Match Thread vs. Eastleigh 17.04.21 [NL]

[laddo]

I once again find myself agreeing with Jacob.

Some may not want to read it but the original back 4 with the the midfield 2 plonked in front will certainly increase the PPG and is likely to make us hard to beat again. However frustrating and at times dull as dishwater to watch.

All depends on how much they care about this season. After all we weren't going up through the playoffs with Ardley anyway.

Right?

[magpie_mania]

I once again find myself agreeing with Jacob.

Some may not want to read it but the original back 4 with the the midfield 2 plonked in front will certainly increase the PPG and is likely to make us hard to beat again. However frustrating and at times dull as dishwater to watch.

All depends on how much they care about this season. After all we weren't going up through the playoffs with Ardley anyway.

Right?

How do you know we weren't going up through the play-offs? Not long ago it was quite possible we could have caught the top team, although it would have been by winning games in hand and unlikely. We have gone from losing 2 in 16 to losing 4 in 6. I certainly didn't expect that to happen and surely you would have to agree it's disappointing. Should Sutton beat us we will be effectively 17 points behind them with 1 game in hand.

I am not saying that we should be changing the manager again, far from it. But having been of the opinion that Ardley should have been given the season, to then just about understanding the reasoning for getting rid at such a crucial time, it's now hard to justify his sacking having seen us drop out of the play-offs and not be looking forward to a Wembley visit which should have been ours for the taking.

[uysapie]

How do you know we weren't going up through the play-offs? Not long ago it was quite possible we could have caught the top team, although it would have been by winning games in hand and unlikely. We have gone from losing 2 in 16 to losing 4 in 6. I certainly didn't expect that to happen and surely you would have to agree it's disappointing. Should Sutton beat us we will be effectively 17 points behind them with 1 game in hand.

I am not saying that we should be changing the manager again, far from it. But having been of the opinion that Ardley should have been given the season, to then just about understanding the reasoning for getting rid at such a crucial time, it's now hard to justify his sacking having seen us drop out of the play-offs and not be looking forward to a Wembley visit which should have been ours for the taking.

IB is lucky that there are no fans down the Lane otherwise he would have a baptism of fire by now.

[magpie_mania]

I once again find myself agreeing with Jacob.

Some may not want to read it but the original back 4 with the the midfield 2 plonked in front will certainly increase the PPG and is likely to make us hard to beat again. However frustrating and at times dull as dishwater to watch.

All depends on how much they care about this season. After all we weren't going up through the playoffs with Ardley anyway.

Right?

I would go back to 4-4-2 and tell the keeper to mix things up more. Teams press us because we’re so predictable: We need to start trying to play our football in the other team’s half, not on the edge of our own box (if you can call 3 centre halves knocking the ball sideways and backwards football).

Today they didn't press us so high for the first 10 minutes, but then they realised we were going to be easy to press high so did.

[laddo]

How do you know we weren't going up through the play-offs?

That's what I and everyone else was told on here many many times. I think they had a sauce.

Of course it's disappointing.

Let's be honest we've not looked like a promotion side all season but I was very confident we would have entered the playoff lottery again this season if NA had seen the season out.

I was relying on the fact that we may hit form and look promotion worthy when it mattered at the business end of the season including the play offs. If not he was gone.

The timing of the change has been negative on our chances this season, we can only hope it is beneficial to our chances next season.

[Stan Marshall]

I would go back to 4-4-2 and tell the keeper to mix things up more. Teams press us because we’re so predictable: We need to start trying to play our football in the other team’s half, not on the edge of our own box (if you can call 3 centre halves knocking the ball sideways and backwards football).

I agree.

[the_anticlough]

3-5-2 was NA's last throw of the dice and it came off, allowing us to go on collecting points.

It's interesting, it took just 1 defeat (Hartlepool) for the new HC, and most people on here, to panic and want to switch to 5-3-2 (by that I mean pick full-backs as wing backs). One poor close out by Enzio will spark 'change it, change it' but a series of sterile losses playing 5 defenders will be tolerated (and that plan's going nowhere as we've seen time and time again over the years). It's weird. But unless you've got those specialist players (like Chicksen as the left-side defender) it's never going to stick for long anyway.

IB has shown his colours, he'd prefer playing 5 defenders at home rather than pick a proper team to take the game to the opposition, so I agree with others on here time to go back to 4-2-3-1 already....it was always going to happen anyway with Rawlo as the right-side defender and either Miller/Barnett as your left wing-back...
Coming straight after the players meeting, accommodating 3 central defenders (because that's what it was at the start) has proven to be a very costly experiment - we're now out of the play-offs and not looking like getting back

[jacobncfc]

3-5-2 was NA's last throw of the dice and it came off, allowing us to go on collecting points.

Not even sure it did come off tbh. Yeovil at home was fine, but otherwise we spawned a 1-0 win away at Wealdstone who are being hammered every week (7-2 yesterday!), and only came back to scrape draws at Yeovil and Boreham Wood after we switched back to four defenders. 3-5-2 had us 2-0 down in both.

[the_anticlough]

Not even sure it did come off tbh. Yeovil at home was fine, but otherwise we spawned a 1-0 win away at Wealdstone who are being hammered every week (7-2 yesterday!), and only came back to scrape draws at Yeovil and Boreham Wood after we switched back to four defenders. 3-5-2 had us 2-0 down in both.

I think it did for a bit. There was definitely a time when the last 4 games starting with 3-5-2, compared with a back 4 was favourable.
It was introduced right after the players' meeting and obviously there was some buy-in from those selected that allowed us to scrape some wins after the Aldershot debacle.

Anyway, it's clear from my posts that I'm totally against 3 at the back if it isn't done properly and you don't have the right players for it. I expect it to backfire and collapse every time and I think we've reached this point already (I'm not going to buy another Home stream to see 5 defenders play).

[MAD_MAGPIE]

To be honest, we’ve looked chaotic ever since NA changed the formation to 3-5-2 (was it away at Wealdstone, maybe?). We were largely dull before that and I think still underperforming on a regular basis, but generally difficult to beat at least.

Best thing that Burchnall could do for now is to be pragmatic and put that team back together. Brindley/Rawlinson/Lacey/DKE across the back four, Reeves and Doyle plonked in front of them and then some combination of four players in front of that.

I completely agree and a case of back to basics and for me certainly a flat back four is where we have been our strongest defensively. The four you mention was the strongest defence in the league. Although Chicksen, Lacey, Rawlinson, DKE should be good enough.

What's happened by going to three at the back is it keeps morphing into five at times when we are pressed and subsequently stifles any attacking threat and has done under both managers because either by nature or design the two wing players and three defenders just don't or can't sit high enough when in possession because of high press and as such we play safe in our own half and have nowhere to go thus leaving the strikers isolated.

Whether that is by nature or design who knows? One thing it is, is a very demanding role up and down the touchline whenever in defence or attack.

What I will say is that Doyle has come in for a lot of criticism this season on here and a big focus has been on his age. However we have and do miss a player of his ilk and what he brings on the field in terms of leadership and organisation. What it has demonstrated to us is that if we don't have someone like this in midfield next season and bring in someone like a Ravenhill, Bishop a box to box midfielder who can win the ball and break up play and spoil things for the opposition we will struggle as we are currently doing.