Reasons for our good form + recent games review

[AustrianAndyGull]

Sunny i see where you're coming from but i agree with Matt. I have nothing at all personally against Stevens, its just that in 4 or 5 years of seeing him play ( obviously not in every game but enough to have formed my basis for dislike ) i haven't seen anything to convince me that he is a good player let alone league 2 level. Now i'm not saying i could be a football manager and can see things others can't but in my fairly basic book of what i personally would require in a player of Dannys mould he isn't good enough IMO. Not once to memory have i EVER seen him stitch up a few defenders on the flank sprint to the touchline and deliver a majestic cross - it may not be a big part of his game but he ALWAYS cuts inside / back and either lays it off simple or runs into trouble as he doesn't have any dribbling ability. Yes he HAS scored goals like this but i believe not by judgement. Take saturdays goal at United. He basically ran onto an inviting ball and didn't really have any option but to shoot in that position. Anyone running onto a ball given a free shot at goal would do the same. It was a good finish granted but he had other chances in the game which were relatively poor for someone with the ability you say. He buzzes about the place and keeps himself busy but even then he can spend large portions of games completely anonymous as he is content to sit out on the flank and not get involved. This happens understandably in games where we are under the cosh and can't get balls to him but instead of dropping deep and central he just stays there with a complete lack of a footballing mind. He ALWAYS jockeys players and never gets f*****g stuck in there and you may say what would i expect him to do? I expect him to put pressure on players get a foot in, get a shoulder in instead of jockeying all the bloody time. There are times when this is effective but most of the time get a foot in and try and win the bloody ball! I'm not going to convince the Stevens love party that my arguments are not based solely on hatred which is a shame as i believe i have put forward reasonable arguments as to why i don't rate Danny as a footballer. I have no hatred for Danny. Quite simply in the 4 or 5 years of watching him he hasn't improved and we all know what to expect from him which isn't anything greatly exciting. So he has scored 5 goals is it this season. He plays as an attacker, even if he is shite he is going to get goals isn't he?!! I bet Tai would have got the same if he would have started lots of games and i don't much rate him either. Its law of averages i'm afraid.

[Sexy_Gulls]

If the level Danny has shown over the last 4 or 5 games is his real level then I'm more than happy for he to be in the first XI. I think that if this form proves just to be a brief peak then he clearly isn't good enough.
Ling has clearly shown he is able to tweak both formations and players individual instructions and it is his reading of the game and ability to act on it that plays a big part in our current form IMO.
For example in the first half against Plymouth Danny was wandering all over the place and was very infective. Second half he seemed to hug the touchline a lot more and provided a much better outlet for the midfield to pass to. (though he was quite central when he picked the ball up for his goal)

The tweak in the formation to bring in a third midfielder, and put faith in a fringe player to play the DM role, has worked wonders. As has been noted it allows the other 2 midfielders to push up more. Ling clearly tried to get 4-4-2 to work and rightly gave it time, but clearly our squad isn't suited to it. Mansell and O'kane are too lightweight to dominate the midfield (especially in the air), our wingers aren't disciplined enough to track back with the full backs and we don't have a good enough 2nd striker to justify playing two. 4-51/4-3-3 gets the most out of the squad I feel. We have a striker that probably works best on his own and can play the quick Stevens and Bodin in on goal, we also have the best footballer in the division in O'Kane who must be largely liberated of defensive duties and allowed to pull the strings. Lathrope as DM also frees the wingers up as he can cover their side of the pitch if they are caught out. So well done Ling was getting the tactics right. Anything other than 4-4-2 isn't popular in the English lower league but the current formation is clearly the best for our squad.

Getting the squad to realise the strengths and weaknesses of their teammates has also taken time. Mansell and O'kane have had to learn that Rene Howe is not that quick so through balls for him to run onto may not work as well as it did for Zebroski or Robinson last season. The new back 5 have taken time to gel, Saah came in for a lot of stick but I thought he was steadily improving and looked imperious before he limped off against Plymouth. I've noticed that recently the back 5 trust each other a lot more and Olenjik has done a great job in leading them. Oastler must also be give praise as he is no longer the liability he was at the beginning of the season. Ling has done well to stick with him (though with Leadbitter out he hasn't really had much choice)

I feel that our form at the moment is roughly near our natural level. We haven't been lucky as we've dominated games and produced chances that are well worked and beat the defence with skill rather than pot luck. I agree with the above poster who says that Ling has done well in not signing anyone therefore giving the current players confidence, however I would like to see one more striker brought in to cover Howe. I have some faith in Atieno, well faith in Ling's ability to make him, so I wouldnt want to see his type of player come in.

[Dave]

JUST WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM WITH DANNY STEVENS ???? When he plays well, scores, makes goals you still have something to moan about. When others have a poor game I don't see you mentioning them and running them down do as you do with Danny. Do you actually know him and he's done something to p**s you off, or is it that he's better looking than you, because there has to be a reason why you are so against him.

Ling has given him the chance to prove himself and he has definately done that, he's scored 5 goals so far and although unfortunately TUFC lost on Saturday, the last goal by Danny was brilliant and even the commentator on Sky Sports remarked on his goal.

Sunny, from your posts whch are almost entirely in defense of Danny Stevens, i would say you either know him well, or care very much about him as a player.

My suggestion would be to realise this is a fan's forum, just an exchange of opinion's, dont take to heart, after all only the opinion of Martin Ling counts in the end

[SteveDeckchair]

We were clearly struggling with Mansell and O'Kane in the middle earlier in the season. Manse as a box to box player was restricting O'Kane's game and I don't think they will ever work together as a two with Manse playing that role.

The introduction of Damon Lathrope was the key to unleashing our midfield potential and we haven't looked back since. Manse can go box to box, O'Kane has the freedom to express himself and the defense aren't left exposed. Everything else just clicks into place around those three. Simples.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Yep Steve thats pretty much how i see it. Damon does so much spade work just in front of the back four that it enables the energy of Manse to flourish and the distribution and vision of Eunan also. I think we should also give a big pat on the back to the defence also as they have worked tirelessly and held firm generally. Bobby has also been a big part of this.

[Bigman]

Mr Deckchair has hit the nail on the head there I think - Lathrope does the protecting and donkey work, freeing up other players to play to their strengths. Credit goes to the whole team for adapting well to this system though, as it means the front men have to put in a shift too, but they're doing it very well and reaping the rewards. Credit should also go to the manager for assessing the players at his disposal and arriving at a successful system - almost makes the shoddy performances and results earlier in the season worthwhile

[AustrianAndyGull]

Sorry Bigman, i didn't mention the frontmen also doing hard work. It was an oversight but in the interests of balance they have all been grafting these last two months you're right. My only slight concern and i'm nitpicking is that at Vale and vs Sheff Utd we did spend lots of the game on the back foot ( understandably at United) and we haven't been able to a certain extent to get the passing game going as we would like and mount sustained attacks, even at Chesterfield too we have sort of played on the break. This maybe is how the games would have panned out anyway but i don't want to see us retreating too much as an attacking force away from home so that we end up going back to square one losing our confidence and scratching our heads. In our last three away games we could have easily lost all three, we didn't i know but i don't really think we deserved to win any of them (maybe Sheff Utd). Possibly i am slightly worrying unecessarily but its just in the back of my mind. Anyone else feel similar or if not just tell me to stop being such a pessimistic clown!

[Trojan 67]

Don't start me on Stevens and his twin.

Dot and Sunny end to end don't add up to the whole 9ft. :devil: