Barrow v Swindon Town Pre-match and Match day thread

[JoeMezz]

Pork scratchings?

I don't think this is a poor squad, there's plenty of experience and players that have played at a higher level and for once the bench isnt full of kids. It lacks a bit of pace and guile but looks like a solid div 4 squad.  

What we have seen is a complete lack of identity, players playing out of position, the ball repeatedly hoofed to the corner flag and almost zero service to the forwards.  That is down to the management and coaching.  

It's Sheridanesque tbh

Completely agree. Wright is an excellent footballer, Clark looked  a great signing, Glatzel we know from last season is decent. There’s enough in there to be doing much better than what we’re doing. I’ve always hated 5 at the back in league 1/2. Never seems to work

[Peter Venkman]

Completely agree. Wright is an excellent footballer, Clark looked  a great signing, Glatzel we know from last season is decent. There’s enough in there to be doing much better than what we’re doing. I’ve always hated 5 at the back in league 1/2. Never seems to work

Definately this.

[Ƭ̵̬̊: The Artist Formerly Known as CWIG]

Probably the same reason our non Vice Chairman is still around, he knows where the (metaphorical) bodies are buried

Are we sure its metaphorical with this lot?

[No Longer Posh Red]

Are we sure its metaphorical with this lot?

Probably inside a Mercedes at the bottom of the English Channel

[Peter Venkman]

How much say did the manager have in what players were brought in🤔

TBF most clubs now practice a model similar to us, with a DoF and scouting team/analysts in charge of signings based on spreadsheets/scouting network which all clubs have access to if they pay the fee.

In the Premier League and Championship I doubt any manager has full control over signings and probably havent in the last 10 years or so.

If you watch "Mission to Burnley" with Vincent Kompany you will see that Kompany asks for certain players as he knows them and thinks they would compliment his team/style but rarely got what he wanted and most signings were down to the scouting network used and seeing if they were good value for money.

We have to accept this is how its done nowadays, but, I am not sure that out DoF/Scouting/analyst team are analysing the data correctly and seeing how these players may integreate into the system we are currently using. A system that I feel personally is at the full control of the DoF who is signing players to play that system.

Lets face it that since Russell has been with us he has got every manager to try and play with 3/5 at the back and not once has this worked and I fear it won't work either, possibly ever.

We don't seem to have any player capable of playing the wingback role adequately, or midfielders who can play the roles required and that has been the same under Garner/Lindsey/Gunning/Flynn and now Kennedy who all started by playing that formation until it became obvious it wasn't working.

I fear Kennedy's hand are tied by a formation more suited to top divison teams with more skilled players than you are ever likely to get at this level. As such players are not familiar with playing these roles as they havent played them before in their careers as much as they have done a 442 or 433 formation.

Get back to basics, you only need to be slightly better than average to get out of this league.

[No Longer Posh Red]

Completely agree. Wright is an excellent footballer, Clark looked  a great signing, Glatzel we know from last season is decent. There’s enough in there to be doing much better than what we’re doing. I’ve always hated 5 at the back in league 1/2. Never seems to work

I think there are a number of decent signings, especially for League 2.
Kilkenny, Butterworth & Cox look pretty good, and fitness aside you would say Delaney & Hall fit into that category.

As for 5 at the back, the problem we have is we don't now have full backs

[Family at War]

Supported this club since the 60's through thick and thin ( a lot of thin) never felt so much apathy for the club, yes I have a season ticket and watched them, going with my dear old dad and then my son and hoping to take my grandchildren. This is the first time I have really believed we are going down. The situation is dire and you can feel the outcome at each match something needs sorting soon before it is too late!

[Legends-Lounge]

Pork scratchings?

I don't think this is a poor squad, there's plenty of experience and players that have played at a higher level and for once the bench isnt full of kids. It lacks a bit of pace and guile but looks like a solid div 4 squad.  

What we have seen is a complete lack of identity, players playing out of position, the ball repeatedly hoofed to the corner flag and almost zero service to the forwards.  That is down to the management and coaching.  

It's Sheridanesque tbh

Pork scratchings?

No. Not enough fat on them. They also take a hit of cleaning (pigs don’t use cotton buds) so they end up being cooked, dried and sold into the pet food chain.

[Jimmy Quinn]

TBF most clubs now practice a model similar to us, with a DoF and scouting team/analysts in charge of signings based on spreadsheets/scouting network which all clubs have access to if they pay the fee.

In the Premier League and Championship I doubt any manager has full control over signings and probably havent in the last 10 years or so.

If you watch "Mission to Burnley" with Vincent Kompany you will see that Kompany asks for certain players as he knows them and thinks they would compliment his team/style but rarely got what he wanted and most signings were down to the scouting network used and seeing if they were good value for money.

We have to accept this is how its done nowadays, but, I am not sure that out DoF/Scouting/analyst team are analysing the data correctly and seeing how these players may integreate into the system we are currently using. A system that I feel personally is at the full control of the DoF who is signing players to play that system.

Lets face it that since Russell has been with us he has got every manager to try and play with 3/5 at the back and not once has this worked and I fear it won't work either, possibly ever.

We don't seem to have any player capable of playing the wingback role adequately, or midfielders who can play the roles required and that has been the same under Garner/Lindsey/Gunning/Flynn and now Kennedy who all started by playing that formation until it became obvious it wasn't working.

I fear Kennedy's hand are tied by a formation more suited to top divison teams with more skilled players than you are ever likely to get at this level. As such players are not familiar with playing these roles as they havent played them before in their careers as much as they have done a 442 or 433 formation.

Get back to basics, you only need to be slightly better than average to get out of this league.

I’m not a big fan of the DOF model preferred the old way when a manager worked within a budget and told the chairman what players he wanted then picked the team accordingly, nowadays managers are too scared to go against the grain and pursue their own beliefs.

[Ƭ̵̬̊: The Artist Formerly Known as CWIG]

I’m not a big fan of the DOF model preferred the old way when a manager worked within a budget and told the chairman what players he wanted then picked the team accordingly, nowadays managers are too scared to go against the grain and pursue their own beliefs.

Plus is means you end up sacking managers when really the buck stops somewhere else either as well or in some cases even more so.

[RobertT]

i don't think the entirety of the squad is as bad as our current league position, but I also don't think it has much by way of talent in it, based on viewing so far.  I honestly don't see much coherence in what we have put together either.  If you go with a three man central defence you need attacking wing backs to give you the width, but we seem to have some plodders who make Rob Hunt look like prime Giggs.

We have brought a big man up top, but seem unable to get any sort of decent crosses in and have a muddled plan to play through the midfield or hit it long and hope.  Nothing seems joined up.  The midfield looks meh to me - I think we've seen such drivel in recent times that people think a player who can pass five yards is now some sort of creative star.  It seems no better than last seasons grouping to me, and they were also easily run through.

The central defenders is probably the improvement from prior year, but overall it's a mid table group.  A good manager can maybe make them outperform that a little, but nothing about Kennedy suggests he is that type of Manager.  I think we'll end the season with a record not that far last seasons in terms of points (maybe 10 more), with less goals scored and eventually less goals conceded.  It sort of reminds me of the Phil Brown era.

[Jimmy Quinn]

Plus is means you end up sacking managers when really the buck stops somewhere else either as well or in some cases even more so.

Spot on

[Nemo]

The women's side are 9-0 up, so that's something.

[No Longer Posh Red]

Playing players in a position that suits them is key, Cotterill is a prime example.
Playing as the playmaker just in front of the back 3 he looked like someone who had never played before, but his (albeit limited sample) performance farther forward he looked reasonable.
It should be the manager’s job to put players in their right positions & play to their strengths, if that doesn’t improve then it has to be down to Kennedy.

We can argue whether he’s got the raw materials to get in the top 7 (personally I’m not sure he does) but what he does have is better than bottom 4

[Jimmy Quinn]

Give them a go in the men’s first team