Lesscombe (H) 28-09-13

[TbananaG]

Sensible play from Hackett that was greeted by groans and moans from the crowd because he wasn't putting it high.  Maybe they were groaning because the front two weren't getting in front to connect?  Although our (best) two chances in the first half were when they did.

Yep, it's a small but hugely significant technical point: I'm not sure there was a single time in the game that one of our forwards or midfielders made a near post run and a winger has a right to expect much better than that. There's a simple saying in pro football that if it looks like the wrong pass then it's almost always the case that the right run wasn't made.

[Deepcut Cobbler]

.......There's a simple saying in pro football that if it looks like the wrong pass then it's almost always the case that the right run wasn't made.

Unfortunately it is then the passer who gets it in the neck, especially from people like the ones sat behind me on Saturday.. 

[TbananaG]

Unfortunately it is then the passer who gets it in the neck, especially from people like the ones sat behind me on Saturday.. 

Yep - Chris Hackett hasn't forgotten how to cross accurately since the end of last season...

[A view from the east]

Don't quite understand how anyone can be so sure about this.
I don't claim to be an expert but in the 5 games I have been to this term Hackett has over hit crosses , failed to clear the first man and generally not been as reliable this season as he was last. Think quite a few would agree with that.
Whether that is down to lack of form or confidence or whether he is still not fully fit after his injury I don't know , but given that and the fact that the ball travels a lot faster than any forward can how are they supposed to anticipate where he is going to put it ?
The forwards will make their runs into what they consider are dangerous areas from which they are most likely to score and at this level of football whether the winger finds them or not with a cross is not a nailed on certainty.
Personally I believe that the lack of attacking support in the box when the cross is made is more of a problem and if enough of our other so called midfielders were getting in there fighting we would be worrying defences more and scoring more goals.

[everbrite]

midfielders were getting in there fighting we would be worrying defences more and scoring more goals.

now doesn't this seem all too true

[TbananaG]

Don't quite understand how anyone can be so sure about this.
I don't claim to be an expert but in the 5 games I have been to this term Hackett has over hit crosses , failed to clear the first man and generally not been as reliable this season as he was last. Think quite a few would agree with that.
Whether that is down to lack of form or confidence or whether he is still not fully fit after his injury I don't know , but given that and the fact that the ball travels a lot faster than any forward can how are they supposed to anticipate where he is going to put it ?
The forwards will make their runs into what they consider are dangerous areas from which they are most likely to score and at this level of football whether the winger finds them or not with a cross is not a nailed on certainty.
Personally I believe that the lack of attacking support in the box when the cross is made is more of a problem and if enough of our other so called midfielders were getting in there fighting we would be worrying defences more and scoring more goals.

I also wouldn't claim to be an expert, but I found myself sitting next to a really friendly and talkative ex lower leagues pro in the West Stand on Saturday and be called it as a 0-0 after about ten minutes, even though Amankwaah and Hackett started off really well down the right hand side. His specific reasons for this were the lack of near post runs by the forwards, the failure of the central midfielders to get into the box and the lack of a left side option due to Morris being entirely ineffectual. I didn't believe him - but he was right and I was wrong! He felt very sorry for Chris Hackett. After he pointed it out, I watched really carefully and I don't think either of our forwards made a single near post run in the whole game. It's hard to believe they would have gone the whole week in training without Hackett playing a near post cross, although granted his targets in training would have been Blyth and the Platt-ypus, not ROD and Toney. I do think it's possible Hackett hasn't fully got his confidence back after his injury, but I think it's also the case that he's now playing with players who are much below his level.

[threeinabed]

any reason why he was a lower league ex-pro, and hadnt made it at a higher level?!?!

[Trotty]

Chris Hackett is far from at his best currently, not suprising really when he had no preseason and was thrown straight in. The sad thing about this is he still looks leagues ahead of the rest of our sorry midfield.

[Deepcut Cobbler]

It didn't need a lower league ex pro to identify the problems, it was seen clearly by a lower league ex player, coach, manager and current referee.   

[St Edmundsbury Cobbler]

. His specific reasons for this were the lack of near post runs by the forwards, the failure of the central midfielders to get into the box.

I'm not an expert either, I've not even played Sunday League but I commented on this at Bristol Rovers and at home to Exeter.

[Zen Master]

Ability to play the game and ability to read the game are of course very different things. Wenger, Mourinho, AVB and myself are all clear examples!

[TbananaG]

Although the point that's emerging seems to be that we all agree, whether player/non-player, expert/non-expert...which is, erm, unusual.

[DrillingCobbler]

I think it was on Facebook earlier in the week where I made
the point that whilst ROD is a great finisher,
he rarely makes the runs to get him into positions to score tap ins. Most of his goals here have been spectacular ones, I don't actually recall him netting once from a scramble.

On Saturday this was really evident. He just couldn't find space. Last season when Bayo was playing he did because Bayo usually took 2 defenders with him. None of our current strikers do, they can all be marshalled by one man.

[Deepcut Cobbler]

Someone mentioned that ADB had a heart monitor test for this game, not seen the article on here before:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2451273/Aidy-Boothroyd-takes-special-heart-monitor-test-exclusive-Sportsmail-video.html