Frankly Mr Shankly Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 Went yesterday. Was a good day and an industrial performance. Like many have said, the increased fitness levels and running is so noticable and it sends a different message to the opposition. MM's subs made an impact to and kept on the pressure. Kay looked tidy and Kitchen, despite ludicrously missing three bits at the cherry to score, got himself into dangerous positions. It was the intensity deep into the game that eventually wore down a stubborn team. Expect to see a few wins like this now. Raglan was superb and covered a lot of ground including thst vital intercepton between him and Hudson. 0-1 it's a different game. The Duracell bunnies in Charsley and Hammond are a breath of fresh air and Conlon was again decent, controlling the match and dictating play. We've played two poor teams, granted but against a decent team we should be a handful. Love Big Mike to bits but we do need that bit of extra quality and thread that Norwood or Garner should offer. Mike's a brilliant battering ram to bring on and he set the goal up superbly, plus that gut-busting run later on that drew their sending off. Massive part of the team, just not a starter for me. Clive. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBigDog Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 58 minutes ago, Armchair said: No complaints here… I can see what Mellon is trying to do and so far so good Not a complaint as such but an observation: A few on here and on Twitter have commented that we still lack a midfielder with guile and the ability to open up a tight defence - yes we have Gardner but he was not really on that side of his game yesterday and I felt that, after his booking, Conlon was more subdued. It could be that the lack of incisive movement from our main striker dictates the type of pass from midfield but yesterday saw too many long balls which either were overhit or won easily by the Wealdstone defence. MM rightly praised the travelling fans for their support and for their patience as it wasn’t the fluid performance that we saw against Braintree. I agree that we are seeing a change on the pitch. We look more disciplined and controlled and fitness levels have improved. Let’s see how we go when Norwood and Garner are back match fit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightDN123 Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 When do the extended match highlights become available on NLTV ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobledgersheart Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 Maybe the state of the pitch inhibited the new style of football we seem to be attempting. I suppose we'll know a bit more after Tuesday's match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BradKnowles1 Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 3 minutes ago, Bobledgersheart said: Maybe the state of the pitch inhibited the new style of football we seem to be attempting. I suppose we'll know a bit more after Tuesday's match. The pitch was really bad so slow the ball just died when we attempted any moves. a bit bizarre as Wealdstone are normally a good passing side Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Branston Pickle Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 56 minutes ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said: Went yesterday. Was a good day and an industrial performance. Like many have said, the increased fitness levels and running is so noticable and it sends a different message to the opposition. MM's subs made an impact to and kept on the pressure. Kay looked tidy and Kitchen, despite ludicrously missing three bits at the cherry to score, got himself into dangerous positions. It was the intensity deep into the game that eventually wore down a stubborn team. Expect to see a few wins like this now. Raglan was superb and covered a lot of ground including thst vital intercepton between him and Hudson. 0-1 it's a different game. The Duracell bunnies in Charsley and Hammond are a breath of fresh air and Conlon was again decent, controlling the match and dictating play. We've played two poor teams, granted but against a decent team we should be a handful. Love Big Mike to bits but we do need that bit of extra quality and thread that Norwood or Garner should offer. Mike's a brilliant battering ram to bring on and he set the goal up superbly, plus that gut-busting run later on that drew their sending off. Massive part of the team, just not a starter for me. Clive. Good summary. On the bolded bit, there were exactly the kind of teams we consistently lost to last season. The record against the top 7/better sides was pretty good. So winning these games is progress in itself 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Sinnott Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 The next 5 games will tell us much more than games against Braintree and Wealdstone will. Positive start, but still a long way to go... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB2 Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 46 minutes ago, TheBigDog said: Not a complaint as such but an observation: A few on here and on Twitter have commented that we still lack a midfielder with guile and the ability to open up a tight defence - yes we have Gardner but he was not really on that side of his game yesterday and I felt that, after his booking, Conlon was more subdued. It could be that the lack of incisive movement from our main striker dictates the type of pass from midfield but yesterday saw too many long balls which either were overhit or won easily by the Wealdstone defence. MM rightly praised the travelling fans for their support and for their patience as it wasn’t the fluid performance that we saw against Braintree. I agree that we are seeing a change on the pitch. We look more disciplined and controlled and fitness levels have improved. Let’s see how we go when Norwood and Garner are back match fit Stop complaining Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yarddog73 Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 Just now, Bobledgersheart said: Maybe the state of the pitch inhibited the new style of football we seem to be attempting. I suppose we'll know a bit more after Tuesday's match. The pitch wasn't great and didn't suit how we want to play, I think purposely they'd left it without water and looked happy to play for a point at home which I understand but thought strange given they can ping it around themselves. These tight little venues will probably trip us up this season so the most pleasing aspect of yesterday was that we managed to come away with all three points, I'd have been content with 0-0 after an hour. Some of the positives from the week before were missing and we didn't appear to have as much time on the ball, we did revert to hoof but it was more as a necessity than a go to tactic but it's good that we can adapt, hopefully we can play our more expansive game Tuesday as I think BP allows for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yarddog73 Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 4 minutes ago, AndyB2 said: Stop complaining Great contributions today, it's almost like you're disappointed. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemel latic Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 1 hour ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said: Went yesterday. Was a good day and an industrial performance. Like many have said, the increased fitness levels and running is so noticable and it sends a different message to the opposition. MM's subs made an impact to and kept on the pressure. Kay looked tidy and Kitchen, despite ludicrously missing three bits at the cherry to score, got himself into dangerous positions. It was the intensity deep into the game that eventually wore down a stubborn team. Expect to see a few wins like this now. Raglan was superb and covered a lot of ground including thst vital intercepton between him and Hudson. 0-1 it's a different game. The Duracell bunnies in Charsley and Hammond are a breath of fresh air and Conlon was again decent, controlling the match and dictating play. We've played two poor teams, granted but against a decent team we should be a handful. Love Big Mike to bits but we do need that bit of extra quality and thread that Norwood or Garner should offer. Mike's a brilliant battering ram to bring on and he set the goal up superbly, plus that gut-busting run later on that drew their sending off. Massive part of the team, just not a starter for me. Clive. Duracell bunnies, like that. Charsley in particular stands out for me because he's also a very good footballer at this level and he shows that movement when we're in possession too, nice header for the goal and he had that good chance in the first half too. A little harsh on Fondop, he is inconsistent but capable of moments of quality as well as the physicality and endeavour he brings to the team. His interplay with Kay and the cross produced the goal and was quality play. Hot day yesterday, not helped by the players being held on the pitch for 10 minutes due to the medical emergency. Good to see everyone lasting the whole 105 minutes. I'd love to know what the difference was between this pre-season and last year. Part of it may just be the more athletic players that Mellon has brought in that are able to run for 90 minutes, although there's a marked improvement in the likes of Fondop too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeP Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 1 hour ago, Frankly Mr Shankly said: We've played two poor teams, granted but against a decent team we should be a handful. Love Big Mike to bits but we do need that bit of extra quality and thread that Norwood or Garner should offer. Mike's a brilliant battering ram to bring on and he set the goal up superbly, plus that gut-busting run later on that drew their sending off. Massive part of the team, just not a starter for me. Clive. Didn't go yesterday (which may immediately discount my point..), but would playing a different striker work any better? Mikey moves and makes runs our (National League) players can read. If we're playing a lone striker, we need the right energy and runs. Norwood's runs are too good for our players (apparently) and is easily frustrated, while I'm not sure Garner still has the legs, especially after his injury.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanuts2 Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 5 minutes ago, JoeP said: Didn't go yesterday (which may immediately discount my point..), but would playing a different striker work any better? Mikey moves and makes runs our (National League) players can read. If we're playing a lone striker, we need the right energy and runs. Norwood's runs are too good for our players (apparently) and is easily frustrated, while I'm not sure Garner still has the legs, especially after his injury.. garners is a shoulder injury isn't it shouldn't effect his legs . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeP Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 6 minutes ago, peanuts2 said: garners is a shoulder injury isn't it shouldn't effect his legs . The fact he's 36 might! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yarddog73 Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 6 minutes ago, JoeP said: Didn't go yesterday (which may immediately discount my point..), but would playing a different striker work any better? Mikey moves and makes runs our (National League) players can read. If we're playing a lone striker, we need the right energy and runs. Norwood's runs are too good for our players (apparently) and is easily frustrated, while I'm not sure Garner still has the legs, especially after his injury.. I'd like to see a front three of Norwood with Kay and Charsley in behind, that's not disrespecting anyone whose doing the business already I just think those three would have something about them particularly with the support of the wing backs and Conlon and Gardner probing and directing in behind. Hammond, Fondop, Garner will all be important players for us but I still think we haven't seen our best team yet. We do miss that pace angle centrally which Reid should offer us but he's not quite there for me yet and he may actually miss out on the bench when other strikers return which could make us a bit one dimensional if we need to change the game, I noticed Wealdstone threw Cook upfront after we scored and he caused us all sorts of problems, do we have a player similar who we could chuck upfront? Maybe Monthe or Hobson?. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB2 Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 38 minutes ago, yarddog73 said: Great contributions today, it's almost like you're disappointed. Thrilled me old mucka. Great to see a positive start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafc1955 Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 15 hours ago, Lukers1 said: I’m hearing that we have a player inbound next week. I hope it’s a striker but could it be Otis Khan who has been here for a good while now….Any idea who it might be Lukers1? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lukers1 Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 2 minutes ago, oafc1955 said: I hope it’s a striker but could it be Otis Khan who has been here for a good while now….Any idea who it might be Lukers1? Usually my source gives me a name but this time he didn’t. It’s the same person who told me about MM not fancying Hogan at the back end of the seson and Conlon being back earlier than the rest of the squad to work on his pre season fitness. I think we can see Hogan going on loan very soon. The budget is still quite healthy as I believed we offered Matt Smith a two year contract. let’s wait and see, what a fantastic start to the season. I don’t think big Mike is getting enough praise. He’s learning to divert his aggression strictly on a playing level. He won countless free kicks yesterday which helped break their momentum and set up a sublime cross for the goal. 9 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Branston Pickle Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 1 hour ago, JoeP said: Didn't go yesterday (which may immediately discount my point..), but would playing a different striker work any better? Mikey moves and makes runs our (National League) players can read. If we're playing a lone striker, we need the right energy and runs. Norwood's runs are too good for our players (apparently) and is easily frustrated, while I'm not sure Garner still has the legs, especially after his injury.. Fondop is a great back up striker to have, but he's never going to get you anywhere close to 20 goals and probably isn't a good enough all round player to make up for that. This isn't me criticising him, we all know what he is and what value he adds to this squad. But Norwood scored 17 in a side last season that was never really anything better than dysfunctional really (which is why he was so frustrated at times), he should be nailed on 20 plus in a better organised side with an actual midfield. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norewgian Gunnar Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 I have always been a Fondop fan especially as an impact sub. However, in the first two games of the season he has played well and been full of energy to the end of the games. One goal against Braintree and one great assist yesterday indicate he is good player to have kept on the books. Team look much better this season so far, as many have said, and the positve start to the season should give lots of optimism for the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeP Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 2 minutes ago, Guy Branston Pickle said: Fondop is a great back up striker to have, but he's never going to get you anywhere close to 20 goals and probably isn't a good enough all round player to make up for that. This isn't me criticising him, we all know what he is and what value he adds to this squad. But Norwood scored 17 in a side last season that was never really anything better than dysfunctional really (which is why he was so frustrated at times), he should be nailed on 20 plus in a better organised side with an actual midfield. I think it's more important to have a team that works, rather than an individual that can score 20. Fondop should hit double figures, Charsley's already got two, Jes could chip in, Gardner's always good for a goal or half-dozen. Nobody walks into this team at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deyres42 Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 Think it would be quite unusual for a player to get 20+ plus goals having not done so for 5 years beforehand. Lee Hughes probably did but he did have a mid career break... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lukers1 Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 1 hour ago, peanuts2 said: garners is a shoulder injury isn't it shouldn't effect his legs . Garner is going to be used when we need to break the play up especially if we are away and defending a lead. His shithousery is epic and with his kudos will win us lots of free kicks and be in the refs ear. It’s what we have needed, a bit of guile up front. My mate is a massive PNE fan and to quote him.. ”If Neil Warnock was to be reincarnated as a footballer, he’d come back as Joe Garner”. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobledgersheart Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 47 minutes ago, Norewgian Gunnar said: I have always been a Fondop fan especially as an impact sub. However, in the first two games of the season he has played well and been full of energy to the end of the games. One goal against Braintree and one great assist yesterday indicate he is good player to have kept on the books. Team look much better this season so far, as many have said, and the positve start to the season should give lots of optimism for the season. One of Mikey's main attributes is he actually wants to play for us. His touches yeaterday, albeit only viewed via the highlights, were very good and the cross for the goal with his weaker foot excellent. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafc1955 Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 (edited) Think it would be quite unusual for a player to get 20+plus goals having not done so for 5 years beforehand. Matt Smith had never done it before until his last season in football. Norwood is the same age and has dropped down 2 divisions, even after missing the start of this season I still think he’ll get 20+ Edited August 18 by oafc1955 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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