Question Less than the sum of our parts...?

[Matt the Shrimp]

The potential signing of Lee Sawyer (which I bloomin' well hope comes off) has got me thinking... why is it that we're not doing better in the League? What's not working with this side? After all, we now have a potential line-up as follows:

________________________Morris_____________________

Clohessy_______Moshni (*)_______Barker (*)_______Gilbert (**)

Sawyer________Grant___________Easton_________Hall

______________Corr____________Sturrock

(* Perm two from Barker, Coughlan, Moshni or Phillips)
(* One from Gilbert, Barker or (now) Comminges)

The forward line is, perhaps, a bit one-paced - I'd prefer someone (dare I say it) Eastwood-esque up front with either of those two (probably Corr, although Sturrock hasn't been that bad, has he?) - but that's not a bad line-up at all, is it, for League Two? That being so, are we less than the sum of our parts? What's the missing ingredient - why are we not ripping League Two a new one with a line-up like that (noting, admittedly, that Sawyer hasn't joined yet - but surely he won't make the difference between 15th and 5th on his own, will he)?

Yours in curiosity,

MtS

 

[EastStandBlue]

It's far more to do with the sparsity of us being able to field that select eleven, particularly defensively where we've had to chop and change to work around Moshni's injuries and suspension, as well as Barker's ill-timed knock. YB pulled out a great stat last week where, in the eight games that Moshni and Barker have played together at the back, we've looked utterly impervious.

If we could put together a spell of 10-12 consecutive games with our first choice line-up, I'd hazard a guess that we'd do very well indeed.

 

[BaileytheQuitter]

It's a good point. That is probably in the top 3 starting line ups on paper. Very odd how it hasn't of yet all come together. If our home form had been half decent then we'd probably been in the top 8, but it's not happening.

Just hope we can put a few results together at home and climb the league.

 

[Smiffy]

As has been said by many. We have a decent core. We just need to ship out the deadwood. Inject some pace and instinct up top (Fox in the box) and we could do alright next season...

 

[BILLERICAY BLUE]

The potential signing of Lee Sawyer (which I bloomin' well hope comes off) has got me thinking... why is it that we're not doing better in the League? What's not working with this side? After all, we now have a potential line-up as follows:

________________________Morris_____________________

Clohessy_______Moshni (*)_______Barker (*)_______Gilbert (**)

Sawyer________Grant___________Easton_________Hall

______________Corr____________Sturrock

(* Perm two from Barker, Coughlan, Moshni or Phillips)
(* One from Gilbert, Barker or (now) Comminges)

The forward line is, perhaps, a bit one-paced - I'd prefer someone (dare I say it) Eastwood-esque up front with either of those two (probably Corr, although Sturrock hasn't been that bad, has he?) - but that's not a bad line-up at all, is it, for League Two? That being so, are we less than the sum of our parts? What's the missing ingredient - why are we not ripping League Two a new one with a line-up like that (noting, admittedly, that Sawyer hasn't joined yet - but surely he won't make the difference between 15th and 5th on his own, will he)?

Yours in curiosity,

MtS

Probably because we've very rarely been able to field that back 4 on a regular basis. I don't think we're too far away from being a reasonable side in this division as our results against Rotherham, and our performances against Chesterfield (ignoring the 1st 10 mins of the home game) show. No one apart from Port Vale has given us a good seeing to, we've shot ourselves in the foot in most of the games. 7 of our next 10 games are at home, with 4 of them being against sides in the bottom half of the table. We need to be looking to pick up 16 points from those 7 games, plus we have Barnet away in the middle of that lot as well. So it's feasible that we could pick up 20 points from the next 10 games (notwithstanding our appaling home form). That would see us very close to the play-offs....

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

7 of our next 10 games are at home, with 4 of them being against sides in the bottom half of the table. We need to be looking to pick up 16 points from those 7 games

Then let's get behind the boys, starting on Friday night (when, whisper it quietly, I may be putting in an appearance... it has been a while).

Matt

 

[Angell Delight]

For my mind MtS we need Mohsni back fit alongside Barker, he makes such a huge difference to our back line (as the stats show) as he's not only commanding but is the only centre back we have with any pace. Clohessey's forward runs leave Coughlan exposed, Mohsni would be better equipped to deal with that. Hall is finding his feet in the pro game and looks like he could be an exceptional player for us in time. The midfield is solid but Sawyer would make a huge difference over Soares, we'd be more difficult to break down and also more creative going forward.

Sturrock's done pretty well up front, I'd just like us to sign a striker with an eye for goal and a bit of pace up front as a different option to play off Corr. Someone who can actually get in behind from Corr's flicks, we have no-one who can do that right now.

If we can do all these things then I wouldn't necessarily rule us out of the chase for a play-off place, especially as the gap between 4th and 7th has closed significantly these past few weeks. There's now 4 places for the chasing pack to fight for and not just one.

 

[pringlejon]

The main problem with the team is their understanding and team spirit. They have been thrown together without knowing one another, and expected to perform well. We had an early glimpse of their potential vs Bristol City, but in the past 3 away performances there is evidence that they might be starting to gel.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

The potential signing of Lee Sawyer (which I bloomin' well hope comes off) has got me thinking... why is it that we're not doing better in the League? What's not working with this side? After all, we now have a potential line-up as follows:

________________________Morris_____________________

Clohessy_______Moshni (*)_______Barker (*)_______Gilbert (**)

Sawyer________Grant___________Easton_________Hall

______________Corr____________Sturrock

(* Perm two from Barker, Coughlan, Moshni or Phillips)
(* One from Gilbert, Barker or (now) Comminges)

The forward line is, perhaps, a bit one-paced - I'd prefer someone (dare I say it) Eastwood-esque up front with either of those two (probably Corr, although Sturrock hasn't been that bad, has he?) - but that's not a bad line-up at all, is it, for League Two? That being so, are we less than the sum of our parts? What's the missing ingredient - why are we not ripping League Two a new one with a line-up like that (noting, admittedly, that Sawyer hasn't joined yet - but surely he won't make the difference between 15th and 5th on his own, will he)?

Yours in curiosity,

MtS

Matt, even discounting Sawyer, that team has only once appeared on the pitch together.

We won 2-0.

 

[Shrimper2thecore]

Matt, even discounting Sawyer, that team has only once appeared on the pitch together.

We won 2-0.

That says it all really.

We have a good first 11, but I have not been able to play them

 

[Blue_Wes]

I think another aspect to consider is that we haven't necessarily played to our strengths. For most of the early part of the season we spent a lot of our time lumping the ball up the field. We have a few players that are useful with the ball at their feet, whether it be passing, driving forward, holding the ball up or taking players on but we didn't always use them to our advantage. Whether these tactics were Sturrock's, Widdrington's or just a case of the players not following instructions and sending balls skyward in panic I doubt we'll ever know.

We are more and more playing the ball on the deck and benefitting from it now. We just need strength in depth as injuries seem to be frequent and the individual errors that get made by a rotating squad are just as frequent. Of course strength is depth is far easier said (or typed) than done.

A further point which definitely applies to me and I would of thought a lot of others is; I don't really know how good man for man our team is when compared to the other teams in League Two. Barring the outstanding players or those we may have noticed at games for whatever reason, can many of us profess to know how good the opposition teams are other than by form and league standing. If someone put a team sheet in front of you of their sides best XI, would you really know if they are better or worse than the team MTS has put up? I reckon in honesty, I would probably have an idea (and only really an idea) of the ability of an average of 5/6 opposition players per squad. So in truth as good as we think our first XI is, the only real gauge we have on whether we should be ripping League Two a new one is based on performance, results and league standing.

I think the more pertinent question would be when we put up our second string and question ourselves on their ability. As the ability of those players that come in to cover injuries, suspensions and the conjested parts of the fixture list can often be the ones that make or break a teams season. Obviously Sturrock is tryng to address that with the Zaboub, Bouzid, Commingues and potentially Sawyer dealings.

 

[BoyWonder2]

The home form is the biggest problem. If our home form matched our away form we'd be level with 7th place, which is the play-offs.

 

[MattLloyd]

For me things have changed dramatically since the departure of Widdrington. We seem to be more together as a team and that confidence and the cameraderie that was missing now seems to be prevalent. Did everyone see Corr/Pato and Blair high fiving each other and slapping each other on the back on Saturday? Easton and Granty arms round each other chatting away etc.... Something has changed there seems to be a team out there.

Friday is now massive - if Sawyer joins and is available it would give the Roots Hall faithful something to cheer in stead of the consistant booing and moaning.

One point of note, I hear there's a flu bug going through the team - Friday's starting 11 could be much changed again!

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Matt, even discounting Sawyer, that team has only once appeared on the pitch together.

We won 2-0.

Blimey... that does say it all. Has Luggy bought a team of crocks?

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

OK here are the stats:

A B C D
10 1 3 3
9 7 15 2.1
8 3 4 1.3
7 3 1 0.3
6 6 6 1
5 2 0 0
4 1 0 0

A= Number of players from MtS's strongest line-up
B= Games played
C= Pts
D= Ave Pts per game

In other words, Sturrock has assembled a pretty decent team. Players like Gilbert, Sturrock and Easton are actually better than a lot of people are giving them credit for.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

For me things have changed dramatically since the departure of Widdrington. We seem to be more together as a team and that confidence and the cameraderie that was missing now seems to be prevalent. Did everyone see Corr/Pato and Blair high fiving each other and slapping each other on the back on Saturday? Easton and Granty arms round each other chatting away etc.... Something has changed there seems to be a team out there.

Friday is now massive - if Sawyer joins and is available it would give the Roots Hall faithful something to cheer in stead of the consistant booing and moaning.

One point of note, I hear there's a flu bug going through the team - Friday's starting 11 could be much changed again!

I'd suggest that Widdrington going actually coincided with us being able to field closer to our strongest team - Barker returned from injury and Corr and Sturrock were able to play more games.

You do realise the boos are going to be even louder when Sturrock leaves Sawyer out/on the right-wing/subs him which he'll invariably have to do.

Blimey... that does say it all. Has Luggy bought a team of crocks?

Not particularly. The likes of Barker, Easton, Gilbert and Mohsni have all missed around 6 weeks from a single injury but have otherwise been fine. That suggests to me that they've been unfortunate - I wouldn't say this was the case for Corr and Sturrock who have repeatedly missed odd games this season and I suspect have struggled with injuries throughout their careers. Ditto Phillips.

 

[WESTY_SUFC]

That says it all really.

We have a good first 11, but I have not been able to play them

To be fair i think most clubs fans would argue that if they could put their first choice 11 out every week they would do well in the league though im certainly not disagreeing that the 11 mentioned there would do v well. Its a squad game. Take Chesterfield for example didnt have Davies or Lester playing against us the other week but still had faily decent quality to play upfront.

I also agree as Smiffy mentions that a pacy striker would make a huge difference. Teams at Roots Hall have tended to play with a high defensive line knowing we have no pace to get around them which squashes the play and stops us playing nice football with the congestion. In my opinion a pacey outlet could change our home form dramatically. It certainly worked with Gray here, gave us a different option.

 

[Tampa Blue]

I also agree as Smiffy mentions that a pacy striker would make a huge difference. Teams at Roots Hall have tended to play with a high defensive line knowing we have no pace to get around them which squashes the play and stops us playing nice football with the congestion. In my opinion a pacey outlet could change our home form dramatically. It certainly worked with Gray here, gave us a different option.

I think Luggy is trying to address that in that :

Mcleod and Hammond who we had on trial were both pacy (still think it's a shame we didn't gamble on McLeod
German and Fairhurst were also both pacy

Hopefully we'll see someone quick come in up front

 

[Jam_Man]

Well two massive factors:

1. The team was put together in about a week, had no preparation and no time to gel.

2. Sturrocks choice of tactics. With a squad barely knowing each other names the last thing you want to be doing is playing daft 4-5-1 4-3-3 systems they arent used to.

 

[Col.U. Mad]

(* Perm two from Barker, Coughlan, Moshni or Phillips)
(* One from Gilbert, Barker or (now) Comminges)


Yours in curiosity,

I used to do perms on Littlewoods, vernons, Zetters...... but since RM:thumbdown: