Worrying statistics.....

[FleetFanatic]

9 league games without a win.

4 league games without a goal.

 

Forget the cup-ties - one off games where anything can happen.

 

Our current form is awful! Yesterday's choice of substitutions were somewhat bizarre - not for the first time this season.

 

With crucial games against Tamworth, Dagenham & Scarborough all coming up.....where we will either make ground on mid-table or be further sucked into the relegation zone, I can't help thinking that the next 2/3 weeks will decide the fate of Andy Ford.

 

If it doesn't - then it bloody well should.

[Wobbly Wayne rides again]

Quote:

I can't help thinking that the next 2/3 weeks will decide the fate of Andy Ford.

 

I am the only person who thinks that Ade Pennock was a poor choice as assistant to Andy..

Andy is well known for delivering a well organised, strong side albeit lacking that bit of creativity and clinical goal scorers. He has stuck to that formula throughout his tenure and it has stood us in good stead. Will the appointment of Ade assist with that missing creativity ingredient or will he just compliment the bits of Andys management that he has already proven capable of ?

 

Only time will tell, but lets not start the Ford out band wagon again.

[Gordon T]

Dont forget the fact that leigh RMI are sitting behind us by 2 points with a game in hand

[FleetFanatic]

Well organised?

 

So well organised that we let in last minute goals against Burton, Forest Green & Barnet?

 

So well organised that we don't seem quite sure what do with free-kicks - be it defending them or attacking with them?

 

If the consensus was 'Ford out' when we had one win in 6, then I wouldn't be surprised when it's no wins in 9.

 

The club had planned for a £50,000 loss this season. There was no guarantee of a cup run. So relatively speaking, the club is £72,500 up already against the budgets PLUS the new sponsorship deal.

 

Therefore maybe it's time to add 2 or 3 better quality players to the squad and REALLY take the club forward.

 

Then maybe the club will get the attendance levels it seeks.

Then maybe the club will move nearer to going full-time.

 

It's alright speaking of ambition - but sometimes it needs to be shown.

[Wobbly Wayne rides again]

Quote:

Well organised?

So well organised that we let in last minute goals against Burton, Forest Green & Barnet?

 

yes well organised.. That is how we have progressed as far as we have.. I know that this maybe controversial but we did not progress up and eventually win the Rymans by having the best players, it was just we had a manager who knew how to use them efficiently.

Our problems this year are 2 fold .

1) Last 10 minutes of games. We inevitably run out of steam , if you look at the scores in all of our games after 80 minutes we would be a comfortable mid table team. However if you look at how we perform in the last 10 minutes we have one of the worst records.

 

2) We struggle to break teams down at Stonebridge Road, as we look very 1 dimensional going forward, and can not seem to hold the ball for more than a few passes. This is not so much of a problem away from home , as we are exetremely well organised and disciplined and with the onus on the home to team to come at us, we seem better geared at counter attacking as we only need to string a minimum of passes together.

 

Solution : Go full time to get increased fitness and concentration levels and bring in better forward thinking players.. Unfortunately gong full time is not an option at the moment, but maybe now we have a chance to maybe get a few extra players in, who are more comfortable with the ball at their feet.

But realistically finishing 18th or 19th would be a great success, forget mid table this season.

And it is something that with our present set up is something that we will achieve. Posting speculation about the Andys future does not help.

 

I dont think that anyone realistically thinks that we are even close to being a full time club. The club seem to be adopting a slowly but surely approach to moving forward and one that I think I support at the moment.

 

Up the Fleet, and lets get back on the winning ( and scoring ) trail at Tamworth.

[FleetFanatic]

Whilst I agree with a lot of your well-structured reply, there is one clear point: success on the pitch brings in greater attendances, which then increases the cash-flow allowing the club to advance further. Look at the Ryman Championship year - by the end of the season, attendances had rocketed!

 

A quick look on confguide gives the average attendances:

 

1. 3752 [33768/9] hereford united

2. 3663 [29305/8] shrewsbury town

3. 3410 [30692/9] aldershot town

4. 3069 [27619/9] exeter city

5. 2906 [26150/9] chester city

6. 2402 [21616/9] woking

7. 2181 [19630/9] stevenage borough

8. 2098 [18879/9] accrington stanley

9. 1922 [17302/9] burton albion

10. 1850 [16649/9] telford united

11. 1686 [15171/9] barnet

12. 1668 [15012/9] morecambe

13. 1649 [14840/9] halifax town

14. 1562 [14057/9] dagenham and redbridge

15. 1358 [13578/10] scarborough

16. 1307 [11767/9] tamworth

17. 1125 [10126/9] gravesend and northfleet

18. 786 [7078/9] farnborough town

19. 779 [7009/9] forest green rovers

20. 749 [5991/8] northwich victoria

21. 690 [5521/8] margate

22. 477 [3813/8] leigh rmi

 

Notice how the teams at the bottom of this list, with the lower attendances, are more or less the bottom teams in the conference. I'm sure Leigh RMI thought that they would move on 'slowly but surely' but after their first very good season look at them now. We need to make big improvements on the pitch - do that & the attendances will surge up. This in turn will increase the cash into the club & maybe allow the club to consider becoming full-time.

 

As it stands - at best: we will be in the conference year after year just to make up the numbers, with our best players leaving for 'bigger clubs'; more likely (unfortunately) we will be relegation fodder.

[Paulo GNFC]

Totally agree with you Daz.

 

When we have the opportunity to impress a good home crowd the team performance let's us down. why????

 

I see there's a few more fans becoming aware that our Conference status is seriously at risk. We're still in a worse position than last year and it ain't getting better after all the different line ups. It's time to put up some real cash and get a couple of players who will help get points in the bag sooner rather than later. It may be many years before we ever get back here again! No, we don't want to get into serious debt but some risks have to be taken to reap the rewards! It's not always down to cash availability, good managers can get good players/results thru teamwork and motivation.

 

Andy stated in the NLP -

'If players continue to play like that, there will be a few out the door'

and also mentioned '...no passion.. chasing shadows'

Many are responsible for performance, passion etc...., but the signing of players, team selection, drive & motivation before and during a game is down to management!

 

I'd say minimum 5pts from next 3 games otherwise serious change to save the Fleet!

 

[Fleetbabe]

 

I am the only person who thinks that Ade Pennock was a poor choice as assistant to Andy..

 

Why would you say that? Who is the one that stands on the touchline shouting at the boys, while fordy just stands against the wall looking smug? I think that Phil H should be our next manager, in a joint job with Ade Pennock. Ade tries his best, but when you have a manager that is past his sell by date, what can you do?

[Paulo GNFC]

Strongs words Fleetbabe. I agree with you about Ade who tries to organise from the touchline and does give out constructive comments and encouragement to the lads. Something sadly missing by AF. Not too sure about Phil H tho!

[Alan ( GNFC )]

"Dont forget the fact that leigh RMI are sitting behind us by 2 points with a game in hand"

Gordon T , that's the game tomorrow night against Shrewsbury .

I would say Shrewsbury have a chance .

[Gordon T]

Good Good, didnt check on who they were against should have done really...

[jc]

To be honest I find all of this sudden slagging off of the team/management a little surprising - it seems to have been triggered again solely by Saturday's result. OK, so we were well beaten, but Shrewsbury did play very well and we must give them credit for that.

 

Furthermore, some of you may remember that last week we beat Chester away from home - not such a bad result. In fact, in recent weeks we have certainly been playing much better than we were at the start of the season. I'm not saying that we have nothing to worry about - of course there is still a lot of work to do to stay up again. However, on the evidence of recent performances, all we need is a little more consistency - displaying our cup form in the league would help.

 

P.S. However, even I must admit that I was a bit surprised when I read Jimmy Quinn's post-match view that we are 'a big side who cause problems from set-pieces'.

[FleetFanatic]

Quote:

jc said:
To be honest I find all of this sudden slagging off of the team/management a little surprising - it seems to have been triggered again solely by Saturday's result.

I think it is building up - the hype of a cup run has merely provided a temporary distraction.....

[Fleetbabe]

I think that strong words are whats needed. I'm sorry, but on saturday, and in every other game, we may as well have played Ben Abbey as a sweeper, because thats how c**p he was up front. I think Fordy's lost it, i mean, if you had the choice to either take off Ben Abbey or Rob Haworth for Lee Shearer I would have taken Abbey off every time, because he wasn't doing anything.

I'm glad about one thing though, it's good to see Ben Walshe back, and that we have a decent squad again, we just have to find the right combination.

And, I think that Phil and Ade would make a cracking team. Think about it, what situation would you rather have. A team that is back in the Ryman league, with no players and Canvey Island laughing at us, or sacking fordy, and staying in the conference where we have a decent team and lots of sponsorship?

Mind you, if fordy had any decency left, he would resign, as he's the one who picks the team and is therefore the one taking us to the dogs.

 

Also, JC said that we beat Chester away from home last week. Thats the cup competiton, and is therefore a whole different ball game, ( pardon the pun!!!!).

 

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[kmj]

Personally I didn't think that there was anything to chose between Ben A and Rob H on Saturday. Neither of them played well but the service they received was awful. Drury had an uncharacteristic poor game for example. Has anyone else noticed that Rob doesn't look match fit? Hand injury aside, which could be a factor, he has looked slow recently. Abbey has a different problem. He is quite fast but can't impose himself on the game when the only method used is the long punted high ball. How on earth is he meant to reach these? We need to have different tactics to get him into the game. The best sides in the Conference are the passing sides. Did we string more than 3 passes together on Saturday? Perhaps the long ball tactic is used because our players just aren't proficient enough to achieve the higher skills required? With our excellent away draws I had thought that we were in a false position in the table. But our home form is letting us down. It isn't that we lost to Shrewsbury that worries me it is the manner in which it was achieved. Notwithstanding this, talk of a change of manager is still far too premature. Hopefully a few new players will improve the results. In the meantime let us give Evans a chance in the starting lineup.

[jc]

Quote:

Fleetbabe said:Also, JC said that we beat Chester away from home last week. Thats the cup competiton, and is therefore a whole different ball game, ( pardon the pun!!!!).

Yes, but you can hardly say that Chester wouldn't put as much effort in in the FA Cup first round as they would in the league. Results like this just show what we can do - we just need to do it more often.

However, Daz, I do take your point about the cup. It's a classic scenario of course - a side that has a good cup run at the expense of their league form. Given that Andy has banned any talk of the cup until after the Scarborough game, as stated in the Reporter, it shouldn't be a distraction. If the players are doing as Andy has told them, it's mystifying why our recent performances have been so much better in the cup than in the league, especially given the difficulty of the three cup games we have played so far.

[CeeJay]

 

Although I fully agree that we looked awful on Saturday and we haven't won a league game in 9, it's equally true that we'd gone 6 games ( in all competitions ) without defeat prior to Tuesday. I would also think that most people who saw the games at Chester and/or Barnet would agree that the current team CAN compete with the best in the league.

 

IMHO our biggest problem is our lack of creativity at home, bearing in mind that we haven't put in a really solid league performance since Leigh - even against Exeter, we did our best to throw away a 3 goal lead. If we could address that creativity issue, our forwards might look completely different.

 

On a more positive note, the way we've been playing away, we've got a great opportunity to pick up 3 pts at Tamworth and the confidence of a win there will hopefully feed into the Dagenham game.

 

 

Come on you REDS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest]

I think the club need to decide where exactly our team is going. We have the potential to go so far and yet something seems to be holding us back??? Saturday's performance was disappointing because I and you know that we can and should be playing better football. I found the substitution choices very surprising. Shearer for Haworth?? It didn't help that the ref was pretty awful!

I find the line about supporting the boys at all times a little patronising - I bought my season ticket and turn up every week, try to get to away games as often as possible, support the club through the trust and yet should never question decisions or give any constructive criticism!!!?? Chester and Barnet (until the bl**dy goal!!!) were good games - but there does seem to be a lack of commitment from certain members of the team - unsurprising really given that the club don't seem to want to give any of them a reason to stay. Bring back Louie Evans - he deserves a chance!!!

[FleetFanatic]

Quote:

CeeJay said:
I would also think that most people who saw the games at Chester and/or Barnet would agree that the current team CAN compete with the best in the league.

Yes and no. At Chester we were fortunate at times, camped in our own half for nearly the complete 2nd half & it was dogged defending that kept us in front (combined with the fact that Chester were having a very off day!) Wouldn't it be nice if we could beat these sort of teams by running them ragged for 90 minutes? At Barnet - the first half was dire, the second half improved.....but it we had played until dawn I doubt that we would have scored. That said, we were unfortunate not to hold out for 0-0.

Quote:

CeeJay said:
IMHO our biggest problem is our lack of creativity at home,

Last season we created more chance than the opposition most games yet our forwards blew so many of them. This season we are not creating so many chances & that is a worry. Perhaps we are missing the runs & crosses of somebody like Tostao Kwashi down the right after all? Whatever it is, we certainly have a less-creative team this season.

[KShep]

Everyone's saying that we can compete with the best in the league, but if you can't beat the teams around you (Forest green for example) your not going to put yourself in good stead for the relegation battle!! When Ben Walshe, James Pinnock and Andy Drury are all 100% on form, we have a creative team, but we need some consistency.