Point taken and accepted.
Anyway, you've got to love us on here. A Crawley Town player has never had so much discussion on another club's forum!
He’s a lower league player and we’re a lower league team so I don’t see the issue in that. If he had great technical ability as well as causing problems because of his size he’d be nowhere near League 1 or 2. He may have spent most of his career in League 2 with a relatively poor goalscoring record but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t click for us. Hopper’s goalscoring record was underwhelming before us and look how good he turned out to be.Wrote this after 1st game, so point about two goals can’t really be used, offside goal in first game was a two yard tap in, granted he causes problems but that’s due to his size not ability, fact is he’s been a lower league player for a reason
Southend have got a big lump on their books , 18 year old Emile Acquah .... he's currently out on loan ( not heard how he's been getting on ) But i remember earlier this year he scored in 8 games in succession for us + was talked about as our next big thing. We could do worse than bringing him back and blooding him in games like Wednesday -
There is absolutely no point whatsoever in playing Cox up front on his own then belting long high balls over his head . That 2nd half was pathetic from Powell - clueless tactics and we were lucky we didnt lose that game to one of the worse teams ive seen in a long while.
Talking of big lumps , why oh why oh why doesnt Turner take the big man and let White sweep up behind? Is it coz Turner has lost the ability to actually jump anymore ? If this is so , why dont we play someone else at the back who can actually run and actually jump ?
The Blackpool Centre Forward (French name?) was streets ahead of Palmer.
That may be why he was playing for Blackpool rather than Crawley.
I'm not too sure that they would be readily available in Blackpool though.Indeed. The selection of Moules Mariniere is much better when you're by actually by the sea.
I'm not too sure that they would be readily available in Blackpool though.
I'm not too sure that they would be readily available in Blackpool though.
Its not just about Ollie Palmer, Its could we do with a big umber 9 that has come back in fashion in L1.
We have struggled against quite a few so far this season. Apart from Blackapool and Crawley, Lee Angol at Shrewsbury, Tom Eaves, the Beast, the lads from Coventry and Walsall and our old favourite Kieffer Moore.
On other threads CP is now getting criticised for his recruitment. Just to remined people he did try with the big lad from Stoke before we ended up with McCoulsky.
Yeah it was, I call that a tap in tbh, plus was inside 6 yard box I think, hence why some gave Oxley some stick for it
I'd forgotten about the Stoke bloke.
I wonder if the likes of Angol and Moore have had as much success against other clubs as they have against our backline?
When building a team the first building block for me would always be an aerially dominant centre-half. With Lennon's broken leg and Turner's legs going (it's noticeable how he's lost some spring and is no longer the set piece threat he was last year) we haven't got that base to build on.
That's not a bad shout, Dave Cusack was the big part in the 4th division title winning team in 81. Most coaches will say its the number 9 then the keeper as the most important. Its true a good forward might be worth 15+ points and a keeper 10+, Brian Clough said it was signing Shilton that the key to his side but that was in the day of 2points for a win, so many games were boring draws. Personally I think you need a strong spine full stop. including at leader at CB and a driving force at CM
As for Turner and set pieces, his body language doesn't look good even jogging up. Our delivery is shocking for a professional team but if you look at the first goal v Wigan see how well Tuner does to lose his man and get in the right area. Now he never seems to give himself the room or space to make a run. He starts in the place he should finish
Shrewsbury were not a good footballing side, like Wycombe, Gillingham and Crawley they had no mid-filed but did use their target man to great effect. As soon as Angol won a header and then took the ball down with ease a couple of times I did wonder why Turner was on the bench and Moore was in. I like what I have seen from Moore. Reads it well has pace and reacts quickly. The thing is he is not tall or big enough to take on an Ollie Palmer.
After that Turner came back in to the 3 CB's system (was that admitting a mistake by CP) Never mind it produce 3 wins in arrow, 0-0 v Oxford then the win at Gills. What was noticeable at Gills was Eaves moved out wide to take on Hendrie or even Elvis as he had been in Turners pocket just 6 months earlier at RH. He caused problems but the Footballing gods owe us one. It my first win in Kents garden....Even nice gardens have to have a toilet.
When Cov turned up their target man (cant remember his name) done the same. As did Palmer in the first game. Against Cov we never marked well because it seemed we had one to many CB's and no one stuck to a player.....A kind of "Oh well someone else is in that zone"
Against Crawely at home with 2 CB's I really cant understand why Turner stayed very Central with White marking Palmer.
Then the Blackpool lad who made their first goal, lets us off when he out jumps Demi but misses. Then has a free header to win the game. We can talk about selections, tactics and January transfer lists but if any of us jogged out on a Sunday morning and saw a 6ft 4" forward on the oppo…...Would the manger need to tell your own 6ft 4" CB who he needs to mark that day?
I'd go aerially dominant centre-half first, then an all-round midfielder and a quality targetman who holds the ball up.
I'm less concerned about the keeper if you've got a good centre-half keeping the opposition at arm's length from him (think of the Man U game where because of Spinner and Sodje Darryl didn't have a save to make from inside the area).
I'm also less concerned about the goalscorer so long as the team can create chances. We've seen this season with Hopper that a previously unprolific forward can be prolific with the right service and some confidence. Give me a quality provider over a quality finisher, so my 4th player would be a quality wide player.
The annoying thing is that I don't think we're too far off having that spine with Lennon (although he's unproven), Yearwood and Hopper but all three have missed significant time this season.