Genuine Concerns Ignored (2 Viewers)

[Earlsdon_Skyblue1]

During the summer, there was a real degree of positivity about the place. This was rightly the case as we had achieved promotion and bounced straight back from the abyss. There was one thing that had worried me as the summer went on more than anything, and that was complacency. I always had a small nervous feeling that the manager and many of the fans were so content with the job done that they sort of put their feet up and stopped thinking about the next step, whilst also giving out a few free passes along the way.

Myself and a few others pointed out over the summer that what seemed to be happening smacked of nonchalance. We are starting to see this come to fruition now, but when this was raised it was largely ignored and it felt as if we weren't aloud to question anything. Maybe this came through fear of not going back to the dark and negative days it had taken us so long to get out of, I don't know...


The Goalkeeper Situation:

Flakey in league 2. This has not been addressed and we are a league higher. My feelings were Burge would probably get sold, especially being 'injured' on the opening day. It doesn't look like it has happened and now we have LOB who is evidently a bit of a liability. Something is wrong here.

The Defence Situation:

CB is pretty good, but we have sold ROD and whilst it looked like he was going to be replaced, this has not happened either. Our players are good there, but one injury and we are in trouble.

Then you look at the full back situation. We had Grimmer who (despite the odd off moment) was a real key player for us last season. We signed Sterling on loan and he has come in and played every single league game in front of him. Despite this, he has not had one game where anyone could safely say he's played well. In my opinion he is not ready for men's football, so why not give Grimmer another chance? I get the impression there might be something in Sterling's contract to be honest. LB is a bit better, but again, Brown should be one of the best in the league. Mason has looked better at times though, and let's face it, he's pretty appalling. Again, something not right.

The midfield situation:

Doyle and Kelly were massive players for us last season. However, the former looks like he is struggling a little, and the latter is coming back from injury. In that absence you have Ogogo. Again, should be one of the best in the league but has really blown hot and cold. We then have: Bayliss, Andreu, Shipley, Thomas, Allasani, and Jones. - With them all back from injury you can only play 2 or 3 of them at once. How does that work? They are some of our best players in the team and largely condensed into a couple of positions. This is without any of our strikers taking the positions in midfield areas too. It makes no sense.

I think Robins thought Bayliss would be the one getting sold. Otherwise how do you explain such an abundance of players in one area? It just seems unorganised and every game it is a random gamble to see which players get those positions.

The Striker Situation:

We sold our top scorer and have added in a player from Walsall who we were warned wasn't very good, along with a bad attitude. Even tonight Robins has questioned that. Yet when some of us raised that before we were told to shut up. Why? Other than him we have Biamou, who started up front tonight as a lone striker. The same player who although tries extremely hard, has trouble putting the ball in the net. As I've said before, if you had told anyone at Wembley that McNulty would be getting sold and we would be starting games with Biamou up front in a league higher, they would rightly have laughed at you.

Then you have: Ponticelli, JCH, and Hiwula. All three players largely haven't been given a chance, apart from the one who looks on paper as if he could be a goal scorer - Hiwula - getting played on the fucking wing. How on earth does anyone expect us to score any goals?

Myself and many others raised these issues over the summer and were met with 'give them a chance' and 'don't knee-jerk'. I'm sorry but this has been coming. We had almost no plan and just signed an imbalanced team whilst selling our best player and spending all summer doing our best not to replace him properly.

Now you have Robins who has clearly had a dig at the scout, clearly has a difference of opinion with the assistant manager about formations, and clearly has no clue what to do with the team. We have failed to score a goal in four games of football from open play. That is absolutely shocking. Every game you get the same posts on here challenging the decisions being made, and rightly so. The team selections are wrong, the tactics are wrong, and the substitutions are often wrong.

We have gotten promotion, and our playing squad has not upgraded. In fact I would argue in some areas of the pitch it has actually gotten worse... There is still time to turn it around, but these issues need to be tackled now, not ignored.

 

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[CCFC_Charlie]

It was pretty evident during pre-season that we weren't going to start well. It's up to Robins and the players to figure out how to fix this mess before it sprials out of control, but I worry that we don't have the tools to do it in the current, already bloated, squad. Real questions have to be asked of what exactly went on at this club during the summer because our approach to this season, on both a recruitment and tactical level, has been nothing short of woeful.

 

[Nick]

It still stands, give them a chance in a system that suits them rather than watching the ball get hoofed up to them, being played out of position or just generally in a shite system.

Once strikers start missing sitters week after week by all means, can't really judge them having balls hammered to them aimlessly or Hiwula hugging the touchline.

Even if we had gone and got Chaplin early on it wouldn't have made any difference tonight.

 

[hill83]

Two things stand out for me.

The first is our squad compared to the one that got relegated. - A million times better.
The second is the fact despite getting promoted we have strengthened the squad very well.

Many teams get promoted and just rest on their laurels, but we haven't done that. Apart from losing McNulty from the squad, our midfield and defence is now considerably stronger (including Jones and Andreu back). The striker situation is sorting itself out and it looks like we have another one to come in. Add Chaplin (or another) and Larsen to the squad and it looks pretty incredible to be honest.

I think we can challenge top 10, and without putting too much pressure on ourselves, arguably higher than that.

Edit: I think I agree with you by the way, just remembered the post above and had to drag it up.

I still hold on to the hope that it's early though and it will come. But saying that I've not actually seen us play yet.

 

[CCFC_Charlie]

It still stands, give them a chance in a system that suits them rather than watching the ball get hoofed up to them, being played out of position or just generally in a shite system.

Once strikers start missing sitters week after week by all means, can't really judge them having balls hammered to them aimlessly or Hiwula hugging the touchline.

Even if we had gone and got Chaplin early on it wouldn't have made any difference tonight.

We've reverted to the same shite football we were playing at the start of last season, effectively 6 at the back with no midfield and nothing connecting the play to the attacking players. Only difference is this time we don't have Jodi to bail us out.

 

[pusbccfc]

Brilliant post and I agree with everything.

 

[higgs]

If he wanted to play hoof ball he should have signed the beast off Wycombe

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[Nick]

If he wanted to play hoof ball he should have signed the beast off Wycombe

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Even he needs players around him to pick up the 2nd ball though. He doesn't do it all himself.

 

[Earlsdon_Skyblue1]

Edit: I think I agree with you by the way, just remembered the post above and had to drag it up.

I still hold on to the hope that it's early though and it will come. But saying that I've not actually seen us play yet.

Fair one. I don't really remember typing that but I obviously got carried away for a moment as that pretty much contradicts a lot of what I said around and before the start of the season.

If I could delete that post I would. A lot of it (Chaplin, Larsen etc) didn't work out anyway.

I think one of our biggest problems is overload of players in some positions. There seems to be a hash of quantity and quality in the wrong places.

 

[block16]

Spot on. Also- why the fuck did we sell Stokes??

 

[higgs]

Are any more signings planned?

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[hill83]

Fair one. I don't really remember typing that but I obviously got carried away for a moment as that pretty much contradicts a lot of what I said around and before the start of the season.

If I could delete that post I would.

I think one of our biggest problems is overload of players in some positions. There seems to be a hash of quantity and quality in the wrong places.

Can I claim that as an internet 1-0 then please?

 

[Earlsdon_Skyblue1]

Can I claim that as an internet 1-0 then please?

No. It's 1-1.

You bet me Jones would score 10 last season but I let you off because he got injured. That fair?

You have pissed me off though. I poured my last two gin and tonics into that post and you ripped apart the captain smugwash element in about 2 seconds flat.

 

[Nick]

No. It's 1-1.

You bet me Jones would score 10 last season but I let you off because he got injured. That fair?

You have pissed me off though. I poured my last two gin and tonics into that post and you ripped apart the captain smugwash element in about 2 seconds flat.

Lose a point for drinking gin and tonic to be trendy.

 

[Earlsdon_Skyblue1]

Lose a point for drinking gin and tonic to be trendy.

You'd be amazed at how much of a hangover you escape from drinking it though. Nothing to do with trend - I had Carling the other month remember

For the record I genuinely don't spend every day in spoons like it comes across...

 

[hill83]

No. It's 1-1.

You bet me Jones would score 10 last season but I let you off because he got injured. That fair?

You have pissed me off though. I poured my last two gin and tonics into that post and you ripped apart the captain smugwash element in about 2 seconds flat.

Jul 30, 2017

Time for another one of my bets on here.

He'll score 10 goals or more this season. If he plays at least 30 games and doesn't I'll give £20 to a charity of your choice.

Have another gin.

 

[Deleted member 5849]

There seems to be a hash of quantity and quality in the wrong places.

The disappointing thing is Robins has always previously during his time here, been a manager who's done it simple, seen where we're lacking, and brought in players to fill those positions.

I can only conclude the new recruitment guy and Robins just don't gel together in the slightest. We seem to have eleventy billion strikers when we only want to play one up front. It makes zero sense! Forget the quality (or lack of!) that the players had, last season was entirely right in that we tended to have two players for each position, now we're struggling for numbers in certain areas and have masses of players in others.

 

[covcity4life]

During the summer, there was a real degree of positivity about the place. This was rightly the case as we had achieved promotion and bounced straight back from the abyss. There was one thing that had worried me as the summer went on more than anything, and that was complacency. I always had a small nervous feeling that the manager and many of the fans were so content with the job done that they sort of put their feet up and stopped thinking about the next step, whilst also giving out a few free passes along the way.

Myself and a few others pointed out over the summer that what seemed to be happening smacked of nonchalance. We are starting to see this come to fruition now, but when this was raised it was largely ignored and it felt as if we weren't aloud to question anything. Maybe this came through fear of not going back to the dark and negative days it had taken us so long to get out of, I don't know...


The Goalkeeper Situation:

Flakey in league 2. This has not been addressed and we are a league higher. My feelings were Burge would probably get sold, especially being 'injured' on the opening day. It doesn't look like it has happened and now we have LOB who is evidently a bit of a liability. Something is wrong here.

The Defence Situation:

CB is pretty good, but we have sold ROD and whilst it looked like he was going to be replaced, this has not happened either. Our players are good there, but one injury and we are in trouble.

Then you look at the full back situation. We had Grimmer who (despite the odd off moment) was a real key player for us last season. We signed Sterling on loan and he has come in and played every single league game in front of him. Despite this, he has not had one game where anyone could safely say he's played well. In my opinion he is not ready for men's football, so why not give Grimmer another chance? I get the impression there might be something in Sterling's contract to be honest. LB is a bit better, but again, Brown should be one of the best in the league. Mason has looked better at times though, and let's face it, he's pretty appalling. Again, something not right.

The midfield situation:

Doyle and Kelly were massive players for us last season. However, the former looks like he is struggling a little, and the latter is coming back from injury. In that absence you have Ogogo. Again, should be one of the best in the league but has really blown hot and cold. We then have: Bayliss, Andreu, Shipley, Thomas, Allasani, and Jones. - With them all back from injury you can only play 2 or 3 of them at once. How does that work? They are some of our best players in the team and largely condensed into a couple of positions. This is without any of our strikers taking the positions in midfield areas too. It makes no sense.

I think Robins thought Bayliss would be the one getting sold. Otherwise how do you explain such an abundance of players in one area? It just seems unorganised and every game it is a random gamble to see which players get those positions.

The Striker Situation:

We sold our top scorer and have added in a player from Walsall who we were warned wasn't very good, along with a bad attitude. Even tonight Robins has questioned that. Yet when some of us raised that before we were told to shut up. Why? Other than him we have Biamou, who started up front tonight as a lone striker. The same player who although tries extremely hard, has trouble putting the ball in the net. As I've said before, if you had told anyone at Wembley that McNulty would be getting sold and we would be starting games with Biamou up front in a league higher, they would rightly have laughed at you.

Then you have: Ponticelli, JCH, and Hiwula. All three players largely haven't been given a chance, apart from the one who looks on paper as if he could be a goal scorer - Hiwula - getting played on the fucking wing. How on earth does anyone expect us to score any goals?

Myself and many others raised these issues over the summer and were met with 'give them a chance' and 'don't knee-jerk'. I'm sorry but this has been coming. We had almost no plan and just signed an imbalanced team whilst selling our best player and spending all summer doing our best not to replace him properly.

Now you have Robins who has clearly had a dig at the scout, clearly has a difference of opinion with the assistant manager about formations, and clearly has no clue what to do with the team. We have failed to score a goal in four games of football from open play. That is absolutely shocking. Every game you get the same posts on here challenging the decisions being made, and rightly so. The team selections are wrong, the tactics are wrong, and the substitutions are often wrong.

We have gotten promotion, and our playing squad has not upgraded. In fact I would argue in some areas of the pitch it has actually gotten worse... There is still time to turn it around, but these issues need to be tackled now, not ignored.

Allowed not aloud

 

[Nick]

The disappointing thing is Robins has always previously during his time here, been a manager who's done it simple, seen where we're lacking, and brought in players to fill those positions.

I can only conclude the new recruitment guy and Robins just don't gel together in the slightest. We seem to have eleventy billion strikers when we only want to play one up front. It makes zero sense! Forget the quality (or lack of!) that the players had, last season was entirely right in that we tended to have two players for each position, now we're struggling for numbers in certain areas and have masses of players in others.

I don't think Robins knows himself either, at the start we seemed to be recruiting for 3-5-2 but then it changed. He wants to make sure he always plays Bayliss / Andreu so it also has to fit around them.

 

[Nick]

For the record I genuinely don't spend every day in spoons like it comes across...

Why, have they banned t shirts with scarves and Toms?

 

[Nonleagueherewecome]

During the summer, there was a real degree of positivity about the place. This was rightly the case as we had achieved promotion and bounced straight back from the abyss. There was one thing that had worried me as the summer went on more than anything, and that was complacency. I always had a small nervous feeling that the manager and many of the fans were so content with the job done that they sort of put their feet up and stopped thinking about the next step, whilst also giving out a few free passes along the way.

Myself and a few others pointed out over the summer that what seemed to be happening smacked of nonchalance. We are starting to see this come to fruition now, but when this was raised it was largely ignored and it felt as if we weren't aloud to question anything. Maybe this came through fear of not going back to the dark and negative days it had taken us so long to get out of, I don't know...


The Goalkeeper Situation:

Flakey in league 2. This has not been addressed and we are a league higher. My feelings were Burge would probably get sold, especially being 'injured' on the opening day. It doesn't look like it has happened and now we have LOB who is evidently a bit of a liability. Something is wrong here.

The Defence Situation:

CB is pretty good, but we have sold ROD and whilst it looked like he was going to be replaced, this has not happened either. Our players are good there, but one injury and we are in trouble.

Then you look at the full back situation. We had Grimmer who (despite the odd off moment) was a real key player for us last season. We signed Sterling on loan and he has come in and played every single league game in front of him. Despite this, he has not had one game where anyone could safely say he's played well. In my opinion he is not ready for men's football, so why not give Grimmer another chance? I get the impression there might be something in Sterling's contract to be honest. LB is a bit better, but again, Brown should be one of the best in the league. Mason has looked better at times though, and let's face it, he's pretty appalling. Again, something not right.

The midfield situation:

Doyle and Kelly were massive players for us last season. However, the former looks like he is struggling a little, and the latter is coming back from injury. In that absence you have Ogogo. Again, should be one of the best in the league but has really blown hot and cold. We then have: Bayliss, Andreu, Shipley, Thomas, Allasani, and Jones. - With them all back from injury you can only play 2 or 3 of them at once. How does that work? They are some of our best players in the team and largely condensed into a couple of positions. This is without any of our strikers taking the positions in midfield areas too. It makes no sense.

I think Robins thought Bayliss would be the one getting sold. Otherwise how do you explain such an abundance of players in one area? It just seems unorganised and every game it is a random gamble to see which players get those positions.

The Striker Situation:

We sold our top scorer and have added in a player from Walsall who we were warned wasn't very good, along with a bad attitude. Even tonight Robins has questioned that. Yet when some of us raised that before we were told to shut up. Why? Other than him we have Biamou, who started up front tonight as a lone striker. The same player who although tries extremely hard, has trouble putting the ball in the net. As I've said before, if you had told anyone at Wembley that McNulty would be getting sold and we would be starting games with Biamou up front in a league higher, they would rightly have laughed at you.

Then you have: Ponticelli, JCH, and Hiwula. All three players largely haven't been given a chance, apart from the one who looks on paper as if he could be a goal scorer - Hiwula - getting played on the fucking wing. How on earth does anyone expect us to score any goals?

Myself and many others raised these issues over the summer and were met with 'give them a chance' and 'don't knee-jerk'. I'm sorry but this has been coming. We had almost no plan and just signed an imbalanced team whilst selling our best player and spending all summer doing our best not to replace him properly.

Now you have Robins who has clearly had a dig at the scout, clearly has a difference of opinion with the assistant manager about formations, and clearly has no clue what to do with the team. We have failed to score a goal in four games of football from open play. That is absolutely shocking. Every game you get the same posts on here challenging the decisions being made, and rightly so. The team selections are wrong, the tactics are wrong, and the substitutions are often wrong.

We have gotten promotion, and our playing squad has not upgraded. In fact I would argue in some areas of the pitch it has actually gotten worse... There is still time to turn it around, but these issues need to be tackled now, not ignored.

All very reasonable points and well presented. Only thing I would slightly disagree with is the assessment of Mason, who has had some bright spots and has potential as a full back we can work with and improve.

The worst aspect for me is that some players, you can tell there is a player in there-their track record suggests this, but they are struggling because the team is, and the instructions/way of playing is either indecipherable or plain doesn't work (1 up front, long balls to isolated frontmen, two DMC's, trying to fit Andreu and Bayliss into the same side, strikers out wide, etc etc). The players I would put into this class of those we have signed are:

Brown: Great rep from Shrews but coming back from a major injury. I am very worried that he has delivered a couple of stinking performances as this was an area I really thought we had upgraded on, but I am hopeful that he might still be a solid reliable player once the team is settled and performing better and once he has adapted. Keeping Stokes as he can cover CB too feels like it would have been a wise move though! Most worrying now are these rumours surfacing about attitude problems...if that is the case, how come, he's only just got here? Has he had his nose put out of joint by Mason getting selected ahead of him at the start of the season perhaps? If so, FFS man up and prove you deserve that shirt when you get the opportunity.

Ogogo: had a great rep at Shrews and Daggers, but not suited to playing alongside Doyle or a deep Bayliss. Form is a bit patchy but that is often as he is either isolated or trying to pass when option isn't there/it's not his game to be a playmaker. I think he will eventually come good as our enforcer, but I can't see it being with Doyle-perhaps with Kelly who is a bit more cultured than the other two DM's and steps up a bit, see McNulty playoff goal for example. I do worry that his reported "massive signing on fee" has caught a few envious glances from elsewhere in the dressing room maybe.

Hiwula: his record and reputation demands respect. Playing him out wide is not really respecting him, though! Yes he is lacking confidence and struggling when he does get a chance, but playing him out of position is only going to exacerbate that. Once he's up and running for the odd game or spell of game, yes, like McNulty, he might be able to briefly do a job out wide, but FFS he is not a winger. We need our apparently most gifted goalscorer to be played in the role that he has flourished at before. If Robins believes in him as he says he does, give him a run of games up front with a partner.


Unfortunately, there are the other signings that don't look good:

Sterling: his issues are well documented-he looks like a raw kid, and we are carrying him. Worse, he is not even our own kid that we are developing. Even worse, Grimmer was a very reasonable part of our side last season and whilst his crossing was poor and he has the odd mistake in him, he ran tirelessly and got forward well to support the midfield and attack. It's a no brainer to have Grimmer back really, and yes, I think he might take a while to get back to last seasons standards, but we have to stick with him as again, ask Shrews fans-there is a good player at this level there. The other worry is the "we get fined if we don't play Sterling" conspiracy, in which case, can we please just send him back? Willis can cover RB if Grimmer's out (which he rarely is).

Bakayoko: Not really much to add, but if he is going to be any use to us, I think it will be playing off a target man, not being one, alone up front on his own, and perhaps he is best as an impact sub if anything whilst Robins works on turning him into Eto'o on the training ground for the rest of the season...

 

[Nonleagueherewecome]

Andreu is returning from a bad injury and is not young, so I think we need to really manage his time and role. He is a massive problem in that he has a lot of technical ability, but we are struggling to fit him in. A real headache. Bayliss is the one with the ability to really unlock the defenses, but whereas he at least had a role last season, IE feed McNulty, this year he has been messed around constantly and whilst they say "how will the strikers score with no supply?", for Bayliss and Andreu, "who will the playmakers supply if there are no strikers making runs?" is equally valid presently.

O'Brien isn't to blame for all of our problems this season, but he doesn't help and the nagging doubts about him starting regularly came home to roost tonight. What has Burge done wrong? Something isn't right there indeed...he's not brilliant, but he had some great games last season, particularly in the key matches, and had done nothing to merit being dropped from what I can see.

We had a settled team, we had a way of playing that worked and suited the players, we had a good team spirit. We needed a striker to replace McNulty, a better CB than McDonald, a younger version of Doyle, and a better LB than Haynes to compete with Stokes. We got the last two of those but made a mistake in letting Stokes go and have not replaced McDonald or McNulty (or if we have, in Hiwula perhaps, we have not used him in the same way, remotely).

Solutions/hopes for the future?:
1) GK: Burge has to come back in for O'Brien, surely?
2) Grimmer has to come back in for Sterling and given a run of games.
3) As Robins himself said post-match, we have massively missed Kelly, whose return to fitness last season was the catalyst for our late run and most balanced XI by far. He has to play instead of Doyle or Ogogo when ready.
4) Jones when fit will improve us one hell of a lot, but it's gonna take time for him to be back to his best. But he carried us at the start of last season, so he will help a lot and give some width and pace.
5) Two up front. JCH or Biamou with Hiwula, Allassani or Ponticelli. Last season it was Biamou or JCH with McNulty, so why mess with that formula? Goalscorer/pacyish striker with some movement and creative/stronger forward alongside him. In FM/CM terms, a Forward alongside a Striker (duh).
6) Get Bayliss back to the role he did last season, plenty of licence, but more advanced-which is a lot easier with Grimmer working the flank rather than a rookie rabbit in the headlights.
7) Somehow, Christ knows how, solve The Andreu Conundrum. Might still have a role behind a forward if he gets forwards A LOT, or as part of the central two with wide men who help out centrally (Shipley), but only when the rest of the team is a bit more like a well oiled machine rather than a clapped out old Ford Escort. He's a luxury player in a struggling side: in a performing one he might be the x-factor that makes the difference.
8) Left midfield-sort it out. It's not Hiwula. It still might be Shipley, but it wasn't tonight. Allassani perhaps? Jones also maybe-he was at his best when switching flanks regularly.
9) Allassani. The best performing of our preseason signings has yet to have a minute on the pitch for the first team. The best is yet to come, hopefully!
10) The loan window's not shut yet.
11) For all the doom and gloom, we at least have 4 points on the board and an away draw, so all is not lost yet.
12) Hyam is still progressing a lot. Willis is crocked but still a good defender at this level. I have confidence in Davies once fit to be a great physical foil for either. I think we have 3 very good centre backs, at least.

 

[AlansEyes]

Really confused by the goalkeeper situation. We saw last season that LOB wasn't great and that Burge, despite also not being great, was clearly the better of the two. Burge had a decent end to the season, made some great saves in the play offs and now finds himself on the bench. Really not sure what has happened there.

With regards to the strikers, as Nick mentioned in another thread, you could play McNulty in this system and he'd struggle. Playing someone who isn't a natural target man up top on his own and lumping the ball up to him is never going to work. It also doesn't help if, as on Saturday, you play striker out wide who constantly wants to naturally come into the middle leaving you with absolutely no width. Would it not be worth trying Bakayoko and Hiwula up front together? McNulty struggled as the lone striker and really kicked on once his partnership with Max clicked. I'm not saying that either Bakayoko or Hiwula will end up scoring loads of goals for us, but I think it's very harsh to judge them at the moment when we're completely not playing to their strengths/playing them out of position. Can we please stop signing strikers and playing them out wide!!

 

[itsabuzzard]

Sweet.

Allowed not aloud

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[Nick]

Really confused by the goalkeeper situation. We saw last season that LOB wasn't great and that Burge, despite also not being great, was clearly the better of the two. Burge had a decent end to the season, made some great saves in the play offs and now finds himself on the bench. Really not sure what has happened there.

With regards to the strikers, as Nick mentioned in another thread, you could play McNulty in this system and he'd struggle. Playing someone who isn't a natural target man up top on his own and lumping the ball up to him is never going to work. It also doesn't help if, as on Saturday, you play striker out wide who constantly wants to naturally come into the middle leaving you with absolutely no width. Would it not be worth trying Bakayoko and Hiwula up front together? McNulty struggled as the lone striker and really kicked on once his partnership with Max clicked. I'm not saying that either Bakayoko or Hiwula will end up scoring loads of goals for us, but I think it's very harsh to judge them at the moment when we're completely not playing to their strengths/playing them out of position. Can we please stop signing strikers and playing them out wide!!

We could sign one to play in goal and kill 2 birds with 1 stone?

 

[SkyBlueCRJ]

I wanted to give the new incoming players a chance and ignored the bad press surrounding those such as Baka prior to their arrival with us but from last nights performance it doesn't look promising. Yes, we're only 5 games in the majority we've been appalling over those 5 games. The system needs changing we can't revolve a system around one player when we don't have the players to fit the system. I wouldn't say I'm massively worried yet as there's plenty of time to correct this slump, but after the whistle blew last night I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried. I just wonder who is calling the shots. It's been stated that MR doesn't particularly favour our formation and prefers the 4-4-2, so why do we continue to use the 4-2-3-1? AV claims he's a huge fan so clear he's the one that's pushing it.

Discussing the formation - where do I even start. The players last night had no concept of position and this issue starts largely lies in the midfield but there are problems everywhere. But talking about the concerns that have been previously stated. Pretty much all have come to fruition and last night proves this.

O'Brien: Discussed this point earlier in the off-season and was met with a mixed response. He's not good enough for League One. End of conversation.

Sterling: Probably an exciting talent on paper but no confidence whatsoever when he's up against it. Decision making was very poor last night and his inability to get forward is furthering the issue of our lack of creativity on the pitch.

Hyam: Fantastic. Can't fault him so far. Thank god we extended his contract.

Willis: Again fantastic.

Brown: Saw him play for the first time last night so can only go off what I've initially seen. Didn't defend awfully but not much can be said about his ability going forward. Looked very uncomfortable in his own position, so much so you'd think MR had asked him to play up front. Nowhere near as effective going forward as previous reports suggested.

Ogogo: Really not sure what the hype is on a first glance. He looks painfully slow on the ball which as a result means he's constantly gets caught in possession. He can't seem to head a ball straight even with the simplest knock ons to a teammate, and he gives away far too many unnecessary fouls.

Doyle: Integral to our team but he looks off the pace in League One. However, his on/off performances are down to MR IMO. Why he insists on playing a 37 year-old Saturday-Tuesday is beyond me. Due to the frustrating situation we currently finds ourselves in, Doyle seems to be doing a lot of shouting but not doing anything particularly right himself. He needs to be wary of this as it doesn't give him much of a leg to stand on and his robust attitude could easily end up being counter-productive.

Bayliss: Great player and looks comfortable in League One but just doesn't suit being played on the right. Last night just confirmed this. The commentators didn't seem to know where he was playing to the point where Stuart Linnell spent about 30 seconds trying to figure it out during the second half. MR possibly gave Bayliss a free role but that still doesn't work when he's played on the right as Sterling desperately needs cover due to his inexperience. Last night his dribbling was erratic and he constantly ran into trouble which subsequently made him start dribbling even more aimlessly.

Thomas: Similar to Bayliss, good player, he didn't have the best game but I can't really fault Thomas really. Tried to make things happen last night but without the service you can't expect him to dribble through stone. Again was closed down very easily due to the amount of time he was spending on the ball. But where was the opportunity to generate a killer pass when his teammates acted as if they were stuck in the mud. The movement was appalling last night across the board and something that is again as a result of the formation.

Shipley. I didn't particularly rate him last season and was again met with a mixed response. I stand by my opinion.

Bakayoko: Gave a solid review of him against Plymouth but starting to take the reports from Walsall fans on board if I'm honest now I've seen him in a couple of games. I was trying to establish what he offered last night whilst watching him play and I was actually at a loss. It might seem far fetched but I genuinely thought to myself for a flickering moment last night that he doesn't look like he knows how to play football. The amount of times he got caught in an offside position was embarrassing, zero awareness. He's erratic in the air, doesn't initially look particularly strong, struggles with his touch, and barely gets himself into shooting positions.

 

[covcity4life]

still to early to be claiming wins about what was said

also i dont think many disagreed back then either? just said no way to tell yet

10 games in,if we below 13th ill worry

 

[Ashdown]

Most of this thread comes down to that regular seasonal mistake our fans make of declaring our team on paper looks better than many in the division. Some of these signings have ranged so far between bang average and pretty awful.

 

[Nonleagueherewecome]

Most of this thread comes down to that regular seasonal mistake our fans make of declaring our team on paper looks better than many in the division. Some of these signings have ranged so far between bang average and pretty awful.

True of a couple: Sterling has been a disappointment, but we should have known from previous Premier Youth loans that they rarely hit the ground running for us (AA aside); Bakayoko was just an all round baffling signing, yeah...but with Ogogo, Brown/Mason and Hiwula, there are players amongst them that are very proven at this level. Shrewsbury seemed to rate Brown and Ogogo as 2 of their best players and they were in the promotion hunt all of last season, so they can't be THAT bad, it's more that our squad and team is a directionless mish-mash at the moment and they are going to struggle to settle in such a side. I'm hopeful that they'll all come good!

 

[Earlsdon-Loyal-Blue]

All very reasonable points and well presented. Only thing I would slightly disagree with is the assessment of Mason, who has had some bright spots and has potential as a full back we can work with and improve.

Hiwula: his record and reputation demands respect. Playing him out wide is not really respecting him, though! Yes he is lacking confidence and struggling when he does get a chance, but playing him out of position is only going to exacerbate that. Once he's up and running for the odd game or spell of game, yes, like McNulty, he might be able to briefly do a job out wide, but FFS he is not a winger. We need our apparently most gifted goalscorer to be played in the role that he has flourished at before. If Robins believes in him as he says he does, give him a run of games up front with a partner.

I don't disagree with most of your post but I do on Hiwula demanding respect for his record... He hasn't hit double figures once in his career and has some wank goal scoring records to his name. Source (for the quote police): Jordy Hiwula - Detailed line data

He had one loan spell at Walsall in 2015 where he got 9 League Goals in 19 games - fairplay, that's pretty good.

Since then, League wise, he's mustered a poor 22 goals in 111 league games, (Loan spells at Wigan, Wallsall, Bradford, Fleetwood - not including the 3 games he's had with us) - which is 1 goal every 5 games. That record does not demand respect - it demands condemning.

I agree though he's not a winger and I think would benefit from a spell up top with Biamou.

 

[Grendel]

I don't disagree with most of your post but I do on Hiwula demanding respect for his record... He hasn't hit double figures once in his career and has some wank goal scoring records to his name. Source (for the quote police): Jordy Hiwula - Detailed line data

He had one loan spell at Walsall in 2015 where he got 9 League Goals in 19 games - fairplay, that's pretty good.

Since then, League wise, he's mustered a poor 22 goals in 111 league games, (Loan spells at Wigan, Wallsall, Bradford, Fleetwood - not including the 3 games he's had with us) - which is 1 goal every 5 games. That record does not demand respect - it demands condemning.

I agree though he's not a winger and I think would benefit from a spell up top with Biamou.

Hilarious last paragraph

 

[Nonleagueherewecome]

I don't disagree with most of your post but I do on Hiwula demanding respect for his record... He hasn't hit double figures once in his career and has some wank goal scoring records to his name. Source (for the quote police): Jordy Hiwula - Detailed line data

He had one loan spell at Walsall in 2015 where he got 9 League Goals in 19 games - fairplay, that's pretty good.

Since then, League wise, he's mustered a poor 22 goals in 111 league games, (Loan spells at Wigan, Wallsall, Bradford, Fleetwood - not including the 3 games he's had with us) - which is 1 goal every 5 games. That record does not demand respect - it demands condemning.

I agree though he's not a winger and I think would benefit from a spell up top with Biamou.

League wise is presenting the stats in a way that shows them in a poorer light, though: Jordy Hiwula - All goals

13 in all competitions last season, 12 the season before. And he was played out wide at times. I think he's our most proven striker at this level and has a good reputation with fans at other clubs, which I think demands more respect than being stuck out on the wing when we can't buy a goal atm.

 

[martcov]

It was pretty evident during pre-season that we weren't going to start well. It's up to Robins and the players to figure out how to fix this mess before it sprials out of control, but I worry that we don't have the tools to do it in the current, already bloated, squad. Real questions have to be asked of what exactly went on at this club during the summer because our approach to this season, on both a recruitment and tactical level, has been nothing short of woeful.

The guy who did the recruitment for last year‘s team left and went to Bristol Rovers.

 

[Earlsdon-Loyal-Blue]

League wise is presenting the stats in a way that shows them in a poorer light, though: Jordy Hiwula - All goals

13 in all competitions last season, 12 the season before. And he was played out wide at times. I think he's our most proven striker at this level and has a good reputation with fans at other clubs, which I think demands more respect than being stuck out on the wing when we can't buy a goal atm.

In my opinion, I'll always judge a striker on his league goals, as that's what's going to keep us in the league/get us promoted. Goals in the Checkatrade and FA Cup Round 1 & 2 are of less importance.

I agree, let's give him a chance upfront because he's clearly not a winger. He's got pace to burn, which is why I think he could be a good option alongside Biamou, who created a lot for McNulty who had the movement to capitalise on the space/flick ons/chances Biamou helped to create.

I think Robins has been overly quick to move away from the team to get us promoted but I'm not hitting the panic button just yet and he has my full backing. I think our expectations coming back into League 1 have been a lot higher off the back of last season's Play Off victory, when in reality this season was going to be a lot tougher.

 

[smileycov]

Last season we beat a poor Notts C team comfortably, Jones hat trick, won away at Grimsby (with fortuitous goal, to start) then lost 3 on the spin, 2 being at home and finally held on for 00 away at eventually relegated chesterfield. This season mirrors it slightly, A couple of better finishes and we would have won or at least drawn against scunny.odd goal would have beat wimbledon, then collapse again.It is early days, yes it looks alarming and the lack of form from key players doesn't help. (Doyle, Bayliss, shipley all been poor) I do not know the story behind the lack of Grimmer, Kelly and Burge - but trust there is one. Give it time, i am not panicking as yet.It is a higher league and better teams, i am sure it will come good.