Macclesfield Town v Torquay United Tuesday 25 November 2014

[Dave]

Er, arcadia, if you go back and read my post you'll see I quite clearly said 'We don't have the players in the squad to play the Martin Ling way' So I hadn't forgotten anything and it doesn't matter how experienced Chris Hargreaves is, because he hasn't got the same quality players so couldn't play the same way if he wanted too.

Chris Hargreaves has not had the money in his budget to have Bobby Olejnik , Chris Robertson, Mark Ellis and Eunan O'Kane , otherwise I'm sure he would have signed like players and be playing a totally different way.

[Gullscorer]

why are we talking about that weasel?

Time to let go of all that rancorous emotional baggage; it's getting to be offensive, particularly considering his son is an apprentice here..

[Gullscorer]

Chris Hargreaves has not had the money in his budget to have Bobby Olejnik , Chris Robertson, Mark Ellis and Eunan O'Kane , otherwise I'm sure he would have signed like players and be playing a totally different way.

I wonder how much those players cost the club in transfer fees to being them in, and how much profit the club made from them when they left..??

[Rjc70]

I wonder how much those players cost the club in transfer fees to being them in, and how much profit the club made from them when they left..??

Some very good wheeling and dealing by an experienced Manager certainly helped at that time in terms of money coming into the Club at the end of that first Ling season. But I think it's probably fair to say, as forever is probably alluding to, that owing to what we have now become post-Ling, we can't afford the wages for this type of player, regardless of transfer fee potential.

[hector]

At the time, I remember Ling talking about having a 'middle eight' budget. That was in league 2. Do we even have that in the Conference?

[kevgull]

I wonder how much those players cost the club in transfer fees to being them in, and how much profit the club made from them when they left..??

Squandered incomes by piss poor Directors!

[SuperNickyWroe]

Time to let go of all that rancorous emotional baggage; it's getting to be offensive, particularly considering his son is an apprentice here..

ligthen up FFS.....

i was in jest.

anyway thanks fishy.

[Behind-the-Gulls]

What happened at Luton? In the short time he was there, before resigning to join his wife in the USA, he kept them challenging for promotion and took them on a great FA Cup run. Bristol Rovers notwithstanding (and I would not lay the blame there entirely on Buckle's shoulders, far from it), and whatever the personal criticisms many people have made, he has proved himself to be an extremely competent manager and coach.
http://www.metropolitanoval.org/news//

That's why I think its surprising.He leaves a club that has good potential and where he's doing well, for personal reasons,gets a good job near his wife,but now is coming back.Doesn't really add up to me.

[Dave]

as forever is probably alluding to, that owing to what we have now become post-Ling, we can't afford the wages for this type of player, regardless of transfer fee potential.

Yep Rob, that was exactly what I was referring to. Taking the transfer fees aside, as not many clubs in League 2 tend to pay fees now let alone conference clubs, and to be honest the days of our club paying transfer fees will soon become a distant memory, for me it's about having a budget that enables the manager to go into the pool of 'out of contract' players, and offer them 2 preferably 3 year contracts because that's how you get players to move down to Torquay, with a decent basic wage and benefits.

TUFC simply can not do this any more, proof comes in Jack Midson, our club have never really hidden the fact it believed as a club we a deal in place to sign Midson, Midson then offered a better deal at Eastleigh which TUFC couldn't match, it's a sad fact that our club can not match the spending power of Eastleigh, FGR and some others in this division.

This is one of the reasons why I've given Chris Hargreaves a break so far, could and should our team have done better under his guidance, yes, but, CH clearly faced a real balancing act with the budget available to him when it came to squad building this summer, Martin Rice is a big talking point right now, I haven't forgotten, second of last season Ricey performed well, most agreed he would be a suitable conference keeper at the time, CH in a bid to get enough quality across the whole squad no doubt would have had to shave bits of in some places to gain in others, Ricey had proved himself in League 2 so it was fair assumption make this would carry into the new level.

Probably a long winded way of saying . It really doesn't matter how experienced Chris Hargreaves is, as I was trying to point out to arcadia, he simply hasn't had the spending power to bring players he would have liked, and is trying to do the best he can with what he does have.

[arcadia]

We all know that Chris has not got the money but we do know how he wants to play. So a manager does not waste money on players who do not fit into the system he wants to play.
We are playing very similar to how Knill was playing his side attacking but like a barn door at the back.
Does not that tell you something. The wide players are not disciplined enough the full backs are weak. Chris has now addressed the fullback positions.
If you've got weak full backs your wide players must track back the problem with our team is we are to gung ho! Richards and Young both go forward leaving Downes and Pearce vulnerable. The players in midfield are more suited than we had last year and pass better which might be why we did well early on in the season. Other sides are crowding us out now and we are struggling at times during the game when the two in midfield tire.

When McDonald is fit I would like to see three centre halves with Ives and the new lad, three in midfield
and two strikers. The midfield is over run every game. We've got good players but they don't perform
consistent.
When you see players playing at full stretch all the time you know that there is something wrong. To get the best out of players, they have got to play within their selves and have that little bit more if it's needed. Young needs freedom to play and if we had three in the middle we could sit a player behind him protecting the back three giving him his freedom. Richards is a more forward going player as well. I've had my say I expect I'll get roasted now.
This would be a 3-5-2 going forward and a 5-3-2 going back. It would be best try something in the Trophy game as we are not solid enough as the game goes on.
You may say what are we going to do with the wingers but are they doing anything now ?Ajala would fit
in in several positions Chapell would as well he used to play as a central striker so I'm told.
I've had spare time as you can see.

[tommyg]

I like that idea, Arcadia. I've always had a soft spot for the 3-5-2 since Gurney and Gibbs lined up as our wing-backs in the late 90s. I think they got 20 goals between them one season! Berry is an athletic player and seems to have a lot of energy, while Ives has played left-mid for the youth team so those roles could suit them. Our midfield is getting overrun too often which is putting extra pressure on the leaky defence so starting with three centre-backs and three centre-mids would certainly add an extra layer of steel in the middle.

I guess one problem is how Pearce, Downes and MacDonald would operate as a trio, although as Downes is a leftie and Angus has previously played at right-back it could work. Not much cover though when one gets injured/suspended and the same applies for the wing-backs as Tonge and Cruise couldn't play that position. I do think we're a bit too predictable in our shape so wouldn't mind Greavsie throwing a curveball. Just as long as it doesn't involve Richards playing at the back!

[arcadia]

I like that idea, Arcadia. I've always had a soft spot for the 3-5-2 since Gurney and Gibbs lined up as our wing-backs in the late 90s. I think they got 20 goals between them one season! Berry is an athletic player and seems to have a lot of energy, while Ives has played left-mid for the youth team so those roles could suit them. Our midfield is getting overrun too often which is putting extra pressure on the leaky defence so starting with three centre-backs and three centre-mids would certainly add an extra layer of steel in the middle.

I guess one problem is how Pearce, Downes and MacDonald would operate as a trio, although as Downes is a leftie and Angus has previously played at right-back it could work. Not much cover though when one gets injured/suspended and the same applies for the wing-backs as Tonge and Cruise couldn't play that position. I do think we're a bit too predictable in our shape so wouldn't mind Greavsie throwing a curveball. Just as long as it doesn't involve Richards playing at the back!

I have been looking how to get the best out of the players we've got but as you said the centre backs position would be a problem should one get injured. It looks good on paper and all I've done is thought what I'd do in Chris's position. The problem tomorrow is going to be the same as last week after an hour.
I shall support them to the hilt but hope that Chris does something different to the last few weeks as it needs addressing.

[tomogull]

I also like that idea as it's playing to our strengths. How we're playing at present, one of our better players - Downes, Pearce or Mcdonald - has to sit it out. It would probably play to Levi Ives strengths and possibly help Tom Cruise, but not sure on that score. Certainly worth a try.

[Kit_robin]

Back to topic...

Just watched the Macc highlights on you tube, and does anyone else think their goal was offside?



The bloke actually jumps over the ball, surely he is interfering with rice's ability to play the ball?? The law states 'interfering with an opponent means preventing the opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponents line of vision'. Surely this should be applied here?

I concede that someone like berry may be off camera standing behind the line of the centre backs and playing him onside, but he's been quite good at NOT doing that in the games I've seem him play!

Anyway, should be moot if rice had just plucked the initial cross out of the air, unchallenged, like a normal goalkeeper.