Can PB solve the problem?

[OldBlueLady]

PB is now talking about moving White to LB if a loanee isnt brought in and Worrell to RB, does anyone think thats the right thing to do. Im not aware that Worrrell has ever played in that role in his career other than a few weeks back when he came on for white against Wimbledon i think and got skinned three or four times.

If we need cover at RB for God's sake put Lenny back there, it's where he played when he was signed! We have good cover in CM, and at the moment, Clifford is the more dominant player in that position.

 

[united we stand]

I am getting sick and tired of people on here thinking that two teenagers that have never played any professional football are the answer to our problems.

I think PB has handled the introduction of Payne very well. This time last year, he was not good enough to play in the first team, and as all players of that age he has developed and improved quickly. He has made a few starts in the cup games, and now has improved enough to start in the league.

For the next few games, I am sure that he will start and be subbed off after 60-70 minutes, until he is physically ready for 90 minutes.

Its very old school that 17-18 year olds are thrown into league teams and play 90 minutes week after week. Players are still developing physically at that age and playing too much can cause them all sorts of issues, and I would rather have him rested now and again rather than get injured and be out for months.

Look how much Clifford and Leonard improved from that age.

I am sure that if Payne carries on playing the way he is, come the new year and the second half of the season he will be in the team week in week out for 90 minutes.

Layne, Williams and Brown to me are in the same category as Payne was this time last season or maybe even the season before. I am sure that they have a long way to develop until they are anywhere near good enough for professional football, and they will be introduced slowly over the course of the next couple of seasons.

The problem that PB has at the moment is that too many of our better players from last year are not on form. Leonard has been poor so far, as has Hurst. Corr has only played well on the odd occasion this season. Atkinson got injured and is probably not up to 100% match fitness.

Coker hasn't been playing great, and we are having to bed in a new CB partnership, and the players that have come in also have not been up to speed straight away.

Worrell was injured/without a pre-season so is a couple of weeks behind everyone else, and I am sure he will improve over the coming weeks, Weston looks a bit like Tomlin, but I don't think the is answer, and will probably only manage 10-12 goals a season at best.

I admit I am disappointed by the start we have made, but I am not worried quite yet. Give it another 3 or 4 games and then I might be if things have not improved, but I am hopeful that we are on the right track and not too far away from being in the mix at the right end of the table.

I tend to agree with the point about the teenagers. There are also a couple of other points worth considering.

Payne came off on Saturday because he is not yet fit enough to last 90 mins - most people saw that for themselves on Saturday. So at the moment when Payne plays Phil knows 100% that he is going to have to sub him.
Its reasonable to assume that the same might be true for the other youngsters. Non league and /or reserve team/friendlies etc is not the same as league football (my understanding is that Payne plays 90 mins for the reserves but could not mange 90 mins on Saturday)
On Saturday we effectively ended up with 9 players on the pitch. If Phil plays Payne and another youngster he is effectively starting the game knowing that he will need to use two subs for sure.

A Separate point is this . If Phil plays Williams, Layne Brown and they do not score in the first match what does he do then ? How long does he keep trying them? Does he give them 4/5 games to find their feet which is reasonable, but what happens if it doesn't work?

I don't pretend to know what the answers are , and like everyone I was hugely disappointed with the second half display but I don't think the answer is as simple as 'play the kids- they can't do any worse'

Lastly, re the comparisons to Man Utd. is it really a fair comparison to compare to some thing that has happened once in a lifetime? Also those players earnt their starts because of how well they performed in training (acknowledged by Fergie), They also went on to be amazing players and so with hindsight Fergies decision making was right . Some people seem to be assuming that at training Williams and co look better than existing players and are going to go on to great things . Do people know that for a fact,--- I know I don't know or pretend to know

 

[flapjack]

That's the point its not working with any of the so called first team strikers, it didn't work in pre-season, Barnard and Corr are way off form, which only leaves a couple of people who we have not tried out yet.......he paid money for the lad from Billericay so he must have seen something there, what will we do if we are 20 games in to the season and we have players suspended or injured will he play them then or go out to the loan market

I just think if you have paid money for a player then play him, if not maybe that should have been kept and you go in to the loan market, if you give them 5 or 6 games and they don't score then you have to look at the loan market for help, but Corr wasn't happy about being on the Bench and acted like a spoil schoolboy when he was on.....tuff luck, you can stop that by scoring goals and the same with Barnard, not giving the return we expected or hoped for from his wages.

I just hope we can get a scrappy win and then the confidence will return I'm sure of it, but if it isn't happeneing maybe we need to look at the younger strikers in the squad......as it is a squad game.........also I wonder what Ron will do next if anything if it dosen't turn around soon, we know he can fire from the hip and worry about it later

 

[Ricky Otto]

Sturrock IMO did a worldly job here,True the style was direct but I thought he played it to his players strengths and weaknesses,Does Phil over elaborate with the guys he has?

I think he did a decent job, I think a few people on here build it up more than it deserves but I can certainly recognise that he is a good manager and he did a good job stabilising the club. I was frustrated because I wasn’t enjoying going to the games anymore, they weren’t entertaining. The tail end of Tillys reign was frustrating, giving away soft silly goals all the time but I was still watching entertaining football even if we weren’t getting results, to me that is important. So when you couple three seasons of less than entertaining football with the fact we didn’t get promotion, too right I was one calling for Sturrocks head. Even if we don’t get promoted under Brown, I (mostly) enjoy watching us again and that is one reason I’m behind Brown.

If Sturrock was playing a more attractive brand of football then I’d probably have sided with those who said he deserved another season. Managers need time and will sometimes hit a few stumbling blocks before everything falls together. I believe it could have fallen together for Sturrock and I believe it can for Brown, it’s just nicer to watch under Brown.