remember its still pre season

[James Kent 0]

Agreed the performance against colchester wasn''t one to remember, but please remember its still a pre season game.  I think the game against Inter will show us where we are at. 

I also think its time to get behind all the players.  With all that said I do agree with some on what has been said. 

Charlton is not a midfielder, but Nigel has to try this things in case we get an injury crisis.  Doherty for me lacks quality, to be honest any striker with pace will cause him problems. I was dissapointed that Hendo didn''t take people on more, however he crossed for deano goal, besides he won''t be first choice once we get a right winger in and mcveigh gets fit.  Throne had little impression on the game but to be fair, to see the best of him we have to give him good service.

As for the good Leon is exactly what we are looking for, hungry never stops working and you can see what this club means to him.  When he got very angry with Hendo for not finding him with a corner, this shows how much he wants to win and score goals.  Colin is a class act and for me is our first choice right back.  Drury had another solid game, as did shackell.  Hughes worked hard, but he needs to settle down, he made some rash challenges.  I disagree with breenan he is a very useful member of the squad.

Hucks and Deano changed the game with two very well taken goals and overall we have something to build on for Inter.  We can had the quality and get back to one touch passing football and get away from this style of long balls that no one likes to see.

If we wanted to select a new captain, my pick would be leon because he leads by example with energy and workrate.

Comments welcome

Jim Kent 

 

[Tufnell Park Canary 0]

It won''t pre-season in about 10 days! Worthy better perform some miracles in that time.

I think you''re right about the Inter game - it really will show us where we''re at - stand by for a drubbing.

Adriano vs the Doc.......

[Mark .Y. 351]

"Comments welcome"

Sorry to be pessimistic (again !!) here but that is two away games against lower league opposition and both of them have managed to put two goals past us. That says to me that we have not solved the defensive problems that cost us so dear last year.

In common with some others on this forum I seriously question the coaching/tactics employed by NW and his team. I just don''t think they are good enough, I believe NW has to get himself a decent first-team coach - with one in place I believe we will get promoted, without one I think we will get play-offs at best.

Decent coaches "add value" to a player/team, we know Hux and Deano are good players, it was a great job by NW to get them to the club and they look good when they play. However, I look at the likes of Jonsson and Helveg and wonder why we could not fit them in and get the best of them. Both of them were proven internationals with half-decent national sides so why were they so poor with us.   In Helvegs case, you do not play in the Italian league for 10 years unless you are a decent defender, Jonsson scored goals at international level but could not manage it for us. I don''t think that it was anything about not wanting to play for us or here just for the money - I honestly believe that coaching/tactics are the reasons.

There are other examples, the handling of the defence last year for example, and I sincerely hope we get things sorted out as soon as possible or I''m going to have some really bad Saturdays over the next few months.

 

Mark .Y.

  

 

[Yellow Rider 0]

I do agree with your comments Mark about the coaching and I will be posting about this separately.

BUT - at the end of the day, friendlies are a waste of time in terms of results which are totally meaningless. OK so the level of performance is more important but even then, like it or not, players do not give 100% right across the park until the first league game.

I''ve followed The Yellows for many, many years and we always huff and puff against the likes of Cambridge, Peterboro, Colchester etc. Then we get turned over if we play the likes of Arsenal or Spurs. That, in theory, if you believe the pessimists, should mean that we have a really bad start but historically as we all know NCFC have usually got off to a bright start and then fallen away regardless of pre season friendly results / performances.

Those with longer memories should go back to 1977 or 1978. City went on a West Country tour and lost 5-0, 3-0 and 1-0 to the likes of Exeter and Torquay. All hell let loose back here with letters to the Evening News demanding that John Bond be sacked. Within a week of the real action, we were on top of the old Div. 1 (Premier League effectively) with I think 3 wins from first 3 games and Bond was suddenly the hero!  

If there is anything to worry about at all it''s the ongoing Francis saga and the injuries to Saffri and Jarrett which is leaving us woefully short in terms of both numbers and quality in the engine room of the side.       

[ZLF 271]

I am with you on this on Mark Y.  

We knew what the problems were and have done nothing coaching wise (on the basis of the last 3 friendlies) to change our defensive frailities and thats with a variety of partnerships.

I get the impression that we still do not know what our first choice centre partnership will be. I hope that will be the one that starts against Inter but who knows.

The depth of midfield defending does not appear to have changed and the lack of cover is worrying - this is also a management issue.

Hoepfully we will see a couple more new faces within the next week to cover the latter but the defence issue appears a bigger prolem.

 

OTBC

   

[Bird Table 0]

I seem to remember that we had a rather iffy pre-season before winning the Championship 2 years ago.