Indeed.
We need to walk, before we can run.
Get the basics right both on and off the pitch.
Playing out from the back should be the last thing on our defenders minds. Please focus on doing the basics. Look at the first goal we conceded yesterday. With out trying to single out one player or incident did he really do enough to stop him ? An experienced defender and he may as well have not been there. Playing the ball on the floor doesn’t always translate to being entertaining anyway.
I think back to Chris Nicholl’s promotion team. That was an exciting team to watch. Charlie Palmer put almost everything in the stand without a second thought. We had players who could hurt teams. When Houghton was running a full back ragged and causing chaos, no one is thinking “this is rubbish because we haven’t played 10-15 passes to get here” They are off their seat expecting something to happen.
Smith may have pulled it off, I will openly admit I wasn’t always Smith’s biggest fan (I was wrong) Look at the manager he has gone on to be, he is someone who is extraordinary and signed a lot of players over time who were comfortable with a football at their feet.
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Completely agree about that first goal which talk to a naive philosophy over pragmatic basics I talk of above. Taylor nods it down to a heavily marked Perry who loses it and begins the chain of half arsed tracking that ensued. Taylor should just go full fourth division. Head it as far and as wide as you can. Get rid of the thing and re-set. On the other side, Gary Liddle wouldn’t have been trying to nod that down to Nicky Featherstone if Featherstone had Perry up his jacksie. Liddell would have cleared his lines whilst planting a knee into our forward’s back. “Av it” and “av that”.
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Where was White?Certainly not in the right back position.If he had been where he should be their winger would not have had a clear run!
I’m not a fan of playing keep ball across the back especially in the lower leagues.
It’s very uncomfortable to watch. One slip or a bad bounce could lead to a goal. I guess it makes the defenders better ball players, but their first priority should be to defend. It particularly places unfair pressure on the full backs, because they’re often on the end of a hospital pass, and they’re are restricted where they can go due to usually receiving the ball close to the touch line. In both our home league games there were plenty of occasions where gaps had opened up that our defenders could have taken the ball into but instead they’ve been programmed to go sideways or backwards.
I know it’s a useful tactic to try and slow down a game when you want a breather, or when you’re winning, but in most other circumstances it’s a very negative tactic.
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There’s nothing wrong with having a philosophy, whether that be passing from the back or being more physical and direct, but that philosophy shouldn’t be forced if the tools are not in place to implement it.
It’s great MT wants to play an attractive way, and hopefully he’ll succeed, but he’s got to realise his team a largely cloggers who are honest but limited on the ball.
There’s nothing wrong with that but at this stage the job is fashioning them into a functional unit who do the basics well. In time by all means introduce more finesse but right now he just needs them as fit as possible and doing the simple things properly.
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Excellent post, one of the best I’ve seen in years.
There’s only so many players and a certain level of ability you can look at depending on the funds you’re given.
I know Pomlett says very honestly that he hasn’t got the funds to own us as a Championship, no shame in that. My worry is that I’m yet to see that he has the funds to own us as a League Two club. I hope I see it this week.
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The players brought in are better than the current performances. They will hopefully get fitter and sharper.
Is not the DOFS fault until that window shuts.
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Excellent post which I have only just seen. MT made the point in his post match interview that we have to earn the right to play our game. A very good point but in this division we will never earn the right to play as he wants us to play. I am sure he will learn that very quickly. He is an intelligent guy who I like and I want him to succeed but he will only do that by tweaking the way he wants us to play. That will be helped a lot by the signing of someone who can hold the ball upfront and bring others into the play.
I am not so pessimistic as some on here but we do need reinforcements up front if we are to have a really successful season.
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Agree mate but I would say if we are to have a half decent season.
Clearly he hasn’t.
Incoming fees for Ade, Jules, Clarke, and Henry sell on.
What club in this league has had that since January?
From our supposedly, and much vaunted financially stable starting point we should clearly be in a fantastic position compared to most other clubs. Equally clearly we arn’t. Why?
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Exactly this you beat me to it.
Pomlett is struggling to be competitive in a situation where the club have taken significant fees for players.
Something isn’t right , even under Jeff some of that would have gone back into the team.
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For me it’s the negative play, it bores me to watch. Playing 2 defensive midfield is a joke at this level as the attack element of the game seem secondary. Let’s be honest it not like we’re getting clean sheets.
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To try to cheer myself up after Saturday, I looked back as some better times, the League Cup run, Cardiff and a few other odd matches. To take the Buckley teams, no one can say they did not play good football, and the full backs, Mower and Caswell, were often involved in the moves but they did not play it from back in the same way that Taylor (and initially Dutton) want to do. On Saturday it was almost obsessive, continuing to give the ball to players who were being pressed, rolling it around the back 4 when we were 2 down. I don’t want Route 1 either but there is nothing wrong with playing in the opposition’s half instead of our own. Our build up is so slow at the moment that defences can get back in place before we can hurt them.
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According to the express and star we now have an identity and move the ball forward quickly . I really hope Taylor doesn’t fall into that belief. I think we will learn a lot against Stevenage. He must learn from the mistakes from the first 4 games
Indeed, Saturday is very important; if he continues to play in the same manner and we lose again, it will be very worrying. But the only identity we have at the moment is that we are losing games and, objectively, we do not move the ball forward quickly.
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Fullarton is to blame for the squad debacle. Absolutely ridiculous that we have no strikers at the club. A complete farce
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Taylor, pomlett and Fullerton are all to blame collectively.
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Liking this reporter already
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