League Two Rovers v Stags

[Rockford's Love Child]

We still need about 7 or 8 points to get over the L2 survival line. Amy more performances like the last two and you start to wonder...

We won't need another seven or eight points to stay up. The points total of the second bottom team is rarely in the high forties.

In any case, we will get those points in the run of kinder fixtures next month when the injured players return.

 

[Ian]

15 shots in the last two games and zero on target says it all really

Yes, it tells you the strikers are garbage. Recruitment has been a disaster. We sold Doohan for funds and replaced him with a player that is just not good enough and he gets dropped after a few games. I would say our two best recent signings have been Bristow and Cogley, then I'm struggling with the rest.

The forwards are not natural goalscorers. There have been plenty of opportunities for goals, plenty of dangerous balls in the box over the last few games and noone on the end of them because they are not good enough to do so. Hemmings is past it IMO, Mumbongo is just not very good, Saunders puts in effort but isn't a natural, Burton is young and inexperienced, where do the goals comes from? A couple from Josh and Kieran in midfield and then it drys up.

Currently, if we go a goal down, we are in trouble. Today's game did not help because of the injuries but we are crying out for a goalscorer and as RLC mentioned a few days ago, we have not had one since Vaughan. People will call for Mellons head (no mention of the poor displays from certain players) but that is not the answer.

I'd like to know how a manager can win games when the players he has been given are not good enough. It doesn't matter about formations or players, there is noone in the squad that can score goals. Put five up front, we would still be hapless in front of goal.

 

[Ian]

 

[Ian]

Look at Nevitt. 7 games for Crewe. 0 goals, 0 assists because he is not good enough. That is what we are working with. In fact, I think he had a much better record at Tranmere.

 

[O4anotherplayoff]

Pulling together thoughts from a few earlier comments…

I’d say adopting a development model in itself is fine, but the way it’s been implemented so far has left a lot to be desired. The owner himself has made comments in that direction, and for that reason alone we can justifiably hope that lessons are being learned (and Micky can justifiably hope that he won’t have to carry the entire can himself).

As mentioned, it’s the long game. When it starts bringing in decent transfer fees, as looks very possible very soon, it’d start becoming harder to argue against. It’d also suggest, incidentally, that Micky does have some ability to develop younger players.

Of course, that’s all secondary to results and performances. They’re sub par, no doubt about it. Haphazard implementation of the new model is certainly a big factor in that, and other possible factors such as the manager’s ability, the budget, etc etc, are also obviously debatable.

Anyway, at least we can now justifiably claim to have too young a squad for promotion, whereas in recent years the accusation was it was too old! I think NP said the average age this season was 24 or 25, some two or three years lower than last season. Someone else can work out how much Clarkey alone was responsible for that!

Finally, I share people’s doubts about Micky being here next season, but I certainly don’t think his departure’s a given. I wouldn’t like to bet either way at the moment, tbh. And that’s besides the rather fanciful notion that a successful business turnaround specialist, of all people, would somehow leave himself unable to afford to dismiss anyone, but especially a manager, if he felt they were holding the club back.

 

[drwhoman]

With 41 points so far we will not get relegated. However, 32 games, 32 goals scored and 32 conceded sums up this zero sum season!

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

And that’s besides the rather fanciful notion that a successful business turnaround specialist, of all people, would somehow leave himself unable to afford to dismiss anyone, but especially a manager, if he felt they were holding the club back.

I don't think it would be impossible to sack Mellon now, rather it would simply be a waste of money even if we wanted him to leave (which I don't) given that we are not in danger of relegation. It is better for the manager's position to be reviewed in the relative calm of the close season.

I agree with most of your other points.

 

[O4anotherplayoff]

I don't think it would be impossible to sack Mellon now, rather it would simply be a waste of money even if we wanted him to leave (which I don't) and unnecessary if we are not in danger of relegation. It is better for the manager's position to be reviewed in the relative calm of the close season.

Exactly. I’d be surprised if Palios didn’t see it like that too, unless the relationship was to somehow break down before then.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Look at Nevitt. 7 games for Crewe. 0 goals, 0 assists because he is not good enough. That is what we are working with. In fact, I think he had a much better record at Tranmere.

Yes, those stats are interesting.

 

[ADD]

Agreed there is absolutely no point in sacking MM now unless you genuinely want to give Dawes and Parky a proper go which I very much doubt is the case or else MP genuinely feels under a different Manager we could still make the playoffs which I doubt also given there are 7 clubs ahead of us before the last spot all but 2 of whom have games in hand also.

Realistically yes the close season is the time to do it (if he is going to) when we will also have a better idea on how bad the finances are given MM would likely be the cheap option assuming he again agrees to leave Parky and Dawes in place.

 

[Boz]

We won't need another seven or eight points to stay up. The points total of the second bottom team is rarely in the high forties.

In any case, we will get those points in the run of kinder fixtures next month when the injured players return.

With 41 points so far we will not get relegated. However, 32 games, 32 goals scored and 32 conceded sums up this zero sum season!

I agree it’s highly unlikely we’ll get relegated, but 41 points is not a guarantee of survival. Think Barnet went down with 51 points, though that is something of an outlier.

While we do have easier fixtures on paper ahead, I’m taking nothing for granted. We couldn’t beat bottom side Rochdale at home for example. While the current crop of injuries will hopefully resolve over time, though from MMs post-match get the impression Morris will be missing for a bit, others will get injured and banned, who could be just as hard to replace.

FL survival is always the first target for me and we’re not quite there yet.

 

[bigmart]

Regardless of development model or not we are still wasting wages on players who are not going to play or have contributed little when they have played. The wages spent on Nolan, Lewis and Mumbongo combined could have been spent on a decent striker. The same thing happens season after season and is one of our bigger problems.
The development model will work over time if we can get decent fees and then replace the players without much if any drop off in quality. 100k profit is for Doohan is good but then replacing him with Hewelt the quality drops off.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Regardless of development model or not we are still wasting wages on players who are not going to play or have contributed little when they have played. The wages spent on Nolan, Lewis and Mumbongo combined could have been spent on a decent striker. The same thing happens season after season and is one of our bigger problems.
The development model will work over time if we can get decent fees and then replace the players without much if any drop off in quality. 100k profit is for Doohan is good but then replacing him with Hewelt the quality drops off.

No club ever has a 100% success rate with signings, so it is simplistic to argue 'if we did not sign x,y,z we would have a'. We have got less room for manoeuver than Mansfield or Stockport because they can spend almost without constraint and mistakes don't matter as much to them. They will have squad fillers sitting in the stands just as much as we do, but the overall quality of their squads is much higher.

However, recruitment has been poor for years now, under a series of different managers, and needs to be thoroughly reviewed. I fear that it might not improve until there are different people running the club, as the same individuals have overseen the process for some time now.

 

[bigmart]

No club ever has a 100% success rate with signings, so it is simplistic to argue 'if we did not sign x,y,z we would have a'. We have got less room for manoeuver than Mansfield or Stockport because they can spend almost without constraint and mistakes don't matter as much to them. They will have squad fillers sitting in the stands just as much as we do, but the overall quality of their squads is much higher.

However, recruitment has been poor for years now, under a series of different managers, and needs to be thoroughly reviewed. I fear that it might not improve until there are different people running the club, as the same individuals have overseen the process for some time now.

Or sign less players and use Fisher, Stratulis Burton etc to compete for places. Burton should start ahead of Mumbongo who frankly looks put if his depth.
Agree over recruitment, its been poor and unlikely to improve

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Or sign less players and use Fisher, Stratulis Burton etc to compete for places. Burton should start ahead of Mumbongo who frankly looks put if his depth.
Agree over recruitment, its been poor and unlikely to improve

We have only got a squad of twenty senior players and we need to cover injuries and suspensions. We can't sign three fewer players and replace them with one striker. It would not work.

If you think Burton, Fisher etc are the answer to our problems, I think you are clutching at straws. We need quality players on the bench for competition, not kids who have not made a senior appearance.

 

[bigmart]

We have only got a squad of twenty senior players and we need to cover injuries and suspensions. We can't sign three fewer players and replace them with one striker. It would not work.

If you think Burton, Fisher etc are the answer to our problems, I think you are clutching at straws.

I don't think they are the answer to our problems but Burton should be given a chance ahead of Mumbongo. We are on a dreadful run, the same old 442 is not working so why not try a different formation and give Burton a chance

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

It would not make a material difference if Burton started ahead of Mumbongo. Our problems are much deeper than that. There is no immediate, simple solution.

 

[Ian]

The season is finished. If we are to continue with the experimental model I really can't see much improvement next session unless we get lucky with signings which really is clutching at straws.

 

[ADD]

Burton looks far more likely than Mumbongo however - no coincidence that shortly after he came on he found space and was found with a nice through ball which required two defenders to close him down.

He may end up not being a new contract at season end but as of now he is better than Mumbongo and should start ahead of him particularly as MM is supposed to be supporting this development model. Mumbongo I am sure we can all agree will 100% not be here next year.

Burton has the added benefit of looking interested and motivated which sadly many of the players do not.

 

[bigmart]

The season is finished. If we are to continue with the experimental model I really can't see much improvement next session unless we get lucky with signings which really is clutching at straws.

There is no choice really than the development model, we cannot continue to make the losses we are as its not sustainable