THE NEW SQUAD - AN ASSESSMENT AFTER 8 GAMES

portugull · Post by **portugull** » 02 Sep 2018, 18:44

We have now had a chance to assess the new squad put together by Gary Owers which currently contains only 5 players from last season.

This is my assessment:-

Outstanding -
Alex Bass. We are fortunate to have Alex on loan for the season.
Jake Andrews. Yesterday and his performance in the PSF mark him out as an extremely promising player.
Opi Edwards. -ditto-
Liam Davis. One of the few classy players at Plainmoor.
Jean Koue Niate. Rock solid centre back and excellent signing.
Kyle Cameron. Consistent left footed defender. Top signing.

Good -
Ryan Dickson. Experienced player who I have no doubt will be a huge influence on the team as it improves.
Asa Hall. Another experienced player who showed that experience yesterday when scoring the second goal. He knew where Andrews would put the ball.
Samir Nabi. Currently injured but has shown enough ability to suggest that at 21 he will improve and be an important player for us.
Shaun MacDonald. A very able deputy for Alex Bass as he proved in the first few games when Bass was injured.

Fair -
Jamie Reid. Yesterday produced the form that Gary Owers expects but needs to produce this form in every game.
Ruairi Keating. Undoubted potential, popular, but still not commanding a place in the starting line up. I wonder why?

Disappointing -
Brett Williams. Has failed to score but we are not playing to his strengths. No good in receiving the ball with his back to the goal. For Brett to thrive we have to change our style so that he receives the ball through the channels on the ground.
Ben Wynter. A young man of only 20 and finding that he has a lot to learn particularly when crossing the ball as crossing is his big weakness.
George Essuman. Another young man only 21 and still in experienced but a battler.
Chris Regis. Only 21 very strong but very careless when passing the ball. Really needs to improve.

The following players have had very little game time Sokalik, injured, Banton, Bawling and Wright.

What we the fans have to remember is that 11 of the squad are 23 or under and only 4 of the squad are experienced players. Many of them are still learning the game and on balance I think Gary Owers has done a good job but he needs to consider how we play to our strengths and not to our weaknesses as we did against Hampton and Richmond one of the worst games ever seen at Plainmoor.

Much more attention needs to be paid to formation and set pieces but I still think we need a striker who I believe has been identified and it is a question of whether Mr Osborne will put up the money.

This group will surely only improve but we have to be patient and give them our full support.

lucy6lucy · Post by **lucy6lucy** » 02 Sep 2018, 18:51

8 games it's normally 10, don't forget we have the mighty Chippenham and Hungerford to come.

portugull · Post by **portugull** » 02 Sep 2018, 18:55

8 League and PSF against Cardiff City and Bristol City under 23's equals 10 Lucy!

Plainmoor78 · Post by **Plainmoor78** » 02 Sep 2018, 19:12

Very good and fair assessment, although I think one game is too early to form a proper judgement of Andrews and Edwards, by the time we are able to give a proper of account of them they will have probably moved on.

Post by **Dave** » 02 Sep 2018, 20:07

Fair assessment update as to where were are. 8-10 even 12 games isn't always enough to judge fully, Brian Saah is one player who springs to mind, judged early doors to be terrible signing, ended up a few months later with his own song.

Agree we're short of striker in my opinion, I'm not sure if Keating is a 90 minute week in week out player, he was missing link yesterday, changed the game in our favour, but is he an impact player ?

desperado · Post by **desperado** » 02 Sep 2018, 20:55

Sorry if I missed it but was Dickson injured or ill
on Saturday ?

OllieGull · Post by **OllieGull** » 02 Sep 2018, 20:59

desperado wrote: ↑02 Sep 2018, 20:55 Sorry if I missed it but was Dickson injured or ill
on Saturday ?

If I recall correctly, the Twitter feed stated something just before the match on Saturday about him picking up an injury in training on Friday. Not sure the severity of it though.

Jerry · Post by **Jerry** » 02 Sep 2018, 21:47

lucy6lucy wrote: ↑02 Sep 2018, 18:51 8 games it's normally 10, don't forget we have the mighty Chippenham and Hungerford to come.

We do play 4 less matches this season though.

Shangull · Post by **Shangull** » 02 Sep 2018, 22:34

Fair assessment on the squad with exception of Gary Owers being viewed as having done a good job...in general team formation hasn't worked, midfield has frequently been by passed with long balls to Williams who rarely wins a header and as mentioned needs the ball to feet and not back to goal. I'd love to see Gary Owers man management style as common view is that he isn't an arm around the man style which is what some of these younger players may need. He's allowed Reid to be the focal point of abuse from the terraces and he probably needs some protection from this and rested or to be played in a position which plays to his strengths more. Whatever Owers is doing it's time to try something different as it was lacklustre in the first half and it really did look like a group of players who didn't want to be there. Movement has been an issue and there's not been many players offering themselves at throw ins to receive the ball. Weve also looked weak both in defending set pieces or attacking from set pieces which does make you wonder what the quality of training is. On a positive by either luck or design the second half was better on Saturday. All credit to Liam Davis as he continues to perform week in week out and consistently be one of our best players (as he was last season). Gary Owers looks like a manager of the past. Would love to see a Paul Buckle/Shaun North management team and someone playing a Shaun North role within the club would be brilliant. When you look at the league table though it highlights that there's probably one or two decent teams, one or two poor ones and a whole group of mediocre teams. Get it right, grind out a few good results, build a bit of confidence, improve the performances and there may be a good chance of play offs. Plenty of the season to go but time for calm heads, the right decisions and hard work from the management team.

desperado · Post by **desperado** » 03 Sep 2018, 07:58

We need to win our next two v Chips and Hunger
for it to be an acceptable start at the 10 game
marker, points wise anyway. Performance wise
we still have quite a bit to do . Woking seem to be making a real fist of bouncing straight back which is what we should be doing. We need to beat them
at home at the end of the month to peg them back
I am still talking like I think we can win the league
which is nonsense - it's play offs - but we should still be aiming for the top and have to get it together for the whole ninety minutes very quickly

kevgull · Post by **kevgull** » 03 Sep 2018, 14:05

We all have our own thoughts on each player and management come to that however my yard stick for possible promotion back to the National League is more results based.

At the start of the season and before a ball was kicked I thought that anything less than 17 points after 10 games would need some kind of remedial action by TUFC.

PhilGull · Post by **PhilGull** » 03 Sep 2018, 14:38

Seems pretty fair, the only thing I would say is Wynter has been played out of position at wing-back most of the time. He's been a right-back who sometimes plays centre-half up to this point in his career as I understand it.

arcadia · Post by **arcadia** » 03 Sep 2018, 18:18

It's a good assessment and when everybody is fit things will get better.

tomogull · Post by **tomogull** » 03 Sep 2018, 18:19

Yes - a fair assessment up to now, but I think it is far too early to start making assessments. As Forever posted, some players take a while to get to grips with a new club - he named Brian Saah which is a very good example. In some instances, you don't really get to see the best of a player until his second season at the club. The three young players in the 'disappointing' bracket could develop into useful players. I agree with PhilGull - Ben Wynter looks to be a competent full-back, but he is not a wing back.

lucy6lucy · Post by **lucy6lucy** » 03 Sep 2018, 18:59

portugull wrote: ↑02 Sep 2018, 18:55 8 League and PSF against Cardiff City and Bristol City under 23's equals 10 Lucy!

Well if you want to include friendly matches it's more like 15. Reflecting on the 8 league games , 6 clean sheets out of 8 would suggest we should be top of the league, problem being we can't score enough goals to honour that position in the league table. The 2,new additions seem to have helped our cause on Saturday. But this highlights Owers has already got it wrong with his signings in the first place. Dropping Williams from captain will be a wise decision, it will allow him to concentrate on scoring goals, it shouldn't be seen as a negative decision.

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