Wow it feels like ages since the home last game, but we welcome Crewe Alexandra to the Greenhous Meadow this weekend. Our joint history shows STFC v CAFC as: Games won: 15 Games drawn: 13 Games lost: 12 Our last game saw us lose in April 2014 where we lost 1-3 Town have had a better start than Crewe, and we are 'unbeaten away from home's so far this season. Town will be looking at carrying that run into the home games as Crewe have not won a game yet and only have two points so far. Crewe's top scorer is perhaps a bit worrying for them , King, who is a defender. So obviously set pieces will be a threat to us. It appears that they like to play balls from the back, so it'll be interesting to see how town play. We signed Black and Kaikai this week. Black is a defensive minded midfielder and Kaikai is a left sided winger who can play in a no. 10 role too. Hopefully I'll get to see Cole and Clark in midfield before MM changes things around. Wesolowski is out for most of the season and we wish all the luck to recover asap. Brown, was injured recently and there was an odd comment in the Star about telling him what he's doing wrong; he does appear to be fit now though. What are your thoughts on the game, stick your comments and reports down below. Floreat Salopia.
That was a desperately disappointing afternoon. Giving away a stupid goal in the first minute was bad enough but then to spend 95 minutes trying to break down one of the worst defences in the division and only managing one shot on target was even worse. The team as selected was clearly set out to play on the break as if away but unfortunately we were playing at home. Using Barnett as solely a target man negates our main goalscorer (at least the main one starting the game). That meant the chances were falling to Clark and Cole, neither of whom are natural goalscorers. However, you would think professional footballers could at least manage a decent effort on target when given a clear sight on goal but we only managed on of these despite dominating possession. What we are seeing is the continuing effects of a shambolic pre-season. Woods and Goldson were always likely to go but we seem to have done little work in identifying replacements . Grandison and Akpa-Akpro were given far too long to sign up - they should have been given an ultimatum to sign up or leave weeks before they did sign. The recruitment of journeymen League 2 players like Whalley and Brown never fired the imagination and it now looks as if they will not be given much of a chance. So again we start to become reliant on loan players who are usually not fit or very raw. As for the abominable treatment of Collins - his body language and his bust-up with Lawrence said it all - he remains the one player at the club most likely to score if the ball drops for him and I would have had him starting or certainly on at half-time. As for the individual performances I do not think Lawrence has the legs to play in the Woods role (which leaves the defence exposed), The two full backs have been recruited for a conventional back four and are not wing backs, Grandison made two major gaffes and Leutwiler had only one save to make all game but fluffed that. Clark missed our best chance but otherwise was lively and creative. Kaikai is quick and can beat a full-back but his decision making was poor - he can be an asset if he calms down and plays the percentage pass occasionally. I must also say the atmosphere at the ground is funereal at the moment - MM rightly has the backing of the fans due to his sterling efforts last season but things can turn very quickly and an improved display (and result!) against Blackpool is needed otherwise the boo boys will have a field day. I would drop Grandison and Lawrence and play 4-4-2 with Collins partnering Barnett, Kaikai and Cole wide and Ogogo anchoring midfield with Clark playing behind the front two. Experience tells us that our great away form will not last over the whole season and a team that starts the season with four home defeats with only two goals scored is a team that has relegation written all over it unless things change pretty quickly.
I disagree almost totally with the above. For a start Lawrence is still an integral part of the team. His pass completion rate still outweighs everyone, even though yesterday was not his best day, particularly corners. Collins has been ineffective most of this season. Yesterday, in the time that he was given, did little to alter this. We actually created numerous chances as opposed from set plays. This, in itself, shows improvement when Collins/Woods were in the team against Millwall/Chesterfield when we seldom looked like scoring. Those were 4-4-2 games, also. Brown had a particularly effective game at Barnsley until he got injured but it is a mystery why Whalley hasn't been given more of a chance (and is better than a journeyman League 2 player). I do agree that Grandison, at the moment is a problem. His fault for the goal at Barnsley, rescued at the cost of a booking for NKP at Southend and yesterday could have given away more than the one.
As always I respect your opinion KDS but I don't agree about Brown and Whalley. Brown was poor at Oxford and was soon farmed out to Mansfield. Whalley could not hold his place at Luton and was also less than convincing at the mighty AFC Telford. If they were better than journeymen they would have played more games and not been released by their clubs. I have not seen enough of either of them in a Town shirt to form an opinion but I suspect neither of them will feature much now as the loanees are probably better players even though they are inexperienced. We know Lawrence has ability and he was our best player in the latter half of last season- I just think he is in the wrong role at the moment as you would not expect any player in his thirties to be able to match the energy of Woods. If you look at our goalscorers chart you will see Collins is our top scorer this season as well as last (though the numbers are not too high for this season yet) and we simply cannot afford to omit our best goalscorer in a home game when the main problem yesterday was missing chances. Collins was rightly furious with Lawrence when he opted to play a ball a foot above Tootle's head and into touch instead of playing the percentage ball into Collins' feet. Any striker is only as good as the service he gets and the service to our strikers has been pathetic in the two games I have seen this season.
Barnett is joint top scorer. The trouble wth Collins, and it has always been the case, is that he finds someone else to blame and never himself. Collins has little pace, wins little in the air and is selfish (not always a bad thing, but on many occasions detrimental to the team).You can never fault his work rate or commitment but that is increasingly becoming insufficient. Barnett was winning at least 50% in the air yesterday and was always looking to lay the ball off having done so (set up Clarks chance for example). Barnett is also much quicker. I will always disagree about Lawrence. He is a class act who will always find space and uses his experience to turn people. Yesterday was not his best day and you highlight his only glaring error plus his delivery from set pieces was poor. He has, though, delivered set plays which have resulted in 2 of our last 3 goals. Brown was playing the wing back role instead of Sadler who is not equpped for it. Brown was not released. He was offered a new contract at Mansfield and Whalley had his contract mutually agreed to termination due to off field events rather than on.
It was a tough game to watch in terms of the failure to convert any attack into a decent shot on goal. There do need to be more shots on goal, its the only way to get ourselves out of this micro rut we're in at home. Having Clark and Cole seemed to provide a variety to the predictability of crosses that we had last season, however they need to be prepared to react more quickly to getting the ball. Defensive wise, we're not that badly off. We are losing, but the team are only letting in 1 and not 2,3,4 or 5! Grandison dithered yesterday and if he had passed more quickly then we would've been fine, Luetwiler should also have reacted to the shot alot more successfully too.
KDS, I think you do Collins a disservice (as perhaps I do to Lawrence) but football is all about opinions. My main point is we should switch to 4-4-2 at home now we have the extra pace of Cole and Kaikai to call on (which we did not have in the games you mention). Collins and Barnett are both good players at this level and surely we should be able to find a system that gets them working well in tandem with some decent balls supplied to them. I would back either of them to convert a chance in the box against any other player at the club but the team and system we played yesterday means that inferior finishers are getting the chances. No disrespect to Brown but I think we should be looking at players who are a little better than those that end up at Mansfield.
GMM, with all due respect I have seen most Town games this season. You are basing your opinions on 2. The first 2 games at home we played 4-4-2 and they were our most ineffective games of the season. As seemed to be proved last season, Collins and Barnett don't match. McAlinden and Barnett were the most likely combination for 2 up front pre-season. I am much more optimistic over the last 2 home games than the previous two. Hopefully, I will be at the next 8 games home and away and I will keep you in formed.
