T&S..... sacked

They weren't solely PE teachers though were they? And certainly not once they started rising through the NL tier system
You're believing the romantic spin the newspapers have put on it.

The year prior to being appointed at Lincoln, Cowley was at Braintree in the National league and finished in their highest ever position of 3rd, only to lose out Grimsby in the play offs.

Lincoln at that time were also in the National league so it wasn't even a jump up a division. Couple that with a few promotions on their CV's and you can see why Lincoln moved for them.

 

Some good points there. First thing Trueman needed to do when he came in was go to a formation that stopped us looking like we would concede at least three a game. It worked, we became very hard to beat, primarily down to willigness for the whole team to defend as one. The long term side effects of it were the lack of chances created and the xG stats backed this up. The percentage of chances we were converting was never sustainable. Evans and Clarke may have added to the defensive unit but added nothing in an attacking sense, something crucial when going with a 3-1 upfront. And the danger with Cooke being the only working creative outlet, Vernam and Crankshaw hardly made an assist or goal between them, was if he gets injured. Which he did.
If we do stick with Trueman and Sellars moving forward they and Turnbill have to decide which players need bringing in and releasing. In midfield the trio of Watt, Sutton and Cooke works to an extent but non of them are good enough to make a midfield two together. Which means if you are looking at a switch to two upfront then we need new central midfielders. Our best player in Cooke is a ten, if you want to go 4-4-2 as some cry out for then he's not what you're looking for.
A lot of questions with this squad no matter who is charge.

 

It does sound romantic that a pair of PE teachers take a team up the football ladder, in between taking school lessons. Also with the Cowleys Danny is the manager and its something we need to bo with, i'm not a fan of this joint manager rubbish.

 

I thought there'd been some good debate both for and against you'll get the same posters going ott but the majority have given their reasons why they would keep T&S and vice versa.
My worry is that after a great run achieving league safety they cant buy a win but not merely are we not getting results were creating little going forward, they have a preferred system and more players (their signings) to strengthen that original squad McCall left yet resently we look lost, but more to the point Mark has then done his post match interview and made comment that just weren't what we fans were seeing, the Tranmere post match interview being the worst so far, dominated the game, created chances, if we continue to play like we did we will win more games than we lose, that's gone well.
I don't envy Ryan's job it's a big call as has been posted no guaretees with any manager if that's the way he goes if he sticks with T&S they do have to get the team off to a good start, after what fans have been through in the last 14 months I feel a poor start will not be tolerated by the fans.

 

There's also a huge issue with Cooke though. He's a decent ball player and fits in well to how we want to play but he doesn't score anywhere near enough.

A player in such an advanced role needs to be aiming at double figures for the season to help take pressure off the lone striker but I'm just not sure Cooke has the finishing ability to do that.

Of course the other solution is to have a goal threat from the wide areas like you mentioned but its probably more difficult to bring in that sort of player compared to a "10".

 

The only time we don't look static is if Cooke breaks or Suttons goes on a run. Its one of the reasons it was right to let Rowe go, theres very little movement upfront unless Novak plays. You cannot play a 3-1 attack with such little movement, the ball just ends up back with your defenders.

 

It is the weak part of his game and you do need a 10 to weigh in with goals if you're only going with 1 upfront. That is where Rowe was better, unfortunately the rest of Rowes game doesn't fit the team ethic that Trueman was looking for, he relied on Cookes workrate to help out an average midfield two of Sutton and Watt. Without Cooke those two look bang average. At league 2 level the compromises are huge becasue players are very limited.

 

A lot of it is coaching, I'm convinced. I don't believe that many of the sides above us have markedly better squads than we do - though I certainly think our squad lacks quality.

Its a genuinely tough decision re. T&S and its where Sparks will need to earn his corn as CEO. There are compelling arguments either way. If you step back from having watched the games closely, you could take a view that their points per game performance over 30+ games is top 7 level and that they've achieved that without the best of squads, as completely new managers to the game. And that on that basis, they deserve to be invested in and backed with a better squad and with a full summer behind them.

Or, you can look at the games themselves and question the extent to which their overall record was influenced by a 10 game period immediately after they took charge, where there may well have been a new manager bounce and several games that we shaded without being convincing. You can look at numerous decisions around team and tactical selection and in game management and conclude that they just aren't up to it or ready yet.

I'm in the latter camp, but I expect Sparks to keep them for the start of next season.

 

Cooke as a 10 would work if the wide players had more of a goal threat. Vernam and Crankshaw started brightly for the first 2 or 3 games but very quickly dropped off.

 

He won't get an easier chance than the one he missed at the Kop end on Tuesday night.

 

He took it with the wrong foot. A confident player just side foots that in with his left but he pulled it wide because he tried to open his body up to get around the ball.

 

But if were gonna be relying on Crankshaw and Vernam we may as well go 4-4-2 with Cook and a.n.other. It has been the weakness of the 4-2-3-1 in that there is so few goals in it, especially as there has been little goal threat in Evans, Clarke, Cooke, Crankshaw, Vernam, Stevens. Sutton offers more of a goal threat than any of these and it should be the other way round. We've got to where we are with a great defensive team effort during the good run. Unfortunately that will not get us promoted next season.

 

Personally, I think all of Sutton, Vernam and Crankshaw need to be improved on, in terms of starting roles. Though Vernam has something about him.

 

Good players at this level stand out like a sore thumb. take Mendes Gomes for instance at Morecambe. Looked a real talent when we played them, now has 15 goals and 4 assists. The sort of striker/winger we are desperate for. Obviously now way out of our league with teams in the divisions above looking at him. Even using Ian Henderson as an example, i know Salford are paying mega bucks but still way too good for this division.

 

Looking at the minutes per goal ratio and its clear Andy Cook is a player at this level that its worth bringing back and buliding a team around. Only the likes of Mullin, Vaughan and Watters are above him in goals per minutes ration. As we stand we ain't gonna get any better.

 

The difference between big clubs and those perennial tin pot ones is the big clubs know you cannot do it with rookie managers, They go for the best they can afford or attract, And if they do think they make a mistake they correct it quick

 

And he's not exactly had a high quality of supply, has he...

 

I've been saying that a diamond in midfield gets us 2 up top and Cooke behind for weeks now. It was initially to get an extra forward on the pitch (Rowe) without losing Cooke but even since then the wingers have kept on misfiring so it would be absolutely no loss to play a bit narrower.

The big problem of that shape being that we don't have a decent DM but it was still with a try with perhaps AOC plugging that particular gap.

 

Nor do we have full backs who could provide the right combination of width and being solid.

Any way you spin it, we probably need a keeper, 2 full backs, centre back, DM, winger or 2 and striker for next summer.

Almost a new side.

 

Don't forget a new management team that will have enough arrogance to set us up to get at teams, especially at home.