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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 31, 2016 21:14:08 GMT
Last year we had Maguire AND Hylton.
If Maguire has replaced Hylton, then we need a replacement for Maguire!!
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 30, 2016 11:14:18 GMT
We all see different things I guess (I stand by my comments in both cases).
However, I do understand and appreciate what Appleton is trying to do. I would rather see us attempting to play the way we are than going for the less attractive 'direct' approach. I think that the general lack of pace and speed of execution makes it look incredibly stodgy at times though. It may be that the players he has aren't quite good enough to do what he wants at this level with any consistency - which as you correctly say is a definite step up in quality.
Edit - in reply to PRB of course!
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 30, 2016 10:54:27 GMT
I agree about Ballance, he is having a terrible time.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 30, 2016 10:39:07 GMT
Dear Oxford84,
It's quite OK to dislike my post, it is only my opinion and you are entitled to your own.
But it does make for a more interesting forum if you post and say WHY you disagree!
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 30, 2016 10:14:18 GMT
We have bigger problems than an individual mistake here or there (although they don't help!).
We move the ball too slowly. I don't mean we should hoof it - quite the opposite - but the players take too many touches, all too often it is all done at walking pace.
As per above - we are lacking virtually any pace at all. I suppose Johnson is the quickest player, but how many times do you see a lightening quick break?
The movement off the ball is terrible. Players literally stop stock still and watch the player on the ball.
We are utterly predictable. Passing along the back four from one side to the other - tick. Passing to a man who just passes it straight back to where it came from - tick. Playing really tight little triangles right on the touchline where the ball makes precisely no progress - tick. Passing rather than shooting - tick. Taking stupid free kicks three yards to a man who is already being closed down - tick.
According to the BBC, we had well over 60% possession yesterday - but how much of that was in any way effective or threatening?
We are in a nasty little run in a tight league. Hopefully the two weeks without a league game that includes an FA cup against lower league opposition and a completely meaningless run out against a Prem 'B' team will give them some time on the training pitch to get some of this sorted. At the moment, the style of play looks a lot like the start of Appleton's time with us.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 27, 2016 12:59:42 GMT
Re: conceding goals.
One worrying thing this season is that if we concede we look very likely to concede another very quickly (and indeed this has happened a few times). We need someone in the team who has the ability to organise the players and stop the panic that seems to set in.
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Roofe
Oct 26, 2016 10:08:08 GMT
Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 26, 2016 10:08:08 GMT
I managed to find a TV feed of that game and had a little watch to see how he was doing (pretty good, but not outstanding). The commentator kept referring to him as 'Keymar Rowfe' - thus getting his name twice as incorrect as we used to!
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 25, 2016 20:30:38 GMT
Those rating are way over-egged.
If 0 is absolute rubbish and 10 is outstanding, then 5 is average. I don't think any of our starting XI players reached the heady heights of average against Coventry (Maguire excepted).
For example - Lundstram (who was OK against PV) was terrible at Coventry. He couldn't pass the ball five yards, ducked out of challenges and completely failed to lead by example. Giving him a 5 is, to say the least, generous. I could also cite Hemmings, who wouldn't jump for a ball all night, Edwards who not only helped to give a goal away but was out of position and constantly beaten by his man etc etc.
Several people have said to me since that match that they thought that many of the players didn't look as if they were bothered to make much of an effort - I'm sure that isn't the case, but in the first half you could have been excused for thinking it.
I suspect that waiting for a week before posting player ratings might have allowed Mr Duckyellow to forget some of the worst of it!
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 25, 2016 20:16:18 GMT
I'm probably being thick, but this 'consortium'? What is that? Do you mean the group of people and organisations who might make up the trust to buy the stadium? If so, why would they need a contingency fund for 'player acquisition'? DE would still own the club, wouldn't he? Yes, but why would he bankroll without full ownership of the biggest asset which would be the ground and all the profits that it may bring. You can't expect him to spend his own cash if the club runs at a loss. Without the ground, what would he own? Umm - exactly what he does now? But with what will be a better relationship with the owners of the ground, who might well reduce the rent, profit share the advertising, be reasonable about the catering, keep the facilities in proper repair etc etc etc Here is a quote from DE : "The announcement that Firoz Kassam will sell the ground to a Community Trust is hugely positive news!" There was a load more positive stuff about it in his statement as well.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 25, 2016 19:48:27 GMT
Look I agree, as long as the consortium has enough to buy the Stadium and have a very good contingency fund. If the stadium is £13m we need a good pot for emergencies, unseen costs, player acquisition, etc. You can't expect handouts from DE or SD if we need it. This needs to be profit making - I'm concerned because I can count the clubs on one hand that run at a profit. With our small fanbase, one relagation and a 10% drop in crowds could be fatal. If we have the funds, then fantastic. It will be great. I'm probably being thick, but this 'consortium'? What is that? Do you mean the group of people and organisations who might make up the trust to buy the stadium? If so, why would they need a contingency fund for 'player acquisition'? DE would still own the club, wouldn't he?
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 25, 2016 13:01:38 GMT
And surely most of that 500K profit is coming directly from the club anyway!
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 25, 2016 12:59:57 GMT
I don't agree. Trump is a classic bully - using his wealth and his lawyers to get his own way. And it is all very well saying stupid things (or starting a negotiation with 'an aggressive first offer' if you prefer that!) when you are a billionaire in business or a host on a TV game show - try that with international leaders and you will find some who won't respond to that or back down. And then we are ALL in deep trouble.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 25, 2016 8:27:34 GMT
It is a contest between two rather awful people.
However. Clinton is an awful person who has some sort of policy framework, thinks before she speaks and promotes at least the idea of racial/religious equality in the country she is aiming to lead. Trump is an awful person who is also a misogynist bigot with no consistent policies, seems to have no concept of thinking about what he says before he says it, seems to have no grasp of world politics and is only really interested in his own posturing ego.
So yes, two dreadful individuals - but one who is so much more awful than the other one that surely the American people (which includes Muslims, Mexicans, women etc!) cannot vote him in?
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 25, 2016 7:34:10 GMT
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 25, 2016 7:30:35 GMT
As expected, but in an unexpected way. I thought we would draw more games than we have - our defence was so mean last season I thought we would keep clean sheets, but I didn't fancy Thomas or Taylor to score loads (Hemmings was an unknown quantity).
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 24, 2016 20:03:24 GMT
And one of them is actually for Truro City anyway! What's all that about?
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 24, 2016 19:06:44 GMT
Look at this 2 test series as a warm up for India and the 5 tests we face. That's a bit disrespectful to Bangladesh, isn't it? Surely the match proved that on their own pitches in their own conditions they are a side to be taken seriously, on their own merits?
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 24, 2016 18:57:31 GMT
Could I suggest that UKIP stood in for the role of "none of the above" in the last election? Maybe for some people - but I would never vote for them even if they were unlikely to win the seat!
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 24, 2016 14:34:59 GMT
I also had a quick Google but couldn't find a link between him and his delightful namesake.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 24, 2016 12:46:14 GMT
It's pity that we could (realistically) only catch the second half of each day's play as that was a cracking test match.
I thought England dealt with very alien and testing conditions quite well. Looking forward to the next one - it's only a two test series (ridiculously!).
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 24, 2016 12:39:33 GMT
It's good to see Jose once again deflect his shortcomings but by blaming Conte for making the fans sing at the end. Jose's excuses and misdirection 'techniques' are now so obvious as to be laughable. I have no love at all for Chelsea, but thoroughly enjoyed that result!
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 24, 2016 11:52:46 GMT
Eastwood was OK - he made a couple of good saves, but went walkabout once. He was so far out of his goal that I thought he'd joined the Ramblers Association! His distribution was generally good.
I think Sercombe was at least as good as Lundstram, but apart from that I think Eighteen93's scores are about fair.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 24, 2016 11:15:53 GMT
Perhaps a bit controversially, I thought the referee did OK on Saturday. Certainly much much better than a couple of others we have had recently!
I know he gave them a few free kicks and a pen, but (at the time and without having watched any highlights as yet) I thought they were by and large the correct decisions. He did give some our way as well. Maybe the Vale players 'went down a bit easily', but our players gave them the excuse to do so as far as I could see, with some silly and at times unnecessary challenges.
Let's not be too holier than thou - Maguire (for example) is quite prepared to go down if he feels a significant touch and thinks it will benefit us - and he did so a couple of times on Saturday.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 23, 2016 22:08:52 GMT
It's days like today that I miss baldy.... One days like this, we would have seen neither hide nor hair of him!
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 23, 2016 15:40:22 GMT
As Blair said once things can only get better and that is appropriate as far as Dan Crowley is concerned Really? I thought he was petty good for about 75 minutes until he ran out of steam.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 22, 2016 21:04:08 GMT
I haven't seen any highlights, and we were of course at the other end of the ground, but it looked like an obvious push to me (and those around me).
Over all, I thought it was an encouraging performance (especially after Tuesday). Nelson was decent, Crowley combined well with Maguire, Johnson showed more than enough to suggest he is a decent footballer, Lunny was better and I thought Sercombe showed why we are a better team with him in it.
We faded badly in the second half and gave away far too many free kicks around our box though.
A win against Millwall would make it a decent month's work IMO.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 21, 2016 11:19:30 GMT
Just been to ticket office, only 300 odd sold... Tickets went on sale a bit late - I suspect there will be long queues at the ticket office in Burslem tomorrow.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 20, 2016 17:56:24 GMT
I was going to go to this one, until Coventry happened. 1-1 draw. And that's optimism. Keep these to Fridays please! I was still furious on Wednesday morning - "If they bloody think I'm going to waste more time and money by going to bloody horrible Burslem, they've got another bloody think bloody coming." By this morning I was checking to see where the parking was. It's a disease.
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 20, 2016 12:49:28 GMT
Despite various things, I'm still just about in the 'glass half full' camp.
Generally speaking the football we are seeing is of a better standard than we have seen in recent years. It is frustrating that we are so inconsistent, and I am still not convinced about some of the players at this level. I think January might see a player or two leaving and another couple joining, although it is virtually impossible to get a decent striker in January so we might have to somehow make the best of what we have.
But facts are facts - we are midtable, home crowds are up, away support is bloomin' marvellous, we are visiting places we haven't seen for decades and we are playing some reasonably big(ger) name teams. Bring it on!
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Post by ZeroTheHero on Oct 19, 2016 21:34:28 GMT
Yes, so have I. That does not make last night's performance less disappointing though. I'm not stoic enough while watching us cock it up to stand there thinking 'Oh well - at least it isn't as bad as x, y or z game - well done, boys.'! Personal (and foul mouthed) abuse of our own players at games has of course, no place. Fair enough, but I don't think booing our players has any place either, not when we're 3 points off the playoffs and when we have played some good football and had some good results so far this season, our first season at this level in a decade. Just my opinion anyway. I said that I understood why some people booed - not that I did so nor that I agreed with it being done.
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