Town V Peterborough Sports

[lovely stuff]

Marcus Wylie was sold for the best interests of the player. It was not in the best interests of the club to sell a player that could have kept us in this new league and maybe thus established the club at that level. With a full year left on his contract it was very kind gesture by the club to allow Marcus to grab what maybe was his only chance of League football. So i will not criticise the board for that decision. 

Has the estimated 20k fee been best used in order to try to maintain national league status? I don't know.

Finally lets be honest, our current level of performance on the pitch, style of play and entertainment value would not have been accepted at all in the league we were in last season. Certainly Andy Leese got rightly slated for a very similar style of play and tactics that we are seeing this season. We are convinced that this current league is a couple of levels above the Isthmian Premier and that is why we are offering up the level of football we currently are. Who knows. What i will say is that it will be a bitter blow to fall from this level after one attempt after spending decades trying to get there.

[The Crowing Cockerel]

1 hour ago, lovely stuff said:

Finally lets be honest, our current level of performance on the pitch, style of play and entertainment value would not have been accepted at all in the league we were in last season. Certainly Andy Leese got rightly slated for a very similar style of play and tactics that we are seeing this season. We are convinced that this current league is a couple of levels above the Isthmian Premier and that is why we are offering up the level of football we currently are. Who knows. What i will say is that it will be a bitter blow to fall from this level after one attempt after spending decades trying to get there.

Precisely my point when criticising the management earlier in this thread. I can't imagine our playing budget is less than last season. Would anyone actually argue that the squad is better than last season. Add to that the fact that we have reverted to long ball tactics, and I don't see how you can't criticise the management in relation to both recruitment and tactics. Granted, calling for Gavin's sack was perhaps a little drastic, but in the absence of an act of god, we are going to find ourselves back in the Isthmian League next season.

Anyway, I best get back to praying for a miracle...

[Barney]

Just a quick counter view on this, but if the opposition are that much better/quicker/fitter/well organised than they are at the step below, and give you no time at all on the ball, close down passing options etc. then usually the only safe option is to go long (not pretty, but better than losing possession in your own defensive third). From the one game I've watched (Maidstone), we were afforded no time at all, and didn't have the legs or the space to play much football. Does that make us any worse than last season? I'd argue that we're not a worse side overall (how much better we are is up for debate), but the standard of the opposition is forcing us into very limited options, and direct balls out of danger.

[The Crowing Cockerel]

True, we are afforded no time on the ball at all. Yet, we drop back behind the halfway line and give opponents (each and every week) as much time as they want. The only times that we have deviated from that tactic and pressed higher has been when chasing the games against Eastbourne, Maidstone and Peterborough Sports. And guess what? We looked far more potent and as if we belonged at this level. We need to be braver, because at the moment we're going down with not so much as a whimper!

[No bull Towner]

Let's just hope the players and management don't give up as quickly as some of you have given up on them!! I think perhaps some here are more concerned about not getting one over on/going one better than our neighbours than actually truly accepting, not just giving lip service to, but truly accepting that it was always going to be an enormous challenge to stay up and that relegation was always the most realistic scenario. Maybe we can turn it around and I'm hoping we do but if we don't I won't be pinning the blame at the ones who gave it a try and did their best. If we weren't good enough we weren't good enough. I will be happy that at least we made it and that now that we know we can make it, next time we will be better prepared. For now I'll keep hoping!

[4wembleyfinals]

I am not trying to be rude but I am not sure how long you have been watching ETFC..

Because if you have been watching the past 5-6 years you would know that the current team tactics haven't differed much from last season to that of this year. Employing the long ball!!! What made us successful 23/24 was the contribution of Marcus Wylie's pace and his ability to score goals. These attribute helped raise the game of all those around him.

That is why I was surprised at Marcus' early departure.  Especially as we had the upper hand as partners to the contract. If you don't use that to your advantage then what is the use of entering into a contract?

As I have said previously I fully appreciate the reasons that have given for accepting a transfer offer. But they contain a lot of assumptions.

But what if he had been there for the past few weeks and we had won several games because of him. His transfer value would have increased and perhaps we could use the Fund Raiser for other purposes.

Yet again this is only conjecture.  

What I do know is players with long CV's are soon on the move. Revolving doors go both ways.

The manager has to play the hand he is given. Lets all hope he soon comes up with some Aces!!!!

[No bull Towner]

40 minutes ago, 4wembleyfinals said:

I am not trying to be rude but I am not sure how long you have been watching ETFC..

Because if you have been watching the past 5-6 years you would know that the current team tactics haven't differed much from last season to that of this year. Employing the long ball!!! What made us successful 23/24 was the contribution of Marcus Wylie's pace and his ability to score goals. These attribute helped raise the game of all those around him.

That is why I was surprised at Marcus' early departure.  Especially as we had the upper hand as partners to the contract. If you don't use that to your advantage then what is the use of entering into a contract?

As I have said previously I fully appreciate the reasons that have given for accepting a transfer offer. But they contain a lot of assumptions.

But what if he had been there for the past few weeks and we had won several games because of him. His transfer value would have increased and perhaps we could use the Fund Raiser for other purposes.

Yet again this is only conjecture.  

What I do know is players with long CV's are soon on the move. Revolving doors go both ways.

The manager has to play the hand he is given. Lets all hope he soon comes up with some Aces!!!!

I have followed the team for many years but moved away so couldn't attend as many matches as I would have liked. I am now back in London so from Nov 22 the latter part of Andy Leese's reign to now I have been to most home games. I agree the long ball is not the best football but I concur with others that this is some what forced on us at present due to opposition closing down rather than a Gav tactic. I've said before Marcus was a loss but I don't hold him as Godly as others. I think Gav got him playing in a better position and he and Sam Youngs TOGETHER scored enough goals to carry us to promotion. Sam has been a shadow of himself so far and who knows maybe if Marcus was still here they may have continued their decent tally but they equally might not as this league are different defenders and the pace might not be enough. Marcus is doing well at Gillingham within a team of suitable ability and I wish him well and can't blame all our short comings on his leaving. He's gone so we need to move on. You say what if he'd stayed his fee would have increased...it could also have decreased too if we had still had this start as he wouldn't have looked up to the job with the lack of service so other clubs might not have speculated so readily. Then there would have been no fee at all...but it's all speculation as you say because none of us are decision makers or in the know. I feel the same when there are plenty of comments about wanting Mo Faal back. He's gone and obviously not interested in coming back or he would be here. Football is a team sport and all I'm saying is there are more than one or two players that won the promotion and more than one or two players that will keep us up or drop back down. I'm not attacking anyone personally or individually I just prefer the more positive, constructive posts than the negative finger pointing ones. It's fine to have different opinions though as how boring it would be if we all thought the same!

[Flobalob]

On 08/09/2024 at 16:24, WHY DO I BOTHER said:

I think sometimes we are forced into long balls as there is quite frankly no one to pass to… every time Reece rolls the ball out to our full backs they are closed down in a second with not a spare man in sight so hoof off it goes… i’d love to see sam play a central midfield role as he seems to have more time on the ball than others and could provide the passes to get behind defenders…i also think Mensah is a great signing and with Neenah could be a very good pairing …also Peake showed glimpses of what we need so there is a bit of hope if Gavin can make the team more compact and get players closer together ….

 exactly what i put after the Maidstone game…. short passing is alien to us…