just back

I wonder why I post on here sometimes, thought we played well with spells of some quality stuff!

-Lots of pace
-We put Donny on the back foot several times second half
-Missed 3 1v1s
-Standouts definitely paddy, brown, Arnold.
-I do feel we're going to struggle to get any points whilst Pearson and toto are suspended.
-paddy definitely needs to be involved this year centrally
- shame we can't involve our 3 wingers at one time.

Quoted from headingly_mariner

All our best chances in the second half involved him and he was closest to scoring. I thought he won headers and held the ball up well, don't think he will score many goals but could see him setting a fair few up.

Thanks for adding some balance to this thread - it would be great if this young lad can help us next season.

Quoted from GyMariner

I wonder why I post on here sometimes, thought we played well with spells of some quality stuff!

-Lots of pace
-We put Donny on the back foot several times second half
-Missed 3 1v1s
-Standouts definitely paddy, brown, Arnold.
-I do feel we're going to struggle to get any points whilst Pearson and toto are suspended.
-paddy definitely needs to be involved this year centrally
- shame we can't involve our 3 wingers at one time.

We can by playing..

           Disley   Brown

McKreth   Nielson    Arnold

                 LJL

Quoted from brad_gtfc

We can by playing..

           Disley   Brown

McKreth   Nielson    Arnold

                 LJL

Yes I thought that would be an interesting formation, give Nielson a free role, would certainly give the opposition back 4 a few things to think about

Firstly....these kind of games are there as a test, a team two/three divisions above us, faster, fitter, more skillful and a class apart so any kind of result was unlikely....what we have to focus on is our performance rather than how much better they were....
we looked like a team of strangers first half, very little interplay, lots of channel balls, long balls towards LJL and backpasses to Mckeown followed by a long hopeful punt. Midfield was nowhere to be seen at either end of the pitch.
LJL awful, terrible touch, no hold up play poor ball retention when he did manage to control it.
Magnay , woeful, looked slow, nervous and lost
No.8 not sure if that was Brown or Clay (?) as i missed the team announcements....whoever he was terrible, slow and offered nothing (i hope it wasnt Brown!!)
Makreth - looked positive and busy but one dimensional, up against a very competent left back who had the pace of him and therefore no impact. Not a bad corner taker though. Slow to track back at times.  
Arnold - did not see too much of the ball first half but looks a threat, should have scored a goal in either half
Thomas - out of position first half, never got forward but had more influence second half after formation change
Paddy - brightest spark in the first half, looked to receive the ball off the back four and stroked it about well
Pittman - clearly not fit, strolled around for most of the first half but showed the odd glimpse of ability,
Pearson and Toto - shaky start and having no midfield in front of them did not help but settled, both grew in confidence.
Macca - still sat on his line, did not come and collect any crosses and didnt really make any saves of note, no chance with the four goals and looked nervous when clearing backpasses.

Second half formation change,

No.9 Ironside (?) - ball retention pretty good, flick ons gave team mates a chance and seemed very aware of players around him and linked well. A massive improvement on the efforts of LJL before him. On the downside lacks pace, power and conviction but he was denied a goal by a reaction stop from point blank range.
No. 4 - Brown or Clay (?) ... busy little player, wanted the ball, some meaty tackles and gave us some impetus
Neilson - free role in the centre, livened up the attack immediately....as normal though a little guilty of over indulgence and playing himself into trouble
Hannah - no real sight of goal but linked in with Ironside.
Bignot - better than Magnay (not difficult)...AWOL on their last goal though for me

Overall we looked much better with the finishing 11 and formation than we did with the starting one, (Donny certainly eased off at half time though with the game already in the bag).The finishing formation and players created triangles, moved the ball better with a definate purpose and created at least three good opportunities to score, Arnold, Aswad and Ironside either being denied or disappointing with poor finish.

But a fast-breaking decent team would exploit the fact that our two full backs are potential weak links and would be left horribly exposed with that system. IMO, they are both very average defensively anyway. I can't see Hurst going with that permeatation above very often, if at all. I think Brown and Disley will start in centre mid and we'll be 4-4-2 by default. If he goes 4-3-3 he'll add Paddy alongside Brown and Disley and probably go with LJL, Arnold and one other, to be decided.

Quoted from GyMariner

I wonder why I post on here sometimes, thought we played well with spells of some quality stuff!

-Lots of pace
-We put Donny on the back foot several times second half
-Missed 3 1v1s
-Standouts definitely paddy, brown, Arnold.
-I do feel we're going to struggle to get any points whilst Pearson and toto are suspended.
-paddy definitely needs to be involved this year centrally
- shame we can't involve our 3 wingers at one time.

Good balanced post. Don't let the likes of Acko, Johnny be good and the Old Codger put you off. All three are auditioning for the role of Senna in the remake of Up Pompeii...

Quoted from oldun

Paul was up in the main stand. Oh and their manager Paul Dickov arrived at half time saying he thought it was a 7.45 kick off!

How can you turn up late when the rest of the team manages to make it on time ?

One more thing.....

We had the old home dugout today i.e. the one nearest the pontoon. Have we switched back for good? Not that it makes a difference, but just something I noticed.

Quoted from Tommy

One more thing.....

We had the old home dugout today i.e. the one nearest the pontoon. Have we switched back for good? Not that it makes a difference, but just something I noticed.

We noticed that and after the first half performance thought that the team must still be looking for instruction from the Donny bench!!