Fgr

[ALEXKNOWALL]

The midfield are the engine room of the team and imo its difficult for academy graduates to fill that role because they need strength and energy in spades and can really make a difference to a team and why each season that should have been a priority and money set aside for them..I can't comment on their fitness levels other than we thought SD had sorted that out which was a big criticism when he took over from Dario who was never keen on that aspect...Remember the iceman getting them running up Mow Cop with a weight on their backs? Maybe that was just fairy tales I don't know but young men should last well over 90 mins once or twice a week...

I keep hearing DA argues with the fourth official most of the game and wonder if the Chairman can tell him to stop that?

L2 was always going to be tough and as we see teams like Tranmere are finding it just as tough and can't see many young lads being in those sorts of leagues but I may be wrong..

I would just add that our better teams had pacy wingers that could take the pressure off the defence and make and score goals and we don't see to have had that sort of player for a few years like Rodney Jack, Jones and Varney, none who came through the academy...

Its just my opinion that we started to rely too much on a so called academy production line a few years back and we have seen the consequences when really very ordinary teams have no problems beating us...and you are right that technical ability which is all the academy can teach does not win matches and never has...Pele all those years ago which few remember now had that in spades but when he was kicked to death in matches because they knew how to win and why these teams know exactly our strengths and indeed our weaknesses... Not just that where Dario had a point is that when young players really push themselves they can easily get injured whereas a 30 year old can take the knocks mostly...

Our problem is not the Academy! That has produced Cooper, Lowery, Jones, Ray, Ainley, Garratt, Pickering, Ng etc etc - some are potentially better than others. There are plenty of other ex academy lads playing in league teams better than us - Turton, Mellor, Ajay, Dunkley,

But if Bowery, Raynes, Nolan, Dagnall, Porter and Bakayogo choose to have an off day or don't listen (???) then we are exposed

We have an average and small squad in a poor league with injuries hitting it hard

....and a Manager who is being found out! Some decisions are bizarre - why no subs Saturday? Why did we sign Stubbs? Why does a poor team field 3 centre forwards away from home? Why spend most of your time berating the 4th official? Why is Bakayogo always the fall guy?

[itwasin]

Our problem is not the Academy! That has produced Cooper, Lowery, Jones, Ray, Ainley, Garratt, Pickering, Ng etc etc - some are potentially better than others. There are plenty of other ex academy lads playing in league teams better than us - Turton, Mellor, Ajay, Dunkley,

But if Bowery, Raynes, Nolan, Dagnall, Porter and Bakayogo choose to have an off day or don't listen (???) then we are exposed

We have an average and small squad in a poor league with injuries hitting it hard

....and a Manager who is being found out! Some decisions are bizarre - why no subs Saturday? Why did we sign Stubbs? Why does a poor team field 3 centre forwards away from home? Why spend most of your time berating the 4th official? Why is Bakayogo always the fall guy?

Time to bring in Tony Pulis he will sort the defence out. Time is running out for Crewe we will all be singing ""And now the time is near Crewe face the final curtain""

[Me For Crewe]

Gone away from the original topic, which is fine, at least people are postng. But was looking for an in person view of Saturdays game to compare with the RS commentary. Would be appreciated and still can't make up my mind about whether to go tomorrow night or not.

[Alex_Crew]

I echo Mike's post - the Academy is now bigger and more important than the first team, and that isn't healthy. OK you have to look to the future and invest a certain amount in that player source, but if you don't look after the here & now there may not be a future.

The current crop of Academy graduates in our 1st team are good footballers but they are all 10 stone wet through - the simply can't compete physically (other than Ng). Lincoln's wingers were bigger than our midfielders & defenders! This league is less about skillful football and more about brawn and mental toughness.

If we go down, the National Lge is packed full of teams like Lincoln - big, strong, combative bruisers. I'd have no doubt that we'd struggle like Orient and all those teams that have gone before them.

My solution is dumb-down the Academy, bring in 2 strong, combative, defensive midfielders who will win us the ball back, and protect the back 4. For the Luton game, go to a back 5 with Raynes, Ng and Walker at CH, and Zooms & Cooper as wing-backs.

[ruocul]

As Mike said the midfield is the engine room. Lose that and you lose the game. For me the only 2 players we have that can fill our central midfield positions are NG and Walker. I do hope that Lowery is not going to make a return, he should have been dropped 2 months ago.

I am aware that Ainley played as CM on Saturday. No disrespect to him but he is not a natural tackler. For me this lad has made a really good effort to improve, and he has come on a mile. Now he has got the hard part. gaining the extra couple of yards, and working hard on his physical strength. Good luck to the lad. Probably at this stage best if Cooper and him split the game.

Mike the main reason we are in such a mess is that we virtually had no engine room. That is completely down to the manager.

[alexmick]

As Mike said the midfield is the engine room. Lose that and you lose the game. For me the only 2 players we have that can fill our central midfield positions are NG and Walker. I do hope that Lowery is not going to make a return, he should have been dropped 2 months ago.

I am aware that Ainley played as CM on Saturday. No disrespect to him but he is not a natural tackler. For me this lad has made a really good effort to improve, and he has come on a mile. Now he has got the hard part. gaining the extra couple of yards, and working hard on his physical strength. Good luck to the lad. Probably at this stage best if Cooper and him split the game.

Mike the main reason we are in such a mess is that we virtually had no engine room. That is completely down to the manager.

With respect, not 'completely down to the manager', although he must take his fair share of responsibility for our plight. As I have said before the club has to take its share of the blame. Our academy is no longer producing the type of player capable of playing in that engine room that can make a difference. Too many good young players of this type are now being syphoned off by PL clubs before they actually have the chance to sign professional terms at the club. Therefore, as I said before now, the academy must be scaled down, so that more funds can be diverted to the first team. Artell appears to have dropped an almighty bloomer with the signing of Grant and the lad from Wigan (whom he never plays), so perhaps there are problems there in the scouting areas. I know that we have lost one such main scout recently and he has moved on to a club at the top of L1. Also a fitness coach has departed and of then there is, Neil Baker. Strange that we should lose so many top men at our club. We also lost others when Davis was in charge. Haemorrhaging such talented backroom staff in such a short period of time cannot be healthy. Someone perhaps is responsible for this to happen. As I have said before, the problems lie deeper than with Artell, I would guess.

[MikeSB]

We are letting in lots of goals from set plays especially corners and its always mystified me how silly to have so many players back defending those when they get in each others way and obstruct the Goalie and secondly the ball keeps coming back and so much better to have three or four players up the pitch near the halfway line which means the other team has to keep the same number back too...Seems quite obvious to me but what do I know, they all do it! Maybe its where attack minded comes in rather than keep the others from scoring which isn't exactly working anyway....

It would be good if the Chairman came on Radio Stoke more to say exactly what the clubs policy is these days...and talk about other things too and its just all too stale and needs a rocket up em!