Depth

[Hayden 0]

Hello all

Apologies if you have gone over this subject already, but its bugged me enough to return here and have a spout:

After taking in the reserve game and looking at the subsequent Reserve table we are pretty bad aren''t we? But that is the tip of NCFC''s iceberg and a great indication of what will undermine us and has undermined us so far. Our squad is too small, plain and simple. I can''t rememebr where I read it but we have the smallest squad in the division. A couple of injuries and we are in deep, deep trouble. The lack of experience and depth in the reserves is a clear indication of this issue. The reserves used to be the place where first teamers were banging on the door, challenging for a start.....Brennan etc? Oh Dear. He waltzed around like he wanted to go home. Players need pressure and hunger, not comfort zones. Then you read Nige saying "Another player returns back home from a loan spell which is a pain as when Saf goes we''ll only have 18 pros or so and a couple more injuries will make it tuff"  

The winter will make or break our play off chances and more injuries are a cert. Time for Nige to prove his pulling power, we need legs and quality in those legs...I mean Matt Holland in the reserves? come on. Even a City fan wouldn''t mine him filling Safs boots for a bit. I don''t fancy seeing Joe Lewis coming on as a makeshift Peter Crouch do you?

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

A very good post Hayden and I am surprised it has not attracted responses. A word of warning though; making clear, concise and non-controversial points will get you nowhere on this board if a long thread is what you seek. Study the Wizard and learn. Condescending, caustic, mildly witty and above all else obliquely insulting, that''s how you need to present your points. Make yourself the Sorcerer''s Apprentice.

Wizard would never have used ''depth'' for his title. It would have been entitled ''Our pathetic squad'' or similar to attract attention. He would never greet his fellow posters with your ''Hello All'' so just get straight to the point.

The text would be similar to:

''Our fool of a manager (Worthless) has failed to build a squad capable of competing. It has no quality, no competition and no chance in this league.''

He wouldn''t waste time qualifying his points as you did and would NEVER suggest options or remedies such as Matt Holland.

What a shame well considered posts such as you submitted fail to get the attention they deserve.

[Old Boy 0]

Our squad is too small and too uneven in ability. But then, so is everyone else''s in this division (that''s a guess on my part, to be honest). Matt Holland is in the squad of an established Premier League club so that''s a bit unfair, but, having seen several reserve games, I''m worried by the lethargy and lack of desire on show. It seems to me that even second-string players should be doing their best for the Club. Sometimes that might mean conserving energy for a subsequent first-team match, but that''s not a pressing issue for Jim Brennan, I think....

The reserves are just as much a part of the Club as any other NCFC side, and all involved should be aware that their results matter to the morale of the Club.

[YankeeCanary 0]

You have good intentions Rudolph, however, you yourself come across on this particular post as a little condescending. Of course, in a light-hearted way you choose a post attracting little response as your conduit to take another gentle poke at Wizard ( which he, of course, does not mind ). You would have done better, however, to select a poster a lot less seasoned than Hayden who, you may have observed, has been posting on this message board almost two years longer than yourself. He knows Wizard well and also knows how to attract attention, if he wishes to do so, and has done so on a goodly number of occasions with very good posts.  

[percyvarco 0]

What an articulate and considered post. I fear that the use of the reserve team as an opportunity to make a case for a first team place is not an option at present. Unfortunatly Worthy seems to view talent and form as secondary to personality. Look at our young players, Edworthy with his contract wait and Safri last term as an illustration. In some ways I can understand the attitude of going through the motions in a reserve outing. I don''t agree with the attitude but what would be the net result personally for the players?

[ZLF 271]

Well done hayden  - rightly earning plaudits, not for the first time, for a well worded post.  As other have said a good post highlighting what many have said since the start of the season - that the strength beyond the first 11 is poor and that the absolute numbers in midfield in particular is critically low.

Rudolph - whether 1st wiz, Hayden or myself make this point it has been made in numerous guises since before the start of the season and I find it disappointing that you cant look behind the style before assessing whether the message has any validity or not.

Percy - terrific point that there is NO incentive to perform well in the reserves as there is no obvious link to merit there earning a 1st team opportunity even from the bench;  the opportunity to break ino the 1st team ''elite'' in this manner, whether a youth player or otherwise, seems a memory from a bygone age now that favouritism holds sway.

OTBC     

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

In fact even if you make it to the bench, you are not garuanteed a game even if the team is playing absolutely terribly (ala Jarvis at derby) and it can take many great performances off the bench to get picked for the first team even in the midst of an injury crises (ala McVeigh).