[Town_Fan]

Sammy Spireite, on Aug 13 2008, 11:44 AM, said:

so you'd rather a bench full of striking options TF?

Then Lee or Page gets injured??

Our bench last night had:

1 keeper

2 defenders (central or right sided)

1 defensive midfielder

1 creative midfielder

1 attacking midfielder

1 striker

I'd say that was full of options, wouldn't you?

We had 7 subs and yet none would have offered us anything different up front. I take it you are using the word striker in its loosest term.

A reliance on Ward and Lester is going to cost us as last night proved. If Lester has an off day he cant take the pressure of Ward who will continue to miss chance after chance just like he did at Barnet and for most of last season. I cant believe we didnt sell him.

[Geordieblue]

Town_Fan, on Aug 13 2008, 11:40 AM, said:

Poor finishing eh? That usually means Lester had an off day but it sounds like business as usual for Ward.

Good job we had all those options on the bench to change things...... OH wait.

Being able to change things last night wasn't actually an issue. We played well, and just needed that finishing touch as we created chances throughout the game.
Excuse me, i'm just going to fill up my half full glass.

[Sammy Spireite]

Town_Fan, on Aug 13 2008, 11:47 AM, said:

We had 7 subs and yet none would have offered us anything different up front. I take it you are using the word striker in its loosest term.

A reliance on Ward and Lester is going to cost us as last night proved. If Lester has an off day he cant take the pressure of Ward who will continue to miss chance after chance just like he did at Barnet and for most of last season. I cant believe we didnt sell him.

Ward and Lester create a lot of their own chances so to say they missed chances is hazing the truth a little.

I would have expected either of them to take at least one of the chances created but then they are both league two strikers...........

This post has been edited by Sammy Spireite: 13 August 2008 - 10:50 AM

[Goku]

spireiteblue, on Aug 13 2008, 11:54 AM, said:

You like calling other ppl idiots well i think the boot is on the other foot,i won't call you one as i think your doing a good job of that yourself,but heres another message board saying,here's another shovel and keep on digging.....

Agree with this. You're honestly making a fool out of yourself now and it's getting silly, you're the only person complaining about the match. It's quite saddening, for someone who does generally have good opinions on football that you're purposely playing the role of Johnny Negative.

[S18Spireite]

Sammy Spireite, on Aug 13 2008, 11:50 AM, said:

Ward and Lester create a lot of their own chances so to say they missed chances is hazing the truth a little.

Indeed. You rarely see them miss chances that people have put on a plate.


Jeekers, this IS silly. We lost one game to a Championship side, sure we could've scored but it's rare that ANY games go by without one or two chances. If teams scored goals with every chance then games of football would finish with a dozen goals a piece.

I'd be more worried if we weren't creating anything. Lester and Ward will do well for us this season. TF has got a point about questioning strength in depth, we should not question Ward & Lester.

[Town_Fan]

Haslandboi, on Aug 13 2008, 12:03 PM, said:

Agree with this. You're honestly making a fool out of yourself now and it's getting silly, you're the only person complaining about the match. It's quite saddening, for someone who does generally have good opinions on football that you're purposely playing the role of Johnny Negative.

I'm not complaining about the match. I didnt go and therefore its hard to comment. However people are saying Ward missed chances which sounds pretty normal for him. He was the same against Barnet and only scored after Lester had done the hard work, it would have been interesting to see what would have happened with the one on one if we had still been behind, how many would have been really confident then?

Ward missed umpteen chances last season but people forget about this because he runs around a lot. The trouble is for every goal he scores he misses 2 or 3 really good chances. IMHO this cost us last season as our defence struggled unless we were clear by a couple of goals. Personally I would have sold him, he only has 1 year left on his deal and could be gone for peanuts.

I know I'm in a small minority when it comes to this but I think we could have done better by selling him for 150k and using this plus his wages to fund a proper finisher.

[isleaiw]

i reckon that someone with his pace, at his age, who was also a meticulous finisher would not be in league 2. We presumably reckon that his finishing can be improved, perhaps by working with Jack, and increasing his value going forward!

[shaun1866]

Town_Fan, on Aug 13 2008, 11:40 AM, said:

Poor finishing eh? That usually means Lester had an off day but it sounds like business as usual for Ward.

Good job we had all those options on the bench to change things...... OH wait.

business as usual for ward --- yeah he ran himself ragid made alot of space for others laid the ball of well his finishing was not the best but the other contributions he makes are fantastic

[Dan_CFC]

It was an excellent second half performance last night we really deserved a goal and 2-0 really flattered them.It really showed with the quality of football we played at times we should have no trouble mounting a serious promotion challenge. Ward and Lesters movement solely on there own will be very hard for many league 2 sides to deal with...... Yes, it would be nice to have a 'big' target man style forward as another option, but will that then lead to us playing the long ball more often?

[marlons curtains]

Dan_CFC, on Aug 13 2008, 12:41 PM, said:

It was an excellent second half performance last night we really deserved a goal and 2-0 really flattered them.It really showed with the quality of football we played at times we should have no trouble mounting a serious promotion challenge. Ward and Lesters movement solely on there own will be very hard for many league 2 sides to deal with...... Yes, it would be nice to have a 'big' target man style forward as another option, but will that then lead to us playing the long ball more often?

Not really. for the last bit of the game last night i dont see why we couldnt have tried something different and tested the Preston centre halves in the air...particularly with the quality of Curries delivery. Id have been tempted to take maybe Picken off, play 3 at the back, and stick Downes up top.
Yes, we might have caught on the break, but .... well, we did anyway.

[Dan_CFC]

marlons curtains, on Aug 13 2008, 12:49 PM, said:

Not really. for the last bit of the game last night i dont see why we couldnt have tried something different and tested the Preston centre halves in the air...particularly with the quality of Curries delivery. Id have been tempted to take maybe Picken off, play 3 at the back, and stick Downes up top.
Yes, we might have caught on the break, but .... well, we did anyway.

That's one plus point, a good target man style forward will feed well of Currie. I was just wondering in the long term will we resort to the long ball....but we will have to wait and see. But,I agree it's always nice to have the option of a 'big' frontman....

This post has been edited by Dan_CFC: 13 August 2008 - 11:53 AM

[PositiveOmen]

Town_Fan, on Aug 13 2008, 11:40 AM, said:

Poor finishing eh? That usually means Lester had an off day but it sounds like business as usual for Ward.

Good job we had all those options on the bench to change things...... OH wait.

Lets not crusade on to another argument, the fact is you made a desparate go at critisizing Rico on a night of mainly positives, and made yourself look a bit silly.

[PositiveOmen]

Town_Fan, on Aug 13 2008, 12:17 PM, said:

I'm not complaining about the match. I didnt go and therefore its hard to comment. However people are saying Ward missed chances which sounds pretty normal for him. He was the same against Barnet and only scored after Lester had done the hard work, it would have been interesting to see what would have happened with the one on one if we had still been behind, how many would have been really confident then?

Ward missed umpteen chances last season but people forget about this because he runs around a lot. The trouble is for every goal he scores he misses 2 or 3 really good chances. IMHO this cost us last season as our defence struggled unless we were clear by a couple of goals. Personally I would have sold him, he only has 1 year left on his deal and could be gone for peanuts.

I know I'm in a small minority when it comes to this but I think we could have done better by selling him for 150k and using this plus his wages to fund a proper finisher.

How many league 2 clubs have 2, if even 1 good finishers in their side?

[S18Spireite]

Town_Fan, on Aug 13 2008, 12:17 PM, said:

I'm not complaining about the match. I didnt go and therefore its hard to comment. However people are saying Ward missed chances which sounds pretty normal for him. He was the same against Barnet and only scored after Lester had done the hard work, it would have been interesting to see what would have happened with the one on one if we had still been behind, how many would have been really confident then?

Ward missed umpteen chances last season but people forget about this because he runs around a lot. The trouble is for every goal he scores he misses 2 or 3 really good chances. IMHO this cost us last season as our defence struggled unless we were clear by a couple of goals. Personally I would have sold him, he only has 1 year left on his deal and could be gone for peanuts.

I know I'm in a small minority when it comes to this but I think we could have done better by selling him for 150k and using this plus his wages to fund a proper finisher.

I can't believe we're still having the Ward argument…by your own admission you're in a small minority (not just any old minority!!) so maybe that should give you some clue.

You're desperate…suggesting Saturday's goal was worthless because we'd won the game, that you wouldn't be confident in him scoring if the pressure was off. Desperate stuff that you can't prove.

Having said that, given that Lee was still making saves up the other end to stop them equalising, I actually consider Ward's goal very important. Since when has putting a side two goals up ever been a bad thing? In the same post you say that last season he didn't score enough goals to make our defence feel comfortable!! So by your own reckoning a goal to put a side 3-1 up is pretty damn important isn't it?

Oh yeah, and what was the catalyst for Jack's second goal?…silly Jamie running around again!!

You talk about 1 goal per 3 chances being a bad thing! If the same rate was applied across the team we'd score 5 or 6 every match!

Ward is a high quality player, you must acknowledge that to give him a tag of £150k…sure he's grumpy from time to time and I've no doubt opposition fans view him as we see North…but why town fans are so down on him is truly beyond me. FFS, who are you after? Ronaldo?

[PositiveOmen]

S18Spireite, on Aug 13 2008, 01:56 PM, said:

I can't believe we're still having the Ward argument…by your own admission you're in a small minority (not just any old minority!!) so maybe that should give you some clue.

You're desperate…suggesting Saturday's goal was worthless because we'd won the game, that you wouldn't be confident in him scoring if the pressure was off. Desperate stuff that you can't prove.

Having said that, given that Lee was still making saves up the other end to stop them equalising, I actually consider Ward's goal very important. Since when has putting a side two goals up ever been a bad thing? In the same post you say that last season he didn't score enough goals to make our defence feel comfortable!! So by your own reckoning a goal to put a side 3-1 up is pretty damn important isn't it?

Oh yeah, and what was the catalyst for Jack's second goal?…silly Jamie running around again!!

You talk about 1 goal per 3 chances being a bad thing! If the same rate was applied across the team we'd score 5 or 6 every match!

Ward is a high quality player, you must acknowledge that to give him a tag of £150k…sure he's grumpy from time to time and I've no doubt opposition fans view him as we see North…but why town fans are so down on him is truly beyond me. FFS, who are you after? Ronaldo?

Don't be silly.. He's signing for Rotherham

[Sammy Spireite]

Town_Fan, on Aug 13 2008, 12:17 PM, said:

Ward missed umpteen chances last season but people forget about this because he runs around a lot. The trouble is for every goal he scores he misses 2 or 3 really good chances. IMHO this cost us last season as our defence struggled unless we were clear by a couple of goals. Personally I would have sold him, he only has 1 year left on his deal and could be gone for peanuts.

Some goals to shot ratios from last season:

Ronaldo 141 shots/31 goals = 1 goal per 4.5 shots

Adebayor 104 shots/24 goals = 1 goal per 4.3 shots

Torres 96 shots/24 goals = 1 goal per 4 shots

Shall i go on TF?

[Town_Fan]

Sammy Spireite, on Aug 13 2008, 02:11 PM, said:

Some goals to shot ratios from last season:

Ronaldo 141 shots/31 goals = 1 goal per 4.5 shots

Adebayor 104 shots/24 goals = 1 goal per 4.3 shots

Torres 96 shots/24 goals = 1 goal per 4 shots

Shall i go on TF?

There's having shots on goal and then there is missing gilt edged chances. Completely different.

[sherbet fountain]

"well i won't back down, no i won't back down
You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But i won't back down"

[Sammy Spireite]

Town_Fan, on Aug 13 2008, 02:34 PM, said:

There's having shots on goal and then there is missing gilt edged chances. Completely different.

agreed.

And there is also creating your own chances through skill, lightening pace, quick feet and intelligence.

And theres scoring from seemingly nothing (hereford at home springs to mind)

you don't score 20+ goals in a relegation side and be no good at this level TF.