26-08-2018, 12:30
In the Non-League Paper Weir got a 6, Muggleton a 7 for just ten minutes, Barry got a 5 (for playing out of position?).
From long-range it looks like very little has changed in the last three seasons, apart from that tinge of surrealism Caldwell added being replaced by boring sanity. We have a loanee keeper from a club whose first choice in that position I wouldn't recommend and an old one whose fitness is doubtful. Our centre back pairing is of of old and slow. We can't decide on our full backs, currently we're fielding a centre back there, and our full backs themselves don't seem able to retain their form anyway. The two major improvements to our midfield are both injured so we lined up with three ordinary thirty-pluses in those positions complemented by an apparently failed full-back. Up front our chosen centre forward didn't have much of a game and Hines has slipped easily into the Dennis role of being our only hope. No wonder Martin Allen seems incandescent, which in his case is dangerous as once his blue touch-paper is alight he is off elsewhere with sparks flying.
To add to the familiarity, note that last week Levi Amantchi was given the encouragement of a place on the bench. Midweek he scored three in a friendly. Rewarded by at least keeping his place in the squad? No. Is he he the next Ricardo German? A year down the line will we be reading about his hat trick for Blyth Spartans? Joe Rowley is already clearly progressing backwards, or being progressed that way.
Some of what has happened to Mr Allen's team has been unfortunate, some has been an appalling legacy, but the rest IS his fault. Clearly we desperately need Carter back, but unless he has a phone box to spin round in we need to recruit. More amazing still is that we recruited a guy who has grabbed 60 goals in two seasons at a lower level and we haven't fed him into a team that is struggling to score. (I assume we have now somehow managed to injure him as he wasn't among our subs.)
My hesitant response to the angry Mr Allen would be, if you don't want a bland team don't recruit and select one ......
From long-range it looks like very little has changed in the last three seasons, apart from that tinge of surrealism Caldwell added being replaced by boring sanity. We have a loanee keeper from a club whose first choice in that position I wouldn't recommend and an old one whose fitness is doubtful. Our centre back pairing is of of old and slow. We can't decide on our full backs, currently we're fielding a centre back there, and our full backs themselves don't seem able to retain their form anyway. The two major improvements to our midfield are both injured so we lined up with three ordinary thirty-pluses in those positions complemented by an apparently failed full-back. Up front our chosen centre forward didn't have much of a game and Hines has slipped easily into the Dennis role of being our only hope. No wonder Martin Allen seems incandescent, which in his case is dangerous as once his blue touch-paper is alight he is off elsewhere with sparks flying.
To add to the familiarity, note that last week Levi Amantchi was given the encouragement of a place on the bench. Midweek he scored three in a friendly. Rewarded by at least keeping his place in the squad? No. Is he he the next Ricardo German? A year down the line will we be reading about his hat trick for Blyth Spartans? Joe Rowley is already clearly progressing backwards, or being progressed that way.
Some of what has happened to Mr Allen's team has been unfortunate, some has been an appalling legacy, but the rest IS his fault. Clearly we desperately need Carter back, but unless he has a phone box to spin round in we need to recruit. More amazing still is that we recruited a guy who has grabbed 60 goals in two seasons at a lower level and we haven't fed him into a team that is struggling to score. (I assume we have now somehow managed to injure him as he wasn't among our subs.)
My hesitant response to the angry Mr Allen would be, if you don't want a bland team don't recruit and select one ......