Solutions

[nzlatic]

There are a lot of spleens getting vented on here but with little in the way of solutions to end the current slump being put forward.

 

So my question is, what specifically would you change if you could?

 

New player? Who? New manager? Who? New experienced assistant? Who? New tactics? What?

 

I'll kick off by saying I'd get a new striker in and it'd be Lee Gregory. It's a gamble going non league but to get a good goals/game ratio from any higher would probably be out of our range. I'm sure we could do some wheeling and dealing to get the fee together.

[iamjonesyyoafc]

Offloading Rooney and giving them Millar on loan could help.

[the_mighty_bosh]

New player? Possibly offload the odd player but I'm more interested in seeing how Harkins, Worrall and Lockwood fit in to the team. The first two could be just what the squad needs.

New manager? The question should always be considered but for the foreseeable future the answer should be a fairly clear "no".

New experienced assistant? This could make a difference, possibly a consultant rather than assistant. Not sure who or what type of personality though.

New tactics? For me, 3-4-1-2 would suit the players we've got very well. We might be exposed to opposition wingers but with attacking players in many positions and the possession we often have, we should be able to control the game. I see it as being:

 

RCB Kusunga

CB Tarky

LCB Grounds

 

CM Smith

CM Wes

 

who are the defensive minded players in the team. Smith always looks to cover defenders who are caught upfield when the opposition break so that would take some pressure off the 3 at the back. This would then leave:

 

RM Worrall

AM Harkins

LM Dayton

 

ST Philliskirk

ST MacDonald/JCH/Rooney

 

to really control the game in the opposition half. Worrall and Dayton staying wide to provide service from the flanks. Harkins and Philliskirk finding the gaps in the hole and a striker to play in the box and on the last defender. If that front five doesn't provide goals then I'm not sure what will.

[shefflatic]

Joe Royle to lend his expertise on the training ground a couple of days a week working on wing and striking play would be a start

 

Would do no harm at all, after all he signed Genseric for us

[Oh Heck C-Beck]

Joe Royle to lend his expertise on the training ground a couple of days a week working on wing and striking play would be a start

 

Would do no harm at all, after all he signed Genseric for us

 

Because Joe's results were outstanding last time he came back.

[opinions4u]

We lost to Port Vale because we switched off once from a corner. We were quite good first half. We weren't second half.

 

We can debate personnel, formations / systems etc until the cows come home. Here are some musings from me:

 

1. There is relative strength in depth. We were able to bring on three players with attacking intent and pace yesterday. They just didn't attack very well. Yes, there was a case for having three strikers on, but strikers need suppliers.

 

2. While some will say we're playing two holding midfielders, I'd dispute that it's the personnel that need to change. Both Wesolowski (goal v Stevenage, penalty won at Walsall) and Smith can and do get forwards, but not enough. One needs to go each time we attack.

 

3. Too much goes through Korey Smith. Wingers have got to be given the ball more as first option. And run with it. It will add variety to our play.

 

4. Each attack needs to see a full back willing to overlap. As with the midfield suggestion, one goes up each time we break. This will allow us to deliver more crosses. More crosses means more chances.

 

5. At a time of goal famine, our set pieces have got to have more accuracy. Short corners and short free kicks are wasteful and anybody involved in taking one should be dropped, fined or shot. The short free kick when we're 40 yards from goal and 10 yards from the touchline is an abdication of responsibility, not an improvement of trajectory. (Same goes for the throw in 20 yards inside the opposition half - backwards to full back, sideways to centre back, backwards to keeper - totally removes pressure from opponents).

 

6. Danny Philliskirk should take more free kicks and corners. If he's on the pitch he's also a striker please.

 

7. The passing game in our own half is slow, measured and fine. We look like Bob Paisley's Liverpool side from the late 1970s. Partly because teams choose to let us. When we cross the half way line we remain slow and measured. It allows teams to organise themselves, anticipate what we're going to do and deal with it. Our tempo in the opposition half has got to be much faster and slicker every time we get there. Some of the points above try to address this.

 

8. Hit it first time. Korey is the main offender but there are others too. If there's a sniff of goal shoot. Not three more touches to try and change the angle. Put your feckin foot through it (and keep your head over the ball).

 

9. Whoever is telling JCH to jump like a girl and pretend he's been pushed needs to pack it in. Use your bulk and be a man. Use your pace and be a footballer. Oh, and you're no lone striker, yet.

 

10. Mellor had a stinker yesterday. But that doesn't mean he's :censored:. He wasn't the only one.

 

While a new million pound striker might be a great idea I genuinely think we have the personnel in all positions to deliver goalscoring, match winning and entertaining football. It's the manager's job to get them doing this. Tempo and more numbers forwards please.

 

If the stats say our players are fit, all of this is possible.

Edited January 19, 2014 by opinions4u

[oafcmetty]

Can we sign some decent wingers please? Ones who can beat a man and put a decent cross in most of the time.

[oafc1955]

We have loads of foreplay but no penetration....we have had only 11 shots on target in the 4 league games this year, less than 3 per game.

 

It's pretty obvious where the problem lies and if we can't solve it there is a real chance we will be relegated. We can still go down playing pretty football and it's getting pretty tight at the bottom of the table.....Bristol C and Notts C were adrift not so long ago but are now back in the mix.

 

We have plenty of time to turn it round but if we get sucked into the bottom 4 it's going to be very difficult to get out of it!

[jw_oldh857]

all good points so far but o4u spot on with the seventh point it's just as you describe yesterday pedestrian an you can guess what there going to do with it,an we made it easy for vale

[bigfatjoe1]

 

Because Joe's results were outstanding last time he came back.

His record stands alone. He is this clubs nearest thing to a footballing god. The fact that he came back for a weeks late in the season following demoralizing off-field events is totally irrelevant.

FFS. Show some respect.

[Hands on]

Not the time to panic. I expect to see action in the transfer market. LJ hinted at this when he said lots can happen just before the window closes. We just need someone like Croft - I know he didn't score but so many assists.

[whitey1980]

O4U makes a number of excellent points which boil down to the following. We are too slow, predictable and narrow. We need our wide players to give us genuine width rather than passing responsibility inside, and we have to give them somebody to hit in the box.

 

There is nothing wrong with our midfielders taking possession deep but we have to get out of the mindset of making 15 passes where 5 will do.

 

Finally, we need to shoot, we don't do it well or often enough!!!

[Midsblue]

John Harbin or even Dowie purely for the sports psychology and positive mental attitude

 

I don't mean replacing LJ but complimenting him by taking the strikers aside and build confidence

 

Work on crossing, assists and converting chances into shots on targets and goals

[ShireBlue]

9. Whoever is telling JCH to jump like a girl and pretend he's been pushed needs to pack it in. Use your bulk and be a man. Use your pace and be a footballer. Oh, and you're no lone striker, yet.

This this and this.

 

Clarke-Harris HAS impressed me in the JPT, but he's just not cutting it the league (yet). He doesn't look strong enough against decent defences, and his tendency to hit the floor when he doesn't win the ball is infuriating.

 

When he gets the ball at his feet and runs at players he looks dangerous, but he needs to work on the other parts of his game.

 

He does look like he's capable of a strop from time to time, but his overall ability to keep his head when he's battling with defenders is impressive, especially shown in the JPT game verses Notts County, when he took Bove under his wing and stopped him from getting his head kicked-in.

[whittles left foot]

O4U that's the most balanced reply about yesterdays game yet, perhaps because it was written after tempers had calmed down a bit and you get a bit more objectivity.

 

Got to disagree with point 10 though, walked up to the ground with some Vale fans and they said they had this superb winger who was ripping teams apart at home. For first 20 mins it seemed a though this was going to happen but after a couple of hefty challenges by Mellor and a booking for the winger for diving he disappeared and was subbed in second half. I know lots of fans don't like him-around me they were all blaming him for the penalty when in fact it was Dayton who committed the foul.

Opposition do seem to target him but he has had some tough wingers to mark recently (Sterling), one thing that does bug me though is his inability to get a cross in, it always seems to hit the defending player.

 

Surprised no one has commented about Dayton, I thought he had a stinker yesterday, he put 3 good crossing opportunities out of play-this directly affects any scoring chances in the box. far too lightweight and he is not that quick either.

 

For last 25 mins of 1st half Latics ran the show but we created one messy scoring chance, we can change the forwards as many times as Johnson wants but if they do not get chances we will not score. Macdonald spent most of yesterday with his back to goal outside the box, that's not a reflection on his performance it's the fact that we do not get down the sides or play thru the channels for forwards to run onto. Really cannot see that signing a new striker will make much difference as there is little or no service for him to play off. On the plus side Worrall looks as though he may bring something to the party, he had the only meaningful strike on goal 2nd half.

 

Once again beaten by a team who were not as good as us but got the break and held on-it is fine line between success and failure and we are on the wrong side of it at the moment.

[ChaddyEnd4ever]

O4u agree with every point.

[al_bro]

There are a lot of spleens getting vented on here but with little in the way of solutions to end the current slump being put forward.

 

So my question is, what specifically would you change if you could?

 

New player? Who? New manager? Who? New experienced assistant? Who? New tactics? What?

 

I'll kick off by saying I'd get a new striker in and it'd be Lee Gregory. It's a gamble going non league but to get a good goals/game ratio from any higher would probably be out of our range. I'm sure we could do some wheeling and dealing to get the fee together.

Matt Smith scored loads of goals in non league football, but it took 18 months for him to be a threat at our level. Even then it was only as an impact player coming off the bench. The Irish lad last season,never looked like scoring. After saying that though, there are non league players who make an instant impact I've never seen Gregory like most others on here, so I can't judge, but in 23 games he has had 37 shots on target and 17 have gone in. In his last game against Cambridge he had 1 shot on target and it went in.

[BP1960]

We lost to Port Vale because we switched off once from a corner. We were quite good first half. We weren't second half.

 

We can debate personnel, formations / systems etc until the cows come home. Here are some musings from me:

 

1. There is relative strength in depth. We were able to bring on three players with attacking intent and pace yesterday. They just didn't attack very well. Yes, there was a case for having three strikers on, but strikers need suppliers.

 

2. While some will say we're playing two holding midfielders, I'd dispute that it's the personnel that need to change. Both Wesolowski (goal v Stevenage, penalty won at Walsall) and Smith can and do get forwards, but not enough. One needs to go each time we attack.

 

3. Too much goes through Korey Smith. Wingers have got to be given the ball more as first option. And run with it. It will add variety to our play.

 

4. Each attack needs to see a full back willing to overlap. As with the midfield suggestion, one goes up each time we break. This will allow us to deliver more crosses. More crosses means more chances.

 

5. At a time of goal famine, our set pieces have got to have more accuracy. Short corners and short free kicks are wasteful and anybody involved in taking one should be dropped, fined or shot. The short free kick when we're 40 yards from goal and 10 yards from the touchline is an abdication of responsibility, not an improvement of trajectory. (Same goes for the throw in 20 yards inside the opposition half - backwards to full back, sideways to centre back, backwards to keeper - totally removes pressure from opponents).

 

6. Danny Philliskirk should take more free kicks and corners. If he's on the pitch he's also a striker please.

 

7. The passing game in our own half is slow, measured and fine. We look like Bob Paisley's Liverpool side from the late 1970s. Partly because teams choose to let us. When we cross the half way line we remain slow and measured. It allows teams to organise themselves, anticipate what we're going to do and deal with it. Our tempo in the opposition half has got to be much faster and slicker every time we get there. Some of the points above try to address this.

 

8. Hit it first time. Korey is the main offender but there are others too. If there's a sniff of goal shoot. Not three more touches to try and change the angle. Put your feckin foot through it (and keep your head over the ball).

 

9. Whoever is telling JCH to jump like a girl and pretend he's been pushed needs to pack it in. Use your bulk and be a man. Use your pace and be a footballer. Oh, and you're no lone striker, yet.

 

10. Mellor had a stinker yesterday. But that doesn't mean he's :censored:. He wasn't the only one.

 

While a new million pound striker might be a great idea I genuinely think we have the personnel in all positions to deliver goalscoring, match winning and entertaining football. It's the manager's job to get them doing this. Tempo and more numbers forwards please.

 

If the stats say our players are fit, all of this is possible.

 

Shooting them is a bit extreme, but it's one way of reducing the wage bill I suppose.

[BP1960]

We lost to Port Vale because we switched off once from a corner. We were quite good first half. We weren't second half.

 

We can debate personnel, formations / systems etc until the cows come home. Here are some musings from me:

 

1. There is relative strength in depth. We were able to bring on three players with attacking intent and pace yesterday. They just didn't attack very well. Yes, there was a case for having three strikers on, but strikers need suppliers.

 

2. While some will say we're playing two holding midfielders, I'd dispute that it's the personnel that need to change. Both Wesolowski (goal v Stevenage, penalty won at Walsall) and Smith can and do get forwards, but not enough. One needs to go each time we attack.

 

3. Too much goes through Korey Smith. Wingers have got to be given the ball more as first option. And run with it. It will add variety to our play.

 

4. Each attack needs to see a full back willing to overlap. As with the midfield suggestion, one goes up each time we break. This will allow us to deliver more crosses. More crosses means more chances.

 

5. At a time of goal famine, our set pieces have got to have more accuracy. Short corners and short free kicks are wasteful and anybody involved in taking one should be dropped, fined or shot. The short free kick when we're 40 yards from goal and 10 yards from the touchline is an abdication of responsibility, not an improvement of trajectory. (Same goes for the throw in 20 yards inside the opposition half - backwards to full back, sideways to centre back, backwards to keeper - totally removes pressure from opponents).

 

6. Danny Philliskirk should take more free kicks and corners. If he's on the pitch he's also a striker please.

 

7. The passing game in our own half is slow, measured and fine. We look like Bob Paisley's Liverpool side from the late 1970s. Partly because teams choose to let us. When we cross the half way line we remain slow and measured. It allows teams to organise themselves, anticipate what we're going to do and deal with it. Our tempo in the opposition half has got to be much faster and slicker every time we get there. Some of the points above try to address this.

 

8. Hit it first time. Korey is the main offender but there are others too. If there's a sniff of goal shoot. Not three more touches to try and change the angle. Put your feckin foot through it (and keep your head over the ball).

 

9. Whoever is telling JCH to jump like a girl and pretend he's been pushed needs to pack it in. Use your bulk and be a man. Use your pace and be a footballer. Oh, and you're no lone striker, yet.

 

10. Mellor had a stinker yesterday. But that doesn't mean he's :censored:. He wasn't the only one.

 

While a new million pound striker might be a great idea I genuinely think we have the personnel in all positions to deliver goalscoring, match winning and entertaining football. It's the manager's job to get them doing this. Tempo and more numbers forwards please.

 

If the stats say our players are fit, all of this is possible.

 

You state what most of us can see O4U, but from the touchline and training ground perhaps the manager and coach nave a blinkered view and it's not so obvious to them, I can never understand why managers don't sit in the stand where they can see the whole picture.

Before LJ got the job isn't that exactly what he used to do when preparing his interview dossier ?

[opinions4u]

You state what most of us can see O4U, but from the touchline and training ground perhaps the manager and coach nave a blinkered view and it's not so obvious to them, I can never understand why managers don't sit in the stand where they can see the whole picture.

Before LJ got the job isn't that exactly what he used to do when preparing his interview dossier ?

It is. He's also been videoing some games from behind the goal.

 

I don't think lack of information to the manager is strangling things. I suspect his passing and possession ethos, which is to be encouraged, is very much in the players' minds at the expense of other footballing basics.

 

What Johnson needs to prove now is that his knowledge of the game, his coaching badges, his fitness stats, his Opta stats and his self-belief can transmit themselves in to a more positive approach on the pitch.

 

I think he will. But it's a leap of faith.

[BP1960]

It is. He's also been videoing some games from behind the goal.

 

I don't think lack of information to the manager is strangling things. I suspect his passing and possession ethos, which is to be encouraged, is very much in the players' minds at the expense of other footballing basics.

 

What Johnson needs to prove now is that his knowledge of the game, his coaching badges, his fitness stats, his Opta stats and his self-belief can transmit themselves in to a more positive approach on the pitch.

 

I think he will. But it's a leap of faith.

I agree, but I also think there's too much emphasis on video analysis, in cricket it looks like its addled our cricketer's brains. I doubt if Australia's David Warner has ever bothered with analysis.

Today they seem to want to make a simple game over complicated.

Edited January 19, 2014 by BP1960

[rudemedic]

I agree, but I also think there's too much emphasis on video analysis, in cricket it looks like its addled our cricketer's brains. I doubt if Australia's David Warner has ever bothered with analysis.Today they seem to want to make a simple game over complicated.

See my post on Oxley's penalty and the posts about Walsall's research about our penalty takers.

[mrs synic]

We have loads of foreplay but no penetration....we have had only 11 shots on target in the 4 league games this year, less than 3 per game.

 

It's pretty obvious where the problem lies and if we can't solve it there is a real chance we will be relegated. We can still go down playing pretty football and it's getting pretty tight at the bottom of the table.....Bristol C and Notts C were adrift not so long ago but are now back in the mix.

 

We have plenty of time to turn it round but if we get sucked into the bottom 4 it's going to be very difficult to get out of it!

l.ve always been in favour of loads of foreplay and plenty of penetration, , can you provide it ? not to keen on getting sucked in the bottom though,

[mrs synic]

We have loads of foreplay but no penetration....we have had only 11 shots on target in the 4 league games this year, less than 3 per game.

 

It's pretty obvious where the problem lies and if we can't solve it there is a real chance we will be relegated. We can still go down playing pretty football and it's getting pretty tight at the bottom of the table.....Bristol C and Notts C were adrift not so long ago but are now back in the mix.

 

We have plenty of time to turn it round but if we get sucked into the bottom 4 it's going to be very difficult to get out of it!

l.m also not keen on going down,, and my bottom is stilll tight,

[deyres42]

I like the idea of shooting at goal, novel idea, might just catch on.

 

2 new strikers needed for me, sticking with the current mob = relegation.