[frearsghost]

.......and after today performance it's a valid debate. My view is that I don't think we are good enough.

it's hard to put a finger on went wrong today because in the second half, playing 4-3-3- we should have been good enough but we were well off the pace.

Richardson was criticised for playing Leven out of position and therefore asking players to do things they were not best at; but above all ONE HAS TO BLAME THE PLAYERS TODAY. They were not good enough to deal with Brentford when they upped the pace and there was an air of desperation about us.

The midfield is woeful really. We still lack - and have for the last three of four season under Richardson and MacFarland - a quality midfielder. Their winning goal came after they had hit the bar. An overhead bicycle kick by Fletcher cleared the danger but there was no one to put their foot on the ball to calmly clear the danger; it came staright back and their player had a free shot from the edge of the box. Their other goal came from a similar position.

We do need an experienced ball player in the middle of the park. Worringly I'm not sure Richardson thinks so. He seems to be reinforcing the side with cover players instead of players that would improve us. We played too many balls down the channels - yes we are still doing it ala Accrington - and don't seem to learn.
There were also too many long ball straight at Ward in the first half - all wasted of course - unless you appreciate Wards impersonations of a diving swan.

For the first time this season there was a lot of disgruntled criticism about Jamie Ward along the lines of:

He's years behind Lester in quality.
He's not a striker.
He panics.
Larkin was a better striker
He's not the player we thought he was.
Ward's been found out.
He's not really very good.

He got some stick today too. Only Jack Lester looked quality and one has to say we ARE a one man team. Without him today we would have lost 3-0 at least and been totally outplayed.

So Rico the general view after that debacle is that we need a quality midfielder this month and if you don't concentrate on that part of the team then we won't go up and you don't really understand what's required. We are crying out for some experienced quality. The present midfield personel don't really cut the mustard and we are dropping too many points.

QUESTION:What does dropping points mean?

ANSWER:Another season in this grotty division.

Let's not forget the bottom line; promotion is expected. Anything else is failure. The signs don't look good for the long term.

[Goku]

Am I missing something? Does Jack Lester defend? Wouldn't we have lost 2-0 today without him?

Agree with a few of those points, annoyingly

[Goku]

Just wondering Chris, could a possibility be that there are no ball-playing midfielders in the market at the moment?

Comment not tongue in cheek, by the way.

[Spireite-Karl]

frearsghost, on Jan 12 2008, 07:52 PM, said:

.......and after today performance it's a valid debate. My view is that I don't think we are good enough.

it's hard to put a finger on went wrong today because in the second half, playing 4-3-3- we should have been good enough but we were well off the pace.

Richardson was criticised for playing Leven out of position and therefore asking players to do things they were not best at; but above all ONE HAS TO BLAME THE PLAYERS TODAY. They were not good enough to deal with Brentford when they upped the pace and there was an air of desperation about us.

The midfield is woeful really. We still lack - and have for the last three of four season under Richardson and MacFarland - a quality midfielder. Their winning goal came after they had hit the bar. An overhead bicycle kick by Fletcher cleared the danger but there was no one to put their foot on the ball to calmly clear the danger; it came staright back and their player had a free shot from the edge of the box. Their other goal came from a similar position.

We do need an experienced ball player in the middle of the park. Worringly I'm not sure Richardson thinks so. He seems to be reinforcing the side with cover players instead of players that would improve us. We played too many balls down the channels - yes we are still doing it ala Accrington - and don't seem to learn.
There were also too many long ball straight at Ward in the first half - all wasted of course - unless you appreciate Wards impersonations of a diving swan.

For the first time this season there was a lot of disgruntled criticism about Jamie Ward along the lines of:

He's years behind Lester in quality.
He's not a striker.
He panics.
Larkin was a better striker
He's not the player we thought he was.
Ward's been found out.
He's not really very good.

He got some stick today too. Only Jack Lester looked quality and one has to say we ARE a one man team. Without him today we would have lost 3-0 at least and been totally outplayed.

So Rico the general view after that debacle is that we need a quality midfielder this month and if you don't concentrate on that part of the team then we won't go up and you don't really understand what's required. We are crying out for some experienced quality. The present midfield personel don't really cut the mustard and we are dropping too many points.

QUESTION:What does dropping points mean?

ANSWER:Another season in this grotty division.

Let's not forget the bottom line; promotion is expected. Anything else is failure. The signs don't look good for the long term.

Your right about the midfield, it's been like this for far to long (not just this season), the tricky part is it's VERY difficult to bring in players that can do as you say in the bottom league with our budget! players like that (even on loan) don't ply their trade in the bottom league!

If Chris or anybody else can tell me how we get a player that's required to join a league two team then I'd be intrested to hear? If not let's get behind the lads and see if we can get out of this sh!te league together and then see if we can then attract a player that is a little nearer the sort of midfielder that is required when we are a slightly better Proposition to these sort of players!

[fishini]

Haslandboi, on Jan 12 2008, 08:08 PM, said:

Just wondering Chris, could a possibility be that there are no ball-playing midfielders in the market at the moment?

Comment not tongue in cheek, by the way.

Maybe there are or maybe there are not at this moment in time but there surely was some available in the summer, and after last season it was blatantly obvious that with Allot leaving we needed to replace him but alas we have not done so and it doesn't look like we will be, prefer to go for children to do mens jobs and these are not the type of players we need. Promotion hinges on the remainder of this month and whether Rico can attract the players we need

[Blueprint]

I wouldn't go as far as saying Larkin is a better striker than Ward, ward has an eye for the post at the moment, twice in two games, he isn't playing as well as we need him too but he's not that bad, the problem is we haven't a reserve striker who can compete with Ward for a place in the team, some would say we have Jackson and Smith but they aren't the same class as ward so that rules them out.

[frearsghost]

[quote name='Haslandboi' date='Jan 12 2008, 07:57 PM' post='198707']
Am I missing something? Does Jack Lester defend? Wouldn't we have lost 2-0 today without him?

Agree with a few of those points, annoyingly



No because he held the ball up extremely well and layed it off to others. Other players would have simply lost it and we would have been under even more pressure and perhaps conceded more goal. (but you could have worked that out couldn't you?)

[fishini]

Blueprint, on Jan 12 2008, 08:17 PM, said:

I wouldn't go as far as saying Larkin is a better striker than Ward, ward has an eye for the post at the moment, twice in two games, he isn't playing as well as we need him too but he's not that bad, the problem is we haven't a reserve striker who can compete with Ward for a place in the team, some would say we have Jackson and Smith but they aren't the same class as ward so that rules them out.

Ward is an exciting player I know but he is flattering to decieve at the moment, lets hope he doesn't become another Larkin as we have £100k invested in him

[Goku]

Ha sorry frearsghost, pretty obvious now. I thought it had something to do with that ¬_¬

Fishini, I think Leven is as good if not better than Allot. Would you say he was adequite?

Same to Chris, Leven plays (well, prefers) the same position Allot played so does he count?

[Blueprint]

He's has more than his fair share of injury problems for us since we signed him, but looks like our backroom staff have sorted the problem out, maybe Jamie still has this on his mind and that is affecting his performances, only thing is sure if he put the ball in the net instead of hitting the post so often we wouldn't be having this discussion now.

He can't be that bad, before we signed him Torquay were a one man team, he came to us and they got relegated.

[fishini]

Haslandboi, on Jan 12 2008, 08:30 PM, said:

Ha sorry frearsghost, pretty obvious now. I thought it had something to do with that ¬_¬

Fishini, I think Leven is as good if not better than Allot. Would you say he was adequite?

Same to Chris, Leven plays (well, prefers) the same position Allot played so does he count?

Leven as good as Allot IMO no I don't think so, I was a fan of Allot, he was consistant whereas Leven is a bit hit and miss, but I admit not a lot between them, but Leven will only be here this season then he'll move on, we already know this. winter is not in the same class as Allot and is looking to me like a poor Rico signing

spireiteblue, on Jan 12 2008, 08:35 PM, said:

Leven wants to play for us,Allot doesn't,end of story really.

Until the end of the season that is, after all it looks like we the only club to give him a chance. He will use us a stepping stone to greater things

[belpercfc]

Oh for a young Marcus Ebdon.....he always seemed to have hours to spare on the ball.Incidentally,one of our former targets Alex Russell moved on loan to Cheltenham this week.At 34 maybe a bit long in the tooth ,but would you say that he was the sort of player we're looking for?

[Blueprint]

fishini, on Jan 12 2008, 08:40 PM, said:

Leven as good as Allot IMO no I don't think so, I was a fan of Allot, he was consistant whereas Leven is a bit hit and miss, but I admit not a lot between them, but Leven will only be here this season then he'll move on, we already know this. winter is not in the same class as Allot and is looking to me like a poor Rico signing
Until the end of the season that is, after all it looks like we the only club to give him a chance. He will use us a stepping stone to greater things

Leven has the talent to play higher, but is happy playing for us this season providing he doesn't have to play at this level next season.

Alllot is only just good enough to play in league one, but didn't want to drop down to this level.

If anything Leven shows off more than he needs to at this level, whereas allott is a no nonsense player who doesn't show off his ability as he doesn't have the same level that Leven has, and doesn't see the need to. Allot is also older and wiser than Leven who is younger and more ambitious.

[Ernie Ernie Ernie]

Blueprint, on Jan 12 2008, 08:46 PM, said:

Leven has the talent to play higher, but is happy playing for us this season providing he doesn't have to play at this level next season.

Alllot is only just good enough to play in league one, but didn't want to drop down to this level.

If anything Leven shows off more than he needs to at this level, whereas allott is a no nonsense player who doesn't show off his ability as he doesn't have the same level that Leven has, and doesn't see the need to. Allot is also older and wiser than Leven who is younger and more ambitious.

Leven doesn't have the mobility to play much higher

[fishini]

belpercfc, on Jan 12 2008, 08:40 PM, said:

Oh for a young Marcus Ebdon.....he always seemed to have hours to spare on the ball.Incidentally,one of our former targets Alex Russell moved on loan to Cheltenham this week.At 34 maybe a bit long in the tooth ,but would you say that he was the sort of player we're looking for?

Best footballer we have had at the club for the past 20 years IMO. Now he could thread the killer ball, he could tackle back, tough and hard he was the all round midfielder. Superb til his legs gave up on him

Ernie Ernie Ernie, on Jan 12 2008, 08:50 PM, said:

Leven doesn't have the mobility to play much higher

Agree no pace like most of the team and he is average for this poo league

[Blueprint]

Rico was a good midfielder too....til his legs gave up on him.