Post by stevek192 on Sept 13, 2015 9:36:42 GMT
Yesterdays game ,without doubt,was the worst game of football I have seen this season and possibly even last season as well. From the first whistle to the last we were outplayed or should I say outnumbered all over the pitch and for this I blame the Manager because when I see us out thought by Accrington Stanley then I do start to worry.
Many will blame the forwards but it is not necessarily the forwards fault. If you are under six foot and have balls pumped at you because the opposition do exactly what we don't do ie push up and pressurize the opposition defence then it is hardly of surprising we don't score goals whichever player we play. Our forwards received the ball and I continually noticed that our central midfield three of Clarke,Mansell and Lines were about fifty yards behind in a straight line with our defenders just a bit behind them and Sinclair lost in a huge hole trying to get up to join the strikers but therefore being missed for the things he does best which is hassling the opposition..
The Brown overlapping has become as predictable as winter coming after Autumn and Lines deliveries being too high and our crossing in general being poor are as predictable as spring following winter.
We are playing every home match the same as away in the DC style of getting all the players behind the ball but the problem is that we have no pace in the side to change from defence to attack. Try watching what happens when we pass a ball forward (which is quite rare) our defence will slowly plod out obviously to give the person with the ball the chance to pass back to them but this is pointless when they are not exactly good passers of the ball. The midfield are only just a few yards away and to me always look like they are looking for players to mark rather than actually marking them. We seem to treat every game like we are playing Manchester United and let the opponents play the ball out from the back and even at this level giving opponents the space to move uncontested will cost you.
I also notice that on the bench I see nothing of the highly motivated and passionate Manager that DC comes across as and he rarely gets out of his seat!
Nicholls 6 Yet again we have a keeper coming in late in the week and having no time to get to know his team mates and vice versa. Hard to judge on todays performance but to me no better than Chapman and questionable whether any better than Mildenhall . Unless we have a chance of signing him then will only be here until December and then it will be another keeper having to get used to his team mates. I wonder if DC is going after a record of most keepers used in a season. Made a good save with his feet and managed to hold their player up well when clean through and it is good that he is vocal but the fact that I heard him shows just how quiet an effective Accrington had made the crowd.
J Clarke 6 Not up to his usual performance but OK and generally steady but to me does not look so good in the full back position. DC's tactics are being heavily exposed at the moment and the failure to get defenders out quick because they are hanging back for the regular balls back to them means that we are often outnumbered in all areas of the pitch.
Lockyer 7 More a Man of the match performance than Sinclair and had a good steady game all round making very few mistakes and was unaffected by the changes in formation during the game. Not convinced that James Clarke is a good enough full back which may mean he has to revert to full back until Leadbitter is fit and if we play a back four which will be a shame as Tom really has been one of the big successes this season in his natural position.
Parkes 4 Very poor today both in his use of the ball and the pace at which he moved. He put us under unnecessary pressure and ended up hoofing the ball on most occasions. Again he should have scored with a header in the second half but he rarely looks like getting a goal even when in a good position. Personally would consider dropping him but we just don't have the personnel available to do that so we just have to hope he regains his form soon. The consolation is that we don't look like conceding a lot but this could well be because of DCs having so many players behind the ball rather than pushing the defensive unit further up the field and thereby allowing the midfielders to get further forward and support our attackers.
Brown 6 Better as the game went on
but I think we are becoming very predictable and teams are realising that his crossing is not that good and if he is pressurised then he gets a bit lost as to what he is actually going to do and particularly in the first half him and Sinclair were both putting each other under pressure and the same was the case with Brown and Parkes so really we got nowhere on that side and IMO Brown is better employed as a full back who attacks effectively sometimes rather than regularly.
Mansell 4 Not yet up to pace and IMO made to look worse because Lines is playing so deep ,Clarke is lost and Sinclair runs everywhere but has little discipline in positioning. This leaves Mansell who is just returning from injury
with a lack of options when he does win the ball and unfortunately the defence are mainly by passing the midfield which means the ball is hit up to our two heavily outmuscled and outnumbered strikers and the midfield never gets far enough up the pitch to impact on our offensive play.
O Clarke 4.5 Has been playing well and in the first 20 minutes he was IMO the best midfielder but then seemed to dip back to the Ollie Clarke of last season who looks so lacking in quality and probably a Conference midfielder.The trouble is that he is not helped by the fact that Mansell and Lines are also playing deep and he looks totally lost as to where he should be and what he should be doing. Unfortunately he does not have the ability or confidence to make himself available to want the ball and is far too easily dispossessed
Lines 6 tried hard to get things going but a complete lack of movement up front made life difficult for him today
Sinclair 6 Can never fault this mans effort and enthusiasm but I wonder whether he does actually have the quality to produce anything other than the occasional goal and he is definitely not helped by DC's constant changing of the team shape and being played wide.Yesterday in the first half he was sort of played in the hole but appearing on the scene far too late to assist the two forwards in closing the Accy defence down and far too often over complicated things when in possession getting himself closed down too easily. When you have a player like Sinclair he is worth his weight in gold in closing down the opposition and stopping them playing by hassling them but then releasing the ball quickly and waiting for the next opportunity to win the ball back. He is not,and will never be a winger or a really creative midfielder but he can be the sort of player that no other team has. He should be the first player on the team sheet BUT only in his correct position which has to be central midfield.
Harrison 3 Too often in the past I have heard "Ellis isn't interested" but yesterday it was probably true but in all honesty I do have some sympathy with him as I do with all our strikers because the service is non existent and I feel that any of our strikers could play well with say Akinfenwa alongside them but with each other combined with the way when we are pressurised our defenders just hit the ball up to our outnumbered attackers they really don't stand a chance
Taylor 3 My biggest frustration with him is his inability to stay on his feet and really trying to cheat to an extent that he is now getting very few decisions even when he is obviously fouled. I am sure word gets around referees and similar to managers who watch videos of their next opponents so do referees of their upcoming matches. I don't like cheating by our opponents and I certainly don't like our own players doing it. Matty is not helped by the service and support he is getting and at the moment the team reminds me very much of the Jo Kuffour days where the ball was often lumped up to him with not a chance of him winning it.
Easter 4 Limited impact
as I expected when he went on because as usual its just like for like.Stronger than Ellis or Taylor but lacking the height to make anything of balls played in the air and with no support for our forwards the ball always has to go back. DC must make up his mind soon but personally i would start Easter in the famous "hole" just behind the strikers and would be going all out to get a new targetman or even getting Blissett back if one is not available.
Gosling 3 Very poor but again not necessarily down to him as wingers like strikers need to receive the ball quickly to feet but the only passes yesterday were laboured and generally inaccurate.
Bodin 6 Showed good touches but can he do any better than Easter,Harrison or Taylor? I am not convinced but no harm in at least giving him a try but for me we need a "beast" up front to change the options.
Ref 5 Very average and not helped by one linesman who proved himself totally inadequate. The standard of officials is only a little better than Conference .
DC 2 It is now becoming frustrating to watch as I feel tactically we are second best and the team selection seems to be to get players in the team rather than round pegs in round halls. The players are being forced into a formation rather than fitting that formation and to be honest yesterday we looked very much a Conference outfit in terms of organisation and the substitutions two of which should IMO have been made after half hour when made late on made us even more disorganised. Sorry DC but if we are going to keep playing this way then a Tall,strong physical striker is a must because you are being found out bigtime. We have lost Monakana who has not been replaced but still have two wingers but we play wingless, we try to play a formation with wingbacks but only have one and even he (Lee Brown) is more an attacking full back rather than a wing back. i just hope that DC can change it aroiund because the last three results have taken us from a team that was in touch with the top to a team that look more likely to see mid table as the best we can achieve. As well as in attack IMO we lack a Mr Nasty all over the pitch.Parkes ,Lockyer and Clarke are all too nice as are our midfield. I would seriously be on the look out for 4 players- a nasty centre half to replace Parkes, a nasty central midfielder until Mansell is 100% and a nasty centre forward,the fourth would have to be a winger to get back to being able to play 4-4-2 especially at home.
Crowd 10 Deserve a 10 for the majority staying to the end of an awful football match!! Tongue in cheek!!
Stanley 7 Everything that we were not efficient, organised and effective. Didn't have any real stand out players but tactically they got everything right but there again we are so predictable that this is hardly surprising. It was refreshing to see them have a team who didn't sit back with everybody behind the ball but relied on each part of their unit doing their job and with each unit supporting each other. Their defence came out and their midfield supported them AND their attack. when necessary they pushed four players up to not give our defence time to do anything when they received the ball.
So its on to Plymouth next week and at the moment I see a game very similar to the Orient game where we will over respect them and play exactly the same way and allow them to play the way they want to and hope that we can snatch a 1 goal victory.
Many will blame the forwards but it is not necessarily the forwards fault. If you are under six foot and have balls pumped at you because the opposition do exactly what we don't do ie push up and pressurize the opposition defence then it is hardly of surprising we don't score goals whichever player we play. Our forwards received the ball and I continually noticed that our central midfield three of Clarke,Mansell and Lines were about fifty yards behind in a straight line with our defenders just a bit behind them and Sinclair lost in a huge hole trying to get up to join the strikers but therefore being missed for the things he does best which is hassling the opposition..
The Brown overlapping has become as predictable as winter coming after Autumn and Lines deliveries being too high and our crossing in general being poor are as predictable as spring following winter.
We are playing every home match the same as away in the DC style of getting all the players behind the ball but the problem is that we have no pace in the side to change from defence to attack. Try watching what happens when we pass a ball forward (which is quite rare) our defence will slowly plod out obviously to give the person with the ball the chance to pass back to them but this is pointless when they are not exactly good passers of the ball. The midfield are only just a few yards away and to me always look like they are looking for players to mark rather than actually marking them. We seem to treat every game like we are playing Manchester United and let the opponents play the ball out from the back and even at this level giving opponents the space to move uncontested will cost you.
I also notice that on the bench I see nothing of the highly motivated and passionate Manager that DC comes across as and he rarely gets out of his seat!
Nicholls 6 Yet again we have a keeper coming in late in the week and having no time to get to know his team mates and vice versa. Hard to judge on todays performance but to me no better than Chapman and questionable whether any better than Mildenhall . Unless we have a chance of signing him then will only be here until December and then it will be another keeper having to get used to his team mates. I wonder if DC is going after a record of most keepers used in a season. Made a good save with his feet and managed to hold their player up well when clean through and it is good that he is vocal but the fact that I heard him shows just how quiet an effective Accrington had made the crowd.
J Clarke 6 Not up to his usual performance but OK and generally steady but to me does not look so good in the full back position. DC's tactics are being heavily exposed at the moment and the failure to get defenders out quick because they are hanging back for the regular balls back to them means that we are often outnumbered in all areas of the pitch.
Lockyer 7 More a Man of the match performance than Sinclair and had a good steady game all round making very few mistakes and was unaffected by the changes in formation during the game. Not convinced that James Clarke is a good enough full back which may mean he has to revert to full back until Leadbitter is fit and if we play a back four which will be a shame as Tom really has been one of the big successes this season in his natural position.
Parkes 4 Very poor today both in his use of the ball and the pace at which he moved. He put us under unnecessary pressure and ended up hoofing the ball on most occasions. Again he should have scored with a header in the second half but he rarely looks like getting a goal even when in a good position. Personally would consider dropping him but we just don't have the personnel available to do that so we just have to hope he regains his form soon. The consolation is that we don't look like conceding a lot but this could well be because of DCs having so many players behind the ball rather than pushing the defensive unit further up the field and thereby allowing the midfielders to get further forward and support our attackers.
Brown 6 Better as the game went on
but I think we are becoming very predictable and teams are realising that his crossing is not that good and if he is pressurised then he gets a bit lost as to what he is actually going to do and particularly in the first half him and Sinclair were both putting each other under pressure and the same was the case with Brown and Parkes so really we got nowhere on that side and IMO Brown is better employed as a full back who attacks effectively sometimes rather than regularly.
Mansell 4 Not yet up to pace and IMO made to look worse because Lines is playing so deep ,Clarke is lost and Sinclair runs everywhere but has little discipline in positioning. This leaves Mansell who is just returning from injury
with a lack of options when he does win the ball and unfortunately the defence are mainly by passing the midfield which means the ball is hit up to our two heavily outmuscled and outnumbered strikers and the midfield never gets far enough up the pitch to impact on our offensive play.
O Clarke 4.5 Has been playing well and in the first 20 minutes he was IMO the best midfielder but then seemed to dip back to the Ollie Clarke of last season who looks so lacking in quality and probably a Conference midfielder.The trouble is that he is not helped by the fact that Mansell and Lines are also playing deep and he looks totally lost as to where he should be and what he should be doing. Unfortunately he does not have the ability or confidence to make himself available to want the ball and is far too easily dispossessed
Lines 6 tried hard to get things going but a complete lack of movement up front made life difficult for him today
Sinclair 6 Can never fault this mans effort and enthusiasm but I wonder whether he does actually have the quality to produce anything other than the occasional goal and he is definitely not helped by DC's constant changing of the team shape and being played wide.Yesterday in the first half he was sort of played in the hole but appearing on the scene far too late to assist the two forwards in closing the Accy defence down and far too often over complicated things when in possession getting himself closed down too easily. When you have a player like Sinclair he is worth his weight in gold in closing down the opposition and stopping them playing by hassling them but then releasing the ball quickly and waiting for the next opportunity to win the ball back. He is not,and will never be a winger or a really creative midfielder but he can be the sort of player that no other team has. He should be the first player on the team sheet BUT only in his correct position which has to be central midfield.
Harrison 3 Too often in the past I have heard "Ellis isn't interested" but yesterday it was probably true but in all honesty I do have some sympathy with him as I do with all our strikers because the service is non existent and I feel that any of our strikers could play well with say Akinfenwa alongside them but with each other combined with the way when we are pressurised our defenders just hit the ball up to our outnumbered attackers they really don't stand a chance
Taylor 3 My biggest frustration with him is his inability to stay on his feet and really trying to cheat to an extent that he is now getting very few decisions even when he is obviously fouled. I am sure word gets around referees and similar to managers who watch videos of their next opponents so do referees of their upcoming matches. I don't like cheating by our opponents and I certainly don't like our own players doing it. Matty is not helped by the service and support he is getting and at the moment the team reminds me very much of the Jo Kuffour days where the ball was often lumped up to him with not a chance of him winning it.
Easter 4 Limited impact
as I expected when he went on because as usual its just like for like.Stronger than Ellis or Taylor but lacking the height to make anything of balls played in the air and with no support for our forwards the ball always has to go back. DC must make up his mind soon but personally i would start Easter in the famous "hole" just behind the strikers and would be going all out to get a new targetman or even getting Blissett back if one is not available.
Gosling 3 Very poor but again not necessarily down to him as wingers like strikers need to receive the ball quickly to feet but the only passes yesterday were laboured and generally inaccurate.
Bodin 6 Showed good touches but can he do any better than Easter,Harrison or Taylor? I am not convinced but no harm in at least giving him a try but for me we need a "beast" up front to change the options.
Ref 5 Very average and not helped by one linesman who proved himself totally inadequate. The standard of officials is only a little better than Conference .
DC 2 It is now becoming frustrating to watch as I feel tactically we are second best and the team selection seems to be to get players in the team rather than round pegs in round halls. The players are being forced into a formation rather than fitting that formation and to be honest yesterday we looked very much a Conference outfit in terms of organisation and the substitutions two of which should IMO have been made after half hour when made late on made us even more disorganised. Sorry DC but if we are going to keep playing this way then a Tall,strong physical striker is a must because you are being found out bigtime. We have lost Monakana who has not been replaced but still have two wingers but we play wingless, we try to play a formation with wingbacks but only have one and even he (Lee Brown) is more an attacking full back rather than a wing back. i just hope that DC can change it aroiund because the last three results have taken us from a team that was in touch with the top to a team that look more likely to see mid table as the best we can achieve. As well as in attack IMO we lack a Mr Nasty all over the pitch.Parkes ,Lockyer and Clarke are all too nice as are our midfield. I would seriously be on the look out for 4 players- a nasty centre half to replace Parkes, a nasty central midfielder until Mansell is 100% and a nasty centre forward,the fourth would have to be a winger to get back to being able to play 4-4-2 especially at home.
Crowd 10 Deserve a 10 for the majority staying to the end of an awful football match!! Tongue in cheek!!
Stanley 7 Everything that we were not efficient, organised and effective. Didn't have any real stand out players but tactically they got everything right but there again we are so predictable that this is hardly surprising. It was refreshing to see them have a team who didn't sit back with everybody behind the ball but relied on each part of their unit doing their job and with each unit supporting each other. Their defence came out and their midfield supported them AND their attack. when necessary they pushed four players up to not give our defence time to do anything when they received the ball.
So its on to Plymouth next week and at the moment I see a game very similar to the Orient game where we will over respect them and play exactly the same way and allow them to play the way they want to and hope that we can snatch a 1 goal victory.
