Post by stevek192 on Oct 7, 2018 9:58:25 GMT
So after two away points it was important that we got back to winning ways at the Memorial. Team selection is always the first "event" of the afternoon and the truth is you can never guess a DC team! It was the usual 5 changes from Tuesday night and I would immediately say that is it at all surprising that as a team we look disorganised? Martin and Leadbitter provided a new pairing of Full backs with James Clarke moving across to change the central partnership so three changes in the back four after two 0-0 draws!! Unbelievable. In midfield we reverted to a sort of four but can't really call it a 4-4-2 formation as Sinclair will never be a wideman. Nicholls and Reilly were both recalled though I can think of no good reason whatsoever why Nichols was recalled!
Bonham 7.5 Missed a cross early on that resulted in a disallowed goal but its good to have a goalkeeper that goes for the crosses and overall it was another great performance that kept the game goalless for so long.
Leadbitter 6.5 His performance sums up the team- frustrating. Played reasonable over all but the standard of his crossing was abymal as I totally lost count of the number of attempts to put in a decent cross.
J. Clarke 7 Played to the best of his ability and to be fair although in my mind he is another Average player he gave 100% with few errors and certainly no worse than Lockyer has been and in many ways was better.
Craig 6 Led the back line well and won a lot of the ball. In truth defensive wise it was not a bad performance and we looked fairly solid until the last minute!
Martin 6 Played OK but some will say he didn't attack enough but I would say he doesn't need to with Bennett in front of him. Would have been a 7 but for it being his player who was unmarked to score the late goal.
Sinclair 5 Can't fault his effort or commitment but today that was it. No quality about him today and if you want to use effort and commitment the wide positions are not where you use it.
Lines 8 MOM Always in the thick of it but the team selected just doesn't suit the type of player he is with the range of passing and add to that there is no coordination with the four midfielders and the strikers. At least Chris has the ability to hold on to the ball to gain time and momentum but I despair what the team do in training because they just don't appear to work for each other and Chris then has to hit and hope.
O. Clarke 6 Tenacious and fought for the ball but unfortunately provided little creativity and why can't a Professional footballer pass the ball accurately when in control of it. Far too often today he did something good and then completely lost it with a poor pass. Our midfielders are just not disciplined enough and so we allow opponents too much space and possession by being too deep.
Bennett 5.5 Some good moments with some tricky runs but at the end of the day what does he achieve? When he has the ball we really need to get players near him to receive it especially the central midfielders and also we need to have players fighting to get in the opponents box.
Reilly 5.5 Again looked like he had something about him and unlucky with the follow up to Ollie Clarke's shot but overall the service just wasn't good enough as usual to really judge him on.
Nichols 4 Puts the effort in but really is lost when up against defenders that are always bigger than him. Most opponents ; unlike us; have one tall centre half who dominates things. DC- Just to let you know Tom Nichols is supposed to be a goalscorer and that means score some goals usually in a 1-3 game ratio not one in 30!! I really do wonder if, under a different manager things would be different for him as the team rarely plays the sort of football that creates chances in the box and by that I not only blame the strikers but the entire team as there is no organisation. If Dc remains then I would put Nichols as fourth choice and get rid of in January but if someone else takes over then maybe Tom's fortunes will change.
Subs: Jakubiak 6 Looked lively but will he improve results? Like Telford before him who knows? We just haven't seen enough of him.
Sercombe 5.5 Still rusty and being played out of position is not helping one bit.
Matthews 6.5 Came on too late but played well in that time with good direct running, close control dribbling skills and so unlucky not to have scored what probably would have been the winning goal for us with a free kick from the corner of the penalty area that hit the inside of the post. The trouble is that if he does start next game will he have the same effect?
Crowd 6. Poor turn out again but I am not going to criticise as what is being served up is just not good enough and 4 defeats out of six at home is poor to say the least. Great applause on 28 minutes for the Gashead who lost his life in a Car crash on Monday and just shows us that at the end of the day there are far more important things in life than Football. RIP Matt.
Ref 5 An average performance.
Walsall 5 One of the better sides-just with a nasty streak in them. Organised at the back but the truth is that as with all opponents they know our Managers tactics (or lack of them) inside out which is not hard as we do allow our opponents plenty of possession by not harassing them at the back and allow them to build and out manoeuvre our midfield players . We really look very disorganised at times by covering space rather than any type of marking.
Dc His recruitment has left us with a team that has little pace and power and too many plain average players. He says he would want Ollie Clarke in the trench with him but i'm not sure he would be in the same trench!! Surely he would want Nichols in the trench as he persists in picking him? DC's sort of player is all about effort and commitment but there are times when you need some actual quality on the ball and a balanced team. We lack this in abundance and we just have the situation where DC is not getting the best out of his players and is just fitting as many central midfielders in the team as he can. The main problem is that none of the midfielders are actually any good out wide and we have to use the full backs to do the job. We rarely get enough players into the box as we are so slow and predictable going forward. Only Bennett attacks with pace and the problem is he has very limited options in front of him. I am not in the DC out brigade as yet for the simple reason that I have no confidence whatsoever in the Owners and they may well be the big problem as they cast a fog over the club with their silence. We are a ship without a Captain in very stormy seas and with the players we have until January who could do a better job?
It is difficult to see where the goals and points are going to come from and at present the team is bordering on a lower mid table to relegation finish. The League table does not lie after a quarter of the games but I would give DC 5 more games to turn it around and then make a decision because if he doesn't turn it around in that time then the chances of him doing it are remote and I certainly wouldn't trust him in January with any money he is lucky enough to receive based on his last three or four transfer windows. if he does go there is also the problem of other appointments that have been made and I would suggest he takes the whole lot with him particularly the Head of Recruitment who appears to have added very little to the club.
So in DCs words we dust ourselves down and move on to Yeovil in the Nonsence cup on Tuesday where we will probably make the same mistakes all over again with probably at least 5 changes so again there will be no consistency. What team would I put out? Well the truth is that the Managers selections are a lottery and without really any knowledge of the injury situation it is difficult to select. Whatever team he selects I would be looking to play that team for a few games as all the swopping formations and players is not improving results. Your tinkering DC is failing badly because there are no understandings between the players as a unit and that is the big problem. When we lose the ball we are moving as individuals and like a team of headless chickens allowing the opponents to dictate for long periods in the important areas. I am not convinced it is the strikers fault because looking at the games there are not that many strikes in the penalty area- it is the final ball or pass that is the problem and that is made worse because most bodies are behind the ball.
Frustrating is the way I would describe my Club at the moment. UTG
Bonham 7.5 Missed a cross early on that resulted in a disallowed goal but its good to have a goalkeeper that goes for the crosses and overall it was another great performance that kept the game goalless for so long.
Leadbitter 6.5 His performance sums up the team- frustrating. Played reasonable over all but the standard of his crossing was abymal as I totally lost count of the number of attempts to put in a decent cross.
J. Clarke 7 Played to the best of his ability and to be fair although in my mind he is another Average player he gave 100% with few errors and certainly no worse than Lockyer has been and in many ways was better.
Craig 6 Led the back line well and won a lot of the ball. In truth defensive wise it was not a bad performance and we looked fairly solid until the last minute!
Martin 6 Played OK but some will say he didn't attack enough but I would say he doesn't need to with Bennett in front of him. Would have been a 7 but for it being his player who was unmarked to score the late goal.
Sinclair 5 Can't fault his effort or commitment but today that was it. No quality about him today and if you want to use effort and commitment the wide positions are not where you use it.
Lines 8 MOM Always in the thick of it but the team selected just doesn't suit the type of player he is with the range of passing and add to that there is no coordination with the four midfielders and the strikers. At least Chris has the ability to hold on to the ball to gain time and momentum but I despair what the team do in training because they just don't appear to work for each other and Chris then has to hit and hope.
O. Clarke 6 Tenacious and fought for the ball but unfortunately provided little creativity and why can't a Professional footballer pass the ball accurately when in control of it. Far too often today he did something good and then completely lost it with a poor pass. Our midfielders are just not disciplined enough and so we allow opponents too much space and possession by being too deep.
Bennett 5.5 Some good moments with some tricky runs but at the end of the day what does he achieve? When he has the ball we really need to get players near him to receive it especially the central midfielders and also we need to have players fighting to get in the opponents box.
Reilly 5.5 Again looked like he had something about him and unlucky with the follow up to Ollie Clarke's shot but overall the service just wasn't good enough as usual to really judge him on.
Nichols 4 Puts the effort in but really is lost when up against defenders that are always bigger than him. Most opponents ; unlike us; have one tall centre half who dominates things. DC- Just to let you know Tom Nichols is supposed to be a goalscorer and that means score some goals usually in a 1-3 game ratio not one in 30!! I really do wonder if, under a different manager things would be different for him as the team rarely plays the sort of football that creates chances in the box and by that I not only blame the strikers but the entire team as there is no organisation. If Dc remains then I would put Nichols as fourth choice and get rid of in January but if someone else takes over then maybe Tom's fortunes will change.
Subs: Jakubiak 6 Looked lively but will he improve results? Like Telford before him who knows? We just haven't seen enough of him.
Sercombe 5.5 Still rusty and being played out of position is not helping one bit.
Matthews 6.5 Came on too late but played well in that time with good direct running, close control dribbling skills and so unlucky not to have scored what probably would have been the winning goal for us with a free kick from the corner of the penalty area that hit the inside of the post. The trouble is that if he does start next game will he have the same effect?
Crowd 6. Poor turn out again but I am not going to criticise as what is being served up is just not good enough and 4 defeats out of six at home is poor to say the least. Great applause on 28 minutes for the Gashead who lost his life in a Car crash on Monday and just shows us that at the end of the day there are far more important things in life than Football. RIP Matt.
Ref 5 An average performance.
Walsall 5 One of the better sides-just with a nasty streak in them. Organised at the back but the truth is that as with all opponents they know our Managers tactics (or lack of them) inside out which is not hard as we do allow our opponents plenty of possession by not harassing them at the back and allow them to build and out manoeuvre our midfield players . We really look very disorganised at times by covering space rather than any type of marking.
Dc His recruitment has left us with a team that has little pace and power and too many plain average players. He says he would want Ollie Clarke in the trench with him but i'm not sure he would be in the same trench!! Surely he would want Nichols in the trench as he persists in picking him? DC's sort of player is all about effort and commitment but there are times when you need some actual quality on the ball and a balanced team. We lack this in abundance and we just have the situation where DC is not getting the best out of his players and is just fitting as many central midfielders in the team as he can. The main problem is that none of the midfielders are actually any good out wide and we have to use the full backs to do the job. We rarely get enough players into the box as we are so slow and predictable going forward. Only Bennett attacks with pace and the problem is he has very limited options in front of him. I am not in the DC out brigade as yet for the simple reason that I have no confidence whatsoever in the Owners and they may well be the big problem as they cast a fog over the club with their silence. We are a ship without a Captain in very stormy seas and with the players we have until January who could do a better job?
It is difficult to see where the goals and points are going to come from and at present the team is bordering on a lower mid table to relegation finish. The League table does not lie after a quarter of the games but I would give DC 5 more games to turn it around and then make a decision because if he doesn't turn it around in that time then the chances of him doing it are remote and I certainly wouldn't trust him in January with any money he is lucky enough to receive based on his last three or four transfer windows. if he does go there is also the problem of other appointments that have been made and I would suggest he takes the whole lot with him particularly the Head of Recruitment who appears to have added very little to the club.
So in DCs words we dust ourselves down and move on to Yeovil in the Nonsence cup on Tuesday where we will probably make the same mistakes all over again with probably at least 5 changes so again there will be no consistency. What team would I put out? Well the truth is that the Managers selections are a lottery and without really any knowledge of the injury situation it is difficult to select. Whatever team he selects I would be looking to play that team for a few games as all the swopping formations and players is not improving results. Your tinkering DC is failing badly because there are no understandings between the players as a unit and that is the big problem. When we lose the ball we are moving as individuals and like a team of headless chickens allowing the opponents to dictate for long periods in the important areas. I am not convinced it is the strikers fault because looking at the games there are not that many strikes in the penalty area- it is the final ball or pass that is the problem and that is made worse because most bodies are behind the ball.
Frustrating is the way I would describe my Club at the moment. UTG
