Accrington Stanley Chairman Talking of big clubs, my visit to @SunderlandAFC yesterday was my best ever away day. Their staff and directors treat us as equals, though we aren’t. They’re building something good up there listening to their plans and I am 100% certain they’re going to succeed. They talk......of having no right to promotion, of earning it and building a sound base so that when it’s achieved, it can continually be built on. They’re going back to the @premierleague and damn well deserve their place in @ChampionsLeague if they earn it. For all I know, they may be......promoted this year and my only sadness is, if they do, I won’t get to visit this great club again in my tenure @ASFCofficial Fans need to be patient and back them. God speed.
What I cannot get my head around - is that when we press really high and play with tempo we look a good team - first 20 minutes against Wigan, Hull and yesterday are prime examples. Then the we appear to sit back allow teams back into the game and we then get pushed back into our own half and we start to look an a below average team as for all his goals Wyke is not great for holding the ball up and bringing others and for AOB you would not know he was playing and for me should not be in the squad let alone starting. Is this a change in tactics or is it a lag of fitness in the players that they cannot play the high tempo game the manager wants.
Exactly. A lot thought we'd be lucky to finish mid table. We've got more chance of winning the play offs under Johnson than with Ross imo. Especially if we play a striker
It's the players not having the nerve to keep it up. This means when midfielders make themselves available, sometimes the defender will launch the ball forward and Wyke, ( whose hold up play has improved dramatically under Johnson) or whoever else is up there finds themselves a bit isolated. Bottle is wanting the ball as much as charging around the place looking committed. This is what happened yesterday. We stopped playing in the second half and were spooked by the ball being played up early and often.
His tactics are exciting. He likes to stretch the game and press high The problem I feel as I said yesterday is that the players we have aren't all up to it. To do this you need solid enforcers in midfield ideally with pace who can stop the counter attack and defenders with pace. Our midfield unfortunately is poor and when he plays with a two we give as many opportunities to the opposition as we create for ourselves. At the back we badly miss Sandersons pace. Was like watching a tennis match yesterday. end to end. Have seen enough glimpses of what could be so If we can address this in the summer I think we are in for some entertaining times ahead
Exactly. Playing so stretched and high you need absolute confidence and the bottle to do it. Unfortunately you also need a high degree of skill and pace. Something we are sadly lacking some people were blaming Leadbitter but the damage was done. Scowen and Winchester were completely spooked and just went too deep. Was critical of LJ yesterday for not being pragmatic enough with the players he has But hes done wonders to get this lot playing as they are after Parkinsons debacle He'll get it right. I'm certain there will be a big big shake up this summer
Not sure if anyone on here has mentioned it yet, but watching their equaliser back, wtf was Burge thinking rushing out like that?? The more I watch it, the more I sympathise with Luke and think it’s Burge's fault. Having said that, 09 has nearly scored an own goal in the last 4/5 games I’ve watched, so it’s been coming.
What a nice thing to say by their Chairman. I’d like it if we could include African Stanley in our pre season friendlies once we get up to (at least) the Championship. Compared to lots of teams they were certainly not a dirty team or a time wasting lot and they kept on having a go. All in all I like Stanlington Accry. Perhaps we could also help them out with some future loans.
Nice post, and a win win if all goes well, which I hope is the case. They are one of the better run football clubs in this league imo. OaU,