Mid-Season Review

[Roger The Alien]

Looking at it, Maher need to stop playing 5-3-2, and start playing to our player’s strengths, which is 4-3-3.

The style of football was bland, boring, defensive, unimaginative, players not willing to take a shots on goal, we don’t look like scoring, but more likely to leak in goals.

 

[Firestorm]

In history?! I think sol Campbell. Kevin bond and Mark Moseley would disagree

Dick Bate would like a word.......

 

[Leigh_Seasider]

Looking at it, Maher need to stop playing 5-3-2, and start playing to our player’s strengths, which is 4-3-3.

The style of football was bland, boring, defensive, unimaginative, players not willing to take a shots on goal, we don’t look like scoring, but more likely to leak in goals.

I think we need you on the sidelines. You’d sort them out I reckon.
Really not sure about 4 at the back with the defenders we’ve got, but I agree we need to be more adventurous and exciting to watch. Not like Spurs though.

 

[Barling Magna]

In the pantheon of great strikers I've seen (Freddy, Stan) good strikers (Barnard, Constantine) Cardwell doesn't get close. I think if Forrest Green go up, he'll end up at another club at this level.

Over the last twenty seasons only Eastwood has scored more goals in a season than Cardwell. Not Stan, nor Lee, nor Leon..... so I reckon Cardwell gets close to the latter three! Clearly the standard of the opposition he was playing against was lower for Harry - but so was the standard of his team mates.

Are you suggesting that replacing a striker who scored 18 goals last season with those who struggle to score at all has had little effect on our fortunes this year? Give over YB.....

 

[SUFCGoals]

Over the last twenty seasons only Eastwood has scored more goals in a season than Cardwell. Not Stan, nor Lee, nor Leon..... so I reckon Cardwell gets close to the latter three! Clearly the standard of the opposition he was playing against was lower for Harry - but so was the standard of his team mates.

Are you suggesting that replacing a striker who scored 18 goals last season with those who struggle to score at all has had little effect on our fortunes this year? Give over YB.....

I reckon the quality of the National League now is better than the quality of Div 3/League 2 when Leon and Freddy did their thing.

 

[AlfaShrimper]

I think he means by the position we now sit in this League, which is hard to disagree with.

With the teams the above created trust me we would be lower what we are now

 

[overseas shrimper]

Not so sure about that and I've actually met one of them,GL.this was 2 seasons agoI'm sure he'll remember my comment that I hope the Rat died of a hear attack over the summer" To which he replied " I wouldn't go that far" :From what I've seen they're fans as well as biznessmen but on current evidence I'd say their plan was flawed.

I'm not sure what your conversation has to do with surmising that COSU's plan is flawed.

 

[Roger The Alien]

I think we need you on the sidelines. You’d sort them out I reckon.
Really not sure about 4 at the back with the defenders we’ve got, but I agree we need to be more adventurous and exciting to watch. Not like Spurs though.

That what we signed a defender with pace and athleticism from Oxford Utd for …. But never start him

Colin

Wind or GSM. Taylor Golding (or Gubbins) Ralph


Morton


Corker. Keenan Appiah-Forson

Kendall Walker (Or Bonne)

Pepple

This team will give us pace, athleticism, goals threats and our full back don’t need to run up and down, doing two jobs. We get to see goals at the right end, and also to pin opponents back.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

I'm not sure what your conversation has to do with surmising that COSU's plan is flawed.

It's an opinion..Incidentally the person who introduced us mfurok (sadly no longer active on SZ is a huge KM fan ,which I suspect (you and a lot of others are on SZ are too).Incidentally it's cliche to believe that biznessmen always know what they're doing or that they know better than the rest of us.

 

[blues exile]

It's an opinion..Incidentally the person who introduced us mfurok (sadly no longer active on SZ is a huge KM fan ,which I suspect (you and a lot of others are on SZ are too).Incidentally it's cliche to believe that biznessmen always know what they're doing or that they know better than the rest of us.

As a retired bank manager I can remember countless self styled businessmen who han't got a clue, many more who got lucky and one or two who actually knew what they were doing. It's probably even more so nowadays with speculation, cryptocurrencies and hedge funds all contributing to the myth.

 

[Linda Loan Shark]

I am just glad we still got a club. Anything more than mid table would be a bonus

 

[AlfaShrimper]

Does anyone actually know this golding is any good? Or are we just hoping?

 

[Fairport]

They ripped Man Utd apart who was playing Maher formation and style of football.

Looking at some of Manchester City defeats they have been beaten by teams that have no more than 30% possession but are pacey and clinical on the counterattack. Sporting Lisbon, Juventus and Aston Villa beat them with this style. Maybe Pep and Co have been rumbled. Although we can defend fairly well apart from dealing with corners we have no pace or clinical finishing in this current squad.

 

[Liam AAS]

Does anyone actually know this golding is any good? Or are we just hoping?

Lots of Maidenhead fans liked him and were dissapointed to see him recalled from loan by Oxford, only to end up with a different NL club. I think he even scored 2 in 8?

 

[AlfaShrimper]

Lots of Maidenhead fans liked him and were dissapointed to see him recalled from loan by Oxford, only to end up with a different NL club. I think he even scored 2 in 8?

Maidenhead ? I think we probably need players better than "good" for maidenhead

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

As a retired bank manager I can remember countless self styled businessmen who han't got a clue, many more who got lucky and one or two who actually knew what they were doing. It's probably even more so nowadays with speculation, cryptocurrencies and hedge funds all contributing to the myth.

Hopefully that won't be the case with COSU.But I suppose you never know.

 

[bluethroughandthrough]

Well, difficult to give an answer to the question. Personally, I didn't expect us to be better than mid table, especially with the takeover not happening until mid July. That screwed pre season training and denied Kevin the opportunity to use the Transfer Market at the right time. The players massively over achieved last season and certainly haven't reached the same standard this season. The loss of Cardwell and Kensdale has hurt, because not only were they important to the way we play, but the timing of their departure couldn't have been worse. Some mention has been made of the loss of Callum Powell and Wes. Callum missed half of the season at least and Wes was frustrating at times. Neither have been a success at their new Clubs, which does suggest it was the right decision.

There is a collective need to look at the wider picture. 20 plus years of financial mismanagement by the previous owner, can't be put right overnight. COSU have made tremendous progress in meeting the aims detailed at the Cliffs back in January and they won't stop.

Tom Lawrence said in an interview that back in September that Kevin was under no pressure and Justin more or less reaffirmed that during a BBC Essex phone in.

The Club has a model that it wants to follow that amongst other things incoming players should attract a sell on fee when they move on. Bonne and Moncur obviously don't meet that criteria, with Moncur on loan for instant. I am confident that neither would be with us, had we not had a Transfer Embargo in place until mid July. Most also seem to have forgotten we also had the need to provide a £1 million Bond to the League. Thankfully that was avoided at the last minute.

We have a lot to be thankful for and in the New Year there will be comings and goings. No doubt the squad needs strengthening and it will happen. Kevin probably needs at least 2 possibly 3 transfer windows, before any judgements can be made. We all have views about the players, but I find it disrespectful to start talking about who should go and who should stay.

York on Saturday showed what a good side they have become. Please remember, it has taken them 3 years to get to this position after poor ownership.

Before I get some flak about Transfer Windows, a lot of business involves EFL Clubs so those Windows see most business done.

All I ask is that patience is exercised, we will probably still be in the National League next season, but will be in a much better position come the start to give promotion a real go. You never know we might even have a Cup Final to enjoy in May.

This is a nice view and I respect the thinking.
Where it gets frustrating however is that it's not just players that make a difference.
This is where an increasing number of fans are becoming disgruntled as its more than just adding players.
Giving more transfer windows is dangerous if other key elements aren't in place.
Mentality, formation, style are also important factors and all of which are in the hands of the manager.
Whichever one a fan gravitates to as their preferred reasoning for failure, the fact is that's it's not just as simple as one thing.
So whilst your comments are well thought and shared it focuses purely on players as the solution.

 

[ShoeburySU]

I’ve said it before and will say it again the midfield and our forwards are just too disconnected. The way the team are playing invites too much pressure without outlet.

If we could defend set pieces better (I assume they do work on this in training) a lot more defeats world be boring 0-0’s.

Dropping a few senior underperforming players and a change of format that, we and other better ball playing clubs are now using 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 with variants in attack/defence would solve a lot of the issues we are experiencing

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

This is such a naive viewpoint.

Cardwell has achieved some mythical status now he's gone. A player who looked impreious in the air when defending and never looked like winning a header in the box.

In the pantheon of great strikers I've seen (Freddy, Stan) good strikers (Barnard, Constantine) Cardwell doesn't get close. I think if Forrest Green go up, he'll end up at another club at this level.

Kensdale was pretty good. But how good?

The answer to our plight isn't these 2 leaving (though it would be a bit better if they stayed) the concern is the dramatic drop of form across the rest of the squad. Yeah 2 have gone, but why has our midfield fallen off a cliff? Why aren't our strikers getting chances? Where is the improvement in the rest of the squad?

Our strikers are getting chances.

Kendall could have scored with his first touch on both of his sub appearances. Bonne must have missed a double figure number of chances by now. Pepple, only signed in September, has 8 goals but six of them have been away from home so most fans won’t have seen them. Meanwhile all of Josh Walker’s goals in his stop-start season have been away from home. I think this does colour many supporters’ opinions.

We’re clearly a side in transition. Maher built a side around Kensdale at the back, Miley in midfield and Cardwell up front. Those three played every minute of every game Maher could play them for and were then lost in a week. They gave us our identity of a team who plays out from the back and presses from the front. To lose them all at once so early in the season was huge.

We need to either replace those players or develop a new identity. We clearly haven’t replaced those (other than the one who was only temporarily lost) and if we want a different identity that’s going to take time to bed in.

After our season was derailed this season then became about the cups. We had a good showing in the FA Cup (winning away from him against a NL side; taking a L1 side to extra time) and are still in the other cup. A decent cup run could still spark a playoff push. When I look at the teams currently around the playoff spot at 6, 7 and 8 is Solihull, Rochdale and Halifax - three sides we’ve already beaten this season (all away from home again).

To get up there we’ll need to tighten up at the back (I’m not sold on Crowther - he scares me every ball over the top), especially on set pieces and get more clinical up front. Which is of course where Kensdale and Cardwell played and were so effective for us last season. Cardwell became more clinical in front of goal (he was a huge player at set pieces as well as you noted) with the confidence that scoring goals gave him. We need someone else to get on a roll like that - whilst also offering pressing and defending at set pieces. I think Kendall could play off such a player.

The switch from Miley to Morton does the change the balance of the midfield. We need to find the right balance alongside him, although that surely includes Oli Coker. Noor’s versatility makes him valuable to keep around but he may be in a more reduced role.

Hopefully we can get an early lead Boxing Day and settle the nerves in the stands. It’s the start of a run of winnable games that can propel us up the table if we can build
momentum.

 

[overseas shrimper]

It's an opinion..Incidentally the person who introduced us mfurok (sadly no longer active on SZ is a huge KM fan ,which I suspect (you and a lot of others are on SZ are too).Incidentally it's cliche to believe that biznessmen always know what they're doing or that they know better than the rest of us.

Given the option of trusting individuals on a forum whom I know nothing about re: their experience in business, or successful businessmen, I'll choose to go with the latter. No offence, just my choice.

As for Maher, I'm a fan of his, but have my doubts. However, I have been weighing things up against facts regarding our club's recent past and issues this season and am hoping (cautiously) that he turns things around.