10 games in

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Quakerlad
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10 games in

Post by Quakerlad » Mon Sep 17, 2018 8:14 am

Think generally that after 10 games you have a fair idea of progress and sorry, but 17th place is not good enough with a budget that we have been told is a good play off level of budget. ( and should be with transfer fees and the fans donations adding at least £100k to it). Let’s be honest, 17th is about where we deserve to be.

Yes we have had injuries, but so have other teams and just highlights the weakness of the squad. I was told on the board, a few weeks ago, to basically keep quiet and I was wrong when I said that TW had significantly weakened the team in the summer. Well I,m sorry, but he has, end of.....

I reckon we have played well in about 3/4 games and about the same number of shockers too, including our most recent. Swings and roundabouts, because we should have beaten Blyth by 6 and lost by 6 on Saturday,!

He still does not know his best formation to fit both Ainge and Styche in, Burn has had 1 good game, Hughes at CH was an accident (a good one), the rest of his signings, maybe apart from Elliot look good for half a game then at best average.

Sounds like he now has 2 players not even around the squad ( Caton and Collins) getting paid probably the equivalent of 4 others! Know he didn’t sign them but good man managers sort the situation out one way or another.

Sorry but it really isn’t good enough in my opinion.

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Re: 10 games in

Post by Quakerz » Mon Sep 17, 2018 8:29 am

We have a decent budget yes, thanks to fan donations. It would have been a shite budget otherwise.

As for transfer fees and other money, they are irrelevant as they didn't form part of this years budget - they were needed to prevent us going out of business thanks to the massive overspend allowed for Gray.

Jury is still out for me on this years squad with only 10 games gone. I know you and certain others will point out that injuries are no excuse (because you don't want him to have an excuse, because giving him "get outs" doesn't suit your agenda) - however injuries ARE an excuse because we have had 6 and 7 out regularly, and to make matters worse with us unable to field a settled 11 it's going to take longer for all of the new players to gel.

Let us see what the next 10 matches bring before we write long posts saying how bad TW is. Let's see how we do with less injuries, and see if the form picks up. If it doesn't then questions would need to be asked.

Remember, we have a decent budget but not a huge one - it is still substantially less than last year's in fact (hence the smaller squad), and there are several clubs with more spending power than us.

The budget is considered good enough to aim for 7th, but it's not a budget to blow the league away.

Our aim is to achieve the play offs and hopefully have a cup run. There are 32 matches to play and we are 5 points from the play offs.

Everything is still to play for.
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Darlogramps
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Re: 10 games in

Post by Darlogramps » Mon Sep 17, 2018 9:04 am

Quakerz wrote:We have a decent budget yes, thanks to fan donations. It would have been a shite budget otherwise.

As for transfer fees and other money, they are irrelevant as they didn't form part of this years budget - they were needed to prevent us going out of business thanks to the massive overspend allowed for Gray.

Jury is still out for me on this years squad with only 10 games gone. I know you and certain others will point out that injuries are no excuse (because you don't want him to have an excuse, because giving him "get outs" doesn't suit your agenda)
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Come on Q - you're better than that. I can easily say you've got an agenda to discredit any critics of your beloved TW - but I won't. "Agenda" is the type of word tin-foil hat wearing political idiots use when slagging off the BBC on Twitter. You're not one of them so be better, please.

As for the injuries, don't all clubs have injury problems? It's part of the season, and surely being a good enough manager means you can build a strong enough squad to cope. Yes we have a smaller squad because of budgets etc, but is our squad substantially smaller than the majority of sides in the league? Beyond the biggest spenders like York, not really.

You can also pose the question why we've had a bad run of injuries. Is it bad luck? Or is it something with how the squad is being run? If we're still offering the injuries excuse in 4-6 weeks, we'll know the answer.

As for your objection to the term "excuses" - all I'll say is TW has been handed a free pass every time something has gone wrong. First it was MG, then it was budget cuts. Then it was a tough run of fixtures, then it was injuries, then it was players leaving. Then it was players needing to gel. And so on and so on. It's getting tiresome. TW has been here nearly a year now and needs to own this record. In fairness, he does so more than his supporters do.

Personally, I think the OP is getting a little boring with his long rants after every below par result or performance. Southport was far from disastrous. I'm a sceptic of TW but in the last couple of weeks we look to have become more solid and there's been improvement in performances. The key is whether TW and the squad can take us on a sustained upturn in results. Do that and everyone will be a lot happier.

But it also the case that two wins in 10 is not good enough for a side where even the chief exec says we should be competing for the play-offs. I reckon even TW would say our start has been below par, so there's no need for any hyper-defensiveness, or accusations of agendas, every time someone dares to criticise.
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Re: 10 games in

Post by 50 years » Mon Sep 17, 2018 9:22 am

Last year we had a larger budget under MG and we were in a no better position, only 10 games in this season and some good and bad games it is true, but with lots of injuries, new players etc therefore unable to field a settled team, even on Saturday we had three changes to the one that beat Telford.

We are only 5 points off a play off spot and we have beaten two of the top seven teams and drawn with one. Look at York, full time professionals, big budget and only two points ahead of us so big budgets don't guarantee success, we are not in too bad a spot yet imo.

Yes of course I would have liked to see us totally dominate every team but realistically I never thought that we had a chance of winning this league but hoped to get into the playoffs.

For me it is too early in the season to be unhappy with anything, and I for one am just going to enjoy whatever this season brings, with a bit of hope in there for a cup run ;)

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Re: 10 games in

Post by en passant » Mon Sep 17, 2018 10:29 am

[quote="50 years"]Last year we had a larger budget under MG and we were in a no better position, only 10 games in this season and some good and bad games it is true, but with lots of injuries, new players etc therefore unable to field a settled team, even on Saturday we had three changes to the one that beat Telford.

We are only 5 points off a play off spot and we have beaten two of the top seven teams and drawn with one. Look at York, full time professionals, big budget and only two points ahead of us so big budgets don't guarantee success, we are not in too bad a spot yet imo.

Yes of course I would have liked to see us totally dominate every team but realistically I never thought that we had a chance of winning this league but hoped to get into the playoffs.

For me it is too early in the season to be unhappy with anything, and I for one am just going to enjoy whatever this season brings, with a bit of hope in there for a cup run ;)

Pretty much my feelings. I've no idea if TW will be able to "turn it around" as he did last year, and, since we've never yet seen it, I've no idea what his ideal team would be or how it might perform without the need to chop and change due to injuries, suspensions and call-ups. Yes, all teams have to cope with these things as well, but I can't claim to know for certain if the teams at the top have been more or less fortunate than Darlo in this respect. I can guess that getting a good start and finding that the world seems to love how you are playing can give a team wings and make playing the game seem a breeze, whilst searching for your muse, such as we are, can make the whole experience feel like we are wearing lead boots.

I'm reasonably pleased with the majority of players who have been brought in over the summer, and if the situations of Collins and Caton can be resolved and Vaulks brought back we might be able to look a little more like a proper semi-professional outfit and less like a team held together with tape and string. I don't see wanting to give TW more time to get the full potential out these players is being an apologist for his way of working or failing to see there is a potential crisis looming, but I am surprised that some supporters are being too keen to see only pitfalls and hint at the need for a change of management.

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Re: 10 games in

Post by Quakerz » Mon Sep 17, 2018 11:03 am

Darlogramps wrote:
As for the injuries, don't all clubs have injury problems? It's part of the season, and surely being a good enough manager means you can build a strong enough squad to cope. Yes we have a smaller squad because of budgets etc, but is our squad substantially smaller than the majority of sides in the league? Beyond the biggest spenders like York, not really.

You can also pose the question why we've had a bad run of injuries. Is it bad luck? Or is it something with how the squad is being run? If we're still offering the injuries excuse in 4-6 weeks, we'll know the answer.
I don't disagree with a lot of your post but a couple of points regarding the quoted bit - yes I agree that all clubs get injuries, but that doesn't mean that they've had the same injuries as us so far. Over a season perhaps yes it will even out, but come on we've had a spate of injuries to key players, have never been able to field a settled 11 thus far because of it, and it has fucked us up. Hell for 2 matches in a row we were unable to make any subs because there was no one obviously deemed good enough to make a change, on the bench.

As for the money side of things, there is more than full time York with a much bigger budget than us.

There is full time Kidderminster. There is Stockport and their gates of 3,000. There is Chester with bigger gates than us and some behind the scenes money. There is Southport who have spent big money and are virtually full time. There is Spendy who looking at their squad depth clearly have more money than us. All the clubs above, apart from Stockport, have wealthy benefactors or a rich fan putting money in. There are probably others too.

I would wager that all of the above have a bigger budget than us. Oh yeah and Brackley. Don't forget Brackley, and their multi millionaire owner.

Our playing budget is around 250k which I agree is, or should be, a very healthy budget for a part time club - but using an educated guess it probably lies somewhere between 7th and 10th in the league.

Realistically finishing between 7th and 10th then, should be viewed as "about par". Below 10th would be "below par to failure" depending on how low we are, and above 7th could be viewed as "over-achievement" - and I'm sure that we can both agree to that one.

At the moment we are in the failure zone but with so few matches played we could soon be in the over-achievement zone.

Obviously it goes without saying that the longer that the moderate start goes on for, the more entrenched we will be in the failure zone and the further we will be from par.

Therefore I think (as someone who backs TW and wants him to do well) that the next 10 league matches are critical. If there is no improvement, we will be twice as far away from where we want to be, and then we need to really look at it.
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loan_star
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Re: 10 games in

Post by loan_star » Mon Sep 17, 2018 11:48 am

As I said elsewhere, its still September, no reason whatsoever to hit the panic button yet.
Any reasonable fan would think the same but we have a few who just seem to think hiring and firing managers is a doddle and the first sign of a dodgy run then we have to make a change. Typical mentality shown by chairmen with itchy trigger fingers scared of losing their premiership millions.
Quakerz is correct as usual, another 10 games and then start assessing the direction we are taking and if we need to take action then do so.

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Re: 10 games in

Post by PierremontQuaker03 » Mon Sep 17, 2018 1:26 pm

I think we are consistently inconsistent. It seems that one good performance is followed by a bang average one. But we are where we are with a thin squad and kids on the bench on a regular basis.
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Darlogramps
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Re: 10 games in

Post by Darlogramps » Mon Sep 17, 2018 1:42 pm

loan_star wrote:As I said elsewhere, its still September, no reason whatsoever to hit the panic button yet.
Any reasonable fan would think the same but we have a few who just seem to think hiring and firing managers is a doddle and the first sign of a dodgy run then we have to make a change.
I don't think this is necessarily correct. Firstly, when assessing TW, we can't just look at this season, so saying it's only September is a little simplistic in my view. TW's been here nearly a year now so should be judged on his tenure as a whole, which in fairness, hasn't been a spectacular success, albeit with plenty of challenges.

It's the same reason why, in my view, York were right to get rid of MG as early as August. He'd been underperforming for a while and it clearly didn't appear to be working out.

Therefore an average overall record with us is part of the reason TW has his critics. And his record as a manager generally is pretty mediocre as well. So again, people will have their doubts.

However, in the last couple of weeks, I've been encouraged. There are signs he's starting to get an idea of his strongest XI, and keeping back-to-back clean sheets is important. The improvement in the second half of last season was built on a solid defence, so hopefully we're seeing shoots of recovery.

I do also think he's earned the right to time to make this team his own. But that has to be caveated with the fact we need to see sustained improvement in results, not just performances. Two wins from 10 is not good enough. If he continues the improvement of the last two weeks, then we'll see the critics start to simmer down.
Last edited by Darlogramps on Mon Sep 17, 2018 1:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 10 games in

Post by Spyman » Mon Sep 17, 2018 1:43 pm

Darlogramps wrote:
I'm a sceptic of TW but in the last couple of weeks we look to have become more solid and there's been improvement in performances. The key is whether TW and the squad can take us on a sustained upturn in results. Do that and everyone will be a lot happier.
This is about where I am. We've had a poor start but it sounds like the last couple of games have brought more solidity to the side. If we can build on that and go from 2 wins in 10 to 7 or 8 wins in 20 then things start looking a bit more rosey and a play-off challenge looks reasonable.

Last season it took Wright a couple of months to find a team that worked. Reasonably having had the back end of last season, and a full pre-season, you wouldn't expect it to take as long as it has to find the formula that works. This creates an uphill struggle.

I do wonder whether the gamble to sign quality over quantity (if indeed we have signed quality) may have back-fired with the injuries we've suffered having made things worse because we just don't have the replacements in the squad.
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Re: 10 games in

Post by Darlo_Pete » Mon Sep 17, 2018 2:17 pm

There is no need to panic, as someone else has said we're only 5 points off a play-off spot and the defence is now looking really solid.

H1987
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Re: 10 games in

Post by H1987 » Mon Sep 17, 2018 2:39 pm

The last thing we need this season is some mid season upheaval.

The position so far is disappointing, but I want to see TW given the chance to get it right, and we need to try and be patient. I think we really need some more options as well, the squad is paper thin in some areas, and over-stocked in others.

Sorting is out from the back is a priority. Lets see if TW can do this. For me, we give him the season to get it right. Anything less than the playoffs (although perhaps if we fell just short, this could be forgiven) and I think we need to have a serious think. Right now, we're some way off that, but we should learn from the mess we have last season from changing managers half way through. A lot of the team is here because of TW, the coaching staff, i'm not sure about AW... but losing MG at that stage last season made our form nosedive (although realistically it was poor before he went too).

Patience.

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Re: 10 games in

Post by Quakerlad » Mon Sep 17, 2018 3:25 pm

I,m not actually saying we should get rid of TW even though I am not a fan of his and let’s be honest, his record over 30+ games is pretty poor, as it was at Nuneaton before us, so no, his skills as a manager do not stand out. However, we have nothing to gain just yet by considering changing him.

All I am saying though is that it has been a hugely disappointing start this season with what he “sold to us” as being a much better squad of quality players, and With the odd exception every now and again, just don’t see it.

I still think it is weaker and has lost a lot of its identity with barely any players from the area.

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Re: 10 games in

Post by theoriginalfatcat » Mon Sep 17, 2018 3:35 pm

50 years wrote:We are only 5 points off a play off spot and we have beaten two of the top seven teams and drawn with one. Look at York, full time professionals, big budget and only two points ahead of us so big budgets don't guarantee success, we are not in too bad a spot yet imo.
I've seen York twice so far this season, Gray's last game (home draw V Curzon) and the recent home loss V K'minster.

It's been interesting because apart from possibly Bartlett and Ferguson I don't think I would take any of their players to put in our team. They seem to have no spark and don't look particularly good.

We on the other hand have a number of players who can change a game, and a number of players who I'm sure York would be pleased to get hold of, 2 of these, Styche and Ainge, Tommy Wright signed.

The problem we have is inconsistency and this hasn't been helped by the never ending list of injuries, and injuries do matter!! They can derail a season for any team in any division not just us.

I use York as a benchmark not only because they are in direct competition with us for a top 7 place but also because I feel that at present our problems are easier to solve than theirs.

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Re: 10 games in

Post by loan_star » Mon Sep 17, 2018 3:56 pm

Quakerlad wrote:I still think it is weaker and has lost a lot of its identity with barely any players from the area.
This I do agree with. One or two who left should have been retained.
Darlogramps wrote:]

I don't think this is necessarily correct. Firstly, when assessing TW, we can't just look at this season, so saying it's only September is a little simplistic in my view. TW's been here nearly a year now so should be judged on his tenure as a whole, which in fairness, hasn't been a spectacular success, albeit with plenty of challenges.

It's the same reason why, in my view, York were right to get rid of MG as early as August. He'd been underperforming for a while and it clearly didn't appear to be working out.
Last season Wright was working with Grays players mostly with a few additions.
This time its virtually Wrights team and as such he deserves a fair crack at getting them sorted. Injuries arent helping but lets see how we do when we arent scraping the barrel for subs.
I disagree with you over Gray deserving the sack early on, to be honest I dont agree with many sackings so early in the season. There are rare occasions when it may be justified but the majority are just trigger happy chairmen getting a panic on, like some supporters.

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Re: 10 games in

Post by JE93 » Mon Sep 17, 2018 4:00 pm

Think the season is starting to take shape looking at the league table. Chorley and Kiddy are the best 2 teams in the league. Brackley and Spennymoor have started to get their act together after slow starts. Alfreton are up there as expected with Billy Heath in charge though replacing Denton quickly will be key to them keeping that position. BPA and Mark Bower continue to impress on a small budget especially considering they lost Adam Boyes quite late in preseason.

As for us 17th isn't great, as eluded to above we have a top half budget. So we need to start making steps up the table and need to be holding our own in the 5th-9th place bracket. We seem to have had everything this season. Good performances where we got points (Brackley, Telford). Bad performances where we got points (Ashton, Southport). Good performances where we didn't get all 3 (Blyth, Spennymoor). Bad performances where we got nothing (Kiddy, Altrincham). But two clean sheets in the last two is something to build on, I acknowledge that the we have had bad luck with injuries and that every team will have a blip this season. We may have just had ours early. But for me the biggest issue I had is wondering whether the players we had were best given the opportunity to perform in the games we didn't play so well.

All in all I'm still pretty on the fence about TW. But while he remains in charge he has my support.

In terms of his recruitment. I think he has built a good team. There haven't been many misses in terms of the players he has brought in. Whilst also securing important players to contracts which in the case of Heaton meant we were fairly compensated for his departure. And in the case of Wheatley, Glover and Trotman has given us some real assets that could well earn the club some money in the future. I accepted all but 2 of the departures over the summer. Though I think of the two I questioned; one was down to the contractual arrangements of another member of the squad and the other had his head turned. Which is fair enough.

On the other hand. I do think he sometimes gets a little stuck on a formation. Last season it was 3-5-2 and this season it was 4-4-2. On both occasions when selection issues have forced us into 4-2-3-1 we have looked much better for it. So hopefully he can perfect us in this formation.

All in all, I'm.not happy with where we are after 10 games. But I am generally happy with the squad in terms of quality. TW will have to work some magic with Caton and Collins if we are to increase that quality. And I'm happy that we have shown improvement in the last 2 games. Just need to start stringing results together now and get moving up the league. An FA Cup run would go a long way to improving my mood. Certainly some building work to be done. But I have some quiet optimism in the individuals we have brought in.

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Re: 10 games in

Post by Darlogramps » Mon Sep 17, 2018 5:09 pm

loan_star wrote:
Quakerlad wrote:I still think it is weaker and has lost a lot of its identity with barely any players from the area.
This I do agree with. One or two who left should have been retained.
Darlogramps wrote:]

I don't think this is necessarily correct. Firstly, when assessing TW, we can't just look at this season, so saying it's only September is a little simplistic in my view. TW's been here nearly a year now so should be judged on his tenure as a whole, which in fairness, hasn't been a spectacular success, albeit with plenty of challenges.

It's the same reason why, in my view, York were right to get rid of MG as early as August. He'd been underperforming for a while and it clearly didn't appear to be working out.
Last season Wright was working with Grays players mostly with a few additions.
This time its virtually Wrights team and as such he deserves a fair crack at getting them sorted. Injuries arent helping but lets see how we do when we arent scraping the barrel for subs.
I disagree with you over Gray deserving the sack early on, to be honest I dont agree with many sackings so early in the season. There are rare occasions when it may be justified but the majority are just trigger happy chairmen getting a panic on, like some supporters.
Gray had failed to even get York into the play-offs last season and had started slowly. Personally I think there were clashes behind the scenes as well - Gray was slagging his players off in public so I dread to think what was being said in private. There's definitely justification.

As I said, it's misleading to look at everything in the context of August to May, and wipe the slate clean over the summer. You judge the tenure as a whole.

Same with TW. A lot of his critics aren't kneejerking or panicking, as his supporters like to make out. Yes there will be a handful who'll say "Wright Out" with little justification, but the majority are more concerned about his record as a whole with us, and in his career generally, which is perfectly legitimate.
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Re: 10 games in

Post by LoidLucan » Mon Sep 17, 2018 5:21 pm

The situation at Hereford should be enough to send a shudder down the spine of any manager in this league. They've just sacked a boss who boasted a 78.9% win ratio with the club. His record from 138 games was 107 wins, 18 draws and 13 defeats and he's out on his ear.

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Re: 10 games in

Post by Vodka_Vic » Mon Sep 17, 2018 5:35 pm

Regarding our formation, Kev Luff made a point which I agree with re: our formations and particularly with regard to 4-4-2. It could work for us, but only with 2 stonking centre halves. We have found one in Hughes. If Terry Galbraith can be the other and these two can form a good partnership, and our full-backs are told to get tighter, then it could work. With Thommo on one wing and Henshall on the other, do you need the wing backs bombing forward so much anyway?

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Re: 10 games in

Post by HarrytheQuaker » Mon Sep 17, 2018 5:39 pm

Darlogramps wrote:
loan_star wrote:
Quakerlad wrote:I still think it is weaker and has lost a lot of its identity with barely any players from the area.
This I do agree with. One or two who left should have been retained.
Darlogramps wrote:]

I don't think this is necessarily correct. Firstly, when assessing TW, we can't just look at this season, so saying it's only September is a little simplistic in my view. TW's been here nearly a year now so should be judged on his tenure as a whole, which in fairness, hasn't been a spectacular success, albeit with plenty of challenges.

It's the same reason why, in my view, York were right to get rid of MG as early as August. He'd been underperforming for a while and it clearly didn't appear to be working out.
Last season Wright was working with Grays players mostly with a few additions.
This time its virtually Wrights team and as such he deserves a fair crack at getting them sorted. Injuries arent helping but lets see how we do when we arent scraping the barrel for subs.
I disagree with you over Gray deserving the sack early on, to be honest I dont agree with many sackings so early in the season. There are rare occasions when it may be justified but the majority are just trigger happy chairmen getting a panic on, like some supporters.
Gray had failed to even get York into the play-offs last season and had started slowly. Personally I think there were clashes behind the scenes as well - Gray was slagging his players off in public so I dread to think what was being said in private. There's definitely justification.

As I said, it's misleading to look at everything in the context of August to May, and wipe the slate clean over the summer. You judge the tenure as a whole.

Same with TW. A lot of his critics aren't kneejerking or panicking, as his supporters like to make out. Yes there will be a handful who'll say "Wright Out" with little justification, but the majority are more concerned about his record as a whole with us, and in his career generally, which is perfectly legitimate.
Loan star is MG 'S biggest fan so won't have anything bad about him said on here.. He definitely deserved to be sacked due to his continued bad results he said judge me on my players and they did and it didn't work..

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Re: 10 games in

Post by tdk1 » Mon Sep 17, 2018 6:10 pm

I'm definitely among those who've criticised TW. I think our position at this moment has to be regarded as poor, and the squad is definitely light in centre midfield. Five points off the play offs in 17th now is not indicative of a coming promotion push. It's very poor for where we are.

BUT... by hook or by crook we appear to have stumbled on a defender who can defend. Far more than the bracket result, consecutive clean sheets represents progress to me. Good teams defend well, they don't just try to outscored the opposition.

I'll be honest, I think TW is going to take us to a distinctly mediocre 12th to 16th this season, and for me that's not good enough. But a bit of team cohesion and defensive solidity offers a lot more hope than intermittent attacking gung ho.

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Re: 10 games in

Post by H1987 » Mon Sep 17, 2018 7:05 pm

Agreed with the above, that's what I think also, based on so far, but I hope i'm wrong.

12th would maybe see him get the benefit of the doubt, 16th and I think we might part ways.

But, you never know. A quality central midfielder and a settled formation could work wonders. We have some good players. Styche, Ainge, Wheatley and Trotman would get in most sides in this league, and can probably play quite well at the level above I would say.

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Re: 10 games in

Post by quakerman » Mon Sep 17, 2018 7:10 pm

Vodka_Vic wrote:Regarding our formation, Kev Luff made a point which I agree with re: our formations and particularly with regard to 4-4-2. It could work for us, but only with 2 stonking centre halves. We have found one in Hughes. If Terry Galbraith can be the other and these two can form a good partnership, and our full-backs are told to get tighter, then it could work. With Thommo on one wing and Henshall on the other, do you need the wing backs bombing forward so much anyway?
Totally agree Adam,Trotman and OHanlon are very good going forward but we are exposed on both wings when this happens.If we go 442 as you suggested, why not have a back 4 who defend plus a defensive midfielder ie Wheatley.That leaves us with 4 attackers plus an attacking midfielder ie Syers.If Tommy reverts back to this formation I would not mind seeing how this lineup pans out but also bring Galbraith back in to partner Hughes.


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Re: 10 games in

Post by Spyman » Mon Sep 17, 2018 7:16 pm

We have another stonking centre half but the problem is we need him up front in the 442!

Obviously now that Hughes appears our best central defender, having been brought in as a midfielder, effectively leaves us one light in midfield, however it leaves us overstocked in defence so logically we try to move on the defender at the bottom of the pecking order (Collins) and try to use that wage to bring in a midfielder.

Over to Wright to find a taker for injury prone Collins.

Another suggestion (and I could be over thinking it) is that you put Hughes in a back three with Galbraith and Burn, play your attacking full backs and have Wheatley, Elliott and one of Syers/Thompson in midfield, or Thompson, Syers and Styche playing off Ainge?
Vodka_Vic wrote:Regarding our formation, Kev Luff made a point which I agree with re: our formations and particularly with regard to 4-4-2. It could work for us, but only with 2 stonking centre halves. We have found one in Hughes. If Terry Galbraith can be the other and these two can form a good partnership, and our full-backs are told to get tighter, then it could work. With Thommo on one wing and Henshall on the other, do you need the wing backs bombing forward so much anyway?
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On Sunday April 29, 2012 at 10:25 pm, Darlo Cockney wrote:Sadly some people have nothing better to do that invent rumours.

We will be playing at the arena again next season - fact.

Quakerz - if you actually attended games and spoke to people you might actually find our facts, rather than spreading s*** on this board.

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Re: 10 games in

Post by loan_star » Mon Sep 17, 2018 7:40 pm

HarrytheQuaker wrote: Loan star is MG 'S biggest fan so won't have anything bad about him said on here..
Utter rubbish. I have a respect for what he achieved here but you are just talking bollocks.
The time to sack Gary was last season, not let him carry on and sign a boat load of players then sack him only a few games into the season before they time to gell properly.

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Re: 10 games in

Post by QuakerPete » Mon Sep 17, 2018 10:41 pm

H1987 wrote:Agreed with the above, that's what I think also, based on so far, but I hope i'm wrong.

12th would maybe see him get the benefit of the doubt, 16th and I think we might part ways.

But, you never know. A quality central midfielder and a settled formation could work wonders. We have some good players. Styche, Ainge, Wheatley and Trotman would get in most sides in this league, and can probably play quite well at the level above I would say.
We’ve already got 2 quality central midfielders in Wheatley and Elliott. We just need them on the pitch at the same time in their proper positions


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Re: 10 games in

Post by jjljks » Tue Sep 18, 2018 6:32 am

In the early days MG managed to find players who wanted to play for the club but later, he seemed to attract people using high wages. Ultimately this was his undoing, but there are lessons which TW is learning from. Several issues with Caton & Collins need addressing so we can get fit players who want to play for TW + club. Also MG's Academy links need replacing with our own & developing young local talent, all of which takes time. David J and the board have improved control over the budget and as fans, we need to get behind the whole club and have some patience. Keep the faith!

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Re: 10 games in

Post by Darlo_Pete » Tue Sep 18, 2018 7:56 am

I don't agree with comments about it being bad that we have so many players not from our area. I was working in the Bishop Auckland area and completely be accident mat Alex Henshall. What a thoroughly pleasant lad, who is very committed to us. He moved from Swindon Town to move up here, due to his previous connections with TW. He loves the area, the club and the fans and I doubt many players would give us the potential of a full time football career, to move to the other end of the country for part-time football. Give these lads from outside the area a break, as they are showing commitment to our club every week.

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Re: 10 games in

Post by TFDM » Tue Sep 18, 2018 9:18 am

Injuries and suspensions haven’t help us. I think we’re a good team when we’re not battling injuries or suspensions. We obviously lack depth and the decision to go with a smaller squad is perhaps a debate for another day. That said we’ve probably got two players on our books who may or may not play again for the club. Most likely they are taking decent money which could possibly be used on maybe 3 or 4 players.

When we’ve been good, we’ve been very good. When we haven’t, not so much. I’m hoping following Saturday that we’ve turned something of a corner and are now starting to get points when we haven’t played particularly well. Against Southport we should probably have been rolled over fairly comfortably. We got away with it and got a point – half decent teams have that ability to somehow get something out of matches. So maybe in that regard we’ve turned a corner.

Personally I expected us to be a bit higher in the table but it’s still early days and we’re not a huge distance from the play-offs. A couple of wins strung together and things look a lot better in regards to the table.

As I’ve said before in the podcast I’m a big fan of the 4-4-1-1 or 4-5-1 (whatever you want to call it). It can transition into another couple of systems on the fly during a game without too much fuss given some of the players we have. I think it allows us to get the most out of Syers who I think might be our biggest asset. However that clearly leaves us in a position where we’re not able to play both Styche and Ainge (let alone Harvey Saunders who looks more of a threat this season) so I think we’ll revert back to 4-4-2 at some point. Again, there is potentially a debate here about the business we did in the summer in relation to the system… but that’s another debate.

So assuming we’re going to go 4-4-2 at some point… I don’t think that’s a bad thing to be honest and I think it can comfortably work however playing that system means I’m not entirely sure we can play Syers. I think we’ve looked our best when both Elliott and Wheatley have played in the middle. If we’re to have a good season I think we need to maximise the amount of games they are playing together. So if you play them in a 4-4-2 that doesn’t leave room for Syers.

I’d like to see how we’d do with Terry Galbraith and Liam Hughes together in the heart of defence. Hughes has made the position his own with two commanding performances. He’s the main central defender not for me. I’d like to see Terry alongside him when he’s back as I think that could work. If we’re going to play 4-4-2 (and I think we will) we either need our central defenders to be on the top of their game because of the extra pressure they’ll come under because our full backs like to get forward. The alternative is our full backs become a bit more old fashioned and aren’t crossing the halfway line so often. You could still have one of your full backs pushing on but that would require the other full back to stay back and either a defender or winger to cover vacated space. My personal preference is for full backs to be a little less forward thinking in a 4-4-2.

The next few weeks are going to be interesting. Potentially things could drop into place over the next few games with players back and a few little tweaks.

I think players not being from the area is a bit overstated to be honest. We’re playing at a level now where we have to cast our net further a field. It was great when we were drawing players from the local area but that’s gone now.

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Re: 10 games in

Post by Geordie Quaker » Tue Sep 18, 2018 9:33 am

TFDM wrote:Injuries and suspensions haven’t help us. I think we’re a good team when we’re not battling injuries or suspensions. We obviously lack depth and the decision to go with a smaller squad is perhaps a debate for another day. That said we’ve probably got two players on our books who may or may not play again for the club. Most likely they are taking decent money which could possibly be used on maybe 3 or 4 players.

When we’ve been good, we’ve been very good. When we haven’t, not so much. I’m hoping following Saturday that we’ve turned something of a corner and are now starting to get points when we haven’t played particularly well. Against Southport we should probably have been rolled over fairly comfortably. We got away with it and got a point – half decent teams have that ability to somehow get something out of matches. So maybe in that regard we’ve turned a corner.

Personally I expected us to be a bit higher in the table but it’s still early days and we’re not a huge distance from the play-offs. A couple of wins strung together and things look a lot better in regards to the table.

As I’ve said before in the podcast I’m a big fan of the 4-4-1-1 or 4-5-1 (whatever you want to call it). It can transition into another couple of systems on the fly during a game without too much fuss given some of the players we have. I think it allows us to get the most out of Syers who I think might be our biggest asset. However that clearly leaves us in a position where we’re not able to play both Styche and Ainge (let alone Harvey Saunders who looks more of a threat this season) so I think we’ll revert back to 4-4-2 at some point. Again, there is potentially a debate here about the business we did in the summer in relation to the system… but that’s another debate.

So assuming we’re going to go 4-4-2 at some point… I don’t think that’s a bad thing to be honest and I think it can comfortably work however playing that system means I’m not entirely sure we can play Syers. I think we’ve looked our best when both Elliott and Wheatley have played in the middle. If we’re to have a good season I think we need to maximise the amount of games they are playing together. So if you play them in a 4-4-2 that doesn’t leave room for Syers.

I’d like to see how we’d do with Terry Galbraith and Liam Hughes together in the heart of defence. Hughes has made the position his own with two commanding performances. He’s the main central defender not for me. I’d like to see Terry alongside him when he’s back as I think that could work. If we’re going to play 4-4-2 (and I think we will) we either need our central defenders to be on the top of their game because of the extra pressure they’ll come under because our full backs like to get forward. The alternative is our full backs become a bit more old fashioned and aren’t crossing the halfway line so often. You could still have one of your full backs pushing on but that would require the other full back to stay back and either a defender or winger to cover vacated space. My personal preference is for full backs to be a little less forward thinking in a 4-4-2.

The next few weeks are going to be interesting. Potentially things could drop into place over the next few games with players back and a few little tweaks.

I think players not being from the area is a bit overstated to be honest. We’re playing at a level now where we have to cast our net further a field. It was great when we were drawing players from the local area but that’s gone now.
Tough to argue with much of that.

I do think the recruitment of players was a real limitation in the summer, and I mean more their fit into a system that works than their individual quality. If TW wanted to go 2 up top (because he simply couldn't resist the opportunity to bring in Ainge), then he needed to:

- Shore up in defensive areas to make 4-4-2 viable. For me that means bringing in a b****** of a CH (we may have stumbled on one by accident);
- Review if our current full backs are able to sit in a more rigid 4-4-2 (they seem happiest bombing forward);
- Work out how to fit Syers into the team, as for me he simply has to play.

I suppose it is a nice problem to have, but I can't help but wonder how things may have panned out had we not bought Ainge. I really like him, but without the temptation to go 2 up top would we have stuck with 4-2-3-1 and hit the ground running?

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