3-5-2

[vic pain lives!]

no no no no no no no no never ever ever no no no no not in a month of sundays no no no no dont even think about it no no no no i dont care whos out injured no no no noooooooooooooooooooo. jk really went down in my estamations today,he basically played that system today to get himself a game at poor stubbsys expense. when jk took himself off and went 442 we looked like the team that finished the game tuesday obviously nothings guaranteed but im sure if we had started 442 the result would have been different today, we had jones who was outstanding tuesday in a 3 when wardy who was unconvinced of his defensive abilities saw fit to play him in a 5!!! also wasnt impressed with taking blackman off when 1 down im not the blokes biggest fan but he is our leading scorer after all.

[P.W.]

.... also wasnt impressed with taking blackman off when 1 down im not the blokes biggest fan but he is our leading scorer after all.

Trouble was, yesterday he didn't look like he'd score in a brothel (though the same could be said of most of the team ... we didn't really test Behcet at all). However I was surprised when it came to the first substitution that he was taken off, I thought that Healey had an 'off day', rarely finding his passes and often directing them towards an area where there wasn't a blue shirt at all.

I was disappointed that when Blackman did come off he decided to saunter off to the dressing rooms rather than shouting some encouragement from the touchlines - he was named as Captain and that responsibility shouldn't have ended when he was taken off.

[michael]

The most interesting-and indeed best thing for me-was that having been frozen out for 4 months-Haverson was immediately brought back into the team-even though he has played only about 30 mins reserve football in that time-well done JK and WW for making that decision-and whilst i am disappointed that MB has left the club-from the very little i read about it-he did handle the haverson issue poorly and wasted a player.

 

Not suggesting that haverson is the worlds best player-but certainly worthy of a squad and probably starting place compared to some others..

 

How did he play yesterday anyway in his first game for ages ?

[wacky]

I agree with Vic Pain Lives and Peter W views on yesterdays game , who were both obviously there, to enable them to give such informed opinions. Haverson along with the rest of team

played okay, nobody was outstanding. As for Wheatley I don't believe he deserved to be sidelined after his performance on Tuesday night , which incidentley is a game we did not lose. I

can't see that this decision will fill him with confidence the next time he is asked to play ! Just my opinion of course.

[blueblood]

The most interesting-and indeed best thing for me-was that having been frozen out for 4 months-Haverson was immediately brought back into the team-even though he has played only about 30 mins reserve football in that time-well done JK and WW for making that decision-and whilst i am disappointed that MB has left the club-from the very little i read about it-he did handle the haverson issue poorly and wasted a player.

 

Not suggesting that haverson is the worlds best player-but certainly worthy of a squad and probably starting place compared to some others..

 

How did he play yesterday anyway in his first game for ages ?

Jack played 90 mins tuesday at Hythe

[P.W.]

JK really went down in my estamations today,he basically played that system today to get himself a game at poor stubbsys expense.

 

Though I agree with your point V.P.L.! ... JK was obviously in the opinion that he has been (at least for the time being) charged with saving the Club from another relegation - so probably feels that his best chance of achieving that is by being mixed in the action from the off. It's a tricky decision, he feels he can best influence the game from the start, perhaps he should have a word with Hess @ Dover, who - by & large - feels that he can best influence a game (if need be) by coming on after 60-70 minutes and add some experience to the mix.

As to which way is best for a senior Player-Manager to play it ... you pay your money and take your chance.

 

As to my choice, I'd take the come on after 60-70 minutes and add some experience to the mix option, that way he can either bolster the defence or revert to his old role as a battling forward thinking midfielder - depending on what's needed.

Edited February 14, 2010 by PeterW

[Brickie]

Totally agree with VPL as regards Stubbs, how can you bench the guy after 2 MOTM awards running and some of the most commited play we've seen from anyone in the side.

Though with 2 other midfielders in charge he's always gonna struggle for a starting place no matter what the formation.

Wish JK all the best while hes at the helm but lets not make it too long, decisions have got to be made with the head not the heart!

[C.A.A.]

Totally agree with VPL as regards Stubbs, how can you bench the guy after 2 MOTM awards running and some of the most commited play we've seen from anyone in the side.

Though with 2 other midfielders in charge he's always gonna struggle for a starting place no matter what the formation.

Wish JK all the best while hes at the helm but lets not make it too long, decisions have got to be made with the head not the heart!

 

 

Totally agree Brickie

JK playing himself very much smacked of 'its my ball, so let me play'......an absolute pathetic team and formation line up, imo.

[Porka]

Sam Jones is in Germany until later in the week so there will need to be a re-think for Tuesday night anyway. I hope that Stubbs is the man to benefit, once he was introduced yesterday he provided the sort of impetus we'd been missing. We dominated large parts of the game without creating too much that was clear-cut, other than the offside goal.

 

Sam was again good. He held onto the ball a lot, but we need players to make more intelligent runs into channels around him, as we saw against Wealdstone, but not yesterday. IMO Stubbs is a clever player, mixing work rate with taking up good attacking areas when we have the ball in the final third and is key to us taking three points on Tuesday night.

 

Haverson was skinned for the penalty, but other than that didn't have a great deal to do. We badly need strong aerial presence in both penalty areas still. We're all too often flat-footed, largely down to a lack of experience IMO. I see Ricay have Chris Wild, and there could be a return for Billy Bricknell so we're going to be tested.

 

I know Peter has mentioned Healy. I thought at times he looked lethargic but by and large he was our go-to man in the final third, and held the ball up admirably. It's a shame that nobody else seems capable of winning battles for the ball in attacking areas. Lloyd has a good goalscoring record but is far, far too easily shrugged off the ball. We need a bit more if we're to stay up and it's the players themselves that need to show that maturity. Walking off to the dressing rooms before the end of the game after being taken off isn't what we need to see.

Edited February 14, 2010 by Porka

[michael]

Who would be a manager ?

 

A few days ago (and back in November )-so many (myself not included ) were advocating JK as manager.

 

Poor guy-has lost one game by a narrow margin -and already being criticised for his tactics and selection !!.

 

I thought he gave a good and fair post match interview

[Brickie]

I'm not critising JK merely advocating Stubb's position!

[C.A.A.]

Who would be a manager ?

 

A few days ago (and back in November )-so many (myself not included ) were advocating JK as manager.

 

Poor guy-has lost one game by a narrow margin -and already being criticised for his tactics and selection !!.

 

I thought he gave a good and fair post match interview

 

 

 

Were you there?