Micky Mellon Sack Watch

[League one forever]

17 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

The only surprise was Garner not even being on the bench unless he's ill or picked a knock up on Friday (possible).

Comms said he was Injured. 

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

2 minutes ago, League one forever said:

Comms said he was Injured. 

 

With Fondop suspended, think it's clear his options were limited.

The regular switching of midfielders mainy speaks to me about how little he rates the crop he's inherited.

[League one forever]

2 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

With Fondop suspended, think it's clear his options were limited.

The regular switching of midfielders mainy speaks to me about how little he rates the crop he's inherited.

I don’t know mate, I don’t think he helps himself. 
 

I said on the other thread- in first few months you could pick the same 9/10 starters and results overall were good. He did much better with a smaller squad. . . 
 

Since Christmas (and the new signings) it’s been like a raffle. 
 

How can players get any rhythm if a lot of them are in and out, playing multiple positions, or playing unnatural positions??

 

In many ways, I wish we had saved the money in Jan and went with what we had, then had a big clear out.

[deyres42]

36 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

I suspect Walker isn't good enough IMO. Pathetically ineffective at Dagenham, which I know was only one match but it was made for him to shine. He was only ever used off the bench for the last 10-15 mins during his time at Morecambe.

MM is just rotating a fairly bad / inexperienced bunch of players to get through to the end of the season. The only surprise was Garner not even being on the bench unless he's ill or picked a knock up on Friday (possible). It's quite probably he's more than sussed that he doesn't have a midfield collective who are up to task and ones he has (Green for example) are injured.

 

Personally, the calls for sacking him at this juncture are wildly off the mark. I've been disappointed with how our season has fizzled out, but the blame lies squarely with the dreadful start we had which eliminated any insurance against big wobbles which nearly all clubs get in this division. We've simply been running on empty for 4-5 weeks.

Are we really saying 9 games at the start of the season has determined the rest of it? We were eyeing up a top 3 finish if we'd beaten Bromley...

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

8 minutes ago, League one forever said:

I don’t know mate, I don’t think he helps himself. 
 

I said on the other thread- in first few months you could pick the same 9/10 starters and results overall were good. He did much better with a smaller squad. . . 
 

Since Christmas (and the new signings) it’s been like a raffle. 
 

How can players get any rhythm if a lot of them are in and out, playing multiple positions, or playing unnatural positions??

 

In many ways, I wish we had saved the money in Jan and went with what we had, then had a big clear out.

 

He only signed three players on contracts in January, the rest are loans which always carry a fairly low success ratio. Garner will play more of a role next season I'm sure. Conlon needs hard working terriers around him to shine so I'm reserving judgement on that and Hammond is a low cost punt at buffing up a potential diamond.

 

I get the lack of continuity hampers us, but  he has to change and rotate with how he expects the opposition to form up, the conditions and who performs better at home vs away. It's a difficult balance to get right when you have few pace options and a midfield that generally doesn't like to tackle.

I get the feeling, reading between the lines of his interviews (he's remarkably diplomatic compared to other NL managers), he'd jettison as many of this squad as he can over his time here, save for a small handful.

 

 

1 minute ago, deyres42 said:

Are we really saying 9 games at the start of the season has determined the rest of it? We were eyeing up a top 3 finish if we'd beaten Bromley...

Not exclusively, but a good start buys you a lot of wiggle room for bumps in the road. We did well to get into the frame (a run that really should buy at least some goodwill) but the recent wobble has coincided with upturns of form for three of our competitors.

All the playoff contendors had got themselves into position before we got our shit together. Grimsby, in 21-22 would not have been promoted without a brilliant start to their campaign, which sustained a two month winless period. Alty went 6 losses on the spin, but now find themselves in fourth.

Another, probably bigger, factor is not being able to convert wins when in front. Maidenhead, Dagenham, Wealdstone, Gateshead (twice), Southend and Chesterfield are seven matches which if we converted half of them into wins, sees us in the play-off places right now. 

[Dave_Og]

42 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

 

With Fondop suspended, think it's clear his options were limited.

The regular switching of midfielders mainy speaks to me about how little he rates the crop he's inherited.

and the ones he's recruited

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

6 minutes ago, Dave_Og said:

and the ones he's recruited

 

Like I said further up. Loans brought in most commonly don't work out perfectly. He did get Stones spot on to give him credit. The permanent signings I think may be too early to give judgement on. Conlon clearly needs to step up, and may well do with fitter, better midfielders around him and wingers to give the ball to.

[League one forever]

38 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

I get the lack of continuity hampers us, but  he has to change and rotate with how he expects the opposition to form up, the conditions and who performs better at home vs away. It's a difficult balance to get right when you have few pace options and a midfield that generally doesn't like to tackle.

I don’t think he ‘has to’ change or rotate- it’s a choice. 
 

A great example is Garner and Fondop - they come into the side because of injury and score goals together. As soon as Norwood is fit he’s straight back in. . they hadn’t done anything wrong to warrant dropping. It might also of given Nors a kick up the arsed to see he’s not a guaranteed starter. 

[League one forever]

Managers live and die by their decisions. 

[yarddog73]

Just now, League one forever said:

I don’t think he ‘has to’ change or rotate- it’s a choice. 
 

A great example is Garner and Fondop - they come into the side because of injury and score goals together. As soon as Norwood is fit he’s straight back in. . they hadn’t done anything wrong to warrant dropping. It might also of given Nors a kick up the arsed to see he’s not a guaranteed starter. 

10 without a win with Norwood, he has no favourites but the only partnership that's really clicked Garner/Fondop was binned off at the first opportunity. 

 

Piss poor management that.

 

I'm getting to the stage where I feel this group and the club have given up on this season.

[League one forever]

7 minutes ago, yarddog73 said:

10 without a win with Norwood, he has no favourites but the only partnership that's really clicked Garner/Fondop was binned off at the first opportunity. 

 

Piss poor management that.

 

I'm getting to the stage where I feel this group and the club have given up on this season.

I’m not saying Norwood is the reason we aren’t winning by the way , just as an example of poor management where his favourites play and it’s not good for morale if you play well and don’t keep the shirt. 

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

18 minutes ago, League one forever said:

A great example is Garner and Fondop - they come into the side because of injury and score goals together. As soon as Norwood is fit he’s straight back in. . they hadn’t done anything wrong to warrant dropping. It might also of given Nors a kick up the arsed to see he’s not a guaranteed starter. 

No, that’s not strictly true. He returned to the bench after injury vs Southend, came on and we scored two minutes later. He wasn’t "straight into the side”. He benched him again at Aldershot.

 

Whilst I think you have a point, in that the Fondop / Garner partnership needed exploring more. I think there’s a lot of trying to fit a narrative in here. Ultimately, I don’t think he rates Fondop at all and I’ll be amazed if he’s offered a deal in the summer.

[League one forever]

2 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

No, that’s not strictly true. He returned to the bench after injury vs Southend, came on and we scored two minutes later. He wasn’t "straight into the side”. He benched him again at Aldershot.

 

Whilst I think you have a point, in that the Fondop / Garner partnership needed exploring more. I think there’s a lot of trying to fit a narrative in here. Ultimately, I don’t think he rates Fondop at all and I’ll be amazed if he’s offered a deal in the summer.

Personally think the Southend cameo and the bench at Aldershot was a show of ‘you can’t walk back in’ rather than him giving the other two a proper run. You said yourself he doesn’t rate Mikey (despite the fact he scores goals)

 

We both have a narrative. 
 

You see things through the lense of - giving it time and letting things build. 
 

I see things as they are, (probably too black and white) which is - managers live and die by their results, when results are poor questions should be rightly be asked. 
 

I could you give countless examples of mistakes I think he’s made, and I’m sure you could counter me. Just the nature of how we see things at the minute. 

[Lee Sinnott]

1 minute ago, League one forever said:

Personally think the Southend cameo and the bench at Aldershot was a show of ‘you can’t walk back in’ rather than him giving the other two a proper run. You said yourself he doesn’t rate Mikey (despite the fact he scores goals)

 

He started the game against Bromley after the Southend one...

[League one forever]

1 minute ago, Lee Sinnott said:

He started the game against Bromley after the Southend one...

So bench against Southend, start at Bromley, bench against Aldershot? 

[TheBigDog]

2 hours ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

MM is just rotating a fairly bad / inexperienced bunch of players to get through to the end of the season.

And by doing so, he’s not doing  himself any favours and more importantly he is disrupting the team

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

3 minutes ago, League one forever said:

I could you give countless examples of mistakes I think he’s made, and I’m sure you could counter me. Just the nature of how we see things at the minute. 

It’s a fair assessment. Norwood’s always going to be a favorite. He has caliber that is far higher than all players at the club, Raglan and Garner aside. His playing time on the pitch reflects it.

 

might be moot anyway next season if rumors to shift him off the wage bill are to be believed.

[nzlatic]

5 minutes ago, League one forever said:

Personally think the Southend cameo and the bench at Aldershot was a show of ‘you can’t walk back in’ rather than him giving the other two a proper run. You said yourself he doesn’t rate Mikey (despite the fact he scores goals)

 

We both have a narrative. 
 

You see things through the lense of - giving it time and letting things build. 
 

I see things as they are, (probably too black and white) which is - managers live and die by their results, when results are poor questions should be rightly be asked. 
 

I could you give countless examples of mistakes I think he’s made, and I’m sure you could counter me. Just the nature of how we see things at the minute. 

There's a difference between asking questions, which you have done and have received answers, and making your mind up - that it's predominantly Mellon's fault. Which a lot of people have done.

 

You've kind of summed things up a bit by saying you "see things as they are". Fans can only see the surface. We have no idea what is going on behind the scenes. Footballing decisions are never as simple as what fans make them out to be.

[BerlinBlue]

Garner and Fondop went through a bit of a purple patch... but, Fondop has scored 7 goals this season. He scored 4 goals in 3 games, then started the next 3 without scoring. Not saying their partnership was not promising, but Fondop has shown he can not score consistently throughout his career and I think Mellon prefers him as an impact sub.

Even so, with the hoofball tactics employed, Fondop is clearly the only kind of target man the ball can stick to. Norwood has been pretty disappointing since returning from injury. He was a shoe-in for 20 league goals this season and now I am confident he will not reach that target (unless we change our style of play). 

 

[League one forever]

3 minutes ago, nzlatic said:

There's a difference between asking questions, which you have done and have received answers, and making your mind up - that it's predominantly Mellon's fault. Which a lot of people have done.

 

You've kind of summed things up a bit by saying you "see things as they are". Fans can only see the surface. We have no idea what is going on behind the scenes. Footballing decisions are never as simple as what fans make them out to be.

Of course- but that works both ways- sometimes we can look too deeply into reasons when the only tangible we have is results. .  

When he were doing well with results but the football wasn’t great, I defended him to the hilt because overall he was doing a good job. 
 

Results are now poor- and he’s under pressure- as he should be- that’s ultimately his Job. 
 

 

[League one forever]

14 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said:

might be moot anyway next season if rumors to shift him off the wage bill are to be believed.

Yeah, I can see him going to be fair. 

[nzlatic]

1 minute ago, League one forever said:

Of course- but that works both ways- sometimes we can look too deeply into reasons when the only tangible we have is results. .  

When he were doing well with results but the football wasn’t great, I defended him to the hilt because overall he was doing a good job. 
 

Results are now poor- and he’s under pressure- as he should be- that’s ultimately his Job. 
 

 

He had a long period of good results. He's now had a period of bad results. He's not absolved of blame or of having any pressure on him when we have bad results of course but some of the reactions have been nuclear. The squad still has mostly the same issues it did last summer. I don't think one winter of transfer activity is enough for him to properly fix those issues. 

 

There are no obvious solutions in our current squad that he's leaving out so is it fair to heap as much pressure as this on him at this point? I don't think it is.

[deyres42]

Won't be winning promotion with a 34yo and 36yo leading the line.

[League one forever]

11 minutes ago, nzlatic said:

He had a long period of good results. He's now had a period of bad results. He's not absolved of blame or of having any pressure on him when we have bad results of course but some of the reactions have been nuclear. The squad still has mostly the same issues it did last summer. I don't think one winter of transfer activity is enough for him to properly fix those issues. 

 

There are no obvious solutions in our current squad that he's leaving out so is it fair to heap as much pressure as this on him at this point? I don't think it is.

They’re no obvious solutions because we don’t have a settled side. We did before the signings (Not perfect but settled) and results were much better. 
 

The pressure isn’t peak but it’s building. .

 

If we carry on as we are and finish poorly- he may end up on roughly 2/3 Wins in 14. 
 

Start next season poorly and we both know what the calls will be. 

[yarddog73]

8 minutes ago, deyres42 said:

Won't be winning promotion with a 34yo and 36yo leading the line.

We would if the other nine were up to it.