The Crawlies Away

[Why?]

This game showed Curly-Cobblers which players were up to the task, and which are passengers.

There will be some grumpy players amongst the squad after they review their performances.

If the squad has "bottle" they will learn & move on.

If they have festering sores, they will be shifted on or out, quick.

I had faith in Martin......  up until this game.  That performance shows that he is a waster, and he needs to prove otherwise. Else, he'll be struggling to play even in the UCL come next season.

Smith as a target man..... he has still to learn that a target man needs to be somewhere else, other than where the ball is going to be played, before the ball is played.  Stand still at the point that ball is going to be played in to, and you are going to over-run by the defender.  Run onto where the ball is going to be played to... and the biggest and strongest wins (ie, Smith).  But, I suspect his next appearance will be in Div 1, after we are promoted.

Lines.  Goodbye.  He cannot close down an envelope.  Hoskins does that job far better.  Goodbye Lines.  Pop up to Walsall to re-unite with your mate, Daryll.

Arnold..... I'm not sure you are good enough to even dis-lodge 2 of our ex- at Chesterfield (Jalal & Coddington).  Heaven help us if the unfairly maligned Cornell moves on in this window, and you are left as 1st choice.  You got your move to us to be closer to home in the summer (make weight for Pierre?).  I fear your personal issues are too much for us to resolve.  Goodbye.

Turnbull.....  Are you after a move this window?  If so, wandering around watching play will be noted by scouts, who wander around watching play  (irony?) !!!!!!  Get your arse in gear again, please!

McWilliams.  Speedy recovery wishes to you!  When you look back on the last few months, you have had a bad throw of the dice with injury & illness.  Fight to get fit: fight to get your place in the side back: fight to win.... Do all of that, and the "Hotel End" will sing your praises at every game!

McCormack.  Please be sure that you are fit for every minute that you are on the pitch.  You are brilliant when at 100%, but, s*** when at 65%.  s***ter than s*** when "injured".

Hoskins.  Please learn to stop on a sixpence when defending.  Your pace is ace.  But, the best players have the strength in their vital parts to go from 60mph to 0mph in 0.01 sec.  They can also turn 90 degrees without a change of pace.  At times, you look like you need more time and space to re-act than a Super-tanker.  You are our latter-day Eric Weaver.

Unfortunately, I fear our season is ripped apart unless we get:

1x full-time, street-wise CB who can also play full-back left side.  (Dare we get that cheeky bid in for Richard Stearman?)

1x GK to overtake Arnold - assuming Cornell moves on this Window.

1x AM who can close down when we play a high press, who can tackle, who can pass, and who knows where the net is.  Has Joe Powell progressed? If so, can we get him on loan again?  If not, then this is young Pollock's chance to be our main man!

1x rocket up the rrrs to the rest of the players......  who appear to think that a "challenging" position is good enough.  This squad is better than that!  This squad is good enough to rip a new rrrshole in ever team it faces..... and it HAS to do that for 95 mins every game.

Happy New Year!

[guest3264]

It’s just dreadful football boring to watch, with the squad we’ve got we should be doing better.

BETTER?
The squad does not include one striker good enough for a team to win promotion.
Cornell and the 3 centre backs have consistantly been good enough but Harriman and a new left wingback need to play.
Adams and McCormack need a fit McWilliams in midfield, plus Pollock and Roberts given a proper chance!

Yes boring football but promotion NO not with this squad!

[Manwork04]

BETTER?
The squad does not include one striker good enough for a team to win promotion.
Cornell and the 3 centre backs have consistantly been good enough but Harriman and a new left wingback need to play.
Adams and McCormack need a fit McWilliams in midfield, plus Pollock and Roberts given a proper chance!

Yes boring football but promotion NO not with this squad!

Your first statement is incorrect, in Williams we have a striker given the service will score 15 goals a season.
I don’t share the love in with McWilliams, for me he’s better at full back. Harriman is too slow for a wing back, as for Roberts he looks like a competition winner.

[Grove]

No often I comment on here cos I don't follow the crowd on opinions accepted . Ive said from the start of the season the football is dire, even the games weve won , ive left not satisfied, zero excitement , nothing to get me off my seat apart from the final whistle.I stick by what I said in my last post about 2 months ago, if we get promoted under Curle ill give £50 to charity,i think my money is safe. Without decent strikers and no creativity whatsoever, and no entertainment results and crowds will start falling away.

[ClarenceInDefence]

This game showed Curly-Cobblers which players were up to the task, and which are passengers.

There will be some grumpy players amongst the squad after they review their performances.

If the squad has "bottle" they will learn & move on.

If they have festering sores, they will be shifted on or out, quick.

I had faith in Martin......  up until this game.  That performance shows that he is a waster, and he needs to prove otherwise. Else, he'll be struggling to play even in the UCL come next season.

Smith as a target man..... he has still to learn that a target man needs to be somewhere else, other than where the ball is going to be played, before the ball is played.  Stand still at the point that ball is going to be played in to, and you are going to over-run by the defender.  Run onto where the ball is going to be played to... and the biggest and strongest wins (ie, Smith).  But, I suspect his next appearance will be in Div 1, after we are promoted.

Lines.  Goodbye.  He cannot close down an envelope.  Hoskins does that job far better.  Goodbye Lines.  Pop up to Walsall to re-unite with your mate, Daryll.

Arnold..... I'm not sure you are good enough to even dis-lodge 2 of our ex- at Chesterfield (Jalal & Coddington).  Heaven help us if the unfairly maligned Cornell moves on in this window, and you are left as 1st choice.  You got your move to us to be closer to home in the summer (make weight for Pierre?).  I fear your personal issues are too much for us to resolve.  Goodbye.

Turnbull.....  Are you after a move this window?  If so, wandering around watching play will be noted by scouts, who wander around watching play  (irony?) !!!!!!  Get your arse in gear again, please!

McWilliams.  Speedy recovery wishes to you!  When you look back on the last few months, you have had a bad throw of the dice with injury & illness.  Fight to get fit: fight to get your place in the side back: fight to win.... Do all of that, and the "Hotel End" will sing your praises at every game!

McCormack.  Please be sure that you are fit for every minute that you are on the pitch.  You are brilliant when at 100%, but, **** when at 65%.  s***ter than **** when "injured".

Hoskins.  Please learn to stop on a sixpence when defending.  Your pace is ace.  But, the best players have the strength in their vital parts to go from 60mph to 0mph in 0.01 sec.  They can also turn 90 degrees without a change of pace.  At times, you look like you need more time and space to re-act than a Super-tanker.  You are our latter-day Eric Weaver.

Unfortunately, I fear our season is ripped apart unless we get:

1x full-time, street-wise CB who can also play full-back left side.  (Dare we get that cheeky bid in for Richard Stearman?)

1x GK to overtake Arnold - assuming Cornell moves on this Window.

1x AM who can close down when we play a high press, who can tackle, who can pass, and who knows where the net is.  Has Joe Powell progressed? If so, can we get him on loan again?  If not, then this is young Pollock's chance to be our main man!

1x rocket up the rrrs to the rest of the players......  who appear to think that a "challenging" position is good enough.  This squad is better than that!  This squad is good enough to rip a new rrrshole in ever team it faces..... and it HAS to do that for 95 mins every game.

Happy New Year!

  Ye gods.......this thread becomes more and more laughable.

[bungle]

A few thoughts.

The Boothroyd parallel is pertinent here: 'Front foot' football (a thinly-veiled euphemism for hoofball) will only get you so far.

The problem with hoofball - quite apart from its ugliness - is that it becomes extremely predictable. Teams have worked out that if you 1) put two men on Adams to stop deep crosses and 2) expose the space in behind our wing backs then we are ducked. Our plan b if 'hoof it to the big lump targetman' isn't working is currently...bring on two more big lump targetmen, and in this day and age that kind of primitivism doesn't really cut it.

We have arguably the best three centre backs in the league and we are arguably the best set piece team in the league. That is why we are 9th.

If we're going to make any further progress and if Curle is ever going to achieve that elusive first promotion, he is going to have to learn to mix it up a bit. Personally, this is what I would play at the moment:


                                                          Cornell
                                             Turnbull Wharton Goode

                                    Adams     McCormack   Watson  Harriman/new LWB

                                                        Pollock/new playmaker
                                                   
                                                   Williams/Hoskins/new striker   Oliver


What's missing is basic passing movements like overlaps, overloads and triangles. If we had a proper playmaker in front of McCormack and Watson/McWilliams then they could be combining with Adams and the LWB so that we could actually get behind teams now and again. Pollock is probably the closest we have to this type of player and he deserves a run in the team ahead of Lines.

 

[GrangeParkCobbler]

You can’t put McCormack in any team as he’s just not fit enough to build a team around.
Missing again today, only involved in 11 of 24 league games....and only finished one game that he’s started.