Not there tonight but it continues to be apparent we need a striker or two!....losing Ruscoe after 10 mins is a disaster....I hope we are looking again at the loan market...I am sure we are...much needed
And another goal for George Alexander at Slough, 5th or 6th this season? We really could do with a striker judging by the commentary tonight. Thanks Nigel and Mark.
Well if the commentary was anything to go by it seemed a pretty even game up until the penalty. Bloody soul destroying hearing us move the ball up field only for it to come to nothing time and time again. Cant fault the general play but.goals we need goals.
Watched the Worthing stream tonight and on the eye we play some lovely football but you just knew the only way we was ever going to score was through a Worthing mistake or a penalty. I felt the Worthing penalty was very dubious and won more so by the forward rather than any real offence by Burchell. Once that goal went in you could just sense our heads drop because they knew we just did not have the attacking threat to get back in the game. Somehow we must improve the forward line other wise its going to see us lose a lot more points when are performances deserve so much better.
Trust Danny though, weve come along way since Truro
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"Passion for the game.......is Passion for the game" 'Have you got the Spills to pay the bills?'
Again, we played some really nice passing football but we are toothless in attack. Once Worthing scored it was a game over. The penalty was soft and the referee was a homer. He gave some dubious decisions. Always thought we would lose to Worthing and it's the games against teams that will be in and around us we must win. We battled hard and frustrated them until the 2nd half.
I was there tonight. Had a few runs on goal in the first half but fail to shoot when I think we should. You just never know. We do put a shift in unlike last season but just didn't match the quality of Worthing who looked pretty good. They got double our crowd tonight compared to Saturday. The budget must be low and rightly so, so we just need to accept defeats like this. Tanga was motm for me. So unlucky losing a striker Saturday but we're still not creating things around the box or in the six yard area. Possibly a bit more long ball in the second half might have helped us.
I reckon we are at least 4 points short of what we deserve. Lost to Hemel to a penalty that Brad Quinton described as embarrassing. Lost to Taunton even though we dominated possession and territory. Sucker punched by Chelmsford. Probably should have held out for a point tonight. Worthing were good last season and took our pants down twice. They didnt tonight. The powers that be need to move heaven and earth to bring in a goal scorer otherwise we will have a nice easy on the eye team with no end product. Easier said than done I know.
We went in 0-0 at half-time which was probably just about right. Worthing are a decent side and for periods of the game it was just like attack v defence. As has been said, we desperately need a centre forward to bang in a few goals as we had some good movement tonight which invariably came to nothing in the final third. David Kamara started but was always up against it. Worthing were very quick to close us down & seemed to have an extra man on Lewis White and David Kamara! Tanga was lively, as usual.
Worthing were still coming at us and it was always going to be difficult to keep them at bay, but we were doing just that, so when they were awarded, what looked like a 'soft' penalty, we were absolutely gutted. The penalty was up the other end so we didn't have a brilliant view, but it just looked soft from where we were. 1-0 to Worthing and they still kept coming & duly made it 2-0. The should have made it 3-0 but their player put it wide. We didn't play badly but were beaten by a good Worthing side. Got to get that striker though.
Last season during our 5 month October to March slump I asked James Dunne what we needed to do to improve, as he was the captain, so I was interested in how he saw things. He said we had been unlucky, and needed to make a few new signings. I wasn't impressed with that, as it seemed irresponsible, poor leadership, passing the buck, rather than him acknowledging the problems came from within the team, so the solutions also had to come from within the team. A few weeks later he gave an honest interview where he really impressed me, saying we had underperformed for 15/16 games, weren't creating chances for the strikers. The whole team then took responsibility, pulled together, making options for each other, and we ended the season on fire, winning 5 of our last 8 games.
This thing about the striker this season reminds me a bit of this. On the one hand it was obvious from preseason onwards we dont have a consistent striker, so what is happening isn't a surprise. But it is a team game, so it is up to the team to come up with the answers, as the answers to us scoring are already in the team, and just need to come out.
I think a little rearranging wold help fix things. Our two best attacking players are Jephte and Lewis. Both often play wide, and often get great crosses into the box, with the problem we dont have the players with the suss to get on the end of the crosses, though hopefully that will develop. And the problem that when they are wide they are not as involved as they would be if playing more centrally. I suggest playing both as attacking central midfielders would improve things, as they would then both be more involved, and able to link up with the striker, and be in better positions to shoot. An attacking diamond of the striker, and Jephte and Lewis behind would be so hard to defend against, as at the moment our attack is cancelled out by opponents double marking our attacking player, but they couldnt do that if we have 3 in attack, 2 pushing up from midfield, so hard to mark.
Its just so painfully obvious isn't it? Another game against decent oppo where we're matched them in two thirds of the pitch for the majority of the game, but just absolutely nothing to work with up front. I feel so sorry for the midfielders - the likes of Paps and Vaughan give their all and what they're doing with the ball is good to watch...but you can see when it gets 30 yards out, they look up and there is nothing to work with at all
People might say we're not creating chances, but the truth is that quality forwards help create chances with their movement and the positions they take up - not to mention their physicality and instincts which can create the yard of space that's needed. Bless David Kamara - I'm not going to criticise a young fella who is clearly trying his best. Its not his fault that at 17 he isn't ready to be a starter at this level, but that's the sad fact. I could tell from minute one last night that another two big lumps were going to knock him around all night long and so it proved. So frustrating.....such good football, decent manager, such little end product
Judging by the commentary, a striker or two is absolutely pivotal. On a positive note, we do seem more organised in defence and midfield and are good value for the points we have on the board.
There is a football coaching book "How to coach a soccer team. Professional advice on building a winning team", that really helped me a lot when I ran teams, written by Tony Carr, who developed the young players at West Ham, in the era of Joe Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Jermaine Defoe, Frank Lampard.
He has trouble shooting bullet points on common problems, one that struck me relevant to us last year is unexpectedly also relevant this year.
"Problem: The team doesnt score enough: the team doesn't shoot.
Possible causes
1. The team suffers from a lack of confidence in front of goal.
2.The forwards lack technique when shooting.
3. The team does not get forward in numbers and the front players lack support especially from midfield players.
4. The attacking play is not direct enough. The front players overelaborate and pass too often instead of shooting."
Solutions
1. Dont criticise, encourage players more, shooting practice, make it clear in training missing does not matter, just keep trying.
2. Practice kicking and shooting every session. Consider if you can make changes to the squad make up.
3. Reemphasise team shape and responsibilities. Quickly get the ball to front players and have good width in attack. Push up from the back, which pushed the front players forward. Encourage the midfield to make forward runs.
4. Dont overplay in defence and midfield areas, hit the front players with the first ball out. Get crosses in early and shot at every opportunity, dont be afraid to miss."
The biggest error we are making is point 3, there looks like a void behind the striker, no one to take defenders away from the striker. I just dont think the midfield give enough passes to the striker to run onto. So the striker is often running all over the pitch to get the ball. When he should be more of a target to pass to. Alex and David have both scored a really well taken goal, but their supply has been so low they are having to make their own chances, and when one is tightly makred like they are that is a tall order to succeed in. Maybe playing David and Alex together in attack may be a solution, worth a look at them as a striking pair in training to see if they link up well together.
I don't agree with the analysis above. Kamara got the ball played in to him endless times last night and when he was on the shoulder of the defender - he simply doesn't have the strength, technique or confidence yet (which I stress is not his fault) to cope. There's enough coming down the flanks from the likes of Tanga, and through Paps and Vaughan in midfield. The manager knows it too which is why he went into the loan market for the Welsh guy and previously tried to get the lad in from Crawley (who ironically has joined Worthing). You will get a freak of nature striker like Rooney who is ready for the rigours of men's league football at 17, but they are few and far between. Talking to Polo yesterday and we agreed that young Kamara would ideally be loaned out a level or two down, or again being an academy player featuring in the lesser cups and being an occasional impact sub. He isn't ready at 17. Do any other teams in this division have a first choice 17 year old centre forward? No, and there's a good reason why. Its a role where players peak out often in their late 20s (sometimes 30 odd). Our choices are 17 and 19 and it simply won't work regardless of how creative the midfielders and wingers are
Really disappointing last night, we more than matched them in the first half but once again no end product. We created very little in the first half apart form a Papadopoulos shot when he was stretching and it just went over the bar. It was a silly penalty to give away as the forward wasn't in front of goal ,but unfortunately we did and when they scored I noticed our heads dropped and from then on it was always going to be tough to get back into it. I know Worthing like to play out from the back but some of thier play around the box was suicidal, a few times we caught them but it came to nothing. "Wingnut,Polo and myself was discussing on the way home of how bad our luck is to lose our new striker to that injury at PVR last week. We need someone else to come in obviously but the funds at present are probably not there PLUS Roscrow still needs to be paid. Anyway Tuesday is now done and now it's Bath on Saturday at PVR for us to regroup and go again.
Now for a rant.!!!
I'm getting really really (ill say fed up) with other clubs matchday staff when it comes to getting team sheets, if I ask for 4 sheets it's not just for me but for Mark Doig, Ollie Groome and Dave Budden. If its a problem I don't mind even paying for them as our media team needs them. When other team's media comes to PVR, Ollie Groome and i make sure they get whatever they need, and I expect the same when we travel and not filthy looks.!!! Anyway " UP THE WINGS"
I don't agree with the analysis above. Kamara got the ball played in to him endless times last night and when he was on the shoulder of the defender - he simply doesn't have the strength, technique or confidence yet (which I stress is not his fault) to cope. There's enough coming down the flanks from the likes of Tanga, and through Paps and Vaughan in midfield. The manager knows it too which is why he went into the loan market for the Welsh guy and previously tried to get the lad in from Crawley (who ironically has joined Worthing). You will get a freak of nature striker like Rooney who is ready for the rigours of men's league football at 17, but they are few and far between. Talking to Polo yesterday and we agreed that young Kamara would ideally be loaned out a level or two down, or again being an academy player featuring in the lesser cups and being an occasional impact sub. He isn't ready at 17. Do any other teams in this division have a first choice 17 year old centre forward? No, and there's a good reason why. Its a role where players peak out often in their late 20s (sometimes 30 odd). Our choices are 17 and 19 and it simply won't work regardless of how creative the midfielders and wingers are
We are a very young team. The average age is less than 21. Oldest player to start last night was Vaughan at 28. Kamara 17. Tanga 19. Paps still not 21 yet. Winterbottom 22. Several others 24.
When we had that sudden late improvement last season it was because we suddenly played as a team, all pushing up to support attacks, all dropping back to defend, playing a high press, and running into position for a pass so whoever had the ball had lots of options, so we had enough players to support attacks. Because we almost totally rebuilt the team our current squad don't have that recollection of what a team needs to do to control a game and attack as a team.
At the moment sometimes we lose our way in attacking play, doing too many negative backwards and sideways passes, instead of playing the ball forward quickly. This sort of negativity can creep into a team without anyone realising, against St Albans I noticed we'd have the ball in midfield, then do aimless passes backwards, and then pass it sideways, losing momentum, instead of looking to attack, whereas previously we have been more attacking. Football is all about opinions, but I do think a central midfield of Lewis and Jephte would score more and have more assists than Antony and James Vaughan
But losing by a dodgy penalty and conceding only one goal in open play scored fairly late on, after an even match up til then, wasn't that bad on reflection. Bath's form is very similar to Worthing's, so let's see what Saturday brings against Bath.
Just seen the highlights. That penalty decision is exactly as we saw it on the night - i.e. decidedly dodgy! There are Worthing fans that are saying it was never a penalty, so respect to them for being honest. Very crafty from their player as that referee clearly didn't need much convincing about pointing to the spot. It was definitely six of one and half a dozen of the other, in that challenge. However, Worthing's second goal was a beauty, especially with the dummy thrown in.
Some Worthing fans said that we were better than our league position suggests. It was clear that our players were gutted at the end of the game & we felt similar. I really hope the club can give Danny an extra few quid, if possible, because I have a feeling that this man will be able to push the club forward. We've had some bad luck with injuries... but bad luck runs out.
Good away support from us, as usual!!
Agree with the doubts about the penalty, having seen it the opponent was going away from goal, him and our defender were battling for the ball, and the opponent fell down trying to con the referee, and hope the ref didn't have the commonsense to ask himself why would a defender foul a player going away from goal.
We obviously have money issues stopping us from spending freely to solve the striking issues. Football can be smoke and mirrors, was seems successful may actually be failure, so Ebbsfleet won the league last year, which on the face of it was a success, but they lost £1.7M last season, after losing £1.3M the season before that, so it was all a bit of a fake bubble, buying success by paying salaries they cant afford. We have a budget of around £250,000 to pay for everything, ground maintenance, players, all the teams, and it is amazing how efficiently the owners are now managing within this restriction.
So this is why it is important for the team to find the answers within the squad, as we can't just go out and buy fake success like Ebbsfleet or Man City. And I wouldn't want us to, as Roy Keane said, football management is all about fixing things, so Danny has the interesting problem to fix of how to get the team to score more. He is a very successful manager so will work it out. The good thing is this league is very evenly matched this season, everyone beating everyone else, and only 3 teams haven't been beaten at least twice, so we have not fallen far behind the others while we are working out how to make our striking match the other areas of the team, as it is easy to overlook the positives, our keeper has hardly made a mistake this season, our defence is very solid just 8 goals conceded in the last 7 games, our midfield is very lively, and we just need to also click in attack to be successful.
Bobby Charlton once said if you don't shoot you can't score. He said he was never embarrassed when his effort flew over the crossbar. I think we need to shoot more. If the ball sails into Danson Park or Park View Road so what? Next time it might go in, hit the goalkeeper, defender, post or crossbar and be bundled into the back of the net. I would encourage the players to get into the box more and make their defenders make a decision. Practise shooting, practise penalties, identify who is our best penalty taker. I agree maybe have White or Tanga play upfront as a 10 maybe. We do need to be careful not to play too narrow though so I think one should still play out wide. I think Cameron Green is capable of being effective down the left wing so maybe Tanga or White on the right. Danny takes them for training and knows their capabilities better than us so I trust him to find the answers. I think given the youth of our attack we need two strikers to support and play off each other
Shock! There is some agreement with Alan! Lots of our shots are from outside the box. Apologies for anyone who has played football and already knows this, but me and my son have been practicing lofted passes and trapping them, and been slicing returns like mad, until we took a touch to take any spin out of the ball before returning it. Our shots are a bit similar, that take a touch idea, we are shooting from outside the box, instead of having the confidence to go on a run into the box, and then shooting from closer in.
I also think the two strikers is worth a try. We have seen what our strikers are like up front on their own, and it has been 2 goals in 8 games combined. As they are double or treble marked that isnt a surprise. I know Ade got cheesed off playing up front on his own, being marked out of the game. When you take a step back, and think that is what we are asking of a 17 and 19 year old, it isnt a surprise we aren't doing better in attack. Would any of us reading fancy playing as a striker with 2 or 3 marking one, and no one around from your side to help you? Yet that is what we keep doing.
The Worthing goal shows the importance of a team pushing forward, when it went in they had 3 in the box, and 2 just outside, when we attack we often have no more than 3 pushing forward in the attack, as James Vaughan is really like James Dunne, so doesn't play an attacking role, Antony does, but Jephte and Lewis are wide, so we only have the striker and Antony in the middle of the pitch in attack, and 2 attacking players against 3 or 4 defenders is an uneven match.
Sometimes if things aren't working one has to shuffle the deck, defence and keeping is fine, but it looks like we need to move midfield around so that the players with an eye for a goal (Lewis and Jephte) are more involved centrally, rather than them playing wide setting up great crosses to guys who dont have a great eye for goal, so aren't on the end of the crosses.
Have just seen the Worthing Pitchside channel. The pitchside
camera is extremely close to the challenge where the penalty was awarded. It's an absolute shocker from the ref but hats off to their player who should be on stage. I do recall that we were awarded a dodgy penalty at home to Forest Green Rovers about 10 years ago so we can't complain, eh?
Daniel and Alex have both scored a goal in the league. And also both goals were really good ones, so they definitely have talent, but the way they are isolated and marked out is holding them back from scoring more. Last year we started off with two very experienced - and no doubt expensive - strikers Ade and Stefan, so it is a big contrast to this season, and the lower budget, where we have a much more inexperienced attack. But they have potential and are developing. I listened to Nigel's great podcast interview with Danny, where Danny said the advantages of playing Lewis and Jephte wide, and I agree long term that could be best, but in the short term while the striking situation means our strikers aren't taking advantage of the wide supply, it would make more sense to play them centrally so they are more involved, and then move them back out wide when we have players who are better at getting on the end of crosses. Lewis is an important player for us, when he was injured we played less successfully than when he plays.
Daniel and Alex have both scored a goal in the league. And also both goals were really good ones, so they definitely have talent, but the way they are isolated and marked out is holding them back from scoring more. Last year we started off with two very experienced - and no doubt expensive - strikers Ade and Stefan, so it is a big contrast to this season, and the lower budget, where we have a much more inexperienced attack. But they have potential and are developing. I listened to Nigel's great podcast interview with Danny, where Danny said the advantages of playing Lewis and Jephte wide, and I agree long term that could be best, but in the short term while the striking situation means our strikers aren't taking advantage of the wide supply, it would make more sense to play them centrally so they are more involved, and then move them back out wide when we have players who are better at getting on the end of crosses. Lewis is an important player for us, when he was injured we played less successfully than when he plays.
Who's Daniel? I think you mean David, as in David Kamara.
