View attachment 26079 As a fan Its easy to get frustrated or confused when the club is struggling to score goals and we are playing with unfit strikers and a midfield lacking some flair guile and experience needed to control the games and link the play. Not to say that the young players are not working there socks off but consider this. Mr Higgs stated in a recent comments Mr Ward's comments to a BBC reporter appeared to contridict this yesterday following our defeat to Plymouth,the reporter enquired as to if Ward would seek to bring fresh faces in notably to bolster our non existant attack force and Ward replied saying (Jist of not word for word reply) He then went on to say Funny how this conflicting statement had been left out from the comments on the BRFC website which were posted by CJS to keep us up todate. Higgs stated So Gasheads Is Ward playing a dangerous game by not going into the market to shore up a strike force that is short on match fitness and goals or has the chairman stated cash is avaliable but Ward has been told you cannot have any of it at the moment? The statements not only are contridictory but if you read Wards statement it appears that we are building for the long term and have no REAL ambitions to escape L2 in the short term.Unless the league fine us heavily along with City for the scenes at JPT we also pick up a decent wedge of extra monies not factored in for that game by the bean counters. Even when Harrold Brunt Richards and Clarkson are fully fit we do not have the where with all to score enough goals to win the required matches in this league to at least reach the playoffs. The club appears to lack any real Ambition this season seemingly happy that we escaped relegation last year and need to stabilise the club this season,just stay up this year which is dissapointing. If they have a long term strategy in place I challenge them to reveal it to supporters, perhaps they feel they cannot, as it will have a detrimental affect on gates and impact finances.ie if they said that we are not looking to gain promo this season would you have bought a season ticket or gone to watch as many matches. In the meantime consider this, are they taking our monies for season tickets and matchdays on false pretences I am sure this is not the case however,if not they should not treat us like mushrooms and fob us off. The Football club means more to us than just watching them on matchdays. COR
I'm not sure that the statements are entirely contradictory. Have we reached a stage which can be considered an emergency? Clearly not. I believe that JW wants to get those who are injured and not long for return, back into match fitness, so that he can assess exactly what he needs. We are not miles away from where we need to be in the table. although we would wish to be in a better position. The major difficulty which was very much exposed at AG, is that our style of play fails miserably in the final third. For some reason the team worked the ball forward really well until they approached the penalty area, then everything fell apart. Weak shots from outside the box just won't do. I was pleased to see that Harrison was played up front at Plymouth, but it is pointless unless the team can work the ball to him on the ground and get him into the box. He's good on the ball and could trouble defences either with open goal chances or penalties. In other areas of the pitch the youngsters seem to have performed far beyond expectations and we can take some comfort from that. The lads learned huge lessons on how to overcome an attacking force at AG, don't keep backing off, go get it, so what went wrong at Plymouth?
we may have the funds to bring in a player but due to the wage cap we cant do so. we may have to shift people out on loan to get someone in. example, kenneth and gill are back but not match fit. send them out to get fit and their wages could free up a lot as i suspect they are high earners. then again, will we find a team who can afford to pay their wages! i dont think so. i suspect as we get players back from injury and therefore have a bigger squad size, we can afford to send some youngsters out on loan to build up their experience and be then able to bring in someone. we do have a big squad on paper if all fit. nearly enough to have 3 full teams. ward seems happy to wait until they are back as its the same squad we had while on promotion form last season under ward. whats the difference? youngster have gained more experience. players have returned from injury. really we are actually better off now than where we were under ward when we were winning every week. i just dont get it. ward has said he needs to manage harrold, brunt and clarkson as they are all struggling with fitness due to their injuries. so they need games under their belt. bring in someone new to start playing games then that puts harrold, brunt and clarkson behind. ward i think will wait to shift people out before getting someone new in. if we can be more attacking then thing be better. the fans be more supportive. at home we go all out attack to get an early goal and we have done so 2 times out of 3 games. then we sit back and go defensive. attack attack attack.
I think we do need to wait a few more games before we hit the panic button and go in search of a loan striker. Our lads upfront may well deliver the goods soon, especially Brunty when he regains match fitness. Rome wasn't built in a day. Ward has come in and steadied the ship and stopped us leaking goals. Now that we're more solid he can concentrate on our attack.
Saph understand your comment just to clarify one says we cant due to wage cap rules no money (Ward) The other Higgs say we have money but dont use it.I could agree if Ward says we have some but Higgs would rather I persevere with current players until we are in the mire and we are not going for promo this year but he has said its down to the wage cap. One of them is not communicating very clearly or thinks we do not deserve the truth. BB He did that last year BB (steadied the ship toughned up the spine), as for leaking goals we currently have a -1 league av have lost our away games (not including the City game) in part due to the midfield not providing enough protection for the defenders my view is that the midfielders are to attack minded and we need Lockyear in the middle alongside JJ to break more of the game up. As for the attack Richards blows hot and cold (injured) Brunt would be better alongside a proven striker not sure Harrold due to his serious injury will regain his sharpness (i truly hope he does).Having watched all the matches this season I do not see where the goals are going to come from it seems if Wards tactics are barring the York game keep it tight at the back hoping we dont concede and nick a goal, but we just do not create enough chances, when we do the strikers are no where to be seen except behind the defense, we also do not control the final third enough to bring the attack minded midfielders into the game. Capt the issue appears to be that no one wants Gill,Richards or Kenneth who seem happy to take the money and warm the bench whilst Ward perserveres with the youngsters. COR I suppose he is doing the best he can with the players he has.
Higgs did say that the money was for a contingency, so it shouldn't be spent unless we're in the ****, which we're not. The thinking behind playing Ellis up front is to inject a bit of pace into our striking options. Ellis originally was a striker, so he should be able to deal with the change. We still have Hunter and Santos as options out wide and we know that Smith and Brown can deliver a decent ball if given the opportunity to get forward. I do share your frustrations, CoR, but it's early days and we always seem to improve the longer the season goes on.
I go along with most of the views here even if they seem not to be compatible. We are in a predicament which has been caused by the injury list. I just wonder if JW shouldn't just bite the bullet and get the senior players back into the team. Those who have been on the bench recently still haven't been on the pitch. As I said before the Plymouth game. I like the idea of Harrison squirming inside the box. He could cause our opponents a few problems. But we need to work the ball to him on the ground so he can try out his skills where it matters. I would rather try something out risking a three point match now, than keep leaving the attacking problem which doesn't look as though it is going to be resolved with the current set up.
BB our youngsters I agree should get some game time however this is a tough old league and most of this emerging talent are under 20 and do not enjoy playing many friendlies and lack match fitness or toughness. BB I really like Santos although from what I have seen so far unless he gets protection from the ref he is knocked off of the ball far to easily and provides absolutely no sheild or support for Brown if the opposition load the bases in that area of the field,Santos also struggles to put in a good cross (something they can work on in training no doubt). As for Shaquille Hunter he has only just turned 18 and played only 7 plus minutes in the first team vs Exeter, so little time on the field of play to form any kind of judgement,apparantely he is a really good prospect but again you are placing a lot of pressure on a youngsters shoulders BB to play a big part in our revival.Worth giving at least 30 mins or so especially if we are cruising for a good win.If he performs then he will get more game time and secure a starting berth similar to Ellis. He might turn into an Ellis H who is almost 20 yrs old which would be a bonus.With Ellis in attack he wont need to worry about his defensive duties which may mean he can pace himself better lately he has been struggling in the later stages of the match if he is more of a striker that would explain why. Saph makes a good point about risking three points at this stage of the season,one note of caution once you get dragged in to a relegation dogfight its difficult to put a run together in this league to get out of trouble especially if the team is full of youth players who have not experienced it before. As for the contingency fund BB its more that Ward has said the opposite he cannot spend any monies due to Wage cap so Higgs could have a £3M contingency (dream on) and Ward would be unable to use it due to revenue vs player budget rules. COR
