by hector » 16 Feb 2014, 09:50
WE have played six games since Knill left P6 W2 D1 L3 F8 A7. The previous 6 games, under Knill, produced an almost identical record P6 W2 D1 L3 F5 A9. Of our next 8 games SIX are at home. We simply must accumulate points and start getting them at home.
I don't blame CH at all for this but his team selections so far, hint a little at someone who still has not quite worked out which is the best team or system to play. That is probably fair enough. He has inherited a shambles, a roster of players who come and go, loanees from other clubs, players of our own out on loan. Yet there has been - to complement this picture of unsettledness, an influx of players e.g. Cooper/Stevens/Mudge/O'Brien who have not yet appeared or have barely appeared, whilst others like Nicholson have come in and gone again, Mansell was dropped, put at RB and now back in midfield, while Downes was - perhaps harshly - dropped after a clean sheet at Wimbledon and one goal conceded at Oxford, since when we have now conceded FIVE goals over the last two games without him.
The spine of the team needs addressing as we are playing like a team with a slipped disc. To my mind that is Poke/Downes/Pearce/Labadie/god knows (up front)...
I have not seen enough of the FOUR forwards we have on loan to know if they are any better than Benyon/Hawley...but they cannot be much worse. Ferrarilover is making a good case for the lack of goals costing us and he has a point. Who do we have up front, other than two journeymen, low scoring forwards of our own and a bunch of kids from the youth teams of other sides? Yeoman isn't the answer and neither, I suspect, is Sullivan just yet - for the future he may be.
So, to address the spine we need some solidity in the team and ideally, some experience.
My defence, when all are fit would be O'Connor, Pearce, Downes, Cooper. I would even consider going for 5 in defence and have Tonge, Pearce, Downes, O'Connor, Cooper; We need to become hard to beat. We are not scoring very many regardless of the system/personnel we play, so let's at least stop conceding the silly goals.
Midfield - Chapell should be in the team. He is our most creative and potent attacking threat and in the spirit of being hard to beat, Lathrope and Labadie can bolster midfield, with perhaps Bodin on the other flank when recovered.
That only leaves a place for one up front...and we the sort of team I have picked, someone like Benyon would be pointless in that role. Stockley is about the biggest we have , so possibly him.
We would not score many with this line-up but then we are not anyway and hopefully we would not be conceding 2 or 3 a game.
WE have played six games since Knill left P6 W2 D1 L3 F8 A7. The previous 6 games, under Knill, produced an almost identical record P6 W2 D1 L3 F5 A9. Of our next 8 games SIX are at home. We simply must accumulate points and start getting them at home.
I don't blame CH at all for this but his team selections so far, hint a little at someone who still has not quite worked out which is the best team or system to play. That is probably fair enough. He has inherited a shambles, a roster of players who come and go, loanees from other clubs, players of our own out on loan. Yet there has been - to complement this picture of unsettledness, an influx of players e.g. Cooper/Stevens/Mudge/O'Brien who have not yet appeared or have barely appeared, whilst others like Nicholson have come in and gone again, Mansell was dropped, put at RB and now back in midfield, while Downes was - perhaps harshly - dropped after a clean sheet at Wimbledon and one goal conceded at Oxford, since when we have now conceded FIVE goals over the last two games without him.
The spine of the team needs addressing as we are playing like a team with a slipped disc. To my mind that is Poke/Downes/Pearce/Labadie/god knows (up front)...
I have not seen enough of the FOUR forwards we have on loan to know if they are any better than Benyon/Hawley...but they cannot be much worse. Ferrarilover is making a good case for the lack of goals costing us and he has a point. Who do we have up front, other than two journeymen, low scoring forwards of our own and a bunch of kids from the youth teams of other sides? Yeoman isn't the answer and neither, I suspect, is Sullivan just yet - for the future he may be.
So, to address the spine we need some solidity in the team and ideally, some experience.
My defence, when all are fit would be O'Connor, Pearce, Downes, Cooper. I would even consider going for 5 in defence and have Tonge, Pearce, Downes, O'Connor, Cooper; We need to become hard to beat. We are not scoring very many regardless of the system/personnel we play, so let's at least stop conceding the silly goals.
Midfield - Chapell should be in the team. He is our most creative and potent attacking threat and in the spirit of being hard to beat, Lathrope and Labadie can bolster midfield, with perhaps Bodin on the other flank when recovered.
That only leaves a place for one up front...and we the sort of team I have picked, someone like Benyon would be pointless in that role. Stockley is about the biggest we have , so possibly him.
We would not score many with this line-up but then we are not anyway and hopefully we would not be conceding 2 or 3 a game.