we have in there. I've never been a fan of the tippy tappy sideways backwards type player. Having one or two of them in a 3 man midfield is asking for trouble, especially away from home. I prefer a strong running player who can pass the ball and make runs into the box. Unfortunately not sure we've got one of those. We could stick Hancox next to Bainbridge with Weeks in front? We could put Murray in there? We could go a 442 now we've got a winger? There's a few options available to Cal. Also presumably the option of moving someone out to bring someone else in and keep within the budget limits. Totally agree re Willoughby! Wasted for me playing wide and taking long throws. Two goals though, at Alfreton and the worldie winner v Scarborough. |
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Post by agl on Oct 20, 2024 8:25:17 GMT
Willoughby needs to be trusted to play central. It's as simple as that for me. His touch is really good, He uses his body well for his size and he's a goalscorer. Caton unfortunately is appearing to be a cameo type player. My take on the midfield issue is the type of player we have in there. I've never been a fan of the tippy tappy sideways backwards type player. Having one or two of them in a 3 man midfield is asking for trouble, especially away from home. I prefer a strong running player who can pass the ball and make runs into the box. Unfortunately not sure we've got one of those. We could stick Hancox next to Bainbridge with Weeks in front? We could put Murray in there? We could go a 442 now we've got a winger? There's a few options available to Cal. Also presumably the option of moving someone out to bring someone else in and keep within the budget limits. Totally agree re Willoughby! Wasted for me playing wide and taking long throws. Two goals though, at Alfreton and the worldie winner v Scarborough. 👍 Apologies to Kurt Point stands, though. |
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Post by agl on Oct 20, 2024 8:34:31 GMT
Totally agree re Willoughby! Wasted for me playing wide and taking long throws. Two goals though, at Alfreton and the worldie winner v Scarborough. 👍 Apologies to Kurt Point stands, though. On the result, as Cal says, in isolation it's a decent point. It does, as he also admits, ramp up the pressure for Tuesday. I'm not sure whether the mentality is to win the league, or go for play offs? Mind games or not it doesn't sit well when I hear Cal bigging up Scunthorpe and calling them a "monster" club. Recent form suggests they're not all that. As an aside, see that Reece Daly got a hat trick for Witton. |
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Post by devadiva on Oct 20, 2024 8:39:49 GMT
Was reflecting on the game overnight. I thought Peers was really good (have always been meh about him) - their defence really struggled against him because if he has one strong point it’s making a nuisance of himself. But it’s his missed chances that would and should have won us the game. And then I realised that our attack never rotates. When it often did in the past. When Willoughby came on why doesn’t he and Peers rotate? W prefers the centre and I bet he wouldn’t have missed those chances? I suspect the same could be done with Caton. Don’t know enough about Motley (who btw I wouldn’t have taken off - he looked good).
Harrison had his first dodgy game. His kicking really went to pot but I think everyone has an off day from time to time and he’ll recover - he seems pretty resilient.
Bainbridge deserves MOTM. The guy is a titan. His fitness level is incredible - never tires, is a real battler and so far not picking up suspensions. Incredible effort.
I though Woodthorpe (my player of the season so far) suffered from the early yellow - which was a joke. As was the ref. We’ve come to expect awful refs but I genuinely thought he was deliberately favouring Scunny at times because the decisions were so ridiculous rather than inept.
As for the midfield I think it screamed out for a change at 60mins. Murray was the obvious choice to come on. He’d have won a few set pieces for us that W could have had a crack at. So I think that was a missed chance.
I think we’ll look back on this game as 2 points dropped. They were nothing special. When we played at Kiddy they were much more impressive and we got a draw there. We should be beating Scunny on yesterday’s performance. I was worried Cal would approach yesterday as an away game that we mustn’t lose. That was a mistake we should have pushed to win. You don’t win leagues unless you take a few chances and back yourselves to pull them off.
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Post by blue4life on Oct 20, 2024 8:41:05 GMT
Hancox and Willoughby in for Glendon and Peers on Tuesday please.
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Post by Harry Lime on Oct 20, 2024 8:46:28 GMT
👍 Apologies to Kurt Point stands, though. On the result, as Cal says, in isolation it's a decent point. It does, as he also admits, ramp up the pressure for Tuesday. I'm not sure whether the mentality is to win the league, or go for play offs? Mind games or not it doesn't sit well when I hear Cal bigging up Scunthorpe and calling them a "monster" club. Recent form suggests they're not all that. As an aside, see that Reece Daly got a hat trick for Witton. I'm with you on this. I nearly posted earlier that if we want to try and win the league Cal needs to solve his selection questions and find the right balance. If he's aiming at 70 odd points and lower play offs then we could carry on as we are. |
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Post by yoshimitsu on Oct 20, 2024 9:10:38 GMT
Not a single post on the catering.
Embarrassing.
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Post by highpeakblue on Oct 20, 2024 9:37:25 GMT
Hancox and Willoughby in for Glendon and Peers on Tuesday please. Hancox? Really? I've seen nothing from him that would give me faith that he'd sort anything. Happy to be proved wrong. |
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Post by superhans on Oct 20, 2024 9:46:09 GMT
Accommodating Caton and Willoughby seems to be the second conundrum. Won't happen but does anyone think they could play as an old fashioned two up top? I really don't see the point of having Willoughby here if he's going to be played out wide. One goal so far, from outside the box, speaks volumes. Must admit I thought we would go 5-3-2 this season given the makeup of the squad. Harrison Burke Rawlinson Pollock Hunter Weeks Bainbridge Glendon/Murray Woodthorpe Willoughby Caton/Peers I thought this too on the formation, I don't think it's been used at home yet but pretty sure that's how we lined up and Spennymoor so perhaps that's why Cal doesn't want to use it again, or maybe it was the injury to Williams. Think Caton and Kurt need to be in more central roles and this seems the most logical way to get them in those areas, rather than not affecting the game out wide. The chance that fell to Peers first half, I think Kurt or Caton at least get it on target if not score if they're in that position. Two big games coming up this week, win them both and yesterday looks like a good point |
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Post by catfordbags on Oct 20, 2024 9:50:50 GMT
Perhaps my expectations are just too low in that regard… all a keeper has to do is not launch it out for a throw in our own half every time, and that’s me suitably impressed! Agree with you there actually. I'm not sure how necessary it is at this level for a keeper to do any more than keep mistakes to a minimum and inspire confidence in his defence. Look at that Dolman who was in Tamworth's defence last year. If they can win the league with a player like that, it makes me think we really don't have to play our way out of this division. Worth remembering that one of the best chances in the first half came from Harrison playing a thirty yard ball straight down the middle, along the floor to feet. |
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