Quote Originally Posted by TSANHO View Post
There’s some really good answers already, thanks. There seems to be a general consensus, whether we like him or not, that Doyle slows the play down too much...I guess the next question is, ‘has Ardley told Doyle to play like that?’ To me, Doyle is one of the players who has great vision and has played some great passes this season alone eg Sutton away, but like others have said more often than not it’s the desire just to keep safe possession that is the highest priority.

Let’s say we play the ball forward quicker, we then run the risk of playing aimless balls forward. I don’t know how you find the balance but I’d like us to be much more aggressive with a high press of our own and win the ball back further up the pitch. As others have said I think we’re ten yards too deep a lot of the time and almost invite the pressure....but admittedly I know next to FA about tactics!

It looks like the problem remains the same from last season, our centre mid never dominates an opposition...I remember saying the same thing last year actually. The worrying thing is that these 1-0 scrappy wins soon turn into draws and losses and that’s eventually when people lose interest.

What is the problem if we’re being simplistic then....Doyle, or what Doyle is being told to do by the manager?!
Some good points here, but I don’t think it’s just about playing the ball out quicker. The players need to be braver and more ambitious in their passing. I think back to two great team goals - Reeves’ against Stockport and Wootton’s first against Solihull. Both came after lengthy passing sequences, but the goals only happened because at some stage someone played a risky forward pass that paid off. My frustration with both Reeves and Doyle is that they’re too often just keeping possession rather than trying to make something happen.

At times, watching our endless possession with no end result, I’m reminded of Spain a decade ago when they would pass teams to death but the games would be devoid of any excitement or goals.

I also think it’s quite telling that, halfway through the season, we still don’t have a system that consistently gets the best out of our forwards. I guess this is where the absence of Wes Thomas has been a big loss, because we haven’t managed to replace him as a foil for Wootton. Neither Effiong nor Sam appear to be the answer.