MJ Williams

I think that's fair comment. I actually thought Ward did pretty well today, but I also thought the defence missed having Williams tidying up and breaking up the opposition attacks. At times they passed it around in our half without much resistance from us and it allowed them a couple of spells of pressure.
 
Madine looks like an old fashioned forward, rather than a striker. He’s big enough to be a bit of a bastard to play against and draws focus away from other players. Yates really didn’t cover himself in glory in taking advantage of that this evening. Half arsed he looked, whereas Madine looks committed and busy in his lumbering way.
 
Grabbed himself an assist though thanks to madines presence in and around the box.
 
Served the club for 10 years Ted and gave everything in Tangerine,you’ve been criticising and having diggs at Southern for years at every opportunity👎🏻Poor form fella👎🏻
 
It's always interesting how we see different things in games. I was unimpressed with Ward last night, and thought we looked steadier with Williams in - and this coming from me who was distinctly unimpressed with Williams from his first few games. The obvious key is the arrival of Dougall. He is evidently a class above in our midfield so it's about who sits best alongside him for me. Admittedly it is very early days but I think that will be Williams. Just need to get a settled run for players now, and someone teach Gretarsson how to be more effective in the air.
 
Madine looks like an old fashioned forward, rather than a striker. He’s big enough to be a bit of a bastard to play against and draws focus away from other players. Yates really didn’t cover himself in glory in taking advantage of that this evening. Half arsed he looked, whereas Madine looks committed and busy in his lumbering way.
Could've been a bit fatigued with the fixture congestion.
 
It's always interesting how we see different things in games. I was unimpressed with Ward last night, and thought we looked steadier with Williams in - and this coming from me who was distinctly unimpressed with Williams from his first few games. The obvious key is the arrival of Dougall. He is evidently a class above in our midfield so it's about who sits best alongside him for me. Admittedly it is very early days but I think that will be Williams. Just need to get a settled run for players now, and someone teach Gretarsson how to be more effective in the air.
Dougall / Robson for me. Maybe Williams as well.
 
That's an oxymoron

It isn't.

On the Madine thing - I think he has been put there to do a job and does it well. It's also noticeable how much he is talking to players during the game, and not just attacking players. There was one point in the first half where he looked like he was telling Dougall and Ward to squeeze closer together (though, admittedly, the camera wasn't panned out enough to see who he was addressing directly, but he is very communicative nonetheless). We don't really have that elsewhere on the pitch at the minute, so while I'm not in favour of having an attacker as captain, that experienced voice is good to have up the pitch - so I'm not worried about the lack of goals so far.

Williams - don't think he is technically brilliant, but him sitting in with Dougall just worked against Burton. I think Ward's best work comes from a wider position and he went missing/wandering a little too much last night and left Dougall with a bit much to do.

So Williams and Dougall going forward? I wouldn't mind seeing Dougall with Robson/Virtue either, I think both are capable of sitting in, but would also give us a little bit more mobility and movement through the middle. MJ is more of an out and out defensive mid and a good combination with Dougall to have when we need to sit in and grind it out. From what I've seen, anyway.

Short answer: build the middle around Dougall. Great signing.
 
Madine is good when he is on it. Half the time though he ambles around as if he's so good he doesn't need to put a shift in.

It was telling that we scored two minutes after the restart, when both Madine and Yates looked different players from the first half in terms of application. Both had presumably been 'motivated' at half time.
 
It's always interesting how we see different things in games. I was unimpressed with Ward last night, and thought we looked steadier with Williams in - and this coming from me who was distinctly unimpressed with Williams from his first few games. The obvious key is the arrival of Dougall. He is evidently a class above in our midfield so it's about who sits best alongside him for me. Admittedly it is very early days but I think that will be Williams. Just need to get a settled run for players now, and someone teach Gretarsson how to be more effective in the air.
I thought Gretarrson looked good in the air on Saturday, but was caught underneath the ball last night. Maybe it's judging distance under the lights? Serious point, by the way.
 
I also thought Madine had a very good game last night.
We need someone like him to use his strength and get stuck in to the opposition defence like he did.
Not afraid of big defenders and is not selfish with the ball.
 
Williams or Robson for Ward and Ballard for Gretarsson will make us more solid and effective.
Ballard is excellent from what we’ve seen so far but I think Grétarsson will quickly become a very solid player for us. I’d much rather focus on getting our own player (Grétarsson) playing regular games and developing a defensive partnership with players we own rather than having another loanee developing for the benefit of a bigger club and being without an experienced defensive partnership as soon as Arsenal decide they want him back.

It would be impressive business if we could persuade Arsenal to sell him and convince the lad to join us for the long term. Going off his interview in the programme from last night he’s not exactly an Arsenal fan (favourite players are Chelsea) and he’s already been released by Arsenal before. Plus his best mate in football has had to return to play in the Northern Irish league so maybe the lad has a realistic view on how to build a long and solid career and realises playing regular football in League 1 / the Championship maybe better than a fancy academy for the next 2/3 years with no garuantees thereafter.
 
Not sure why Voy is on such a downer about Madine. He was MOM last night, had a brilliant header well saved early doors, could have done better with a couple of shots but his hold up and link play was exceptional. He ws involved everywhere and he will still get 15 goals this season and plenty of assists, he also gives his marker a torrid time. He is going to be our front man all season.
 
Madine is a very intelligent player as well as being an absolute nightmare to play against. He’s never been a 20+ goal forward and never will be, but if he can hit double figures this season it will be a good season. He’s an excellent option to have and it’s being proven right now that when the tippy tappy stuff isn’t working Madine can provide the more direct option.
I think he’s lacking a bit of confidence in front of goal atm but as soon as one goes in for him I do expect goals to come that bit easier for him.
 
Ballard is excellent from what we’ve seen so far but I think Grétarsson will quickly become a very solid player for us. I’d much rather focus on getting our own player (Grétarsson) playing regular games and developing a defensive partnership with players we own rather than having another loanee developing for the benefit of a bigger club and being without an experienced defensive partnership as soon as Arsenal decide they want him back.

It would be impressive business if we could persuade Arsenal to sell him and convince the lad to join us for the long term. Going off his interview in the programme from last night he’s not exactly an Arsenal fan (favourite players are Chelsea) and he’s already been released by Arsenal before. Plus his best mate in football has had to return to play in the Northern Irish league so maybe the lad has a realistic view on how to build a long and solid career and realises playing regular football in League 1 / the Championship maybe better than a fancy academy for the next 2/3 years with no garuantees thereafter.
Difficult in the current financial climate, and if we're not challenging for promotion, to tempt the likes of Ballard to sign for Pool. Hopefully, we can keep him for the season.
 
Difficult in the current financial climate, and if we're not challenging for promotion, to tempt the likes of Ballard to sign for Pool. Hopefully, we can keep him for the season.
Fortunately it’s still early days and no club is romping the league. We’re still within touching distance of then playoffs and a few good results against the likes of Peterborough and Doncaster would put us right back in contention.
Also our finances are lot healthier than much of the competition so come January I expect a couple of very well thought out additions to the squad. Clearly a forward is required to push Madine and Yates on further and I wouldn’t bet against some money being spent on making that happen given clubs needed money.
 
Not sure why Voy is on such a downer about Madine. He was MOM last night, had a brilliant header well saved early doors, could have done better with a couple of shots but his hold up and link play was exceptional. He ws involved everywhere and he will still get 15 goals this season and plenty of assists, he also gives his marker a torrid time. He is going to be our front man all season.
I just don't think he's as good as he's now being made out to be.
No end product, for one thing, to coin a phrase! And slow. He influences our style a lot.
 
My first comment on this forum ever but I can't resist. Madine is decent. He occupies defenders, puts himself about, holds up the ball and brings others into play. All of this allows the rest of the team to move forward with a bit of confidence that the ball is not going to be heading back towards them within a couple of seconds. This then means that the press is in the opposition half rather than around the halfway line.
Gnanduillet's goals were invaluable but too often his first touch was iffy making his second one either a tackle or a gift to the other team. Obviously if he was better in that area then he would have been worth a lot of money. The point is that sometimes, as a player you just want the ball to stick to buy you time to get out of defence and support the attack. If you are not sure that that is going to happen then the instinct is to play safe and hold the run. Yates, CJ & Sully are not the best with their back to goal. In my opinion, you need Madine to bring out the best in all of them and he needs to play most of the time. If all of them start scoring regularly then it doesn't matter if he doesn't get 20 this season. He probably should have scored last night but it's always easier to score sat at home watching on TV. The team is evolving; it's early days and we should keep the faith.
 
Not sure why Voy is on such a downer about Madine. He was MOM last night, had a brilliant header well saved early doors, could have done better with a couple of shots but his hold up and link play was exceptional. He ws involved everywhere and he will still get 15 goals this season and plenty of assists, he also gives his marker a torrid time. He is going to be our front man all season.
I like Madine but 15 goals? Are you on drugs?
 
My first comment on this forum ever but I can't resist. Madine is decent. He occupies defenders, puts himself about, holds up the ball and brings others into play. All of this allows the rest of the team to move forward with a bit of confidence that the ball is not going to be heading back towards them within a couple of seconds. This then means that the press is in the opposition half rather than around the halfway line.
Gnanduillet's goals were invaluable but too often his first touch was iffy making his second one either a tackle or a gift to the other team. Obviously if he was better in that area then he would have been worth a lot of money. The point is that sometimes, as a player you just want the ball to stick to buy you time to get out of defence and support the attack. If you are not sure that that is going to happen then the instinct is to play safe and hold the run. Yates, CJ & Sully are not the best with their back to goal. In my opinion, you need Madine to bring out the best in all of them and he needs to play most of the time. If all of them start scoring regularly then it doesn't matter if he doesn't get 20 this season. He probably should have scored last night but it's always easier to score sat at home watching on TV. The team is evolving; it's early days and we should keep the faith.
Disagree with this. For one thing I've sat at home and watched the games on tv and I have yet to get on the score sheet this season. I think Madine is at a distinct advantage. Yet wasteful.
 
Disagree with this. For one thing I've sat at home and watched the games on tv and I have yet to get on the score sheet this season. I think Madine is at a distinct advantage. Yet wasteful.
Took a while for me to get that Voy. Very droll.
 
It was interesting that Dougall was quieter because he had to do a lot of the dirty work - I don't rate Ward and thought he struggled.
 
Welcome to @OldTimer - proof that we have a whole host of fans out there with really good opinions who I'd love to hear more of. The Oyston era silenced a lot of fans who used to come on here and give really incisive football opinions and I'd like to think the new era will see their return.
 
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