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Not sure what your first eleven is, but I am guessing from what you've written AAG that it has Hawley and Benyon up front. Seems harsh on the lad Azeez, who, it sounds, had a blinder. Or do you have three up top?

Starting XI really needs to be something involving Hawley, Azzeezzezezzzezeezzeze, Chappell, Bodin, and some others. Ball is sort of alright, but not my cup of tea. Manse is **** ing hopeless (go on, someone point him to this thread, let's have more Twitter based macho bullshit), Harding isn't much better.
I can see why MacKenzie didn't start yesterday. We were never going to out do them physically. They had a couple of guys who looked to be almost 7 foot tall and another couple who looked like they'd been rejected from 100m sprint teams for being too fast. We were never going to beat them for brawn, so we had to do our best to beat them for brain. Cruise brings more brain than MacKenzie (although that's not Macca's fault).

Without wanting to pick on forum members, I do feel that perhaps Knill is coming in for some stick because people are typing before really thinking about why he might be doing what he's doing. For the sake of a bit of thought, I've managed to understand his thinking behind the loan moves he's made, yesterday's first XI selection and his choice of bench. I'm hardly God's gift, so if I can do it, so can you.

Matt.

ferrarilover wrote:Starting XI really needs to be something involving Hawley, Azzeezzezezzzezeezzeze, Chappell, Bodin, and some others. Ball is sort of alright, but not my cup of tea. Manse is f**k ing hopeless (go on, someone point him to this thread, let's have more Twitter based macho bullshit), Harding isn't much better.
I can see why MacKenzie didn't start yesterday. We were never going to out do them physically. They had a couple of guys who looked to be almost 7 foot tall and another couple who looked like they'd been rejected from 100m sprint teams for being too fast. We were never going to beat them for brawn, so we had to do our best to beat them for brain. Cruise brings more brain than MacKenzie (although that's not Macca's fault).

Without wanting to pick on forum members, I do feel that perhaps Knill is coming in for some stick because people are typing before really thinking about why he might be doing what he's doing. For the sake of a bit of thought, I've managed to understand his thinking behind the loan moves he's made, yesterday's first XI selection and his choice of bench. I'm hardly God's gift, so if I can do it, so can you.

Matt.

Matt it wasn't about trying to outhink them or cruise having more brains than Mackenzie. Kirtys was unfit due to illness with his diabetis so there was no choice at all.

I may have typed MacKenzie when I meant Hutchings. I do that, you know, just for giggles...

Matt.

I agree with Matt, it's got to the stage now where we need the best players on the pitch, and the 4 he mentioned earlier should form a forward line if possible. An example could be something along the lines of:
Obviously it isn't 442 so it's a tad outside of Knill's comfort zone, but I'd hope it at least crosses his mind.

3 in midfield seems the logical step, Mansell and Harding look uncomfortable as a 2 without support, so I'd give them time with Bodin in front, hopefully running around a bit. I think Bodin mentioned something about wanting to play behind the forward during pre-season, and I'd like to see him given a go there. I think it was part of the logic behind him taking the number 10 shirt, synonymous of course with players behind the striker. Obviously as well I have assumed everyone is fit, so Downes will obviously need to be replaced.

Much to Matt's delight, should Bodin fail behind the striker, he could get pushed out wide again and Craig could be brought in. Personally however, I'd like to see him improve his game further defensively and eventually come in for Harding. Much is said about how much he idolises Scholes, he couldn't tackle for his life and managed to play a sitting role in midfield. My favourite player in his position however is Xabi Alonso, who believed tackling was not a quality that was necessary for a midfielder. I may be getting carried away here, and he's nowhere near as good as the aforementioned double act, but what he is is a step up from some of the cloggers at this level. At League 2 level rarely are teams going to have players good enough to run through the pitch, you see the top teams in the Premiership/La Liga etc focus on pressure and closing down as a way of winning back the ball. They wait for the opposition to make a mistake, then they zip in and intercept, and that's at a level where they are playing against world class players, with the ability to knock it past them in a millisecond.

Whoever plays that role I've put Bodin in needs to have fitness. When they have the ball, he has to tuck in just in front of Harding and Mansell, putting pressure on the man with the ball and creating a relatively solid 3. When we get it, he needs to pick it up (or make a movement off the ball), run with it and get close to the striker so he's not isolated. O'Kane struggled initially doing this, but we saw him eventually improve his physicality and maturity, and grew into the role. I'm not saying he's as good as O'Kane, but it can't hurt giving him a go. On away games, Bodin will have to have the discipline to sit and absorb the pressure, I'm not sure if he has that in him but we know he's a talented player. I'm hoping an increase in responsibility could do wonders for him.

We're lucky that we have players who can hold the ball up, Hawley and Ball are both good at it and Benyon despite his build is comendable. My first choice would be Hawley, who I think as a striker is the most complete out of the three. He has the talent to take it down and play it, but also can get on the end of things and poach a goal. I would say that Ball and Benyon respectively are the 'specialists' at those two attributes, but for now I think Hawley offers the balance.

What we do have in abundance though is pace, and on the break we could be very handy. I'm only judging Azeez on the responses of those that attended the Newport game, but he sounded promising at least as well as quick. When we have the ball in the transition and Harding or Mansell has it, we have Azeez, Chappell and Bodin making forward runs, all nippy and talented on the ball. You then also have the option of putting into Hawley's feet and wait for further support. What this relies on is Harding/Mansell being able to pick a pass which is my primary concern, and is why if it doesn't work with those two, I'd advocate bringing in Craig. He needs to sharpen up defensively a bit (I'll refer you to my earlier paragraph) but what he can do is pass like a dream, at least by L2 standards. With those 3 behind Hawley making runs, I'd put good money on Craig being able to pick at least a couple of good balls a match. Harding has looked ok passing it though, and I think if any system is going to suit him it'll be this. I'd certainly advocate this as a way of giving him a fair crack of the whip.

I hear cries of "They're only league 2 players!" or "It's too complicated", but it really isn't. These guys have been playing football from a young age and spend a fair amount of time on the training pitch. It just plays to basic principles, I'm not looking for Spanish 'tippy tappy' or whatever that buffoon Di Canio calls it, what I do want as a fan is to see a system that when we have the ball, we have players making runs and those able to get it to them, and when we don't, we are relatively compact and keep a good shape. Footballing fundamentals, just a system to get the best out of them.

I'm no footballing expert, but I've watched a lot over the short amount of years I've been alive at varying levels and in different countries across Europe (both on TV and live). Despite being a 'student', with no other job than full time education and a few part time hours around the side, I like to think I have a decent opinion on football. If you're reading this Brucie, feel free to ignore it.

Also congratulations to those that have managed to get through it, I have a lot of respect for those being able to handle my footballing stream of consciousness.

Craig is already as good defensively as Harding. Thing is, Harding won't get better, Craig might well. We lose nothing by swapping the fat, Northants reject out and sticking NC in.

It's not too complicated. If tactics, lineup and other things were not important or worthwhile, we wouldn't have managers, we'd just let the tea lady pick the starting XI out of a hat on Friday afternoon and that'd be it.

I watch the women when I can, and, with the greatest respect to them, if you want to see what happens when a football team plays with almost no shape, come and have a look.

Matt.

A good read my friend

ferrarilover wrote:Craig is already as good defensively as Harding. Thing is, Harding won't get better, Craig might well. We lose nothing by swapping the fat, Northants reject out and sticking NC in.

It's not too complicated. If tactics, lineup and other things were not important or worthwhile, we wouldn't have managers, we'd just let the tea lady pick the starting XI out of a hat on Friday afternoon and that'd be it.

I watch the women when I can, and, with the greatest respect to them, if you want to see what happens when a football team plays with almost no shape, come and have a look.

Matt.

What I'm saying is the basic premise behind it all is not complicated. The ability to read the game and know when to tweak things and make changes based on performances is, and you see managers at every level making decisions deemed 'wrong' by the fans. The managers also have to coach and mould their players into what they want, something far out of the skill set of either myself or, for all her merits, the Tea Lady. At no point have I said I can perform the role better than Knill, what I will say though is that sometimes taking a step back from the nitty gritting of seeing the players every day on the training ground can be a useful exercise in perspective.

yellowforever wrote:Also congratulations to those that have managed to get through it, I have a lot of respect for those being able to handle my footballing stream of consciousness.

A lot of what you have posted makes perfect sense YF.

I didn't include Azeez because he is only here for a month and I wanted to look more long term and go for a settled side.

RICE OR POKE

TONGE
DOWNES
PEARCE
CRUISE

CHAPPELL
CRAIG
MANSELL
BODIN

BENYON
HAWLEY

I know that by having Craig in there it leaves us slightly exposed in the middle as others have said, he isn't a great tackler but it gives us creativity which we don't get. It's a bit sad as we have Chappell and Bodin and yet we are still crying out for some creativity in midfield. Perhaps those who do agree may be inadvertently agreeing with me about Bodin because Chappell most certainly provides us with a consistent outlet. Harding and Mansell in the middle are just too similar for it to work.

With my preferred 11, Bodin gets the berth as there is nobody else. I would be worried as he can't tackle either and so with him, Craig and Chappell in midfield it does leave Manse with a lot to do. The other option would be to deploy Damon in the hole and then play with one up but then who would that be? Hawley or Benyon?

Sorry YF, it's not clear, but I was agreeing with you.

Matt.

You raise a good point there. It'll never happen, but is Lathrope a genuine option instead of Mansell? His passion is wonderful, but a while he's following the ball up pitch, he does seem to get caught out of position far more than a player of his ilk (a midfield 'tackler') should. The line of argument against Craig is that he can't tackle, but as I said earlier in my 'herculean' post, good positioning is just as important, if not even more so. If this assumption I am making is correct (it by no means is, it's a theory), where does that leave Mansell? He neither offers ability on the ball, nor demonstrates the discipline to stay in shape as the team 'tackler'.

Just a thought.

On the subject of strikers, if we play with one, Hawley will get the nod from me. I mentioned this in my earlier post, but although Ball has the perfect physical attributes to it, I don't get the impression he offers enough on the ball, nor is a natural finisher.

There's no way we'll get the complete forward in League 2, they are damn well rare at the highest level. However I think Hawley is as good as we're going to get currently in this role.

ferrarilover wrote:Sorry YF, it's not clear, but I was agreeing with you.

Matt.

Oh shoot sorry Matt. I wasn't sure myself exactly whether you did or not, as I've seen previous posts by you making similar noises to mine. I probably took an idea and ran with it too far, but it's a thought to entertain at least.

ferrarilover wrote: I watch the women when I can, and, with the greatest respect to them, if you want to see what happens when a football team plays with almost no shape, come and have a look.

Matt.

Well, Matt ..... from what I've seen of Women's football, the shape's alright, mate. Oops ! Sexist remark ...... delete, delete

Hahaha, I'll give our girls this Tomo, they are, in the main, a fine looking bunch.

*awaits replies from nutters decrying me a sexist pig*

Matt.