Performances vs results

[valiant_593]

No probs for Popey BHF. He has an eye for a pass as good as anyone at the club.

 

Page will play Pope in Williamson' s role thereby having someone who can hold the ball up as well as play the one two's with Dodds.

 

Williamson will take N'guessan role and add pace to the role plus I expect Ben to cut in for the flick on from Popey.

 

What we gain 100 per cent is a excellent header of the ball in the box. With Pope' s proven goalscoring record and Williamson' s New found confidence I think they will become an awesome pairing for the run-in.

 

I personally hope that pope dosent walk straight back in the side, what kind of message does that say to Williamson? He's been very good and scoring goals it would be a really bad move to move him out wide or drop him immediately for pope.

[IanW]

I think it's clear Page has a philosophy on how football should be played (the right way) and he's trying to create a team to play in this way. What bugs me is that he's obviously told the players to keep the ball, pass it about and play out from the back, but when there is a backwards pass and the ball goes from right back to left back via the central defence, and then onto O'Connor or Brown, fans get on the players back. Mental. It's better to keep the ball for a start. Secondly, how often do you see an Arsenal goal etc raved about on TV when there have been 30+ passes and the ball has gone back to the defence on numerous occasions?

 

I much prefer the football on show under Page than the antiquated hoofball Adams was so fond of.

 

This is really irking me at the moment also. Constant shouts of 'gerrriiiiitttt forward' when we're knocking around the back simply because we're not hoofing it for Williamson to lose out in the air!

[IanW]

Regards to Pope, I think he could play in this set up as he can hold on the ball and lay it off to Dodds or out wide etc. So long as we don't resort to type and just lump it forward.

 

However he won't get a start as things stand, as simply Williamson is absolutely thriving at present. I have been, perhaps harshly, critical of his contribution in the past, but on present form he has to be starting in his current role. The mention of him playing out wide is, imo, ridiculous. Just because he's fast doesn't mean he can play out there.

[Howjy04]

This is really irking me at the moment also. Constant shouts of 'gerrriiiiitttt forward' when we're knocking around the back simply because we're not hoofing it for Williamson to lose out in the air!

 

I think people have been brainwashed by our previous 'style' of hoofball including some players.Im quite happy to see ball retention and trying to implement a passing style.It won't come overnight but the signs are there.Tom coming back gives us more options especially away from home.

[valeparklife]

To be fair we really 'shouldn't' be beating teams like Sheff Utd or Peterborough based on their budgets so we've had to dig in and scrap over trying to go toe-to-toe with them.

[Mcphee4Scotland]

More than pleased and happy with the progress made under Page for sure.

 

I mentioned in a previous thread that I don't think we are quite good enough to get into the play offs. Don't want to sound too negative with that statement it's just that we always come up short against the better sides in this division like Preston, MK Dons, Swindon etc.

 

However in saying that Page's return this season of 30 points from the 18 games he has been in charge for this season isn't far off the type of form required to get sides in the play offs.

 

Just a shame we started the season so badly, maybe Page would have got us a couple more wins at the beginning of the season when we really were dire and losing games for fun. Who knows.

[The French Connection]

More than pleased and happy with the progress made under Page for sure.

 

I mentioned in a previous thread that I don't think we are quite good enough to get into the play offs. Don't want to sound too negative with that statement it's just that we always come up short against the better sides in this division like Preston, MK Dons, Swindon etc.

 

However in saying that Page's return this season of 30 points from the 18 games he has been in charge for this season isn't far off the type of form required to get sides in the play offs.

 

Just a shame we started the season so badly, maybe Page would have got us a couple more wins at the beginning of the season when we really were dire and losing games for fun. Who knows.

 

If we'd started the season off with a few more wins Page would probably be still assisting MA!

[CambridgeDon]

The one thing we definitely need to do is to improve our away form.

 

Based on our home form, Statto places us fifth in the league on a points per game basis:

 

http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/league-one/2014-2015/true-table/home

 

Based on our away form, it places us fourth from the bottom:

 

http://www.statto.com/football/stats/england/league-one/2014-2015/true-table/away

 

I know this includes our poor spell of six consecutive defeats but even so there is a huge difference home and away. So for me, we just need to put in some dire performances away from home that actually get results. If we do, that elusive play off place may not be just a nice day dream.