TheBigDog

A little bit ‘tongue-in-cheek’ with the title… a long way to go but it’s nice to think that it could happen…

I went with a few mates yesterday and the overriding emotion this morning (despite the victory) was one of disappointment - particularly with our second half performance. The midfield was simply not competitive - they out passed us, out thought us and we had no answer. Far too often this season, average sides make us look poor because the midfield just doesn’t work hard enough. We are hesitant when on the ball and slow to react when out of possession. Under Mellon the back five and keeper have improved significantly but the midfield continues to labour - I’m not sure why McGahey was brought back in to start and why Lundstram (who was way off the pace) was not substituted at half time. In the end we defended well and clung on for the win - special mentions go out to Hudson, Raglan and Fondop(!) who were all great at the back yesterday. We need more energy and tempo in the midfield and that right back we’ve been wanting all season. It is good to win but we are still far too inconsistent in our performance - in Mellon we trust…I suppose

The pass is a ‘domestic’ pass so it should be available

Good scoring record for a winger - just back from an ankle injury which he picked up against us…

Ward and Willoughby have not had enough playing time to show what they can deliver and for us to properly judge…

Definitely one but not the primary objective I think.

Two good points: In recent times there is only Will Sutton who has come through from the youth setup and stayed in the first team picture - Harry Vaughan could have done likewise but was moved on… Couto, Moore, Forshaw and others have still not shown enough and maybe never will. It was the desire and willingness to run the channels, and get a shot off, that impressed me from Stones. Hopefully we bring in one or two more that have the same attitude.

Tyler Golden?

I still think that there’s a decent player there…

WE WIN. 2-0. Not the most convincing display but a first home win for MM - btw Hudson got MotM

Live on TNT Sports- Saturday February 3 – Ebbsfleet vs Oldham Ath (5.30pm)

The lad who came on in the second half, Mancini, looked very good. They were also without Dieseruvwe - not sure if he is long term injured. They will still cause us problems unless MM manages to sort out his home tactics and formation

He’s always smiling nowadays

Don’t agree with any of what you’ve said above… ’not fast enough… to take a loose ball a distance from goal…’ I give you the third goal at Barnet ’an arrogant personality’ Know the guy do you? I wonder if many of his teammates would agree with you? For me, the problem is the micro analysis that seems to be prevalent at the moment. I'm just glad that he is finally showing what he is capable of at this level

I think that the club is making too much of this incident - fine the guy, ask him to apologise, move on fer chrissakes

3-1 victory - Two average sides but in Stones and Norwood we had the better strikers No subs made by Mellon. Surely we can beat them at home on Saturday?

Hartlepool not won at home since October 7th. Latics on a run of 3 away victories… Only one outcome

Yet…

Ridiculous!

Nothing to see here - move on…

The reason for the flat atmosphere at home is the way the team is set up to play and its continuing underperformance. The manager has to take some of the responsibility for this. It’s an easy cop out to say that Mellon has inherited bad players - that is only part of the story. The manager is making mistakes in formation and team selection and it’s his job to get more out of what he has at his disposal. The squad has shown that it can do it albeit not consistently. He has made his mind up about many players but, until he can move them on and bring better players in, he has to get more from the current crop. After all, that’s what he’s paid to do surely?

Agreed. There were 6,500 there on Saturday and the team played very poorly. How long before some start to drift away?

Me neither but I will because they are my team

It’s not about what I expect him to say, it’s more about if he’s saying the same thing each time then he needs to change it! See my earlier post

I must have missed that… what was their vulnerability?