yarddog73 Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 My gut instinct is until we can bring some players in to the midfield who can pass a football we'd probably be better served by playing 4-5-1 and I don't suggest we put defenders in to that five man midfield like Mcghahey but ones who are mobile and can get about, we have wide players like Walker and Green who could support the three in the middle, we played it to great effect at Gateshead and that was with Shelton in the three. It probably means dropping Hobson or Raglan to the bench which is unfortunate but I'm not a big fan of shoehorning players in to a team for the sake of it, we just don't win a midfield battle and sacrificing a forward and a centrehalf seems the only logical solution particularly with Norwood now missing for six weeks plus, I honestly think this would be a positive move, Fondop and Garner and maybe even Dallas could play that role. Even if we went 4-4-1-1 with a number 10 who drops in to the midfield to help out, with the players we've got I'd go with; Hudson Sutton Raglan Hogan Kitching Green Lundstrum Conlon Gardner Walker Fondop or Garner or Dallas I honestly feel that's the only way we will get our foot on the ball and control a game, I favour Gardner over Sheron not for the graft but more the craft, him and Conlon are our best two footballers and they might just bring a little bit more out of Lundstrum. I know Gardner turns over possession in key areas at times but he can play a bit more than others when he keeps it simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobledgersheart Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 50 minutes ago, TheBigDog said: The great Ricky Holden used to cross the ball early, quite often not even attempting to beat the defender - he also scored a few too. * mind you, putting the ball into the box early is only successful if the strikers get in there too! True, him and Beckham didn't need to beat their man to whip a cross in but both varied them quite a bit, something Kitching doesn't do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaticsEddie Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 43 minutes ago, yarddog73 said: My gut instinct is until we can bring some players in to the midfield who can pass a football we'd probably be better served by playing 4-5-1 and I don't suggest we put defenders in to that five man midfield like Mcghahey but ones who are mobile and can get about, we have wide players like Walker and Green who could support the three in the middle, we played it to great effect at Gateshead and that was with Shelton in the three. It probably means dropping Hobson or Raglan to the bench which is unfortunate but I'm not a big fan of shoehorning players in to a team for the sake of it, we just don't win a midfield battle and sacrificing a forward and a centrehalf seems the only logical solution particularly with Norwood now missing for six weeks plus, I honestly think this would be a positive move, Fondop and Garner and maybe even Dallas could play that role. Even if we went 4-4-1-1 with a number 10 who drops in to the midfield to help out, with the players we've got I'd go with; Hudson Sutton Raglan Hogan Kitching Green Lundstrum Conlon Gardner Walker Fondop or Garner or Dallas I honestly feel that's the only way we will get our foot on the ball and control a game, I favour Gardner over Sheron not for the graft but more the craft, him and Conlon are our best two footballers and they might just bring a little bit more out of Lundstrum. I know Gardner turns over possession in key areas at times but he can play a bit more than others when he keeps it simple. Cant see Dallas being too effective up there on his own. I like the idea of Fondop or Garner with Dallas behind mind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_Og Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 20 minutes ago, LaticsEddie said: Cant see Dallas being too effective up there on his own. I like the idea of Fondop or Garner with Dallas behind mind How bizarre would recruitment look if Fondop played and Garner and Dallas didn't... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaticsEddie Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 53 minutes ago, Dave_Og said: How bizarre would recruitment look if Fondop played and Garner and Dallas didn't... I dont think so. Can't account for Norwood getting injured. Fondop is the only one who has the physical presence to be up top on his own IMO. Plus it gives the opportunity to get minutes into Garner and Dallas' legs without them both being on the pitch for 90 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafc1955 Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 23 minutes ago, LaticsEddie said: I dont think so. Can't account for Norwood getting injured. Fondop is the only one who has the physical presence to be up top on his own IMO. Plus it gives the opportunity to get minutes into Garner and Dallas' legs without them both being on the pitch for 90 minutes. Nah….Fondop is an impact sub for me and nothing more! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yarddog73 Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 2 minutes ago, oafc1955 said: Nah….Fondop is an impact sub for me and nothing more! Yet they still keep going back to him despite him being here the longest of them all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
League one forever Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 3 hours ago, yarddog73 said: My gut instinct is until we can bring some players in to the midfield who can pass a football we'd probably be better served by playing 4-5-1 and I don't suggest we put defenders in to that five man midfield like Mcghahey but ones who are mobile and can get about, we have wide players like Walker and Green who could support the three in the middle, we played it to great effect at Gateshead and that was with Shelton in the three. It probably means dropping Hobson or Raglan to the bench which is unfortunate but I'm not a big fan of shoehorning players in to a team for the sake of it, we just don't win a midfield battle and sacrificing a forward and a centrehalf seems the only logical solution particularly with Norwood now missing for six weeks plus, I honestly think this would be a positive move, Fondop and Garner and maybe even Dallas could play that role. Even if we went 4-4-1-1 with a number 10 who drops in to the midfield to help out, with the players we've got I'd go with; Hudson Sutton Raglan Hogan Kitching Green Lundstrum Conlon Gardner Walker Fondop or Garner or Dallas I honestly feel that's the only way we will get our foot on the ball and control a game, I favour Gardner over Sheron not for the graft but more the craft, him and Conlon are our best two footballers and they might just bring a little bit more out of Lundstrum. I know Gardner turns over possession in key areas at times but he can play a bit more than others when he keeps it simple. I’m feeling quite deflated about it all at the minute. All the money and the players recruited and it still feels like square pegs in round holes, due to a lack of form, increasingly poor tactics, players still playing out of position or shoehorned into unfamiliar positions to give them minutes. I thought Mellon was doing a terrific job until recently - mainly because he was getting results with somebody else’s squad, we then had glimpse of his recruitment with stones and he was exactly what we needed. Things were looking really good. Since then we’ve made 5 signings and I’ve seen nothing to suggest they’ll improve us. (Before anyone questions how long they’ve been here, Stones looked a player the minute I saw him.) In fact they seem to have added to the malaise of who plays and who doesn’t. I’m really hoping Mellon finds the key, and we finish in the play offs. But in reality I think we’re going to be a mixed bag of indifferent results and finish top half. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzlatic Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 24 minutes ago, League one forever said: I’m feeling quite deflated about it all at the minute. All the money and the players recruited and it still feels like square pegs in round holes, due to a lack of form, increasingly poor tactics, players still playing out of position or shoehorned into unfamiliar positions to give them minutes. I thought Mellon was doing a terrific job until recently - mainly because he was getting results with somebody else’s squad, we then had glimpse of his recruitment with stones and he was exactly what we needed. Things were looking really good. Since then we’ve made 5 signings and I’ve seen nothing to suggest they’ll improve us. (Before anyone questions how long they’ve been here, Stones looked a player the minute I saw him.) In fact they seem to have added to the malaise of who plays and who doesn’t. I’m really hoping Mellon finds the key, and we finish in the play offs. But in reality I think we’re going to be a mixed bag of indifferent results and finish top half. You started a topic back in November about us finally trending in the right direction. After that we went on a run of 6 league wins in 8. You also said that we'd continue to have blips as the season went on. Should these last 2 games be considered a blip, or do you think its more serious than that and it's the start of a downward trend? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafc1955 Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 10 minutes ago, nzlatic said: You started a topic back in November about us finally trending in the right direction. After that we went on a run of 6 league wins in 8. You also said that we'd continue to have blips as the season went on. Should these last 2 games be considered a blip, or do you think it’s more serious than that and it's the start of a downward trend? We weren’t playing particularly well but picking up points which is acceptable I suppose. I hope it’s a blip, if you can call it that, but we have to start playing some football soon. We cannot repeat the performances we’ve shown in the last two games where we have been every bit as poor as under Rhino. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
League one forever Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 10 minutes ago, nzlatic said: You started a topic back in November about us finally trending in the right direction. After that we went on a run of 6 league wins in 8. You also said that we'd continue to have blips as the season went on. Should these last 2 games be considered a blip, or do you think its more serious than that and it's the start of a downward trend? I know mate. I was really positive at the time. When he first came in, lots of people questioned the football, but we still created lots of chances. Alty and Eastleigh at home immediately spring to mind. We drew both games, but we created lots of chances, passed it around a bit and had some spells of looking quite decent in possession. You could see a pattern of play. So while the results weren’t amazing I was really positive because I felt something was building. Away from home what we lacked in passing or a bit finesse at times we more than made for in working our bollocks and everyone looking at it. (Woking & Barnet in particular) We then started to fall away performance wise at home, and looked very laboured. But that was quashed with the cracking away form. We then signed stones beat Hartlepool home and away and it looked like we were one or two players short of really kicking on. Since then we’ve signed 5 players and we’ve struggled to score from open play, and we look completely ineffective in possession for the majority of the time. Mickey has started rolling out excuses like ‘it was a late kick off’ something he never did before. The drop off in desire, workrate, tempo, passing, creating, is really stark. The only thing we do ok at is defending. . . I just thing what it looked it like and what it’s turning into are two very different things. Not saying he won’t be be successful but to me it’s rhinoball mark 2- great if you win, absolutely dire if you don’t get a result. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronoafc Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 1 hour ago, League one forever said: I’m feeling quite deflated about it all at the minute. All the money and the players recruited and it still feels like square pegs in round holes, due to a lack of form, increasingly poor tactics, players still playing out of position or shoehorned into unfamiliar positions to give them minutes. I thought Mellon was doing a terrific job until recently - mainly because he was getting results with somebody else’s squad, we then had glimpse of his recruitment with stones and he was exactly what we needed. Things were looking really good. Since then we’ve made 5 signings and I’ve seen nothing to suggest they’ll improve us. (Before anyone questions how long they’ve been here, Stones looked a player the minute I saw him.) In fact they seem to have added to the malaise of who plays and who doesn’t. I’m really hoping Mellon finds the key, and we finish in the play offs. But in reality I think we’re going to be a mixed bag of indifferent results and finish top half. Yep, same here. Summarised perfectly. Since the turn of the year it’s been pretty grim and we have ‘strengthened’ during that period. I’ll be honest I’m a bit baffled by most of the Jan recruitment. Dorking away, won but we where atrocious and very lucky. Hendon at home disgrace. Barnet at home we played decent. More solid than anything, but we looked decent. Woking at home, disgrace. Ebbsfleet away, disgrace. It’s simply not good enough currently and Mellons recruitment hasn’t filled me with much confidence. The tactics the last couple of games have been disgusting to watch. The longball stay solid tactic has been intentional and isn’t working. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzlatic Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 We have looked really disjointed in the last couple of games which we didn't so much before under Mellon. However, he has just brought in new players in the defence, midfield and attack. So it's not a massive surprise to me. It needs to gel though of course, but there is still quite a lot of time for that to happen without it changing our prospects this season too much. Yes, if we finish top 3 then we get an advantage in the play offs. But there's no way we're catching Chesterfield, so play offs is the best we can do which means 2nd to 7th and we're in with a shot. I think he's been brought in to win promotion but with the plan being to have a proper title challenge next season. This season I would imagine the minimum target is play offs. Mellon may be planning that it's best for us to go into the play offs with the players fit and us hitting our straps at the right time. The substitution of Sachdev seems to back this up. That didn't seem like a sub that was going to change us massively, more a pre-planned sub as part of getting the new signings up to the match fitness he wants. Just like he's done with the others. It's all assumption on my part of course, but it's why I'm not personally placing too much stock in the last 2 games. I think this will possibly take a few more games too, so potentially more pain on the immediate horizon! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafcmetty Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 4 hours ago, League one forever said: Stones looked a player the minute I saw him That's not what you were saying in the Solihull thread. We were "absolutely gash" and... Quote That first half was the worst I’ve seen us under Mellon, it was Unsworthesque. (Yes, it was that bad) We sat deep, bypassed the midfield, and had zero urgency or tempo. Everyone looked a yard of the pace. I sat there and thought - we are million miles away from challenging this season. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
League one forever Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 8 minutes ago, oafcmetty said: That's not what you were saying in the Solihull thread. We were "absolutely gash" and... As if you’ve taken the time to trawl through an old thread to point score. I’ll rephrase, so you can get some sleep tonight and stop obsessing about proving me wrong on semantics. I also add in the details you conveniently omitted later in the same thread. Nobody played well in the first half at Solihul, but as I went on to say in the post/thread (because thoughts and conversation evolve) if there was any bright spark it was stones. He at least tried to carry the ball and looked our only threat. He was the best of a bad bunch. In the second half he was superb. So, technically- you are correct. I didn’t know the minute I saw him (that’s just a phrase) but I definitely knew an hour later, or to be precise 60 minutes later. Hope that helps. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaticsEddie Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 13 hours ago, nzlatic said: I think he's been brought in to win promotion but with the plan being to have a proper title challenge next season. This season I would imagine the minimum target is play offs. Mellon may be planning that it's best for us to go into the play offs with the players fit and us hitting our straps at the right time. The substitution of Sachdev seems to back this up. That didn't seem like a sub that was going to change us massively, more a pre-planned sub as part of getting the new signings up to the match fitness he wants. Just like he's done with the others. I agree completely, it looks like a long term approach. On paper we have recruited quality for this division and league 2, the spine of the team now has pedigree throughout and filled gaps where needed. Once they have all gained match fitness, which we have already made progress on with Conlon completing his first 90, we will be a force going into the playoffs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Branston Pickle Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 Fondop as a lone striker is an absolutely terrifying proposition. As if we're not struggling enough for goals already! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spanishfly Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 (edited) 16 hours ago, nzlatic said: I think he's been brought in to win promotion but with the plan being to have a proper title challenge next season. It's all assumption on my part of course, but it's why I'm not personally placing too much stock in the last 2 games. 2 hours ago, LaticsEddie said: I agree completely, it looks like a long term approach. On paper we have recruited quality for this division and league 2, the spine of the team now has pedigree throughout and filled gaps where needed. Once they have all gained match fitness, which we have already made progress on with Conlon completing his first 90, we will be a force going into the playoffs. I observe that you 2 are amongst the most positive people on here and I am trying my best to believe what you write. From what I have seen to date (and granted it sounds like I`ve seen the worst (?) 2 performances of Mellon's tenure) I see no quality in the spine of the team. The spine looks weak. We've been played off the park by 2 poor non-league teams last 2 games (lucky to come away with a point at Ebbsfleet and I note they hammered us at home not long ago under Mellon's management too). I hope I get to see "the real Latics(?)" soon because the owner and the superb, loyal fans deserve far better I think. Edited February 8 by spanishfly 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_Og Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 53 minutes ago, spanishfly said: I observe that you 2 are amongst the most positive people on here and I am trying my best to believe what you write. From what I have seen to date (and granted it sounds like I`ve seen the worst (?) 2 performances of Mellon's tenure) I see no quality in the spine of the team. The spine looks weak. We've been played off the park by 2 poor non-league teams last 2 games (lucky to come away with a point at Ebbsfleet and I note they hammered us at home not long ago under Mellon's management too). I hope I get to see "the real Latics(?)" soon because the owner and the superb, loyal fans deserve far better I think. The spine includes the keeper and the centre backs. Think we're OK there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafc1955 Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 3 hours ago, LaticsEddie said: On paper we have recruited quality for this division and league 2, As has been said before, unfortunately games aren’t played on paper! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaticsEddie Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 2 minutes ago, oafc1955 said: As has been said before, unfortunately games aren’t played on paper! Very true but the jury is still out. I'll happily eat my words but their CV's, and the managers, suggest its only a matter of time until they come good. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafc1955 Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 (edited) 9 minutes ago, LaticsEddie said: Very true but the jury is still out. I'll happily eat my words but their CV's, and the managers, suggest its only a matter of time until they come good. Hope so! Edited February 8 by oafc1955 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaticsEddie Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 1 hour ago, spanishfly said: I observe that you 2 are amongst the most positive people on here and I am trying my best to believe what you write. From what I have seen to date (and granted it sounds like I`ve seen the worst (?) 2 performances of Mellon's tenure) I see no quality in the spine of the team. The spine looks weak. We've been played off the park by 2 poor non-league teams last 2 games (lucky to come away with a point at Ebbsfleet and I note they hammered us at home not long ago under Mellon's management too). I hope I get to see "the real Latics(?)" soon because the owner and the superb, loyal fans deserve far better I think. Other than 1 or 2 performances this season, id say no one has seen "the real Latics". Its been a turbulent season really with a number of the signings in the summer being flops, holes in the squad not being filled until Jan, sticking with Unsworth, the will he wont he get the job with Thompson/Redfearn and now another major overhaul to the squad in Jan and yet we still find ourselves fighting for a spot in the playoffs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz_Oafc Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 On 2/6/2024 at 11:09 AM, mick26 said: This is what I was hoping for from our new wingback - still time I suppose. AFC Fylde sign wing back Bryce Hoseanna, recently released by Wrexham. Barrett on the move? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythemostimportantkick Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 21 minutes ago, Gaz_Oafc said: AFC Fylde sign wing back Bryce Hoseanna, recently released by Wrexham. Barrett on the move? Barretts helicopter will be the cringey teaser vid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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