Post by crispygull on Aug 23, 2008 16:52:20 GMT
for a poor pre season schedule in my opinion.
I've said it before, but I really dont think the games we played were what we needed. The Errea tournament saw us playing (mostly) inferior teams on inferior pitches.
We only got two games at Plainmoor, one of which was little more than a training run for the team as they spent most of the 90 minutes without possession of the ball against a very talented young Chelsea team.
The only decent workout we had was against Bristol Rovers, and I really dont think that matches against the likes of Tiverton, Truro, Eastleigh (twice) and Bideford gave us any real idea as to how good, or not, we are.
The consequence is that Paul Buckle is only now having to experiment with different players in different positions and the impression that is being given is that he has little clue as to what his best team is. The only consistency has been the 4-4-2 formation, but if you look at his team selections after just FOUR games the only players who have been consistently picked in the team AND in the same position are Poke in goal, Todd at centre half (until he got injured) and Carlisle on the right side of midfield.
So far, in just FOUR games, we have seen half the squad either dropped or not selected, with even Tim Sills not being picked to start today. Adams, Robertson, Woods, Ellis and Green have hardly kicked a ball in anger. Sills, Dsane, Benyon, Wroe, Carayol, Stevens and Nicholson to name a few, have all been dropped at some stage already.
Likewise, we have seen Hargreaves, Mansell, Hodges, Brough and Thompson all feature in more than one position.
Unfortunately the impression it gives is that Paul Buckle has little or no idea as to what his best team is and I reckon if we had had a better, more competitive pre season, a lot of these issues may have been sorted out. Trying to do it now is proving costly as we are losing points and falling behind the chasing pack - we are now 8 points behind the leaders Cambridge after just 4 games.
Buckle needs to find his best team and he needs to work out where best to play some of his players and to get a settled team and QUICKLY!
Unfortunately it now appears that not only does he not know his best defensive line up - why does he persist with picking midfielders in defence? - but with the restoration of Hargreaves and Mansell to the centre of midfield, something which hasnt happened since the turn opf the year, he doesnt appear to know his best midfield either now. In fact, with Sills being dropped today, you could even say he doesnt know his best forward line up either.
I was one who advocated wholesale changes after the Ebbsfleet debacle and fair enough he did make those changes - I just think he got the defence wrong and Sills should most definitely have started - but he couldnt have anticipated that Thompson would be so reckless as he was after just 10 minutes of the game.
Buckle's team selection for Monday will certainly be interesting now.
I've said it before, but I really dont think the games we played were what we needed. The Errea tournament saw us playing (mostly) inferior teams on inferior pitches.
We only got two games at Plainmoor, one of which was little more than a training run for the team as they spent most of the 90 minutes without possession of the ball against a very talented young Chelsea team.
The only decent workout we had was against Bristol Rovers, and I really dont think that matches against the likes of Tiverton, Truro, Eastleigh (twice) and Bideford gave us any real idea as to how good, or not, we are.
The consequence is that Paul Buckle is only now having to experiment with different players in different positions and the impression that is being given is that he has little clue as to what his best team is. The only consistency has been the 4-4-2 formation, but if you look at his team selections after just FOUR games the only players who have been consistently picked in the team AND in the same position are Poke in goal, Todd at centre half (until he got injured) and Carlisle on the right side of midfield.
So far, in just FOUR games, we have seen half the squad either dropped or not selected, with even Tim Sills not being picked to start today. Adams, Robertson, Woods, Ellis and Green have hardly kicked a ball in anger. Sills, Dsane, Benyon, Wroe, Carayol, Stevens and Nicholson to name a few, have all been dropped at some stage already.
Likewise, we have seen Hargreaves, Mansell, Hodges, Brough and Thompson all feature in more than one position.
Unfortunately the impression it gives is that Paul Buckle has little or no idea as to what his best team is and I reckon if we had had a better, more competitive pre season, a lot of these issues may have been sorted out. Trying to do it now is proving costly as we are losing points and falling behind the chasing pack - we are now 8 points behind the leaders Cambridge after just 4 games.
Buckle needs to find his best team and he needs to work out where best to play some of his players and to get a settled team and QUICKLY!
Unfortunately it now appears that not only does he not know his best defensive line up - why does he persist with picking midfielders in defence? - but with the restoration of Hargreaves and Mansell to the centre of midfield, something which hasnt happened since the turn opf the year, he doesnt appear to know his best midfield either now. In fact, with Sills being dropped today, you could even say he doesnt know his best forward line up either.
I was one who advocated wholesale changes after the Ebbsfleet debacle and fair enough he did make those changes - I just think he got the defence wrong and Sills should most definitely have started - but he couldnt have anticipated that Thompson would be so reckless as he was after just 10 minutes of the game.
Buckle's team selection for Monday will certainly be interesting now.
surly what ever the problems are, we need to play a defense of Monday that has defenders playing in it. If that means having to put what ever is the problem to one side, for the good of the team and club, then it must be done.
