Match Thread Home V Crawley(Creepy) Tuesday 13th April@7.00pm

Mansfield have the option of another year.Clough said he is monitoring his progress at City,before deciding whether to offer him a new contract.

 

There has to be a balance resting 3-4 players per game cannot be helping If all those are , in old terms in the first 11 then one can only bring in squad players which weakens the side by up to a third?

I hope I’m making sense Bots?

 

Donaldson and Sutton had to start last night, both for their energy and influence they bring to the team. We were as flat as a fart without them.

 

It’s not the first time we’ve been flat with Rowe and Vernham in the starting line up. I understand the need for rotation but at the business end you play your best 11. By resting you assume we’ll need them for the play offs but we’ve to get there first. Start strong then change after an hour if needs be. Don’t weaken your starting line up then hope the calvary will come to the rescue. It never ever works that way. Even for top sides.

 

Absolutely correct.

 

I understands Truemans words in the T &A this morning in that everyone needs to up their game and play a part but the last couple of games showed Donaldson and Cook needed to start upfront, What other teams would bench a guy scoring near on a goal every other game?

 

Think we all need a pep talk from Ryan.

 

It is not only the players that need to up their game, The management team need to up their game the same with better decision making and a positive attitude

 

I can see why Burton weren't interested in keeping Vernham. Apart from the odd flash he doesn't looking anything special to me. DMH would have got pelters on here for exactly the same performances.

 

I was one that was delighted at his signing but have been underwhelmed at his performances to be honest. Never seems to have the ball under control, always looking at his feet and that makes him look like a horse with blinkers on.

 

I've harped on about this countless times. If a club roughly at your level is happy for a player to leave there's a good reason for it. Put bluntly, they know he's rubbish. Of the six main signings in January only Canavan and Cook have had an impact. And now we're stuck with Vernam, Crankshaw and Rowe for another season.

 

He didn't fit in with the way Clough wants to play. And even so I'm still to be convinced about him. Another who has had numerous clubs. He's the best we have at the moment but we need to be looking for better. I would try to get better replacements for every single one of our players except Canavan. As a club we're never ruthless enough. I can imagine now how we could go this summer. Four or five new players, none really an improvement. Comments like 'He'll add to the competition for places in an already talented midfield.' That's been our way for a long, long time. If we really want to move forward we need a much more dynamic mentality and if we get one I'll be first to applaud.

 

So why did we sign him if T and S had input and we had looked at him for weeks??
I totlally agree with you and after doing my own research into Rowe and watching countless videos of him, its no surprise he looks lost when up top by himself.

 

I dont agree here at all.I think Cook is an excellent forward at this level, who's been banging goals in for fun with us playing very defensively. being a journeyman isn't always a good sign but in this instance he's more than done the job he came here to do. In Cook and Rowe I think we have two of the better forwards we've had at the club for some time, Vaughan notwithstanding. Our issue is that we are too happy to sit back and rely on defensive heroics every game

 

Bolton have pushed the boat out, the club understood in January that the players around their biggest spend, Eoin Doyle, simply weren't up to the level required to get promotion. I like the way they've built around Doyle but i don't think Cook or Rowe are good enough to warrant doing that, hence the 4-2-3-1 that they've stuck with. We may still go up with a bit of luck, if we do or don't the next transfer window will be a big statement of intent as to this clubs ambition.

 

A top post! And a great analysis of where sports science has taken us in football over the past decade. I agree that 4-2-3-1 isn't working for us anymore, because other teams have sussed us out. As coaches and tacticians, if you have two players, Cook and Rowe, who have scored an avalanche of goals between them throughout their careers, you MUST find and coach a formation that combines them both. We're too conservative tactically and other teams know this - which gives them the initiative in a carte blanche to go at us. The Grimsby and Crawley games were great examples of this. We beat a 10 man side that let's be honest were tactically smarter on the day - and then lost to one who knew exactly how to play us. Because currently we offer no surprises. Just hard graft. And though the latter is laudedle, a lack of cuteness and cleverness doesn't win you matches in the final run in.

 

I wonder whether Vernham needs to work more on the footballing brain side of things. He's quick, sometimes comes up with moments of dribble and pass that gets people excited. But more often, runs himself into cut-de-sacs, because his head isn't up, not sufficiently watching the opportunities and player movements around himself.

 

Stick to the same system and it's not working because teams have sussed us out. Change it tactically and we should stick to our own way of playing and let other teams worry about us. Who'd be a manager eh?

 

That's the job of good managers. Realizing that only idiots keep doing the same failing things in the hope that it will somehow change. If we have any chance left at making seventh, we MUST go for it. ATTACK, ATTACK! And you're absolutely right, let other teams worry about us, in that process.