| Five things Stockdale needs to improve for the 2022/2023 season. on 14:13 - May 25 with 3215 views | samueloneils |
I felt right from the start of the season that the whole squad was unbalanced in that there was no real strength in attack other than Beasley, and when he left we were left with 2 rookie new starters, neither of whom was a target man.
Campbell was completely lost with his back to goal and both he and Charman, to my mind, are what we called No 10`s, crying out for someone to hold the ball up. I don`t see them improving this season in their current roles.
In midfield . Kelly was allowed to wander. He is a liability in his own penalty area, and surely there was a good reason to play him upfield at corners to keep some defenders occupied. Grant is a fine young player and needs to be used alongside Kelly for attacking ideas.Brierley is a star of the future I am sure.
Ball does not appear to be the midfield general we hoped he was. Is he a Lund?- I`m not so sure. I don`t think the 3 January signings helped very much, though injuries made matters worse.
The truth is O`Connell carried the team through the season, and I believe avoided a relegation.
In the previous season we had more wing play (when BBM concentrated on team selection). Keohane scored 10 goals(2 this year) in Div 1 against far superior opposition.
Odoh always looks to attack and is no mug in defending his wing as well. O`Keeffe ??- there is a player there.
So to balance the squad, and avoid the genuine risk of relegation in a tougher League 2 this year we need:
A target man attacker.
A midfield general.
A completely new defense if EOC departs.
Not much to ask is it?
Seriously- so much depends on RS`s recruitment- it needs to be much better than January. And it won`t be easy. He has made a good start with O`Donnell in goal.
We scored 10 less goals this year but conceded 19 less. I don`t think we will get away with a tight defensive policy again, and I think the fans deserve better. 18th in League 2 is not where anyone wants to be. Accrington, Morecambe, Fleetwood put us to shame.
Distracted by the hostile takeover?- I dont see it. |  | |  |
| Five things Stockdale needs to improve for the 2022/2023 season. on 15:05 - May 25 with 3105 views | boromat |
I think RS went through a similar process as BBM trying to get a balance with the players he had. We'd lost Lund which made it difficult. And then Morley and Beasley in January was a big ask.
My observation was that RS wanted to play 433 maybe knowing we didn't have a midfield pairing that was strong enough but also to be able to press with numbers higher up the pitch.
Unfortunately the defence didn't materialise as he would have hoped as a 4 and we were leaky as anything. The only option to stop shipping as many was to go to wingbacks with 3 central defenders and it did help defensively and when O'Keefe was on form early season we looked like we were on the up. However teams soon sussed us out and we became a team that were still harder to beat but at the expense of getting forward and scoring goals. The XG for me was a red herring. We never looked convincing in front of goal.
Hopefully RS now knows exactly what he needs to play how he wants for next season though! Already looking forward to it. | |
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| Five things Stockdale needs to improve for the 2022/2023 season. on 15:33 - May 25 with 3011 views | kel |
Some good points already. Stockdale realised pretty early on that we needed to become harder to beat, unlike BBM who refused to change his rather shite ‘philosophy’ which saw us get heavily beaten on a regular basis. Yes it was as the expense of goals at the other end but I’d take that any day of the week over embarrassing performances like Peterborough away where the bloke clearly showed he’s not capable of managing a mens team once they concede early on. |  |
| “He was deliberately misleading the EFL” |
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| Five things Stockdale needs to improve for the 2022/2023 season. on 16:08 - May 25 with 2907 views | Dale_4_Life |
Ball can and will be a midfield general. The fella could be a beast. Full pre season behind him and watch him fly...
Charman will kick on again I am convinced he will be excellent this coming season.
Campbell not so sure but he was asked to play a role that nullify his obvious strengths.
Recruiting now is key and in Robbie I have respect.
Ethan Brierley too with a full pre season I think we will be more than ok. | | | |
| Five things Stockdale needs to improve for the 2022/2023 season. on 16:17 - May 25 with 2875 views | D_Alien |
One particular point i think needs making, is based on the thoughts we've seen expressed on here and elsewhere during the course of the season - and in particular when things started going downhill during the late autumn - that Stockdale was being granted greater patience by the fans due to the events around the attempted hostile takeover
By the same token, and due to the fantastic efforts of all involved in fighting against that attempt, it's also possible that our desire to have a team which reflects those efforts has become a burden for him too. As a new manager, the entire first season should realistically be seen as a "feet finding" exercise. Stockdale obviously impressed at interview and has continued to do so in his match interviews, and seemed to acknowledge that mistakes have been made
We can't let our desire, shared by all of us, to have a team which we feel is "worthy" of the efforts to keep the club alive lead us to be too critical of his first season in charge. It could have been much worse, but we now have a base upon which to make a more settled assessment of Stockdale's capacities as a manager
[Post edited 25 May 2022 16:20]
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| Five things Stockdale needs to improve for the 2022/2023 season. on 16:21 - May 25 with 2865 views | isitme |
| Five things Stockdale needs to improve for the 2022/2023 season. on 15:05 - May 25 by boromat |
I think RS went through a similar process as BBM trying to get a balance with the players he had. We'd lost Lund which made it difficult. And then Morley and Beasley in January was a big ask.
My observation was that RS wanted to play 433 maybe knowing we didn't have a midfield pairing that was strong enough but also to be able to press with numbers higher up the pitch.
Unfortunately the defence didn't materialise as he would have hoped as a 4 and we were leaky as anything. The only option to stop shipping as many was to go to wingbacks with 3 central defenders and it did help defensively and when O'Keefe was on form early season we looked like we were on the up. However teams soon sussed us out and we became a team that were still harder to beat but at the expense of getting forward and scoring goals. The XG for me was a red herring. We never looked convincing in front of goal.
Hopefully RS now knows exactly what he needs to play how he wants for next season though! Already looking forward to it. |
What we lacked was balance in midfield, especially when Morley left and Ball got injured. Kelly/Dooley and Broadbent offered little in terms of running threat or defensive stability.
With a 433 you can play a sitter, a ball player and a runner. I think Ball could play as the attacking one of the three and Kelly/Brierley could be the ball player, but has been mentioned numerous times we need that holding player who can glue everything together. That way your full backs can still be attacking, but you have the defensive cover.
The XG shows how poor we were in front of goal in terms of taking our chances for long stretches of the season. |  | | |
| Five things Stockdale needs to improve for the 2022/2023 season. on 17:40 - May 25 with 2684 views | boromat |
| Five things Stockdale needs to improve for the 2022/2023 season. on 16:21 - May 25 by isitme |
What we lacked was balance in midfield, especially when Morley left and Ball got injured. Kelly/Dooley and Broadbent offered little in terms of running threat or defensive stability.
With a 433 you can play a sitter, a ball player and a runner. I think Ball could play as the attacking one of the three and Kelly/Brierley could be the ball player, but has been mentioned numerous times we need that holding player who can glue everything together. That way your full backs can still be attacking, but you have the defensive cover.
The XG shows how poor we were in front of goal in terms of taking our chances for long stretches of the season. |
Definitely at times the formation looked like a picture frame with little in the middle of the pitch. | |
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| Five things Stockdale needs to improve for the 2022/2023 season. on 22:23 - May 25 with 2285 views | R17ALE |
Something which hasn't been touched on is we gained a rookie Chairman and Manager almost simultaneously. I imagine they have a bond where they help ingratiate each other to their posts. Each looking out for the other. The upside is Robbie producing a great side with an identity*. The downside is Mr Gauge holding onto the trigger too long.
*TM: Dean. |  |
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| Five things Stockdale needs to improve for the 2022/2023 season. on 11:26 - May 26 with 1857 views | 49thseason |
| Five things Stockdale needs to improve for the 2022/2023 season. on 22:23 - May 25 by R17ALE |
Something which hasn't been touched on is we gained a rookie Chairman and Manager almost simultaneously. I imagine they have a bond where they help ingratiate each other to their posts. Each looking out for the other. The upside is Robbie producing a great side with an identity*. The downside is Mr Gauge holding onto the trigger too long.
*TM: Dean. |
I see your point R17, but for me the clear out of the board was something that was long overdue as was the departure of " Mr Horizontal' BBM. The clear out means that there are no assumptions , nothing taken for granted and nothing off the table. The relationship between the Chairman and the Manager is a key ingredient and their relationship will shift and change over time .. forming, storming and norming as happens with all good teams. Where there were once two or even 3 teams, board, footballers and fans, it seems to me there is now, pretty much, just one.
There are always surprises in football, but as a club the future looks better than for a long time and I get the impression that Stockdale and Guage are smart enough to reach the right decisions without throwing things out of the pram or dropping each other into the mire.
In retrospect its not hard to see why Bottom threw Hill under the bus, Keith was no mug and having Bottom looking over his shoulder you can easily imagine the sparks flying ...who would want to work for Bottom? The last thing our club needed was the narcissistic, pompous, probably psychopathic Bottomley managing the only alpha male in the club. It was bound to end badly. Replacing Hill with Mr Horizontal simply secured the position of Bottom who, effectively without a Chairman, was able to do as he pleased.
Guage and Stockdale have had 12 months to sort out their relationship and overarching philosophy, not something that happens too often in football as usually one or other would normally be more experienced in their role. So far so good. The best is yet to come! |  | | |
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