Barnet

[LordK]

I will start off the new Thread - Barnet.

Well, I will be positive 3-1, think 4800 crowd, as Barnet will not bring many. I would like March down the middle, rather than on the wing. Whilst I would like us to be in the lead, I think we shall come back from 1-0 down. Hard press and make Barnet have to work for every ball. Also like a little logic in substitutes, rather than 70mins, and swop out players who cannot go 85-90mins. However If it's not working at half time, change it around and give folk 45 mins to make contribution.

[Harlzed]

Agree on the substitutions, LB talks about when things are not working that the players have to work it out for themselves, I agree with that but if they can?t then he needs to do it for them by changing it around sooner rather than later. I want to say a comfortable win but I?m worried that Swindon was an example of teams having worked out how to thwart us. I also agree on March in the centre. I will be interested in whether the recent signings will start, mainly whether the winger does. Apart from the goal conceded the defence did well last week under pressure so I?m going for a 2-0 win.

[gazan]

Another football playing side, according to Bell. Well let's hope we see a return of the press and snappy tackles.
Yes, definitely March down the middle. Think Rankine will get a start in place of Agius. If Thomas plays he'll subbed after 60 mins so that is still a problem position. What about Holicek? Maybe he'll get the nod ahead of Rankine. O'Reilly might be lined up for a rest as well. Difficult decisions to be made. Lunt has to stay where he is IF we are playing the press.
What price 2 or fewer yellow cards?
Going for 2-1.

[gazan]

So a must-win today, not for the sake of the whole season but for the sake of confidence. A defeat today would trigger the boo boys and all the marvellous days of those first 4 games will be forgotten.

[MeForCrewe]

I'm going for a win today with a 2-1 scoreline. Logic says that we should go back to the line-up that started the season. Will that be the case I don't know. Reading between the lines with Bell I think that Thomas is another week away. March definitely back to CF. Newer recruits to bide their time on the bench and used later in the game when and if needed.

[Harlzed]

Clearly a very disappointing afternoon with so many things to comment on you could literally talk all day about it. A referee that was very poor in the first half that attempted to correct that by completely spoiling the game, no advantage played etc. Bell seemed to be despairing, Dicker absolutely incandescent with the players at times. Two pens missed which seems unforgivable but happens to the best teams and players. I?ve seen comments in other places about it being time for Bell to go. I don?t think we are there yet. Who knows what happens day to day but how can the same set of players (line up similar to previous successes) play so differently. I can?t believe the management are instructing that. The players aren?t learning, Connolly and Booth started dwelling on the ball again at times, the shape all over the place, but some good spells too. I don?t subscribe to Bell going yet but I do think a change is needed within the management team. It?s always the manager that has to fall but the coaches are there every day. We can?t turn it around when we hit a slump. As Chairman I would be strongly encouraging Bell to change his back room team, it?s a good squad and I think there?s something missing and the manager should be given some support to address that before it is too late for him.

[MikeSB]

Clearly a very disappointing afternoon with so many things to comment on you could literally talk all day about it. A referee that was very poor in the first half that attempted to correct that by completely spoiling the game, no advantage played etc. Bell seemed to be despairing, Dicker absolutely incandescent with the players at times. Two pens missed which seems unforgivable but happens to the best teams and players. I?ve seen comments in other places about it being time for Bell to go. I don?t think we are there yet. Who knows what happens day to day but how can the same set of players (line up similar to previous successes) play so differently. I can?t believe the management are instructing that. The players aren?t learning, Connolly and Booth started dwelling on the ball again at times, the shape all over the place, but some good spells too. I don?t subscribe to Bell going yet but I do think a change is needed within the management team. It?s always the manager that has to fall but the coaches are there every day. We can?t turn it around when we hit a slump. As Chairman I would be strongly encouraging Bell to change his back room team, it?s a good squad and I think there?s something missing and the manager should be given some support to address that before it is too late for him.

McGarry is useless. He should have asked LB who is selected to take the pens and whether they practice them during a whole week at RH?

The enthusiasm has disappeared and go and look at the opposition managers comments after the match and you can see Micky nearby walking back to the dressing room and he was oh so slow and looks like he had had enough. Where were the three managers giving the team selection to McGarry. Something is not quite right and needs sorting.

[MikeSB]

[QUOTE=MikeSB;40750841]McGarry is useless. He should have asked LB who is selected to take the pens and whether they practice them during a whole week at RH?

The enthusiasm has disappeared and go and look at the opposition managers comments after the match and you can see Micky nearby walking back to the dressing room and he was oh so slow and looks like he had had enough. Where were the three managers giving the team selection to McGarry. McGarry said iit was a first team coach! Something is not quite right and needs sorting. Get rid of all the coaches and managers and start again with one and can somebody sort out the corners as having all those players around the goal is nonsense.

[MikeSB]

[See below. This site is terrible now.

[Timmy58]

Clearly a very disappointing afternoon with so many things to comment on you could literally talk all day about it. A referee that was very poor in the first half that attempted to correct that by completely spoiling the game, no advantage played etc. Bell seemed to be despairing, Dicker absolutely incandescent with the players at times. Two pens missed which seems unforgivable but happens to the best teams and players. I?ve seen comments in other places about it being time for Bell to go. I don?t think we are there yet. Who knows what happens day to day but how can the same set of players (line up similar to previous successes) play so differently. I can?t believe the management are instructing that. The players aren?t learning, Connolly and Booth started dwelling on the ball again at times, the shape all over the place, but some good spells too. I don?t subscribe to Bell going yet but I do think a change is needed within the management team. It?s always the manager that has to fall but the coaches are there every day. We can?t turn it around when we hit a slump. As Chairman I would be strongly encouraging Bell to change his back room team, it?s a good squad and I think there?s something missing and the manager should be given some support to address that before it is too late for him.

My opinion, for what it is worth, is that we were far from our best against Barnet. That said, it is a game in which we created enough chances to have won the game twice over without the penalties. We just are not clinical enough in front of goal. I am ignoring the constant harping on about too many coaches and it is a job for one man. There aren't and it isn't.
March should have taken both penalties, he is a striker when all said and done. But apart from the first 20 minutes when Barnet were the better team, we were on top the whole game until injury time when it appeared that belief deserted the players. The game was not helped by a dreadful referee who should have fished his red card out in the first half and then spent the next 70 minutes making some bizarre decisions none of which went our way. The ref is not why we lost but he did nothing for the game but let them get away with mauling our players all afternoon.
Onward and upward

[MikeSB]

My opinion, for what it is worth, is that we were far from our best against Barnet. That said, it is a game in which we created enough chances to have won the game twice over without the penalties. We just are not clinical enough in front of goal. I am ignoring the constant harping on about too many coaches and it is a job for one man. There aren't and it isn't.
March should have taken both penalties, he is a striker when all said and done. But apart from the first 20 minutes when Barnet were the better team, we were on top the whole game until injury time when it appeared that belief deserted the players. The game was not helped by a dreadful referee who should have fished his red card out in the first half and then spent the next 70 minutes making some bizarre decisions none of which went our way. The ref is not why we lost but he did nothing for the game but let them get away with mauling our players all afternoon.
Onward and upward

I will keep harping on about the academy, too many managers and coaches until the cows come home and of course there are too many of them. What does the asst manager do week on week. what does Kenny Lunt do? Not three of them gave the team news and they had a 'first team coach' according to Mcgarry.

Remember please that all of these coaches and managers have to be paid and LB said we cannot afford the wages to get players here. I say go back to how football was played for over a 100 years here and we had far better players then and one manager, one trainer and no academy. Yup you can keep harping on some fans or most fans. I played this game and did not need one coach to teach me how to dribble, pass a ball, take a throw in, or a corner or anything and now some of you people think we cannot manage without a million pound academy. I say that such fans anywhere do not know what they are talking about re football. Barnet and Colchester were in the very bottom half of the table and we could not beat them. A million pound a year wasted I say!

Its obvious that the so called coaching and managers have created a problem based on the last few games and the Chairman needs to be strong and change it all. The academy has had its day and imo never needed!

[MikeSB]

I will keep harping on about the academy, too many managers and coaches until the cows come home and of course there are too many of them. What does the asst manager do week on week. what does Kenny Lunt do? Not three of them gave the team news and they had a 'first team coach' according to Mcgarry.

Remember please that all of these coaches and managers have to be paid and LB said we cannot afford the wages to get players here. I say go back to how football was played for over a 100 years here and we had far better players then and one manager, one trainer and no academy. Yup you can keep harping on some fans or most fans. I played this game and did not need one coach to teach me how to dribble, pass a ball, take a throw in, or a corner or anything and now some of you people think we cannot manage without a million pound academy. I say that such fans anywhere do not know what they are talking about re football. Barnet and Colchester were in the very bottom half of the table and we could not beat them. A million pound a year wasted I say!

Its obvious that the so called coaching and managers have created a problem based on the last few games and the Chairman needs to be strong and change it all. The academy has had its day and imo never needed!

You want to talk about football and so someone from the club needs to answer the question about practising penalties. Who takes them and do they practice doing them ina. full weeks training at the academy. LB and the Chairman should start answering these questions but nonody on here is asking them and you think you know about football?

Go and watch the match between Grimsby and ManU where players there scored 10 and 11 pens. And we missed two out of two. Good coaching at one million pounds per year hey!

[gazan]

Anyone would think only Crewe had coaches!
Real Madrid, Liverpool and Man City plus almost all other elite teams have coaches but don't let facts interfere.
As for Warnock, he was a great disruptor and never attempted to play attractive football. He never managed any of the above teams.

[MikeSB]

Anyone would think only Crewe had coaches!
Real Madrid, Liverpool and Man City plus almost all other elite teams have coaches but don't let facts interfere.
As for Warnock, he was a great disruptor and never attempted to play attractive football. He never managed any of the above teams.

Now then. You went to the match yesterday and so why not give your appraisal of the match?

Any comment on the two missed penalties and what do they need to do to correct that?

All those clubs you mentioned. ie in almost every football club in the last what 30 years have loads of managers and coaches. Mourhino seems unable to coach or manage a team nowadays and it's not for lack of coaches and so why is that? Anything to do with the quality of the players. Ditto ManU?

Neil Warnock is saying the obvious. WHY do you need coaches and managers to be able to 'pass the ball?

I wonder how many fans on here actually played this game before we had coaches and academies? NOBODY taught or coached players in the past and they were based on exactly what Neil stated. ie by watching them to see if they can play football. Nobody on this earth can say if a 5 year old or 10 year old or even a 17 year old can play this game and so why spend a million pounds a season to try and do that?

These ARE the facts which you seem to ignore like many others on here who seemed to enjoy criticizing other fans instead of what is wrong with our team now? What has happened since the first four games?

[gazan]

Back to football: yesterday was poor. Yes we had lots of chances, including penalties but it was unconvincing again. And this is the problem. Nothing to do with just having coaches, but connected to somebody making wrong decisions. The first 4 games were characterised by a full press, groups of Alex players hunting down the ball and snapping into tackles and shooting on sight. The last 3 games have been characterised by NOT doing any of those things. Why not? Is the manager not asking them to do that? Are the players just not doing as they're told? Either it's a problem.
Another one is substitutions: there seems to be no plan for what the substitutions are employed for. That is, apart from the 60 minute one which is meant to save the legs of a player of uncertain fitness. Yesterday that was Holicek, who at the time was still full of running.
He brings us to another point. We have 2 really excellent players on the ball: O'Reilly and Holicek. There's also Rankine and Sanders who can be tricky with their feet. With players of their ability on the ball we should be opening up opposition defences a lot of the time.
O'Reilly lived up to this promise yesterday and Holicek looked very likely with a few more games under his belt. However, the intensity wasn't there. The early games, particularly the one at Salford, showed a tremendous amount of movement off the ball. Yesterday that rarely happened.
Is the clock ticking?