Ron Martin's promise

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Things aren't too bad ,we are now creating more chances ,just need a proper goalscorer to partner Leon and put some away ,then we would be a worthy top 5 team .
Ron Martin did promise us that he would re-invest the Freddy Eastwood money back into the team .Time to stop taking chances on these 50K - 150K type gambles that are turning out to be a frustrating waste of time and money ,especially as Tilly and Brush are not too clever when it comes to Strikers apart from Leon Clarke and Freddy .
Yes I know wages is an issue but fortunately not all footballers are greedy in the lower league's and we could always go down the player sponsorship route ,after all ,that could and should have been Six Points against Oldham and Gillingham .

 

[C'mon you Shrimpers]

,especially as Tilly and Brush are not too clever when it comes to Strikers apart from Leon Clarke and Freddy .
[/quote]


Harumph. A bit like saying all a striker does is score goals. No mention of Goater? For the money available I think they've done remarkably well. They have to take gambles with players who MIGHT make the next step up. it's a very unpredictable business. Just a week ago posters were telling Tilly to sign Clarke for whatever on whatever wages even if it ****ed the whole of the team off. Now some are saying after 2 poorish games he's crap.
Who would you suggest realistically. This is when this board goes quiet.

 

[SUFC_Al]

For me signing strikers is one of the hardest part of management. Everyone seems to say "all we need to do is a sign a 20-goal striker and we'll be fine" or "we need to replace Freddy" but that's far easier said than done, hence why we've bought from non-league. League clubs will always put a high price on any forward scoring goals (£1.5 million for Izale McLeod from MK springs to mind).

 

[TJC]

I think Tilly and Brush have done remarkably well on the striker front.
Eastwood was a real gem of a find, as well as Clarke (to a lesser extend admittedly).
As already mentioned, Goater was an incredible achievement too.
The less successful strikers have mainly demonstrated why they were brought in:
Harrold - Incredable work rate, and does a lot of flick ons, back heels into the path of fellow players. His visable work rate, if coupled with a few goals would be the complete package. Goals are clearly a problem though.
Hooper - Looked quite an exciting prospect at the start and I doubt many thought different to begin with. Not much lost there. Gamble worth taking
Paynter - recommended by trusted source when we deparately needed another striker. showed glimmers of hope, but chances limited as was time! Big ££ loss. Maybe more homework as well as recommendation should have been done - lesson learned.
MacDonald - Still looks promising and hopefully just needs to continue his run in the side. I think this one will come good.

Morgan - Only a loan so no loss. Wouldn't buy him. Can look dangerous without really delivering.

As already mentioned, goalscoring centre forwards that don't cost millions don't grow on trees, and I think to have had Freddy and then replace him with Clarke is an unbelievable achivement. Missed a few sitters recently though!
I have total faith in T&B to find what is the best for the money without breaking the bank or wage structure - a dangerous game to play! Ask Luton.

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

Paynter - recommended by trusted source when we deparately needed another striker. showed glimmers of hope, but chances limited as was time! Big ££ loss. Maybe more homework as well as recommendation should have been done - lesson learned.

A very well thought out post all in all. However, we haven't overly lost out on Paynter though having recouped £100k of the fee we paid out when we punted him onto Swindon.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Things aren't too bad ,we are now creating more chances ,just need a proper goalscorer to partner Leon and put some away ,then we would be a worthy top 5 team .
Ron Martin did promise us that he would re-invest the Freddy Eastwood money back into the team .Time to stop taking chances on these 50K - 150K type gambles that are turning out to be a frustrating waste of time and money ,especially as Tilly and Brush are not too clever when it comes to Strikers apart from Leon Clarke and Freddy .
Yes I know wages is an issue but fortunately not all footballers are greedy in the lower league's and we could always go down the player sponsorship route ,after all ,that could and should have been Six Points against Oldham and Gillingham .

FFS. How many times?

Our priority must be to sort out the defence.

 

[Phippsy]

FFS. How many times?

Our priority must be to sort out the defence.

Completely agree with yb here, you cant hope to win a high % of games if you nearly always concede 1-2 per game, this also includes concentrating until the final whistle, theres a horrible softness about our rear guard which needs maybe a tough old head in there to marshall things.

 

[TJC]

FFS. How many times?

Our priority must be to sort out the defence.

Agreed. Our midfield is as good as I would ever hope for. Maher, Macca, Bailey, Gower all ouse quality. Don't quite get all the excitement about the Moose though, but there must be something in it. Black on his day is a fine player too.
The defence is a strange one. Barrett is a committed man mountain, Clarke can be one of the best in the league, but occasionally drops a bit of a clanger. I really rate Hunt just lately, Inspired performance against Oldham, just a shame the rest didn't raise their games. Hammell is another good player with the occasional off day. Off days are to be expected at this level I guess, but not all at once!
Barrett, Hammell and sometimes Hunt do like to get forward, so maybe that exposes us sometimes. I would like a tall Richard Jobson like centreback though.
So maybe it is the attacking element that exposes us, maybe its they are individually good players, but just haven't gelled as a unit? Lacking a tall defensive centre back? If we found one, who to drop? Barrett or Clarke? I wouldn't envy that decision - probably stick with Barrett, but a close run thing for sure!

 

[BILLERICAY BLUE]

Paynter - recommended by trusted source when we deparately needed another striker. showed glimmers of hope, but chances limited as was time! Big ££ loss. Maybe more homework as well as recommendation should have been done - lesson learned.

To be fair to Tilly, he would have seen him play for PV 1st game of the previous (?) season and also when he coached the FL U21 side, so he had seen a bit of him.

Still a very good post though.

 

[TJC]

To be fair to Tilly, he would have seen him play for PV 1st game of the previous (?) season and also when he coached the FL U21 side, so he had seen a bit of him.

Still a very good post though.

Darn! and there I was trying to push the entire blame on Peter Taylor! Foiled again!

 

[SARF]

I would like a better keeper and a Spinner type centre half.. That is where I would spend our dough.. Scoring goals is not a problem I think we should be worried about right now.. we seem to get enough.. An experinced Centre half to organise and keep the back four on thier toes.. and a keeper who is in control of the 10 yards in front of him would be a bonus.. Im more ****ed off about the fact the we can score some really well constructed goals but ship in the 'non league' type at the other end...

 

[BILLERICAY BLUE]

Does anybody else get the feeling that we are going to give someone a real good hiding soon. If you look back at the amount of chnces we have created recently (going back to the Oxford replay) with the exception of Swansea away, we've created sackloads of chances in every game. Sooner or later we're going to take more than 1.

 

[Sherif H]

Does anybody else get the feeling that we are going to give someone a real good hiding soon. If you look back at the amount of chnces we have created recently (going back to the Oxford replay) with the exception of Swansea away, we've created sackloads of chances in every game. Sooner or later we're going to take more than 1.

Can't see it personally. Oldham was a key example of how we are making this season much more difficult than it should be...concede an opening goal due to switching off momentarily at the back, then struggle in vain to breakdown a 10 man defence for the remainder of the game. OK, against Oldham we had clear chances, but Leon seems woefully lacking in form when we most need him following his spell out.

If we don't go up this season (or make the play-offs for that matter) it will be our inability to finish off teams at home that will have cost us...every half decent side to visit Roots Hall has done their homework, and the results have been less than satisfactory.

I am going to Donny, but don't expect anything more than a defeat...I desperately hope the boys make me eat humble pie.

 

[sufcintheprem]

If we don't go up this season (or make the play-offs for that matter) it will be our inability to finish off teams at home that will have cost us...every half decent side to visit Roots Hall has done their homework, and the results have been less than satisfactory.

I agree that we've been poor at home but feel that every game we have to win a shootout of sorts. Setting aside games where we've blown teams away (Crewe springs to mind) it seems we need to score at least three goals to secure a victory. Even Cheltenham managed to get a two goal lead.

IMO, the only time the defence has looked solid has been with Richards and Clarke in the middle and Barrett left back. I like Hamell and think he has offered much more going forwards this season but attacking isn't a problem when we have a decent midfield four playing.

I would say rather than the ability to finish teams off, it's our inability to shut poor attacks out paired with the inability to take a draw in a tough game. Our away form against our perceived rivals has been shocking and our home record barely better.

 

[super chrissy powell]

I feel if we took our chances we would be in the top 5 easily, however we dont, therefore its a big big problem. Yes we create chances but unless we have a confident finisher its useless.

The defence does look out of sorts, has done for a long long time, how can Francis not get a run in the team after starting so many last season I dont know? Richards looks like a liability to me, in every match I have seen him play he's given the ball away too much and looked very nervous and suspect. Clarke has come along a bundle and i think Barrett will get back to his old self.

I do believe our front two is our major problem right now. The plus note is we have a solid midfield and Im glad we have two very good keepers in our squad.

 

[Sherif H]

I feel if we took our chances we would be in the top 5 easily, however we dont, therefore its a big big problem. Yes we create chances but unless we have a confident finisher its useless.

The defence does look out of sorts, has done for a long long time, how can Francis not get a run in the team after starting so many last season I dont know? Richards looks like a liability to me, in every match I have seen him play he's given the ball away too much and looked very nervous and suspect. Clarke has come along a bundle and i think Barrett will get back to his old self.

I do believe our front two is our major problem right now. The plus note is we have a solid midfield and Im glad we have two very good keepers in our squad.

SCP....I hate to be pessimistic particularly at such a time of year, but even if we had taken the points off of Oldham, beaten Cheltenham at home and Gillingham away, we would comfortably be in the top 4. This is what really pains me, and I simply can't believe some people on here and at the Hall are defending the team at present.

Don't get me wrong, I am not one to shout and ball at the players when I go to games (unless they are quite obviously being lazy and not putting in an adequate shift)...this is simply counter-productive and I only want to support my team, but this form is completely unacceptable (particularly at home) and it truly angers me that we are transpiring to throw away a season which initially promised much and has thus far been a damp squib to say the least :mad:

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I agree that we've been poor at home but feel that every game we have to win a shootout of sorts. Setting aside games where we've blown teams away (Crewe springs to mind) it seems we need to score at least three goals to secure a victory. Even Cheltenham managed to get a two goal lead.

IMO, the only time the defence has looked solid has been with Richards and Clarke in the middle and Barrett left back. I like Hamell and think he has offered much more going forwards this season but attacking isn't a problem when we have a decent midfield four playing.

I would say rather than the ability to finish teams off, it's our inability to shut poor attacks out paired with the inability to take a draw in a tough game. Our away form against our perceived rivals has been shocking and our home record barely better.

Agreed.

A lot of people seem to love Hammell, but I can't say I'd be disappointed if he went back to Scotland in the winter and freed some wages up for the experienced, dominating centre-half that we clearly lack.

I'd have no problem seeing Barrett moved to left-back. In the meantime, we need Richards in the middle to give us some aerial presence at centre-half and someone with half an idea about positioning rather than relying on last-ditch desperate defending. I don't know whether Richards is the long term answer, but I do know he's an upgrade for the time being.

ps Anyone know how Liptak is doing at Stevenage? Is he still being played as a midfielder?

 

[Sherif H]

Agreed.

A lot of people seem to love Hammell, but I can't say I'd be disappointed if he went back to Scotland in the winter and freed some wages up for the experienced, dominating centre-half that we clearly lack.

I'd have no problem seeing Barrett moved to left-back. In the meantime, we need Richards in the middle to give us some aerial presence at centre-half and someone with half an idea about positioning rather than relying on last-ditch desperate defending. I don't know whether Richards is the long term answer, but I do know he's an upgrade for the time being.

ps Anyone know how Liptak is doing at Stevenage? Is he still being played as a midfielder?

I do feel Hammell can leave us very vulnerable at the back at times...wouldn't really shed a tear if he left in January for the sake of keeping more clean sheets. I would however miss his ability to take a free-kick...nobody can deny he has an uncanny ability to hit the target 90% of the time!

As for Zoltan, he has only played 2 games at Stevenage so far...his last start coming on the 8th December in the 3-1 win over Salisbury. I'm not sure if he is injured at the moment?!

 

[peanut12]

Completely agree with yb here, you cant hope to win a high % of games if you nearly always concede 1-2 per game, this also includes concentrating until the final whistle, theres a horrible softness about our rear guard which needs maybe a tough old head in there to marshall things.

whilst I agree that not coceding goals is important to win games, it is not vital as long as you score more at the other end. Our principal problem is that we have missed too many chances thi season when we've been on top in games and not capitalised on our pressure or killed teams off. This has meant that opponents have felt less threatened by our strike force and have been able to afford the luxury of 'pushing on'. This has increased the pressure on the defence and naturally, pressure leads to mistakes.

We need a goal scorer/creator (not necessarily dynamite but 10+ goals & 10 assists)

and a left back. Hammell wants out, Hunt I see really as a CB for the future, Francis would slot in nicely with a run in the side and fitness.

TO LEAVE:
Gilbert (unpopular and unable it would seem)
Hammell (unhappy, ungrateful)
Hooper (unimpressive when you consider Spencer Prior rated him as 'better than Freddy'
Harrold (unlucky in front of goal)
Foran (unable to play in his favoured position)

 

[canveyshrimper]

whilst I agree that not coceding goals is important to win games, it is not vital as long as you score more at the other end. Our principal problem is that we have missed too many chances thi season when we've been on top in games and not capitalised on our pressure or killed teams off. This has meant that opponents have felt less threatened by our strike force and have been able to afford the luxury of 'pushing on'. This has increased the pressure on the defence and naturally, pressure leads to mistakes.

We need a goal scorer/creator (not necessarily dynamite but 10+ goals & 10 assists)

and a left back. Hammell wants out, Hunt I see really as a CB for the future, Francis would slot in nicely with a run in the side and fitness.

TO LEAVE:
Gilbert (unpopular and unable it would seem)
Hammell (unhappy, ungrateful)
Hooper (unimpressive when you consider Spencer Prior rated him as 'better than Freddy'
Harrold (unlucky in front of goal)
Foran (unable to play in his favoured position)

Why is Hammell ungrateful?