What the hell was that on Saturday teatime, did Sky without informing anybody decide to broadcast a Blue Square South game, because what we viewed on the pitch was nothing sort of utter rubbish from both sides.

The ninety plus minutes in which we all suffered was poor in quality, lacking any ideas and resembled a game from Chantry Park.

The problem I with Town at the minute is our lack of ideas and when all fails the 'boot' it method seems to dictate our play. On Saturday we actually started quite well, fluid passing from the back, through the midfield, spreading it out to the wings and knocking crosses in. Fifteen minutes in and because we hadn’t scored we reverted to long ball tactics which in all honestly screams “we haven’t got a clue”.

Now I know people will say we played the conditions and tried to get lucky with a defensive error, but have we really sunk that low in confidence and belief that we need to rely on errors or misjudgement to win games. We could and should have won on Saturday; even the wind tried its best to help us on our way but once again we failed to put the ball in the onion bag.

So what is the problem? The problem we have is clear, we need a striker/strikers and we need them badly. It is all very pretty playing neat triangles in the middle and crossfield balls on your own 18-yard line, but that will not win you games and will take you only one way, down. I hear people say there are no strikers out there who we can sign, that’s not the problem. The problem is we are second bottom and players don’t want to come to us and be in a relation battle.

Personally if I was in charge I would make a bid for a certain Simeoe Jackson from Gillingham, he can score is quick and would fit well into are team when we play the passing game. If we continue to hoof the ball up front we might as well try and get Ian Marshall out of retirement.

The team at the minute is so low on confidence we are just trying not to concede and the attacking element of our game is faltering badly. On Saturday, the few occasions we did get crosses in we had two or three players in the box looking to get on the end of the cross, the rest held back in case Wednesday broke.

I am unsure on how the confidence can be restored and I guess the only way is to win games but as we all know we are in a vicious circle. No confidence to attack but confidence required to win games.

I am still backing Keane as I believe he is still the right person to take us forward. I know we are in an awful position at the minute and I don’t believe we will finish higher than 14th. But what Keane is doing is remodelling the team and once he is finished I think we will have a very good team.

Two examples are Leadbitter and Edwards, both these players are quality and if we can model the team around the experienced players we will be OK and see improvements. However, none of this will happen if we don’t sign a striker.

As I am finishing this blog it appears we have lost the loan keeper, well come on Wrighty show us you haven’t lost that talent you had first time at PR.

What I will say this season is that it has shown all of us how well Magilton did with the resources he had, if he stayed would we be where we are, who knows. But come May I think Magic may be smiling and Marcus may be frowning.

Keep the Faith – Up the Town

olimar added 13:32 - Nov 23 This probably should have just been posted on the messageboard.
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WeWereZombies added 13:33 - Nov 23 I think comparing the game to Blue Square is harsh on both sides but it certainly was not very entertaining. I also have to disagree on Leadbitter who I thought looked very poor on Saturday, Walters looked tired and maybe only playing to 90-95% of his ability (probably carrying an injury yet still doing the work of two players) whilst Leadbitter looked fighting fit but ineffectual. Garvan was clearly the best player on the pitch but pushed too far out to the left. Lee Martin may have drifted in and out of the game but he did unleash our best shot - credit to Grant in their goal for dealing with that and Quinn's effort (and the resulting corner, I can't recall ever seeing a goalie diving so far backwards to stop a shot). 'All credit to the lads' - do you remember that? And 'the table disnae lie'. I used to get a little tired of hearing those week after week but it would be wonderful to hear those from a manager now. Perhaps we do not have so long to wait...

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blueblood66 added 13:34 - Nov 23 Jackson would be a good signing..
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Kuqi_is_god added 13:49 - Nov 23 yeah i agree slighly harsh. we gained a point
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bostonusablue added 13:55 - Nov 23 I disagree that Leadbitter was ineffective. He always looks for the ball and won most of his tackles in the middle of the park. Agree that Garvan played well, but he is really slow; he gave 110% for the cause though which was good to see after so long out of the team. We might be 6 games unbeaten, but we need to turn these draws into wins.
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devontractorboy added 13:57 - Nov 23 We don't just need the striker/s though we also need to improve the quality of balls into the box, we also hang back in midfield in case we conceed, it was sad to see so few players 'getting in the box' when we had an attack. we needed striker/s last season, we still need em now, get the hint Mr Keane?????
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sussexbluenthru added 14:22 - Nov 23 I agree with this blog, we need a striker and we need him fast,time and time again the front men have had the chance to step up to the mark and failed. We look a lot more solid in defence, Delaney has done a greaty job in there for us. So come on Roy give us a goalscorer, and fast, otherwise we could be in a bit of a mess come the end of the season.
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Surco72 added 14:25 - Nov 23 Leadbitter and Edwards quality ? They are looking ok in a poor side . For £5 million i think they should be dominating the poor sides in the league and havent seen it .Edwards has not scored or created a goal and been subbed in many games ,certainly not as much of a threat as Walters on the right . And if Leadbitter is so good and Premiership standard why is he not shining like Cleverly at Watford ? Why did no Premier team come in for him ?

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StokieBlue added 14:27 - Nov 23 WeWereZombies: No idea which match you were watching on saturday but it wasn't the same one as me. Leadbitter was excellent, he always had time on the ball, got stuck in and showed an excellent range of passing. Garvan on the otherhand was poor although for some reason he did look better playing on the lefthand side. I bet your one of these posters who think that homegrown talent can do no wrong. SB.

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WeWereZombies added 14:40 - Nov 23 StokieBlue - homegrown talent is a lot less costly than bought in and perhaps a bit more committed, although in Shane Supple's case it appeared to have become completely disillusioned. Leadbitter may be presenting himself technically in the right place at the right time but seems to me to do no more than that, perhaps even frightened to express himself. OK for a 1970's Eastern European army team but not OK for turning out in front of 20,000 paying customers who need a fair bit of cheering up.

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muhrensleftfoot added 14:45 - Nov 23 Poor blog really. As "olimar" says, it's really just a messageboard post. The quality was certainly "championship" & not "blue square", but it was rather lacking in excitement. One of my neutral friends saw the game on Sky & thought ITFC looked quite good, & only lacked a goal or two from our front men and further commented that it was a better standard than the Premier League Stoke v Portsmouth game also on Sky.

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Bergholtblue added 14:52 - Nov 23 I thought that whilst having had better games, Leadbitter had a very good game Saturday. He won a lot of ther ball and rarely gave it away. Garvan had a very poor first 20 minutes, looking very nervous. However, I thoght he grew as the game went on and by the time he was pushed out wide he was looking to be our most creative player. Pushing Walters up front just doesn't work. We all know that he is best out ont he right. I agree about Edwards, he flattered to deceive Saturday. A lot of running, got good posession but when you add it all up, he doesn't deliver the service required by the forwards. Don'y get me started on Priskin. I have said in numerous posts that he is quality and will come good. Sorry, I was wrong. He was lazy, disinterested and absoultely clueless. Whilst criticising Edwards' service, Priskin does not make it easy for him. Unless it is the perfect pass he was not interesetd in making himself available, cannot win a ball in the air, and refuses to close down defenders when they have the ball. I would rather have Lisbie back, and I couldn't stand him either!

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BeattiesBeerGut added 15:08 - Nov 23 Garvan may be slow, but he is actually of the same pace as Trotter, who has been getting a ton of games and offers virtually nothing creatively or going forward. Agreed we look pretty good in defence now (even better after McAuley came on). We need a couple of strikers in Jan, and offload Stead and Priskin.
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StokieBlue added 15:32 - Nov 23 WeWereZombies: It seems a few people after your post agree with me. You point regarding homegrown players being more committed is a broad sweeping generalisation with little basis in fact. Garvan was poor for the majority of the match and only your homegrown-specs stop you from seeing that. Please go and watch the game again. Leadbitter played a numbers of superb passes throughout the game and was certainly not afraid of expressing himself in the way you claim. In fact he often played a lovely pass only to see the receiving player make a hash of it. No idea where the eastern europe army team rant came from but it's neither funny or applicable. It seems to me you have an agenda to push which is anti any of Keane's signings rather than actually looking at the match in hand. SB.

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nthstd added 15:40 - Nov 23 Correct me if I'm wrong (which does happen) but didn't Owen ahve the most shots on goal on Saturday? We were poor and so were they. There is a clear lack of inventieness in the team which show very easily. Tamas Priskin was very slow of the mark. Oh for our big Finish Lump back again at least he'd get the options back 4 to break sweat
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WeWereZombies added 15:45 - Nov 23 Well, yes I have an agenda. I want to see football worth paying for. Until Magic became manager that is broadly what we got. But the team has been getting steadily worse to watch for the last three years, I won't lay all of the blame at Keane's door and I regret some of the criticism I levelled at Joe Royle (I doubt I will be feeling that level of regret about Keane in three years time). BFJ's reign seems like salad days now and I don't think RK can get things right (unless we recruit Niall Quinn to act as Chairman and breathe down his neck).

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rubberblood added 15:56 - Nov 23 WE WERE ZOMBIES.... Leadbitter was very poor. lol. You clearly watched another channel, was it the womans rugby? and was your Lead Bitter very poor?
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WeWereZombies added 16:20 - Nov 23 rubberblood - if you are ever anywhere that has open mic for standup - resist the temptation!
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onlybluesandhorses added 16:23 - Nov 23 I must say that I agree that we were terrible and the only reason we did not lose was that the visitors were not much better. I cannot see us improving significantly while RK is in charge. His comments upon the Henry handball were instructive. While everyone else was commenting upon last week's incident he alone was stuck bearing a grudge from 2002 at the World Cup in Japan. Would you want to be managed by such a bitter and twisted individual? Would he get the best out of you?

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hogster1970 added 16:26 - Nov 23 well some of the above i do agree with and some not. i think garven put in a overall good performance but as said did take 15 mins to get into the game but thats to be inspected. leadbitter and edwards both had a so and so match for me in bits great and other bits a bit toothless. why do you say well not to many time did grant feed edwards to go down the right and at times when edwards could to recieve a pass he didnt so grant didnt no were to pass to. for me there is not enough movement off the ball to create space and peeps in the midield seem to lack vision when oppotuintys are there to feed that kiler pass to the forwrds. i would prefer to see pabs and priskin or wickam upfront together for at least 5 games so they can pair up and that is half our prob no 2 strikers have had a settled time together to blend and know what the other reuires eg bent and kugi mathie and marshall

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harby1 added 16:54 - Nov 23 Stokieblue....did you really think Garvan had a bad game?? I thought he was one of our better players but then i think football is about controlling passing a ball and intellegent movement and vision?? If you like someone to run around a lot chuck themseleves into a tackle and then hoof hopeful balls to no one up front then i guess you are right he did have a bad game!! On a plus side for you tho it does look like Keane is listening to you for that style of football!!

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StokieBlue added 17:43 - Nov 23 harby1, You think that Garvan showed controlled passing and intelligent movement? I guess we really were watching a different match. If you think Leadbitter was hoofing I am not sure what you were watching. I seriously think that the "homegrown-spectacles" were on for a lot of people saturday night. As for your rather large "leap of logic" to the fact that I prefer long ball football then your wrong about that as well. Some people around here seem to make statements based on evidence which is uncorrelated. It's most annoying. SB.

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harby1 added 19:56 - Nov 23 I never said leadbitter was hoofing it i actually thought he had a reasonable game..may be not as influential as some he has played in this season but still decent. I would also guess if you asked him he would be honest and say he'd pick Garvan as his best partner of current fit town players. At times they were happy to exchange short passes with both comfortable on the ball. The problem lies in that the movement from the front two wasnt good and the two wide players tucked in to much meaning both Garvan and Leadbitter were forced to go backwards to much where Bruce and Deleany were more than happy to go long!! I was most disappointed with the two full backs who i felt could of got forward more! Maybe the leap of logic was a bit wide of the mark but you have to agree Mr Keane has not got us playing football and we lack direction a lot of the time?? I believe the talent is down here its just getting someone that can get the players playing to there best of abilty in a system they understand and not constantly under performing

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UEFA81 added 20:03 - Nov 23 Regarding logic: Logic merely allows one to be wrong with authority.
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FormerlyCGS added 20:20 - Nov 23 Washy to say we gained a point at home to sheffield wed (who over the years we have been more than capable of beating comfortably) is poor, we should be winning those games if we want to do anything.
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