Post-Match Thread and Ratings Northampton Town 2-1 Southend United

[mfurok]

He just seemed more than anyone to not understand his role in this formation and, unlike Hall on the other side, he doesn't seem to have the confidence to either take his man on or get an early ball into the box. He must have something about himself because he did alright at this level last season but we've not seen it so far.

Not accorfing to the Shots' fans he didn't.

 

[mfurok]

Definitely agree that we definitely lost this game because of our lack of a 20 goal a season striker and our defeat had definitely nothing to do with us conceding two goals and being unable to defend a lead.

Obviously the only sane response to conceding two goals is to demand that we sign a forward.

If we had played in a more positive fashion, it might have been a record away win.

You had to be there to realise how dire Northampton were for the first hour plus and how bereft of confidence they were.

The number of Cobblers miskicks in defence in the first half was an all time record..

 

[Beefy]

Not accorfing to the Shots' fans he didn't.

Which Shots fans? The one on here the other week rated him.

 

[shrimpercats]

The most worrying thing for me is that we have totally fallen apart in the last half hour in both of the last two games (and both from winning positions). Is it a lack of fitness or a complete failure to understand how to close a game out? Or both?
As I have said several times, these players were all signed in a panic and there's a very good reason why they are here, i.e. they aren't much cop. Sturrock has to work with what he's got and try to develop a team formation that will at least keep us in this league. While I sympathise with those wanting to play 4-4-2, the bottom line is that we don't have a support striker alongside Corr or Sturrock who is anywhere near up to the job. Sorry to those who continue to champion Paterson and Spencer, but they're not good enough.
I don't think that several of the new boys are good enough either, but we have to make do with the core of 2 decent keepers, 4 decent centre backs (including Mohsni who will come good), 2 solid full backs, Grant and Simpson. For me, the jury's out on Easton, Soares, Zaaboub, Hall, Corr, Sturrock and Prosser, but Hall woud be fine in a confident side.
Players at this level generally have a bit of talent, but lack consistency and application. That's why every decent performance so far has been followed by a very poor one. That should mean 3 points against Morecambe and that's pretty well how I see the rest of the season going. The inflated marks given by so many after the Torquay game can now be seen in a more realistic perspective.

 

[Beefy]

I don't think we fell apart on Saturday due to any fitness concerns (although that seemed to be the problem against Torquay). Against Northampton we lost our heads after the equaliser which got Northampton's spirit and confidence up and we couldn't regain the momentum. After a shambolic second goal (Clohessy conceded a needless corner because none of his teammates shouted to him to let it go out and then the least said about Moshni's attempt to deal with the corner itself the better) we had no way back into the game because we had no formation at all. For the last five minutes we played four strikers (with Moshni up front) but no one to give the ball to them. It was like someone had dropped a bunch of subbuteo players onto the field in random places. There was no tactic to break the opposition down.

 

[shrimperjon]

Give me Tilson's standard game-to-game 4-4-2 any day of the week. At least Tilson went out to score goals and win games.[/QUOTE]

I must have been as sleep for the past few years, we didnt score many goals, didnt win many games, got turned over away from home most weeks and got relegated.....i for one dont want that situation again. when will some of you give luggy a chance. yes he got it a bit wrong saturday, but two simple mistakes cost us that game. luggy is still tinkering with the side. come christmas judge him then, you really have to get over the whole tilson is god thing.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I still believe we'll struggle to get the goals we need to go up from a midfield of Hall, Grant, Easton, Simpson & Soares. Say Grant and Simpson get 10 each, and Easton pops up with 4, Hall and Soares with 7 each. That's 38 goals. I agree that we're getting ahead of ourselves talking about this, but that's what you do as fans. You've gotta have that optimism (although if we finish mid table it wont be a failure).

38 goals from midfield would be fine.

We've been getting goals from central midfield (5 in 9 games), we've been getting goals from up front (5 in 9 games). Where we're lacking goals from at the moment is out wide (1 deflected goal, given as an OG) and from defence (0 goals). Soares should have goals in him - he scored 9 last season, Zaaboub has a few goals in him if he can get fit, Hall looks as if he'll have a few goals in him and Bilel looks as if he should score as he gets in excellent positions at set pieces (although his finishing has been atrocious).

we've had this debate before yorkshire, obviously a strong midfield and defence are crucial, can you honestly say that signing someone who scores 20 a season is a bad thing? and not the difference between a mid table side and a promotion contender?
We've had ups and downs, already this season but genuinely better then i expected, given how this squad was put together, we seem to be holding our own, and survival i guess is the aim, surely you must admit that its blatantly obvious that without a good striker (or two) theres no way we'll be near the top of the table.

Of course signing a good player isn't a bad thing, but the issue is whether it is the most important thing. We could sign good forwards and still be no way near the top of the table cf Paynter, Harrold, MacDonald, Hooper etc.

Take 1988-89, we had a proven goalscorer, David Crown. He hit 25(?) league goals for us that season and we got relegated. Compare that to the following season we were back in that division, when our top goalscorer scored 15 league goals, yet we dominated that season and 2nd was the lowest position we were in all season.

People have already pointed out how Sturrock has signed his top-scorer (Coughlan) from when his Plymouth team ran away with it.

A striker is like a formula one driver. Just because you are the best driver doesn't mean you are going to win the championship. Sure, it helps to have the best driver, but more often it is the best car that wins. It's easier to win with a mediocre driver in an excellent car, than an excellent driver in a mediocre car and often an excellent car makes a mediocre driver look good.

In the same way, good teams make mediocre forwards look good, whereas good forwards rarely make mediocre teams look good. The forward is the final piece in a jigsaw and our jigsaw is nowhere near complete.

The most worrying thing for me is that we have totally fallen apart in the last half hour in both of the last two games (and both from winning positions). Is it a lack of fitness or a complete failure to understand how to close a game out? Or both?
As I have said several times, these players were all signed in a panic and there's a very good reason why they are here, i.e. they aren't much cop. Sturrock has to work with what he's got and try to develop a team formation that will at least keep us in this league. While I sympathise with those wanting to play 4-4-2, the bottom line is that we don't have a support striker alongside Corr or Sturrock who is anywhere near up to the job. Sorry to those who continue to champion Paterson and Spencer, but they're not good enough.
I don't think that several of the new boys are good enough either, but we have to make do with the core of 2 decent keepers, 4 decent centre backs (including Mohsni who will come good), 2 solid full backs, Grant and Simpson. For me, the jury's out on Easton, Soares, Zaaboub, Hall, Corr, Sturrock and Prosser, but Hall woud be fine in a confident side.
Players at this level generally have a bit of talent, but lack consistency and application. That's why every decent performance so far has been followed by a very poor one. That should mean 3 points against Morecambe and that's pretty well how I see the rest of the season going. The inflated marks given by so many after the Torquay game can now be seen in a more realistic perspective.

Players at this level generally either have consistency or talent. The ones who have both rarely stay at this level for long.

 

[Ailsa Road Shrimper]

You must've fallen asleep the last few years I think, only last year we finished 8th in League One and held Chelsea for a draw at Stamford Bridge! I don't see how languishing in the bottom half of League Two is more enjoyable than the last few years we've had.

 

[shrimperjon]

You must've fallen asleep the last few years I think, only last year we finished 8th in League One and held Chelsea for a draw at Stamford Bridge! I don't see how languishing in the bottom half of League Two is more enjoyable than the last few years we've had.

i wish i was asleep last season it was so bad at times. finishing 8th was a great acheivment the previous season but the fact is that at times our away record in particular under tilson was woeful and at the end of the day we went backwards for the last three seasons he was in charge. im not saying our current position is great but as i keep saying it is a new start, a new team and a new season. we have at times been brilliant this season and then equally poor. it will take time but a win on saturday and we will probably be top ten.

as for the chelsea game lets face it, as great a result it was we should have lost by a country mile. yes you need luck sometimes and we had it, very much the same as the man utd game but people seem to live off the back of those games and not the bread and butter. under tilson we beat man u but didt win a league game for 19 games and got relegated, i know which i would have prefered. we drew with chelsea and nearly went 2 up at home but then struggled in the league.

Please just get behind luggy and stop living in the past. UTB

 

[OldBlueLady]

Must have been watching a different game to a lot of you, I thought Easton was by far our best player and covering both Grant and Simpson's woeful 1st half performances. Grant suddenly sprang to life in the 2nd half but Simpson remained throughout a complete shadow of the player he'd been in the previous week's game. Easton was the only player fully committed throughout the game, although Barker was pretty good too.

Morris - 5, I thought it harsh to drop Evans last week, now I feel he has to be given a turn. Too many goals conceded where I've thought the keeper should have done better
Clohessy - 6.5, ok, getting forward more in a kind of Frannoish way, but then getting caught out on occasions at the back. Difficult afternoon for him defensively as he was under loads of pressure, but I thought he did ok, tackling is much better
Mohsni - 5, all the goals seemed to be down to him! Liked the idea of switching him up front at the end
Barker - 7, dependable as ever, despite having to cover the rest of the defence on occasions
Gilbert - 6, endured a mauling from the crowd and never really looked comfortable
Hall - 7, best of our attacking players
Simpson - 4, haven't a clue what happened to the Simpson we saw last week
Easton - 7.5, my MOTM, here, there and everywhere. Putting in challenges, blocks and generally doing the job of three for much of the match
Grant - 6, and that's an average for the match as a whole. Too often we're seeing very halfhearted performances from someone expected to shine every game, who then picks it up 2nd half. I'd prefer a more moderately good level throughout personally
Soares - 6, not too bad but not as strong a player as Hall
Sturrock - 5, not one of Blair's best performances, nothing worked, though again, he was getting pulled about all over the place

Subs:
Corr (Soares) - 5, didn't seem to have any impact
Paterson (Hall) - 6, seemed to be defending more than attacking when he came on, though he did it pretty well!
Spencer (Sturrock) - 6, not used to his best advantage

TBV - 8

 

[Fairport]

On the goalscoring debate, it is still the norm for MOST promoted teams to have strikers or at least one striker that finds the net regularly. I really cannot see Sturrock, Corr, Paterson, Spencer etc doing that. The facts are as follows: We have played 6 league games and scored 7 goals, that ratio is not usually good enough to gain promotion.

 

[TravellingBlue]

On the goalscoring debate, it is still the norm for MOST promoted teams to have strikers or at least one striker that finds the net regularly. I really cannot see Sturrock, Corr, Paterson, Spencer etc doing that. The facts are as follows: We have played 6 league games and scored 7 goals, that ratio is not usually good enough to gain promotion.

In reality we have only played Corr or Sturrock with Paterson and Spencer only getting fleeting time on the pitch, so I would agree the ratio is really not good enough to gain promotion.

We need to give our two youngsters more of an opportunity or get in another 'proven' striker. My biggest disappointment so far have been Soares and Hall who have created nothing and scored nil.

 

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

In reality we have only played Corr or Sturrock with Paterson and Spencer only getting fleeting time on the pitch, so I would agree the ratio is really not good enough to gain promotion.

We need to give our two youngsters more of an opportunity or get in another 'proven' striker. My biggest disappointment so far have been Soares and Hall who have created nothing and scored nil.

Agree, although I do think you may be being a little harsh on Hall, he's a winger, sometimes he'll lose the ball, sometimes he'll skin the defender and whip in a cross. He looks to have something and actually gets to the by line for once!
Soares hasn't done much, agreed, we will see though!

 

[TravellingBlue]

Agree, although I do think you may be being a little harsh on Hall, he's a winger, sometimes he'll lose the ball, sometimes he'll skin the defender and whip in a cross. He looks to have something and actually gets to the by line for once!
Soares hasn't done much, agreed, we will see though!

I will agree, Hall has looked the better of the two and definitely has something about him. Just haven't seen either contribute to the 4-5-1 formation that we are playing. I know it is early days but if we have two non contributing wingers and a single centre forward who doesn't score then surely we are in trouble!!!!!:O