[bluepooch]

...and we didn't get on the end of any of them.To be honest its been one of Cookies weak points ever since he arrived.Im not sure whether its down to poor delivery or not committing enough players in the box but it definitely contributes to our lack of goals .
Anyway at least we got the first clean sheet in 13, not sure again whether that was down to change of personnel or Yeovil being crap.I do believe it takes two to tango and I must say they were the most boring team to come to the Proact his season and I feel sorry for their fans having to watch that each week .Im sure Johnson will say it was a very disciplined and organised performance,reminded me of last year when teams came to spoil.
We are missing Roberts big time.

[Dancingwilldoit]

I swear that at least once today somebody in the west stand farted and Doyle got blown over. He really does need to get some balls (not round ones) and not let defenders push him around repeatedly. I for one do not understand why we push down the wings to get balls in with no height and no bodies in the box.
Tommy was much better today and the clean sheet bit was good. Raglan did well I thought. O'shea was awful when he came on and was nearly as bad as Doyle for being pushed around but not quite.
Another bad day at the office for the rest. Interesting that Morsy looked lost without Ryan. Banks is doing himself no favours either and needs to up his input. Pizza man was outstanding though and held the back together well.

[Devongone]

Isn't the real problem that we have one way of playing? All the other teams have had the chance to see us operate. They not only are able to cancel us out, but also to take the chances we offer. And we do let people play. Early in the season we had the surprise of Doyle's goals. They've dried up, so it looks like we'll get to keep him ........ and no one else seems capable of scoring.

The big surprise to me is Boco. When we were doing well he was in the team all the time (which slightly surprised me in itself). Now we never win and he's reverted to his Plymouth role, bottom on bench. I'm beginning to suspect that he made more difference than you'd think.

Teams do have good and bad runs though. Look at Newcastle, couldn't buy a win then Man City, Liverpool and Spurs fall to them ..... We were doing better than anyone could have expected. Suddenly we're the worst team in the division. Worrying aspects are Tommy Lee's form - every other goal conceded seems to involve an error, keepers get measured negatively and he's clearly not happy in his skin, why else be daft enough to keep getting booked. Evatt is also a worry. He's been sent off, booked, then without him we keep a clean sheet and he's supposed to be our leader. Roberts hasn't been scoring and is becoming very prone to injury niggles. Banks seems to be progressing backwards at the moment. And Chapman ... no one wants a keeper who gets injured ......

BUT Mr Cook clearly knows his job and that the dividing line between success and failure is a narrow one. He can probably spot far more problems than any of us and come up with solutions too. We are only six points from bottom, but then we are only six from third place too.

[bluepooch]

In a way I can understand what Cookie is trying to do even though he must have known it would be unpopular.I think ,as before, we need to let him get on with it and bear with him for a few weeks .All teams have good and bad runs, its football .
As for Gardner and Banks they have been disappointing but something tells me we need to persevere a bit longer with them .

[Dancingwilldoit]

Dev when we were winning not only was Boco in the side but Humphries as well. Him and Jones linked well together. We seem to have a glut of midfielders with none of them really shining atm other than Clucas. Doyle is good when he gets put clear with balls to run onto but we keep trying to cross into fresh air and I havent seen Doyle win many headers. When Humphries and Roberts were playing with Boco then Johnson coming in, Doyle got the service on the floor. Since then he looks like he did last season - lightweight.

[spireitematt]

I didn't go but heard we were dire.

How can we go from playing attacking, attractive, entertaining football to rubbish. Is something a foot behind closed doors? A cliché? Something is wrong which is affecting the results on the pitch.

[Devongone]

Yes Hump's injury .... and Hartlepool speculation may have affected team balance too. The disadvantage of a player of Hump's age is pace and stamina start to decline, but the advantage is he's spent 20 years absorbing the pro-game and can see what's going wrong and react ...... Some players just are team players - maybe Boco and Humphreys are examples - who enable the stars to shine. O'Shea is never going to be a team player, but he can sometimes win games. Roberts doesn't change clubs only because he's a wanted item - he does it because his obvious talents don't always make the team better.

All those crosses interest me. It may be prejudice on my part based on either Jones making them or my own amateurish experience goalkeeping, but a right-footed cross from the right wing, or left from left, never caused me any panic. I was tall, I could catch, if the ball found a player's head, anticpating the header was relatively straightforward. If the player cut inside it was a whole other world. He could change to his left foot and cross an inswinger, shoot with either foot, or lay a simple ball inside for someone to run onto which changed the whole angle of play. If I found meat-and-drink crosses relatively easy how many keepers and centre backs at pro' level feel the same? Obviously Yeovil's for a start, 24, and they didn't concede.

Before the season I burbled on about the potential advantge Darikwa could provide. He spent a lot of his playing life as a forward. He must still retain those instincts. Even from full back I think he should be being told to focus on goal, get inside, get into the box, fire in shots and crosses from there, even win penalties. A player who gets into the corner of the box is awkward to defend against and if the midfield are there in support any defence will struggle. Once a defence is pressurised you'll know yourself that's when your centre forward can lose his marker.

It's not that I think Dancing is wrong about Doyle being muscled out of it. What's wrong is that the opposition muscling him out stops us scoring. We aren't giving them enough different things to cope with. If we were they would no longer be able to concentrate on stopping Doyle. Scoring goals, like stopping them, is a team thing ......... and it is perfectly possible to stop conceding, because you have limited your own opportunities to score. Cookie has to adjust our balance and maybe the best eleven players are not our best team.

[spireitematt]

I think one upfront works well when the ball is played along the deck but you need two, three upfront when crosses are being whipped in. We've sent Armand to Tranmere and he would work well upfront with Doyle to knock the crosses down with his head for Doyle to shoot a bit like how Fletcher and Lester worked. Everyone says 4-4-2 doesn't work but it can with the right players. I've noticed a lot of teams in the Premier League and our division are playing 4-2-3-1 like we play because it is a good attacking formation but it looks like teams now have worked out how we play and are stopping us. The back four looks ok but we never replaced Cooper like we didn't replace Davies that could probably comeback to haunt us. We need Hird back and also need Humphreys, like you say Dev we need to play Boco because he did well start of the season. In January we need to look at a new CB and another Striker or two if Doyle goes.

[Devongone]

Certainly Matt if you get crosses flying in only having Doyle there is a fool's game. I think though if you played your ideal team, like me Matt, you might find twelve players in it! Yes we need to sign a centre back in January. If Doyle's goals are beginning to look like a flash in the pan by then we'll probably keep him in January. I'd have thought that either Banks, or Clucas would have the ability to get into the box from the 4-2-3-1 and score plenty ....... in fact when I look at our players there should be plenty of goals available. O'Shea, Gardner, Roberts also have the potential to reach double figures every season. They just aren't doing it. Nor did Armand ...... for us.

Boco is a clever player, Humphreys uses his head too. Maybe all I'm saying is we need more incisive thinking on the pitch. Calmer heads, who'll pick the passes. And maybe that links up with Pooch's 24 balls into the boxes, which is the very opposite of that - it's working hard to no end. A passing game is great, but the passes have to count.

[bluepooch]

I certainly think it was a combination of poor final ball and not enough bodies committing in the box that resulted in our toothlessness on Saturday .It wasnt just crosses it was corners and free kicks included so wasn't down to one individual.
Ive come to learn things are never as bad or as good as they seem in football,don't get too down when we are crap and dont get too excited when we are good .There are fine margins between success and failure especially between two teams in the same division .
As I said I really do think we are missing Roberts big time, he's the creator,the talisman and I'm surprised ,Dev ,that you suggest he isn't a team player because he works his sock off.