LaticsEddie

I touched on it in the original post. We want out of this league ASAP and clearly throwing our available resources at it, so were not looking to go up the County/Chesterfield route. We dont have the financial clout of Wrexham, were not going up by buying starters from League 1. If we dont want to have to spend 4, 5, 6 seasons in this division to build a squad and playing style to get out of this division or have a never ending pit of money to buy that squad then somethings got to give. We have brought in promotion winners, (hopefully) young and hungry players and proven quality. Im sure theres a lot of first team league players with those attributes out there who would come on board here but they will be commanding fee's and they dont want the National League on their CV. Players of that quality we can attract are ones with less to lose like Conlon who wasnt catching at vale after injury. League clubs dont want to take the risk or wont pay him enough to consider and so has less to lose coming here. The negative for us is that they will take an unspecified time to gain fitness and gel before we reap the rewards. The risks will have been calculated and im sure the board are happy with the investment with the view to see us win the playoffs with the realistic expectation that we wont but start the season with a formidable team from the off.

Understandable questions are being asked, but perspective is needed with this drop in form. Murmurings of Mellons head on the chopping block are insane. Poor performances the last two games but lets look at the facts. -We have just made 5 signings, none of which are 100% match fit. Conlon- Didnt break back into the Vale side after injury. Played 181 minutes before joining us, one being a full game. Not match fit. Sachdev- Never played mens football, will take time to adjust. Also not 100% Hammond- Bit part player for Cheltenham. 641 minutes played, 5 full games. Not match fit. Dallas- 561 minutes played for Kilmarnock, not a single full game. Not match fit. Garner- 1346 minutes but last substantial minutes were 78 minutes on 14/11/23. Not match fit. -2 signings are young lads, breaking into the game. Sachdev and Hammond got pelters for their performance against Woking. Not every young lad bursts into the team like Stones. Playing mens football for the first time is going to be a huge change naturally but players adjust. Hammond, given time, will impress im sure of it. A hard worker, great energy, presses well, loves a tackle and getting in oppos faces. Sachdev I know less about. Needs to be more positive but has certainly shown quality in glimpses. -Signing 5 new players takes time to gel. All 5 on the face of it look good enough for the EFL. I suspect we have managed to pull off coups like Garner, Conlon not just because they are the type to relish a challenge, see the potential in Oldham and can get a league comparable salary but also because league clubs dont want to take the risk on a 36 year old and a player coming back from long term injury neither of which are match fit. -Hogan has been suspended for the last 2 games, arguably our most in form CB. We have clearly felt his absence (or McGaheys presence, undecided on that). McGahey lack of pace pulls the backline too deep and he doesnt have the arial presence of Hogan. I think Hogans leadership qualities are also underrated on the pitch. I suspect we might be grinding out a few more games before we start to build form again but Rome wasn't built in a day, im still confident of a playoff finish. In Mellon I still trust.

Yep, I agree, its so frustrating. But I dont think its a Mellon thing, more the personel he has at his disposal. Signing the likes of Conlon and Garner suggests to me he's trying to change the mentality of the dressing room.

Luckily there's some decent ones for this level and league 2 who will be available on a free come June. Turnbull at Tranmere, Frazer Blake-Tracy at Swindon, James Husband at Blackpool to name a few

Exactly. Plus, teams rarely press really high up and when they do they arent very good, making it even more redundant

I think 4-3-3 will come but Dallas isnt match fit yet, and integral to it. Barely played for Killie and only a 30 min run out on Saturday. I dont know where Garner fits in tbh, I think he's a replacement for Fondop in that he is someone you can lump it up to but with a lot more footy smarts. Out of the CB options we have, McGahey is unfortunately the best option for LCB. Id like Sutton to have a run out but I dont think id trust him on the left side. That must be one of the targets for summer, a left footed CB.

He has adapted. His first game he sent us out in a 4-5-1, then we played 4-4-2, settled on a 3-5-2 until recently, now he's transitioning us to a 4-3-3 with his own players coming in...

I think its stupid at our level of football to be doing that but it serves a purpose in the top leagues. It's basically to give the GK passing options on both sides. If its passed out by the GK to a defender then he is on stuck on one side of the pitch as players now cut off angles as they press, probably forcing the ball long. If he is in the middle then he has options both sides. Seems unnecessary and risky at this level.

I think we're in a transition to Mellon's favoured 433. Home form poor so change that to a more attacking lineup first, away form great so leave be.

Who else are you putting there? Who else are you going to put in the midfield? But for suspension, thats the strongest side we have

I dont think Dallas is fit enough to start just yet so I reckon a 352, unchanged from Saturday or Garner for Fondop. I think we might switch to 433 at some point too with Walker and Dallas coming on.

Home Hudson Sachdev Hobson Raglan Kitching Lundstram Conlon Sheron Walker Norwood Dallas Away Hudson Hobson Raglan Hogan Sachdev Lundstram Conlon Sheron Kitching Norwood Garner Surely?

It's been like that for a while. They never seem to be in a rush to get the ball back into play even when losing, cant get my head around that mentality. Also, believe it or not, Hudson (GK) has improved quite a bit in this department too.

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Hogan passed the armband to Raglan after he went off against Hendon as Conlon and Norwood came on

FotMob has him on 8 bookings? https://www.fotmob.com/en-GB/players/14052/liam-hogan

With the signing of Dallas, I think Mellon is building a 4-3-3. He's spoken in the past about his admiration of Klopp's Liverpool side and how they press. So I think we will start to see a shift towards something like Hudson Sachdev Raglan Hobson Kitching Hammond/Lundstram Conlan Sheron Dallas Norwood Walker Sachdev is a wing back predominantly so youd think has the gas tank to be up and down a lot. Conlan comes across as a model pro and a leader and should dictate from the middle of the park. What ive seen of Hammond is and abundance of energy, good pressing, positionally aware and loves to get in the oppositions faces. Gives out of form Lundstram competition for his place. Dallas is good with both feet and so can cross or cut in from both sides. From the little we have seen from Walker he likes to cut in from the left and we know Kitching likes to stick to the line and get the ball in the box so i expect the overlap will be on a lot.

One eye on next season I think. We need out of this division ASAP so I don’t think it would be a stretch to suggest funds have been freed up that were planned for next season to give us every chance. If it’s not successful then it’s a head start on next term. Possibly over budget with the idea that the outgoings before the start of next season will even out the wage bill

Ive just tweeted exactly that. McCallum and Norwood too similar. A better foil for him would definitely be Quigley. Like Stones in that he will run the channels, dribble, cross, pass, you can lump it to him and it'll stick.

Fondop v Hartlepool- no assist credited because its a rebound off the defender, Fondop v Mickleover- no FA vase on Wyscout, Reid at Kidderminster- Dickenson heads it, keeper saves and Reid scores the rebound

Subjective, IMO he is given he's spent majority of the season at LB. Successful Attacking Actions p90: Avg 2.75 Kitch 3.78 (12th) Offensive duels p90: Avg 6.1 Kitch 4.77 (24th) Offensive duels won: Avg 41.93% Kitch 52.08% (6th) Progressive runs p90: Avg 1.97 Kitch 2.06 (19th) Dribbles per 90: Avg 2.94 Kitch 2.78 (21st) Successful dribbles: Avg 54% Kitch 64.29% (7th) Cross per 90: Avg 2.67 Kitch 5.24 (2nd) Cross accuracy: Avg 30.63% Kitch 34.81% (17th) expected assists: Avg 1.65 Kitch 4.95 (2nd) Assists: Avg 1.4 Kitch 4 (joint 2nd, said earlier he was first but thats Briggs with 10) (out of 45 players who's main position is listed as LB/LWB) Close between Kitch, Briggs and Kanu. Briggs and Kanu better dribblers and as LWB's get more freedom to go forward. Kitch by far the better crosser.

In the interest of balance, a couple of things, stats aren't everything and the stats we do have are probably abit skewed defensively because most of our defending is done down our weaker right side. Having said that I would say his defensive stats are slightly above average for the division, but it depends how you interpret the data. Successful defensive actions per 90: Avg 8.2 Kitch 7.86 Defensive duels per 90 : Avg 6.4 Kitch 5.7 Defensive duels won: Avg 61.7 Kitch 66.28 Ariel duels per 90: Avg 2.86 Kitch 2.49 Ariel duel success: Avg 42.4 Kitch 61.33 Shots blocked per 90: Avg 0.19 Kitch 0.3 Interceptions per 90: Avg 3.9 Kitch 3.98 Fouls per 90: Avg 0.74 Kitch 0.56

4 this season although thats more than any other LB/LWB

You could say the best LB as the other 2 are deployed in a 5

Think you might be remembering me, although its Wyscout not Statsbomb. I assume they're very similar though. Hudson. The Wyscout index which compiles a bunch of stats depending on position to determine the best in the division has him as the 7th best. 1st Johnson @ Halifax, 2nd Smith @ Bromley and annoyingly 3rd is Moulden @ Dogdale (although Tyrer at Chesterfield is 12th). FYI, comparing Normans full season to Hudsons half, both our keepers are very close in stats although Hudson shades it. Kitching Index has him as the 7th best fullback in the league and 3rd best predominantly left sided fullback. Briggs @ Saafend and Kanu @ Barnet being the left sided players ranked higher. Indevidual stats suggest he is probably the best LB going forwards and above average defensively. Sheron Theres a caveat with the centre of midfield in that theres 3 catagories, defensive, central and attacking so messes with the sample sizes somewhat but the Index ranks him as the 9th best central midfielder in the league. 1st Whitely @ Bromley, 2nd Booty, 3rd Krauhaus @ Bromley. If you want anything more specific then im happy to look it up for you.