Enfield Town 2 Wivenhoe Town 0

[Hawkeye Pierce]

Originally Posted By: lovely stuff

IF you are going to play Magona just in front of the defence (about two feet in front to be precise),then why the hell do we need Rudi sitting in another holding role just in front of him?

We desperately needed a striker today - Jim hoped with Georgiou Campbell and Harding he could find a 90 minute one. With 8 goals already this season your best available World Cup winning striker was in midfield wearing the Captains armband and getting needlessly booked tackling back - Unfortunately we didn't see Rudi get forward enough to get near the goal once!

[Hawkeye Pierce]

Originally Posted By: TrueTowner

I wasnt at the game today so cannot comment at all on the performance but with a make shift side we WON,which I thought was the idea. I no we haven't being playing to our full potential this season but am sure we will.

We all were at the game. So a fanbase that are all true towners and present at the match disagrees with a so called fan that wasn't even at the match. Nothing to discuss then if you are not Jim.

[Jim Cunneen]

Rudi Hall overtook Matt Negus as our leading assist maker yesterday (He now has 75) what with that and his being our top goal scorer of 72......

[Steph]

Originally Posted By: lovely stuff

IF you are going to play Magona just in front of the defence (about two feet in front to be precise),then why the hell do we need Rudi sitting in another holding role just in front of him? and why the hell do we need to bring on Dave Hunt(another holding midfielder) in place of our only creative midfielder? Also why do some fans always single out the likes of Velendia and Edmunds for having some poor games but say nothing when many other Town players also put in poor performance after poor performance??

Our main trouble is that we always have one or two defenders marking no one.We always seem to have four defenders taking care of one or two lone strikers .That leaves us looking like we are playing with a man or two short in the attacking half.Add that to a midfield that sits too deep and refuses to go past the ball when a fellow midfielder is in possesion,means our midfield are invariably too far away from the forward players (player) to create any threat or any sustained pressure in the final third.


Ps..These comments are not made to slate the manager and/or players.They are simply expressed in the hope of offering constructive criticism in the pursuit of hopefully improving peformances.I personally write what i write simply in the hope that the management team may ocassionaly look on this forum and take heed of what we as fans feel could be improved on.

As usual L.S your hyperbole ruins the argument. Magona does not and did not play 2 feet in front of the defence. He was playing more forward than he usually does yesterday and spent at least 90% of his time in Wivenhoe's half when Town were attacking. Why do you think he was able to get on the score sheet? His ability on the ball reminds me very much of Brad Brotherton when he is not in defence and his lack of pace is exposed he can hold the ball and distribute it far better than many other players in the squad.

Your question about Rudi is particularly cogent. I often wonder why Rudi does not get forward enough his tackling and anticipation is lacking so why does he have a "holding" role. He should be used as the midfielder coming through giving options to the striker (as Paul Scholes does) but too often he is found behind the ball.

I have said before that we do not have enough variety in midfield as our usual midfield of Hall, Jones and Valendia is so predictable with only Valendia, when he is on form, adding a little bit of originality.

[Gazza]

Originally Posted By: Steph

....His ability on the ball reminds me very much of Brad Brotherton....

WHAT? Have you been drinking? That is the most outrageous comparisom.

[andyetfc]

Just how many more bookings did we pick up yesterday in a truly awful match?

 

Case in point in the second half. We give away a foul and the player tells the linesman to f... off. He gets yellow carded for the foul otherwise he should have been sent off. The same player tells the referee to f... off some ten minutes later and the referee has a word with him!

 

I keep banging on about this, but something has to be done otherwise 'our' club will soon be known as a club with a very poor disciplinary record and a reputation as a 'not very nice team to play against'.

 

As for the game. Yes we did have players missing. Yes we did keep a clean sheet. Yes we did win. JC was in a no lose situation. But the game was dire.

 

We have been told that we have a big squad, big enough to gain promotion. I don't think so with the way in which we played yesterday.

 

What happened to the new guy who scored in mid week?

 

And I did not go AWOL as I knew where I was.

[lovely stuff]

Originally Posted By: Steph

Originally Posted By: lovely stuff

IF you are going to play Magona just in front of the defence (about two feet in front to be precise),then why the hell do we need Rudi sitting in another holding role just in front of him? and why the hell do we need to bring on Dave Hunt(another holding midfielder) in place of our only creative midfielder? Also why do some fans always single out the likes of Velendia and Edmunds for having some poor games but say nothing when many other Town players also put in poor performance after poor performance??

Our main trouble is that we always have one or two defenders marking no one.We always seem to have four defenders taking care of one or two lone strikers .That leaves us looking like we are playing with a man or two short in the attacking half.Add that to a midfield that sits too deep and refuses to go past the ball when a fellow midfielder is in possesion,means our midfield are invariably too far away from the forward players (player) to create any threat or any sustained pressure in the final third.


Ps..These comments are not made to slate the manager and/or players.They are simply expressed in the hope of offering constructive criticism in the pursuit of hopefully improving peformances.I personally write what i write simply in the hope that the management team may ocassionaly look on this forum and take heed of what we as fans feel could be improved on.

As usual L.S your hyperbole ruins the argument. Magona does not and did not play 2 feet in front of the defence. He was playing more forward than he usually does yesterday and spent at least 90% of his time in Wivenhoe's half when Town were attacking. Why do you think he was able to get on the score sheet? His ability on the ball reminds me very much of Brad Brotherton when he is not in defence and his lack of pace is exposed he can hold the ball and distribute it far better than many other players in the squad.

Your question about Rudi is particularly cogent. I often wonder why Rudi does not get forward enough his tackling and anticipation is lacking so why does he have a "holding" role. He should be used as the midfielder coming through giving options to the striker (as Paul Scholes does) but too often he is found behind the ball.

I have said before that we do not have enough variety in midfield as our usual midfield of Hall, Jones and Valendia is so predictable with only Valendia, when he is on form, adding a little bit of originality.

To be fiar,if its predicability you're worried about.Magona and Hunt are the most predictable midfielders you could ever find.I personally kept a close eye on Magona's movement and positioning through the whole game.In the first half he DID sit very close to the central defenders (indeed even several supporters posting on here were under the impression he was playing as the third centre-back).In the second half he did move forward more,but there were many times when both he and Rudi 'sat' during a Town attack,when at least one or both should have made a forward run.We always seem to have three midfields in a line,whilst we are in possesion.So when one gets the ball ,all he can do is play a square ball.No one runs past the ball in midfield.Magona and Bastian deserved their goals as they gave 100% (as they always do).If you (and Jim) are happy to overlook their failings in the footballing talent area,i'm sure they will continue to provide dedicated and loyal service.In fact,having such a player in a team can be just what is needed.Its when you have two many such players (in that you can include the likes of Tickner/Dickie..etc),then our play will invariably drift into a hoofing, hacking ,uncompossed melee.

With regard to Velendia,if feel you are always too harsh on him.OK, he has had a quiet and dissapointing start to the season (along with most of the rest of the team),but he is one of the few players we have who can keep a football under close control in tight areas.One of the few who is composed enough to try to play a neat pasing game.You ask any fellow player and they will tell you he is the most skillfull player in the squad.Surely with all the 'combatants' we have,his sort of ball retention is badly required. I still believe he is hindered by having Rudi as a fellow midfielder.They can't play well together.They are too similar in the spaces they want to occupy.Velendia invaraiably gets pushed out wider that he is comfortable with and his game suffers ,as well as his confidence.Its no coincidence that Stevie flourished during the spell Rudi had away at Worthing.

[andyetfc]

Answering myself here. Must be going senile.

 

Even the guys going round with the bucket collection said they had been told that we had a poor disciplinary record and that we had had 6 suspensions already! Is that something to be proud of?

 

Could we not have had a Poppy collection yesterday and the bucket collection for the unfortunate family on another Saturday? I know of at least one supporter who has been standing outside ET train station during the morning rush hour. Maybe he could assist next season?

[lovely stuff]

Quote:

he can hold the ball and distribute it far better than many other players in the squad.

 

If that really is the case, we are in more trouble than i originally thought.Magona if a 100% gung-ho combative workhorse.If you consider Holding the ball as having a heavy first touch followed by a lung into a 50/50,then i agree he is far better than most.If you consider distrubition as slicing and belting the ball as far as you can hit it,then again, i agree he is far better than most.

[Steph]

Where do you stand LS?

 

As, like Gazza, you see a different game to me.

 

Magona in front of the back 4 plays a short passing game. I cannot recall a single belt or hoof yesterday. (Unless you count his goal of course) He can receive the ball and hold it as he did on many occasions yesterday.

 

Mind you I never agreed with the castigation of Kevin Riley on this BB though I did agree that Kevin's touch needed a lot to be desired. Kevin as a midfielder got into difficult and dangerous positions. Something that Rudi Hall, although top goalscorer at the club, does not do.

 

[OldTowner]

Steph, I just don't know how you see such a different game to others. I suppose if you take 10 supporters you will get at least 8 views.

Magona "belted" the ball up in the air several times yesterday, as he does every game. His distribution is terrible and his tackles are "rash" to say the least.

As for his wonder goal, he kept it down, miss hit it actually and let's face it the keeper made a howler of a save letting it go thro' his grasp.

All this aside, JC will pick Magona ahead of several other players so we the supporters must just accept it.

 

The overall performance was nothing short of very poor and this from a squad that JC thinks are good enough !!

 

Question, how do we have a squad of 30 players yet put out a team like yesterday with a defender playing lone striker ?

The quality of the squad is poor, very poor. Number in the squad means nothing.

Next 3 games are going to be very difficult.

[lovely stuff]

I would say that if you took 10 supporters views on most subjects.9 would be about the same.(With Steph normally being the odd one out).But hey, you don't become a hard line Lefty without seeing the world very differently from the rest of the population.

 

Does ANYONE else agree with Steph on the Magona issue? Now is you chance to speak up.

 

[Gazza]

I'm still in shock from the Brad Brotherton comparisom!

I can only think that Steph was dangling the bait & I've taken a big bite!

 

Mind you oh how we could do with his like in that team right now, dont know how fit he is at the moment but an SOS call wouldnt go a miss, yes I know his disciplinary record was not great but I think he cleaned that up in his latter days with us, but on the footballing front we havn't ever replaced his like.

[Gazza]

Originally Posted By: andyetfc

.....And I did not go AWOL as I knew where I was.

Having a secret golf lesson I've heard.

Bet you wish you'd come out with the Jolly Boys & given the football a miss now eh Dad?!

[andyetfc]

I went to a game yesterday afternoon and gave football a miss!

[Jim Cunneen]

Rudi Hall is our leading scorer - yes he takes penalties - at least he can bloody take them.

 

Rudi Hall is our leading assister 75 - yes he takes dead balls - at least he can bloody take them.

 

Rudi Hall is 2nd in the Man of the Match charts - so come on what do you want? If the man had EVERYTHING he would be playing at a far higher level.

 

I do agree that our disciplinary record is dreadful and needs sorting out....

 

55 bookings and 5 sent off...20 games

 

last season 88 bookings 3 sent off....48 games and that was bad enough

 

As a matter of interest my adopted side Shortwood have played 20 games. 8 bookings....

 

 

[lovely stuff]

Jim.You say that if he had everything he would be playing at a higher level.On the flipside, if he wasn't a deadball specialist he probably wouldn't warrant playing at this level at all.Swings and roundabouts.

 

I certainly recognise Rudis role as a valuable member of the squad.But he presently isn't contributing enough to warrant being an automatic choice on the teamsheet every week.Maybe if he had to work a bit for his place,his game might recover to its best.It certainly helped Bryans game,when he briefly stopped being one of the untouchables.I personally think Bryans game still benefits from that reality shock of having to earn a place in the starting 11.(however briefly it was)

[Mini-Smith Towner]

Harvey had a very good game, you must be confusing him with someone else!!

[lovely stuff]

He had a very quiet game for the entire 90 minutes.I accept that was probably down to the lack of threat from Wivenhoe more than anything else.I agree he did nothing wrong and i would not mind him playing with Gant as part of a flat back four (being Left-footed could give us balance),but i feel he was the defender too much yesterday.Being comfortable but anonamous,does not in my opinion equate to having a very good game.

[Mini-Smith Towner]

You talk sense Steph.

 

I agree that Velandia has not played as well as we know he can this year, but I think Jim is wrong in showing such little faith in him. You can see from his body language that he is low in confidence, but we are always looking for a quick fix.

 

The 1st half yesterday was fairly decent football for periods and I know that if we are going to get back to our best he needs to be involved.