Agree totally Gaffney can go back for me and if we have been paying his 2.5K a week wages it won’t hurt to do so on a player worth that kind of wage.And we do need an attacking mid or two it really shows most games and especially first half yesterday the lack of spark going forward in the centre of the park is plainly obvious.
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I was saying yesterday that Gordon and Lavery are now joint top scorers with 8 league goals each I think I’m right in saying which in a team full of non attacking minded players barring Wes when he starts is some return really,if we had creativity I personally think you could add 5 goals each on top of that tally so under the circumstances I think both have done well.
Agree Scooby there’s no link up with the forwards who are constantly drifting wide like Ade yesterday , who was like a winger at times and has Josh and Lavs , that has stemmed from playing sideways and back passing and then finishing it off with a hoofball forward .
Yesterday the second half was so much different with the attacking threat every time we went forward and you could see Northampton couldn’t handle us , we should be playing like this for 90 minutes not 45 especially at home .
I know he didn’t feature yesterday or the last couple of games but I have been very impressed with Nolans contributions when he’s been on , think he could be very good for us next season with some more game time and experience.
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That’s it mate we are competitive at the min and that’s with a patched up team, as long has Clarke becomes abit more consistent with formations and team selection
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Shay Facey, worth keeping?
I’d move on Norman of the two tbh.
Norman is absolutely abysmal. He should be one of the first out the door.
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He could be the next Adama Traore then!! 
I’m hoping that in the summer, Clarke isn’t looking at the rebuild volume from last summer, so he can be more measured in his approach to bringing in new players to add to the team.
I think this summer we’ll have a much better base of players than we did last summer.
Roberts, Clarke, Scarr, Sadler, Jules, Bates, Sinclair, Gordon, Lavery, McDonald, Kinsella and probably a couple of others are more than good enough for this level. So it’s just a case of shipping out the ones that havent worked, so the likes of Gaffney, Liddle, Guthrie, Norman etc and bringing in quality over quantity this summer to what we have already and hope we are much further up the table next season.
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This is going to take much longer than everyone thinks.
Anyone out of contract who is any good is gone.
And people think we’re going to sign quality replacements next year.
I just shudder and think back to the likes of Colin Anderson.
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Depends what the aim is. Clarke has said promotion but Pomlett said that this season and I can see no way that was actively aimed for whatsoever (not just the quality but the negativity of some of the signings) so that is a case of “I’ll believe it when I see it”.
A few weeks ago Clarke said we have 7 or 8 players that are of play off quality and I raised my eyebrows. I can see a little bit more of where he’s coming from now to be fair but I still disagree.
However if you are talking about top half I more inclined to agree with him. I think some of the players in there (Roberts, Scarr, Kinsella, Facey, Sinclair, Gordon) are good enough for top half but not consistent enough for promotion, with McDonald and Lavery the only ones I’d describe as promotion quality.
So to take a side of 6 top half players and 2 promotion level players you need 3 or 4 quality additions (and to retain them, which I actually think will be easier than some think. Lavery is the only one I’d be nervous about). Hopefully Pomlett learned from his over promising and under-delivering this season and dips his hand in his pocket. But I worry that at some point next season 5K will be mentioned again …
look at the table below for the first 17 games of the season 1st Aug to 3rd Nov
and for the last 17 3rd Nov to 16 Feb
Now that has to be regarded as a great improvement!
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Is anybody saying it isn’t? What has that got to do with recruitment?
I think the point is these players aren’t as bad as people make out.
Some make out every player D.C. has signed is awful and there’s no trust in his recruitment in the summer.
The above shows the improvement is real.
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It shows that for the last 17 games over 3 and a half months we are in playoff form. and some people are saying that we are not playoff material. Thats all.
Well yes, because a season is a season. Form is completely different. Did we look play off contenders first half Saturday? How about against Carlisle or Newport?
You need consistency over the course of the season.
Eh I’m not so sure it is improvement as in the players getting better, I think we should never have been in position A in the first place and to be fair I’ve literally just said the majority of the starting line up is made up of top half/play off quality players so they can’t be that bad.
The point is that we had a massive clearout last summer and teams take a long time to gell and learn how to play with each other.
This shows that it’s coming to fruition.
And games are decided over 90(+) mins not 45.
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Crewe had a very good second half to last season and have continued it on into this.
That’s what building something is about, and is the only way if you can’t afford to buy it.
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Yep but that’s irrelevant to my point. We’ve been wildly inconsistent this season and managed it within 90 minutes this week. You won’t challenge for promotion playing like that even if we did get a nice win this time.