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Mayfield

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Danny Boshell

Danny Boshell (5/15)

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  1. In spite of the remarkable investment and excellent preparation for the season, we contrive a terrible first performance. The roller coaster season has begun. Promotion is the goal, David Unsworth isn't denying it, he appears to be signing all his preferred players. While the board are clearly invested in him as the manager for the duration of his contract, if we are not in contention for promotion, this is failure. I imagine being knocked out in the playoffs would be adequate achievement to warrant one more season in charge. My emotions aren't so balanced, I expect David Unsworth to be putting a team out to play with the spirit and endeavour to win, every game, don't care about clean sheets, score more than them. We should find ourselves in the playoffs, thirty odd years of misery is eclipsed when we win at Wembley.
  2. Almost certainly a few more transfers in and out, you may be correct about both, particularly if a decent bid is made. I like Mike Fondop, he is a character, capable of causing all kinds of problems and weighed in with a decent goal tally last season. That said, I dont think he is first, second or third pick for David Unsworth in his front three. Mike needs to give himself the very best chance, be fully fit from the start of the season this time, stop giving the ref an easy decision to send him off, take his chances when he does come on as sub. The first team improved significantly through the course of last season, not least in having bigger, quicker and more powerful players in key areas. Clearly need to add quality and guile in midfield to be a credible promotion prospect, although we did manage to rattle in a good number of goals in the second half of the season, which I didn't expect to happen back in January.
  3. Altrincham away was the worst Latics performance I had ever witnessed to date (since 1980). Today was significantly better, I quite enjoyed the afternoon till the last ten minutes, then we frustratingly reverted to type. Devarn Green was lively and effective in the first half, we didn't have any creativity on the left. The forward line worked hard today, Joe Nuttall seems more relaxed and confident, while Alex Reid is clearly our best striker, promising goals if he gets decent service. The manager picked our strongest eleven, of the players available in my opinion, I was pleased to see Magnus Norman back in and Ben Tollitt at least on the bench. Failure to take three points is fuelling the Twitter tirade against the manager but the players need to feel responsible today. I believe David Unsworth will request replacements for six or seven positions, possibly more, testing the support and resolve of the board to sponsor his vision. One thing I did notice and would call out as progress is the communication between players, clearly more vocal and demanding of each other. Leave aside what they said and how effective it was ... this is something Shez found exasperating, no characters, no leaders. Seem to have a handful of players trying to take responsibility. Joe Nuttall was very animated and vocal, didn't seem arrogant, just pointing and challenging the midfield to find the right pass. Good to see, but I still left the ground frustrated, accepting that I need to endure this 'process' for a good while yet. Summer transfers in and out will do for David Unsworth, a poor start next season will bring almighty pressure.
  4. The very reasonable, objective and dispassionate view .... is be threatening the playoffs next season, followed by promotion the following season, be that automatic or via playoffs. In context of the major rebuilding process and a manager on a three year contract. Will be interesting to see how next season goes, certainly if the performances are dull but effective to the point of being mid table. Personally I feel the majority of our support EXPECT a serious promotion push next season, not marginal improvement. This will be nailed on if and when Frank supports investment in quality new signings. Turgid winning football will be tolerated. My simple concern is how the manager is proposing to transform this team into a free scoring side by the start of next season.
  5. @Dave_Ogno doubt some will still think there is a significant prospect yes. My view is the likelihood has diminished substantially in the space of two games, but, failing to pick up points in the next run of games will of course drop us back down the table. The performance level late February was where I hoped we would be in early January (latest), which in fairness isn't that much later, but fuelled the anxiety over the manager's ability to pick up enough points. I recall Baz Rathbone in an interview speaking about the process of improving performance, having to work on all the various attributes, including fitness and players self belief, which if done correctly, shift the performance level up. Didn't expect this to be so dramatic, with faltering improvement followed by shockingly bad displays (Altrincham, Halifax), then a bang at Barnet. The Barnet game was remarkable by our recent standards, every department seemed to be better, the sum of the parts was substantially greater than before, plus we had a couple of individually outstanding performances (Magnus Norman just great). Far from the finished article, the summer recruitment will define what comes next, I believe David Unsworth does need a big Non League budget to move us into a promotion winning side and I wonder if he will remain focussed on not conceding, rather than blitzing the league with free flowing football.
  6. @Chaddyexile84 no, he is still going strong. Plenty of others are thinking the same, the moans and groans are audible when we are dropping deep, attempting to pass sideways or back and regularly not closing down. No place for shouting abuse at the Manager, it achieves nothing.
  7. Three points, poor performance in general nonetheless. Mark Shelton stood out, able to pass the ball, also consistenly to a blue shirt. It was a difficult watch, we are months into the new coaching methods and tactics, but still so devoid of ideas or patterns of play. The pitch was again referenced in the post match interview, the point is we didn't dominate or impose ourselves on a very poor side. Won the game so who cares ... I watched Mark Kitching closely, really good player, regularly in the right position to receive the ball and create down the left, instead we try to find John Rooney, who didn't influence the game so much today. The atmosphere in BP is mentioned by several posters, it is flat, people are losing interest. Alex Reid produced a sweet finish at the end, igniting the wavering crowd, need to do more of this or the attendances will surely dwindle. Calling for the managers head is futile, the club are backing him over the term of his contract it appears. OK then, no problem, the board will need to sanction many more signings before we witness the David Unsworth 4-3-3 vision. It maybe great, we have a long wait to know. My unease is will the vision be a team capable of winning promotion. The champions will be free scoring, battering the weak sides and taking points of near rivals. Hard to see how we transition from this point to a championship winning team with the Unsworth blueprint, unless there is monumental investment in players.
  8. Agreed. Remarkably consistent, won everything in the air, came across as very genuine. Strangely criticised as not being better than 4th division standard, at a time when we needed competent 4th division players. Sadly ended under a cloud though, the sending off was totally out of character and hammered in the final nail.
  9. We clearly have a problem. Frank has the right vision for the club, demonstrated improvement in all areas, appart from the team performance, which is going backwards. Is David Unsworth the right man? Probably still too early to judge, how long do we wait. Relegation would derail the project, arguably our overheads are already unsustainable in this league, nevermind National League North. Where will the investment come from if we drop, with the timescale for a return to the league being extended by years? Fair to say we should give the new manager time, I believe he will be given more time. Support with new players is beyond question, he can't keep asking for a couple more ... Enormous pressure on Darren Royle, who I expect is already anticipating the moment when time is up for this management team, maybe January. I understand what happened with Shez, didn't like it but I understood the logic. Shez was achieving more, with a lot less than David Unsworth. I didn't question Shez's honesty or integrity, had faith in him, don't have the same confidence in David. Results can change this, I believe he should be required to deliver an improved performance and positive results by January, or time up.
  10. @TheBigDog I don't want to believe he invited the booking, but his behaviour and reaction at the time was out of character. Typically a cool head, good servant up to that point, player of the season award was moot but he would have won up to that incident.
  11. Fair comment @TheBigDog Hallam should have put his hand up, or Nicky or Davis ... Sam will feel terrible over missing it no doubt. Amidst a terrible season, which seems increasingly likely to end in oblivion, Sam Hart has not been the problem.
  12. Another very fair post match interview from Shez. Clearly frustrated, yet conveys a feeling that the 'silly things' can be put right and we are not down just yet. First half suggested we could take a point today, againt a decent team, second in the league. Same fundamental problems, no striker, no depth in the squad. While we clearly miss Pidge, great credit to Will Sutton, has conducted himself very well. Similar gratitude to Sam Hart, great attitude, brave enough to take the pen, shouldn't be left with the responsibility. Need to win two of the next three, then beat Stevenage, maybe the simplicity of the task will help focus everyone. Surprised and disappointed by the turnout today, not judging those who chose to stay away, just wish you felt able to come, it does make a difference. With so little to work with or change, perhaps our salvation relies on Junior coming back in time for Orient.
  13. Glad he is doing well there. Often criticised for being in the right place to miss decent chances for us, damned with feint praise. Even though I appreciated his effort, running, positional sense, he wasn't effective and by the end, confidence seemed to be in bits. Playing with better players cant hurt.
  14. Very odd indeed. I saw the sense in not dropping Ian Lawlor when he made a few blunders, to avoid shattering his confidence, which in my opinion was the right decision, given the contribution he made. But to persist with a lame keeper when Bilboe seems to be an adequate number 2, or at least hasn't had the chance to show he isn't, does seem baffling. I don't know the ins and outs but does keeping and not playing the emergency keeper create some ludicrous breach of the arrangement which says he has to go back ...
  15. At least we showed some fight in the end. Morecambe clearly the better side, we gave them too much space and time. Laurie Walker had a problem for most / all of the game, not looking great for the last few games perhaps. Very annoying to have ifollow coverage drop out for a while, if they refund the £10 it hasn't been all bad.
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