Redditch FA Cup

[drummyb]

Cant even beleive people are questioning Penn after a handful of games. Absolute nonsense.
Mind you if he cant win 3-0 every game in a samba-esque fashion befitting a bunch of part time players, its on his own head.

[RobYeltz]

I don't think it's unfair to question Russ Penn. Ultimately he's the guy responsible for what is on the pitch, and at the moment we have a goalkeeper who continues to show no desire to play out from the back, every goal kick every, every offside free kick is launched 70 yards down the pitch for it to inevitable spend the next 20 seconds or so being a 50/50 contest to try and get the ball down. When our lightweight midfield then don't win the ball because they're being out muscled we're then scrapping for the ball and it becomes like a hot spud. We had one move yesterday where the ball had been passed back to Platty and he passed it to a nearby team mate, who then passed it to a team mate, we managed to string about 7 or 8 passes together with the ball on the floor and we ended up creating a chance. If we're going to persist in having players in our team who are small, tricky, skillful, quick players who are good on the ball, then at least play to their strengths. If hoofing balls up the field at every opportunity is how we play, I'm really ok with that but at least have players in the squad who can cope with that. As I see it, our tactical approach is very pragmatic, but we have players across the middle of the pitch who want to play and get the ball down. Redditch were bloody horrible to play against no interest in really playing attractive football, but we ended up doing the same, the difference was they had players that suited it.
As for the bench and the substitutions, we had seven subs available to us yesterday in the FA Cup. Four of them were strikers one of which is a promising young kid who hasn't played a minute all season a 40 year old GK coach/reserve keeper and two full backs. No central midfielder, no centre back. The balance of the squad isn't there. Yes, I appreciate we have lost Flanaghan but the squad isn't well balanced it doesn't have enough players in midfield with enough physical presence and the forwards (KD aside) just aren't good enough. (Hopefully the Spanish lad comes good)

Of course Russ Penn is new to this level, he is learning and we need to support him absolutely but supporters I feel at Halesowen in general are a knowledgeable enough bunch and as long as comments are constructive and well intended their grumbles/moans really are out of frustration and are not personal.

[drummyb]

Yeah. I perhaps didnt phrase the questioning part well. I mean question whether he knows what he's doing/is good enough. Bit too soon for that for me.

[Rich]

Anything been made official regarding Taylor leaving or are we presuming he is injured

[YeltzDoc]

He’s gone. Left out and dummy spat.

[old git]

Is it just me ……but I think all the parts are there for a good team EXCEPT a Nathan Haywood type in the middle ?

[Rich]

Is it just me ……but I think all the parts are there for a good team EXCEPT a Nathan Haywood type in the middle ?

Totally agree. Think Russ decided to not sign before suitable replacement was in.

[piearce9]

Is it just me ……but I think all the parts are there for a good team EXCEPT a Nathan Haywood type in the middle ?

EXCEPT a big striker type, for me, old git.

I like the look of Holmes and he’s very quick and tricky but maybe the kind of player to arrive later in the game
against tired legs and not the type to naturally lead the line.

I think we’ve been undone by the Yussef deal. He’s on contract (I gather) and I would guess he’s on a decent wage too. Will be a long season if he’s meant to be the main source of goals.

[Dazzie76]

Would certainly explain the lack of squad depth if that's the case and no balance to the squad. Personally I don't think we are good enough for the top 10 at the moment never mind the top 5 only time will tell when we get a run of tough fixtures to test us. Hopefully we can put some points on the board until then.

[KenR]

the good news from Saturdays debacle , is the we lose yousef for hopefully three matches. The bad news is that he will probably be replaced by the other inadequate bloke.