Wasnt there yesterday was on way back from Lake District and approaching Manchester around 1pm very nearly hopped on the train to Halifax, thank god i decided against it!
Just from all the games so far though its plain to see the whole side lacks a presence, no presence upfront to bring best out in Madden
Zero presence and drive in midfield to dictate the game and provide ample protection to backline or give any significant supply to the frontline, i've shouted til the cows come home on here that will get nowhere with Collar and Croasdale in there, no pace or dynamism, Collar has to be the most identity less midfielder weve had, not a good holding player, not a box to box player, not an attacking midfielder, just meh in all facets which contributes to being bobbins overall, Croasdale just rats around with little quality, cant pass to save his life, no pace, the best midfielders even at this level should be capable of receiving the ball in tight situations and shifting it on quickly, thats how you stretch teams, he poos his pants and plays the negative ball back to Hinchliffe or gets caught in possesion like he did in lead up the 3rd against Yeovil
Backline Hogan has been an aberration this year and too rash, makes all the right noises in his interviews and generally articulates himself well but is not leading by example on the pitch by any stretch and one of first to call out others for his own shortcomings
Rusk said Fryers was 50/50 for the game same as Raikhy last week, did he not learn his lesson with Quigley and Raikhy last week to pick a half fit player? which brings me onto Fryers seems a panic buy only played just over 90 games in a 10 year career for a reason, does nobody vet these players backgrounds before brought in just as a name, look at profile generally players careers are on a downward spiral for a reason!
Upfront we have Reid and Madden who just dont compliment each other its one or the other with a player capable of bringing them into play alongside them, Reid is a big lad but very weak in physical battles but we should know what his limitations are and Paddy must be so frustrated with the constant shite being pumped up to him, the German lad not in squad again not having he is injured there is a pic on twitter of him getting off the coach in his training kit before game so he's obv fit to play but deemed unselectable, havent even seen him play as id gone to pub before he came on vs Yeovil, but surely if bring him in you should use him or at least be on the bench as an option to change things up
All calls to go 442 and suggestion is it made us worse yesterday, even had Whitfield's girlfriend tweeting clubs account saying has he been brought on yet, he'd been on 20 mins and being completely anonymous that even his biggest supporter didnt notice haha
It feels almost like team we built under McIlroy we dont seem to have much height or presence in the right areas, lack of pace and drive throughout the team
We have players that aren't battle hardened enough for this division likes of Fish and Raikhy arent going to be options we need to get us out the mire, need your proper hardened National League players through spine of your side at this level and some proper character, then add the so called extra quality alongside them to supplement the spine
The recruitment and profile of the squad is utterly scandalous given the outlay, the problem is there is so many within the structure that who is ultimately accountable gets diluted, but you'd have to say Wilson and Rusk will have to bear the brunt of this and maybe a simplified structure sack off DOF and 3 assistants on the bench, back a proper manager to make his own decisions on players with a bit of help from scouting network, so there can be no doubts the buck stops with them
Cos the team we have now lacks any identity of what it is we are trying to achieve, its rudderless, lacks leadership, powderpuff and goes missing at the first sign of adversity hence why folded so cheaply and tamely yesterday, pull your sleeves up and accept not everything in a game will go your way and find, some, heart and pride the type of things money cant buy, but make sure we are doing some proper diligence on the type of player and character we are bringing into the club that will provide the effort and desire the fans deserve and Mark Stott deserves too given his willingness to invest
We are miles off the pace in a lot of areas and dont think its knee jerk to say a change is needed, as title hopes have probably already gone, so time to act before playoffs become a pipe dream and season is a write off as a whole