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Post by buster on Dec 10, 2008 13:46:30 GMT
Well it looks like its time to "role your sleeves up," "get stuck in" or "scrap for everything."
The question is do we possess enough players with these qualities? PB stated EBFC was a night for getting it forward and battling.
If you take out CH (can realistically only play one game per week & is also now on 4 cards) are we too lightweight to battle and too slow to close down?
We have now entered the key period we have all feared from last season. Pitches getting heavier, weather deteriorating and teams fighting for survival/promotion.
Have we got what it takes to grind out results?
Histon will be physical, Burton may out think us again and could be out of sight if we lose to them.
We`ve been on a fantastic run but the concern is all that effort has ended in a minimum 7 point gap behind Burton.
buster
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Dave
TFF member
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Post by Dave on Dec 10, 2008 17:12:12 GMT
Buster a thought provoking post and one that I feel we need to really consider. At the start of this season before a ball was even kicked, we all I believe felt that this season we really had proper depth in the squad.
I think we may have based this on the quality of the players that had been signed, despite our worries that we seemed to have to many midfield players. For some time now the side seems to pick itself and some players have not been getting any real competitive football.
Ellis was able to come in and give a first class performance, but I fear others like Green have not been able to offer much, mainly because he and some others are simply not match fit and sharp.
Without Hargreaves in the midfield, I think only Mansell could offer the real bite needed in there, but then we would have to see who could then fill the right back spot.
Looking at the side as a whole, we do seem short of the real physical players that would be needed on the real heavy pitches, playing against physical teams.Many moaned about the likes of Hockly, but he was a real battler in the midfield and who else apart from Hargreaves and Mansell have those real fighting quality's.
The real test of Bucks signings start now, lets hope our quality will be more than enough to beat the teams we must beat, if we stand any chance of going up this season, skill, good ball movement and getting your shots on target, will in my view be what we can use to make up for any lack of physical presence.
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Post by ohtobeatplainmoor on Dec 10, 2008 19:05:02 GMT
We do seem to be lacking in additional options. When Wroe has one of his "off-days" then we don't really have any options to come-in and replace him as a sub - Brough might just have the proven performances last season for FGR but has yet to show us on a matchday that he offers much (and that is not to say that he wont "come good"), but watching Adams in pre-season and against FGR last week he make Steve McCall look like Usain Bolt!
Mansell has made the right-back position his own and I think that moving him back to midfield just leaves us short on that side of defence. Also, some of his gtracking back and excellently timed tackles has been hugely valuable.
Whilst it might sound complacent to "hope for the best" and that we should just expect our team continue to pick themselves up and start again, I feel that last night's blip is probably just that - a blip. Bucks seemed to learn so much from our defeats earlier in the season that I feel confident that he will do just that from last night. A confident performance against Bath on Saturday and the next few BSP games and I feel that we will continue to make big strides on the pitch.
I'm not expecting automatic promotion but I am expecting an improvement on last season (and I expect that EVERY season - notjust because t ended in disappointment!). Take the match last night out of the equation and I feel that the last two months have shown that is what we are getting.
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Post by tqriviera on Dec 10, 2008 19:39:53 GMT
Yes - we do have someone - he is called Mark Ellis
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Post by crooky on Dec 11, 2008 13:10:37 GMT
On the skill front. Can anybody explain why Carayol has been used so sparingly in recent weeks. Has he been carrying a knock? In my opinion he is the most skillful, pacey, perhaps not the best finisher admittedly, but player with abillity to get behind a defence that we have in our squad?
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rjdgull
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Admin
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Post by rjdgull on Dec 11, 2008 22:18:05 GMT
I am surprised that no one has mentioned Thompson in midfield.
Ellis and Robertson have certainly put in performances that suggest they should be used more!
I think Carlisle and Green will come good once they have got a few matches under their belts. Both of them looked good prior to their lay offs.
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