Saturday's team?

[Hawkeye Pierce]

Originally Posted By: need to know

With only 11 games to go, and loads of teams around us having games in hand, it looks a big ask for us to reach the play-offs. So going in to Saturday’s game I think I would make a few changes and see how it goes.

I would go with a line up of

Gk - Hasler

Lb - Nyamah
Cb - Harvey
Cb - Heald
Rb - Nay

Lm - Bastian
Cm - Hammatt
Cm – Velandia
Rm – Campbell

St – Foster
St – Deane

I think with Velandia as a holding midfielder it will allow Hammatt to join the forwards with Bastian and Campbell getting down the flanks.
I have gone for Nyamah at left back because when he played there early in the season he look solid and would hold back allowing Bastian to get forward.

So with a hat trick @ Hanwell Ricci is saying he is fit? And Jonah is fighting for his place?

[brutus]

Are you a complete idiot smithy Crace 4 goals two games and drop him you must be as stupid as you look

[lovely stuff]

He picked his prefured team on the back of Crace being in poor form for the last six weeks.He wasn't to know that he would score a hat trick the day after he posted that line-up for the Wivenhoe game.

[Mini-Smith Towner]

Originally Posted By: brutus

Are you a complete idiot smithy Crace 4 goals two games and drop him you must be as stupid as you look

Nice to see Ricci getting on the scoresheet, but it was Hanwell Town for God's sake!! Of course he will start on Saturday, I know that, and I hope he proves me wrong, but we have looked stale upfront for weeks, and Hammatt and Crace always seem to receive the ball with their backs to goal.

So if a forward does nothing all game, but scores a tap in and gets his name on the scoresheet, does he warrant his place? What are peoples' opinions?

[Father Jack]

Originally Posted By: Mini-Smith Towner

So if a forward does nothing all game, but scores a tap in and gets his name on the scoresheet, does he warrant his place? What are peoples' opinions?

If he does it every week, then yes. Some people make a career out of it!

[Hawkeye Pierce]

Originally Posted By: brutus

Are you a complete idiot smithy Crace 4 goals two games and drop him you must be as stupid as you look

Unless it has been to Crace's feet he has not been able to run and collect the ball most of this season that suggest although being very gifted (not disputed) he is not 100% fit. Secondly in this season he has scored once every three games in the league on average that compares with one in every two games last season and we both know he eased up at the end of last season to help someone elses goal difference improve!

PS Looks aren't everything as you well know. After all you look intelligent, appearances can be deceptive!

[Gazza]

Originally Posted By: brutus

Are you a complete idiot smithy Crace 4 goals two games and drop him you must be as stupid as you look

Looks like old Brutus has found his ON button again, for the first time in eight months!!!

Bit Tetchy are we not Brutus old bean?

So I take it Ricci's miss hit Saturday & his hat-trick against, as MST puts it quite rightly, "Only Hanwell" last night means he will definatly be starting Saturday then?

Well as you can see we all knew/guessed he would be anyway alongside the usual old favorite but thanks for confirming it anyway!

oh btw say Hi to the old man from me!!

[the_wise_one]

a forwards job is to score goals but if he only scores goals then it must be a better return then 1 goal a game as the team can't play the other 89.9 minutes of the game with ten men.

[Barney]

Not sure I completely agree. By definition, if a forward is likely to score a goal, the opposition will dedicate at least one of their players (possibly more) to ensuring that he doesn't get the ball / get into dangerous positions. Even if the forward is just standing on the half-way line with his hands on his hips, there will be at least one player marking him.

 

That said, I do agree that any forward worth his place will have other attributes (such as holding the ball up and bringing other players into the game, and making runs to create space for others). An in form Brian Hammatt does this as well as anyone at this level, but a lot of this goes unnoticed by people who think that goals are the only thing a forward should be judged on.

[the_wise_one]

Yes this is right but you are talking from a defensive point of view and the team need 11 men when in possesion to score goals collectively or options are limited. Bryan is a good example he scores a decent amount of goals and brings others into the game so collectively the team score more it doesn’t matter who puts it in the back of the net as long as some one doe’s.

 

[lovely stuff]

Quote:

That said, I do agree that any forward worth his place will have other attributes (such as holding the ball up and bringing other players into the game, and making runs to create space for others). An in form Brian Hammatt does this as well as anyone at this level, but a lot of this goes unnoticed by people who think that goals are the only thing a forward should be judged on.

 

Slightly patronisng to suggest that you see things in players overall perfomances that the rest of us don't.Yes, Hammett can make intelligent runs and draw defenders out of position,but the acid test for Bryan is can he produce or hold the ball up when he actually recieves a pass after he has made those runs off the ball.The answer in the majority of games is NO, especially when playing against the competent,quick defenders of the top 8 teams.For me,his passing and shooting lack conviction.He can be effective when he is given time to receive the ball to feet and turn,but if the defneder is up his a*se (so to speak),he will struggle to retain good posession, often resorting to going to ground under any contact in order to try to win a foul (this rarely works).

 

His switch to midfield initally proved successful ,and his experience and footballing brain (and liking for short pass-and-move 'triangles') proved a good match for the congested midfield area,but in the last month his form has been poor (along with most of the rest of the team it has to be said).

 

Can we overlook his lack of pace,strength,finishing..etc, because he has a good footballing brain,makes intelligent runs off the ball and can contrubute to some nice linking pass and move plays?? For me,he has to be on good form in order for the positives to conistantly outweight the negatives.He goes through spells of 5 or 6 games where is well worth his place in the team,but goes through just as many spells where is he is not.

 

With regard to Ricci.His general overall contibution is also not good enough to justify a regular start, but his ratio of one goal in every two games means he is a natural goalscorer that should be playing.The trouble lies this season that he is just not scoring or taking his chances with enough regularity to be a one-in-two striker.The big trouble is that we don't currently have enough quality in the squad to be able to drop players when they are going through long dips in form.Buy hey,if we signed Berbatov and Henry up front,i've a sneaking suspision that Jim would still manage to find starting places for his 'favoured' players.

 

[Barney]

I agree with much of what you say here, and I'm certainly not intending to be patronising. It's just that I've seen so many posts on here questioning Hammatt's contribution (both up front, and in midfield), when I've thought he's had a good game, that it makes me wonder if I'm watching a different match sometimes ;-)

 

Personally, I'd like to see him play in midfield, where his link play and ball retention can help us the most. He's also a good talker from what I've seen (as you'd expect from your skipper). Up front, I'd have Deane to stretch the game and use his pace as an outlet, alongside Crace, who despite a dip in form is still an excellent goalscorer at this level. Apart from the odd mazy run from Deane, he's looked isolated on the left of midfield, and seemed to be much more of a threat in the few games where he started up front.

 

I agree with you that nobody is a form player at the moment, so it's hard to praise or criticise individuals based on a bad showing. Perhaps it is time for a major shake up in midfield / up front - I wouldn't want to change the defence too much as despite some of the recent results, I don't think we've defended that badly as individuals or a team. Lastly, I think that everyone has their 'favoured' players – not just management, but fans as well - and people will always argue the case for one player over another on here. If everyone agreed on every on-field decision, then this would be much less interesting forum.

[lovely stuff]

With regard to the managements favourites.It not just the fact that it can harm the team spirit,but i feel it has led to many good players prematurely leaving the club in the past, because they don't feel they are being given an equal chance.We could all name the three or four players who hardly ever get dropped,no matter how they perform.Just as we could name the three or four player who always get dropped/subbed no matter how they perform.

 

For me having a players dad on the mamagement team is recipe for disharmony in the dressing room..End Of! Even Fergie couldn't make it work having his son at the club, niether could the likes of Steve Bruce.There will always be resentment and mistrust amonst both fans and players within the respective club.