Thetownend.com

That was very, very 0-0.

Williams was probably the best of a very average performance.

Williams,easily the best player on show for me
Honourable mentions for Clayton,Brewitt and McEachran

Our friends at WhoScored have that down as a 7.8/10 performance from McEachran. Which I'd have to say I missed.

I went for Lavinier who I thought looked alright, but I can't say I think anybody stood out all that much for good or bad. It was just 11 below average players v 11 below average players

Not much by the way of standouts. Little quality all game from either side.

Clayton was pretty solid so went for him, although I missed who made a couple of mistakes

I went for Darcy. Really thought he looked tidy, composed and positive. He is quite good at turning into space and then releasing other players with forward passes.

I’m surprised at some of the moderately generous comments on here. I went for Jonny who didn’t do much but at least tried for a while, and I’d only give him a 5.

Think a 'none' option would be a clear winner !!   :suicide:

First half wasn't that shit, but 2nd half was dire.  Jonny and Hutton only players who created anything but then not alot.
Passing was suicidal at times.

Went for jonny but probably with no more than a 6/10.

Not sure I could pick one.

Williams then McEachran then Brewitt then Clayton then Lavinier the rest were shite.

Jephcott hardly kicked the ball and Darcy gave the ball away almost every time he had it.

Williams 7
McEachran 7
Brewitt 6.5
Lavinier 6.5
Clayton 6.5
Hutton 6
Brynn 5
Wakeling 5
Shade 4
Darcy 4
Jephcott 3

Austin, RHM, Cain and Minturn not really about to contribute much other than 2 efforts on goal by RHM who would get a 6 based on that.

Brewitt because it was really a defensive kind of game, and he was our best all-round defender.

I don’t think I recall seeing Darcy give the ball away once! His passing was among the best of those on the pitch.

To think Darcy was the Payne replacement, just about sums up why we have gone backwards.
He is a luxury player only suitable in midfield of 4 and a in a winning team.
Squad player at the very best and one that will need to be replaced next season if we are to be serious about getting out of this shite league.

Pass completion rate of 90.6%. Highest in the game

Who would have replaced Payne with?

This is bang on.

I recall a handful of through balls/attacking passes. Knocking it backwards and sideways a couple yards is the same thing Conroy got shit for last season when the argument was for him having a high pass completion %.

It goes to show that some on here make their minds up about players despite what they do on the pitch.

Not really Molepar he didnt create chances and has what..1 assist all season. He is not a proper tackler which is fine so if he isn't creating chances or breaking up play what is he doing?

Unfortunately it's getting to that stage of the season when players start becoming better than they are as theyre just the best of a bad bunch

I actually thought Darcy was ok on Tuesday night. I do know of people that think he's absolutely a waste of space and expect him to be in National League N/S in a couple of seasons. I'm still on the fence about him, clearly if you compare him to Jack Payne (his direct replacement) it's chalk and cheese, but as a squad player I think he's useful. From memory I think he had our only shot on target on Tuesday, forcing a routine save from the keeper, but a save nontheless.

At 22 I think he has time to develop, but the next couple of seasons are crucial as to whether he is going to be a lower league trundler, or fall into non-league.

Also got a few goals and probably more assists if you count Salford away and Newport at home. I’m just playing devils advocate and I don’t think he is as bad as people make out. He may not have had the impact to change games all the time but when people say he misses every pass when he had the highest pass completion rate on the pitch that is clearly wrong.

Darcy isn't terrible, he's just a worse version of Williams - doesn't create as many chances for others as you'd expect, but scores a fair few himself. Neither do much off the ball. McEachran shows both that you don't need to be a Dylan Kadji sized player to break up play or provide any sort of defensive effort.

Some exciting STATS on our midfielders: (https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/159/Show/England-Swindon)

Tackles per game

McEachran 3.7
Cain 2.1
Kadji 1.6
Khan/Reed 1.4
Gladwin 1.1
Darcy 0.8
Williams 0.7

Key Passes per game:

Gladwin 1.9
McEachran 1.5
Williams/Reed 1.3
Kadji/Darcy 0.8
Khan 0.4

Shots per game:

Williams/Darcy 1.3 (with Darcy's skewing 75% long range, Williams 50:50)
Reed 1.2 (Mostly FKs)
Gladwin 1.1
Khan/Cain 0.9
McEachran 0.2

FWIW I like Darcy but I thought he had a really poor game and offered nothing, he just ran around a lot.

I went to the game and that was my opinion. You saw the game and you have a different one. Deal with it.

Maybe relevant to the point of "giving the ball away" in this case, but stats can be very misleading.

Person 1 - 91% pass completion - he's not giving the ball away

Person 2 - 91% pass completion - but they were nearly all passes to people 2 feet away in the centre circle. The 9% of more incisive 'unlocking' longer passes were wayward and intercepted.

Or footy fans chat shit :)

Didn't watch the game, but if  did I would definitely had a different opinion again.

Pass completion stats are meaningless.

If I make 10 forward attacking passes and 9 aren’t successful but 1 goes through to the striker who puts it in the back of the net then I’ve done more for the team that someone’s whose made 20 short sideways passes all of which were successful but never went anywhere.

Another overstaticifation of football.

I like Darcy fwiw and think ultimately he should be judged at the end of his second year with us. Feel he could go either way tbh.

Indeed its all about opinions and we all have them but when someone disagrees with yours (not yours specifically Batch ;) ) it doesnt mean they are automatically wrong or right its an opinion and no need to shout the other persons opinion down just state your own and move on.

This.

Football stats summed up

Darcy didn’t play well & Darcy had the best pass completion stats don’t necessarily have to contradict each other.
In this case both opinions could be true

Or, alternatively, people's understanding of statistics summed up. Sometimes unlikely events happen, that's part of why we like football - we've all seen games with our own eyes where the better team didn't win, sometimes to a ludicrous degree.

With the passing accuracy stats point you quote, you're absolutely right in that short passes and long balls forward can't be reasonably judged the same way - but you can get that break down easily enough.

Bad stats are worse than no stats, but good use of stats is how pretty much all high level football runs now.

If we play 46 games a season, you'd expect a 2% probability (roughly 1 in 46) to happen once in a normal season.

I think in general across the board, and other than McKirdy many from last season were guilty of this too, we have lacked bravery in both passing and attempting to beat the man this year. As Dan on the LS Pod said, Shade checked back when he could have had a run in on goal on Tuesday. That has been going on for too long. Forward passes are on, or at least worth a risk, and we check back and take the easy safe option. Or there is space for someone receiving the ball wide to bomb on and try and beat their man but after a short burst they check back and pass it sideways/backwards. Thinking back to our best season at this level and I remember Caddis and Ritchie simply terrorising defences down the right. Hutton was giving it a bit of a go before January but other than that it is pretty dreary fare. Is this a lack of confidence or self belief, or is the Garner/Lindsey apparent obsession with possession above all else just too deeply rooted? This is why I think we get these, on paper, terrific passing stats like Darcy's without creating anything meaningful at all. I think there is a player there, but he needs to be really in the 10 role and if you are saying that, all he is is William's back up, which feels about right.

Pass completion stats are fine but need to be looked at alongside key passes both successful & attempted etc.

Heat maps, we need heat maps.

Darcy is ok, has gone missing in games at times but so have the rest of them.
Needs to add some assists & more goals.
At least he is prepared to have a shot & he has added some much needed energy on occasion when coming on.

He wears the no 10 but doesn't play in that role, maybe he should be tried out as the advanced playmaker. Don't think that anyone has done that with any great success this season.
Morris does have scope to experiment.

Concur. Reed & Conroy the worst for this imo.
Felt Reed was a stat padder and in some games hindered us more than helped us.
We didn’t really attack till Payne or McKirdy dropped a bit deeper, collected the ball and ran with it.

I think the passing game is deep rooted in most clubs now. There now seems to be this movement over the last 5-10 years that the passing game is the only way to play the game & that, that is the only type of play the fans want to see and kicking it long and up on the air will make people go home and never come back. I really miss old school wingers who would take on their man.

Maybe it’s the nostalgia or maybe it was being younger but like there was always like this weird static electric buzz type of anticipation every time Mark Walters got the ball that he was gonna make something happen. Even if it was a simple as kicking it past the defender and running onto it before wrapping his boot around it and crossing it into the box.

I miss that.

I reckon this is a great shout and one I've alluded to before. (that's not why I think it's a great shout mind! :) )

McKirdy (and probably DJ before him) were players that fans, and probably the players themselves had absolutely no idea what they were going to do. They are exciting, confident flair players that get fans off of their feet. McKirdy was an absolute master of playing to the gallery and he had his best season in league football on the back of it. Since McKirdy has left, there is nobody to fill that void, the current team is functional but (dare I say) boring. The football is risk free, which feeds back into the stands of mainly bored people frustrated with how we play. Shade frustrated me on Tuesday as well, is he afraid to take the chance of driving on past his defender, he doesn't appear to lack personal confidence if you look at his goal celebrations!

It does make you wonder whether Lindsey's pragmatic approach has driven the attacking notions out of players. For the remainder of the season I'd like to see Morris really let the players off the leash and see if we can play with a bit more swagger and attacking verve that really is lacking currently. Get the excitement back, the fans will then play their part vocally and who knows we might squeak into the play-offs on the back of it (I don't really believe that sadly)

Took Gav Gunning like three days to change it up tbf
Even before Grimsby went down to 10 we were going forward with more intent than we had all season. I mean that’s what lead to the sending off - and whilst the context is important not every team that goes down to 10 men then proceeds to get thumped 5-0 by anyone, let alone us

I mean Gunning took things to bizarre extremes and whilst the games were exciting, I'm not sure long term would be successful. I mean our defence is shakier than a shitting dog under 'ordinary' managers, with an absolute tactical lunatic in charge we'd potentially be on the end of a number of hidings! Too small a sample size to make an argument either way really.

Not disagreeing with the fact that stats can be misleading. I just posted that one as a counterargument to the one that said he gave the ball away . However,a sideways pass in midfield that switches play or starts an attack (which Darcy mostly did on Tuesday) is slightly different and more effective than a centre half(eg Conroy) passing 2 yards sideways to his fellow defender on the edge of the box following a goal kick say.

Yeah several of us have suggested similar mate.

As you rightly state McKirdy and DJ were the only 2 players this century that I can remember got the ball and ran at defences and got the crowd on their feet thinking something was going to happen.

I know its nostalgia but players like that were much pore prevalent years ago, its like that sort of thing is frowned upon with new tactics of possession above all else, players are too scared to lose possession rather than just going for the juguler.

Bobby Barnes, Don Rodgers, Ian Miller, Mark Walters etc etc who all when they got the ball there was a buzz going around the ground of anticipation.

I miss that too.

Agreed. I sometimes think modern managers think a turtle neck, expensive trainers and an obsession with Guardiola will be enough to see them through. Zero pragmatism and zero care for the fact that ultimately they are in the entertainment business. Paolo got it (and yes, I'm aware he got a lot wrong!).

Yes you are right, football is a results business now even though for many fans its an entertainment business.

I want to go watch us be competitive and be entertained, not just get a result above all else (Cowleys) I dont want to see backwards passing JUST to keep possession at all costs (Lindsey) under Morris we are playing better football than under Lindsey but its not quite there yet, I just dont think we have the right quality player to fit his system though.

I absolutely believe that Morris is the right man. He has fixed what he can at this stage. We look much better organised and work much harder. Instilling confidence to do what we are all suggesting will take time, and sadly possibly a pre-season.

We could do with a young Lloyd Isgrove to give us a spark!

Pass stats in isolation are so meaningless.
70% possession, 2 shots on target as an example are unlikely to win you a football match.

We have so many similar “technical” players but often lack a physical dominance when games turn ugly and they certainly do at this level.
Hopefully will be addressed in readiness for another mind blowing season in this woeful division.

Very true!

Nicky Summerbee and Fitzroy could have a go too...

I miss that..

But there is the quandary, are our notoriously patient, tolerant and understanding fans going to tolerate another 11 games of square pegs in round holes. There is definitely something there, but so many players are being made to look at best bang average and at worse pretty crap by the system we are playing them in.

I am not sure they fit any other system any better though.

Play wide with wingers? Nope, Hutton maybe, but nobody else is a good old fashioned wide player.

Play direct? No, Austin isn't much a target man and nobody else even looks capable of winning a header upfront from our options.

Play aggressive? No - midfield is full of tiny technical players who like to pop little passes around.

Play with pace? - No, nobody looks much quick in the team, so no real ability to play with a Liverpool of the past few seasons style of high pace/press.

We have 4 left backs (all out), we have at least three Number 10 style midfielders, probably more, and not a single holding one.  We don't even have much of a box to box type of midfielder, maybe Khan?

We have no wide forwards of any great consistency, they are all through the middle - a couple of poachers, one random type and a willing player in Wakeling, plus Adeloye (no idea what he is, but good enough is not one of them).

You can probably pop 11 decent enough players on the pitch, but it's a real struggle to fit them to a system that does much more than Morris has them doing already.

I mean we could just trying going forward with the ball and defending set pieces - that would be a good start.

Hasn't that been what we are trying to do, going forward.  It seems we've gone forwards a little more often with Morris, but we've focused on the middle and going through the lines.  It's still ponderous at times, but less so than before.

This hits the nail on the head for me. Individually I don't think we have recruited badly. More hits than misses, even if the hits aren't spectacular. However, the overall construction of the squad is downright laughable, from the back up keeper situation to every position further up the pitch than that!

We've done this bit *in small patches* a few times under Morris - the bit after the triple sub before we scored the equaliser vs Carlisle is a good example. Wakeling, RHM and Shade are all pretty quick. Earlier on in the season we scored quite a few goals with mostly Gladwin playing through balls for Wakeling to run onto. This style of play really does sideline Austin/Jephcott though.

Agree with your general point of having too many of the same kinds of player though.

And whose fault is that?

Lindsey, that’s who. ‘I prefer small, technical players’.

The fucking pillock.

Not absolving Lindsey, but there was a lot of noise about "playing the right way" from above his level, from Clem downwards. I'm pretty sure they were all aligned last summer on the type of players they wanted to bring in, even if specific targets might have differed.

There definitely seems to be more... variety of thought on that topic now.

Although McEachran is a small, technical player - but he puts himself about plenty. It's not just a question of physical size or Dylan Kadji and Tyrese Adeloye would have been great acquisitions!

George Ndah was my personal favourite for being direct & driving at people.

Shade gets the ball and does nothing.
Those players you mention would lift the crowd, kicking towards the TE particularly you just knew there were chances coming. Animal Williams whilst not technically gifted would look to go past a defender.
Summerbee the best crosser of the ball at Swindon could hit a ball at pace, what a player he was.

Quite. But not every technical player has to be small. If Lindsey had just said he preferred technical players instead of specifying small technical players you could point the finger solely at recruitment.

At the moment we are suffering from not having a ‘style’ at all. It’s neither tippy tappy nor direct and it’s those moments in the game where players have to choose which way to play it that causing the problem..

I agree Morris needs to be given time and hopefully a bigger say in player recruitment.

Quality player and a smashing lad.

Can't imagine us spending £500,000 today!

Ndah and Walters together was terrific.

We were spoilt.
Ndah scored on his debut, Middlesbrough I believe. Could see he had pace.
Walters was incredible. Best game he tore Oxford a new one 4-0, unplayable that night.

Can only hope we get moving again.