Alf Bentley Posted 4 March 2009 Posted 4 March 2009 For most of the season we have played the ball up to Howard and gone from there. Naturally this makes Howard the pivotal player and he is always involved, many people see that and take the constant involvement as a sign he is playing well. Others see his continual involvement but criticise his lack of productivity.Depending on how we are playing I can see both sides. When we are in control, we play the ball through midfield and hit Howard with short passes, often to feet. Howard is excellent at holding the ball up and knocking it of to our midfield who are now well up in support. Actually quite decent football and pretty effective. On the other hand when the opposition put us under pressure, we lose that confidence and hit the ball long. Even if Howard is able to win the ball there is little he can do as our midfield are still far too deep to offer real support, so all he can do is to try and find fryatt and hope for the best. The real problem is not Howard, it is losing composure in defense and resorting to hoofball! Can't argue with that over the season as a whole, though first half last night they did try to play the ball out from the back (e.g. Morrison, Gilbert) and through midfield more, it just didn't pay dividends due to a combination of Stockport's deep defending, our lack of midfield inspiration and simple bad luck of the way the ball fell. Long balls in the latter stages of a drawn game is understandable. Certainly, if we go up and Pearson is given a few quid to spend, priorities for me are: (1) A creative, attacking midfielder; (2) A high-energy defensive midfielder who can tackle and pass, allowing the likes of King to go forward more; (3) A more mobile striker with pace. For all they've contributed this year, I'm not sure that I'd see Oakley - or even Howard - as regular starters in the Championship.
Lillehamring Posted 4 March 2009 Posted 4 March 2009 All the talk about us having the best midfield in the league is utter rubbish. Those who went to MK Dons and went to Stockport will see that they weren't up to it. Personally, I thought MK Dons played us off the park. Last night, Stockport were well drilled and are a quality side at this level. They doubled up on our players when we pushed forward and their passing was neater and better than ours. Their midfield also looked to receive the pass and moved off the ball more to make that pass possible. We struggled to break them down and too many times, our midfield was static particularly when our centre backs had the ball and were looking to pass it to the midfield. I don't like Oakley and King in the center together as I don't feel their a good fit together. Equally, Berner looks like a full-back in midfield, but at least he provides someone to put a tackle in. Sadly, we don't have many options, but I think at home, when teams are coming to pack out midfield and defence, we should have both Dyer and Gradel on the flanks, stretching them. no. it isn't utter rubbish at all...we've scored more goals and conceded fewer than any team in the division - how much of that do you think is down to the quality in the midfield. granted MKdons midfield were the better of the two on that day, but over the season our midfield has chipped in with 27 goals in 35 games, last season our entire team only managed 42 in 46. perhaps there are midfields comparable to ours, perhaps better in certain areas of play - but to dismiss a statement regarding the obvious quality (at this level) of our midfield as utter rubbish is, in fact, utter rubbish
marbelladave Posted 4 March 2009 Posted 4 March 2009 Can't argue with that over the season as a whole, though first half last night they did try to play the ball out from the back (e.g. Morrison, Gilbert) and through midfield more, it just didn't pay dividends due to a combination of Stockport's deep defending, our lack of midfield inspiration and simple bad luck of the way the ball fell. Long balls in the latter stages of a drawn game is understandable.Certainly, if we go up and Pearson is given a few quid to spend, priorities for me are: (1) A creative, attacking midfielder; (2) A high-energy defensive midfielder who can tackle and pass, allowing the likes of King to go forward more; (3) A more mobile striker with pace. For all they've contributed this year, I'm not sure that I'd see Oakley - or even Howard - as regular starters in the Championship. I can really only see a fit again Tunchev and King as genuine Championship starters. We have a number of players who could step up and be starters at Championship level but at this stage we have no idea if they will. We will need a lot of new players next season, any money NP has will have to be spread pretty thin, interesting to see who we can get/afford!
Dr The Singh Posted 4 March 2009 Posted 4 March 2009 I can really only see a fit again Tunchev and King as genuine Championship starters. We have a number of players who could step up and be starters at Championship level but at this stage we have no idea if they will.We will need a lot of new players next season, any money NP has will have to be spread pretty thin, interesting to see who we can get/afford! Another batch of Loanees, one would presume?????
marbelladave Posted 4 March 2009 Posted 4 March 2009 Another batch of Loanees, one would presume????? 'fraid so doctor! I can see this seasons pattern continuing next season, two or three players brought in at fairly modest cost, a few decent loans and the hope that more than just a couple of our current squad can make the step up to Championship level. It will be interesting to see if we can afford to be more ambitious than that!
Dr The Singh Posted 4 March 2009 Posted 4 March 2009 'fraid so doctor!I can see this seasons pattern continuing next season, two or three players brought in at fairly modest cost, a few decent loans and the hope that more than just a couple of our current squad can make the step up to Championship level. It will be interesting to see if we can afford to be more ambitious than that! I doubt it, I think we'll be mid table mediocrity at best, Dave!! Unless, we can generate funds by selling some of our better\valuable players???
skinnydipper Posted 4 March 2009 Posted 4 March 2009 For a few games now I've been overwhelmingly bored for most of the match Fcuk the run I want to be entertained
Pegosteve Posted 4 March 2009 Posted 4 March 2009 If we match our piss poor performance of the last 11 games of last season we will still get 87 points! Surely enough.
Raj Posted 4 March 2009 Posted 4 March 2009 For a few games now I've been overwhelmingly bored for most of the matchFcuk the run I want to be entertained Entertained at The Walkers??? Goto Old Trafford for entertaining football pal. The Walkers hasnt done enetertaining football for fcuking years!!!
Raj Posted 4 March 2009 Posted 4 March 2009 Did you get wet in your seat last night Raj? I did actually. Im still abit moist now....
breadandcheese Posted 4 March 2009 Posted 4 March 2009 no. it isn't utter rubbish at all...we've scored more goals and conceded fewer than any team in the division - how much of that do you think is down to the quality in the midfield.granted MKdons midfield were the better of the two on that day, but over the season our midfield has chipped in with 27 goals in 35 games, last season our entire team only managed 42 in 46. perhaps there are midfields comparable to ours, perhaps better in certain areas of play - but to dismiss a statement regarding the obvious quality (at this level) of our midfield as utter rubbish is, in fact, utter rubbish As others have remarked, our midfield is great if we're in control and dominating a game. However, they struggle to regain control should the midfield battle be going against us, don't have a player who will take the ball off a defender, nor have a real driving force in there. We do have one of the top midfields in the league, but the best, no, that is a stement too far. Individually, they're exceptional for this league, but as a combination, they don't have the right balance.
Guest Bilo Posted 4 March 2009 Posted 4 March 2009 What Maxi has to do to get at least 30 minutes I do not know. Dyer was awful again last night and the game was tailor made for Gradel, he'd have been fantastically received by the crowd and would have been riding the crest of a wave in terms of confidence after Saturday. No creativity and we seem too fixated on preserving this unbeaten record. Stockport came with a gameplan and completely stifled us for 88 minutes. On this form, I wouldn't even be too confident about beating Cheltenham as they will do exactly the same as Stockport. A convincing win is needed and needed soon, otherwise we will be looking nervously over our shoulders from now until May.
skinnydipper Posted 4 March 2009 Posted 4 March 2009 Entertained at The Walkers??? Goto Old Trafford for entertaining football pal. The Walkers hasnt done enetertaining football for fcuking years!!! Almost but not entirely true Brazil v Jamaica (Oh yes and us v Peterborough)
Lillehamring Posted 4 March 2009 Posted 4 March 2009 As others have remarked, our midfield is great if we're in control and dominating a game. However, they struggle to regain control should the midfield battle be going against us, don't have a player who will take the ball off a defender, nor have a real driving force in there. We do have one of the top midfields in the league, but the best, no, that is a stement too far. Individually, they're exceptional for this league, but as a combination, they don't have the right balance. fair enough - so somewhere between our two extremes, then
Toby or not Toby Posted 4 March 2009 Posted 4 March 2009 im guessing if he plays so well and looks rediculously too good for this leage then the big guns will snap him up... cant buy him if they dont see him playing, i guess.... E.G Mark Davies to Bolton?
Shrenchel Posted 4 March 2009 Posted 4 March 2009 If that's the actual reason they're not putting the lad on then I find that kind of disrespectful to the fans that are paying their hard earned money to watch the team. But then again, it's almost certain we're going up and everyone would be having a right whinge if he did his cruciate ligament in some inconsequential match when we're already promoted or he attracted the attention of some lower table prem side that we couldn't stave off.
Alf Bentley Posted 4 March 2009 Posted 4 March 2009 I can really only see a fit again Tunchev and King as genuine Championship starters. We have a number of players who could step up and be starters at Championship level but at this stage we have no idea if they will.We will need a lot of new players next season, any money NP has will have to be spread pretty thin, interesting to see who we can get/afford! If you think that a team 12 points clear at the top of L1 has only 2 players fit to start in the Championship, you must reckon that the gap in class between the 2 divisions is truly a chasm. I reckon that the current squad would probably avoid relegation from the Championship. 3 or 4 decent additions in the close season would be enough to ensure mid-table consolidation, maybe even an outside chance of the play-offs. Only if you were making a determined attempt for automatic promotion to the Premiership would such a massive overhaul be necessary....even then it would probably be too disruptive to succeed, and would be completely unaffordable, unless Milan is a lot more generous than I'd expect him to be. Anyway, let's get there first...
marbelladave Posted 4 March 2009 Posted 4 March 2009 If you think that a team 12 points clear at the top of L1 has only 2 players fit to start in the Championship, you must reckon that the gap in class between the 2 divisions is truly a chasm.I reckon that the current squad would probably avoid relegation from the Championship. 3 or 4 decent additions in the close season would be enough to ensure mid-table consolidation, maybe even an outside chance of the play-offs. Only if you were making a determined attempt for automatic promotion to the Premiership would such a massive overhaul be necessary....even then it would probably be too disruptive to succeed, and would be completely unaffordable, unless Milan is a lot more generous than I'd expect him to be. Anyway, let's get there first... Quite possibly true but we will not have 'the current squad' next season, that is the point! Martin, Hendeson, Gilbert, Hobbs, Brown and Cleverley will all be gone along with our pensioners and (I'm assuming) Campbell. To my mind that leaves us with just 2 players of genuine Championship class in Tunchev and King. The rest are either unproven or have failed (last season) at that level. Sure I expect a couple of them to come good this time around (not sure who though ) but that is by no means certain! As I told the doctor, look out for lots of loanees!
Lillehamring Posted 4 March 2009 Posted 4 March 2009 Quite possibly true but we will not have 'the current squad' next season, that is the point!Martin, Hendeson, Gilbert, Hobbs, Brown and Cleverley will all be gone along with our pensioners and (I'm assuming) Campbell. To my mind that leaves us with just 2 players of genuine Championship class in Tunchev and King. The rest are either unproven or have failed (last season) at that level. Sure I expect a couple of them to come good this time around (not sure who though ) but that is by no means certain! As I told the doctor, look out for lots of loanees! do you not reckon oakley still has enough quality to perform in the CCC?
Lillehamring Posted 4 March 2009 Posted 4 March 2009 looking at these stats, it doesn't look like we were outplayed or especially defensive.... 9 Goal Attempts 8 5 On Target 5 9 Corners 1 10 Fouls 8 2 Yellow Cards - - Red Cards - 52 % 48
Dr The Singh Posted 4 March 2009 Posted 4 March 2009 jesus, chris o'grady sounds like an 8 year old Who cares what he thinks, there happy with there point, and he's just giving the usual we could ah talk!!!! <_<
marbelladave Posted 5 March 2009 Posted 5 March 2009 do you not reckon oakley still has enough quality to perform in the CCC? Couldn't cut it last time around but whether that was because of the rubbish we were playing at the time or because he is not up to it is open to debate. I would say that Mattock, Howard and Fryatt are in pretty much the same category. The rest will have to make a big step up to perform well over 40 odd games at Championship level and I imagine 1 or 2 of them will do just that, although which ones - I have no idea!
davieG Posted 5 March 2009 Posted 5 March 2009 do you not reckon oakley still has enough quality to perform in the CCC? Couldn't cut it last time around but whether that was because of the rubbish we were playing at the time or because he is not up to it is open to debate. I would say that Mattock, Howard and Fryatt are in pretty much the same category.The rest will have to make a big step up to perform well over 40 odd games at Championship level and I imagine 1 or 2 of them will do just that, although which ones - I have no idea! My big concern with Oakley is that he's reached a stage where he seems to be injury prone, by all accounts he was carrying an injury for the best part of last season and currently seems to be suffering the same fate. Fryatt was most definitely not fit last season and his bad patches this season seem to coincide with injuries. Howard proved himself in his own limited way in the Championship with Derby but that 2 seasons ago. Although I think he's been tremendous, again in his limited way I've serious doubts whether he now has what it takes to produce the goods in the Championship. Of course this is always assuming that's where we end up playing, ever the pessimist.
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