todays game

[northfleet_lad]

i think we played very well and deserved the win. charlie was brillient and so was debolla. every1 put in a good performance. c'mon the fleet

[Bill Kent]

Yes I agree a great game once again. As an old fart I was annoyed by the miserable young git behind me. He continued to slag off Jon Keeling in the second half. His mate next to him told him shut up and not to abuse Keeling as he played for

us. His response was that he could slag off anyone if they weren,t playing. This lad by the way was about 15 and tubbby. Does it ring a bell.

 

About three rows in front of the drummer.

[KShep]

Keeling was really good once again! The diagonal balls DeBolla and co. kept firing over to the left flank worked well; the football on the pitch is definately improving. One piece that I thought was excellent play was where we had standard build-up play, deBolla picked the ball up, put it through to Charlie who dummied it, and Luke Moore was behind him and was unlucky not to finish. Long may it continue!

[Stu M]

Quote:

Bill Kent said:
This lad by the way was about 15 and tubbby. Does it ring a bell.

Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa or Po...?

[Fleet4Ever]

Yes it does! It was me who told him to shut up!

[Sth_London_Fleet]

A good weekends football all round, Moore, Mac, Debolla all looking good. I don't think Keeling has had a bad game for us yet ( i didn't hear the abuse as i don't stand there, but i would have stood up for him, no pun intended) the defence would have had a clean sheet again if it wasn't dodgy ref decision.

 

There seems to be a lot of German on this forum at the moment, can we know please change this to Austrian as not to upset our new sponsor.

 

Bring on the Southport.

[Riverview Supporter]

definately looking better all round.

 

Hopefully get 3 points saturday and anything up at Halifax will make the viist of Grays a mouthwatering fixture.

[David Holden]

Quote:

Sth_London_Fleet said:

There seems to be a lot of German on this forum at the moment, can we know please change this to Austrian as not to upset our new sponsor.

At the risk of a whoosh, you do know what language they speak in Austria don't you <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

[gaspode]

Now, I am not a naysayer that likes to dampen the good mood. I am enjoying the football as much as everyone else on here and think that our performances have been worth all of the hyperbole.

However, there is one thing that has me slightly worried; I am not sure about the overall shape of the team.

The three centre backs are playing extremely well, but none of them is a left full-back. Ross quite often gets dragged into the middle (where he is obviously more comfortable), this leaves a gap at the back, as JK is not a wing back.

Similarly, the attacking moves on the right often depend on Ricketts joining the midfield (again, not his forte). The middle of the midfield is, therefore, more congested, and whilst we look solid there, we have yet to see the best of Danny Slatter (the right of midfield is where he belongs in mine).

Again, I reiterate, we are playing very well, but I feel that better teams would exploit these gaps. With Hawkins available and Sacha coming back, we have round pegs to fit these round holes.

It will be very tough on the centre half that loses out, but the balance would be restored.

The system that we are employing was forced onto Liam and he deserves a lot of credit for getting the team to gel quickly and efficiently, but I hope he doesn't cling to this system for too long. Maybe this is just because I always feel that 4-4-2 is the best option, I don't know.

I hope that I am proved wrong and that we carry on playing as expansively and entertainingly.

Sorry about that, didn't want to add a sour note to the procedings.

[Fleet4Ever]

Keeling and Ricketts have tracking back very well.

 

Playing well, scoring goals, defending solidly so there is no need in my eyes to change formation nor the players.

 

Your complaint is rather unjustified.

[Hannah]

The passing of the ball has greatly improved which helps immensely, there were some lovely balls yesterday

[Fleet boys]

Quote:

Hannah said:
The passing of the ball has greatly improved which helps immensely, there were some lovely balls yesterday

Debolla did play some brilliant balls to kelling and there were quite alot of good balls across the pitch

[JimGNFC]

Agreed. Has the 3-5-2 formation helped with the team playing more attractive, entertaining football? I see no reason to change it - at least when playing at home.

 

I've waited a few games to comment, but compared to last season the team is playing attractive, passing football. When the long ball is employed, its used intelligently with a crossfield pass rather than an aimless "hoof" forward.

 

At the start of pre-season Liam indicated in the local press that he was prepared to play more attractive football. James Smith's comment's in saturday's programme described the manager as "honest, hardworking and meticulous". Well, true to his word, we are seeing more attractive football and his clearly worked hard over the summer to bring in quality, mainly younger players on a limited budget.

[Stu M]

Quote:

Fleet4Ever said:
Your complaint is rather unjustified.

I don't think Gaspode's comment was a complaint as such, more of a discussion. Daish clearly favours 4-4-2, but with relative success using 3-5-2 and that rare thing at Fleet, an unchanged side for several games on the trot, will he be tempted to revert to Plan A, or stick with Plan B?

[Fleet4Ever]

He has to stick with 3-5-2. Like i said above, playing well, scoring goals and defending solidly why the need for change?

[gaspode]

Quote:

Stu M said:
I don't think Gaspode's comment was a complaint as such, more of a discussion.

Thanks Stu -
I did not mean to complain, it would take a churlish man to complain about the way we are playing and the goals we are scoring.
I was merely saying that we could be exposed down our left flank. Yes the two wide men are tracking back very well, I am just unsure if they are truly wing backs or rather 1 a wide midfielder and the other a full back being asked to play an unfamiliar role.
And we are wasting Danny Slatter in the position he is currently playing.
Granted, there is no need to immediately alter a winning formula, but we should be ready to revert to 4-4-2 if teams start exploiting the gaps

[Fleet4Ever]

I should think we are ready to convert back to 4-4-2 at anytime when Opinel is fit, without him there is no proper left back. Things could and will go wrong playing any system, so while there going right playing a 'different' formation lets not change it, but merely be ready for the change if needed.

How can teams exploit the gaps if there being covered by Keeling and Ricketts? Granted, sometimes it will not go right but at the moment, there are no gaps to exploit.

[The Doctor]

It does mean though, that with opinel back, we can start with a 442 or a 352 depending on how the opposition play, and also it gives a plan B for when things go wrong, easily change around to either with a substitution, an option, i thought, that Liam did not haave last year. The full time training, however, does obviously aide these changes during or between games.

[BustaGut]

I feel the manager will adjust the formation of the team, dependant on who we are playing I would like to think.

[Stu M]

Quote:

FleetMan said:
The full time training, however, does obviously aide these changes during or between games.

As does having versatile players like Hawkins, Ricketts, Keeling, DeBolla, Slatter, etc, who can slot into a range of positions. Very shrewd use of a numerically limited squad (though it's not that limited any more) by Liam Daish.