Morecambe v Swindon Town matchday thread

[UTR]

These players are the same ones who have shown play off form up until the last couple of weeks. I don't think they've suddenly become poor.

This is a mid table squad playing to the level of a mid table squad. They’ll go through poor spells where you start to worry but then pick it up to avoid the relegation spots, they’ll go through good runs but fall short before they reach the playoff spots and above. They won’t be consistent enough over a whole season in either direction to trouble either end of the table (bar extraordinary circumstances).

We’re where we should be right now, in that middling pack.

[Nemo]

A big part of the drop in form (chicken or egg!) has been that Harry Smith has scored one goal in two months. He's still winning headers but the finishing has dried up.

Nobody else in the squad has more than six goals for the season, and one of the ones on six is a centre back. Only one other striker (Tshimanga) has more than three.

[Outletred]

I also do not think they suddenly became good.  Holloway clearly simplified the game we play and used the limited assets we do possess.  In a league like this, you can string some results together with a not great bunch if the become well organised and have a way of fashioning some chances up top.  The problem is the team is just not good enough to sustain it.  They are not as bad as the first couple of months, they are not as good as the good run.  We are probably about where the talent suggests we should be in my eyes.  This is, along with last seasons team, right up there in terms of bad squads we have had in our history.  Results over a season support that - it's exactly where we are headed.  I think the good news is that we at least have a core of competent players this time (vs last season), and some good additions would improve the team, but do we really have the budget to upgrade say five or six of this bunch?

In a word no

[Batch]

These players are the same ones who have shown play off form up until the last couple of weeks. I don't think they've suddenly become poor.

There is an argument that keeping Delaney, Clark and Drinan fit would have seen us maintain better form.

But let's be honest here, we had a great 10 game period around January,  but haven't been up to it for the rest of the season.  Nothing has happened suddenly. We've reverted to type.

[No Longer Posh Red]

There is an argument that keeping Delaney, Clark and Drinan fit would have seen us maintain better form.

But let's be honest here, we had a great 10 game period around January,  but haven't been up to it for the rest of the season.  Nothing has happened suddenly. We've reverted to type.

Also, other teams have worked out to play against us. Stop Harry Smith, and without the pace & effort of Drinan, we don’t really have a plan B.

[DV]

We’ve had a few injuries but don’t really have the depth in the right places to replace those.

Clarke has been a huge loss - I expect our PPG with Clarke & PPG without Clarke are night & day.

You could argue our 3 most important players are Ofoborh, Clarke & Smith but also players we don’t really have like for like replacements for. Probably on a lesser level Drinan too

…but let’s also not beat around the bush - those two two twos in a week against Salford & Doncaster basically ended our season. The play offs were a far distant hope but a hope all the same. They’ve gone now and the performances have dropped.

Some players will be on the beach particularly if their footballing future is secure others probably taking their foot of the gas a bit to avoid injury particularly if they need to find new employment for next season. If their employment is going to continue here then Holloway probably knows enough about them already & if they will be looking for work else where they’ve probably got a better chance when released of going on trial somewhere to win a contract than busting a gut here in dead (to us) rubber matches.

The side / squad is probably roughly where it deserves to be.  A season of Kennedy & we’d be a lot lower, a season of Holloway & we’d be a bit higher.

The fact that we have a manager most of us are ok with already signed up for next season & the fact our season is done (in both directions) by March is a nice change of pace.

Now is the time to blood youngsters, try fringe players, experiment with formations etc & actually start strategically planning for next season.

[NotHarryAgombar]

I didn’t watch or listen to this game - but as I have consistently said all season, this squad is a lower mid table squad - 15th is a bit higher than I thought but after 5 without a win we look as though we will finish a little lower anyway.
With a small number of exceptions, our wins and defeats have been by the odd goal either way, and the style of play since December is basically geared to getting it forward and hoping to win second balls or force a mistake in key areas. Some weeks it’s worked, others it hasn’t and we’ve conceded in similar fashion. 15 draws also points to this.
A real problem is we have several players who are probably among our higher earners - Hall, Delaney and Clarke - who have probably managed about 40 starts between them. We need a few more durable ones like Kilkenny and Wright in next year’s squad.
However, the ownership is of course the real problem - and the cycle will continue until they go.

[Pericardinho]

I didn’t watch or listen to this game - but as I have consistently said all season, this squad is a lower mid table squad - 15th is a bit higher than I thought but after 5 without a win we look as though we will finish a little lower anyway.
With a small number of exceptions, our wins and defeats have been by the odd goal either way, and the style of play since December is basically geared to getting it forward and hoping to win second balls or force a mistake in key areas. Some weeks it’s worked, others it hasn’t and we’ve conceded in similar fashion. 15 draws also points to this.
A real problem is we have several players who are probably among our higher earners - Hall, Delaney and Clarke - who have probably managed about 40 starts between them. We need a few more durable ones like Kilkenny and Wright in next year’s squad.
However, the ownership is of course the real problem - and the cycle will continue until they go.

The win %'s with and without Clarke surely can't be a coincidence. Not with almost a whole season of sample size. So his absence has really hit us.

He's rarely spectacular either. So is his organisation that vital? apparently so.

[Riddick]

The stats don't lie with Oli Clarke, but its not a sustainable situation.

Clarke is 33 in the summer, and you can already see injuries taking a toll this season.
A promotion winning side is better than having Clarke as a regular starter, see Clarke's role during Mansfield's promotion.
Clarke has been somewhat shoe horned into the team in a back 3, or even back 2, just to get him on the pitch. Is he really the best option if we had a better selection of CB's?
Ofoborh/Kilkenny looks like the best CM combo to build the team around going forward.

So yeah Clarke has been influential this season, but for where we want to get to, we need to build a different looking side that does not rely on forcing in a Clarke.

[Batch]

Clarke has played in 25 (22+3) of our 39 league games. He's good, not sure he's Ollie big up good, but we really don't have anyone who can step in for the 1/3 of games he misses.

Also a bit of a shame he's being put into the back 3, we miss him from midfield a lot.

League appearances by defenders:

Wright 39 (38+1)
Sabowale 35 (26+9)
Cox 23(19+4)
Freckleton 21 (19+2)
Delaney 20 (18+2)
Hall 13 (11+2)
Minturn 7 (3+4)

Not ideal.