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Rovers v Pompey

bigmart

bigmart
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Ian Muir
Ray, Payne and ferrier were our highest earners until January and none of them have been a success, the squad is not balanced at all we have 7 centre miss on our books and only two widemen.
 
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Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
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Ray, Payne and ferrier were our highest earners until January and none of them have been a success, the squad is not balanced at all we have 7 centre miss on our books and only two widemen.
Strikers are always more expensive and the wages we are paying Payne and Ferrier, while high for us, are not high by League One standards. Which League One standard strikers should we have signed for the money we are paying Payne and Ferrier ? We enquired about Vaughan and many others in the summer and could not afford any of them.

We have not had seven midfielders on our books all season, as McCullough has only just signed and Woodyard is a loan player. Banks has missed much of the season through injury and his position needed to be covered. Gilmour is a kid and probably not good enough for the level.
 

bigmart

bigmart
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Strikers are always more expensive and the wages we are paying Payne and Ferrier, while high for us, are not high by League One standards. Which League One standard strikers should we have signed for the money we are paying Payne and Ferrier ? We enquired about Vaughan and many others in the summer and could not afford any of them.

We have not had seven midfielders on our books all season, as McCullough has only just signed and Woodyard is a loan player. Banks has missed much of the season through injury and his position needed to be covered. Gilmour is a kid and probably not good enough for the level.
We don't know if Gilmour is up to this level as he has not had a run of games, Accrington signed a striker from non league who has got double figures this season, maybe we could have done something similar
 
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We don't know if Gilmour is up to this level as he has not had a run of games, Accrington signed a striker from non league who has got double figures this season, maybe we could have done something similar
Fair play to Accy, but that is very difficult to do. Signing any player from non-league football is a gamble, as you have no idea how they will perform at the higher level.

If Mellon had gambled like that and failed, you would be on his case. In fact, that is exactly what he did do with Ferrier, Ray and others. Gambled on players that had succeeded lower down, in the hope that they would make it at this level.
 
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I should also say that recruitment is not solely down to the manager anyway. It also relies on scouting networks and the quality of the people negotiating contracts, etc.
 

bigmart

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Fair play to Accy, but that is very difficult to do. Signing any player from non-league football is a gamble, as you have no idea how they will perform at the higher level.

If Mellon had gambled like that and failed, you would be on his case. In fact, that is exactly what he did do with Ferrier, Ray and others. Gambled on players that had succeeded lower down, in the hope that they would make it at this level.
All signings are a gamble one way or another, in our case during the summer only Morris has done well and now we are trying to offload ray, Nelson and payne.
 
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All signings are a gamble one way or another, in our case during the summer only Morris has done well and now we are trying to offload ray, Nelson and payne.
Exactly, and the less money you have to spend, the more gambles you have to take. Clubs at this level with greater resources than us can cherry pick established players.

Mellon's recruitment was fine last season, when we were on a more level financial footing with the teams we were competing with for players.
 

Boz

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Iain Hume
Clearly we did not have the finances to compete in the summer with the likes of Vaughan and Maynard going to L2 sides. The squad MM put together was a mix of the experienced and injury-prone; Woods and Potter, players who’d experience at this level or higher Payne, Ray, Ferrier, Nelson, bolstered by promising younger players; CBT and loanees. I actually thought Payne had been around the level I’d expected and a little surprised he’s been totally frozen out by Micky. Personally don’t rate Ray at all and must count as an error of judgement by someone if he was one of the best paid of the summer recruits.

Agree that the mid-season additions are greater quality, though I wonder if Cook had been an option earlier would we had bothered going after Vaughan? Probably another wide option, particularly given RHM, who could fill in there being recalled would have been more valuable. A lot of Vaughan’s goals this season have been penalties, though he’s still got more from open play than our in-house strikers, so hard to call.

I agree with bigmart that Gilmour hasn’t been given adequate opportunity by Micky this season. In the absence of Banks, probably the best creative player in attacking midfield and less prone to giving away stupid fouls. Everyone was apparently below par at Bolton, so seems unfair to single out Harvey. I don’t know if he is good enough for this level but deserves more opportunity to demonstrate that he is.
 
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I was not singling out Gilmour. I like him and thought he did ok at Bolton. I was just pointing out that he is not an established player and won't be on huge money, if we are counting up numbers in the squad.

I agree with a lot of your other points.
 

Gray

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Ian Goodison... who else!
Not the result I'd predicted unfortunately and the first time I've seen us lose in ages (possibly since the play-off final against FGR).

A very frustrating day as I didn't think we were too bad or Portsmouth that good, but unfortunately our current team, for whatever reason, is easy to beat. Football can be a game of fine margins and but for a couple of individual errors and a us being a bit more clinical in front of goal we could have got a more positive result. All our problems come when we have the ball, we can't string more than 2 or 3 passes together, mainly because the second or third ball has to be struck 30 yards or punted blindly into space. I'm certainly no tactical genius when it comes to football but our lack of movement seems to be a fundamental problem, whether this is confidence, fitness or formation I have no idea.

I believe we're as good as down, there's simply not enough time to turn things around now and by all accounts not enough sign of improvement. I'm sticking with Mickey, partly because I don't think there's anyone better out there and partly through loyalty for a man who dropped two divisions and delivered two promotions. There are signs that the squad are still trying and playing for each other; after the goals went in yesterday there were plenty of fingers being pointed by the 11 on the pitch but I'll take that over heads going down.

Woods, Morris, McCullough and CBT all had decent games with Manny my MOTM.
 
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