Charlie Mpi

[readingrebel]

Has become the latest signing for reprieved southern premier team Hemel Hempstead.

 

Good luck to Charlie!

[PremiershipJoyRider]

A really nice guy on and off the pitch - best of luck Charlie.

[Ian]

That's a surprise in my opinion.

[Sue]

Snap Ian, be interesting to see how he gets on.

[readingrebel]

Looks like the new manager, Dean Brennan, is re-building the Hemel squad with players from lower divisions (quite a few it seems from his former club AFC Dunstable) who are young, hungry and of course cheap. You could say comparable to what the new manager did at Bedworth.

[3spirit]

Looks like the new manager, Dean Brennan, is re-building the Hemel squad with players from lower divisions (quite a few it seems from his former club AFC Dunstable) who are young, hungry and of course cheap. You could say comparable to what the new manager did at Bedworth.

 

Having read lots of non-league football forums of late, it shows that all supporters have very different ideas to what makes a good manager and team.

 

On the Hemel one currently,many think that their team last season had too many inferior players to be a good Southern Premier outfit. So there appears some disquiet, on all these new Dunstable players arriving from two leagues below[south Molten South Midlands].

However,we know Charlie Mpi is a good signing.They've also added a proven goal scoring target man from Lowestoft Town called Matt Nolan who's played at a higher standard and Fiston Manuella who's been around a bit,too.They have cherry picked the best Dunstable players but only time will tell, if the new man in charge will be the right man for the job and whether the blend will be a successful mixture.

 

From what little I know of Steve Farmer[bedworth manager] you can't help but like his style and manner, as a manager.

It appears he has just signed a keeper from Banbury,who was at Bedworth previous season,but is rated as one of the best in the Southern Premier and yet Farmer says he's not guaranteed a starting place,as he has two other very competent keepers.Thus making competition for places.

 

Seems to me that the best managers throughout non-league football, keep their players on their toes, with no one thinking they're better than the team.

I wondered if this element has been one of the reasons why our team hasn't quite made it as Champions under Steve Bateman yet. Maybe his laid back style doesn't suit some of the strong personalities we have within our squad.

What do others think?

[readingrebel]

Charlie Mpi's main asset is his pace.

 

Hemel (unlike us) will need to play to this strength otherwise he will be a damp squib at Hemel and a return to SYCOB won't take long.

[3spirit]

Charlie Mpi's main asset is his pace.

 

Hemel (unlike us) will need to play to this strength otherwise he will be a damp squib at Hemel and a return to SYCOB won't take long.

 

You are right,Reading Rebel.

However,a adept manager who can harness Charlie's pace and raw talent in a free flowing,pace driven forward line will have an great asset to his team in Charlie.

Unfortunately for us Slough fans,our laboured slower play up front never brought the rewards with Charlie in the team from the start but his energy,work rate and speed when coming on as a sub boosted Slough many times and changed our team patterns of play and often led to Slough taking 3pts instead of just 1.

 

[epicrebel]

3spirit:-

Charlie was involved in 21 games, 17 of them games when he came on he did not change the outcome of the game ( eg when he came on we were drawing and the final score was a draw, also the same when winning )

 

Charlie started 2 games and one ended 0-0 the other lost 1-2.

 

The only games Charlie was involved in when things changed was afc hayes he came on we were 1-0 up and it finished 1-1. hanworth (a) came on 1-1 and f/t 1-3

 

 

so your facts are wrong

Edited June 3, 2012 by epicrebel

[3spirit]

3spirit:-

Charlie was involved in 21 games, 17 of them games when he came on he did not change the outcome of the game ( eg when he came on we were drawing and the final score was a draw, also the same when winning )

 

Charlie started 2 games and one ended 0-0 the other lost 1-2.

 

The only games Charlie was involved in when things changed was afc hayes he came on we were 1-0 up and it finished 1-1. hanworth (a) came on 1-1 and f/t 1-3

 

 

so your facts are wrong

 

I'm not a statistician,Epic Rebel.

I have one of the Slough programme's in front of me, what it does tell me,is that we started the season far better than we finished the season.Charlie Mpi was a huge plus in our squad for 21 games.He brought pace to our attacking play and upped the tempo of our play when he came on. IMO we were poorer without him but our stroke of luck was adding Jerome Anderson towards the back end of the season.

 

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see what pace does to a football team when added. It changes how a team plays and upsets the opposition. There were,of course,other factors to contend with and we were still,a good side but without doubt we played our finest football in the first twenty games of the season,not the last twenty odd.Regardless of the St Neots away result.

 

Steve Bateman favoured the Danny Burnell and Sean Sonner combination-fact.Nothing wrong in that,manager's decision but sometimes the partnership didn't always bring success.This is why we need options.

From my angle,I would have accomodated all three in the team in quite a few games and played to the strengths of Charlie Mpi but that's only my viewpoint.I wouldn't have let Charlie leave but it's all water under the bridge now.

[Cookham Rebel]

3spirit:-

Charlie was involved in 21 games, 17 of them games when he came on he did not change the outcome of the game ( eg when he came on we were drawing and the final score was a draw, also the same when winning )

 

Charlie started 2 games and one ended 0-0 the other lost 1-2.

 

The only games Charlie was involved in when things changed was afc hayes he came on we were 1-0 up and it finished 1-1. hanworth (a) came on 1-1 and f/t 1-3

 

 

so your facts are wrong

 

I'm not a statistician,Epic Rebel.

I have one of the Slough programme's in front of me, what it does tell me,is that we started the season far better than we finished the season.Charlie Mpi was a huge plus in our squad for 21 games.He brought pace to our attacking play and upped the tempo of our play when he came on. IMO we were poorer without him but our stroke of luck was adding Jerome Anderson towards the back end of the season.

 

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see what pace does to a football team when added. It changes how a team plays and upsets the opposition. There were,of course,other factors to contend with and we were still,a good side but without doubt we played our finest football in the first twenty games of the season,not the last twenty odd.Regardless of the St Neots away result.

 

Steve Bateman favoured the Danny Burnell and Sean Sonner combination-fact.Nothing wrong in that,manager's decision but sometimes the partnership didn't always bring success.This is why we need options.

From my angle,I would have accomodated all three in the team in quite a few games and played to the strengths of Charlie Mpi but that's only my viewpoint.I wouldn't have let Charlie leave but it's all water under the bridge now.

 

Suppose another argument could have been to play Mpi right wing back/right midfield, like he did for SYCOB in the play off semi final and was a constant threat. Burnell and Sonner were first choice on merit but it didn't always work. If you look at successful teams, they do not tinker with their defence at all, they rotate the midfield and forwards from game to game, something that we did not do, I know squad size is a factor but we could've kept all 3 happy easily...

 

Last season is history now though, I'm sure we'll all be still celebrating promotion this time next year.

[3spirit]

3spirit:-

Charlie was involved in 21 games, 17 of them games when he came on he did not change the outcome of the game ( eg when he came on we were drawing and the final score was a draw, also the same when winning )

 

Charlie started 2 games and one ended 0-0 the other lost 1-2.

 

The only games Charlie was involved in when things changed was afc hayes he came on we were 1-0 up and it finished 1-1. hanworth (a) came on 1-1 and f/t 1-3

 

 

so your facts are wrong

 

I'm not a statistician,Epic Rebel.

I have one of the Slough programme's in front of me, what it does tell me,is that we started the season far better than we finished the season.Charlie Mpi was a huge plus in our squad for 21 games.He brought pace to our attacking play and upped the tempo of our play when he came on. IMO we were poorer without him but our stroke of luck was adding Jerome Anderson towards the back end of the season.

 

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see what pace does to a football team when added. It changes how a team plays and upsets the opposition. There were,of course,other factors to contend with and we were still,a good side but without doubt we played our finest football in the first twenty games of the season,not the last twenty odd.Regardless of the St Neots away result.

 

Steve Bateman favoured the Danny Burnell and Sean Sonner combination-fact.Nothing wrong in that,manager's decision but sometimes the partnership didn't always bring success.This is why we need options.

From my angle,I would have accomodated all three in the team in quite a few games and played to the strengths of Charlie Mpi but that's only my viewpoint.I wouldn't have let Charlie leave but it's all water under the bridge now.

 

Suppose another argument could have been to play Mpi right wing back/right midfield, like he did for SYCOB in the play off semi final and was a constant threat. Burnell and Sonner were first choice on merit but it didn't always work. If you look at successful teams, they do not tinker with their defence at all, they rotate the midfield and forwards from game to game, something that we did not do, I know squad size is a factor but we could've kept all 3 happy easily...

 

Last season is history now though, I'm sure we'll all be still celebrating promotion this time next year.

 

As you say,Cookham Rebel,last season is history now but I can't help but feel that it's the one that got away. We had our best chance of success, since Steve Bateman's arrival and blew it.

 

It's going to be difficult to keep maintain the standard we've set under Steve and there's no guarantees of getting near to the top again.

Don't see the league being any harder next season but it won't be any easier either.We do have to add new faces and blend quickly.The midfield needs a total rebuild and with Paul Coyne missing,it's an even bigger ask.

 

Burnham are going to be better next season.Guildford could be another St Neots in the making.Leighton finished last season strongly.Biggleswade are never mugs.Uxbridge are going to challenge again.Rugby and Northwood will more than hold their own and we got unknown quantities in the promoted sides.

We can't keep being unlucky in missing out on promotion.