Most liked posts in thread: Players out of contract in June 2023 including Retained List

Luckily, I'm on lunch and love a stats dive. Alex Gillieads season compared against every other CM who had 15 or more L2 games was.....

Successful tackles per game, he is joint 9th with 2.6 per game. Sylla at Hartlepool was top with 3.6 followed by Moxon at 3.4. Smallwood was also joint 9th.

He was also 9th for attempted tackles per game at 3.7. McEachran at Swindon attempted the most tackles per game at 4.8, Moxon 2nd at 4.3. Smallwood was 13th with 3.5.

He was 47th for interceptions at 0.7 per game. Ashley at Colchester was highest with 2.6 per game, followed by Eastmond at Sutton with 2.2. Smallwood was joint 15th.

He was also 47th for fouls committed per game with 0.9. Smallwood was 24th.

Statistically across all metrics, Smallwood was actually the 3rd best midfielder in the league behind Moxon & Watt. Gilliead came in 37th.

 

Not once (that I can remember) did a midfield of Smallwood and Gilliead, dominate a game this season. That for me is a reason why we need to upgrade one or the other. We never set a platform to build from and of the two, Gilliead would be the one to make way. Smallwood came from a championship club, where his main role was to break up play, get in the way and pass to the playmaker. Unfortunately Gilliead isn’t that player. We need a midfielder who can pass the ball well. Clayton had the eye for a ball, but doesn’t have the legs and was rightly released. We need a Moxon or dare I say Watt type player who get more effective passes right than wrong. If you’re low on scoring, you’ve got to create more chances. In Cook we had someone who made a fair few chances on his own. Imagine what his tally would be if Moxon was dropping them on his head consistently all season? Gilliead for all his efforts has never been in a successful team. If we want to progress we have to do much better in a such a key position on the pitch. And then throw in true box to box midfielder for good measure.

 

Clayton is a no brainer to re-sign, for me, even if we go up. He may not start that many games but his calm experience and ability to take control makes him an ideal sub and cover for injuries.

 

It’s David Baldwin who we want back.

 

There is no way on this earth I would welcome that odious individual back into our club

This is the same guy who was the Chief Exec of the Football League, and amongst other daft schemes, is solely responsible for effectively killing the Football league trophy by introducing B teams into it

 

He's a block tackler. He's not strong in the tackle. He doesn't go into a tackle to clear the ball out but to try and block the ball and create a turnover. Often, that results in the other team going past him and carrying on with their attack.

Would you play him ahead of Gary Jones and Nathan Doyle? Course you wouldn't because he isn't a central midfielder and doesn't have the qualities they have.

His best attributes are his stamina - he can run as well at the end if games at the start - and his ability to carry the ball up the pitch but his decision making is awful, his passing is either inaccurate or too firm and he has no idea when to shoot and isn't good at it either.

 

I'm not so sure with Clayton especially if we go up. I think we were starting to see the signs that his legs were going a bit. Happy to be proved wrong but I think he would be a risky one

 

As detailed in a previous post, the communication is there. You just have to read it?
Don't go to Spain. It's a friendly. The club won't fold because you don't attend a pre-season friendly. You don't have to attend.
He's brought in a Head of Recruitment. There weren't too many grumbles about the recruitment last August?

You're just bashing Sparks because we didn't get promoted.
If Lewis makes a couple more saves on Saturday or Crichlow defends a bit better and we win, then Sparks is a god because you're buying a ticket for Wembley.

You conveniently missed off record commercial revenues and record attendances. But they're nothing to do with Sparks are they?

 

Get the central midfield and left flank sorted and most wouldn't even be thinking about our full backs. Your midfield dictates how good your full backs are.

 

Maybe so. And right now, I'm still pissed off and miserable at our limp playoff showing. But its deeper - our limp, backfoot and safety first football was evident most of the season. I fully expect more of the same next season. It all feels like such a wasted opportunity. We have a decent budget, by far the biggest crowd. A properly sized squad with a little more quality, more energy and pace and with a more direct style could take this league by storm. Since we came back down to this sh*t hole league, have we ever had a single season where the fans really bought into what we're doing and used to create momentum? Not to my mind. The players last season were more likeable and I think they cared. But the playing style was far too dull and pedestrian. Teams enjoyed coming to VP much more than they should be allowed to do.

 

If we start with Smallwood & Gilliead as our central midfield next season we won't be going up.

 

Central midfield needs an upgrade in the summer. If we offer new deals to Gilliead and Clayton with having Smallwood, East and Osadebe already under contract, we don't have much wriggle room.

 

Full credit must go to the frustrated players on the sidelines who didn't go to Daddy and complain, or publicly throw the toys out of the pram.

We all know every player wants to be on the pitch, but there's a right way to handle disappointment, and these lads all did that.

Good luck to them.

 

What could go wrong......?

 

We might. But I’d have taken the opportunity to move Gillead on and create another opening. With Smallwood and East, moving Clayton and Gillead on would have opened 2 central midfield roles. Thats the sort of change we need.

 

This is the issue in a nutshell. Gilliead is not a playmaker and neither is Smallwood. Either or of them with A. N Other who is a playmaker would be fine, but both of them together doesn't work if we actually want to be an attacking force rather than a safety first one.

 

Chapman spent a lot of time played out of position and that seemed to knock his confidence. Once he was back on his favored left side he started to hit a bit of form and you could see his confidence was starting to come back.

 

Not Clayton for me if we go up.

 

I wouldn't want to send East out on loan. I really like his calm composure when he comes on. He is quite slight, but he can pick a pass and keep control of midfield. He is a keeper for me.

 

He's scored a couple of eye catching goals where his touch, technique and finishing was way above this level. I thought at the time that we might actually have a real talent that could progress.

Sadly, for the time being at least, that doesn't seem to be the case.