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Reply | Mcnulty
at 17:53 7 Nov 2024
I think you've fallen out with the game full stop in that case DA.
Jim's style is not just his style, it's the style of football that the majority of coaches now want their team to play (even at levels below ours) and what's more, it's the style of football that most young players have been coached in for their formative years and actively want to play. There are exceptions to the rule, of course, but they're few and far between now and for every exception like Andy Woodman, you also have an exception like Jim Bentley.
Like most fans, I sit somewhere in the middle with McNulty. I think he speaks well, has the respect and trust of the players, has made slow and steady progress in terms of results, has (alongside MRKT) managed some decent recruitment even with a very tight budget last season. I think the style of play is relatively effective (I would've taken 6th at the start of the season so I'm happy enough with the results) but I do worry that there's a bit of a soft underbelly to this team that when it comes to crunch moments like against Bromley (and like we'd be facing should we make the play-offs) then there may just be a mental block there that other teams can expose.
The style of play to me is largely irrelevant. You'll get fans with different preferences across the board. For every fan like yourself who gets tired watching a possession-based team, you're going to get one that prefers it. Again, given that most young fans are now growing up with this style, I'd argue most younger fans probably prefer it.
At the end of the day the majority won't really mind (and some won't even notice) as long as we're winning and I fall into that camp - the best style of football is winning football and at the moment we're winning more than we're losing, so I'll take that for the time being whilst having reservations about our ability to pick up results under Jim when it *really* matters.
If Jim goes to Burton Albion I expect the next manager to have very similar principles and would hope that the club's over-riding plan takes into consideration that recruitment has been made to build a squad to play in this way rather than going out there to bring in a manager that plays in a completely different style meaning we have to rip up the squad and start again and set ourselves back 18 months. |
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Reply | Twisted Mule Brewery and Taphouse - Spotland Bridge Mill
at 16:13 30 Aug 2024
I don't know enough about beer to consider myself an ale snob but I really am not a fan of JW Lees' offerings. Would love to put money into the club but unfortunately with below-average beer, unpredictability around whether the early kick-offs will be shown and the fact the Ratcliffe/Dale Bar turns into a bit of a sweat box when busy on a hot day I'd rather spend my money elsewhere pre-match if possible.
That's not a dig at DaleBars btw who I know has been working as hard as anyone could to ensure the Ratcliffe provides the best experience possible for fans but there are just other places I'd rather spend an hour and a few quid before the game. Will be trying Twisted Mule at some point. |
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Reply | New kit?
at 13:28 31 Jul 2024
Might look alright to people that show a blatant disregard to how many stripes they're wearing at any given time. |
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Reply | Bromley Match Thread..
at 15:50 2 Dec 2023
Poor first half, but comfortably the worst moment was Adam Virgo revealing that he's currently playing as PSG on Football Manager. Melt.
Bromley are better organised defensively than the teams we've played recently and we need to find Plan B, because we aren't pulling them out of shape at the moment. At least the possession we've had has been higher up the pitch the longer the game's gone on. |
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Reply | Altrincham Match Thread
at 09:39 22 Nov 2023
Stand-out line: "Only positive is we surely won't be signing Newby on a permanent." 
Great performance last night, don't think he's been mentioned yet so the only thing I wanted to add was that I thought that was Adam Clayton's best performance for a few weeks. When he's on it, we're on it. |
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Reply | Aldershot match thread
at 09:31 20 Nov 2023
Noticed something similar re: the long passes. As pedestrian as it was at times, every attempt to go long was so bad in that first half. When the game feels so slow like that there needs to be more confidence from the midfield three to receive the ball on the turn under pressure and get us forward that way because we were so ineffective whenever we tried to go long I do wonder whether that's the thinking behind Gilmour being played deeper than East in the last few games as he's usually very good in those tight spaces with the ball. |
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Reply | Aldershot match thread
at 09:28 20 Nov 2023
Wouldn't that be more to do with the instructions on how we defend out of possession in those areas than how we play in possession though?
I don't think anyone's denying there's an issue with the instructions, it's the idea that the instructions to play a possession-based style is inadvertently leading to us conceding from corners that I'm struggling to understand personally. |
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Reply | I despair
at 10:20 14 Nov 2023
I would argue it's simply that they aren't very good at defending balls into the box rather than clarity of thought and concentration being stretched to breaking point by an in-possession tactic that they've actually been managing to execute far better than, I don't know, defending crosses? |
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Reply | Does anyone else remember……
at 14:51 13 Nov 2023
Your first paragraph is spot on. It seems like people once again are confusing their dissatisfaction at the results with their dissatisfaction with the playing style. If we hold onto the lead at 2-1 on Saturday, is anybody on the forum today bemoaning the style of play for being boring?
And this nonsense that we never play long balls patently isn't true either. In the last game prior to Saturday our first goal came from a long ball from the goalkeeper which was finished first time by Hayes and our second came from a long ball from defence that was flicked on by Mitchell. The first goal on Saturday came from an old-fashioned through ball from midfield which you don't see a lot of these days. By setting up to play possession football first and foremost we often can draw teams out and give ourselves more space to play the ball in behind. If Moulden's taking a long goal kick every time then the opposition are obviously going to set up for that and have more defenders in deeper areas rather than trying to stop the short goal kick by having players on the edge of our area and giving us room to exploit further up the pitch.
We've scored 10 goals in our last 4 games. As "boring" as it may seem to some, in possession we're actually proving to be pretty effective and in my opinion quite varied based on the different types of goal we're scoring. Only four teams in the division have scored more than us this season.
But this post is not in defence of Jim. He absolutely HAS to sort out the defensive issues one way or another and as quickly as possible, because everything else is being undone by that. We've conceded 12 in those same four games - 7 of which have come from crosses into the box. None of which have come as a direct result of overplaying at the back and losing the ball.
In fact, we've conceded 32 goals so far this season - that's seven more than bottom-placed Kidderminster. 18 of those 32 have come from crosses into the box. We've conceded as many goals from crosses as Halifax have conceded altogether. I can only find one example of us conceding within 2/3 passes after being caught in possession in our own third - and that came from a cross into the box immediately after Keohane lost the ball in the right-back position.
There's also a serious issue with game management. Of the 13 games we've failed to win in the league this season, we've actually led in seven of them. On two occasions we've been leading, at home, by two goals and failed to win. I've pointed out the issues with the fitness of players that are being asked to play too much football but one of those games was against a Southend side that could only name three subs and two of them were against part-time teams in Maidenhead and Wealdstone. We have to be mentally tougher and be better at killing an opponent's momentum when they're trying to find a way back into a game.
You can be as effective as you like in possession, but if you're conceding 2/3 goals per game and are throwing away points from a winning position in 35% of your games then it's never going to count for much. The thing is, I know it's inherently frustrating for a lot of fans to watch players recycle the ball or play short goal kicks but those really, really aren't the things that are costing us at the moment.
This post has been edited by an administrator |
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Reply | I despair
at 22:58 12 Nov 2023
I'm stunned that some people still seem to think it's what we're doing IN possession that's the problem.
A defence that can't defend is the problem. |
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Reply | Bradford appoint new Manager
at 17:49 7 Nov 2023
He's done okay tbf. Won promotions with Fleetwood and Salford, got Scunthorpe into the League One play-offs and was sacked with them 5th in the table and his sacking by MK Dons feels harsh this early on in the season even with their high expectations. |
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Reply | vs Gateshead - match thread
at 10:10 26 Oct 2023
- And I also appreciate that there would be a huge amount of work and funding required to make it a reality. |
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Reply | vs Gateshead - match thread
at 10:01 26 Oct 2023
Of course there are similarities, but the final paragraph is exactly why they're not comparable, which (correct me if I'm wrong tonyroch) is where the frustration comes from when people suggest something along the lines of "if Exeter can do it then so can we." They have a fanbase that's more than double the size of ours and so it's unrealistic to expect for us to raise that kind of money on a regular basis and be able to compete in L1 as a fan-owned club like Exeter are.
When I'm advocating for Trust ownership I'm advocating for a realignment of expectations alongside that and my feeling is that I'd rather support a Chester that's fan-owned with the security of trust ownership and competing in the NLN than a Rochdale that are struggling to fund a competitive squad in the NL and don't have that same security net. Although I do appreciate that I'm in the minority there. |
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Reply | vs Gateshead - match thread
at 16:44 25 Oct 2023
Exeter were never liquidated like Chester. Exeter's fanbase is far bigger and from a more affluent area than ours though, they're not comparable IMO. |
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Reply | vs Gateshead - match thread
at 13:19 25 Oct 2023
The obvious difference between that period and this period is that it was the same for both teams before the introduction of subs.
It's not so much that the expectation is that players cannot be expected to play 90 minutes on a regular basis, more that the players that are having to play 90 minutes every single game are evidently going to have less energy than the players that aren't. |
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Reply | vs Gateshead - match thread
at 11:53 25 Oct 2023
You'd have to imagine that any pile-on (which in reality would've been a small faction of fans on Facebook and Twitter) would be a lot easier to handle than the current financial situation is proving to be. We've always had to rely heavily on free signings and loans in order to not put the future of the club at risk - what was different about that January? |
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Reply | vs Gateshead - match thread
at 11:26 25 Oct 2023
People are aware of this though and are suggesting that it's time for the Trust to start making those moves to try buying some of those shares, asking for share donations/money donations from fans and devising and communicating a clear plan to try and increase the shareholding to take over. That needs to happen first and foremost - nobody is expecting somebody to click their fingers and the Trust to suddenly have control. |
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Reply | vs Gateshead - match thread
at 11:21 25 Oct 2023
Fair points - but worth noting that Southend have actually used 21 players this season! |
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