vs Basingstoke

[SloughFlyer]

3spirit - I'm a little confused by Sean Fraser as I agree with what you have said and have enjoyed his play for the team over the past couple of seasons. I dont think there are many more players more committed to the the team than him, but he just for some reason seems to have gone off the boil in recent weeks. Hopefully he can regain some of that form and get back to the Sean of the beginning of the season.

 

As for Mcdonald and Mcclurg, I'm not sure you are watching the same players as I am. Jamie Mcclurg has looked out of his depth since we got promoted. He can t seem to handle the pace of the league we are now in and gets caught out fair too often. In addition, as I said before, he goes backwards with passes far too often and mis-places passes far to often. It just isn't good enough. Gary Mcdonald is far too slow for a central back let alone playing defensive midfield, and I would like to see how many headers he wins in the next couple of games, as I'm certain he will lose way ore than he wins.

 

Solutions - drop Mcclurg and Mcdonald immediately, starting centrback pairing of Hollis and Hicks gives us a solid starting point with Fraser and Dhillon at full back. Then we need to work on the midfield and that is where, IMO, is where the major improvements are needed.

Edited September 27, 2015 by SloughFlyer

[rebelade]

Apart from individual defensive errors costing us I think there are two other problems.

The first is our style if play, since Mpi has joined we seem to have gone direct but both Mpi and Putman prefer the ball in front of them and to their feet, not there heads. Scott also has the ability to hold the ball up with his feet but we continually play high balls forward. Our strikers are working so hard outside the box that a lot of our chances are falling to midfielders, when was the last time Charlie had a decent chance in the penalty area?

Secondly we seem to lack confidence throughout the team. The distribution from our defence and midfield is often rushed/panicked and we're not having many shots from outside the area, it's as if we afraid to take responsibility of our actions. Also no one wants to take the game by the horns and direct play. We are a much better side when we play football and keep the ball on the ground.

We can change our style of play but instilling confidence is a lot harder.

From yesterday's game no one has mentioned the first goal was offside, not the scorer, but guy standing next to keeper and also the players, apart from Sear, didn't go and thank the fans for their support. We know you're disappointed but you should still thank the support.

[redwine rebel]

Apart from a few players, I too was disappointed with the acknowledgment of the fans yesterday.

[Reading Rebel]

In the "Looking ahead" for this game, Jon Underwood commented that he wouldn't call out positions or players so as not to have a negative effect on the team, we'll I'm afraid the time has come to start that process as we are not good enough and will get relegated unless some major changes to the squad happen.

 

Goalkeepers

Mark Scott - a top signing and keeping us competitive in quite a few games this season

Luke Williams - did well in his 3 games, and was sold down the river with the rubbish defence he had in front of him against Burnham.

 

Defence

Sean Fraser - is looking out classed by many attackers at the moment. Can't fault his work rate and effort however.

Guy Hollis - top defender and works as hard as anyone on the squad.

Gary Mcdonald - how this player is our captain and leader is beyond me. He is slower than any player in ours or pretty much any other team, he can't head a ball to save his life and when he does win the odd header he either scores in his own goal (like today) or misses a sitter (like today). Simply not good enough.

Jhai Dhillon - has been excellent in the first 2 games

Stuart Lake - only helping out and possibly the only player slower than Mcdonald in the world.

Dan Hicks - looks like a good signing.

 

Midfield

Warren Harris - clearly struggling with fitness but having to play most games. Hasn't scored or beaten a player since his return from injury.

Adam Martin - struggling to find the form of last season and is looking lost at the moment.

Adrian Sear - good player but can't stop getting injured.

Nathan Webb - see Adrian Sear

Jake Parsons - excellent before his injury, but can't even seem to run since his return.

Jamie Mcclurg - the worst of out midfielders. Can't pass anything but backwards, struggles to find a player in the same colour shirt than him and totally out of his depth in our league.

 

Forwards

Ed Smith - see Adrian Sear/Nathan Webb

Charlie Mpi - puts in so much effort game in game out and feel for him having to a with some of the players he is

Scott Harris - see Charlie Mpi

Lewis Putman - would like to see a bit more of him in the box and needs a goal to kick start his season.

 

All in all we have some decent players, we have some ok players and some terrible players that are totally out of their depth.

 

In the same interview I hope that Jon Underwood was being metophorical about the lack of "sad faces" at training as the performances recently, whilst ok in patches have just not been good enough and I would expect the players to show the same passion as the fans and care about how poor they have been thus far this season.

 

We need to strengthen our defence by removing at least Mcdonald from it and replacing him ASAP. We need to get in 3-4 better midfield players, some with more creativity and also some fitter players and we need to give our strikers more support with said creativity.

 

Time to stop the excuses, time to stop pretending that we are almost there with the team. It's time to make the required changes ASAP and those changes require identifying the 5-6 players that are just totally out of their depth and making the required replacements to the squad. You can't continue losing to sides like Burnham and Bedworth and expect everything to be rosy in the garden.

 

The time to act is now, before we fall further down the league and are cut adrift and start next season in our shiny new stadium and the Central Division.

 

 

Gary MacDonald wasn't brought into the team for his speed, he was brought in for his leadership. Take him out of the equation and we are back to square one with no leader at the back. I also disagree that he doesn't win headers, I think he has been quite commanding in the air winning a high percentage of headers.

[3spirit]

3spirit - I'm a little confused by Sean Fraser as I agree with what you have said and have enjoyed his play for the team over the past couple of seasons. I dont think there are many more players more committed to the the team than him, but he just for some reason seems to have gone off the boil in recent weeks. Hopefully he can regain some of that form and get back to the Sean of the beginning of the season.

 

As for Mcdonald and Mcclurg, I'm not sure you are watching the same players as I am. Jamie Mcclurg has looked out of his depth since we got promoted. He can t seem to handle the pace of the league we are now in and gets caught out fair too often. In addition, as I said before, he goes backwards with passes far too often and mis-places passes far to often. It just isn't good enough. Gary Mcdonald is far too slow for a central back let alone playing defensive midfield, and I would like to see how many headers he wins in the next couple of games, as I'm certain he will lose way ore than he wins.

 

Solutions - drop Mcclurg and Mcdonald immediately, starting centrback pairing of Hollis and Hicks gives us a solid starting point with Fraser and Dhillon at full back. Then we need to work on the midfield and that is where, IMO, is where the major improvements are needed.

 

SloughFlyer, looks like you've got your wish about Clurgy  [which I don't agree with, of course].I've made my thoughts known on the 'squad changes' thread.

 

I can, though, appreciate where you're coming from with Hollis and Hicks but Dan has only just joined the club and needs games to gel.

With Guy's personal issues,it may be too early for them to play regularly together, plus is Dan Hicks a player that leads from the front and has great awareness and communication skills/football knowledge that Gary MacDonald has. ​

Remember SF, Bakes and Unders went and got Gary MacDonald in the first place, to address our defence's issue, with replacing the loss of the reliable experienced organizer that we had with Dave Woozley and the problems we had last season without a significant voice/strong leader at the back.

While I accept everything hasn't been hunky dory with 'Macca', there's no way all our mistakes is his fault. In some games he's been one of our best players.

 

It took a good half season for Dave Woozley to come good, so we shouldn't be so impatient with Macca, when we've only played 10 league games.  

[3spirit]

Gary MacDonald wasn't brought into the team for his speed, he was brought in for his leadership. Take him out of the equation and we are back to square one with no leader at the back. I also disagree that he doesn't win headers, I think he has been quite commanding in the air winning a high percentage of headers.

 

Are you reading my mind ! ha ha!

[SloughFlyer]

Reading Rebel - you are right, he did win a few headers at Basingstoke, the 2 that really stick in my mind are the 1 free header 10 yards from goal that he hit the bar with and the other was the one he stuck in the top corner past Mark Scott!

 

If he is the leader of the team, perhaps he could tighten up the team to stop allowing goals in the first 10 minutes and keep the defence he is supposed to be leading much much tighter to stop us going behind the 8 ball.

 

3spirit - understand what you are saying about Dan Hicks, and hopefully he can start to gel with Guy (personal issues not withstanding) ASAP. By just after Xmas if 3 of out 4 centre backs are Hollis, Hicks and a fit Craig Scott then that is an excellent start, add a performing Fraser and Dhillon then we might be onto something.

Edited September 27, 2015 by SloughFlyer

[Reading Rebel]

Reading Rebel - you are right, he did win a few headers at Basingstoke, the 2 that really stick in my mind are the 1 free header 10 yards from goal that he hit the bar with and the other was the one he stuck in the top corner past Mark Scott!

 

If he is the leader of the team, perhaps he could tighten up the team to stop allowing goals in the first 10 minutes and keep the defence he is supposed to be leading much much tighter to stop us going behind the 8 ball.

 

3spirit - understand what you are saying about Dan Hicks, and hopefully he can start to gel with Guy (personal issues not withstanding) ASAP. By just after Xmas if 3 of out 4 centre backs are Hollis, Hicks and a fit Craig Scott then that is an excellent start, add a performing Fraser and Dhillon then we might be onto something.

 

 

I was on the far side of the ground but I didn't think it was a MacDonald own goal.

 

If it's the one I'm thinking about at the far post, I thought it was foul with the B'Stoke player holding Macca down allowing him to score with a header?  

[SloughFlyer]

I wish the referee agreed with you Reading Rebel. Unfortunately, had Mcdonald been stronger in the air, perhaps he would have been able to turn the ball away. I'm pretty certain it was an own goal and even the #10 didn't want to over celebrate it. Will be interesting to see if there is any footage of it. Either way, Mcdonald wasn't strong enough in the air in that circumstance.

[Reading Rebel]

I wish the referee agreed with you Reading Rebel. Unfortunately, had Mcdonald been stronger in the air, perhaps he would have been able to turn the ball away. I'm pretty certain it was an own goal and even the #10 didn't want to over celebrate it. Will be interesting to see if there is any footage of it. Either way, Mcdonald wasn't strong enough in the air in that circumstance.

 

 

We'll have to agree to disagree SF.

 

IMO from what I saw from my viewing point he was held down and if so even the biggest and best central defenders won't win the ball.

[3spirit]

Apart from individual defensive errors costing us I think there are two other problems.

The first is our style if play, since Mpi has joined we seem to have gone direct but both Mpi and Putman prefer the ball in front of them and to their feet, not there heads. Scott also has the ability to hold the ball up with his feet but we continually play high balls forward. Our strikers are working so hard outside the box that a lot of our chances are falling to midfielders, when was the last time Charlie had a decent chance in the penalty area?

Secondly we seem to lack confidence throughout the team. The distribution from our defence and midfield is often rushed/panicked and we're not having many shots from outside the area, it's as if we afraid to take responsibility of our actions. Also no one wants to take the game by the horns and direct play. We are a much better side when we play football and keep the ball on the ground.

We can change our style of play but instilling confidence is a lot harder.

From yesterday's game no one has mentioned the first goal was offside, not the scorer, but guy standing next to keeper and also the players, apart from Sear, didn't go and thank the fans for their support. We know you're disappointed but you should still thank the support.

 

Rebelade, you make two very good points about our style of play and lack of confidence.

Charlie, Scott and Eddie can score goals with their head, Lewis less so, but I'm at a complete loss why every cross, free kick, corner or even a long throw has to be a long lofted one, which is so easy to spot by the opposition, that after about 10 minutes or so the other side has worked out what we are going to do.

 

With our results not going our way, it is understandable that the managers and the team are feeling pressurized to turn the tide and so the players are rushing to play it long or are so frightened to make an error, that they've stopped trying to play adventurously.

This needs to change. 

[Reading Rebel]

Rebelade, you make two very good points about our style of play and lack of confidence.

Charlie, Scott and Eddie can score goals with their head, Lewis less so, but I'm at a complete loss why every cross, free kick, corner or even a long throw has to be a long lofted one, which is so easy to spot by the opposition, that after about 10 minutes or so the other side has worked out what we are going to do.

 

With our results not going our way, it is understandable that the managers and the team are feeling pressurized to turn the tide and so the players are rushing to play it long or are so frightened to make an error, that they've stopped trying to play adventurously.

This needs to change. 

 

 

Our main ploy from corners etc is for Macca to peel off to the back post and get the header in and to be honest it's worked so far in that most times Macca has won the header and has been a bit unlucky not to score so far.

[epicrebel]

Our main ploy from corners etc is for Macca to peel off to the back post and get the header in and to be honest it's worked so far in that most times Macca has won the header and has been a bit unlucky not to score so far.

Not any more

[Curtis]

Yeah... let's hope no one from Leamington or Bideford read this forum this week.

[staines_rebel_Jr]

Hopefully the managers were watching match of the day this week, in particular the Southampton vs Swansea game.

 

one or two clever set piece plays.

[Reading Rebel]

Not any more

 

 

I just knew when I said it some clever dick would pick up on it  

[RebelDelaney]

Don.t all clubs have scouts watching there up and coming opponents epicrebel we must allso stop showing those matches on youtube.

[epicrebel]

Don.t all clubs have scouts watching there up and coming opponents epicrebel we must allso stop showing those matches on youtube.

Well let them figure it out, we don't need to tell them.

[GarySTFC]

There's a lot more to it than Macca just peeling off to the back post and I can't imagine many teams will use an opposing clubs forum to seek tactical advice!

[3spirit]

You sure you've phrased it right, GarySTFC,  'peeling off to the back post'  sounds positively gay ! ha ha ha ! 

Edited September 28, 2015 by 3spirit