[Devongone]

Dev,
Weir has played well in the games I have seen. Last season he was woeful but seems to have got "stuck in" this time around.
He has shown he can tackle and pass but MA seems to prefer the long ball option. He has improved no end and does seem to be the player that gets us moving forward. He runs into spaces and lays the ball off. He is still prone to the odd mistake but that's only the same as everybody else at this level.

Thanks Dancing. Now all I don't understand is why you'd have your captain in an area you intend to by-pass, but football managers mostly do baffle me .... as with my obsession with why almost everyone in football wants to play the left-footed centre back on the left. Maybe it's because most goalkeepers are nut-jobs and very few get to be managers ..... but I can tell you as a keeper, if the forward comes inside he is opening up the whole of the goal to himself, but once he goes wider you can cover much more of the goal. Defending, I'm all for forcing the forward outside, the defender standing up and only going down when (like Albert Holmes of old) you're sure you are sliding out with the ball.

[bluepooch]

I hate hoofball but If it gets us out of this league I'm happy to tolerate it .What I do like about MA is he puts emphasis on being solid defensively ,doing whatever it takes to make sure we are solid defensively as a team and if we aren't then he takes action ,ie the signing of a keeper and centre half this week after two poor defensive performances.

[SaltergateBorn]

I really can`t argue with you on any of that, Blue. My reading of MA is that he gave the squad a chance to prove itself, it fell short in some aspects and he`s wasting no time in trying to put it right. I actually think he will do something about our midfield - or lack of it - in fairly short order but, as you say, any good team starts with a solid defence.

The next few weeks should be interesting, I think. Unfortunately, the injury to Charlie Carter will inevitably hold things up for a while and I suspect we won`t see Wedgbury again this season.

[Devongone]

I'd just like to add that when WE concede it isn't just the keeper or the defenders ...... it is the whole team, just as when we score it isn't just the goalscorer and/or the assist, it is the whole team.

Really good teams tend to make it hard immediately the opposition wins possession of the ball. And in really good teams every player is looking to score or contribute to a goal being scored when in possession.

Even hoofball can work ........ but you need some good hoofers and more than one dangerous hoofee. I wouldn't enjoy watching it, but if we are doing it I'm baffled why we don't actually start Muggleton and train to benefit from his equivalent of the hoof. I watched a You Tube of Long Throws the other day and what was noticeable once you stopped being amazed by their sheer length was their ineffectiveness. And the reason seemed to me that none of the teams involved seemed to have any plan beyond stationing a big bloke roughly where the ball might reach. Look at the confusion England caused just by standing their players in a line at corners and breaking just as the ball was being kicked. It doesn't require a rocket-science level of creativity to sow confusion under a throw like Muggleton's and FFS vary 'em.