Enfield Town v Kingstonian

[seemgee]

Forster, Parcell, Payne, Thomas, Okotcha, Tanner, Youngs, Taaffe, Knight, Wyllie, Beckles-Richards

Alves, Hippolyte, Onyeagwara, McKenzie, Adjei-Hersey

[seemgee]

FT 0-0

att 384

[The Crowing Cockerel]

Weeks gone by we guaranteed goals! Guess we should be grateful for the clean sheet, but the play-off wheels are looking a little loose!

[seemgee]

5 minutes ago, The Crowing Cockerel said:

Weeks gone by we guaranteed goals! Guess we should be grateful for the clean sheet, but the play-off wheels are looking a little loose!

20 league games in 40 pts...... next 10 games added just 10 points

[Rebel without a clue]

Poor all round tonight from team selection,performance and result I’m afraid to say playoffs looking unlikely but we live in hope

[andyetfc]

I think the Town was very lucky to get a point tonight. If an impartial groundhopper had visited tonight, then I believe they would have thought Kingstonian was the team pushing for the playoffs and Town was trying to stay in the division.

Any reason why the Town don’t play with a midfield? 
 

Very disappointing performance.

 

[Comet]

Disgusting performance tonight. Not sure what is going on but from start to finish there was no plan or pattern of play. 

We reverted to pumping long balls up the field like during the last regime. 
 

lucky to get a point. 

[Comet]

Playoffs are a distant dream. Let’s face it we would never survive in the league above with the budget and on crowds of 300.

[4wembleyfinals]

Today's reports on the game make sad reading.

The team have left Gavin with decisions to make. He can either carry on as we are and end up in the middle of the table or amend his midfield and go on the offensive.

To achieve this he and his coaching team will have to decide who within the squad can be a midfield engine. It has to be someone with the stamina and also be able to pick out the right pass, more times or not. Even if means replacing one of the recognised midfielders.  Gavin will also have to boost his forward power by starting with an additional striker.

It may seems absurd to some but I would like to see Mickey Purcell play the midfield role at the expense of Thomas.

Woh!!!Where's my tin hat!!!!!! 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 20 by 4wembleyfinals

[Flobalob]

11 minutes ago, 4wembleyfinals said:

 

It may seems absurd to some but I would like to see Mickey Purcell play the midfield role at the expense of Thomas.

Woh!!!Where's my tin hat!!!!!! 

Micky played alongside Thomas tonight as two Number 4s…. both as bad as each other … passing… control..  heading … it was awful… as stated we had 6 defenders and no midfield…. we need a big imposing figure like Matt Johnson who can run the show…. Thomas is completely out of his depth….

[OldTowner]

What a very poor performance.

Q - why do Town persist with launching long high balls to our two forwards ?

As with 99% of teams in this league the high lobs are eaten up by tall / strong defenders just like the No 4 and 20 last night, making our forwards ineffective and having to drop deeper in the hope of collecting the ball.

Q - how does Thomas get selected every game ( let alone be captain ) ? Once again he was poor in organizing the players and lost the ball with bad passes and a lack of running.

Sam Y had to play deep to cover for Thomas, therefore missing forward play.

Time for a change, or Saturday will be a repeat v W & F. 

[andyetfc]

We didn’t have a midfield so the only ‘failed’ option was to play hoof ball. Not pleasing on the eye at any stage of the season. Very reminiscent of last season and look what happened then.

 

[Barney]

Very difficult to find many positives with this performance, the first 30 minutes looked like two sides very low on confidence, with the team at the foot of the table shading the early exchanges. Where I disagree a little with some of the comments on here (and agree with 4WF) is that we looked better when Parcell stepped into CM for the last 15 minutes of the first half, and we actually had some of our better moments of the game. Thomas I don't think is a bad player, and I don't buy that he can't tackle or head, but I'm not sure he has the legs / mobility to play as the holding midfielder as part of a two, especially when Youngs is the other CM. There's only so far that experience and positioning can get you, and we were constantly second to the ball and overrun at times by a seemingly fitter and more mobile midfield. When Parcell moved there, we controlled possession better, were able to compete for the ball and created some decent openings - although I don't think he had a great game, I do think he has the quality to play CM, and allow us to manage that area better as a 3 instead of a 2.

I think one of the biggest differences between now and the start of the season is that the forwards seem low on confidence, I'd have backed Wyllie to have taken one of his chances last night and Youngs doesn't look like the player he was prior to Christmas. I still think we had enough chances to have nicked it, and it took some last ditch defending from them and wayward finishing from us to stop us from scoring, but on the flip side, Kingstonian could rightly say the same, and had their chances to win it too. Over 90 minutes, there wasn't much between the sides, and that's especially worrying given they're bottom and we're 5th! As people have said, we are still too direct given the forwards we have, and although I can't fault the effort of RBR and Marcus, they're fighting a losing battle against big defenders with that type of service. What's clear is that we desperately need a win, I don't care whether that comes from an OG, mishit shot or anything, we just need something to breed a bit of confidence and get us back to the side we know we can be.

As much as this is a bad run, we need to stick by the management and give them the chance to turn this around - people were singing Gavin's praises 2 months ago (with there even being concern that he was going to get an offer from Hornchurch), and we were possibly getting ahead of ourselves in terms of where this team are. Turning that around, we mustn't be too knee-jerk when we go on a poor run and play badly - we haven't suddenly become an awful side, there are still some good players that have done exceptionally well this season turning out for us, they're just low on confidence. This is the time when we need to pull together and back the team against Wingate, create some atmosphere and hopefully have the players feed off of that to get that extra few percent.

Edited February 21 by Barney
Typos

[OldTowner]

Barney

You make some very good points.

i think our supporters are one of the best and loudest in the League and get behind the team ( even last night ) but it is also a two way thing - we need the Team to there part, which was not apparent last night.

The persistent long high ball will not work unless the likes of Adam C return to win headers.

Lets hope for a change v Wingate.

[4wembleyfinals]

Thanks Barney, once again a thoughtful critique of the current situation.

For my part I feel I am being too presumptuous with my armchair views. But having watched over the past few years similar declines in form at this time of the season it is easy to understand the frustration of the supporters.

It is probably unfair to point at one player but in the past I have also commented, several times, regarding Thomas' declining contribution to the team. Perhaps it's now time for another new midfield setup.

I await to see what Gavin decides!!!! Although the weather forecast for the weekend doesn't sound too good it may give him more time to prepare for the run in. 

Edited February 21 by 4wembleyfinals

[4wembleyfinals]

In another post  Djw asked " what would you do? " against Wingate.

When asked this question in the past I reply that my philosophy has always been the same. Start with no fear especially whilst a playoff position is in the balance. 

To achieve this one must be prepared to start on the front foot and attack from the start. Do not hold back in starting an extra striker until it is to late. Instead use them to push back the opposition and prepare the defence to counter breakaways. 

The coaching staff must come up with a plan to this affect and decide who in the squad have the ability to achieve it. Even if it means changes to the present setup.

 Finally, with 12 games to play, we have to ask the Board whether they can find some funds to help recruit one/two players who in the managers view would help us over the line.  Or is this to be another year, as in previously ones, given up to more grandiose schemes. in other words "Deja vu!!!!!!"    

[Benjrider10]

Our performance for the first half an hour last night was dreadful. Kingstonian had several chances to score and it was only good goalkeeping / good luck that prevented them from doing so. You could sense the frustration in the crowd and on the bench. Things did improve when Parcell moved into midfield and we strung a few decent movestogether in the last 15 minutes, but only when either Youngs or Taaffe were involved.

I agree with other comments re lack of a midfield and just can’t fathom why we keep hitting aimless long balls. The pitch was sticky so I didn’t expect the free flowing football we have seen earlier in the season, but this was pretty dire stuff.

We were a shade better in the second half, but that’s not saying much. Ironic that we have Wingate & Finchley on Saturday because I think the 0-3 win we had at their place before Xmas was the best I have seen us play this season.

Midfield is the problem area. Does anybody know if Manny Harvest’s loan is being extended? He made a real difference when he played.

[OldTowner]

Benj

It was 4-1 and  one of our best performances.

However since then Winge Gate have improved - we have not.

I was told last night that Harvest is injured and returned to Orient to recover - if he gets it sorted he will return - not sure if the Club can confirm this.

[Out_Of_Towner]

A long journey for me as I live on the Essex / Suffolk border these days after my retirement ,but I do get to pop by and see my sister in Wormley  en route .

I was expecting to see at least a 3 or 4 to nil win and was gobsmacked at how lacklustre we was  A very poor turnout from the Town faithful and the moans and groans weren't helping much . I notice a lot of criticism of Thomas but were those around him much better ?  Not too sure of Mackenzie in what I have seen thus far ,the jury is still out on him , I think if he'd played we may of been worse off but then again I don't  get to every game to make an accurate judgment  ,But I have to add Is signing players from a struggling club going to help our cause ?  I think not .

 Also a mention of the fan owned model of the club  , I bring this up every year and I get jumped on by some of you  , We really need to have a rethink about our ambition  as I believe we have gone as far as can with this set up , If by some miracle we did go up we would get murdered every week . Look at Stortford right now  and Chestnuts last season . We would be up against full time players and the very best of the part timers Do you really think we could compete as we currently are with player wages . It seems to me that we are keeping certain people in their Ivory tower year after year with no progress and its becoming very frustrating .  

C O Y T

[The Crowing Cockerel]

1 hour ago, Out_Of_Towner said:

Also a mention of the fan owned model of the club  , I bring this up every year and I get jumped on by some of you  , We really need to have a rethink about our ambition  as I believe we have gone as far as can with this set up , If by some miracle we did go up we would get murdered every week . Look at Stortford right now  and Chestnuts last season . We would be up against full time players and the very best of the part timers Do you really think we could compete as we currently are with player wages . It seems to me that we are keeping certain people in their Ivory tower year after year with no progress and its becoming very frustrating .  

I wonder what would happen if someone came forward with a big bag of cash and a proposal for a hybrid ownership model? Presumably that is something that could be put to the membership? Doesn't seem very likely these days, so barring a lottery win I guess we'll have to persevere with our frugal model and hope for some FA Cup TV money at some point.