My Thoughts - For what they are worth.....

After sitting through last weeks abomination against Wigan, pulling my remaining hair out in the bore draw against Scunny and listening to possibly the worst game I've had the misfortune to listen to in recent years today against Blackpool I'd just like to put across my points of view from the start of the season.

Firstly its going to be a long season. We've gone with pretty much the same squad as last year which in my opinion needed tweaking anyway. I don't think Dagnall is good enough to start every week in the Championship. He runs a lot and puts defenders under a fair bit of pressure most of the time, but rarely looks to have the class to be a regular goalscorer. However, he is an ample substitute. COG is a great holdup player and wins a lot in the air, but he's being asked to do far too much at the moment, he also needs a goal to help with his confidence. We are crying out for a striker, its obvious, but to get the quality required we are going to have to spend a few quid and I'm not convinced as a club we are either in a position to do that or prepared to.

Midfield is an issue. I know there is a lot of Perkins vs Dawson on this forum and thats great as its debate and opinion. So, before anyone shoots me down in flames this is ONLY MY OPINION. Dawson is useless. He offers zero to the team other than the fact he runs a lot. Thats fine in League 2 but in this division it simply doesn't cut it. He has a massive inability to perform the simplest of tasks like pass a ball 5 yards, not take 3 touches to get the ball under control or track a runner into the box. Further to the Dawson problem, why oh why are we playing Mellis out wide? There are a couple of problems here, he doesn't have the pace or the knowhow to beat a man and is easily our best passer of the ball so play him down the middle. I just have to question his attitude. When he is on form he is brilliant to watch, however, if after 10 minutes he is not performing to the best of his ability the bottom lip starts to tremble and that in my book isn't acceptable.

Now, this is not a dig at Flicker. I really do think we have the right man/men in charge. However, stop titting about with the formation and stop playing players out of position. Either play the players we have to their strengths OR move them on and bring new players to fit the system. I'm no football manager by any means but that just seems basic to me.

Our inability to stop conceding goals from set pieces is abosloutely disgusting. Every time a team has a throw in, corner or free kick there is mass panic across all the players and supporters alike. This has been a massive issue for 3 or 4 seasons now and drastically needs fixing. Also the fact at the other end we don't threaten off set pieces gives defenders from other teams an easy ride.

We have the chance this season not to be bottom of the league. We have the right structure in place, but we are lacking in some of the fundamentals of defending and attacking. I refuse to be completely negative about what we could do this season, however, I refuse to be endlessly positive after the back end of last season. We need to support our team, but the team have to earn it!

 

good post

hopefully we start with Mellis & Perkins in the middle next match, whichever formation we start with, then we have Digger if Mellis is having a stinker

not all doom & gloom yet but it is obvious we need a striker soon & we need to play our best players in their correct positions

 

Good post - agree with everything you have said. Particularly the bit about Dawson.

 

Agree with everything about Dawson. Think we should go 451 next away game and have digby and perks holding with mellis infront off them! Lets see how that works

 

We matched Wigan until the 1st goal. It was a long way off being an abomination. About as far off as calling Dawson useless.

 

We need to get the intensity back. That has been missing so far.

 

Yep good post.

Though I think you could slaughter Perkins almost as much as Dawson if they both are picked in the same team.

Dawson can't control a ball in time.

Perkins can't let go of it in time.

There's a reason why we have em.

 

Speak to fans of other clubs, they all rate Perkins, none of them have said jack **** about Dawson.

 

The only people who rate Dawson are Barnsley fans who can't bear to hear a bad word about a single Barnsley player. The fact that he's not reight good at football is irrelevant.

 

in my opinion Perkins can often get caught in possession facing our goal while displaying a perverse refusal to play it simply back to a better placed defender.

If he cured this he would be a better player

This does not mean he is crap

 

I don't agree with that at all. Wigan were superior from the first whistle (barring a 10 minute spell where Mellis got into the game). And no-one will ever convince me about Dawson.

 

I like Dawson and Perkins, but I don't think we need both in the same XI. We have other, more suitable options. IMO.

 

Like you said, that's your opinion. Mine's different.

 

Perkins played well today. I don't agree when people say he holds onto the ball too long. He let's players commit themselves before passing it and skipping past them.

He has gets the ball twice as often as any other player, is always available and breaks the play up. First name on the teamsheet for me.

 

That's one of the best posts I've ever read on here.

Obviously because you haven't made 6453 posts in the last month, it won't get the credit it deserves

 

Spot on ....

 

Mellis is probably our best finisher, why don't we throw him up front instead of playing him in positions where he is totally ineffective?