The match/result today!

[Elder Van Van Looper]

That is by far the worst performance I have seen for some years. Hednesford were never in it and didn't look like scoring. Why would we, with a midfielder upfront (again) and an out and out striker on the bench. It doesn't matter how much of the ball you have, the only important part of football is putting the ball in the net. Especially in FA Cup games!
Rushall played well and did a job, but with so little passion and commitment from so few players it was going to be a difficult job to get back into the match.
If the team want the fans to get behind them, then they need to show what they can do during the games. It was just horrible for any Hednesford fan to watch and put up with. Sorry, we shouldn't have to put up with that kind of performance without any repecutions.
I don't want anybody to use injuries as an excuse, because they don't cause other players to be crap. If it wasn't for Reme, it could have been 4 or 5 and if it wan't for Starbuck, I think we might have won!
The wrong tactics, perhaps the wrong formation and definately the wrong subs in the wrong order. Everything that went wrong did and also could have been prevented, but the players that played weren't good enough today and if the Manager can't motivate the team for a match such as Rushall, then he isn't doing his job properly at all.
How much longer? and how much more are people prepared to take?

[birchy]

Elder
I rarely comment on first team issues... but

Your emotion and obvious disappointment is understandable, as I have similar feelings after the game. However emotion can also lead to misplaced comment. Injuries do play a part in football. Our current injury situation is nothing short of critical, with several players playing with injuries that cause below par performances ( or crap if using your terse comment)and also supplementing with youth players.
Nobody wants to do this. However : 1 , FA Ruling restrict short term signings, 2, Youth lads are drafted in, when a preferred way for both myself and Phil to "blood" them is not possible ( Comments like woeful directed to the young lad is totally out of order)

I have limited knowledge at first team level, but in my opinion, we have a first class manager, an experienced assistant and a good mix of both experience and youth in the squad. We need to be pragmatic regarding playing budget and see the game today for what it was. On the day the Rushall lads wanted it more, we played poorly, and we lost. However, we seem hell bent on pressing the self destruct button and request some blood letting. This is also not going to resolve the current situation

When you see Naggington, Dovey and the mercurial Styche watching from the sideline, must give you food for thought

I will continue to work to provide our first team with young players through our envied youth team.For others a deep breathe and a united front of support would be welcome im sure

Birchy

[Nemesis3]

I note your comments re 'youth'and your policy of blooding them in games like Senior cup and the like is commendable BUT the modern youth is a 'lazy'person'and drifts in and out of a game.
How many players today went to 'assist'their fellow players?
The lack of 'football brains'on the pitch today was there for all to see-bunching together for free kicks and corners is schoolboy stuff and ,as i have posted on another thread the'wingers(my term)were totally PATHETIC!!!

[Perton Pitman]

[QUOTE=Nemesis3;3269]I note your comments re 'youth'and your policy of blooding them in games like Senior cup and the like is commendable BUT the modern youth is a 'lazy'person'and drifts in and out of a game.
QUOTE]

..and which school do you teach at?:p:tape:

[gaz]

Elder
I rarely comment on first team issues... but

Your emotion and obvious disappointment is understandable, as I have similar feelings after the game. However emotion can also lead to misplaced comment. Injuries do play a part in football. Our current injury situation is nothing short of critical, with several players playing with injuries that cause below par performances ( or crap if using your terse comment)and also supplementing with youth players.
Nobody wants to do this. However : 1 , FA Ruling restrict short term signings, 2, Youth lads are drafted in, when a preferred way for both myself and Phil to "blood" them is not possible ( Comments like woeful directed to the young lad is totally out of order)

I have limited knowledge at first team level, but in my opinion, we have a first class manager, an experienced assistant and a good mix of both experience and youth in the squad. We need to be pragmatic regarding playing budget and see the game today for what it was. On the day the Rushall lads wanted it more, we played poorly, and we lost. However, we seem hell bent on pressing the self destruct button and request some blood letting. This is also not going to resolve the current situation

When you see Naggington, Dovey and the mercurial Styche watching from the sideline, must give you food for thought

I will continue to work to provide our first team with young players through our envied youth team.For others a deep breathe and a united front of support would be welcome im sure

Birchy

Birchy your quote i will continue to work and provide our first team with young players. I beleave you done this last season when you provided us with one of the best youth teams for years. I beleave you had at least six or seven players who could have gone on and played at unibond prem level. Were are they now ?. Instead the club seam hell bent on bringing in asbeen players who are just here for the ride. We all know you need experience players at this levell but i am in no dout last seasons youth team would have gave us a much better performance and commitment than the current side at rushall on saturday. I beleave the only way forward is to have a reserve side to give these young players experience so they will be ready when called on by the first team and also demote our underachieving asbeen stars to prove they are worthy of a hendesford shirt which they should be wearing with pride just as the younger players do. The quicker the club get a reserve side the better for the furture of the club.

[Perton Pitman]

It does seem that the gulf between the youth set-up and the first team is too great for many og the lads. Without a reserve team to blood these kids in one has to ask what is the point of a youth set-up at all. Once the lads reach an age where they can only play in open-age games most of them hit a wall eg Meakin-Richards, Mills (currently at Romulus?) etc

It is symptomatic of the state of the club that we have no natural route for these kids to progress through and the youth set-up appears to exist largely to fulfil its own purpose. I'd be interested to hear PS' thoughts on this as he is responsible for the strategy on the playing side

[Elder Van Van Looper]

The use of the terse word to which you refer was not directed to anyone inparticular, but to the team performance as a whole. I didn't even use the word woeful either.

I think the only thing "misplaced" is certain peoples optimism.

I also do not object to players playing with injuries, and although not possible all of the time, Supporters need to know stuff like that, otherwise you can expect them to react. If someone isn't at full fitness then they might not play too well, but virtually everyone. In the same game??

The game was quite simply too big for the young lad that came on, and he looked lost and wasn't too sure about what he should be doing. The other players did not even know his name, when shouting for the ball!! Thats nothing against him as it was his debut and he is still young, but this wasn't a pre-season friendly and that situation could have been prevented. Danny Blair or David Brown or Tim Sanders could have come on at that point instead. A better game for him would have been to play against Rocester in the Staffs Cup (or equivalent) I was half expecting to see PS himself on the bench with the 5 subs we are allowed in the FA Cup.

Whats done is done and we have to make sure something like that doens't happen again.

[abacus]

What happened to the Academy mentioned pre-season? Buxton and others run u19 teams that would give more time for some players.

[birchy]

Elder

I must be a "misplaced" optimist by nature because, the amount of misplaced rubbish on the forum at present seems I am in the minority. Thought I would send you an invite before we dont have a forum..

Come down to one of our youth games soon and we can have a chat about what we are doing at youth level and the lads coming through.:o

Birchy

[TGV]

[QUOTE=birchy;3297] Thought I would send you an invite before we dont have a forum..

Why may we not have a Forum? Because people are daring to question things perhaps?
So much for democracy...
:confused:

[Elder Van Van Looper]

Thanks for the offer. I might take you up on that sometime.

[HTFC4Life]

To be honest i know alot of fans were expecting us to win and i think i was but i always knew it would be a tough game not just due to injuries, but the fact that there was alot of pressure and expectation on the players to perform. But i think man of the match by far was Tom Marshall, who was very strong at the back but was also doing his fair bit to get us back in the game, on saturday again he had a few shaky moments but not only did he give 200% he was also carrying an injury, it wud have been easier for him to say that he was unfit to play or that he needed to come off but he battled through and did everything he could. Hopefully the lads can rally round and produce a performance tonite :)

[Andy]

Sorry but I have to disagree with you.
We get many constructive posts on this forum and much though I don`t always agree with what others say it is a chance for us the paying customer to air our views.
We all have different views on who should be picked and who shouldn`t and that is why we have a manager.The fans are quite right ,however, to criticise if the players are not seen to be commited or if the manager hurls abuse at them.Any personal attacks on players or management is not acceptable but I don`t recall seeing any of those.
I firmly believe that the people who come on the forum are loyal supporters who follow the club home and away ,through thick and thin ,and who only want the best for Hednesford Town.I am sorry if you think that is not the case.

[terrymc]

Sorry but I have to disagree with you.
We get many constructive posts on this forum and much though I don`t always agree with what others say it is a chance for us the paying customer to air our views.
We all have different views on who should be picked and who shouldn`t and that is why we have a manager.The fans are quite right ,however, to criticise if the players are not seen to be commited or if the manager hurls abuse at them.Any personal attacks on players or management is not acceptable but I don`t recall seeing any of those.
I firmly believe that the people who come on the forum are loyal supporters who follow the club home and away ,through thick and thin ,and who only want the best for Hednesford Town.I am sorry if you think that is not the case.

Hi Andy, I don't actually think we are disagreeing on anything. In your post you say that 'any personal attacks on players or management is not acceptable....' and that is exactly the thing that I find most unpalatable about this forum.
I overheard comments directed at the manager on Saturday like 'You're a f****** disgrace, Starbuck' by some of our 'loyal supporters'. It's hardly surprising that it provoked an alleged reaction from PS which, incidentally, nobody is condoning. After all the bloke had just lost an FA Cup tie which he desperately wanted to win!
The performance at Rushall was poor, I believe that our injury problems contributed to that and unfortunately they do not get any better. With Masha and Robinson now very doubtful we will be up against it again tonight against an improving Buxton side.

[HTFC4Life]

To be honest. I can 200% understand why fans get annoyed and certain things get sed
Wen u care about something its hard not to let that show. I was upset with the result on saturday as im sure every HTFC fan was, but i think its important to get behind the team tonite as they may be lacking confidence due to the result on saturday and the injury crisis. We should have Lindon Dovey n Lee back tonite so hopefully that shud boost the front line. Masha was injured on saturday and i cant see him or robinson being able to play tonite.

[Andy]

All I was getting at Terrymc was that there have not been attacks like that to my knowledge on the Forum and I hope the club continue to allow us to post comments and constructive criticism.

As for tonight it looks a hard game now and I am sure PS regrets letting Gary go on loan.I think our performance at Buxton was our best of the season but we really had to defend well at times.With us only likely to have three of the players from that team ,support from the terraces is going to be essential.

So guys I know we are all feeling a bit down in the mouth after Saturday but we really must get up and try to get behind the team.As for the players all we ask is for 100% commitment.That will go a long way towards us getting the right result.