Accrington Stanley (H) League 31/3/07 Oli's Match.

[H]

So then - we Won.......and I suppose it s all that matters. But I have nt enjoyed this season - we re probably going to get promoted.........but it s been playing frankly rubbish football. Today has made me angry (as it probably shows!) Promotions under Graydon and Nicholl filled me with pride - sorry DD but the signings you have made have been woeful - and throw your rattle out the pram if you wish but what you ve served up has nt impressed me. Maybe even Merson would have got us out of League 2.....

Not sure what others think but we re gonna need almost a new team next season. IMO with the exception of Ince, Dann and Dobson........the rest are Sunday morning fodder.

Dann - Merson wanted to get rid off

Ince and Dobson, DD signings.

So all DD signings woeful ah :D

Obviously true.

But for every Dobson, there is a Picken, Lyall, Cederqvuist, Fanguiero, Bedeau, Cooper, Benjamin.

The squad for most of the season has been Merson's.

[shropshiresaddler]

The squad for most of the season has been Merson's.

Absolute B*ll*cks :twisted:

Roper, Wrack, Wright, Taylor - predate Merson

Keates - signed by Halsall or Broadhurst ?

Ince, Dobson, Butler, Sam (amongst others) - DD signings

By my reckoning that leaves Pead, Gerrard, Fox & Westwood of the regulars as Merson signings. I'd argue that only Westy of these has been an unqualified success this season.

[latviancheese]

Did anyone else notice Harper went off the boil after he scored.

[larryhaggler]

I thought the back '5' were shambolic today. I have absolultley no confidence in Gerrard n Westy in the middle. LB and RB were also appaling, their paid to defend !!!! Ince had a shocker and I know this sounds odd, but I think he worries about the four in fromt of him.
Keats was tremendous today, he get's a hell of a lot of stick but jesus at least he plays with passion. I disagree with some on the board, I though Dobson played well first half but never turned up in the second, the game passed him by. Now then trevor Benjo ? I'm still waiting for the point, the point we signed him. Sam tremendous, his type of game and changed it. Agree bout Cooper I would have subbed him very early second half, and was it me or did DD play both wingers their wrong side all second half ?
All in all 3 points. Poor performance, result that matters.

[Bristol Fan]

Ince's worst game - Fox's distribution shocking again - but who cares, three more points on the road to promotion. Many (including me) wondered if we were even capable of scoring 3 times in a game - and we were. We did just enough to win - and that's just fine when we're in this position! Nobody will kid anyone that we played well, but that doesn't matter any more.

Keates was very good, Dobson also, Sam was terrific when he came on (surely he must start the next game - it's so odd that for all that time he was rubbish he got picked game after game, and when he finally started playing well he got dropped).

Six points over the next weekend and we're virtually home and dry...

[Exile]

We come from behind to take three vital points in our promotion push. Four pages on the game already and it's only Saturday night. Disgrace. Some people only come on here to have a moan.

[latviancheese]

I thought the back '5' were shambolic today. I have absolultley no confidence in Gerrard n Westy in the middle. LB and RB were also appaling, their paid to defend !!!! Ince had a shocker and I know this sounds odd, but I think he worries about the four in fromt of him.
Keats was tremendous today, he get's a hell of a lot of stick but jesus at least he plays with passion. I disagree with some on the board, I though Dobson played well first half but never turned up in the second, the game passed him by. Now then trevor Benjo ? I'm still waiting for the point, the point we signed him. Sam tremendous, his type of game and changed it. Agree bout Cooper I would have subbed him very early second half, and was it me or did DD play both wingers their wrong side all second half ?
All in all 3 points. Poor performance, result that matters.

And you think the back four has any confidence is Ince, he looked lost at times today.

[Geordiesaddler]

H, I would be inclined to agree with the essence of what you say if not the sentiment. But the bit about Merson getting us promoted from League 2??

Come on!! Barrowman up front????

We probably wouldn't exist if Merson was still in charge, we'd be bankrupt by now.

[WFC_Rob]

Did anyone else notice Harper went off the boil after he scored.

As I mentioned in my post, he picked up some sort of hamstring injury.

[futuresobright]

Tremendous post H. Obviously I agree with all the points you make about Mr Touchy...remember we were above Hartlepool and the rest when PM was sacked. Moreover, your comments on Cooper are spot on, yet he's already played more for us this season than Ishy, Constable, Nichols, Bradley etc. What a waste of our own young talent.

[Exile]

Tremendous post H. Obviously I agree with all the points you make about Mr Touchy...remember we were above Hartlepool and the rest when PM was sacked. Moreover, your comments on Cooper are spot on, yet he's already played more for us this season than Ishy, Constable, Nichols, Bradley etc. What a waste of our own young talent.

Agree with some of this - you're almost becoming mainstream, Mr. FSB!

Does anyone else worry a little about the renewed influence of the suntanned one in our search for talent?

[Stu]

Tremendous post H. Obviously I agree with all the points you make about Mr Touchy...remember we were above Hartlepool and the rest when PM was sacked. Moreover, your comments on Cooper are spot on, yet he's already played more for us this season than Ishy, Constable, Nichols, Bradley etc. What a waste of our own young talent.

Agree with some of this - you're almost becoming mainstream, Mr. FSB!

Does anyone else worry a little about the renewed influence of the suntanned one in our search for talent?

Not really because STM in all fairness has got us promoted from this league twice before and also from League 1 twice before. He knows what is required at this level.

However I expect to see a bit of backbone from a manager when talented youngsters are coming through, I'd argue its something we never really had coming through before to be honest.

[Maverick]

Get out of Jail free card.

I thought we looked good until they scored, but didnt have any incision or pace today. As well as the last ten minutes.

The rest was: woeful.

Ince - Awful today, his kicking was atrocious, its not hard to work out that high balls were getting caught in wind, whereas if he hit it flat: no problems. Was part at fault for goal, very indecisive, as well as not commanding. 4/10

Pead - Never got forward and looked edgy, not very good. 5/10

Westwood - strangely tentative I thought, The best performer in the defence, but that doesnt say a lot as it was crap. 6/10

Gerrard - Absolutely dreadful. 4/10

Fox - Awful his distribution and lack of attackign intent and overlap play was stunning. 5/10

Cooper - not very effective today, few nice touches but they played him well I thought. 6/10

Dobson - Awesome again, what does this bloke have to do to get recognised? was brilliant at breaking play up, with good distributuion, always looked hungry for the ball. 8/10

Harper - Our only real attacking outlet, looked very good today I thought, well taken goal and linked play well. also saw his defensive side today, very good. 8/10

Butler - Apart from his contribution to all 3 goals I thought he worked hard but didnt look sharp...again. well taken goal though. 7/10

Benjamin - Some good tocuhbes and a few good headers but is a Butler copy, cant play both of them. 6/10

Subs:

Sam - Changed the game for me today, his link up play and movement created openings. very good, has to start against Torquay. 8/10

Wrack - didnt do much to be honest. 5/10


A very, very important win, roll on Torquay!

What about Keates Daz ?

I'll do it for you.......MOM .... :?: :?: What game were they watching.? Game passed him by apart from the Penalty.IMO of course.

[Registered Saddler]

No mention of Gerrard rubbish performance today registered saddler, I mean I must have been wrong all this time, I believe what i write according to you, and have zero knowledge. :D

Sorry mate, I just had to point it out!

Mais, non!

I said Harper and Dobson were blameless, the rest of them (incl A.Gerrard) were a shambles. I just didn't think he was any worse than the rest of the back five. Obviously that's not our first choice back line so they need to get used to playing with one another, and the wind (combined with Mullin up front) made it difficult - but they all need to pull their socks up before Torquay next week because yesterday's disorganised mess was not really good enough. Having said that, I think Accrington's second was their only clear chance of the second half, so maybe (straws, clutch, etc) the defence did get a little better as the match went on.

Incidentally, our updated with/without Gerrard record -
Gerrard playing: goal conceded every 142 mins on average (2416 mins, 17 goals)
No Gerrard: goal conceded every 91 mins on average (1634 mins, 18 goals).
Sorry mate, I just had to point it out! :wink:

[Neil Ravenscroft]

Match report

http://www.steveroy.com/walsall/

and yes, you are right that the goal was their only real 2nd half chance

[Stu]

Incidentally, our updated with/without Gerrard record -
Gerrard playing: goal conceded every 142 mins on average (2416 mins, 17 goals)
No Gerrard: goal conceded every 91 mins on average (1634 mins, 18 goals).
Sorry mate, I just had to point it out! :wink:

And I thought I was a statto, where'd you get that from?

Can't wait to see Met-"I hate Gerrard"-fans response to this... lol

[Duke]

At the end of the day its 3 more points towards league 1 .
Yes we were poor , a case of after the lords mayor's show , our passing was dreadful . to many players went missing .
What really worried me was the clear lack understanding between Gerrard and Ince , that must be sorted , we are giong to miss Dann more than we realised,I hope his injury dosn't cost us our dream.

MOTM , was spot on for me , Keates was awesome. Dobson not to far behind,

[Registered Saddler]

And I thought I was a statto, where'd you get that from?

A combination of Soccerbase, boredom at work and an unswerving belief that I am always right!

[Fish]

Not a particularly satisfying performance. Agree with almost all of what has been said above, Gerrrad is clearly a better player, in my opinion, alongside Zidann or Ropes.

As Mr Dosh said on WM, we'd better not keep defending like that between now and the end of the season.

One thing though that has been a feature of our game for the past few weeks, seems to be our inabiltiy to hold or pass the ball. The number of occasions that we immediately give the ball away from free kicks and throw-ins is staggering. I think almost everyone was guilty of it yesterday...and last week and the week before.... sort it Mr D.

Similarly the same affliction seemed to infect our defenders yesterday - the number of pi** poor clearances was no better than some pub football and will be severly punished against better teams.

One final point, I do think that Peado would improve his game if he took to wearing football boots instead of white carpet slippers. :?

[philthesaddler]

Again, good resilience to win.

Biggest gripe was with the central defensive pairing. Losing Dann has highlighted how good a player he is. Mullin, a 32 year old striker in his first season in the league for a long time, gave Westwood and Gerrard the run around. Does anyone think it is a coincidence that everytime that Westwood plays at centre back we look shaky? He was poor yesterday.

Fox, again, was terrible. Another one from the Merson era that has to go in the summer regardless of what league we are in. It's not just his distribution that was terrible yesterday, his defending was dire also, and going forward - I've seen milk floats move quicker! And at one point, 6000 people were screaming for him to overlap Harper, then about 20 seconds later he woke up and started to overlap, by which time Harper was surrounded. Fox is atrocious.

Cooper had a poor game yesterday, didn't look terribly interested.

Benjamin looked a completely different player from MK Dons, he wasn't strong, he wasn't quick, and his positioning was poor. That game was crying out for Sam, and when he finally came on, he made a big difference, we started attacking quickly, moving the ball from man to man quicker than the opposition can close us down - when we do that to teams we embarass them. When we dont, we get closed down and just give the ball away.

MK Dons dropped two points yesterday. Meaning we have a 4 point lead over them. On the thread "the run in", if you saw it, I highlighted the fact that if we go in to the Notts County game with a 6 point lead over MK, we can achieve promotion [on GD]. Meaning, if, over our next two games, if we have a differential of +2points [ie we gain a lead of 2 more points over MK dons] we can get promotion at Notts County. Therefore, if we win our next two games, and MK dons only pick up 4 points from their next two, we'll have that precious 6 point lead going to County.

[latviancheese]

Pead wasnt that bad, second half i thought he was quite good.

[Duke]

Pead wasnt that bad, second half i thought he was quite good.

agree , Pead did ok . what worries me is the 2 in centre defence. Westwood spent most of the game covering for Gerrard .

[H]

The squad for most of the season has been Merson's.

Absolute B*ll*cks :twisted:

Roper, Wrack, Wright, Taylor - predate Merson

Keates - signed by Halsall or Broadhurst ?

Ince, Dobson, Butler, Sam (amongst others) - DD signings

By my reckoning that leaves Pead, Gerrard, Fox & Westwood of the regulars as Merson signings. I'd argue that only Westy of these has been an unqualified success this season.

Er, did nt say Merson signed them. But they all played and have lasted under and since the 2 year Merson reign.

[H]

H, I would be inclined to agree with the essence of what you say if not the sentiment. But the bit about Merson getting us promoted from League 2??

Come on!! Barrowman up front????

We probably wouldn't exist if Merson was still in charge, we'd be bankrupt by now.

I m not saying Merson was a good Manager(!!)........I m questioning the competence of DD, in what is a frankly appalling decision.

Agree regs Barrowman.......then again Ceder and Trevor Benj would also probably fail to get in the team at Queen of the South :)

[NeechezTheSaddler]

I also thought Pead played ok, with Dobson or Keates for MoM. Defense looked shakey though with fox continually lumping it up to nowhere.

But the player that shocked me was Cooper, total lack of quality and effort, with Harper always looking to get forward we need one winger to help the fullback, but cooper did none of that, rarely got back to help Pead. Even on the ball he looked poor apart from one or two decent moments.

[Geordiesaddler]

H, I would be inclined to agree with the essence of what you say if not the sentiment. But the bit about Merson getting us promoted from League 2??

Come on!! Barrowman up front????

We probably wouldn't exist if Merson was still in charge, we'd be bankrupt by now.

I m not saying Merson was a good Manager(!!)........I m questioning the competence of DD, in what is a frankly appalling decision.

Agree regs Barrowman.......then again Ceder and Trevor Benj would also probably fail to get in the team at Queen of the South :)

So TB's had two part games - one good and one poor and you've made your mind up he's no good?? a bit harsh.

Agree about Sam, he's had a rough deal from DD having performed generally well since before Christmas.

DD gets things wrong and has his faults, but my gut feeling whenever I read moans and whinges after a win, which itself is part of a 6 game unbeaten run - is "how churlish".

Yersterday you saw some entertainment and a Saddlers' win, so surely that's a good weekend?

[Registered Saddler]

DD gets things wrong and has his faults, but my gut feeling whenever I read moans and whinges after a win, which itself is part of a 6 game unbeaten run - is "how churlish".

You should have heard some people in the F2G Lower when we were 2-1 down. I honestly believe some of those fans (I won't use the word supporters) are only happy when they are moaning, so would rather we lost to justify their presence at the game. Obviously, said moaners didn't say a word of congratulation when we turned it round and won 3-2. People like that wind me up no end.

[Neuromantic]

Good response earlier my friend, but stats are only quantative. For me, in football, you have to look at the Qualitive, and that simply means Gerrard hasnt played well. When i say poor, hes not 'poor' as in terms of the opposition and league, moreover, Dann, Westwood and Roper are better than him, and if Picken played more, im sure I would put him above him.

[Neil Ravenscroft]

Mind you, having seen the first goal on the TV now, the three players concerned were equally to blame. Westwood let Mullin run away from him and didn't go with him, Gerrard was in no man's land, completely out of position and Ince was slow to react. Ah well, it didn't matter in the end.

[geoffwhiting]

Mind you, having seen the first goal on the TV now, the three players concerned were equally to blame. Westwood let Mullin run away from him and didn't go with him, Gerrard was in no man's land, completely out of position and Ince was slow to react. Ah well, it didn't matter in the end.

Very true, and Mullin demonstrated very clearly the lack of pace of both Westwood and Gerrard. These two are a worrying pairing in the centre of defence, and I hope DD can sort it out and get Westie back to his best position at right back. Losing both Roper and Dann could prove very costly otherwise!

I have to say, about their first goal, that I attach more blame to Ince today - having seen it on TV - than I did at the time yesterday, so I hold my hands up and say I was wrong.

I thought Mullin got to the ball well outside the penalty area - beyond Ince's "territory" - so I was blaming Westie and Gerrard more for letting him get through and away from them.

But clearly, from that hopeful hoof upfield, the ball bounced 3 times on it's way into the penalty area before Mullin took it on the 4th bounce and tucked it through Ince's legs. Ince had started to come for it and would easily have got to it first, but he started to come for it, hesitated and inexplicably retreated, making it simple for Mullin.

I haven't changed my mind about Westie and Gerrard, they were both VERY BADLY at fault in letting Mullin get through and away from them, but Clayton was the most guilty because of his indecision. It should have been an easy ball for him to gather well before Mullin got there, but he made no attempt. Much as I love Incey in goal, that was very very poor goal-keeping.