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I have visited Plainmoor for nearly 60 years and feel I have some understanding of professional football.

In the early part of this season I, and many others, begged you to play Nathan Craig. I specifically expressed the view that Nathan should take all the corners and most of the free kicks.

Having witnessed last Tuesdays match with Argyle and seen the highlights of yesterdays defeat at Scunthorpe I hope you will not mind if I say that your decision to play Craig and to make him responsible for corners and free kicks has transformed the chances of scoring. Craig has a wonderful left foot, is very accurate and his crosses and shots carry real pace compared to Lee Mansell.

I mention this one example in the hope that you will consider the following suggestions which are meant not as a criticism but as constructive suggestions on improving performance in the hope that we can somehow survive in what is becoming a desperate season.

Set Pieces
In League two the margins are very fine as you have said. Set pieces represent good chances of scoring but on the pitch I see very little that tells me that you and your coaches are instructing the players in how to maximise these opportunities.

We now have players capable of scoring when the delivery is from Nathan Craig but I would urge you and Chris Brass to work really hard on using more imagination. I really don't think the players are being properly instructed. Just study the top teams and copy them.

Formation
I thought we were terrific against Plymouth and would have won but for the very harsh penalty against us. I do think we have had no luck this season but I do not understand your tactics with Jordan Chapell and Nathan Craig both of whom are potential match winners. Have you sat down and asked each player, if he had the choice, what is his best position and how he would like the team set up. You are the boss but I hope you agree you should listen to the players and seek their views because at the end of the day the result depends upon you both, the players to perform and you to set the team up correctly.

Centre Back
In my opinion Downes and Pearse are two exceptional centre backs and for the life of me I do not understand your omission of Pearse. In the last two games we have conceded 4 goals, 3 of which could and should have been avoided. I am sure we all rate O`Connor but although he should be in the team not at the expense of Pearse. If you think I am wrong just study the tapes of the games when Pearse has not played.

Opposition
Are we making enough effort to try and assess before each match the weaknesses of the opposition so that we can exploit such weaknesses.

Martin Rice
This season he has surprised many and deserves at the moment to be first choice. One point though I think Poke is way more likely to save a penalty because Martin Rice does not seem to have any idea. In the modern game I would always instruct the goal keeper to concentrate on trying to save the shots down the middle which are becoming more common because few goalkeepers can reach the perfect penalty in the corner.

I shall be at the next 4 home games and like most true fans I will continue to support the team and you but I do hope if you read this blog you will not dismiss it out of hand. Remember the old saying `you can be too near the wood to see the trees`.

I think Portugull speaks a lot of sense and should apply for the job if/when it becomes available!

But a lot is surely common sense that I would expect the management team to be aware of and working on already. If not, then we really have cause to be concerned.

And no matter how well Rice is playing (and he is the best form of his career) Poke is our No 1.

A sensible OP, makes a change to read something constructive. It is about getting the basics right, all the points are correct but it is late in the day.

fair OP, but disagree about Martin Rice.

hes been POTS so far, so would have to drop several clangers to be replaced - and im a big Poke fan.

lets be fair, prem goalies would struggle in goal behind this team..............

portugull wrote:I have visited Plainmoor for nearly 60 years and feel I have some understanding of professional football.

In the early part of this season I, and many others, begged you to play Nathan Craig. I specifically expressed the view that Nathan should take all the corners and most of the free kicks.

Having witnessed last Tuesdays match with Argyle and seen the highlights of yesterdays defeat at scunthorpe I hope you will not mind if I say that your decision to play Craig and to make him responsible for corners and free kicks has transformed the chances of scoring. Craig has a wonderful left foot, is very accurate and his crosses and shots carry real pace compared to Lee Mansell.

I mention this one example in the hope that you will consider the following suggestions which are meant not as a criticism but as constructive suggestions on improving performance in the hope that we can somehow survive in what is becoming a desperate season.

Set Pieces
In League two the margins are very fine as you have said. Set pieces represent good chances of scoring but on the pitch I see very little that tells me that you and your coaches are instructing the players in how to maximise these opportunities.

We now have players capable of scoring when the delivery is from Nathan Craig but I would urge you and Chris Brass to work really hard on using more imagination. I really don't think the players are being properly instructed. Just study the top teams and copy them.

Formation
I thought we were terrific against Plymouth and would have won but for the very harsh penalty against us. I do think we have had no luck this season but I do not understand your tactics with Jordan Chapell and Nathan Craig both of whom are potential match winners. Have you sat down and asked each player, if he had the choice, what is his best position and how he would like the team set up. You are the boss but I hope you agree you should listen to the players and seek their views because at the end of the day the result depends upon you both, the players to perform and you to set the team up correctly.

Centre Back
In my opinion Downes and Pearse are two exceptional centre backs and for the life of me I do not understand your omission of Pearse. In the last two games we have conceded 4 goals, 3 of which could and should have been avoided. I am sure we all rate O`Connor but although he should be in the team not at the expense of Pearse. If you think I am wrong just study the tapes of the games when Pearse has not played.

Opposition
Are we making enough effort to try and assess before each match the weaknesses of the opposition so that we can exploit such weaknesses.

Martin Rice
This season he has surprised many and deserves at the moment to be first choice. One point though I think Poke is way more likely to save a penalty because Martin Rice does not seem to have any idea. In the modern game I would always instruct the goal keeper to concentrate on trying to save the shots down the middle which are becoming more common because few goalkeepers can reach the perfect penalty in the corner.

I shall be at the next 4 home games and like most true fans I will continue to support the team and you but I do hope if you read this blog you will not dismiss it out of hand. Remember the old saying `you can be too near the wood to see the trees`.

What a good post I am in total agreement with you if you look back I have been posting that Craig should be in the team and why has it taken so long?
Knill is a professional this should have been spotted at the start of the season Ling rated him. Pearce may be held back because of illness which may hamper Knills selection which we will not know. This is the best post I have seen and hopes the manager sees it but I hope he's gone because this should have been spotted at pre-season.

So how many goals have we scored from Craigs set pieces, how many points has Craig won us,how many has Craig actually scored, how many games have we won with Craig in the team? Ahem let me think - that will be a sum total of bugger all.
Craig can only basically play if he is in central midfield and we play three or four players there. Playing him on the right wing is ridiculous because we have offensively better players in Chapell and Bodin.
I have got a constructive message for Alan Knill - Do one and quick.

brucie wrote:So how many goals have we scored from Craigs set pieces, how many points has Craig won us,how many has Craig actually scored, how many games have we won with Craig in the team? Ahem let me think - that will be a sum total of bugger all.
Craig can only basically play if he is in central midfield and we play three or four players there. Playing him on the right wing is ridiculous because we have offensively better players in Chapell and Bodin.
I have got a constructive message for Alan Knill - Do one and quick.

Nicely put, yep and Martin Ling rated peoples champion Nathan Craig that much, he never played him in the centre either.

Or we could get a manager with a clue who might actually do that? Most capable managers know how to change a game rather than thinking a like for like substitution when your 3-0 down away from home with nothing to lose will be the game changer that brings us back in to it..He needs just quit so we have a fighting chance of survival.

Yeah, lovely sentiment but doesn't come close to reflecting the reality of actually being a football manager and is indicative and perfectly representative of the armchair expert.
I haven't the will to go into any real detail, but the biggest mistake here is that Rice has an excellent penalty record, including a save at Wembley.
Nothing against Portu, per se, it's a decent post and a refreshing change from the hate fuelled tripe we've spent weeks wading through, just that, in practice, it wouldn't come close to either working out solving our problems.

Matt.

There is a lot of sense in the post and it is what I would expect most managers to have worked out. The penalty this is a bit of a red herring, you don't really pick your keeper on that basis, the most important factors are decision making and communication and I think Poke has the edge.

brucie wrote:So how many goals have we scored from Craigs set pieces, how many points has Craig won us,how many has Craig actually scored, how many games have we won with Craig in the team? Ahem let me think - that will be a sum total of bugger all.
Craig can only basically play if he is in central midfield and we play three or four players there. Playing him on the right wing is ridiculous because we have offensively better players in Chapell and Bodin.
I have got a constructive message for Alan Knill - Do one and quick.

I do agree with your last comment but Bodin has been injured for quite a few weeks. Since Knill got them playing more narrow the team has been playing better than earlier in the season as the back four had no protection at all. Craig will start scoring if he gets the games he's only played about 5 games all season then being sub unused for several games.

Brucie if you saw the football league show Craig had two free kicks which struck the woodwork so so unlucky. This is one of the reason we are rock bottom just enjoying no luck at all.

Craig will get better and will score goals but I know from my time on this site you are the eternal pessimist. When we are on a good run we never hear from you.

I agree lloyder5 the Martin Rice comment was something of a red herring but the point I was trying to get over is that Poke always gives me hope that he will save the penalty.

forevertufc wrote: Nicely put, yep and Martin Ling rated peoples champion Nathan Craig that much, he never played him in the centre either.

You are wrong he did rate him and made a glowing remark about his passing if you put it on google you will see it! The reason he is playing better wide in a 4-4-2 is because there is space because Knill has changed the way they are playing keeping it narrow and the space is on the wide areas allowing more time.

SuperNickyWroe wrote:fair OP, but disagree about Martin Rice.

hes been POTS so far, so would have to drop several clangers to be replaced - and im a big Poke fan.

lets be fair, prem goalies would struggle in goal behind this team..............

I too think exactly the same as you, especially about the gaffer not doing enough in terms of analysing the opposition. The Chesterfield game was a perfect example of lazy and sloppy research IMO. Especially when Northampton did what I thought we would do against them a few days later and drew 0-0.

Also agree with this from SNW. Rice has been incredible this season.

Spot on OP though Portugull and I agree nearly 100%.

Portugull - if Craig is taken the free kicks then he is presumably going to get some of them at or near the goal. Nicholson has scored a few Craig hasn't scored any. I am not denying that Craig is good at set pieces but he is also limited at other parts of his game (ie he has no pace and is playing on the wing)
This is what I don't get wiith Knill - he didn't include Craig at all last season nor for about the first fifteen games of this season.
Now he seems to have changed the whole formation of the team to accomadate him.
Similarly he played Hawley for about the first fifteen games despite being terrible in most of them but now has relegated him to about nineteenth choice striker.
This strikes me as a man who has seriously no clue what he is doing, or is in a blind panic, or has brain damage after hitting a squirrel.
Can the players we have really be that bad. Cameron played eighteen times for Rotherham last season - I mean would Steve Evans really have played him that often if he was that bad. Hawley scored eleven goals last season in a poor side in a higher division. He looks like a western league striker in our team.
This has nothing to do with being a pessimist - whoever we play,whatever the formation the result is the same - we keep losing.
I can scarcely believe that Knill hasn't been sacked today - clearly we havn't got the money to get rid of him.
In four games time we will be likely be ten points from safety - can anyone see Knill turning this around - cause I can't.