I realise that sometimes I can be a harsh critic of the team ( although it only comes from a wish for the club to do better ) but what the hell are we doing in 4th place with such a threadbare squad? Last Saturday the middle of the park was like Wyoming, you could have ridden your horse around for hours without meeting anyone. There were times when Morecambe could amble towards goal with no check whatsoever. I’m fully aware of the injury situation but there were times we were not putting up a fight in midfield at all, it was shocking. The even more remarkable fact about the game was that as a result of that performance we moved closer to the leaders.
The question I’m posing is this. Are we , when at full strength or thereabouts, a very good team or is this division pretty weak this year? If the latter or even both are true, a midfield with Labadie and Bakinson with a fit back four is indeed a mouth-watering prospect. Thoughts?

lowandhard wrote:I realise that sometimes I can be a harsh critic of the team ( although it only comes from a wish for the club to do better ) but what the hell are we doing in 4th place with such a threadbare squad? Last Saturday the middle of the park was like Wyoming, you could have ridden your horse around for hours without meeting anyone. There were times when Morecambe could amble towards goal with no check whatsoever. I’m fully aware of the injury situation but there were times we were not putting up a fight in midfield at all, it was shocking. The even more remarkable fact about the game was that as a result of that performance we moved closer to the leaders.
The question I’m posing is this. Are we , when at full strength or thereabouts, a very good team or is this division pretty weak this year? If the latter or even both are true, a midfield with Labadie and Bakinson with a fit back four is indeed a mouth-watering prospect. Thoughts?

Bang on mate.

I disagree with you Mike.
I keep hearing and reading how crap we were and how Morecambe were strolling through our midfield etc, yet we had by far the better chances, more shots and on target, more possession and also won 9 corners without conceding 1 ...
We certainly weren’t at our best but we could/should have won that game despite having many key players missing and players playing out of position.

I got a feeling we are going up

UPTHEPORT wrote: I got a feeling we are going up

Been drinking UTP?
I think we’ll finish top 12.

Exile 1976 wrote:I disagree with you Mike.
I keep hearing and reading how crap we were and how Morecambe were strolling through our midfield etc, yet we had by far the better chances, more shots and on target, more possession and also won 9 corners without conceding 1 ...
We certainly weren’t at our best but we could/should have won that game despite having many key players missing and players playing out of position.

Morecambe were far superior to us in midfield but their strikers were well marshalled by our defence . We had 9 (?) corners but 6 of them failed to beat the first man as the delivery was poor. Semenyo's headed effort was IMO a bad miss , not a great save by their keeper. Dolan should have at least hit the target with his free kick but put it wide

Exile 1976 wrote:I disagree with you Mike.
I keep hearing and reading how crap we were and how Morecambe were strolling through our midfield etc, yet we had by far the better chances, more shots and on target, more possession and also won 9 corners without conceding 1 ...
We certainly weren’t at our best but we could/should have won that game despite having many key players missing and players playing out of position.

That’s ok , I can see your point too but what I saw in the 20 minutes or so before ht convinced me that if they had had the good sense to bring our old friend Ellison on they could have put the game to bed before half-time. It was like a hot knife through butter at that stage.
What do you think of the relative strengths of the division this year? In a way I’m more optimistic ( incredible for me as an arch pessimist ) than you because I think that if we can stay relatively injury-free from now on and keep the loan players we have the best chance we’re likely to have to reach the playoffs. I don’t think we’ll go up and probably we can’t afford to.

neilcork68 wrote:

Exile 1976 wrote:I disagree with you Mike.
I keep hearing and reading how crap we were and how Morecambe were strolling through our midfield etc, yet we had by far the better chances, more shots and on target, more possession and also won 9 corners without conceding 1 ...
We certainly weren’t at our best but we could/should have won that game despite having many key players missing and players playing out of position.

Morecambe were far superior to us in midfield but their strikers were well marshalled by our defence . We had 9 (?) corners but 6 of them failed to beat the first man as the delivery was poor. Semenyo's headed effort was IMO a bad miss , not a great save by their keeper. Dolan should have at least hit the target with his free kick but put it wide

Good grief, Do you realise these are league 2 players?

What did you think of Lamella's miss last night? Or Silva getting the ball caught under his feet in front of a gaping goal?

lowandhard wrote:

Exile 1976 wrote:I disagree with you Mike.
I keep hearing and reading how crap we were and how Morecambe were strolling through our midfield etc, yet we had by far the better chances, more shots and on target, more possession and also won 9 corners without conceding 1 ...
We certainly weren’t at our best but we could/should have won that game despite having many key players missing and players playing out of position.

That’s ok , I can see your point too but what I saw in the 20 minutes or so before ht convinced me that if they had had the good sense to bring our old friend Ellison on they could have put the game to bed before half-time. It was like a hot knife through butter at that stage.
What do you think of the relative strengths of the division this year? In a way I’m more optimistic ( incredible for me as an arch pessimist ) than you because I think that if we can stay relatively injury-free from now on and keep the loan players we have the best chance we’re likely to have to reach the playoffs. I don’t think we’ll go up and probably we can’t afford to.

I think if you take 3 or 4 first teamers out of any league 2 squad they will struggle. To lose another 2 in the first 45 minutes and reshuffle will undoubtedly weaken us further, or any League 2 team for that matter.

lowandhard wrote:

Exile 1976 wrote:I disagree with you Mike.
I keep hearing and reading how crap we were and how Morecambe were strolling through our midfield etc, yet we had by far the better chances, more shots and on target, more possession and also won 9 corners without conceding 1 ...
We certainly weren’t at our best but we could/should have won that game despite having many key players missing and players playing out of position.

That’s ok , I can see your point too but what I saw in the 20 minutes or so before ht convinced me that if they had had the good sense to bring our old friend Ellison on they could have put the game to bed before half-time. It was like a hot knife through butter at that stage.
What do you think of the relative strengths of the division this year? In a way I’m more optimistic ( incredible for me as an arch pessimist ) than you because I think that if we can stay relatively injury-free from now on and keep the loan players we have the best chance we’re likely to have to reach the playoffs. I don’t think we’ll go up and probably we can’t afford to.

Usually there appears to be 2/3 absolute quality sides and 3/4 dog poop teams but this season there doesn't seem to be any stand out teams, but there are a lot more 'decent' sides this season.
I just think we'll finish a lot lower than we are now as there are a few sides below us that are kicking into gear and with some financial clout to bring in some reinforcements in Jan.

Yes I do realise they are league 2 players....from 20 yards out in a dead ball situation i would expect a player to at least hit the target to either have a chance of scoring or getting the opposition keeper to make a save...( Dolans free kick). Even if the ball hits the wall but is on target..

As for our corners I would expect the taker to beat the first man. Willmott either hit the first man on many occassions or over hit the ball over everyone's head. Dolan has proved he can deliver great corners from which we have scored quite a few goals from. Why wasn't he taking the corners ???


the same can be said about Day...Great keeper at our level , great shot stopper , getting better at taking crosses etc but his kicking for a professional footballer is shocking. What does he do in training to make the weakest part of his game better because whatever it is it isn't working as he is still as poor ?

neilcork68 wrote:Yes I do realise they are league 2 players....from 20 yards out in a dead ball situation i would expect a player to at least hit the target to either have a chance of scoring or getting the opposition keeper to make a save...( Dolans free kick). Even if the ball hits the wall but is on target..

As for our corners I would expect the taker to beat the first man. Willmott either hit the first man on many occassions or over hit the ball over everyone's head. Dolan has proved he can deliver great corners from which we have scored quite a few goals from. Why wasn't he taking the corners ???


the same can be said about Day...Great keeper at our level , great shot stopper , getting better at taking crosses etc but his kicking for a professional footballer is shocking. What does he do in training to make the weakest part of his game better because whatever it is it isn't working as he is still as poor ?

Any clown can hit the target from 20 yards out, but to score a free kick the target is actually much much smaller, i.e. The postage stamp in the top or bottom corner that will elude the keeper and the wall, surely you can see that?

I am not always Robbie's biggest fan but if you google amond / hurling / daily mail
Read what Podge says about him, 6th paragraph down.

Alan G Bryant wrote:

neilcork68 wrote:Yes I do realise they are league 2 players....from 20 yards out in a dead ball situation i would expect a player to at least hit the target to either have a chance of scoring or getting the opposition keeper to make a save...( Dolans free kick). Even if the ball hits the wall but is on target..

As for our corners I would expect the taker to beat the first man. Willmott either hit the first man on many occassions or over hit the ball over everyone's head. Dolan has proved he can deliver great corners from which we have scored quite a few goals from. Why wasn't he taking the corners ???


the same can be said about Day...Great keeper at our level , great shot stopper , getting better at taking crosses etc but his kicking for a professional footballer is shocking. What does he do in training to make the weakest part of his game better because whatever it is it isn't working as he is still as poor ?

Any clown can hit the target from 20 yards out, but to score a free kick the target is actually much much smaller, i.e. The postage stamp in the top or bottom corner that will elude the keeper and the wall, surely you can see that?

I am not always Robbie's biggest fan but if you google amond / hurling / daily mail
Read what Podge says about him, 6th paragraph down.

Oddly I agree with Mr Bryant on this occasion. To score you have to take the chance of missing. Any idiot can hit the wall, yeah I have to agree.
Although your argument is not bolstered by citing Podge. Anyone agreeing with me only shows that they agree with me. We could both be wrong. The same applies to every opinion of every person.

I think what Saturday shows was that Flynn should have put a central defender on the bench. We often have Foulston there, to gain experience of the match day environment - but not to play.

The increase to seven substitutes a few years back means that there can really be no excuse for not have a balanced bench - one goalie, one full back, one centre half, two midfielders (preferably one central and one winger) and two strikers. If injuries mean you can't fill the bench with members of the first team squad then you elevate what you need from the Academy squad. And occasionally you have play the kids, because otherwise how are they expected to develop their games and how can the Management team make a decision on them if they haven't been given a chance to shine.

Flynn seems reluctant to give youth a chance, which I find strange considering that he headed up the Academy at one time. He'd rather play someone out of position than play a kid. And he'd rather go to the BOD to find monies to bring from outside than play a kid. A club of County's size need to be developing talent from the Academy and under Flynn we aren't and possibly never will.

As to where County will finish this season I would factor in the usual fall away in results that come after Christmas, which season after season County can't seem to break. I would love to say County will be there or thereabouts at the end but I feel somewhere around 10th to 15th is more realistic.

When they equalised on Saturday my thoughts were we have 13 mins plus added time to hold on for a draw.
Thankfully Morecambe decided to settle for a point and not push on for the winner, as shown by Ellison dropping deeper.