[cite]Posted By: kinveachyaddick[/cite]Went to the game on Saturday and was pretty upbeat afterwards.
If we keep Racon, Bailey and Shelvey they will be too good for anyone in this League.
Major problem for me was seeing Spring in the centre of midfield - utterly useless as usual meaning Bailey was out of position on the left. Spring didn't put in one tackle, make one pass or break forward into the opposition's box on one occasion during his 45 minutes. What a waste of space he is.
Thought Richardson looked solid and the CB partnership will be plenty good enough for this level.
Shelvey struggled playing in centre-mid and though a lot of people dislike 4-5-1 that is the system that will bring the best out of Jonjo IMO.
McLeod looked sharp and lively but as I said to my mate he will always find a way not to score a goal. Gray looked poor and off the pace to me but others seem to think he did okay so maybe I misjudged his performance.
As others who were there have said we looked good at the back and in midfield - it's just upfront that could cost us if we dominate games but don't score any goals.
MOM for me: Racon.
Spring is the new Holland for us - won't do much wrong, but won't do much right either. Doesn't create much, but doesn't stand out defensively either. Unfortunately for him he isn't known for his work rate, loyalty etc like Holland is.
Once Semedo is fit he'll surely be straight back in the team for Spring. We have a nice balance with Semedo in there, Spring isn't particularly attacking or defensive and can't offer anything the others can't.
Agree about Jonjo and Gray. Jonjo tried a couple of clever things once or twice and didn't get them right. Gray obviously needs to get fit, but he won't offer much outside the box. You can't hoof it up to him as he's not going to win headers often enough and he hasn't got pace like some of the other strikers have. We saw Steve Cotterill outside the ground afterwards (not managing anyone at the moment, said he lives near so just wanted to watch a game really). He said similar things, when we had Iwelumo and Gray, long balls would be aimed to Iwelumo as he's better in the air. When he played alongside someone like McLeod, balls played through would go to him as he's quicker than Gray. Cotterill thinks Gray will score goals in the right team, playing to his strengths, but then he did well at Burnley for him and was speaking to him afterwards, clearly gets on well with him. It could be argued that Gray won't play at that level any more. He thinks it's unlikely Gray will stay, guess he knows about the Barnsley interest.
Cotterill also said you need good characters in the team, and Richardson, Dailly and Llera offer that and are all good signings. He said we shouldn't sign any midfielders (guess he meant we won't be able to fit them all in the team).
Sam has continued to do well and is going to be dangerous in this league. Just as important as Racon, Bailey and Shelvey to me, although his end product isn't always reliable, he gives us width that the others don't and we're not going to find a better right winger that we can sign.
Shame Small didn't get a run out, would have liked to have seen him play. Seems strange that he keeps getting 10 minutes or so, nothing more, but is still here.
Might have known the Spring fan club were in evidence. Mate who came along to watch with me lives in Bournemouth and has played footy at a decent level b4 injury - thought Spring was appalling.
Sam was good too though - had forgotten about that.
Sorry Scoham, 'Spring is the new Holland for us' - not a chance mate, not fit to lace Matty's boots. Very average player, bench role for him at most this season.
Racon MOM by a mile, if he stays fit this season we've got a chance.
Impressed with Richardson, I think he will become a crowd favourite, links up well with Sam (who had a good game also).
Gray off the pace for me, but it was his first game in a while.
The two centre backs looked solid together, bit of a worry if one gets injured though (but I'm sure Parky is working on that). Slightly worrying though, especially at set pieces, the Bournemouth forwards were winning headers in the box. Hopefully this will improve as Daily and Llera play together a bit more.
McLeod played well, and the crowd seemed to be warming to him the longer the game went on. Although he was flagged offside he took his goal well. I really think it's a confidence thing with him. I'd love to see him start knocking a few in and prove his doubters wrong.
Overall a decent team performance. We should have won by a much greater margin, we were much better than Bournemouth. Their penalty was a joke by the way, given by a young linesman trying to make a name for himself. I've got one for him, but won't repeat it on here!
Overall a decent weekend away and a thumping head on Sunday after an evening on Ringwood Fortyniner!
[cite]Posted By: Essex_Al[/cite]Their penalty was a joke by the way, given by a young linesman trying to make a name for himself. I've got one for him, but won't repeat it on here!
Lol - knowing him he'll be loving this. I may try and get him to pop on to post.
[cite]Posted By: Essex_Al[/cite]Their penalty was a joke by the way, given by a young linesman trying to make a name for himself. I've got one for him, but won't repeat it on here!
Lol - knowing him he'll be loving this. I may try and get him to pop on to post.
[cite]Posted By: Essex_Al[/cite]Sorry Scoham, 'Spring is the new Holland for us' - not a chance mate, not fit to lace Matty's boots. Very average player, bench role for him at most this season.
I only meant in the way that he doesn't do much wrong or much right. Neither of them stand out and we had better midfielders than both last season. Just like Spring this season, Holland shouldn't have been a regular (and wasn't) with the midfielders we have (and I hope we still do) at the club.
Compared to Holland at his best, and maybe a couple of seasons ago, no he's not as good as Holland was. Not saying he can do Holland's job or is as good as him, but he's going to play a similar role of being a squad player, coming on, playing sensibly and keeping his passing tidy.
As for the defence, they did well enough considering 3 of the back 4 are new players, especially when Dailly is 36 and had only played one game all pre-season.
I am not sure if Parky has tried yet, but our best formation would seem to be a diamond, which would accomodate Bailey in (left) centre, Shelvey in behind the strikers, and our full backs who like to bomb on. It would also work with two pacy strikers running the channels to pull the defence out wide and create space for JonJo.
NLA, spot on and perhaps that is why I am so anti-Spring.
Him playing in the centre means one of our best players is shunted out to the left where, granted, he does a job, but is nowhere near as effective as he could be if played in his proper position: central midfield.
I well agree with that KA, Spring over bailey i know who would win in my books, Spring as a replacement through injury or fatigue for Racon or Bailey would be ample cover but playing them both can not work especially if it means bailey goes wide left
but then i spose parky didnt know if bailey would still be here by now
With Bailey LM, it does seem in theory that we're missing a trick with not playing him in the middle.
But as it is, somehow it works.
The LB gets cover, Bailey defends from the front, gets the space he needs to be creative and his wreckless tackling is not such an issue. Plus he plunders goals out of the blue.
I'm not suggesting Spring should be 1st choice CM, although like Matty Holland he is a tidy player that knits the midfield together, while not standing out. Managers put these players in a team for a reason.
Semedo & Racon together seem the ideal complimentary pairing in CM - strong tackling, good touch on the ball, Racon being the more creative but Semedo having the discipline to hold his defensive anchorman role. A bit like Kinsella and Keith Jones.
Sam picks himself, so it's just how best to use Jonjo.
If we can keep everybody, we're blessed with a powerful and creative midfield at this level.
I agree, I like the balance of Sam, Semedo and Racon, but Bailey has to be in the team, so he needs to play on the left.
Last season we got far more out of him once we moved him out there. Semedo and Racon aren't as reckless, a bit more intelligent and Racon is clearly more comfortable on the ball.
Out there Bailey has freedom, helps out the left back and can get into goalscoring positions. I think in the middle he'd end up trying to control the game, which he may do at League One level, but Racon and Semedo should be in there ahead of him.
Playing in the hole gets the best out of Jonjo, who like Bailey, I feel he wants to control the game when in central midfield. Playing further forward it gives him freedom just like playing on the left gives Bailey.
I'd be very happy if we kept those five midfielders, and got in a left footed left winger to give us another option on the left. I don't think Bailey needs to play in the centre.
Comments
Spring is the new Holland for us - won't do much wrong, but won't do much right either. Doesn't create much, but doesn't stand out defensively either. Unfortunately for him he isn't known for his work rate, loyalty etc like Holland is.
Once Semedo is fit he'll surely be straight back in the team for Spring. We have a nice balance with Semedo in there, Spring isn't particularly attacking or defensive and can't offer anything the others can't.
Agree about Jonjo and Gray. Jonjo tried a couple of clever things once or twice and didn't get them right. Gray obviously needs to get fit, but he won't offer much outside the box. You can't hoof it up to him as he's not going to win headers often enough and he hasn't got pace like some of the other strikers have. We saw Steve Cotterill outside the ground afterwards (not managing anyone at the moment, said he lives near so just wanted to watch a game really). He said similar things, when we had Iwelumo and Gray, long balls would be aimed to Iwelumo as he's better in the air. When he played alongside someone like McLeod, balls played through would go to him as he's quicker than Gray. Cotterill thinks Gray will score goals in the right team, playing to his strengths, but then he did well at Burnley for him and was speaking to him afterwards, clearly gets on well with him. It could be argued that Gray won't play at that level any more. He thinks it's unlikely Gray will stay, guess he knows about the Barnsley interest.
Cotterill also said you need good characters in the team, and Richardson, Dailly and Llera offer that and are all good signings. He said we shouldn't sign any midfielders (guess he meant we won't be able to fit them all in the team).
Sam has continued to do well and is going to be dangerous in this league. Just as important as Racon, Bailey and Shelvey to me, although his end product isn't always reliable, he gives us width that the others don't and we're not going to find a better right winger that we can sign.
Shame Small didn't get a run out, would have liked to have seen him play. Seems strange that he keeps getting 10 minutes or so, nothing more, but is still here.
OS says Solly is ok, good news. I expect he'll regularly be on the bench now that we can have 7 subs.
One other thing we noticed is that the team had some dominoes pizza after the match. A few pizzas were passed onto the coach after the match.
Might have known the Spring fan club were in evidence.
Mate who came along to watch with me lives in Bournemouth and has played footy at a decent level b4 injury - thought Spring was appalling.
Sam was good too though - had forgotten about that.
Racon MOM by a mile, if he stays fit this season we've got a chance.
Impressed with Richardson, I think he will become a crowd favourite, links up well with Sam (who had a good game also).
Gray off the pace for me, but it was his first game in a while.
The two centre backs looked solid together, bit of a worry if one gets injured though (but I'm sure Parky is working on that). Slightly worrying though, especially at set pieces, the Bournemouth forwards were winning headers in the box. Hopefully this will improve as Daily and Llera play together a bit more.
McLeod played well, and the crowd seemed to be warming to him the longer the game went on. Although he was flagged offside he took his goal well. I really think it's a confidence thing with him. I'd love to see him start knocking a few in and prove his doubters wrong.
Overall a decent team performance. We should have won by a much greater margin, we were much better than Bournemouth. Their penalty was a joke by the way, given by a young linesman trying to make a name for himself. I've got one for him, but won't repeat it on here!
Overall a decent weekend away and a thumping head on Sunday after an evening on Ringwood Fortyniner!
Better get him down to Specsavers!
I only meant in the way that he doesn't do much wrong or much right. Neither of them stand out and we had better midfielders than both last season. Just like Spring this season, Holland shouldn't have been a regular (and wasn't) with the midfielders we have (and I hope we still do) at the club.
Compared to Holland at his best, and maybe a couple of seasons ago, no he's not as good as Holland was. Not saying he can do Holland's job or is as good as him, but he's going to play a similar role of being a squad player, coming on, playing sensibly and keeping his passing tidy.
As for the defence, they did well enough considering 3 of the back 4 are new players, especially when Dailly is 36 and had only played one game all pre-season.
Him playing in the centre means one of our best players is shunted out to the left where, granted, he does a job, but is nowhere near as effective as he could be if played in his proper position: central midfield.
but then i spose parky didnt know if bailey would still be here by now
But as it is, somehow it works.
The LB gets cover, Bailey defends from the front, gets the space he needs to be creative and his wreckless tackling is not such an issue. Plus he plunders goals out of the blue.
I'm not suggesting Spring should be 1st choice CM, although like Matty Holland he is a tidy player that knits the midfield together, while not standing out. Managers put these players in a team for a reason.
Semedo & Racon together seem the ideal complimentary pairing in CM - strong tackling, good touch on the ball, Racon being the more creative but Semedo having the discipline to hold his defensive anchorman role. A bit like Kinsella and Keith Jones.
Sam picks himself, so it's just how best to use Jonjo.
If we can keep everybody, we're blessed with a powerful and creative midfield at this level.
Last season we got far more out of him once we moved him out there. Semedo and Racon aren't as reckless, a bit more intelligent and Racon is clearly more comfortable on the ball.
Out there Bailey has freedom, helps out the left back and can get into goalscoring positions. I think in the middle he'd end up trying to control the game, which he may do at League One level, but Racon and Semedo should be in there ahead of him.
Playing in the hole gets the best out of Jonjo, who like Bailey, I feel he wants to control the game when in central midfield. Playing further forward it gives him freedom just like playing on the left gives Bailey.
I'd be very happy if we kept those five midfielders, and got in a left footed left winger to give us another option on the left. I don't think Bailey needs to play in the centre.