A message to Cluniemore.....errr Paul Sturrock

[leeblue]

Sorry, I'm not in favour of Freddy and Mohsni as the frontmen in a 4-4-2 set up. We've seen Mohsni get in the way of other forwards and I certainly don't want that to happen with Freddy now it's so important, besides which he may well be needed in defence if Phillips is not fit enough to play. As I said somewhere else, Mohsni's height is more important to us in defence at the moment to prevent some of these high balls over the top that keep catching us out.

I'd go with Harris or Benyon partnering Freddy too, certainly initially.

while not poo pooing your theory i sat there against aldershot and we did not have a shot on target, we can be the best defense in the universe but if you aint scoring you aint winning, we need to score goals and whichever way you paint it mohsni has proven time and time again that he is a danger up front (chuck in possible contender for goal of the decade) goals mean glory (as long as you score more than the oppo)

 

[Angell Delight]

According to Freddy he's 80% fit. With any luck he can get that up to 95-100% in the next week or two. If that's the case then in my view we will quite possibly now have the best striker in League Two - it's essential we play to his strengths and that means giving him the ball ON THE FLOOR in and especially around the box. CP tweeted earlier today that Freddy reckons he is better than he's ever been, let's give him a chance to prove it.....it might just help us win promotion.

 

[bigmolt]

The team I would put out on Friday: Belford, Clohessey Bilel Dailly Hills, Hall Grant Sawyer Martin, Eastwood Harris.

 

[Jam_Man]

Sorry, I'm not in favour of Freddy and Mohsni as the frontmen in a 4-4-2 set up. We've seen Mohsni get in the way of other forwards and I certainly don't want that to happen with Freddy now it's so important, besides which he may well be needed in defence if Phillips is not fit enough to play. As I said somewhere else, Mohsni's height is more important to us in defence at the moment to prevent some of these high balls over the top that keep catching us out.

I'd go with Harris or Benyon partnering Freddy too, certainly initially.

How tall is he ? 17 feet !?

He is only one man and isnt so big to stop balls going over the top.

Mohsni is a defender and if needed can be played there, but he has made far more contribution this season when actually played elsewhere.

We need to win games now, he can help us do that. He cant stop us losing on his own though.

 

[marlow17101032]

he will not play 442

 

[Jam_Man]

he will not play 442

No he probably wont, so Hall and Martin wont ever fit in the same side unfortunately.

 

[Paul Shrimper]

No he probably wont, so Hall and Martin wont ever fit in the same side unfortunately.

If that is the case does that make Martin another pointless signing, despite (IMHO) him being a decent player. If we fail to win promotion expect RM to remember all of the players at the manager's disposal and still fail to deliver. Expect a sacking or amicable leaving speech.

Past Managers would have bitten their hand off to have the volume of players now at the club!!

Anyway that is the possible future and only time will tell.

For the last 7 matches we can only back the team on the pitch and hope they deliver.

UTB

 

[Jam_Man]

If that is the case does that make Martin another pointless signing, despite (IMHO) him being a decent player. If we fail to win promotion expect RM to remember all of the players at the manager's disposal and still fail to deliver. Expect a sacking or amicable leaving speech.

Past Managers would have bitten their hand off to have the volume of players now at the club!!

Anyway that is the possible future and only time will tell.

For the last 7 matches we can only back the team on the pitch and hope they deliver.

UTB

We may have a big squad but most of them are fringe players at best who will leave at the end of the season. I worked it out the other day we had 35 players on the books, but only 20 not on long term injuries. If we didnt have the squad we have we would be in serious problems at the moment. Take out the players that have joined since January and we would have 15 players.

Is Martin "another pointless signing" ? No I dont think so, we only had one wide player when he joined. He has been suffering from injuries recently keeping him out. Even if he is here just as an alternative to Hall then its certainly not pointless.

Im not sure who the other pointless signings are if he is "another" ?

 

[Bromley Blue]

Im not sure who the other pointless signings are if he is "another" ?

I agree with you overall. Martin has performed well for us so far and most fans are calling for him to start but I do also think Sturrock has been guilty of making some pointless signings. Pat Baldwin is the biggest example of this. Luggy knew he'd not be match fit when he signed him and he played 2 games for us and then didn't get a look in. If our first choice centre backs were pulling up trees this would be fine but Barker's had a nightmare season and I don't think giving Baldwin more match time would have made that much difference.

We also have an injury to a key player in targetman Dickinson and have another Sturrock signing in Anto Flood sitting on the bench. I'm glad we've brought Freddy in but it just seems like Flood won't get a look in now and mainly because Sturrock doesn't see him as the answer to our problems right now. Again, why bring him in if thats the case?

Everyone makes mistakes and overall Sturrock has done a tremendous job in keeping us up last season and turning us into a playoff challenging side this year but if we don't go up I think he could be looking for a new job.

 

[Napster]

In Chris Phillips interview today, Sturrock talks about Hall and Martin together.

 

[Napster]

But managers have to decide on the spot what to do. Fans and reporters can decide at 10 to five."
31m Chris Phillips ‏ @CJPhillips1982 Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
Ps on bringing hills on instead of Martin - "I wanted to get his throw on and be solid down that side.we were better team second half ....
34m Chris Phillips ‏ @CJPhillips1982 Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
Sturrock said he wanted the side to be solid and that's why hall and Martin had not played together. But he's no longer worried about that.

 

[Jam_Man]

I agree with you overall. Martin has performed well for us so far and most fans are calling for him to start but I do also think Sturrock has been guilty of making some pointless signings. Pat Baldwin is the biggest example of this. Luggy knew he'd not be match fit when he signed him and he played 2 games for us and then didn't get a look in. If our first choice centre backs were pulling up trees this would be fine but Barker's had a nightmare season and I don't think giving Baldwin more match time would have made that much difference.

We also have an injury to a key player in targetman Dickinson and have another Sturrock signing in Anto Flood sitting on the bench. I'm glad we've brought Freddy in but it just seems like Flood won't get a look in now and mainly because Sturrock doesn't see him as the answer to our problems right now. Again, why bring him in if thats the case?

Everyone makes mistakes and overall Sturrock has done a tremendous job in keeping us up last season and turning us into a playoff challenging side this year but if we don't go up I think he could be looking for a new job.

You are making that judgement on hindsight. At the time Pat Baldwin we brought in when Phillips was injured. We were all crying out for a central defender to be brought in, and I was absolutey delighted when he was. Unfortuntately he didnt impress when he got his chance and certainly didnt do enough to keep out current pairing out.

To say he shouldnt have been brought in because he was match fit isnt right, most loanees wont be. Eastwood is no where near fit, should we not have brought him in then ?

Flood was a gamble, we all knew that when he signed. He hasnt played at this level before and was worth trying. Just because he was given a chance doesnt mean we have to play him at the expense of everything else. If he had shown he was ready then great, but he hasnt so other players are getting the nod.

Calling these decisions mistakes is very harsh, at this level you have to take chances on signings, not all pay off but thats not Sturrocks fault and certainly Id rather that we tried than do the alternative, which is sign no one.

 

[Paul Shrimper]

I agree that Martin should not be a pointless signing, as I said previously IMHO he is a decent player. However if he is not played this makes it pointless bringing such a player to the club and just sit on the bench. Overall both Baldwin and Flood seem pointless as 1 Baldwin is now on loan and 2 Flood has not featured in any match.

Looks like Sturrock may be making a bolder approach against Cheltenham and let the other team worry about us. This is the approach we have been looking for and may well work.

Let us all hope so.

Behind the team and Manager when the players are on the pitch does not prevernt opinions from being made off the picth.

 

[Jam_Man]

I agree that Martin should not be a pointless signing, as I said previously IMHO he is a decent player. However if he is not played this makes it pointless bringing such a player to the club and just sit on the bench. Overall both Baldwin and Flood seem pointless as 1 Baldwin is now on loan and 2 Flood has not featured in any match.

Looks like Sturrock may be making a bolder approach against Cheltenham and let the other team worry about us. This is the approach we have been looking for and may well work.

Let us all hope so.

Behind the team and Manager when the players are on the pitch does not prevernt opinions from being made off the picth.

Id like to see Martin play more, in a 2 winger system, but even not playing he is cover for Hall and an option from the bench, so not pointless.

Baldwin was required when he joined as we had injury problems so not pointless (and when him being here was actually pointless he was moved on).

If giving Flood a chance is pointless then fine, but how do you find out unless you try ? There was a point to signing him (on a short term deal) and that was to see if he could step up to League football.

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Im glad Luggy isnt worried about being solid. Lets face it we havent been solid defensively since our long unbeaten run ended. Sadly he doesnt seem to think that removing the under-performing Barker would surely make us more solid. We need to go for it now, all out attack if we are going to harbour hope of nabbing the last automatic spot.

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

Sod being solid. Go all out attack and just score more goals than the opposition. Simples.

 

[Jam_Man]

Im glad Luggy isnt worried about being solid. Lets face it we havent been solid defensively since our long unbeaten run ended. Sadly he doesnt seem to think that removing the under-performing Barker would surely make us more solid. We need to go for it now, all out attack if we are going to harbour hope of nabbing the last automatic spot.

Replace Barker with who though ?

Phillips ? Mohsni ? The latter doesnt fill me with confidence at the back.

I do think Barker has been an issue, but its not one player causing these results its the entire team. If we can start retaining possession and building a bit more self belief in the side that would be far more effective than replacing one player.

Hopefully we will see Martin/Hall in a 442 this weekend.

 

[Bromley Blue]

You are making that judgement on hindsight. At the time Pat Baldwin we brought in when Phillips was injured. We were all crying out for a central defender to be brought in, and I was absolutey delighted when he was. Unfortuntately he didnt impress when he got his chance and certainly didnt do enough to keep out current pairing out.

To say he shouldnt have been brought in because he was match fit isnt right, most loanees wont be. Eastwood is no where near fit, should we not have brought him in then ?

Flood was a gamble, we all knew that when he signed. He hasnt played at this level before and was worth trying. Just because he was given a chance doesnt mean we have to play him at the expense of everything else. If he had shown he was ready then great, but he hasnt so other players are getting the nod.

Calling these decisions mistakes is very harsh, at this level you have to take chances on signings, not all pay off but thats not Sturrocks fault and certainly Id rather that we tried than do the alternative, which is sign no one.

I agree that most loan players aren't match fit and that wasn't really my point. If they were getting games at their parent clubs then they obviously wouldn't be available for loan. My point was that Sturrock dropped Baldwin after two games coz he clearly wasn't ready but if he hadn't played in months this was always likely to happen. He's now been sent out on loan which is essentially Sturrock admitting he made a mistake in signing him in the first place. Like I said, everyone makes mistakes but I see this as a pointless signing because would Luke Prosser really have been that much worse. I can't remember the situation at the time but was Bilel not available for the Swindon game. Yes he is liable to conceding penalties and losing his cool but playing a half-fit player in the biggest game of our season was just as risky.

And I do agree that Flood was a gamble. It reminded me of the signing of Francis Laurent by Tilly which similarly could have gone either way. It just seems like a waste of resources if we've signed him to effectively give him an extended trial in training and reserve games when we could have used that money elsewhere and held trials in the summer.

 

[Beefy]

Baldwin was only a pointless signing if we knew that he wasn't anywhere near fit enough to play. That he did play straight away suggests that Sturrock thought he was ready, or close to ready.

 

[Bromley Blue]

Its all irrelevant now anyway. The players were signed, it hasn't worked out, we move on. However if we don't go up this season, which given we're now heading for the lottery of the playoffs looks more likely, I worry for next season. I don't understand how we could go from not having 2 pennies to rub together last season to having a 30+ man squad this year. It stinks of a big gamble on going for it this year at all costs in the hope we make it. We've never really found out where this extra money is coming from and well respected posters on here such as Cricko and Smiffy said at the start of the season that we'd invested heavily on promotion this season and we've signed a hell of a lot more since then.