Away form decline

Strange how he chooses not to play the loanees he signed even though we're stretched in numbers.Surely Telford wouldn't score any less than Nicholls.Bola was superb at Wolves but seems he like Sweeney has lost his sharpness which as he rarely features isn't perhaps surprising.

Agree

I think we still have a group of over achieving L2 players.

Sadly I think some of them need replacing with lower end L1 players who DC will then get over achieving again.

Players like Sercombe and Bodin are our only real quality players. We need some real quality through the middle. It's a bit much to expect 2 completely untried L1 newbies to be fulfilling the CB role.

I think it's our lack of another defensive midfielder. We've played at our best when Ollie Clarke has played well. Unfortunately he's had an inconsistent season.

Somebody mentioned needing another when we didn't sign one in the summer. I said in DC I trust but I'm happy to admit I was wrong.

That's not a knock on DC as I definitely still think he's the best manager we can have at the moment and none of us know what agents/clubs wanted for any of his targets.

I seem to recall that Tom Lockyer and Ollie Clark both played in the defensive midfield together.

We have enough centre halfs to allow Lockyer to play that defensive role again. We know he is quick and can tackle but his biggest attribute I believe he has is being able to read the game, just whats needed in the midfield.

Play Broadbent  and Menayaisee with Lockyer in front if them. 

One last point, BRFC are no good at hoof ball and havent been since the days of Devon White !!!

An over acheiving conference team that finished tenth last season and are five points off the playoffs this season? I know results haven't gone our way in the last few games but surely even you don't think we have a team of players worthy of playing in Non league?

The way I see it, we are an under performing bottom half league one team that are lacking in a few key area's. We also have 4-5 players who aren't good enough to start if we want to be a top six side in this division. We need to bring in a CB with experience in this division or higher, a more defensive minded midfielder who can give some protection to the defence and put a tackle in and a left sided winger to give us more width as I suspect DC has us play such a narrow formation because we don't have the quality out wide.

I think that we will continue to be decent at home, so we won't have to worry about a relegation struggle, but unless we significantly improve, even a top 15 finish will be beyond us. Some supporters will be frustrated with a season neither going that far forward or backwards but it might not be a bad thing if we can get things started off the field.

Bit of an insult to 'dev' that, for a big guy he had decent feet, ok pace and was good at reading play....

To suggest he was instrumental at the long ball game would be incorrect....

Personnel and Tactics

We have come along way in a short time and last season a bit of momentum from the previous 2 years carried us through along with Taylor's and then Bodin's goals.

Our recruitment this summer was disappointing and we did not get the quality and numbers we needed to push us on and give us more strength in depth.

We lack 2 goal scoring strikers to supplement Ellis and Gaffers, we have little attacking pace especially out wide and without Bodin these last few weeks we have looked very poor going forward.

We have yet to get the balance right in midfield and lack a quality CDM.

In defense we need a settled back 5 and the constant changing doesn't achieve that. Back in 1989/90 I think Nigel Martyn then Parkin had virtually the same back four in front of them for virtually every minute of the season (V Jones 20man Yatesy and Jocky )

I prefer Slocombe over Dracula just but neither fill me with confidence like many of the keepers did in our past (Eddie Thomas Cashley Carter Martyn Parkin Culkin Philips)

DC knows where we are lacking but his hands are tied by the budget and lack of gifted cash from the owners (I know most on here would splash the cash if we had it just like SL does for the dark side) He didn't get his number 1 targets in the summer and had to make do with 2 unwanted keepers and 2 players formerly from Exeter who for personal reasons were happy to come here and be closer to home.

The gung ho approach is entertaining to watch for 20 mins but when the goals start flying in at the wrong end you realise it was a short shot of gratification which ultimately ends up unsatisfying.

On the other hand if we sit back deep and rely on catching the opponents on the break (ala Woolery on Wednesday for Swindle) you have to have the pace and quality to make it count which we don't. DC used this tactic yesterday when he swapped Nichols for Parts and we didn't get a sniff.

We were unlucky at a number of away games last season and deserved more points away from home than we got.

So far this season I think we should of had and deserved a point at Charlton and Rochdale.

I've been to all the away games with the exception of Bradford - which I watched on the box - and I have to agree with most of that.

4-3-3 seems like the only formation we can play with the players we've got. We tried 5-3-2 at Rochdale for 20 minutes and could have been 3 down. Nobody seemed to have a clue what they were doing and Rochdale were playing through us with worrying ease.

The tried and tested 4-4-2 is no longer working for a number of reasons. Firstly Bodin is our only decent wide player but I also think DC seems reluctant not to play at least 3 of Clarke, Lines, Sercombe and Sinclair; none of whcih are effective on the wing and played in a diamond leaves the full backs too exposed.

I think most of us feel Sinclair is probably playing above his level and both Lines and Clarke have not managed to reproduce last years form. This means that despite bringing in Sercombe - who I do rate - we are weaker in midfield and seem to lose the midfield battle in most away games.

It is beginning to look like a number of our players are not good enough for L1 but the problem we have is it sounds like we need to move some out to bring new faces in during January. That won't be easy.

We do have a lack of leaders. Lockyer and Clarke have captained the side this season but both are struggling for form themselves. With the exception of Lines we have a fairly young squad which is fine when things are going well but not so great when you're on a bad run.

I'm realistic, I never expected us to be challenging for a top 6 finish but even with a bottom 6 infratstructure, a mid table budget and top 6 crowds I feel we should be somewhere between 16th & 10th. That is where we stand at the moment - until Walsall and Oldham play their games in hand at least - but we need to reverse the current poor run quickly if we're not to be dragged into a real relegation battle.

Very good post - couldn’t agree more.