Just Back

Well that was boring. We were dire first half, playing some kind of weird diamond that nobody seemed to understand and we had no width at all. When the full backs did get forward the crosses were mostly rubbish. They were the better side and looked the likely scorers but there was a very strong wind in their favour. A half that won't live long in the memory.

Second half after a slow start, we gradually pinned them in more and more, with the inevitable goal coming from Pittman and a superb strike it was. Only one winner after that but 3-0 was slightly flattering.

Thought Marshall was god awful first half but improved in the second, not that it was difficult. Bogle i thought was inept today. Chuntering at the ref and just being mostly ineffective. His positioning and runs off the ball looked all wrong at times to me and his finishing was not up to much either. Henderson looks like a good footballer but doesn't have the cut and thrust for this league and i don't see him playing much part. Best player was Nolan, who played some very astute passes in behind, gets around the pitch quickly and scored. Most impressive was seeing him bust a gut to get free for our third, when the game was won and we were in injury time. Really like the look of him and he will make a good partner for Dis. New lad just did his job with nowt to report.

High quality, all action first half - in opposite land. Looked a certain 0-0 for most of the game and 3-0 flattered us.

Agree with Ginny re: Nolan - very good passer of the ball and a good signing so far I'd say. Definitely motm today.

Where on earth the alleged 1600 crowd was I don't know. There must have been a big turnout from the local ghost community - was there an offer on for them?

What was peoples opinions on Horwood ?

Did he do anything good, anything bad etc? does he get forward etc

Drab first half, though expected nothing more, cracking goal by Pittman

Got to agree with that Ginny . Didn't realise how cold it was until I got back home .  They weren't anything special just an awkward side to play against.  We just can't break a team down . Their number 9 , big lad , looked the part , shielded and laid the ball off well , but not much help around him . They were pretty solid at the back which with us playing this diamond thing  made it easy for them . Bogle  and Pittman doesn't work , ref didn't give us much and Clay getting booked was harsh considering what they were doing . An expected win , hard work , weather wasn't good , into the quarter final .

According to Havant FM one of their players should of been sent off (last man I think) and they should have been awarded a penalty for handball...just asking.

Quoted from ginnywings

Well that was boring. We were dire first half, playing some kind of weird diamond that nobody seemed to understand and we had no width at all. When the full backs did get forward the crosses were mostly rubbish. They were the better side and looked the likely scorers but there was a very strong wind in their favour. A half that won't live long in the memory.

Second half after a slow start, we gradually pinned them in more and more, with the inevitable goal coming from Pittman and a superb strike it was. Only one winner after that but 3-0 was slightly flattering.

Thought Marshall was god awful first half but improved in the second, not that it was difficult. Bogle i thought was inept today. Chuntering at the ref and just being mostly ineffective. His positioning and runs off the ball looked all wrong at times to me and his finishing was not up to much either. Henderson looks like a good footballer but doesn't have the cut and thrust for this league and i don't see him playing much part. Best player was Nolan, who played some very astute passes in behind, gets around the pitch quickly and scored. Most impressive was seeing him bust a gut to get free for our third, when the game was won and we were in injury time. Really like the look of him and he will make a good partner for Dis. New lad just did his job with nowt to report.

The more I see of Bogle the more I agree with your assessment of him, lots to learn by lots of potential too seems, to play much better when partnered by Podge

Quoted from promotion plaice

According to Havant FM one of their players should of been sent off (last man I think) and they should have been awarded a penalty for handball...just asking.

Bogle out muscled their centre back for about the only time all match and looked like getting away, only to be pulled back. It was a foul and he was the last man, so would have had to go. Think the ref bottled it for that reason as it wasn't a really bad foul, but a foul all the same. Good job it didn't have an impact on the game in the end.

Can't remember a hand ball in the box.

Quoted from Davec

What was peoples opinions on Horwood ?

Did he do anything good, anything bad etc? does he get forward etc

Neither really but they didn't provide much of a test. Fairly straight forward debut.

Quoted from LH

High quality, all action first half - in opposite land. Looked a certain 0-0 for most of the game and 3-0 flattered us.

Agree with Ginny re: Nolan - very good passer of the ball and a good signing so far I'd say. Definitely motm today.

Where on earth the alleged 1600 crowd was I don't know. There must have been a big turnout from the local ghost community - was there an offer on for them?

What happened to the really useless Nolan who was signed a few weeks back and sent the Fishy into meltdown?  He doesn't seem to be playing for us any more?

You mean the Nolan who was motm

Bloody rubbish, awful game. Nolan did OK (though only in fits and starts, mostly in the second half), as did the defence, but there really wasn't much else positive on show. Marshall looks to be completely bereft of confidence to me at the moment and seems to be making the wrong decision most of the time, but he did at least keep trying. The weird midfield line-up just didn't work as nobody seemed to know what they were doing and up front Bogle and Pittman barely controlled the ball though it was generally fired into them at chest height at best.

The fantastic shot from Pittman (who looked leaden-footed and perhaps a little overweight?) to give us the lead was so far out of the character of the game, it was ridiculous. After that, they were spent and we eased to a just about deserved victory.

I don't think too many of the second-choice players who appeared today will have done anything to work their way into the team. Still missing a striker and another winger.

From the pontoon looked like McKewon caught the ball over the line,but managed to con the ref.

Quoted from promotion plaice

According to Havant FM one of their players should of been sent off (last man I think) and they should have been awarded a penalty for handball...just asking.

First half they put a shot that was a ball to hand , their manager  was jumping up and down wanting a handball . Similar to the other week here , would have been really harsh to give it , but Bogle being hauled down by their number 5 to me was a penalty.  Ref wasn't up to much , we were always in control football wise but we still need that special player in the middle .

Quoted from robborhino

You mean the Nolan who was motm

Can he do it when it really matters though ?
I hope he can and reserve judgement

We are in the last 8 now. Are you all panicking yet ?

Lets remember we were playing havant and waterlooville !

I think you could have put jamie clarke in the middle today and we would have looked on par with what was shown today.

As for nolan i thought henderson looked the better, i think today showed we are at least two players short.

Best midfielder for me was Clay, he shows why he is generally first choice. Nolan showed why Hurst signed him, lots of potential going forward and in the tackle.
Defence looked OK, only disappointment was Pearson who looks a shadow of the player he was.
Upfront Bogle needs to show more fight and work harder, potential is not enough.
Not many 2nd choice players showed why they should be in the 1st eleven.

By the sound of it we played rubbish,

BUT

Won 3-0,

Sign of a good team in my eyes.

If the objective was to progress in this competition (which it obviously was) then today was job done.If  however the mission statement included entertaining those who attended a cold BP then not so sure that was achieved.UTM

The weird midfield line-up just didn't work as nobody seemed to know what they were doing and up front Bogle and Pittman barely controlled the ball though it was generally fired into them at chest height at best.

The fantastic shot from Pittman (who looked leaden-footed and perhaps a little overweight?) to give us the lead was so far out of the character of the game, it was ridiculous. After that, they were spent and we eased to a just about deserved victory.


Yet another midfield selection that didn't really click , we saw this in the previous cup game when the whole team seemed to play as individuals,  the weather was a factor maybe today .  It does appear that we are down to the bare bones in numbers and missing a quality player .

We have seen the front pairing before and it didn't work Pittman for me is better coming on as a sub . As my friend said to me it was if Pittman was running through treacle . The subs we had on the bench were just a precaution but the result I feel was never in doubt .

Quoted from Daz460

Best midfielder for me was Clay, he shows why he is generally first choice. Nolan showed why Hurst signed him, lots of potential going forward and in the tackle.
Defence looked OK, only disappointment was Pearson who looks a shadow of the player he was.
Upfront Bogle needs to show more fight and work harder, potential is not enough.
Not many 2nd choice players showed why they should be in the 1st eleven.

Disagree, I thought he had a very steady game against a striker that could put it about a bit, and was a good captain today

What's wrong with the the 433/41212 formation played d at first today? Ok it didn't work well first half but surely these games are the time to test the squad with different formaroons and challenges .

Yes we won when we went 442 but a stubborn opposition  is perfect time to test players.

People say chop and change the team and try a different formation or combination of players for the Trophy games, then moan when it doesn't immediately pay off.  

Then people moan that we're not winning at half time and should revert back to 442.  

Then, when eventually we win the game handsomely, people moan that it was only the FA Trophy after all so why did we bother?

So my question, as someone not at the game, is what exactly DID people want the manager and team to do today?

Quoted from ginnywings

Well that was boring. We were dire first half, playing some kind of weird diamond that nobody seemed to understand and we had no width at all. When the full backs did get forward the crosses were mostly rubbish. They were the better side and looked the likely scorers but there was a very strong wind in their favour. A half that won't live long in the memory.

Second half after a slow start, we gradually pinned them in more and more, with the inevitable goal coming from Pittman and a superb strike it was. Only one winner after that but 3-0 was slightly flattering.

Thought Marshall was god awful first half but improved in the second, not that it was difficult. Bogle i thought was inept today. Chuntering at the ref and just being mostly ineffective. His positioning and runs off the ball looked all wrong at times to me and his finishing was not up to much either. Henderson looks like a good footballer but doesn't have the cut and thrust for this league and i don't see him playing much part. Best player was Nolan, who played some very astute passes in behind, gets around the pitch quickly and scored. Most impressive was seeing him bust a gut to get free for our third, when the game was won and we were in injury time. Really like the look of him and he will make a good partner for Dis. New lad just did his job with nowt to report.

Can't disagree with any of that.

I have seen every game Henderson has played and today's was probably his best but in my opinion still not good enough. Nolan looks by far the better player. Henderson & Bogle are like school kids when we get a free kick anywhere near the opposition area both vying to take it and each time Henderson pushes him away and takes it and each time it's been crap.

Still non of the fringe players busting a gut to get in the 1st eleven.  

Quoted from arryarryarry

Can't disagree with any of that.

I have seen every game Henderson has played and today's was probably his best but in my opinion still not good enough. Nolan looks by far the better player. Henderson & Bogle are like school kids when we get a free kick anywhere near the opposition area both vying to take it and each time Henderson pushes him away and takes it and each time it's been crap.

Still non of the fringe players busting a gut to get in the 1st eleven.  

PS Bogle was basically rubbish today and shows why we still need to sign another forward.

Can anyone name any team(in any country, any league) that has had success with a diamond formation.  442(check), 433(check) 352(check) 4231(check).  I get it was a game to try new things but please Mr Hurst never again with the diamond.

Quoted from HackneyHaddock

So my question, as someone not at the game, is what exactly DID people want the manager and team to do today?

Put in a half-decent performance, perhaps?

I don't mind trying different formations (and I initially thought we were try a straight 4-3-3), but the lack of intelligent movement and passing was very disappointing. H&V were a very weak team, hence their league position, but we made them look almost decent at times in the first half. I realise the conditions were difficult, but there was a real lack of nouse on show from our players. Without Pittman's strike, we might well have ended up with a draw which would have been a terrible results in the circumstances.

Quoted from Sigone

Can anyone name any team(in any country, any league) that has had success with a diamond formation.  442(check), 433(check) 352(check) 4231(check).  I get it was a game to try new things but please Mr Hurst never again with the diamond.

Think Liverpool used it the year they nearly won the league?

Quoted from HackneyHaddock

People say chop and change the team and try a different formation or combination of players for the Trophy games, then moan when it doesn't immediately pay off.  

Then people moan that we're not winning at half time and should revert back to 442.  



So my question, as someone not at the game, is what exactly DID people want the manager and team to do today?

We went to the game , friend of mine in York listened to the radio he said it sounded bad . It wasn't pretty but we were always the better side without having  that killer ball or target man .  We were always in control but lacked something  ,  i didnt notice what sort of formation we had adopted , but feel that if we had brought on the big guns off the bench at half time the score line would have been a bigger margin . There are more important games coming up in the league , this one was a job done , tenner to get in , to which in my mind was a fare price . Horrible conditions to play in and  to watch

What is with the ball wrestling between Bogle and Henderson, very tin pot, happened at Solihull and Henderson put that into row z also, still our best chance of winning anything in reality though!

It was a dire game spoiled by the wind even further. Nolan was the best player on the pitch (again) has a clear picture of what's going on before the ball comes to him. I thought Omar did OK again, some great touches and showed his strength on a few occasions but still looks very raw and inconsistent even within games. Pearson looked rusty, he would benefit from a few games as everyone knows he is not a bad defender but a very, very good one at this level. Marshall was outstandingly poor, terrible touch, gave the ball away every time he attempted a pass. Horwood was solid, if not tested at any stage, made runs going forward but never received the ball, he looked a little rusty as well. Diamond didn't work, we play 4-4-2 very well and there's no need to change it. No one stood out, apart from Nolan and none of the fringe players have done anything to force their way into the side. I expect Tait, Toto, Arnold, Diz, Funkers and Podge back in the side on Tuesday.

Anyone think Bogle looks overtrained? Doesn't seem to have the same spring in his step as he did in the first few games.

Boggle was a big fish in a garden pond last season and is now a smaller fish in a small lake so to speak.
He,s doing Ok and can only get better, his goal tally is better than a lot in this league.

This may not be a popular view, so i shall pose it as a question.

Do we have the coaching staff to turn a raw young striker into the finished article? If he is getting the right coaching, then it's not showing much and his goal scoring has got worse the longer he's been here. His first goal for Town, he calmly passed the ball into the net and brought a smile to my face. I even commented on it in my just back thread. The sign of a good finisher is calmness in those situations. Now he is trying to bust the net and the top corner curler hit hard seems to be his modus operandi of late, with not much success. Is his natural scoring instinct being stymied by Hurst trying to turn him into LJL mk 2?

He looked all over the place to me yesterday.

Also anyone think apart from that strike does pittman look lethargic a bit overweight and just not himself ?

Seemed to used to be quite quick but looked like he was running in treacle yesterday.

Quoted from ginnywings

This may not be a popular view, so i shall pose it as a question.

Do we have the coaching staff to turn a raw young striker into the finished article? If he is getting the right coaching, then it's not showing much and his goal scoring has got worse the longer he's been here. His first goal for Town, he calmly passed the ball into the net and brought a smile to my face. I even commented on it in my just back thread. The sign of a good finisher is calmness in those situations. Now he is trying to bust the net and the top corner curler hit hard seems to be his modus operandi of late, with not much success. Is his natural scoring instinct being stymied by Hurst trying to turn him into LJL mk 2?

He looked all over the place to me yesterday.

Said this about six weeks ago and got slated, he's now playing more with his back to goal and its not his game. So yeah, agree with your comment LJL mk2

But i also think amond and bogle are the perfect partnership and work off each other.

Bogle and pittman look the complete opposite and that was the bogle again yesterday.

Quoted from jonnyboy82

Also anyone think apart from that strike does pittman look lethargic a bit overweight and just not himself ?

Seemed to used to be quite quick but looked like he was running in treacle yesterday.

Yes totally agree  .

Quoted from ackomariner

Said this about six weeks ago and got slated, he's now playing more with his back to goal and its not his game. So yeah, agree with your comment LJL mk2

So the logical conclusion to that is that Solihull Moors have better attacking coach staff than us!

Quoted from rancido

So the logical conclusion to that is that Solihull Moors have better attacking coach staff than us!

Why have we got an attacking coach? Thought they were all defenders in their playing days.

So you don't know....they might have

I tend to agree his game has changed somewhat. Watching videos of him scoring for Solihull and in his early days here he was generally given the ball in a bit of space facing the goal and looked confident. However other aspects of his game were lacking. Clearly someone is trying to improve his overall contribution by asking him to work harder and show for the ball and play other players in. He might get better at this which would be good, but I think it is affecting his scoring ability. On a positive note they are obviously working on his heading too and his goal a couple of weeks back was excellent.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind his all round game is improving but that is coming at a cost, his goals

Quoted from ginnywings

This may not be a popular view, so i shall pose it as a question.

Do we have the coaching staff to turn a raw young striker into the finished article? If he is getting the right coaching, then it's not showing much and his goal scoring has got worse the longer he's been here. His first goal for Town, he calmly passed the ball into the net and brought a smile to my face. I even commented on it in my just back thread. The sign of a good finisher is calmness in those situations. Now he is trying to bust the net and the top corner curler hit hard seems to be his modus operandi of late, with not much success. Is his natural scoring instinct being stymied by Hurst trying to turn him into LJL mk 2?

He looked all over the place to me yesterday.

Possibly not but I think he would need to move to a bigger club with a better squad for him to become what he could be. Someone once told me that "you become a better player when you play with better players" this may or may not be true but he does look better when partnered by Podge.

Omar has work rate, strength, pace and as we have seen at times some skill so the potential is there. I think we will have sold him (3 year deal remember) with the proceeds providing the budget for more bodies before we see him perform to his capabilities week in week out.

We are scoring goals 36% in the league have come from Podge and 19% from Omar. He is in "double digit" with 11 so with 17 games to go he could possibly finish between 15 & 20 which considering the move up a level and from part time to full time could be argued is a good first season. It has to be said in real terms moving from The National League North to the top of our league is a relatively big jump.

Don't think the goal scoring has been the issue this term as much as,

1. Starting the season with a keeper who had no real pre season
2. Then when he got in he was mentally miles away from where he needed to be.
3. It took us until early October to be able to deal with high balls into the box, not sure we are there yet TBH
4 , We concede goals from unmarked opposition players at set pieces. Lots of time where we have cleared balls to unmarked players who score against us.
5. We stick religiously to 4 - 4 - 2 when we have enough experience and talent to change shape if required.

And I suspect the lack of additions in January may cost us in one way or another.

What I do know is that whatever progress Omar does make he will need to do it soon as next year if we don't go up we may need to rely on him even more as I would question the likelihood of Podge and others re-signing for another year in this league.


  

Quoted from rancido

So the logical conclusion to that is that Solihull Moors have better attacking coach staff than us!

Or he was being marked by defenders with less ability maybe.

I'm not saying what is happening is wrong per se and eventually it could all click and he will be a better all round player but with goals as well. At the moment he is definitely struggling to find the net consistently like he did at the start of the season. He looks like he doesn't know what he is supposed to be doing to me and most of his efforts are coming from long range. He isn't being Johnny on the spot much lately.

Quoted from ginnywings

This may not be a popular view, so i shall pose it as a question.

Do we have the coaching staff to turn a raw young striker into the finished article? If he is getting the right coaching, then it's not showing much and his goal scoring has got worse the longer he's been here. His first goal for Town, he calmly passed the ball into the net and brought a smile to my face. I even commented on it in my just back thread. The sign of a good finisher is calmness in those situations. Now he is trying to bust the net and the top corner curler hit hard seems to be his modus operandi of late, with not much success. Is his natural scoring instinct being stymied by Hurst trying to turn him into LJL mk 2?

He looked all over the place to me yesterday.

Hurst did turn LJL from someone who had scored about 3 career goals into a 20 goal a season striker last year though, and got him a move back into the league.

Quoted from Tom13

Hurst did turn LJL from someone who had scored about 3 career goals into a 20 goal a season striker last year though, and got him a move back into the league.

This. He transformed LJL from a dodgy winger to a 20 goal striker poached by a league club. He seems to have done alright with Podge so far, and in my opinion Omar is developing just fine.

Mind you Hurst couldn't stop Hannah from running offside or Cook from eating pies so he's not perfect!

Quoted from Tom13

Hurst did turn LJL from someone who had scored about 3 career goals into a 20 goal a season striker last year though, and got him a move back into the league.

I think 20 goal a season striker is stretching it a bit but i agree that he did develop well in his time here and my thoughts were more questions than statements. I'm not criticising as such and Bogle may well go on to perfect his all round game but at the moment, his learning curve seems to be curtailing his goalscoring. I genuinely feel we need someone else who can play alongside Podge and take the burden off him a bit while he progresses. We need that target man.

Well, Bogle's problem of late is that he's not hitting the target. Just one real effort I can remember on Saturday which he 'shaped' well enough but put it high and wide. If you don't hit the target, you aren't going to score.

That said, I'm not going to criticise him too much for Saturday as the whole team was awful and the chances weren't exactly coming thick and fast for the strikers.

Hopefully, he can get back into some form before long and, the last week aside, he had looked much improved in recent games. If he can get to 20 goals this season, it would be a decent return.

Quoted from ginnywings

I think 20 goal a season striker is stretching it a bit but i agree that he did develop well in his time here and my thoughts were more questions than statements. I'm not criticising as such and Bogle may well go on to perfect his all round game but at the moment, his learning curve seems to be curtailing his goalscoring. I genuinely feel we need someone else who can play alongside Podge and take the burden off him a bit while he progresses. We need that target man.

He did get 20 last season though, granted he probably won't this year and never has before but Hurst did get 20 from him last year.

Bogle was always going to struggle to match the tallies he'd previously reached this year IMO, for someone as young and raw as him to get 30 goals again this season a division above with much more expectation on his shoulders was a big ask. He still has a solid record this season, despite some iffy performances (none less than you'd expect from a young player mind).

Quoted from ginnywings

I think 20 goal a season striker is stretching it a bit but i agree that he did develop well in his time here and my thoughts were more questions than statements. I'm not criticising as such and Bogle may well go on to perfect his all round game but at the moment, his learning curve seems to be curtailing his goalscoring. I genuinely feel we need someone else who can play alongside Podge and take the burden off him a bit while he progresses. We need that target man.

He'll only progress if he is playing so why bring someone else in? He needs to go through his "learning curve" so he can start scoring on a regular basis  

Quoted from HertsGTFC

He'll only progress if he is playing so why bring someone else in? He needs to go through his "learning curve" so he can start scoring on a regular basis  

Whilst you are probably right, we don't have time to bring players on we need them to do it right now or we face yet another year in this crap League.

Back to the game, absolutely dreadful.  Couldn't wait for it to be over.  

Pretty much well summed up by previous posts but just my thoughts on a few things:

Bogle and Pittman doesn't work as a pairing.  They were either miles apart or stood on each others toes.  Wasn't a reflection how they played as individuals but they just don't click.

Pearson is lacking game-time.  He wasn't great but he wasn't awful, what he does look like is a guy who hasn't played a great amount of football in recent months.  Any player at any level will look rusty when getting limited game time.  

Norwood is VERY rusty.  First 30 minutes he got a bit of a run around from the opposition winger but slowly got better and more comfortable.  Very pleased his debut was in this game rather than a league one.  

Midfield - Didn't look a diamond to me, more of a 4-3-1-2 with Nolan and Clay as the wider of the midfield two.  Marshall in the hole doesn't really work for me either.  He's at his best with grass to run ahead of him, not working in short spaces and angles.  He was completely anonymous for the first half, like playing with ten men, but came into the game as H&W tired.  Of those available I would have thought Nolan would have been better suited to a free role behind the attack, maybe bringing Clifton into the midfield 3 if Hurst really wanted to stick with that system.

Henderson continues to be a bit of an enigma for me.  He coasted through large parts of the game without really doing anything.  For a guy who has such a high pedigree and with his obvious talents, the least you would expect is him to shine against a struggling Conference South side.  Sadly, he didn't.  Nolan looks far, far the better bet moving forward and you can see why Hurst was so pleased to get him on board.  I think he could be a massive player for us in the run-in.  

Final point - the weather was absolutely shocking and ruined any hope of the game as a spectacle.  Couldn't play it on the floor as the pitch looked sodden in places, couldn't play it in the air as the wind just took control.  Don't know how much you can take from games like that.  We ground out a result and 3-0 was a really unfair score, they just collapsed the last five minutes.