Is our squad fit and able enough

[cangull]

Now c’mon you lot, are you really surprised at our current position, or have you all been stuffing your heads in the sand.

Our selection process has been chaotic this season, just as it was last.

Players are being played out of position, ie Clarke used as a striker, worked for a bit but lets face it, he just is not a striker, seems he is being chosen just for the sake of it, even as a left back on a number of occasions I believe. If Keeling is fit then he should be played; for me, he brings the whole aspect of our attacking play into reality.

Kennedy is far better used wide of midfield not centre of; Kennedy just does not function in the centre roll.

When we have a fit young pacey defender in our squad, why is he out on loan; we have a defensive problem, that’s for sure, then Jay Conroy should be back with us and given the chance to show his worth, especially if those in choice now are not doing it for us.

Basic skills, I wonder what the success rate of our so called ‘passing’ is, I bet the percentage is pathetic. My belief is that if a player is fit than he can execute his basic skills (learnt at an early stage) without a problem, lose that fitness and your skill levels start to fall. We all have to admit that the team has looked very lack-lustre, slow to the loose ball, poor passing, disjointed and out of shape.

I haven’t seen the last two games, I have read the reports and all of your comments and of course I have been to most games this season.

Its no surprise to me about the position we are in, most people that I speak to feel the same as me and could see this happening months ago.

Some years ago, if we had a weakness in the side Jeff would be onto it straight away and get it sorted; that’s just not the case nowadays.

So what can we expect, I hope I am wrong but I suspect that unless we see a complete change of ability and commitment in our players, then we are facing relegation full in the face.

[Lefty]

If we continue to play the way we do at the moment then we are going to go down. In the transfer window we brought in 1 player a defender when realy we need a tall forward and someone to comand the midfield and y isn't danny potter palying he was doing well then he was dropped??

[cangull]

Danny Potter....Yet another point of many that I could have included! for me he is the better keeper, whether he fools around or not.

The coaching and managing team need to put away personal feelings and favourite players when selecting the team, and should be using only our best players!!

[Lefty]

Jeff has always had is favourate players but realy it should be about the club not about who he prefers

[A Non E Mouse]

Looking back on some of the games we had at the start of the season the squad is pretty much the same - so why the down turn?

 

As fans we will always look at players and have our own views that may not be the same as other fans - but these are the same players who took us to a comfortable mid table position - I do agree we should play to our strengths and do what we do best and if the players are not up to it at this level, or are here for the money, then ultimately they need to be shown the door.

 

Choice of who is signed, who plays, what formation, what tactics and lifting morale of the players is down to the coaching staff - the same coaching staff that got us here over a successful 12 years - are they to blame?

 

The question I would ask is "do we have a stronger side than what we had last year?" - I felt we did but recent performances suggest otehrwise.

 

The only real positions that didn't change were midfield - and that's where I think we need some alternatives.

 

Is Kezie or Tait better than Greggors or Junior? Is McKinney better than Ash/Potter? Was Bunce better than Cowans? Berquez/Clarke? When there was a chance of Midgely coming back I didn't realise how many people would have liked him to come back. Midgers is a good player but he was regularly played out of position and would be "untested" in the Conf. Nat. as an out and out striker. Why take the risk? - is there a better loan player out there who we could have brought in and would have strengthened the side?

 

"Is our squad fit and able enough?" - I think they are - but we should never be afraid of replacing players with stronger players and if that means losing a fan favourite then so be it - it's the only way we will progress and strengthen. We had an injury crisis last year so no excuses there and we have changed our tactics to a more solid four at the back so the problems seem to be harder to pin point.

[Yellow Bungle]

It comes down to having a plan and the ambition and finance to execute it. Someone needs to decide what the club's short, medium and long term objectives are and let us know.

[ken]

it seems that we drop places towards the end of the season (even in our glory days this was true). surely this has to be down to being part time. players aren’t as fit as if we were full time and the season takes it toll. surely the goal of the club this season is to improve on last season. and it doesn’t look like we are doing that. it all depends on the ambition of the club. have we reached a level that they are happy to be at? have we gone too far and some would prefer us to be back in the Essex senior or something? i am of the opinion that a football club needs to be ambitious, it needs to be constantly improving and constantly doing the best things it can to get the team as high as it can maintain in the league structure. i hope the club feels the same as i do. we are strong enough to maintain a safe position in the conference but i think we need something to make the next step.

[blooming barmy bongo]

hows about red bull, it give us wings

[South Mouth]

Ken, spot on.

 

This club has huge potential but only if people running the club have that passion too. What happened when a couple of years ago we were looking to one day be a league club and morale from management and fans was overflowing?

 

I have always said that Jeff and the management team have done fantastic work for the club getting us from playing against teams like Bowers and Southend Manor to playing former league teams week in, week out.

 

But i have also said that once a management team have reached as far as they can go, then a more experienced higher level manager/coach should come in. Now have Jeff and Glenn come as far as they can go? I think probably yes. Not that i think they are doing a bad job. Not at all. Just that they have had nearly two seasons managing the club in the Conference now and nothing has really changed.

 

Now i know the last couple of years and the next couple are all about consolidating in this really tough league. But progress, even the smallest progress has to be made and i dont really know if we have made any. We need to be at least consolidating around 12th/13th place. Hey... maybe even higher! The fact is that i think for the benefit of the club, a more experienced man should be brought in with Jeff overseeing everything from next season. This would be a start and then we could possibly think about promotion instead of relegation in the next couple of years.

[trueyellows15]

We all know Jeff plays the players he prefers,which we can all see is not working,we thank Jeff for getting us where we are today, but was it his money or his management skills??? do you think is about time Jeff stepped aside and let a more experenced manager step in..

[A Non E Mouse]

Rock and a hard plate I'm afraid.

 

Jeff luvs the club and is prepared to put some money into it.

 

If he steps back or even leaves do you think he will continue to put the money in? - may be, may be not. As Mr Yellow Bungle says "what are the short and long term objectives?" - if we knew as fans perhaps people would show greater support for the club. What would the effect of Jeff withdrawing any cash and has the club made provision to stand and compete on it's own two feet - gonna be difficult with our crowds at the moment.

 

If he does bow out in one form or another I think we will really start to struggle. Likewise, we've only been at this level for a season and half - a lot of managers would love to have consolidated in that time - a change of management doesn't necessarily guarantee success - jeff ain't doing to bad but I bet he'll have the right hump reading this lot <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/ban.gif" alt="" />

[Exile]

can't imagine Jeff wastes his time reading our uninformed ramblings ! It's fair to say the Conference has been a big step up but we haven't done too badly - even now we are doing better than some full time teams. Of course we all want to improve on last season, if only a little, but again injuries have not helped us field a settled side. Whatever you think of Jeff's ability as a manager, we are certainly not floundering on the pitch. In our Ryman days of beating Conference teams in Cup competitions maybe we had the element of surprise, we certainly don't have that any more so things are bound to be tighter. Two main disappointments for me this season: losing games in the last minute or two (it's happened too often to be bad luck), and the lack of support from the locals (something Jeff has mentioned more than once) which I think makes it difficult to take the club any further.

[ken]

as far as points go we need 11 from the possible 42 to equal last years points. who knows maybe we will hit a turning point and pick up quite a few points in the remander of the games. oh i hope so.

 

i find it worrying that we have only won 4 home games this season.

[Lefty]

that is worrying we got to sort it out and arfter saturdays resualt can we expact anything against hereford and crawley. Last season we struggled with our away form and this season we are struggling with our home form we are so incosisitent.

[Guest]

Jeff reckons its a lack of desire, I think its to many players like Clarke who are just not good enough.

 

I still cannot see how he gets into the squad we have much better players in reserve.

[Linneycifc]

i'd agree with jeff especially after saturday they looked like they were out till 1am the night before drinking and having a good time then got up again at 5:30 to get ready and get on the coach.

 

(a big thankyou goes out to pro plus for keeping me n' gal awake)

 

they travelled up the night before and looked incredibly passionless

[Ribbit]

It does seem like an age ago when we were flying high in the Ryman League, with (what we and everyone at the club considered) exceptional chances of playing league football. How hard could it be to get there? We'd beaten Conference and League teams over the last few seasons in the cup competitions, but it's not the same as playing those teams every week like we are now.

 

These are depressing times for Canvey and we could well be at the biggest cross-roads since Jeff actually took over. I agree that maybe Jeff should step-down, but if he left the club completely I fear we'll go straight back to where we came from - maybe not as far as the Essex Senior, but I could see us back in the Ryman. I don't see it being possible for the club to be able to support itself if he left us. There's absolutely sod all money around, other than that in Jeff's pockets.

 

Earlier in the season I said that maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing if we got relegated. We've done it before, only to go straight back up and straight through the division, I'm not saying we could do it again, but you know, aspirations.

 

I think playing in the Conference South might help us a bit. We wouldn't be out of our depth, we'd have realtive attendences and might be able to find our feet before trying the National division again.

 

Don't get me wrong though, I'd love to see us stay in this league and never get relegated, but sometimes you've got to take a fall to make yourself stronger.

[The Great Eckscape]

I think that even though we're going through a lean spell, this is still a massive season for CIFC. I do feel people are over reacting slightly, as we have shown enough this year to suggest that on our day we can beat anyone in this league.

 

Positivity is something we need to get back into CIFC, both with the players and the supporters.

[Ribbit]

It's not about beating anyone, because we know we can do that. It's about winning consistantly. Three, four games on the trot. It doesn't matter if we beat Grays and completely outplay them if we go and lose to Southport. In other words, it's not who we beat, but how often.

[JAY]

as a urchin i agree with exile i think you havent done that bad this season like for example you done grays twice so thats good i think if you had more money then i think you will be up there one day

 

best of luck for the rest of the season