[cooper6271.freeserve.co.uk]

Well Barrie,we are still waiting on your verdict,is he staying or is he going,please let us know.Have you made your mind up as you said you would,or will it be a new secret deal.It's time to spill the beans old lad,honesty with the fans is all we ask.

[cooper6271.freeserve.co.uk]

cooper6271.freeserve.co.uk, on Nov 27 2008, 03:15 PM, said:

Well Barrie,we are still waiting on your verdict,is he staying or is he going,please let us know.Have you made your mind up as you said you would,or will it be a new secret deal.It's time to spill the beans old lad,honesty with the fans is all we ask.

I forgot to say, depending on your verdict it will decide if you get anymore of my hard earned cash.

[Balearic Mac]

cooper6271.freeserve.co.uk, on Nov 27 2008, 03:32 PM, said:

I forgot to say, depending on your verdict it will decide if you get anymore of my hard earned cash.

Ultimately OUR verdict is what will decide his fate. Particularly if we demonstrate it by using our hard-earned to defy the Credit Crunch and, starting this Saturday, spend it instead on the High Street. Go on, you know it makes sense - Mr Darling says so....

[Wooden Spoon]

cooper6271.freeserve.co.uk, on Nov 27 2008, 03:15 PM, said:

Well Barrie,we are still waiting on your verdict,is he staying or is he going,please let us know.Have you made your mind up as you said you would,or will it be a new secret deal.It's time to spill the beans old lad,honesty with the fans is all we ask.

D.A will have the final say.

[Blueprint]

cooper6271.freeserve.co.uk, on Nov 27 2008, 03:15 PM, said:

Well Barrie,we are still waiting on your verdict,is he staying or is he going,please let us know.Have you made your mind up as you said you would,or will it be a new secret deal.It's time to spill the beans old lad,honesty with the fans is all we ask.

Based on recent results it's still hard to say. Rico stopped the rot and got us winning (in style), but since then we have stuttered again. Whether rico can get us back on track once again and convert future draws into wins is something we can only wait and find out. Come late december if the garden isn't looking any rosier then Baz needs to be telling us what he wants this season to turn into - another stay in this league or a route upwards, if rico can't improve our season by late december and we are still a mid-table side then probably time to say bye byes.

[fishini]

death, on Nov 27 2008, 06:22 PM, said:

D.A will have the final say.

No he won't

[lindave]

Sod the shopping get to Saltergate and bring the drum ( it was great against Shrews, we actually had some rythem to the beat). It will be hard on saturday as Ricco is bound to make us the underdogs,so we have to play as though its our cup final.You never know we might get drawn back to the Theatre of dreams.

[Zeus]

lindave, on Nov 27 2008, 08:42 PM, said:

Sod the shopping get to Saltergate and bring the drum ( it was great against Shrews, we actually had some rythem to the beat). It will be hard on saturday as Ricco is bound to make us the underdogs,so we have to play as though its our cup final.You never know we might get drawn back to the Theatre of dreams.

Speaking of the drum rhythm, he kept a good drum roll for the B&WBA chant at times, sounded good.

[Doughnut]

Blueprint, on Nov 27 2008, 06:44 PM, said:

Based on recent results it's still hard to say. Rico stopped the rot and got us winning (in style), but since then we have stuttered again. Whether rico can get us back on track once again and convert future draws into wins is something we can only wait and find out. Come late december if the garden isn't looking any rosier then Baz needs to be telling us what he wants this season to turn into - another stay in this league or a route upwards, if rico can't improve our season by late december and we are still a mid-table side then probably time to say bye byes.

You're not wrong but personally I don't think judging the last 8 or 10 games is the right thing to do - we need to look at the big picture. I believe the league this season is weaker than last and the sad fact is, despite our much heralded good run where we've won 4 of our last 8 games and only lost once, we've climbed to the dizzy heights of 12th. Surely, even the most positive supporter would have to admit we're underachieving badly! We may have had injuries but I suspect the same of most if not all the teams in the division. They've probably had their share of bad luck and poor refereeing decisions too.

18 games into the season and we've lost more than we've won. Of the current top 10 teams (as of 27 Nov 08) we've played 8 of them. We've won 1, drawn 1 and lost 6 (3 at home) and this just highlights how good/bad we really are when compared to the teams we should be challenging at the higher end of the division. We're not good enough!

Rico has had almost a season and a half to 'learn his trade' and learn from his mistakes - but has he? He's no doubt been given financial backing that I'm sure the likes of Rochdale, Accrington, Dagenham etc can only dream of! Yet, with the exception of a few games this season, the end product of the team still appears to be less than the sum of its parts despite including names like Currie, Lester, Ward and Page, all of whom could no doubt walk into a first team place of any team in this division. Despite the signings Rico has made to bolster our defence, in 18 games we've kept a clean sheet twice. Is this a problem with the defence, midfield or both? Either way, the majority of these players were signed by Rico. The squad is still unbalanced - options for fullback = 7, Austin, Gray, Picken, Harsley, Robertson, Goodall & Lowry. Recognised strikers = 2 which is taking a huge risk and we've been caught out by this once this season already! Wingers = 2, Algar, who appears to have dropped off the radar and Val Tex whose contract must prevent him playing more than 5 minutes every 3 games!

I'm not going to start on tactics and formations as we'd all do things differently; although Rico's policies for both baffle me at times. I think Rico has had sufficient time and backing and I don't think the team is any better off now than when he first took over. Only a monumental change in performance and consistency will see us promoted this season and given my thoughts and comments above, I just don't see it happening.

This post has been edited by Doughnut: 28 November 2008 - 12:11 AM

[Wooden Spoon]

fishini, on Nov 27 2008, 07:53 PM, said:

No he won't

Y

[Goku]

Good post Doughnut but you missed Currie off the wingers list.

[Sin]

Doughnut, on Nov 28 2008, 12:20 AM, said:

I believe the league this season is weaker than last and the sad fact is, despite our much heralded good run where we've won 4 of our last 8 games and only lost once, we've climbed to the dizzy heights of 12th. Surely, even the most positive supporter would have to admit we're underachieving badly!

I think I would count as one of our most optimistic fans, and to be honest, with players like Ward, Lester, Currie and Downes I feel that even the play-offs is under-achieving...

...or maybe I'm just too optimistic about the quality of our squad??

[Doughnut]

Haslandboi, on Nov 28 2008, 07:43 AM, said:

Good post Doughnut but you missed Currie off the wingers list.

Is he really a winger any more? Personal interpretation I suppose but I'd class him as more of a wide midfielder these days. A bit like Beckham really in that he'll use his footwork to create enough time to get in a cross as opposed to a winger who is capable of beating the fullback with pace and crossing the ball in. If you disagree then fine, we have 3 wingers, one of which is first team material but hasn't featured regularly so far.

[Sammy Spireite]

Why do we need any wingers in the historical sense of the term anyway?

Wingers are players like a Giggs or Downing, who use their pace to get past full backs, get to the byline and whips crosses to the box.

We have two strikers who are probably the shortest pair in the division but yet are arguably the best so why play wingers and play against their strengths?

We have proved time and again this season with the goals we have scored that we are much more effective playing neat, passing football and can carve most teams open and with Jacks skill and wards control and pace.

If Rico was to bring a 'Bastiens' type player in he would need to also bring in a "head on long legs" and thus have drop Ward or Lester, which he ain't gonna do.

We have proved we can play well and beat teams comfortably this season and 2nd half against Shrewsbury and patches against Bradford proved we can do it against the best in the division.

All we need is consistency and a bit of good luck.

[Doughnut]

Sammy Spireite, on Nov 28 2008, 01:29 PM, said:

Why do we need any wingers in the historical sense of the term anyway? It gives us a different option and would probably encourage us to play with more width. A pacy winger can cause defences a lot of problems. Weren't you a little worried at the thought of Omar Daley going full pace against Kev Austin?
Wingers are players like a Giggs or Downing, who use their pace to get past full backs, get to the byline and whips crosses to the box. Yes, whats wrong with this? I'd love to see it at Saltergate, wouldn't you?
We have two strikers who are probably the shortest pair in the division but yet are arguably the best so why play wingers and play against their strengths? Why are we playing against their strengths? I'm not suggesting for one minute that winger = aerial assault. Wingers can cross the ball on the floor or low too. If the winger beats the full back then the centre half has to decide to stay with the striker and leave space for the winger or close down the winger freeing up the striker.
We have proved time and again this season with the goals we have scored that we are much more effective playing neat, passing football and can carve most teams open and with Jacks skill and wards control and pace.

If Rico was to bring a 'Bastiens' type player in he would need to also bring in a "head on long legs" and thus have drop Ward or Lester, which he ain't gonna do. No he wouldn't, for the reason I mentioned earlier.

We have proved we can play well and beat teams comfortably this season and 2nd half against Shrewsbury and patches against Bradford proved we can do it against the best in the division.

All we need is consistency and a bit of good luck.

[Zeus]

Sammy Spireite, on Nov 28 2008, 01:29 PM, said:

Why do we need any wingers in the historical sense of the term anyway?

Wingers are players like a Giggs or Downing, who use their pace to get past full backs, get to the byline and whips crosses to the box.

We have two strikers who are probably the shortest pair in the division but yet are arguably the best so why play wingers and play against their strengths?

We have proved time and again this season with the goals we have scored that we are much more effective playing neat, passing football and can carve most teams open and with Jacks skill and wards control and pace.

If Rico was to bring a 'Bastiens' type player in he would need to also bring in a "head on long legs" and thus have drop Ward or Lester, which he ain't gonna do.

We have proved we can play well and beat teams comfortably this season and 2nd half against Shrewsbury and patches against Bradford proved we can do it against the best in the division.

All we need is consistency and a bit of good luck.

And a 90 minute performance.