Getting rid of Barrett will not be “cutting your losses”….  It will be cutting your standard!  Something I believe would be acceptable to many, if it meant replacing ability with effort!!  A move that will assist our downward slide, imho!

Dilly, I am not sure you would find many regulars at the Walks who would consider Barrett's contribution this season as being of NLN standard so how on earth could letting him go be assisting our downward slide?    It isn't a case of replacing ability with effort imo, heaven only knows AL has tried to accommodate him but the truth is we are in the relegation places having carried Josh this season and looks like AL is now thankfully putting the team above an individual.

What’s the problem they’re wrestling with?  Most talented player on the books.  Simples!

OK Dilly, a simple question for you, when was the last time you saw with your own eyes Barrett (again like B&G assume that is who you are referring to) have a big influence on a game at the Walks?  Would be interesting to know what serious offers we have had for him, personally if the fee for Crowther was £35k plus a sell on then basically we should be listening to any offer for Barrett - doesn't seem to be in managers plans and out of contract at end of season so as Mall says, time to cut our losses if we can find a buyer

Tomorrow could be a good litmus test as to where we are at.   AL’s first game in charge was a disappointing 3-1 defeat against Buxton.  Lakeland said the squad was unfit and blew up after 60 mins. 

By my reckoning ( I stand to be corrected) AL has brought in 8 new faces so the side now is really ‘his team’. 

Can we afford to settle for a point or is 3 points against one of the teams in the bottom half what we have to, not expect but now really need ?

A defeat tomorrow give Lakeland a return of 0.9 points per game, during his reign.  Hughes got the sack after registering just 0.8 points per game.

To be fair to AL, four of those 8 have signed in the past 10 days and Billy Jones has been injured so only really three AL signings in his squad for most of the time (Morrison, Walker & Rogers), although why Walker has only featured once off the bench is anyone's guess?  Will be interesting to see who he starts with tomorrow, probably only Jones, the three centre backs (by default), the new right back and Hargreaves (purely on commitment even when asked to do a role that isn't his natural or best) are inked in which is probably why we find ourselves where we are with no consistent selection or pattern of play.

Would obviously be good to get the win given Buxton's form but in light of how poor we have been since Christmas I would take a point, particularly if it comes with being more cohesive.  I know some would say they want three points however they come but we can't show up every 5th game (Scunthorpe, Southport) and then look like the players have never met each other in the games in between.

Quote from: TonyM on January 10, 2024, 09:22:13 AM

Quote from: Mallard on January 09, 2024, 09:16:50 PM

Interesting interview with SC on Radio Norfolk this morning.  It sounds like he still may have a few short term issues before the new owners start feeding the cash in

Any idea of rough time he was on Mall?  Thanks

3 hours 12 minutes.

Thanks B&G, just had a listen, SC certainly sounds as if a weight has been lifted although had to smile at his comment that he has been 'too open' with the fans!  Still very vague as to how the deal is structured and what they are actually investing in so hopefully they will allow SC to open up a bit more on that, if only so that expectations can be managed as to what we can expect to see going forward. 

Football has an uneasy relationship with venture capital and very difficult to see how they can get what they want (a return on their investment) whilst a football club can get what it wants (another source of finance to pour into the seemingly bottomless pit).  Generally venture capitalists aren't in it for the long term and Turn Capital say similar things in terms of their other invetments, looking for positive cashflow in 12 months and then flip their investments within 5 years so could be some interesting times ahead.

TonyM - I don’t think players really go on how the manager has set them up to play!  I think players only pretend to listen when the manager screams from the touchline and points in a temper to where they should go!  The manager, imho, before the game,  should merely tell them to try to always outnumber the opposition whether attacking or defending…

Are you saying you haven't seen the difference in Hargreaves this season to last year?  Under TW he was continually making runs from midfield beyond the forward line into space and drawing players with him creating space for others, this season he has 'sat' in midfield and hardly ventured away from the middle third of the pitch.  Also last year he was a key ball winner, now under AL you can see so often when the ball is potentially there to be won he stops himself and forces the opposition to play sideways / backwards but they still retain the ball as AL appears not to want his midfield to commit to tackles and risk getting beaten. 

Dilly this obsession with numbers is worrying me, are you sure you are not watching under 8s and the 'honeypot' formation?  There are many ways to set teams up, IC's midfield diamond and TW's dynamic midfield three were very different but both were effective and got the best out of the players available which for me is the key to good management, particularly when you are looking at non-league where clubs can't just go out and buy a ready made player to fit a certain role.

Not a dig at any individual but don't see how those who haven't been to many games this season can really comment, although I appreciate some games have been available on the stream (although probably the best performances - Brackley & Scunthorpe), as unless you were there watching the full 90 minutes yesterday it is difficult to understand quite how far we were off looking like a step 2 side - full or part time.

The worst part of yesterday were that this has been coming - the question was asked a while back about progress under AL and I said the emphasis on fitness, whilst perhaps necessary, seems to have been at the total exclusion of doing any ball or formation work and that can be the only explanation of yesterdays, being polite, 'hit and hope' tactics.  Appreciate Darlington were up for it to impress Watson but first half was just two very poor teams, the difference was that as the game wore on you could see Darlington trying to play to a plan and players working together whilst we, not for the first time this season, got more and more disjointed and the goal was a well worked passing move, again something that we look less and less like being capable of as the weeks pass. 

That said, however frustrating things are on the pitch, off the pitch seems even more so with SC's EDP article and programme notes being a mix of fantasy and self justification, neither of which went down well with the fans I spoke to on the terraces.  I just hope we can get to the end of the season and somehow there can be an orderly transfer of the ownership of the club to start afresh next year, probably at step 3, but yesterday didn't make me any more hopeful of that being able to be achieved.

Why would we want to lose Barrett?  The likes of Crowther can be made out of village players, whereas talented players are hard to find and keep.  JB has been the best player here throughout, and would have been even better had he had others of his level around him.  On the finance front, fingers crossed things aren’t as bad as have been painted.  Perhaps “Academies” can produce players, but I’m not a believer that footballers can be taught, and if the odd one is found he will be likely to go to a higher level.  There is a chance of avoiding relegation, but it is now looking difficult.  Suggest putting JB first name on the team sheet, and going for wins rather than holding out for 70 minutes a game…

Dilly, I assume you haven't watched too many games live this season with that statement about JB, it seems it isn't just me that would question it either and AL would also disagree, I think it was after the Boston home game he was asked if  the reason JB didn't make the bench was an injury and he said he wasn't injured, just not selected or words to that effect.  I don't think anyone doubts JB's 'talent' but when there is so little end product (as has been the case for most of this season and I would argue longer) then questions will be asked and it may be that he needs better players alongside him but given we have what we have then either JB needs to adapt (which he hasn't) or we go another route (which appears to be what AL is doing).

Hughes was being lauded until the Kidderminster play off debacle, where he was found out big time but has there been any discernible and consistent improvement under the new management team?

Rod, just for balance I disagree with Linnet's assessment above.  We have been a little bit better in some games under AL compared to MH, some of which could be down to better player availability (notably Crowther and Hargreaves).  The two games Linnet quoted - Scunthorpe was a backs-to-the-wall / attack vs defence for the second half and, as often happens with night games, everyone got behind the team and the players responded with a really good performance, being fair to MH we saw something similar against Brackley earlier in the season with a much less experienced side that again on the night put in a really good display.  As for Warrington, that was two poor sides who didn't look like would have scored in a month of Sundays and really didn't see that as a performance of note.

To be fair to AL he has inherited the squad and pretty sure it isn't the squad he wants but we have played a few different formations now and none have really looked like they are the right one to get the best out of what we have and we just seem to be searching for something that clicks - maybe that is what happened at Southport but with the same side against Boston (h) all the same frailties we exposed by not playing a left back, trying to cover it with McFadden and Rogers which I don't think works but having brought in a left back from Peterborough it seems strange not to play him.  Appreciate it is difficult to overhaul a squad mid-season, particularly with the financial constraints that we can assume are not helping AL but with a full time squad in a predominately part time league I would have hoped to see a bit more cohesion and pattern of play given the time he has now had with the players.