Ardley is a good bloke

[MancMagpie]

Aldershot did us a favour tonight by beating Boreham Wood, but it's getting really tight around the playoff places. Only two points separate us in 7th from Woking in 13th! We have the advantage of games in hand on most, but Barnet are the team who might be in a better position because they are only two points behind us with two games in hand. We are now at the stage of the season where any team that can put a good winning run together can fly up the table. Over to you Mr Ardley.

Correct. He who dares wins, we have to have a proper go now. I'd rather watch us go balls out and finish 8th than see us whimper away in to mid table. Unfortunately, under Ardley the latter is the most likely outcome....or is it? I just don't know with this guy. 4-0 and 4-2 away at places like Woking and Halifax, 2-0 away at Harrogate, 3-0 at home to Chesterfield.....but then losing away to Aldershot, drawing with Dover......etc

He's perfect for the club really. Completely Bi-polar!!

We've had a mixture of brilliant and terrible results this season plus too many draws. STOP PLAYING IT SAFE NEAL (And Neil).

Yes, he has a huge weight to carry from last season and yes, he's still getting used to this league. We're doing ok, but please lets have a go....please!! GET THOSE SHACKLES OFF!!

Done.

[queenslandpie]

Correct. He who dares wins, we have to have a proper go now. I'd rather watch us go balls out and finish 8th than see us whimper away in to mid table. Unfortunately, under Ardley the latter is the most likely outcome....or is it? I just don't know with this guy. 4-0 and 4-2 away at places like Woking and Halifax, 2-0 away at Harrogate, 3-0 at home to Chesterfield.....but then losing away to Aldershot, drawing with Dover......etc

He's perfect for the club really. Completely Bi-polar!!

We've had a mixture of brilliant and terrible results this season plus too many draws. STOP PLAYING IT SAFE NEAL (And Neil).

Yes, he has a huge weight to carry from last season and yes, he's still getting used to this league. We're doing ok, but please lets have a go....please!! GET THOSE SHACKLES OFF!!

Done.

I'm not too sure about the 'brilliant results ' to be honest. We are in tier 5 and for all intents and purposes we are still recruiting players and covering injuries like a lower position league 2 team at worst plus we have attendances that would not disgrace a good 50% of league one teams. On a general basis I think most fans would have been happy with mid table considering the squad we had at the start of the season. The owners have considerably raised expectations since then with an admirable level of thought out investement in the squad matched with frankly over cautious tactics and a predictable playing style that on its day at best sees teams set up for a draw against us ( and often get it) and at worst exploit it and batter us ( Barrow Hartlepool being 2 more recent examples). Ardley gets a 3.5 /10 for me so far this season. If we hadnt had the investment and had a much weaker squad then the score would be much higher based on our position but he is woefully under achieving.

[DelroyFacey22]

Read my comments again I was talking about our youth players and said players bought in for them are no better.

I am well aware the others are but my comment was based on us offering youth players conyracts to not play them.

I know the excuse is Ardley watches em train etc yes he does but I cant say I trust his judgement on team selection when the likes of Doyle gets sent off and Rose plays poor but are both selected every week.

Which youth players specifically? Osborne has played and Roberts is better than him (imo obviously but I'd be shocked to see many disagree).

Bagan and Long you can't really judge whether they're better yet as they haven't played enough, nor are we sure if they're here short term as cover for injuries, I'd say that's the case with Bagan but seeing as Long started perhaps Ardley just rates him better than Bird based on what his contacts have told him and what he's seen in training, both are only here on 1 month loans and both positions we needed cover in with our current injuries.

As for Doyle and Rose, when O'Brien was out injured he really didn't have much choice, those two in the middle pretty much picked themselves as the only other option was Tom Crawford, who hasn't seemed to do a great deal in the limited opportunities he's had here and multiple managers have over looked him

I've just watched Ardley's post-Hartlepool interview and his comments seem to indicate he places more emphasis on how a player trains during the week rather than how he played in the previous game. We have seen Dennis score a goal and then be dropped for the next game - so that explains it - scoring goals is not as impressive as running round traffic cones.

He's said before that what you do in training against fellow first team standard players means more to him than what they do in U21 games against fellow U21's which makes a lot of sense and is why it makes me laugh when we beat Morecambe U21's or something and fans say "We should start these instead of the first team". (that goes for Bird making the Northern Ireland U21 team too)

I'm not sure scoring a goal off the bench should automatically secure your place in the team for the next game either and it depends what you think you'll need for that next game. Dennis doesn't really get involved in the play much but is more likely to poach a goal but someone like Wes Thomas is more likely to put himself about, get stuck in and might grab a goal too, that's why Dennis couldn't keep his spot in the team earlier in the season.

[MancMagpie]

I'm not too sure about the 'brilliant results ' to be honest. We are in tier 5 and for all intents and purposes we are still recruiting players and covering injuries like a lower position league 2 team at worst plus we have attendances that would not disgrace a good 50% of league one teams. On a general basis I think most fans would have been happy with mid table considering the squad we had at the start of the season. The owners have considerably raised expectations since then with an admirable level of thought out investement in the squad matched with frankly over cautious tactics and a predictable playing style that on its day at best sees teams set up for a draw against us ( and often get it) and at worst exploit it and batter us ( Barrow Hartlepool being 2 more recent examples). Ardley gets a 3.5 /10 for me so far this season. If we hadnt had the investment and had a much weaker squad then the score would be much higher based on our position but he is woefully under achieving.

See what your saying Queensland and I don't disagree with a lot of it. 3.5 a little harsh in my opinion. He gets a 5.5 from me, purely because we're still in the mix and we have a chance of the playoffs. When we're firing on all cylinders we can be unplayable but as everybody knows, at this level, inconsistency is part of the furniture (unless you're Barrow of course).

[legs77]

Roberts is better than Osbourne correct.

Ardley picked Shields over Osbourne pretty much all season.

Can you honestly say Crawford Bird Osbourne have been given a fair chance like 4-5 games to show what they can do once injuries kick in?

No what Ardley does he goes looking to the loan market and I listened to Klopp owning a journo he said why bring in a CB for a few games when my soultion is to look internal.

Id even say Kennedy-Williams but im not sure if he is injured or left the club.

As for he doesnt have a choice as manager you always have a choice he just selects the same 2 in CM regardless of bans or form its what will get him the sack with any luck.

[nw6pie]

Roberts is better than Osbourne correct.

Ardley picked Shields over Osbourne pretty much all season.

Can you honestly say Crawford Bird Osbourne have been given a fair chance like 4-5 games to show what they can do once injuries kick in?

No what Ardley does he goes looking to the loan market and I listened to Klopp owning a journo he said why bring in a CB for a few games when my soultion is to look internal.

Id even say Kennedy-Williams but im not sure if he is injured or left the club.

As for he doesnt have a choice as manager you always have a choice he just selects the same 2 in CM regardless of bans or form its what will get him the sack with any luck.

Kennedy-Williams is on loan at Redditch. I have no idea what level they are at in the pyramid, but would guess 7th or 8th. As I wrote elsewhere a few weeks ago, the fact that none of our loanees are playing at National League North/South level does not suggest they are likely to make the step up to our first team anytime soon.

I can’t imagine many of the homegrown youngsters being offered new contracts at the end of the season, which is when you would expect the owners’ project to begin in earnest.

[Elite_Pie]

See what your saying Queensland and I don't disagree with a lot of it. 3.5 a little harsh in my opinion. He gets a 5.5 from me, purely because we're still in the mix and we have a chance of the playoffs. When we're firing on all cylinders we can be unplayable but as everybody knows, at this level, inconsistency is part of the furniture (unless you're Barrow of course).

I'd probably go along with queensland's 3.5. I think Ardley's recruitment has generally been good, but I have to mark him down for his negative approach to games. We always seem to be set up not to lose rather than win, and I think it's cost us a few points.

[DelroyFacey22]

Roberts is better than Osbourne correct.

Ardley picked Shields over Osbourne pretty much all season.

It's fairly even with Shields making 14 appearances and Osborne 11. Given the circumstances I'd say that's pretty fair, with neither of them really impressing that much that's what you'd expect, they haven't stood out enough to hold down a regular place and now we've signed Roberts both of them will be competing for the bench, rightfully so, and Shields has only been on the bench twice in the last 9 games.

Can you honestly say Crawford Bird Osbourne have been given a fair chance like 4-5 games to show what they can do once injuries kick in?

Definitely with Osborne, as shown in the stats above.

Bird, we haven't needed to use him ahead of Rawlinson or Turner and then Lacey came in and looked a great signing pushing Bird out to 4th choice at best, your 4th choice CB is never going to see much football unless there's injuries or suspensions because changing your back 4 around to give someone game time is just daft, especailly when you're defending well and keeping clean sheets, as we were earlier in the season.

Crawford, probably not, but as I've said multiple managers have decided not to pick him, it is possible Ardley isn't picking him because he's just not good enough no matter how badly people think Rose and Doyle have played it COULD be worse.

No what Ardley does he goes looking to the loan market and I listened to Klopp owning a journo he said why bring in a CB for a few games when my soultion is to look internal.

We have 3 players in on loan... I don't think that's particularly excessive.

When Shields joined he was our third winger, having only one player for each position and then needing to rely on youth after that isn't a great plan.

Same goes for Bagan, Bakayogo and McCrory both out and Kelly-Evans playing out of position, another option coming in for a month so we have at least one natural left back seems a good idea to me.

Adam Long seems like the only time Ardley has gone to the loan market instead of use a younger player (Bird) but I'm not sure why everyone is so attached to Bird like he's actually come through our ranks as someone like Hollis or Curtis Thompson did, we signed him as an 18 year old, it'd be like Man United claiming Anthony Martial or Chelsea claiming Kurt Zouma as players that came through their ranks.

He's a fairly slow, clumsy looking defender with decent size who can pick out a great long pass once in about 3 or 4 attempts and generally does a decent job but he's nothing special, you can't get excited about him like he's the next Kelvin Wilson or say he looks as talented as Krystian Pearce did.

Id even say Kennedy-Williams but im not sure if he is injured or left the club.

So he should be picking someone that you don't even know if they're at the club or not (he's not) based on what? The fact he's here already? Sorry but just being here doesn't mean you're automatically ready for the first team, but likewise you can't say "well why is he under contract if he can't step in immediately" because that's how you end up releasing players like Colby Bishop and Luther Wildin and fans saying "why didn't we keep him??"

As for he doesnt have a choice as manager you always have a choice he just selects the same 2 in CM regardless of bans or form its what will get him the sack with any luck.

Just like every other manager that wants to keep his job by doing well, he picks the team that he believes gives the best chance of winning and therefore keeping him in his job. As I said, he didn't have much choice at the time, (Declan Dunn actually came in for Doyle after his first red card by the way) who would you have picked instead of Doyle and Rose? Enjoy your choice of Tom Crawford or Tom Crawford, because Dunn was awful the last couple of times we saw him and Regan Booty's back is/was f*cked and also wouldn't fall under your picking youth caveat, despite him only being 21 himself.

(And no I'm not Neal Ardley's agent)

[legs77]

Why give Kennedy-Williams a contract then its pointless and its why our club is a complete joke and a financial mess.

My opinion is if you dont give players a proper chance how do you expect them to progress the whole selection method is laughable how de-motivated most the kids feel.

Bishop is an interesting name someone who went down a few leagues now he is doing ok in league one by people having faith.

We as a club love signing deadbeat journeymen and where has it got us ? Non league football which is sh#te regardless of how we dress it up.

My guess is we wont make the play offs which I see as failure I hope he gets sacked whether we go up or not.

[DelroyFacey22]

Why give Kennedy-Williams a contract then its pointless and its why our club is a complete joke and a financial mess.

Bishop is an interesting name someone who went down a few leagues now he is doing ok in league one by people having faith.

Do you not see the answer to your first question in your other statement? Obviously someone thought Kennedy-Williams was worth hanging on to but that doesn't necessarilly mean he's ready to make an impact now.

We could have given Bishop another year and kept him around but who knows whether he would have gone on to become the player he is now without dropping a few levels and playing games. That's why TKW is out on loan, to get games.