THE Ardley In/Out Thread [Multiple threads merged]

[nw6pie]

When people say pre-season games don’t matter, I’d say this is a great example of showing that they do. This was just a continuation of last week minus the defensive errors - until we switched off from their one corner of the half. Plenty of possession, zero cutting edge. Again. And once again, struggling against a minnow.

We’ve now got two home games we need six points from, simple as. Almost as importantly, we also need two dominant performances. Barnet lost 5-1 at home today, while Altrincham drew 0-0, so no more excuses Neal. Pressure’s on, deal with it.

Also something else that never changes - opening day defeat. Still, at least we’re used to that.

[irishpete]

To me,pre-season, you play your 1st 11 every game from the start so they get to know everything. During these games, then you start to experiment with swapping players, tactics & positions to see how to alter a game

[MAD_MAGPIE]

There is no denying that it was a terrible result especially on the opening day.

We should have known deep down that we would not hit the ground running today after the Harrogate and York games.

Excuses about pitches in tier five are lame and are somewhat frustrating to here. They are going to be wet, greasy and uneven. We’ve got to deal with it. Meadow Lane is carpet, other grounds are not.

Other clubs talk about our vast league experience and players with league experience but like in the playoff final we do not show our experienced might and muscle. That’s the frustrating part.

We will need to create a lot more clear cut chances and goal scoring opportunities going forward.

We have also got to want it more than smaller teams and less abled players.

[Davy500]

There is no denying that it was a terrible result especially on the opening day.

We should have known deep down that we would not hit the ground running today after the Harrogate and York games.

Excuses about pitches in tier five are lame and are somewhat frustrating to here. They are going to be wet, greasy and uneven. We’ve got to deal with it. Meadow Lane is carpet, other grounds are not.

Other clubs talk about our vast league experience and players with league experience but like in the playoff final we do not show our experienced might and muscle. That’s the frustrating part.

We will need to create a lot more clear cut chances and goal scoring opportunities going forward.

We have also got to want it more than smaller teams and less abled players.

Your right in one sense we all knew really that we would,nt hit the ground running, even though we keep hoping maybe this time will be different
Just at a loss, how are we going to create more clear cut chances, how are we going to want to win more than smaller teams??

[laddo]

So far I prefer the 'Ardley has to go' thread to this new 'Ardley Out' thread but there is still time.

I'm expecting some gems

[the_anticlough]

It's not today's result or the woeful pre-season, it's more about him sucking all of the excitement and anticipation out of the season with team selections and formations that do no justice to the talent in the squad. That goes for the disastrous Harrogate final too.
Adding Abbott seems to have taken us even further backwards.
You can't afford a slow start when only top place goes up. Another Barrow will emerge, always does. The Reedtz brothers will have look at this urgently.

[upthemaggies]

Adding Abbott seems to have taken us even further backwards.
.

Nobody can say for sure how much he was responsible for the relegation under Derry or what he's doing to offset or exaggerate Ardley's shortcomings, but I think it would be fair to say that there is a sense of DéjÃ* vu about his return (Steve Thompson coming back). I can't imagine too many people didn't at least think "WTF, is this really true?" when they first saw the announcement.
We could well be seeing him in the caretaker manager role this season.

[the_anticlough]

We seem to conveniently forget that Doyle and O'Brien were part of a team that had chances to keep us up (get above Macc).
They failed. Did they look a cut above then or at any time last season? How about the play off final? But they seem to have no problem cementing themselves in Ardley's team.
Like with Nolan, influence seems to be concentrated around the manager and a small number of senior pros who have his ear

[BigFatPie]

We seem to conveniently forget that Doyle and O'Brien were part of a team that had chances to keep us up (get above Macc).
They failed. Did they look a cut above then or at any time last season? How about the play off final? But they seem to have no problem cementing themselves in Ardley's team.
Like with Nolan, influence seems to be concentrated around the manager and a small number of senior pros who have his ear

Yeah agree with this. If we were going to get rid of Ardley, I think the time to do it was after the playoff final. Now the squad incredibly looks light in quality especially in centre midfield and up front where we appear worse than last season.

It’s just astonishing that we still have O’Brien and Doyle in midfield, 18 months after the might of Newport ran rings around them at ML, and we then got relegated.

[nw6pie]

Yeah agree with this. If we were going to get rid of Ardley, I think the time to do it was after the playoff final. Now the squad incredibly looks light in quality especially in centre midfield and up front where we appear worse than last season.

It’s just astonishing that we still have O’Brien and Doyle in midfield, 18 months after the might of Newport ran rings around them at ML, and we then got relegated.

I thought O’Brien was our best player in the second half of the relegation season, but he’s disappointed ever since (not helped by two injuries). Doyle should have been moved to a coaching role in the summer, we’re going nowhere with him in the team. I’d say it’s time to give Sloth a chance, but he’s not played 90 minutes in a competitive game for God knows how long and is clearly a big gamble. Other than that, we don’t have many options in the centre of the park.

How did we end up with a squad that seems weaker than the one in March, especially if we want to play 4-4-2?