oafc1955

7 minutes ago, oafcmetty said:

That huge expectation was foolish though. We ended last season with DU fluking his way to a decent run of results, but at no stage did we look like real contenders, and that continued at the start of this season, even with a few decent (on paper) signings. The longer we don't play over the summer, the better we get on paper. But reality is a harsh mistress.

 

It's the same with any player who's out of the side for a while - the calls grow and grow to get them back in the side as they must be better than the crap currently playing. Conveniently forgetting that the likely reason they're out of the side in the first place is they were crap themselves previously.

 

People need to reset their expectations. We're in non-league. We're able to attract better talent than most others in non-league, but the players are never going to be world beaters. We're up against sides who've played together for longer than we have, who normally do one thing really well. We're still building that, and repairing the damage done by the AL years. It's going to take time - we're not going to win every match. It's foolish to judge MM based on what we've seen so far - most of the players aren't his, and he hasn't had a pre-season to properly bed in what he wants to do.

He is 30+ games in now and has had 6 months on the training ground!
It's his complete lack of progress not only with the existing players but also with the additional players he has brought in that worries me.

It’s been said over & over that these players are more than good enough to secure a playoff place.

It hasn’t happened under two managers over two seasons. If it’s not the players then it must be the manager?

9 minutes ago, GlossopLatic said:

this squad man for man was good enough to get into the play offs at least.

Were they though? You have only past performances to back that up and past performance is no guarantee of future success. That goes for the manager too!

7 minutes ago, deyres42 said:

Can you name the last one to do it at this kind of level?

Not really and can’t be arsed checking but not many 33 year old strikers tend to drop out of League 1 to play in the National league.

Fane was much better at breaking up the play and passing to a colleague but not very good at the business end of the pitch!!

5 minutes ago, deyres42 said:

A 34yo isn't scoring 30 goals.

Why not?….he was on course for 20 odd until his injury in an absolute joke of a team!!

5 minutes ago, deyres42 said:

He's had one thirty goal season in his career and it was five years ago...

His last 4 years were spent in Division One!!

Wonder if Byrne fancies another shift here?

He’s only playing in the Irish league and would take this league apart!!

….I just woke up!

1 hour ago, LightDN123 said:

Said it months ago, Norwood will leave and we will regret it. The opportunity to have the stand out striker in the league has passed us by. 
 

Like you say, he’s a poacher and he rarely gets a chance created for him. Hence the frustration. 

His 5k a week has probably kept us away from a relegation battle but if he stays we’d better give him better service next season. With decent wide players and a proper midfield I have no doubt he would score 30+ but £500k is a lot of dosh just to stick around in this division!!

20 minutes ago, deckyd said:

Sheron frustrates the life out of me, most of the time his first touch is a tackle or a chase after the ball, not as bad a touch as Dallas though, good lord his is shocking.

 

As posters have said, someone who can play football beside Sheron would make his job easier, let him run, tackle and play simple passes left and right, something similar to that of Fane and Byrne (that was an extreme!). Simplify his role, at the minute he is a typical midfielder which makes him look poor at times, the aimless ball to no one etc (granted he's not alone with this trait). 

 

Wenger at Monaco had his midfielders who's job was to run, win ball back and pass it to Hoddle!  Robbie Savage made a career out of running around and tackling etc!  I understand none of this is relevant to Sheron but the general philosophy would be the same, play to his strengths, definitely becomes an asset, with the odd goal as well.

 

On another note, our general distribution from the back is terrible, Hudson needs a lot of work in this field and also could do with learning when to speed himself up and slow down, currently one slow pondering keeper.  Teams obviously let are CB's have the ball for a reason!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stopped reading that when you grouped Fane & Byrne together!!

1 minute ago, diggleblue said:

Play like today and we'll win

??? Playing like today we couldn’t beat Rochdale at home!!

7 minutes ago, kowenicki said:

Dreading this. 

Yep…so am I

11 minutes ago, Lags said:

 

The last one I can see is the post Alty one..is it that one?

 

EDIT: Found it

Don’t watch it…..FFS!!!

Just now, Lags said:

Where is this interview posters are talking of?

On the O.S.

25 minutes ago, Boyyou said:

A younger coach would still have to sort out the squad problems and recruitment. At least MM has the experience and knowhow 

Yes he has but I don’t think he’s here for the long haul. I think the reason we went for Mellon was to try and get us up or in to the playoffs at least this season ….its not happening unfortunately and it’s looking like another complete rebuild.

IMO He’s not improved any of our players or the way that we play at all and I’m just not convinced that he is the man we should be relying on.

17 minutes ago, Dave_Og said:

The success or otherwise of this desired major clear out depends on almost faultless recruitment next time round. Not guaranteed...

Absolutely!! I’m also really not sure I would want Mellon to be the man orchestrating it either. He doesn’t look happy at all as he has probably now realised  the size of his task!

The next close season is absolutely crucial and may well define our fortunes for the foreseeable.
As you say our recruitment needs to be damn near spot on!!

A younger more forward thinking coach would be my preference but I have no idea who that might be!

40 minutes ago, Littlemoor Lad said:

Can't say I'm surprised 

You have to admit it wasn’t very encouraging. 

Looking at that list of contracted players we still have, makes me think our fortunes will be following a similar pattern next season.

IMO, we need a major clear out because the only way to make real progress would be to pay off all the unwanted players and start afresh.

That’s not happening obviously but having so many players on the books who won’t be getting game time will be a nightmare for Mellon, and that’s if he’s still here!

It’s a depressing thought but I’m resigned to the fact that we could well be down in this division for another couple of years at least!!

9 minutes ago, JoeP said:

 

Is any manager inspirational in an interview?

 

He looks a beaten man and If he’s like that in the dressing room or on the training ground then God help us!!

8 minutes ago, League one forever said:

Does anyone think Mellon has lost interest and is going through the motions? 

His interviews are getting more and more depressing, inspirational he is not!! That’s a seriously worrying presser…..He’s got about 12 out of contract in June, if he can’t get a RB, a couple of wingers and a CM in and get a competitive team ready for August he shouldn’t be here!!

The way things are heading, I honestly can’t see him surviving beyond Christmas!!

7 hours ago, deyres42 said:

Don't forget about our top scorer who has been brilliant and inspired all around him.

I did forget him!

40 minutes ago, yarddog73 said:

I've had a feeling this season was wrote off by Mellon weeks ago when he realised the squad he'd still have to go with in League 2 if we got lucky in the playoffs, looking at the contracts we've given away this is probably a much bigger job than I first thought for him. I'm really hoping we don't renew any players who could be binned, giving the likes of Gardner and McGahey new deals would probably kill it for me.

He said he wouldn’t waste Frank’s money. It’s early days but the permanent signings of Hammond, & Conlon look dubious to say the least and as I’ve said before, IMO the signing of 36 year old Garner who will be on a good wedge was not good business as we’d already brought in Dallas only 7 days earlier!!

Sachdev & especially Walker have been consigned to the bin already…..If he’d wrote off the season why would he have brought that lot in?

It suggests to me that they were proper going for it and it’s sensationally backfired!

It’s either poor management, poor recruitment, or poor players or a combination …. IMO, Stones is probably the only incoming player I can remember who has made any sort of impact apart from perhaps Hobson & Yarney since the Rothwell’s took over.

2 hours ago, PeteG said:

. I know Fylde away was bad but does seem strange he hasn't even given him another look given some of the players he has. Must be more to it.

Strange!!!! Have you not seen enough of that absolutely useless tw** yet!!

16 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

I think we need to let this one play out. I was only correcting your opinion that a centre forward was needed in January and Norwood's six week hamstring layoff proved it. The staff would have suspected this was a likelihood particularly when it came out that Norwood would have missed the Eastleigh match if it passed the pitch inspection in January.

 

If we'd have used the money elsewhere we'd have had Fondop and, er, Hope up front for those matches.

Maybe so but surely a loan signing would have been better than giving a near 36 year old an 18 month deal?

He’ll be on a good contract no doubt and if Norwood were to leave would you really want him as your main striker next season?

46 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

He came in very useful during the period Norwood was out with a hamstring injury so I'd suggest he was needed.

But we haven’t made the playoffs so perhaps we could have used the money elsewhere. An 18 month deal for a 36 year old who doesn’t look too mobile and spends a lot of his time on his arse seems poor value to me!

35 minutes ago, Hemel latic said:

That's all very true @BP1960, and 45 minutes or so isn't enough to form a reliable opinion on a player.

Maybe he’s not doing it in training too? He was recalled from his last loan due to a lack of game time so it’s a bit strange to say the least!

1 hour ago, nzlatic said:

I did mean that we should have let him go out on loan even if just for a percentage of his wages, rather than keep him and pay 100%!

 

Saying that, I am a little puzzled as to why he's been totally frozen out. I can understand some of the other decisions... Reid - discipline, Nuttall and Willoughby - wanted different types of strikers. Shelton struggled but given midfield and rwb have been such massive problems I'm surprised he's not been considered at all. 

Because he’s been consistently crap in just about every game he’s played!!