[The Earl of Chesterfield]

You never have been.

Mark Allott is the best footballer at the Club.

Though i guess Jack might be a valid argument.

MA can accept a ball no matter how it arrives, possess it, look for options, then find a blue shirt in the face of pressure.

As 'H' says though, if those passes tend to be sideways or backwards is it his fault or those not 'showing' for him?

Will he make lung-busting box-to-box runs?

No.

Will he be throwing himself into crunching tackles?

No.

Will he score goals on a regular basis?

No.

But will he use the ball in an intelligent manner that's probably wasted at this level?

Oh yes.

[dim view]

MDCCCLXVI, on Jan 31 2010, 09:40 PM, said:

But will he use the ball in an intelligent manner that's probably wasted at this level?

Oh yes.

doesn't it exasperate you then when he releases the ball too early to his winger instead of running with the ball towards the full back before releasing it?.

[Westbars Spireite]

dim view, on Jan 31 2010, 09:55 PM, said:

doesn't it exasperate you then when he releases the ball too early to his winger instead of running with the ball towards the full back before releasing it?.

I agree with that.

[NorthWalesSpireite]

i can't say how you can say allot is the best in the club, probs in the top 3, but defo jacko and downsey, for example allot is either too slow or too quick releasing the ball,doesn't run with it,doesn't score and downsey's probs gt more motm from our side in matches already !

[NudgerSS]

Well I must say I feel humbled to be in the presence of so many tactically astute people. I can only assume that your applications for the Town managers job had got lost by our friends at the Royal Fail.

[matt060282]

NudgerSS, on Jan 31 2010, 11:43 PM, said:

Well I must say I feel humbled to be in the presence of so many tactically astute people. I can only assume that your applications for the Town managers job had got lost by our friends at the Royal Fail.

haha. After reading these boards for years before signing up i would have to (at the risk of bitchy retorts) agree with the above statement no offence intended, just a bit a jovial commentary...

The idea that Allott is the best player at the club is a little far fetched when you see the team perform. I have always really liked him and was very glad that we brought him back. For a player in the bottom two divisions he does an adequate job week in week out. I doubt there can be MANY of his 250+ games where he has been to blame for a defeat or dropped points. However, when you look at how Jack carried the team on many occasions over the past two years or how Downes played before and after his injury (impressive particularly in its immediacy) surely our players, coaching staff and opposition would pick these over Allott???

P.S. if some of our 'fans' on the kop had a crystal ball a few weeks ago and saw how Austin, Gritton and Lee contributed to the win on saturday i bet they would have choked on some of their poorly repressed anger and venom!!!!

[Pride of the North]

SpiriteJames, on Jan 31 2010, 11:39 PM, said:

i can't say how you can say allot is the best in the club, probs in the top 3, but defo jacko and downsey, for example allot is either too slow or too quick releasing the ball,doesn't run with it,doesn't score and downsey's probs gt more motm from our side in matches already !

on current form i don't think mark allott he is at the moment but when he has a good game he is brilliant. I would like him to shoot more as he has good a decent shot on him.

[Blueprint]

Much of Allott's good work goes unnoticed as he isn't a flair player. He's tidy and keeps things simple. His downside is that because he doesn't make crunching tackles and box to box runs he can suffer when we are losing in some games and need someone a bit more physical, but otherwise he's usually one of our best players.

[sophocles]

SpiriteJames, on Jan 31 2010, 11:39 PM, said:

i can't say how you can say allot is the best in the club, probs in the top 3, but defo jacko and downsey, for example allot is either too slow or too quick releasing the ball,doesn't run with it,doesn't score and downsey's probs gt more motm from our side in matches already !

I think it's a bit pointless trying to nominate one player as "the best" because individual form varies from game to game and in different conditions. For me, Allott is regularly in our top 3 along with Jack and Downsey. When Jack is fully fit he's by far the most skilful, intelligent, and perceptive player on the field, and looks as if he belongs at a higher level. I'm really pleased to see Aaron back on great form, as I have said many times on here that he will develop into a very good CB and eventually make plenty of money for us by moving to a higher level for a good fee (not that I want to lose him of course)!

[Goku]

Dema Reborn, on Jan 31 2010, 11:33 PM, said:

OMG you will be saying the league table lies next

Lets take things one step at a time

[h again]

dim view, on Jan 31 2010, 09:55 PM, said:

doesn't it exasperate you then when he releases the ball too early to his winger instead of running with the ball towards the full back before releasing it?.

Not when I realise that the ball travels faster than a man - so if he makes a quick pass to a winger it moves things forward quicker than if he tried to draw a full-back first. Obviously this won't always work - it's a matter of very fine judgement by the player on the ball. Thing is - I'd take Mark Allott's judgement in front of mine any day.

[S18Spireite]

Allot has brought a posession game back that was sorely missing.

There is a good point made though that we do lack someone comfortable with running with the ball in the centre of the park. Getting the ball up a bit closer to the front-two and being available for one-twos. It's a long time since I've seen a centre-mid rushing into the oppositin penalty area. I'd love to see a prozone map of Allot and Niven passes - I imagine that most of them are made from around the centre circle. In an ideal world I'd like to see them made a bit higher up.

[h again]

S18Spireite, on Feb 1 2010, 12:45 PM, said:

Allot has brought a posession game back that was sorely missing.

There is a good point made though that we do lack someone comfortable with running with the ball in the centre of the park. Getting the ball up a bit closer to the front-two and being available for one-twos. It's a long time since I've seen a centre-mid rushing into the oppositin penalty area. I'd love to see a prozone map of Allot and Niven passes - I imagine that most of them are made from around the centre circle. In an ideal world I'd like to see them made a bit higher up.

Good point. I suppose they're playing to instructions, but now the defence has tightened up they may be given a bit more freedom to get forward.

[Aspire_webby]

Duncanout, on Jan 26 2010, 10:14 PM, said:

What is it ........won once in 8. No excuses, i've given the man support. He put me in this position because the two loan signings, namely Artus and Green are two of the worst players ever to put on a shirt. How they can be signed by the club..... Surely, the club has got better options within, rather than this...... Sort it out or go. This is no better than Richardson.

Message board highlight of the weeeeeeeek!

[Wooden Spoon]

Duncanout, on Jan 26 2010, 10:14 PM, said:

What is it ........won once in 8. No excuses, i've given the man support. He put me in this position because the two loan signings, namely Artus and Green are two of the worst players ever to put on a shirt. How they can be signed by the club..... Surely, the club has got better options within, rather than this...... Sort it out or go. This is no better than Richardson.

Better than LR, we have been in the top 7 far longer than under the previous regime. To call for him to be booted out so early is daft. Wait at least until the end of the season.

[Bonnyman]

death, on Feb 2 2010, 07:52 AM, said:

Better than LR, we have been in the top 7 far longer than under the previous regime. To call for him to be booted out so early is daft. Wait at least until the end of the season.

mark allott is good at what he does but there is the flip side too what he does well and that is that he is extremeley limited in other departments,he is too lightweight to make a proper holding midfielder and he has absolutely no pace at all.Its ok people like h harping on about team mates making runs and if they dont make a run he cannot find them but in football players prefer for midfielders too beat their man run into space and open up more spaces for them to run into,he cannot or simply will not attempt to do that

[DIFH]

bonnyman, on Feb 2 2010, 08:10 AM, said:

mark allott is good at what he does but there is the flip side too what he does well and that is that he is extremeley limited in other departments,he is too lightweight to make a proper holding midfielder and he has absolutely no pace at all.Its ok people like h harping on about team mates making runs and if they dont make a run he cannot find them but in football players prefer for midfielders too beat their man run into space and open up more spaces for them to run into,he cannot or simply will not attempt to do that

Just depends how he is being told to play during the game.

[spyright]

Dave In Footie Heaven, on Feb 2 2010, 04:28 PM, said:

Just depends how he is being told to play during the game.

Do you really believe he is told specifically to always make a safe pass, to never take a chance or try to make a killer pass for the front line and on no account to attempt more than two shots per game (despite starting his professional life as a forward and having a pretty hard shot on him) by a manager for whom the preferred style is fast attacking football? Would it make sense to instruct a central midfielder to effectively slow things down when the rest of the team is trying for the swift counter-attack? You might be right but I find it a bit hard to believe. I guess only MA and JS know the answer!

[Goku]

Whenever I see a counter attack, Allot is usually the one spraying it out to the wings? He did it a few times against Rotherham and Torquay.

On the flipside, do you think its so strange that Sheridan tells him to keep posession and play safe? You think he's gonna tell every midfielder to sprint forward and attack just cos he likes attacking football?