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General Category => Altrincham FC First Team => Topic started by: oneedham on August 12, 2014, 10:35:45 PM
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Sorry I got carried away typing again ........haha
This was my first game of the new season as I do not attend pre-season games it will be hard to give a solid opinion but from what I saw tonight I thought there were positives and negatives. Thought we played better in the second half, stepped the tempo up and in patches throughout the game we passed very well, especially in midfield.
My thoughts on the team and new players are good and bad. Ignoring the fact that he is a legend and putting history aside I feel we might need a more agile keeper. I still think Coburn is good, a great shot stopper, but his appears reluctant and maybe a lack of confidence at coming out for the ball or getting down to shots.
Defence – For me the sooner we get Leather and Havern back together the better. Marshall is still not fit enough and his distribution is woeful. I have previously said this but we need a stronger and quicker left back, I don’t like saying it but Griffin will get destroyed in this league and positionally he is poor. He only over lapped our wide man once in the whole game ( the penalty claim ). I personally think he isn’t good enough and there was no difference between him and buzz apart from a dodgy knee. I heard from pre season that Densmore has been off the boil and until he got injured he was getting beat too easily as well, it was cross after cross. I think we definitely need to look at a left back.
Midfield – Williams and Cavanagh will be our best partnership. The amount of energy Williams had was unbelievable even if he did run out of steam towards the end. Cavanagh is a calm character, which we need and will also put a tackle in. My only concern about this partnership is the big gap between them, Cavanagh sits very deep and Williams looks to run through up top, massive area between the two. There will be games in which we have to play three in midfield and that will make this partnership even more productive, but I was very impress with those two.
In the first half it seemed like we had no wide men, Lawrie and Crowther were not interested, there closing down was poor and neither wanted to take the full back on out wide. They both appear too soft for me,Lawrie did one challenge and won the ball in the second half. We were getting battered down our right side, for me Lawrie needs a permanent rocket up his bum to stay in this team and I think he doesn’t have the energy or determination to play wide at this standard. Lawrie is only dangerous in a central role, I think he will get bullied and basically doesn’t do enough over 90 mins. Their left back was jogging past in him in the first half. Crowther looked nervous in the first half but was brighter in the second with a couple of driving runs but I still feel from one game that is a sort of player who will let his head drop, a bit too softy softy.
Forwards – Really impressed with Gillespie, what a touch that lad has and close control is excellent. Again I am sorry to say this but Perry is a waste of time, he is there to hold it up and be the muscle but his ball retention percentage is awful. If he doesn’t win the flick on’s or even hold the ball up then it is pointless. The old fashioned big centre forward died 5 plus years ago, you need pace and energy up top. You need your forwards closing down the defenders, forcing errors or even winning the ball off the full backs like Gillespie did a few times in the first half. Perry is no where near good enough for this league and should have been released.
The physical condition of Perry and Marshall is disgraceful in my opinion, they are unfit and both over weight. Their condition alone does not warrant and team selection.
I think we showed that we can pass the ball around but we need to gain that extra energy and belief but I feel there will be a settling in period and I am not too disheartened. Sinnot please do not tinker each game unless you have too. I am still soooooo happy to be back in this league, away fans on a Tuesday night :-)
If we must play 4-4-2 then my team would be
GK Coburn ( or new keeper )
LB NO IDEA
RB Densmore
CB Leather
CB Havern
LW Clee
CM Williams
CM Cavanagh
RW Richman ( for his closing down and energy )
CF Gillespie
CF Reeves
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I agree with practically all of that.
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Not sure richman good enough at this level but most of it fair enough
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I wouldn't write Stu off just yet. Like you said you didn't see him pre-season. If you had you might have different opinions on his agility. Some of his saves against Shrewsbury were first class.
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Not sure richman good enough at this level but most of it fair enough
I think you could be right Jimmy but at the moment I feel he would be our best option. I always thought he was better out wide, even though he clearly isn't a wide man. I think we need to look at a left back, right winger still and another mobile forward. Marshall, Perry and Griffin wouldn't have made my conference squad but it's all about opinions. I am still really excited about the season ahead!
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I wouldn't write Stu off just yet. Like you said you didn't see him pre-season. If you had you might have different opinions on his agility. Some of his saves against Shrewsbury were first class.
I love Stu so fingers crossed he's up to the challenge mate
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I seem one of the few that thinks griffin is ok.
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No one is questioning Stu's legend status or shot stopping ability. I saw him make three world class stops at Aldershot, but I also saw their number 9 and Lincoln's number 11 exploit his physical weakness by basically standing on his feet from corners. Neither Bittner of Aldershot, or Townsend of Lincoln (from opposite ends of the goalkeeping age/height spectrum) seemed to have any such difficulty commanding their six yard area. We WILL concede goals because of this.
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We'd all love better players in every position, but we've got what we've got based on the funds available. I'm happy to see this team develop over the season, but then I've learned over the last twenty years to keep my expectations under control.
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I seem one of the few that thinks griffin is ok.
He's not an awful player but gets beat often! I've only seen highlights apart from tonight and against Shrewsbury he was beaten so easily for the cross that led to their second goal and he had no idea where their man was for their second goal tonight. I also feels he offers very little going forward! I raised my concerns even before those mistakes so my lack of faith has come from the back end of last season!
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If we must play 4-4-2 then my team would be
GK Coburn ( or new keeper )
LB NO IDEA
RB Densmore
CB Leather
CB Havern
LW Clee
CM Williams
CM Cavanagh
RW Richman ( for his closing down and energy )
CF Gillespie
CF Reeves
Dens now injured - how would this change the defense?
Leather rb, Marshall cb?
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If we must play 4-4-2 then my team would be
GK Coburn ( or new keeper )
LB NO IDEA
RB Densmore
CB Leather
CB Havern
LW Clee
CM Williams
CM Cavanagh
RW Richman ( for his closing down and energy )
CF Gillespie
CF Reeves
Dens now injured - how would this change the defense?
Leather rb, Marshall cb?
We have many centre mids and this isn't ideal or a long term solution but I'd play sean williams at right back because he's fairly mobile, a terrier and appears to have a good low sense of gravity which hopefully means he wouldn't get turned easily. Would be a shamr to lose him from midfield until Dens is fit but we need Leather centre back and quickly!
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No one is questioning Stu's legend status or shot stopping ability. I saw him make three world class stops at Aldershot, but I also saw their number 9 and Lincoln's number 11 exploit his physical weakness by basically standing on his feet from corners. Neither Bittner of Aldershot, or Townsend of Lincoln (from opposite ends of the goalkeeping age/height spectrum) seemed to have any such difficulty commanding their six yard area. We WILL concede goals because of this.
Only a detail, but Smith was in goal for Aldershot.
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Maybe we weren't so far from where we need to be:
Shots
16 Alty 15 Lincoln
On target
8 Alty 4 Lincoln
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We'd all love better players in every position, but we've got what we've got based on the funds available. I'm happy to see this team develop over the season, but then I've learned over the last twenty years to keep my expectations under control.
Thank God for some common sense. I agree wholeheartedly - in my case 45 years' experience tells me to temper my expectations!
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We'd all love better players in every position, but we've got what we've got based on the funds available. I'm happy to see this team develop over the season, but then I've learned over the last twenty years to keep my expectations under control.
Thank God for some common sense. I agree wholeheartedly - in my case 45 years' experience tells me to temper my expectations!
does your 45 years experience tell you to expect our best two players to be left on the bench?
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We'd all love better players in every position, but we've got what we've got based on the funds available. I'm happy to see this team develop over the season, but then I've learned over the last twenty years to keep my expectations under control.
Thank God for some common sense. I agree wholeheartedly - in my case 45 years' experience tells me to temper my expectations!
does your 45 years experience tell you to expect our best two players to be left on the bench?
My 45 years experience tells me that he probably kept them on the bench for the first hour to stop them getting the sh*t kicked out of them so he can bring them on as 'game changers' later on. Also, they will be most effective against teams trying to play football and not hoofball merchants who could put them on the sidelines for a few weeks and really do some damage to our chances. No one will convince me that LS doesn't realise that Reeves and Clee are two of his key players this season.!
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You should always field your strongest team especially at home whoever your playing regardless of the opposition. OK we have a better squad than last season but were not that strong that we should be leaving arguably our two best players on the bench. At home we should be going to win games not sending two good players on for the last 20 mins in the hope of nicking a draw. Fkn ludicrous.
Points will be hard to come by this season so let's get as many as poss with our home fixtures.
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Have to agree with you about Griffin - he didn't fill me with confidence in the conference north and looked out of his depth last night.
Cavanagh looks like he could boss the midfield and is probably our best centre midfielder since Tom Kearny. Gillespie looks dangerous when dropping into the hole off the centre backs and also has a cute touch.
Probably would have expected at least a point from our first two games but its early days and the lads are getting use to this level. We really need to kick on though - if we were a bit sharper we could have got a point last night.
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Gillespie impressed me last night with his closing down of defenders, twice we won the ball back
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My thoughts are that we had a couple of really good break aways in the first half that were let down by poor final balls. We were outplayed for the first 20mins but came well back into it by the second half. Great goal for their 2nd, otherwise felt we might have drawn. Its still early days. Can crowther play right wing? I would swap him with lawrie and put clee on the left.
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We'd all love better players in every position, but we've got what we've got based on the funds available. I'm happy to see this team develop over the season, but then I've learned over the last twenty years to keep my expectations under control.
Thank God for some common sense. I agree wholeheartedly - in my case 45 years' experience tells me to temper my expectations!
does your 45 years experience tell you to expect our best two players to be left on the bench?
My 45 years experience tells me that he probably kept them on the bench for the first hour to stop them getting the sh*t kicked out of them so he can bring them on as 'game changers' later on. Also, they will be most effective against teams trying to play football and not hoofball merchants who could put them on the sidelines for a few weeks and really do some damage to our chances. No one will convince me that LS doesn't realise that Reeves and Clee are two of his key players this season.!
I totally disagree, unless Reeves and Clee had tightness from Saturday then they should have started. We are not good enough to come back against teams in this league, I may sound harsh but we aren't. Without Clee we hardly create any chances at all, so let's go out each game with our strongest eleven and give it a bloody good go. The other reason I disagree is that we bring impact players on when the rest of the team were shattered so who's going to get in the positions, Clee and Reeves can't take an entire team on themselves. If I was a manager I would go in each game without any respect to my opposition, I would start high tempo and I would look to take the game to them. I would have had the wide men working a lot harder in the first half as we could have easily been two down at half time, both chances coming from crosses. I feel benching good players gives a negative approach before a ball has been kicked. It is a clear indication that Sinnott believed we would desperately need two of our best players to come on and change things whether that was from a draw position or goals down. We need the mentality of let's get out there and be two up at halftime, especially at home.
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Lincoln was my first ever Alty game, so I don’t have the history of last season or beyond, so for what it’s worth, here’s my thoughts (based on the Lincoln game only).
Lincoln are a big and powerful team. They have filled their ranks with guys that are quick and strong. The only team really looking to play football last night were Alty. But unfortunately at this level, strength and pace are key, and in my view both were clearly missing.
Coburn looked slow, and his kicking off the deck, whether dead ball or passed back to him, is poor, this only increases the pressure on the back line. Also, if he dominated his area, the first goal wouldn’t have gone in as he should have been collecting it.
I completely agree with the OP, Marshall looks so unfit and overweight it is unreal. I can’t believe that players like him and Perry are still able to get a game Conference level.
On Perry, my guess is that he was in for his height and, erm, size against a big team. He may as well not have bothered, only won a single header in the entire match until he was hauled off, and was muscled off the ball far too easily.
Crowther was woeful in the first half. Left the left back exposed and 2 on 1 far too often as he was wandering all over the pitch and looked completely spent after 10 minutes. Didn’t tackle, and looked scared to compete in case he got hurt.
On the positive note, and as I said earlier, I thought Alty were trying to play football. And the Skipper (forgive me I didn’t catch his name) played well, as did Williams and Gillespie.
I’ll be coming back to watch more games, and hope to be cheering a successful season, but I think an injection of pace and physical presence is a must.
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We'd all love better players in every position, but we've got what we've got based on the funds available. I'm happy to see this team develop over the season, but then I've learned over the last twenty years to keep my expectations under control.
Thank God for some common sense. I agree wholeheartedly - in my case 45 years' experience tells me to temper my expectations!
does your 45 years experience tell you to expect our best two players to be left on the bench?
My 45 years experience tells me that he probably kept them on the bench for the first hour to stop them getting the sh*t kicked out of them so he can bring them on as 'game changers' later on. Also, they will be most effective against teams trying to play football and not hoofball merchants who could put them on the sidelines for a few weeks and really do some damage to our chances. No one will convince me that LS doesn't realise that Reeves and Clee are two of his key players this season.!
I totally disagree, unless Reeves and Clee had tightness from Saturday then they should have started. We are not good enough to come back against teams in this league, I may sound harsh but we aren't. Without Clee we hardly create any chances at all, so let's go out each game with our strongest eleven and give it a bloody good go. The other reason I disagree is that we bring impact players on when the rest of the team were shattered so who's going to get in the positions, Clee and Reeves can't take an entire team on themselves. If I was a manager I would go in each game without any respect to my opposition, I would start high tempo and I would look to take the game to them. I would have had the wide men working a lot harder in the first half as we could have easily been two down at half time, both chances coming from crosses. I feel benching good players gives a negative approach before a ball has been kicked. It is a clear indication that Sinnott believed we would desperately need two of our best players to come on and change things whether that was from a draw position or goals down. We need the mentality of let's get out there and be two up at halftime, especially at home.
That's what we did at Aldershot and look what happened.
Having said that, That approach is more understandable in home matches.
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Lincoln was my first ever Alty game, so I don’t have the history of last season or beyond, so for what it’s worth, here’s my thoughts (based on the Lincoln game only).
Lincoln are a big and powerful team. They have filled their ranks with guys that are quick and strong. The only team really looking to play football last night were Alty. But unfortunately at this level, strength and pace are key, and in my view both were clearly missing.
Coburn looked slow, and his kicking off the deck, whether dead ball or passed back to him, is poor, this only increases the pressure on the back line. Also, if he dominated his area, the first goal wouldn’t have gone in as he should have been collecting it.
I completely agree with the OP, Marshall looks so unfit and overweight it is unreal. I can’t believe that players like him and Perry are still able to get a game Conference level.
On Perry, my guess is that he was in for his height and, erm, size against a big team. He may as well not have bothered, only won a single header in the entire match until he was hauled off, and was muscled off the ball far too easily.
Crowther was woeful in the first half. Left the left back exposed and 2 on 1 far too often as he was wandering all over the pitch and looked completely spent after 10 minutes. Didn’t tackle, and looked scared to compete in case he got hurt.
On the positive note, and as I said earlier, I thought Alty were trying to play football. And the Skipper (forgive me I didn’t catch his name) played well, as did Williams and Gillespie.
I’ll be coming back to watch more games, and hope to be cheering a successful season, but I think an injection of pace and physical presence is a must.
That is, for my money, an excellent first(ish) post full of insight for a newcomer on here! Keep posting.
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Lincoln was my first ever Alty game, so I don’t have the history of last season or beyond, so for what it’s worth, here’s my thoughts (based on the Lincoln game only).
Lincoln are a big and powerful team. They have filled their ranks with guys that are quick and strong. The only team really looking to play football last night were Alty. But unfortunately at this level, strength and pace are key, and in my view both were clearly missing.
Coburn looked slow, and his kicking off the deck, whether dead ball or passed back to him, is poor, this only increases the pressure on the back line. Also, if he dominated his area, the first goal wouldn’t have gone in as he should have been collecting it.
I completely agree with the OP, Marshall looks so unfit and overweight it is unreal. I can’t believe that players like him and Perry are still able to get a game Conference level.
On Perry, my guess is that he was in for his height and, erm, size against a big team. He may as well not have bothered, only won a single header in the entire match until he was hauled off, and was muscled off the ball far too easily.
Crowther was woeful in the first half. Left the left back exposed and 2 on 1 far too often as he was wandering all over the pitch and looked completely spent after 10 minutes. Didn’t tackle, and looked scared to compete in case he got hurt.
On the positive note, and as I said earlier, I thought Alty were trying to play football. And the Skipper (forgive me I didn’t catch his name) played well, as did Williams and Gillespie.
I’ll be coming back to watch more games, and hope to be cheering a successful season, but I think an injection of pace and physical presence is a must.
[/quote ]excellent post, you seem to know your football. We need more football knowledgeable heads on here!
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Well I am glad to say my eye’s are still in good working order after watching Alty TV. Watching it again people must see what I meant about Lawrie in the first half, they attacked and attacked down our right and he was no-where. I do not believe this is entirely his fault, I believe he is told to drift into central positions by the Manager but I think we are more effective when we have wide men who hug the byline.
This then opens the middle up for Williams’s runs and also for ON THE GROUND passing to our forwards as we are one of the worst teams to gain anything from long balls hoofed up as we only have Perry, who doesn’t really do much.
Marshall’s defending in the first half was woeful .
In fact Lawrie’s tracking back was even worst in the second half, no attempt at cutting the cross out which led to their second goal, Griffin no idea where his man was AGAIN. I am not sure if Richman is good enough for this standard but we need his closing down and energy wide right.
Far too many crosses on Tuesday night and hardly any were cut out before going into the box, we need to work on closing down. We can't have passengers in this team.