Match Thread Home vs Oldham Saturday 14th August

Well you got the first bit right

 

I know you can’t say anything against him because of your debate about Stockton with @Kevin1954 but I stick to my opinion that you have to keep Cook in because he is our only natural finisher but his overal play is poor despite the effort he puts in probably why Mansfield wanted rid

 

Some are very stubborn, once their mind is made up it won’t be changed. Cook wasn’t special but he won his fair share and was pulled all over and was often isolated up top by himself. I’m sure Adams won’t have complained with his performance. Hopefully some service into him next game will see him on the scoresheet.

 

Ive never been involved in a debate about Stockton from memory!!

 

He occupied their best defender who was a blond lad and if you watch the highlights the blond lad gives away the penalty after he tackles Cook and then lunges on Angol

We don't get that penalty if Cook isn't playing well and competing for every ball

Oh and for any naysayers he got a direct assist for the first as well heading on to Angol to score

Cook was a menace and they couldn't deal with him or Angol at times

 

Stop moaning We Won!!

 

You sir are deluded. I have never debated with anyone about a player called Stockton.

 

Jeez there's some right miseries on this forum. The player who scored 2 needs coaching on how to score and the one who provided the assist and won the most aerial battles than anyone else in league 2 yesterday was crap and in their defenders pocket all game!

Yeah we got lucky in the end but it's the second game, we won that's what's important. Move on, get injured players back in, chill out and enjoy the win!

 

Most of them off the top of his head to no one.
He also lost a lot too.
I'm not anti-Cook by any means and I'm sure he'll score plenty for us this season. Goal assist apart, I don't think he was very effective yesterday though.

 

What do you expect when there’s no one within 20 yards of him? Some said he was dominated and didn’t win anything, this proves otherwise. His assist proves at least once he found someone with a vital contribution because of it. Angol was complimentary of him after the game and said they were getting a good understanding, Adams I doubt was unhappy either.

 

Does it? It records the number of aerial duels he won. It doesn't say how many he lost. What I saw with my own eyes was that more times than not he was outjumped by their CB. And others around me commented on the same thing.
On those occasions when he did 'win' the ball in the air he didn't get a controlled header or flick on, but merely the ball skimming off the top of his head in an uncontrolled way, usually to no one. On the one occasion when he did get a controlled head on, to Angol, we scored.
It happens. There will be other days when he has the regular beating of his marking CB. But yesterday wasn't one of those

 

Would you expect a striker to win every header over a defender 3 inch taller than him grappling with him, then expect him to pin point pick out players 20 yards away? For the goal Angol was finally close enough to pick the scraps it wasn’t a precise header to him as flick ons rarely are you need support for the striker if you play long ball.

 

No, I'm not saying I expected him to do so. Big hairy-arsed CBs in L2 more often than not win more aerial duels than they lose. But it wasn't just the aerial duels. I felt he lost the physical battle against Piergianni and was consequently fairly anonymous for most of the game. He's had much better games for us and will do so again. But the ball simply didn't stick with him, which was one (but not the only) reason why our possession percentage was so low.

 

Is @Dmitry posting a link to matches again this year I want to see the 18 elusive headers Cook allegedly won

 

What an attendance on Saturday the 5th highest in the EFL and bigger than Brentford and Burnley in the premiership

 

Whats rather ironic about the Cook situation is at the present moment in time we possibly have more players in our squad who can play wide Crankshaw,
Gilliead, Vernam, Eisa than ever before, I think Adams likes his present formation and will stick with it as long as we're getting results.

 

Yes.

 

I'm sure their fans feel a bit inadequate

 

Not right. He took the pressure of Angol by handling the big Centre Half that kept Cook quiet. Without Cook doing that chances are Angol would have been the one marked out of the game. To that extent it was a very telling contibution.

 

That sounds suspiciously like the 'presence' that Big Jim was often lambasted for on these pages - falling over a lot, not winning free kicks, top of the head flick ons to no one, but 'occupying' their big CB.