Why?

Quoted from chaos33

We were doing that weren't we - passing it. It looked great in pre season and early season, and we were scoring goals even though we were missing chances. Are we deviating from this now?
I haven't seen the game today, but Monkhouse has been very lucky to keep his place for me - he must have had 4 or 5 consecutive very average performances. Meanwhile, we've got cracking players who can't get in the team, or who are given 10-20 minutes to do something.

This

Quoted from HertsGTFC

JPP 3 goals in 4 games and popping up in the right places. Love Podge intelligent and hard working but Omar does worry defenders agree about Marshall and Arnold, Monkhouse is not a winger despite PH trying to convince us all he is and though Jack is a good lad who plays with a smile on his face and has a great rapport with the fans he could not cross a pools coupon at the moment.

Great line..

Just a word on this "don't change a winning side" lark. For one thing Hurst has previously changed winning teams. For another, a manager who wants to win games (as opposed to one who wants to make sure he doesn't lose them) should always put out his best side.

I know I'm always harking back to the good old days but this situation did bring to mind what Tim Ward did in the 1961-2 season when Cliff Portwood was injured. He brought in Willie Purvis who older fans will remember was a big bustler in the Tommy Briggs mould. He played 4 or 5 games, scored a couple of goals and the team won about 3 of the games. But, as soon as Portwood was fit he came straight back in and the side ran through to promotion with Portwood's skills and Rafferty's goals leading the way.

I am certain we can find similar examples from the Booth & Buckley eras too. When Drinkell was injured and his replacement Lund scored, was Lund picked when Drinkell recovered? The point being that here is a universal historical truth , a promotion seeking manager should know who his best players are and always play them if the side is to gel as a team. He should only replace them one by one on loss of form or injury - letting other sides do the worrying about them and not chopping and changing to suit the "maybe" strengths of an opposition.

Far from worrying about what a change would do to the confidence of a reserve and a loanee to be dropped after a win, surely a good manager would be thinking about the best way to gel a partnership to get the best performances from his best two strikers.

Ron,
        Cliff Portwood was class.

        Didn't he become a professional singer after his footballing days?

Quoted from cannylad68

Ron,
        Cliff Portwood was class.

        Didn't he become a professional singer after his footballing days?

Yes he went to South Africa and made a good living as a cabaret singer. He was quick footed as a footballer but I don't know if he was a dancer though!

Ron,
        Which  footballer capped by England appeared at the Palladium as a singer whilst still in his playing days?

Quoted from cannylad68

Ron,
        Which  footballer capped by England appeared at the Palladium as a singer whilst still in his playing days?

Not certain but maybe Hoddle & Waddle or more likely Gazza. I think Gazza could have appeared with Lindisfarne.

Colin Grainger.

Left winger for Sunderland.

Having just arrived home from my weekend away at a family gathering, i didn't see or hear a commentary of the game, so not much input to add other than again, on the face of it, a draw against the leagues leading side isn't a disaster, as the draw at Wrexham wasn't. The big picture though is that we are again drawing way too many games and struggling to beat sides at BP. So for me, nothing much has changed from last season, other than we now have a better selection of strikers to choose from. The fact that Hurst decides not to use them despite us having failed to turn 50% of our games from draws to wins, is really baffling. 7 games unbeaten doesn't really tell the whole story. Would rather we lost a few if we won a few with more points gained.

The upside is that the league is settling down now and some of the early front runners are having dodgy spells. FGR, Wrexham and Eastleigh have all gone off the boil in recent weeks, while others are having a bit of a purple patch. We will have our own winning run at some point and we are not too far off the top to close the gap quite quickly.

So far this season, underwhelmed but not despairing just yet.

Quoted from ginnywings

Having just arrived home from my weekend away at a family gathering, i didn't see or hear a commentary of the game, so not much input to add other than again, on the face of it, a draw against the leagues leading side isn't a disaster, as the draw at Wrexham wasn't. The big picture though is that we are again drawing way too many games and struggling to beat sides at BP. So for me, nothing much has changed from last season, other than we now have a better selection of strikers to choose from. The fact that Hurst decides not to use them despite us having failed to turn 50% of our games from draws to wins, is really baffling. 7 games unbeaten doesn't really tell the whole story. Would rather we lost a few if we won a few with more points gained.

The upside is that the league is settling down now and some of the early front runners are having dodgy spells. FGR, Wrexham and Eastleigh have all gone off the boil in recent weeks, while others are having a bit of a purple patch. We will have our own winning run at some point and we are not too far off the top to close the gap quite quickly.

So far this season, underwhelmed but not despairing just yet.

My position exactly. The team that worries me most is Cheltenham.