BP1960 Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 12 hours ago, yarddog73 said: Totally agree, until the midfield is sorted we will struggle. It's a shame because those we have got do have the potential and all have their strengths, it's just that their weaknesses kill us. I watched Oldham Rugby league last week, what a difference in players attitude with every single player giving their all in a great attacking display. Why some of our players likely on twice the wages haven't got this desire baffles me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobledgersheart Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 3 minutes ago, BP1960 said: I watched Oldham Rugby league last week, what a difference in players attitude with every single player giving their all in a great attacking display. Why some of our players likely on twice the wages haven't got this desire baffles me. You recommending any of them to Wigan or St Helens ? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Sinnott Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 18 hours ago, Worcester Owl said: I think we need the Sage of Blackpool back to provide some arm’s length objectivity. The problem for us as Latics fans is we can’t help but be subjective. @basilrobbie, where are you? I'm not sure we need a Blackpool fans' opinion on how things are going at Latics. We are winning games, the performances aren't great. Not sure how a Blackpool fan can expand on that... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basilrobbie Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 19 hours ago, Worcester Owl said: I think we need the Sage of Blackpool back to provide some arm’s length objectivity. The problem for us as Latics fans is we can’t help but be subjective. @basilrobbie, where are you? Hello, did someone call me? What do you want from me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BP1960 Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 37 minutes ago, Bobledgersheart said: You recommending any of them to Wigan or St Helens ? I bet some centre backs in the NL wouldn't fancy coming up against the Chapelhow brothers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Worcester Owl Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 49 minutes ago, Lee Sinnott said: I'm not sure we need a Blackpool fans' opinion on how things are going at Latics. We are winning games, the performances aren't great. Not sure how a Blackpool fan can expand on that... Whoosh, as they say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Worcester Owl Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 38 minutes ago, basilrobbie said: Hello, did someone call me? What do you want from me? Hope (no, not the footballer). Seriously though, as you don’t seem to have posted on here lately (apologies if I missed any of your posts) I just wondered where you think we are from your more neutral/objective point of view. Between @Lee Sinnott , who seems convinced we are in a pub league and should therefore be winning 6-0 every week (strangely his predictions rarely come good) and @deyres42(who makes Waldorf and Statler look like rays of sunshine) it can be a struggle to get a cold, rational analysis of how well the team is doing and whether we should be doing better. Just curious to get your viewpoint but don’t feel you have to! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightDN123 Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 11 minutes ago, Worcester Owl said: Hope (no, not the footballer). Seriously though, as you don’t seem to have posted on here lately (apologies if I missed any of your posts) I just wondered where you think we are from your more neutral/objective point of view. Between @Lee Sinnott , who seems convinced we are in a pub league and should therefore be winning 6-0 every week (strangely his predictions rarely come good) and @deyres42(who makes Waldorf and Statler look like rays of sunshine) it can be a struggle to get a cold, rational analysis of how well the team is doing and whether we should be doing better. Just curious to get your viewpoint but don’t feel you have to! I mean, we have probably the 2nd best budget in the league and we struggle to control a game of football in the National League against some part time teams and currently sit 6th. I think that shows we should be doing better ? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Worcester Owl Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 Just now, LightDN123 said: I mean, we have probably the 2nd best budget in the league and we struggle to control a game of football in the National League against some part time teams and currently sit 6th. I think that shows we should be doing better ? I don’t necessarily disagree with you. But is that a genuinely impartial view, or one seen through Latics-tinted glasses or (heaven forbid) an “entitled” view? That’s why I was curious to hear from Basil, who doesn’t pull his punches, doesn’t expect us to walk every match against “pub teams” or “leisure centres” () and usually has some fairly shrewd comments to make. This point re part time teams also amuses me. How many teams in the NL are part time? Does that make them automatically poor(er) teams who we should be beating? They play the same number of matches as us and just maybe have some good players to call on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzlatic Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 10 minutes ago, LightDN123 said: I mean, we have probably the 2nd best budget in the league and we struggle to control a game of football in the National League against some part time teams and currently sit 6th. I think that shows we should be doing better ? We should be doing better. But we had a shocker of a start and changed manager so are recovering that and that will take time. If Mellon’s ppg was applied over all 31 games we’ve played we’d be 2nd in the league. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightDN123 Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 13 minutes ago, Worcester Owl said: I don’t necessarily disagree with you. But is that a genuinely impartial view, or one seen through Latics-tinted glasses or (heaven forbid) an “entitled” view? That’s why I was curious to hear from Basil, who doesn’t pull his punches, doesn’t expect us to walk every match against “pub teams” or “leisure centres” () and usually has some fairly shrewd comments to make. This point re part time teams also amuses me. How many teams in the NL are part time? Does that make them automatically poor(er) teams who we should be beating? They play the same number of matches as us and just maybe have some good players to call on? Fair enough, I suppose any Latics fans view will be biased to some extent. Part time teams are Dorking and Wealdstone I believe. They train twice a week (if no Tuesday game) either in a morning or evening. I fully expect our players who train Monday to Friday to be better than them players and beat those teams. We should be far more organised, but we arnt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
League one forever Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 45 minutes ago, LightDN123 said: I mean, we have probably the 2nd best budget in the league and we struggle to control a game of football in the National League against some part time teams and currently sit 6th. I think that shows we should be doing better ? We are poor to watch, and yet we average two points a game under Mellon . . . if he had been here since the start of the season our budget would reflect the league position. How is a side that can’t control a game of football averaging two points a game? My view on that is more often than not under Mellon we do the ugly side well. We defend well. I think this goes unnoticed or isn’t appreciated because what fan goes to the game hoping to see good defending or hoping to the see the ugly side done well. Nevertheless it’s a big part of why Mellon is getting results. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightDN123 Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 6 minutes ago, League one forever said: We are poor to watch, and yet we average two points a game under Mellon . . . if he had been here since the start of the season our budget would reflect the league position. How is a side that can’t control a game of football averaging two points a game? My view on that is more often than not under Mellon we do the ugly side well. We defend well. I think this goes unnoticed or isn’t appreciated because what fan goes to the game hoping to see good defending or hoping to the see the ugly side done well. Nevertheless it’s a big part of why Mellon is getting results. I am happy with Mellon and back him as manager. I just hope we find a middle ground in terms of how we play. This season, that’s not going to happen, he all but confirmed it in his post match interview. As long as we are winning I really don’t care this year, let’s just get in the play offs. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boyyou Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 11 minutes ago, League one forever said: We are poor to watch, and yet we average two points a game under Mellon . . . if he had been here since the start of the season our budget would reflect the league position. How is a side that can’t control a game of football averaging two points a game? My view on that is more often than not under Mellon we do the ugly side well. We defend well. I think this goes unnoticed or isn’t appreciated because what fan goes to the game hoping to see good defending or hoping to the see the ugly side done well. Nevertheless it’s a big part of why Mellon is getting results. Good point. Teams don't normally win promotion/titles unless they can do the ugly stuff. Winning 1-0 gains as many points as 4-3. Of course we all want more style and finesse - and our summer recruitment will be crucial - but for the time being it is all about grinding out results in this tough, unrelenting division. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BP1960 Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 29 minutes ago, League one forever said: We are poor to watch, and yet we average two points a game under Mellon . . . if he had been here since the start of the season our budget would reflect the league position. How is a side that can’t control a game of football averaging two points a game? My view on that is more often than not under Mellon we do the ugly side well. We defend well. I think this goes unnoticed or isn’t appreciated because what fan goes to the game hoping to see good defending or hoping to the see the ugly side done well. Nevertheless it’s a big part of why Mellon is getting results. You should be able to defend well with 7 or 8 at the back. One pre match song they won't play at BP is 'Let Me Entertain You'. What will be said if the play offs aren't achieved with turgid football throughout? The backlash will be enormous. I'd prefer a pitch at the play offs with exciting football, but I'm a dinosaur and spoiled by past promotion bids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobledgersheart Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 43 minutes ago, BP1960 said: You should be able to defend well with 7 or 8 at the back. One pre match song they won't play at BP is 'Let Me Entertain You'. What will be said if the play offs aren't achieved with turgid football throughout? The backlash will be enormous. I'd prefer a pitch at the play offs with exciting football, but I'm a dinosaur and spoiled by past promotion bids. The problem is we haven't got the players on board who can produce this "Shangri La" type football so until we get a comprehensive overhaul in staff we need to be a bit more pragmatic in outlook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Branston Pickle Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 (edited) MM inherited a squad used to playing pragmatic, defence first football. Implementing a different system, especially a possession based one, takes time and would probably have seen us losing more than we win, especially when we definitely didn't have the players to play that kind of football. So MM has taken a pragmatic approach, made us hard to beat and is getting consistent results (as pointed out above, Mellon's PPG would have seen us second if he'd been here since the start.) Of course we want to see entertaining football, but most people agreed when we were relegated that we needed to get out of this division at any cost. Mellon is giving us a decent chance of doing that. Edited February 15 by Guy Branston Pickle 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basilrobbie Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 2 hours ago, Worcester Owl said: Hope (no, not the footballer). Seriously though, as you don’t seem to have posted on here lately (apologies if I missed any of your posts) I just wondered where you think we are from your more neutral/objective point of view. Between @Lee Sinnott , who seems convinced we are in a pub league and should therefore be winning 6-0 every week (strangely his predictions rarely come good) and @deyres42(who makes Waldorf and Statler look like rays of sunshine) it can be a struggle to get a cold, rational analysis of how well the team is doing and whether we should be doing better. Just curious to get your viewpoint but don’t feel you have to! well, for what it's worth : I thought Mellon was a very solid appointment. He's effective without being showy and - dare I say it - based upon results, your team look as though they are beginning to reflect that. I take part in a NL prediction League elsewhere, and a year ago I would normally back against you as often as not. Nowadays I fancy you to get a result most weeks albeit you do have a tendency to struggle against teams towards the bottom. All that said : I think you need to finish top five if you want to have a good chance at winning the play offs. Having one home draw would be a big help. I think Bromley and Alty would be the big dangers, and it would be nice to finish high enough that you didn't have to play both. It's a really interesting league this season, from places 2-24. and will be even more so next season as the current bottom two in L2 are not likely to pull up a lot of trees. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemel latic Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 40 minutes ago, basilrobbie said: well, for what it's worth : It's a really interesting league this season, from places 2-24. and will be even more so next season as the current bottom two in L2 are not likely to pull up a lot of trees. Interesting read as ever, the FGR chairman would actively oppose the pulling up of trees by his team. "Joking" aside, perhaps FGR are picking up form, good result the other night. Sutton look gone, very little bounce from the new manager although by all accounts they put up a creditable performance v. Wrexham midweek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Worcester Owl Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 59 minutes ago, basilrobbie said: well, for what it's worth : I thought Mellon was a very solid appointment. He's effective without being showy and - dare I say it - based upon results, your team look as though they are beginning to reflect that. I take part in a NL prediction League elsewhere, and a year ago I would normally back against you as often as not. Nowadays I fancy you to get a result most weeks albeit you do have a tendency to struggle against teams towards the bottom. All that said : I think you need to finish top five if you want to have a good chance at winning the play offs. Having one home draw would be a big help. I think Bromley and Alty would be the big dangers, and it would be nice to finish high enough that you didn't have to play both. It's a really interesting league this season, from places 2-24. and will be even more so next season as the current bottom two in L2 are not likely to pull up a lot of trees. I’m not sure about getting a home draw given our form there this season but I take your point and yes we do seem to play better generally against teams towards the top. We’re all desperate to get out of what is a tough and unpredictable league. 46 games and only 1 automatic promotion place is as tough as it gets. Ideally we all want entertaining football as well as the wins, but for the foreseeable future I’m with those who prioritise results over playing style. I’m confident that MM will get us promoted, if not this season, stuck at the starting gate as we were under Unsworth, then next. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BP1960 Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 (edited) 2 hours ago, Bobledgersheart said: The problem is we haven't got the players on board who can produce this "Shangri La" type football so until we get a comprehensive overhaul in staff we need to be a bit more pragmatic in outlook. Walker was brought in to change that, how he's got injured when hardly playing is something we've not been told. Dallas we know wasn't up to speed, but Walker was one I really wanted to see as a fixture in the team to provide more attacking football. Edited February 15 by BP1960 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightDN123 Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 9 minutes ago, BP1960 said: Walker was brought in to change that, how he's got injured when hardly playing is something we've not been told. Dallas we know wasn't up to speed, but Walker was one I really wanted to see as a fixture in the team to provide more attacking football. I agree with your comments here. MM says he set us up the way he did in the first half to be more attacking, fine. So why on earth did he play Ward, who has hardly kicked a ball for us and is not really a left winger and Hammond, who is a young central midfielder on the wings. That is hardly attacking is it ? Should have been Green on one wing and someone else on the other, actual wingers. A bit baffling really, but we will have to get use to the 3 centre back system, it’s not changing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boyyou Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 13 minutes ago, BP1960 said: Walker was brought in to change that, how he's got injured when hardly playing is something we've not been told. Dallas we know wasn't up to speed, but Walker was one I really wanted to see as a fixture in the team to provide more attacking football. 13 minutes ago, BP1960 said: 15 minutes ago, BP1960 said: Walker was brought in to change that, how he's got injured when hardly playing is something we've not been told. Dallas we know wasn't up to speed, but Walker was one I really wanted to see as a fixture in the team to provide more attacking football. Hardly unheard of for players to be injured in training, even in the pre-match warm-up. These things happen, Agree, though, that we need Walker and Dallas fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BP1960 Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 44 minutes ago, Boyyou said: But as far as I know it's not been revealed how and when he was injured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boyyou Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 1 hour ago, BP1960 said: But as far as I know it's not been revealed how and when he was injured. Think that's true of most injuries at the club. Nobody seems to ask the question at press conferences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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