20-11-2022, 14:04
Having disappointed Salts by not turning up at Torquay I thought I ought to say something about the Solihull game ...... in case no one else was there, or had access to BT ..........
First Solihull are clearly slightly off their own pace. Their midfield is clearly struggling, which means going forward the threat they pose is limited, and I'm not sure team selection is helping their defence. Kelleher looked good and battled well with Quigley, but I don't understand leaving Gudger on the bench, and also when we went wide, they struggled.
Nevertheless, we got off a slow start and they were the better team for 10-15 minutes, but once we discovered the ignition key, we were the superior team. Our first goal was very fortunate, but it did result from Solihull's complete inability to deal with Dobra. He drew a foul out wide. He illustrated it in heavy wax crayon. He was barely touched, but he was touched. He went down like a burst balloon. Solihull protested furiously but them's the daft rules said the nine-year-old referee. (In my day Dobra, who is FAR too good for this level, would have been handed a mardy tablet and told to get on with it.) King whipped in a dangerous curling free kick. In a crowd of players, the ball barely skimmed the top of Quigley's diving head. Whether he even deflected it is a moot point, but it went past a motionless Ryan Boot for the first goal. Though Solihull were clearly trying and attempting a fightback they never really appeared capable of creating a goal, whilst we had several missed, but difficult, chances through Quigley, Mandeville, King and Whelan.
Though it seemed obvious Solihull, a goal down, would come out flying in the second half, that didn't happen. We continued to dominate and look the more dangerous. Despite Sbarra's running they never looked like picking a pass through our defence, which looks vulnerable to me at its heart. Grimes and Williams are both brave defenders, they win headers and make clearances, except when Williams connects with fresh air, but pace might tear them apart. However, Jones, who I admit I would NEVER have signed, did an excellent job screening in front of them. He doesn't have any pace either, but he reads the game and is prepared to tackle and block like an advanced centre back, so either a high level of skill and pace is necessary to get through, or a very astute pass.
Quite where Huddersfield were looking when they released Akinola for Arsenal to pick him up I don't know. He'll never be an Arsenal first teamer, but he wouldn't look out of place at Huddersfield. Brought on in the 66th minute for Whelan, who had a good game except for chelping to the ref' far too often, to add defensive stability, Akinola soon showed his colours when trapped in a position in which he looked certain to be robbed of the ball far too close to our goal. He put his foot on the ball, executed a cute spin, left two Solihull forwards for dead and played a through ball that put us on the attack. Magic! Just to show it was no one-off he soon made a run down the right, got himself trapped by the corner flag and executed the same cute skill, worked his way along the goal line and crossed for Clements to provide a much more difficult finish than it looked. He's another one who can play and is certainly making Horton regret that sending off.
We saw out the game with relative ease. Fitzsimmons made one decent save, but I never for a moment felt we were about to crumble. We looked like a team going for promotion. Like Wrexham and Notts County we should be in the EFL, but we all deserve to be where we are.
My worries for the team, apart from the centre back combination against pace, and having to remark that Cook was Wealdstone's best player and goal scorer yesterday, are that physically we don't look strong in midfield. Oldaker can be knocked off the ball, but he played two or three very astute through balls and has scored some vital goals, AND our 4-1-4-1 formation which is serving us well looks vulnerable in that Quigley isn't a natural goal scorer, but is strong and playing well, whilst Tshimanga though smaller but sharper somehow doesn't appear quite back to his best. So, against the best teams in the league will our defence hold out, and is the one with four coming in behind him enough to threaten Notts County and Wrexham? As for the keeper, in my book Covolan is clearly the better player, but Fitzsimmons is certainly the saner.
Were it necessary to switch to a more obviously attacking formation I'd have no qualms about starting young Jesurun. He looks comfortable that he is at a level he can cope with .... and how often do we have a player who has been on the books of both Matlock and AC Milan?
I was impressed, but you are only as good as the opposition allows you to be. And Solihull did quite a bit of allowing yesterday.
First Solihull are clearly slightly off their own pace. Their midfield is clearly struggling, which means going forward the threat they pose is limited, and I'm not sure team selection is helping their defence. Kelleher looked good and battled well with Quigley, but I don't understand leaving Gudger on the bench, and also when we went wide, they struggled.
Nevertheless, we got off a slow start and they were the better team for 10-15 minutes, but once we discovered the ignition key, we were the superior team. Our first goal was very fortunate, but it did result from Solihull's complete inability to deal with Dobra. He drew a foul out wide. He illustrated it in heavy wax crayon. He was barely touched, but he was touched. He went down like a burst balloon. Solihull protested furiously but them's the daft rules said the nine-year-old referee. (In my day Dobra, who is FAR too good for this level, would have been handed a mardy tablet and told to get on with it.) King whipped in a dangerous curling free kick. In a crowd of players, the ball barely skimmed the top of Quigley's diving head. Whether he even deflected it is a moot point, but it went past a motionless Ryan Boot for the first goal. Though Solihull were clearly trying and attempting a fightback they never really appeared capable of creating a goal, whilst we had several missed, but difficult, chances through Quigley, Mandeville, King and Whelan.
Though it seemed obvious Solihull, a goal down, would come out flying in the second half, that didn't happen. We continued to dominate and look the more dangerous. Despite Sbarra's running they never looked like picking a pass through our defence, which looks vulnerable to me at its heart. Grimes and Williams are both brave defenders, they win headers and make clearances, except when Williams connects with fresh air, but pace might tear them apart. However, Jones, who I admit I would NEVER have signed, did an excellent job screening in front of them. He doesn't have any pace either, but he reads the game and is prepared to tackle and block like an advanced centre back, so either a high level of skill and pace is necessary to get through, or a very astute pass.
Quite where Huddersfield were looking when they released Akinola for Arsenal to pick him up I don't know. He'll never be an Arsenal first teamer, but he wouldn't look out of place at Huddersfield. Brought on in the 66th minute for Whelan, who had a good game except for chelping to the ref' far too often, to add defensive stability, Akinola soon showed his colours when trapped in a position in which he looked certain to be robbed of the ball far too close to our goal. He put his foot on the ball, executed a cute spin, left two Solihull forwards for dead and played a through ball that put us on the attack. Magic! Just to show it was no one-off he soon made a run down the right, got himself trapped by the corner flag and executed the same cute skill, worked his way along the goal line and crossed for Clements to provide a much more difficult finish than it looked. He's another one who can play and is certainly making Horton regret that sending off.
We saw out the game with relative ease. Fitzsimmons made one decent save, but I never for a moment felt we were about to crumble. We looked like a team going for promotion. Like Wrexham and Notts County we should be in the EFL, but we all deserve to be where we are.
My worries for the team, apart from the centre back combination against pace, and having to remark that Cook was Wealdstone's best player and goal scorer yesterday, are that physically we don't look strong in midfield. Oldaker can be knocked off the ball, but he played two or three very astute through balls and has scored some vital goals, AND our 4-1-4-1 formation which is serving us well looks vulnerable in that Quigley isn't a natural goal scorer, but is strong and playing well, whilst Tshimanga though smaller but sharper somehow doesn't appear quite back to his best. So, against the best teams in the league will our defence hold out, and is the one with four coming in behind him enough to threaten Notts County and Wrexham? As for the keeper, in my book Covolan is clearly the better player, but Fitzsimmons is certainly the saner.
Were it necessary to switch to a more obviously attacking formation I'd have no qualms about starting young Jesurun. He looks comfortable that he is at a level he can cope with .... and how often do we have a player who has been on the books of both Matlock and AC Milan?
I was impressed, but you are only as good as the opposition allows you to be. And Solihull did quite a bit of allowing yesterday.
