Saturday 31 August 2019

Chester no-mid Field


One all against Dagenham and Redbridge and the stats have an all too familiar look about them, it’s now 12 games without a win since a pre-season victory against Matlock Town.  After the Dagenham game Chesterfield sit in in the relegation places with 5 points and will need to hit promotion form in the next month just to drag themselves out of the mire.
Everyone can see the glaring problem and it’s midfield. Any side starting at home with 5 centre backs on the pitch, as we did at home to Dagenham, has got a problem. John Sheridan says he’s been enquiring about players, but until we get a loan player in the same scenario is going to keep repeating itself. Recruitment under Martin Allen was awful, we are still stuck with some of his side and it’s obvious that things could also have gone a lot better this close season.


In Mike Fondop’s interview he commented that the club has some amazing talent on its books, we do, its just that we have far too many players in some positions and none in others, meaning it’s a lop-sided team. It’s OK for the club and various fans to say we should all stick together, everyone wants a win, but until the shape of the side is sorted out I can’t see improvement.
Marvellous Aluminium Ladder Action at Stockport, £18 for this view? shocking

Stockport away was an example, of the fact that Chesterfield are going to have to put players out of position because we have no obvious left sided midfielder. The side looked neat in the first half, played some good stuff and restricted Stockport to one half chance, despite only creating 2 good scoring opportunities ourselves. It was a 451, but unfortunately that meant Scott Boden had to play on the left when we need him in the middle. Second half Stockport put 5 across the centre and pressed Chesterfield who were reduced to missing out the midfield and booting it in the air to Mike Fondop who was isolated, the result was, we created no chances second half from open play.

Our message boards are full of fans cogitating on what our best centre midfield pairing is, everyone’s come to the conclusion it’s Jonathan Smith plus somebody else. No one can decide who the other player should be, as none of Weston, Weir and Wedgebury fit the bill as none of them are the type of player to accurately pass the ball to the strikers and boss the game.
A view from the Barrow Game we should have been 5-0 down at half time. Worst performance in 45 minutes of football I have ever seen at home.

Woking FC sit proudly on top of the table, having come up from the southern section, one of the main reasons for their improvement is a loanee from Nottingham Forest, Toby Edser, he will soon return to the City Ground once his spell for the Cardinals is over and it’s maybe that type of signing John Sheridan is looking for. Let’s hope it’s sooner rather than later.

Sunday 4 August 2019

We can nearly see the pitch, sadly


Like most fans I await the start of a new football season with a mild amount of optimism knowing that we finally have a manger who has a proven track record and has shifted players in and out during the close season and has presumably a decent plan of how to play a style of football that’s going to see us win more often than not.
We can nearly see the pitch...


In the summer break every team in the division has had a huge clear out and influx of players, with no fees being exchanged at all, every transfer is a free, so it would seem that all the teams will need time to bed in and get some form together. However it’s not so much about transfer fees as wages AFC Fylde managed to capture Matty Kosylo from Halifax, he’s one player who impressed me last season for the Shaymen, they’ve also got our ex loanee centre back Alex Whitmore, so I’d expect the side from the motorway junction to be there or thereabouts at the end of the season. 

Stockport County have had the fewest incoming, having only signed one player on loan since getting promoted from National League North although Conor Dimaio seems to be impressing for them in pre-season matches.

Our maiden voyage of the season started sluggishly, improved after half time and then went down like the Titanic as soon as the opposition made changes. I have to say I was slightly disconcerted by John Sheridan saying words to the effect of the fact that he has too many midfielders who are too similar, well it’s obvious for all to see, that the side had no width and players looked a little out of sorts. Our manager has commented that if Anthony Gerrard had been playing, we would not have lost, presumably he’s inferring that the ex-Oldham player will be able to organise the team better once he’s out on the pitch and head away from corners.. Many fans have commented despite being pleased that Gerrard has joined us, he might want to focus on shedding a few pounds in order to be fully effective.
 Best seats in the house?

You have to feel sorry though for some fans who have bought season tickets for the centre stand only for the club to build an extended dugout right in front of them, meaning that their welcome to a new season is a restricted view. Hopefully the club will manage to sort out this problem soon enough and put something on the pitch that is worth watching, although this may only happen after key players some back from injury and illness. I’m looking forward to seeing what Anthony Spyrou can do when he gets a good run in the side
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