Leamington (A)

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Gow9900
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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by Gow9900 » Tue Dec 03, 2019 9:37 pm

Armstrong has said in pretty much all recent interviews we’re constantly grafting to get a striker in. He’s even said that we’ve been close but the goal posts keep getting changed, players changing their minds last minute. Clubs thinking because we’ve won a few cup games that we’re rolling in money and try and take the piss and want to rip us off.

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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by QUAKERMAN2 » Tue Dec 03, 2019 9:38 pm

Yarblockos wrote:We don't need to find the perfect striker, but someone on loan who actually knows how to play as a striker would be a massive help. We have nobody who even knows how to play the role. Yet AA brought in Lambert.
Still cannot understand why AA brought in Lambert with all our midfield options.The way we are leaking goals a big strong CB is a far better option.

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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by tdk1 » Tue Dec 03, 2019 9:41 pm

That was rubbish. What we need now is a big dump of snow so we can have some time off to recharge and add a striker.

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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by Darlo_Pete » Tue Dec 03, 2019 9:43 pm

Well that made for some dire listening, crowd back to a 1000 on Saturday, if we are lucky.

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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by Quaker85 » Tue Dec 03, 2019 9:44 pm

8 clubs played tonight. Only one failed to win a point


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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by grimsbyquaker » Tue Dec 03, 2019 9:49 pm

For me Lambert doesn’t really add a lot. Goal scorers are expensive/rare and every team wants one. AA stated after the Motherwell friendly that big lads up front are even harder to find because the trend in academies of late has been to develop smaller more mobile forwards. As for leadership in defence, he offloaded Ainge and replaced him with Laing...

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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by MB86DFC » Tue Dec 03, 2019 9:55 pm

grimsbyquaker wrote:
Tue Dec 03, 2019 9:49 pm
For me Lambert doesn’t really add a lot. Goal scorers are expensive/rare and every team wants one. AA stated after the Motherwell friendly that big lads up front are even harder to find because the trend in academies of late has been to develop smaller more mobile forwards. As for leadership in defence, he offloaded Ainge and replaced him with Laing...

Was that not more to do with the finances freed up rather than a purely football related decision?

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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by Vodka_Vic » Tue Dec 03, 2019 9:57 pm

By the time January comes around and Gary Martin is in we could be in the bottom 3/4 if we carry our form on. We are effectively 17th now as Alty have 3 games in hand. Kettering in 20th are just 4 points off. AA hoped that we could keep in the pack by Christmas and when we get players back then we'd have a good go. Sadly our season could well be over by that time, unless we somehow win at Solihull.

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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by grimsbyquaker » Tue Dec 03, 2019 10:01 pm

...which will not happen. I fear a hiding and several injuries over there

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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by JE93 » Tue Dec 03, 2019 10:02 pm

We need a dominant CB. Laing isn't the type of player we need. I know we were after Buddle in the summer. More the kind of player we need, big 6'3+ lad who can get his head on things. Need someone with a loud voice too. Lead that back line a bit more too often were too quiet. A dominant CB alongside Galbraith and Story would give us good options.

We all know we need a CF, they are expensive and everyone is looking for one. But like someone has said before even in the mean time if we could find someone who can even play that position with a bit of physicality that would do in the mean time.

Personally I'd rather spend any budget we had on a forward, I dont think Lambert adds much more than what we already had. Two Senior Goalkeepers is a luxury, I wouldn't have minded young Cameron Hall in goal tonight if i knew the rest of that money was going towards a forward. Similarly I know Atkinson is out, when he is back he covers MF and RB, but in the mean time we're carrying an extra CM. I'd be happy to see Holiday in the starting 11 if it meant that budget was going on a striker.

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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by Vodka_Vic » Tue Dec 03, 2019 10:13 pm

Our last 2 away games we've not even competed. Brackley was understandable but not even competing with a lower mid table team is tough to take.

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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by Vokuhila » Tue Dec 03, 2019 10:14 pm

It's such a shame that Ainge is no longer the striker we hoped we were getting - that pre-injury version would've been ideal right now.

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divas
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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by divas » Tue Dec 03, 2019 10:17 pm

Definitely needs to shuffle his pack to make room for a striker, 2 keepers on the books, we only need one. Surplus of midfielders. Lots of wide forwards/wingers and number 10s. Plenty of clubs at this level compete with 16/17 senior pros and a handful of kids to make the bench up and seem to manage it fairly well.

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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by darlo_baron » Tue Dec 03, 2019 10:21 pm

I think we need to change the system again. 433 has been brilliant, but we now look toothless since Tyrone left.

We are unable to bring Campbell and company into the game as the ball isn't sticking up front. We are wasting Thompson.

I agree with AA that Donowa is better running onto the ball, but given our current situation he is surely worth a go through the middle. He's good in the air and could maybe partner Campbell?

It's a tough situation. Tyrone leaving has had a huge impact we haven't recovered from.
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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by quakersfan » Tue Dec 03, 2019 10:29 pm

Surely there must be some cash out of the £100k cup run to strengthen the team. Anyone?
Listening to DFR it sounded another dreadful performance.

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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by Quakerlad » Tue Dec 03, 2019 10:30 pm

Agree with most of above posts.
Think,we need an experienced, tough centre half who is a leader, organiser and shouter nearly as much as a centre forward. Storey, Laing and Galbraith are too similar in that they can all play for sure but none have the qualities above. Not easy to find mind I realise that.
Similarly, none of them ever look a threat at corners which is ridiculous given the height they are. The likes of Burgess, Brown and White were never as good footballers but gave us a physical, demanding prescence that we just don’t have.

Similarly, I think we all knew in the summer that Campbell, Thompson, Rivers and even Holmes were all too similar and would not get us enough goals. Similar to above, all lovely footballers but not all together in same forward line.

Armstrong is great, really like him and have confidence in him, but he has dropped some recruitment clangers too!

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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by darlo2001uk » Tue Dec 03, 2019 11:07 pm

We were awful. Shot-shy up front and poor at the back.

They had three big men in defence and we had three small lads up front. No contest.

This 'I can't find a striker' from AA is starting to wear a bit thin now. We have been playing since August without a recognised striker of our own in the club. We have loads of midfielders however.........

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Leamington (A)

Post by Darlogramps » Tue Dec 03, 2019 11:25 pm

Next few games look gruelling as well.

Chester (H), Solihull Moors (A), York (A), Spennymoor (H), Blyth Spartans (A), Spennymoor (A).

Even Blyth are improving (albeit they got humped 6-0 on Saturday, but there’s definitely been an uptick in their form of late) so that's not a gimme. Very concerning at the moment but as I've said before, for whatever reason Armstrong tends to go on long runs, both positive and negative. Hopefully this negative run doesn't last too long but the fixture list looks tough.
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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by Mister e » Wed Dec 04, 2019 12:04 am

On the way home now after watching that shower fed up of reading thommo one hundred goal praying on his mind totally ineffective and uninterested again tonight in my opinion I said after Saturdays debacle it's time to blood a couple of our youngsters and I stand by that comment they could not have been much worse than the drivel served up by our so called first teamers tonight.

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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by theoriginalfatcat » Wed Dec 04, 2019 12:09 am

grimsbyquaker wrote:
Tue Dec 03, 2019 9:49 pm
For me Lambert doesn’t really add a lot. Goal scorers are expensive/rare and every team wants one. AA stated after the Motherwell friendly that big lads up front are even harder to find because the trend in academies of late has been to develop smaller more mobile forwards. As for leadership in defence, he offloaded Ainge and replaced him with Laing...
Ainge/not interested/too chubby/turning circle of an oil tanker/best rid/end of.
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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by 50 years » Wed Dec 04, 2019 3:55 am

A very poor team display, even allowing for the team only arriving around 7pm due to delays on the road. Our team looking short of confidence and from the start launched high balls forward for the two smallest players on the pitch.

Leamington were not better players than we were but worked harder, were bigger, fitter and wanted the ball more, winning most 2nd balls, never stopped running and pressuring our players as soon as they had the ball.

Don't think there was a player on our team who would deserve a man of the match, even mister reliable Hatfield looked average although I though Joe Wheatley put a shift in. Campbell run a lot but without any end product and gave the ball away cheaply a few times, on the couple of times he was put through with a run on the keeper he looked unsure with the ball at his feet. Galbraith just before the first goal totally mistimed his header and the ball went straight over his head, few minutes later, same thing, but this time it produced the goal. Elliott in goal struggled to kick the ball to players on the wings, with a number going straight out, but I have some sympathy as he had little option but to try and hit Thommo and Campbell on the wings. Thommo struggled. I mentioned those players but no one in the team stood out, as they looked like they expected to get beat to me and played with fear.

Leamington keeper did not have a shot to save and must have been his easiest game of the season.

Some contributors on the board have mentioned Lambert not adding anything more than we have got in midfield, but the lad has scored 2 goals in few games and seems to have an eye for space so think I may disagree on that one.

A few games back, given that I know we have good players and can play excellent football I thought we could match anyone in the league, but if we play like last night we would struggle to beat any team and we have a very hard month ahead, especially already being beaten in the last two games by teams below us. So confidence is going to be tested.

We clearly do need a centre forward, and a few players look like they need a break, but we desperately need someone who can organise at the back and is vocal, when the team are "panicing" and can calm and control the defence.

AA must be frustrated, and wonder how he gets the team to play like we know they can against normal teams not just " big games". Still I have faith in him that he will get this right, and next year is what we are building for.

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theoriginalfatcat
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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by theoriginalfatcat » Wed Dec 04, 2019 8:16 am

So, we've played 18 and got 21 points - does anyone know what the position was this time last year after 18 games?
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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by QUAKERMAN2 » Wed Dec 04, 2019 8:21 am

theoriginalfatcat wrote:So, we've played 18 and got 21 points - does anyone know what the position was this time last year after 18 games?
And only scored 20 goals, that is a major concern.

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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by Vodka_Vic » Wed Dec 04, 2019 8:38 am

Think we had 19 points at this time last year. We also went on a horrendous run where we just weren't competitive, but Andrew Nelson changed that.
I notice AA wouldn't do any interviews after the game.

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theoriginalfatcat
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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by theoriginalfatcat » Wed Dec 04, 2019 8:48 am

I mean this has been done to death now by loads of people on here - the fact is our on loan striker has gone, he hasn't been replaced, and with no plan B the whole team is suffering!
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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by darlo2001uk » Wed Dec 04, 2019 9:15 am

Our squad is completely lopsided.

In midfield, in one way or another, we have Donawa, Hatfield, Lambert, Thompson, Rivers, Holness, Bascome and Campbell - who is an attacking midfielder in reality more than an out and out forward.

For strikers we have..........zilch.

I accept that finding a 20 goal a season striker is the Holy Grail, but we started the season without a recognised striker in any form and now we are trying to struggle through until January when hopefully Gary Martin comes in to do a Tyrone O'Neill. There can't be too many teams around without a recognised striker to call their own.

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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by Old Git » Wed Dec 04, 2019 9:17 am

Darlogramps wrote:
Tue Dec 03, 2019 11:25 pm
Next few games look gruelling as well.

Chester (H), Solihull Moors (A), York (A), Spennymoor (H), Blyth Spartans (A), Spennymoor (A).

Even Blyth are improving (albeit they got humped 6-0 on Saturday, but there’s definitely been an uptick in their form of late) so that's not a gimme. Very concerning at the moment but as I've said before, for whatever reason Armstrong tends to go on long runs, both positive and negative. Hopefully this negative run doesn't last too long but the fixture list looks tough.
Agreed Gramps this poor run of form will be a real worry if not arrested soon.
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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by theoriginalfatcat » Wed Dec 04, 2019 9:47 am

Ted is Ed.
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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by Yarblockos » Wed Dec 04, 2019 10:13 am

darlo2001uk wrote:
Wed Dec 04, 2019 9:15 am
Our squad is completely lopsided.

In midfield, in one way or another, we have Donawa, Hatfield, Lambert, Thompson, Rivers, Holness, Bascome and Campbell - who is an attacking midfielder in reality more than an out and out forward.
You missed out Wheatley and also Hedley, who is a midfielder rather than a right back. So that's 10 midfielders!

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Re: Leamington (A)

Post by 50 years » Wed Dec 04, 2019 11:07 am

I may be the odd one out, but I don't class Tommo, Campbell or Rivers as out and out midfielders, more either wingers or forwards Headley is having to play fullback so not available for midfield, Wheatley had a bad hernia so is just coming back and hernia do have a tendency at times to return, Donawa I am not sure what his best position is and even contributors on here think he is a potential forward.

So not sure the "simplistic (meant in the nicest possible way not a dig at what has been said)" view of all the players gives the clear picture. Campbell for instance falls back to cover and support the midfield rather than being placed there.

Just my view of course.

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