Devlin has so much heart you can’t help but love him. He is definitely in the Dobson and Kinsella small group of “bodies on the line” individuals.
But technically he is really poor. He will make at least three Sunday League errors per game. I’m talking about ridiculous slices, completely missing the ball or mis-placing a ten yard pass. Usually this leads nothing more than say conceding a throw-in but inevitably there are occasions when it costs us a goal. On Saturday these type of mistakes seemed far more frequent than usual and therefore the goal inducing mistake was nearly inevitable.
With Devlin it isn’t lack of effort. It is flaws in his technique that either the coaching staff haven’t spent time rectifying or they have and he will never get there. There is also the mental side. I often wonder whether Devlin is actually trying too hard which then impacts his touch.
He tries - but he is non league with regards ability and positioning.
I can’t believe for one minute they haven’t worked on shape as a back 4 - so I think a lot of it comes down to the fact he’s a trier from a crap Scottish league.
Well we all have opinions and that’s just what we need on a forum like this and almost all are different in some way.
In my opinion the squad is good enough to survive and the problem lies with the tactics and the the way we try and match the opposition at their own game. It worked with Barnsley because we played football against a good team and we were unlucky to lose. To leave Kinsella out against Oxford, go for strong arm tactics to match them and hoof the ball up the field to be mopped up by their defence was pointless. The game finished with 2 players wth head bandages and a sending off which proves my point.
If Martin puts a team out to play football for the last 5 games that will be enough to get the points we need. All this rubbish about not being good enough does not carry weight because they have done it before and can pass the ball about if they want to. If we hoof it up to Cook for 5 games its russian roulette. Yes he might get to 20 goals but it won’t be enough.
Agree with all of this but would add that all of these salient points become irrelevant if some of the team have little respect, liking, or willingness to play for the manager, which from reading between the lines seemed to be the case.
I somehow think, hope for, and expect, to see a big improvement under MOC.
Wether it will be enough is out of our hands now.
UTS.
I agree the squad is good enough and I agree that tactics are also a big factor but equally, player passion (for the shirt) and respect are massive too and this bunch have lacked that so obviously in recent months…
It’s frightening that they can do that when it’s their reputations and jobs at stake…
Keates should really have gone after the Coventry game when we were truly awful. I never thought he was the right appointment, he seems to lack basic football intelligence- poor on tactics and his in-game management was dire.
I think the players are just not good enough. Anyone who says we are too good to go down is wrong. On paper, you might think we should have enough quality to go down with Cook, Ismail, Dobson, Edwards and Kinsella. But how many of those players have performed on a regular basis this season? We are a poor side and are about to get what we deserve. We need a major clear out at the end of the season, ready for the 4th division.
So it seems our “amateur standard” players are giving the fans the " billy big balls" attitude, I’ve never had a problem with a player giving it back! But as I see it now the gloves are off! I have purchased the 2 for £20 home tickets ( what was I thinking) and I will be giving it large to these pathetic bunch of wasters ever to wear red and white, but let’s also remember the spineless cretins in suits that have put our club in this mess, amateurism runs through the club like pee on the bog floors😤
I can see MOC picking a team of reserves for friday, because if he picks the same team that has played today i can see us losing before we have kicked a ball with all the bad feeling at the moment.
