Crewe (Pizza Cup)

[Traf]

If the front 3 could feasibly be Dapo Charles & Kachunga, then it could easily be Dapo, Charles, Sadlier.

 

[Zico]

45 minutes ago, Traf said:

If the front 3 could feasibly be Dapo Charles & Kachunga, then it could easily be Dapo, Charles, Sadlier.

 

we don't play a front 3 though, it's generally a front 2 with a midfielder behind

those 3 started v Villa, but that's it

every other game has been a 2 man combo of Charles, Dapo, Baka, JDB and Kachunga generallty supported by Lee or Dempsey

we may end up with those 3 up front at the end, but we're not starting that way

[Johnnyrotten]

3 hours ago, Zico said:

I agree that Dapo is best suited further up

but as said, I could only see that's where Sadlier gets his chance right now

either that or in place of Bradley, but that's not happening unless he gets injured

if he goes in midfield he replaces Dempsey

so if he's angling for a start right now, I'd say he gets in ahead of Dapo

or he has to bide his time on the bench replacing Demprsey

I get why Sadlier hasn't started games - I don't agree with it, but I understand why - but I find it hard to understand how little time he has had from the bench compared to others.  This is a quick tot up, and a bit of rounding up/down, but broadly these are the minutes played by some of his competitors in the league games plus Villa:  Bradley 500, Dapo 375, Dempsey 360 (unavailable for Ipswich), Baka 275, Lee 250, Kachunga 180, Sadlier 75.  That sticks out like a sore thumb.  If we need a goal - which we frequently do - he'd be near the top of that list for me, and he's had 75 minutes in 6 games.  Give him half hour at least to get a foothold in a game.

[desperado]

17 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

but I find it hard to understand how little time he has had from the bench compared to others

I made this point the other day. We rarely get to find out the whys/whynots (and nor should we) about the reasons a manager makes the decisions he does about players.

Theres personalities/personal reasons/agents/training/systems/data and stats/skills and qualities the manager is looking for from players, the list could go on and on really. All we can do is guess, hypothesise and give our own opinions  - a debate Johnny I know we’ve had in the past, which leads us to guess and debate with our own views, knowing we won’t really get to a point where we understand the full picture.

But I understand the point you are making, we get to see the key element, the 90 mins and from there we make our judgements.

From the little you have seen you rate Sadlier, he’s scored he can cross and he gets involved - I don’t disagree.

IMO the reason Evatt hasn’t given him more time from the bench is that the other players have been appropriate for the games/situations we’ve needed.

I can see his qualities but I can also see his weaknesses, he’s lightweight and his ball retention doesn’t look as good as his competitors IMO.

In reality we are only talking 2 games. We won 2 games so he wasn’t needed there. The 2 draws didn’t call for his qualities. Ipswich away and Port Vale away were backs to the wall efforts and didn’t require his lightweight approach. At Plymouth we were opening them up and creating chances without him right up to their 2nd goal. So it only really leaves the Sheff Wed game.

Evatt has publicly said he still rates him. He gave him his chance last night - there’s split opinion on whether he did enough to force himself into the reckoning.

So I don’t think it’s too baffling to understand a perspective as to why he hasn’t been to involved so far.

And I repeat, I’ll be the first on here to celebrate and admit I’m wrong if he plays a major role in a victory on Saturday.

[Marc505]

7 hours ago, desperado said:

You couldn’t be making it any harder for yourself 😂

Good comparison, it’s a very very slight notch up on a reserve game!

The first 11 permutations and subs I always find intriguing, especially as Evatt has publicly stated he wants us to do well.

I’ll probably still continue to go to these games, I definitely fancy the Trashmere away one! 

And who knows, if we get to Wembley (as long as it’s not against an u21 side) it will be a great day out.

Give us a shout if you want to meet up on any of these “atmospheric fan fests” 😂👍

Evatt wanting to go far in this competition does not help me one bit 🤣 looking at round 2 and 3 they're both during the world cup, in fact as it stands our round 2 game would kick off just as England v Wales does. Obviously they'll change the pizza fixtures to suit but it will still overlap some WC fixtures somewhere along the line

I'll meet up for sure, might be a decent turn out for Tranmere but will have a row each v Leeds. Its going against every fibre of my being attending that match. If I could discover that Bolton don't class it as a fully competitive first team fixture I'm staying well away!

[radcliffe white]

No doubt Leeds will come in thousands 

[Johnnyrotten]

1 hour ago, desperado said:

I made this point the other day. We rarely get to find out the whys/whynots (and nor should we) about the reasons a manager makes the decisions he does about players.

Theres personalities/personal reasons/agents/training/systems/data and stats/skills and qualities the manager is looking for from players, the list could go on and on really. All we can do is guess, hypothesise and give our own opinions  - a debate Johnny I know we’ve had in the past, which leads us to guess and debate with our own views, knowing we won’t really get to a point where we understand the full picture.

But I understand the point you are making, we get to see the key element, the 90 mins and from there we make our judgements.

From the little you have seen you rate Sadlier, he’s scored he can cross and he gets involved - I don’t disagree.

IMO the reason Evatt hasn’t given him more time from the bench is that the other players have been appropriate for the games/situations we’ve needed.

I can see his qualities but I can also see his weaknesses, he’s lightweight and his ball retention doesn’t look as good as his competitors IMO.

In reality we are only talking 2 games. We won 2 games so he wasn’t needed there. The 2 draws didn’t call for his qualities. Ipswich away and Port Vale away were backs to the wall efforts and didn’t require his lightweight approach. At Plymouth we were opening them up and creating chances without him right up to their 2nd goal. So it only really leaves the Sheff Wed game.

Evatt has publicly said he still rates him. He gave him his chance last night - there’s split opinion on whether he did enough to force himself into the reckoning.

So I don’t think it’s too baffling to understand a perspective as to why he hasn’t been to involved so far.

And I repeat, I’ll be the first on here to celebrate and admit I’m wrong if he plays a major role in a victory on Saturday.

Firstly when I did the appearance minutes I forgot the Morecambe game, your reference to 2 wins reminded me!  Revised figures for 7 games are Bradley 590, Dempsey 450, Dapo 395, Lee 330, Baka 295, Kacha 250, Sadlier 80 - so its even more stark how little he has played, given a few of those by common concensus aren't at the top of their game. 

I do take your points, course he has his faults and I'm not saying he should start every game (same as Lee for eg).  But I don't agree the 2 games we won don't count, v Morecambe it was crying out for us to get a 2nd goal; we could easily have drawn in the last 5+ mins and that was down to lack of cutting edge, which he offers if played in the right position.  I just think you can't have enough potential scorers, within reason, and if we are missing JDB or Charles and Dapo isn't firing, get a guy on the pitch that can hit the target.  All the running and probing only counts for so much.  I know he isn't the strongest tackler - neither is Lee, I just think the lack of minutes compared to others doesn't stack up .  

Re getting a chance last night, I don't see it that way, it was a glorified reserve game, one down from the Salford one he also got a chance in (and also scored).  It doesn't count for much, the opposition are poor.  Just like Aimson playing cup games isn't relevant when it comes to the league, they get games to keep them involved and keep the first XI fresh for the next league game.  It sounds like I care more than I do to be honest!! I'm just a bit puzzled, but I get that there are reasons and I'll just go with it, one of them things.

[desperado]

15 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Firstly when I did the appearance minutes I forgot the Morecambe game, your reference to 2 wins reminded me!  Revised figures for 7 games are Bradley 590, Dempsey 450, Dapo 395, Lee 330, Baka 295, Kacha 250, Sadlier 80 - so its even more stark how little he has played, given a few of those by common concensus aren't at the top of their game. 

I do take your points, course he has his faults and I'm not saying he should start every game (same as Lee for eg).  But I don't agree the 2 games we won don't count, v Morecambe it was crying out for us to get a 2nd goal; we could easily have drawn in the last 5+ mins and that was down to lack of cutting edge, which he offers if played in the right position.  I just think you can't have enough potential scorers, within reason, and if we are missing JDB or Charles and Dapo isn't firing, get a guy on the pitch that can hit the target.  All the running and probing only counts for so much.  I know he isn't the strongest tackler - neither is Lee, I just think the lack of minutes compared to others doesn't stack up .  

Re getting a chance last night, I don't see it that way, it was a glorified reserve game, one down from the Salford one he also got a chance in (and also scored).  It doesn't count for much, the opposition are poor.  Just like Aimson playing cup games isn't relevant when it comes to the league, they get games to keep them involved and keep the first XI fresh for the next league game.  It sounds like I care more than I do to be honest!! I'm just a bit puzzled, but I get that there are reasons and I'll just go with it, one of them things.

Some fair points in response.

The performance last night is an interesting one, because for me if you can’t use and retain the ball as well as others (Thomason and Sheehan) and you’re a bit wasteful trying to break a poorer opposition down, I think it’s going to be harder against league one opposition on Saturday.

Anyway all opinions - some thought he had a MOTM performance.

Let’s hope when he gets his next chance, he scores a goal/creates a chance and helps us to victory. 

[Lt. Aldo Raine]

1 hour ago, desperado said:

Some fair points in response.

The performance last night is an interesting one, because for me if you can’t use and retain the ball as well as others (Thomason and Sheehan) and you’re a bit wasteful trying to break a poorer opposition down, I think it’s going to be harder against league one opposition on Saturday.

Anyway all opinions - some thought he had a MOTM performance.

Let’s hope when he gets his next chance, he scores a goal/creates a chance and helps us to victory. 

I think what Sadlier has in his favour is that he's demonstrated an ability to score from nothing, which is quite valuable.

We don't have many, if any, others who can make that same claim (in large part because so many of our players are so reluctant to shoot at goal).

[JJ352]

On 31/08/2022 at 20:29, desperado said:

Some fair points in response.

The performance last night is an interesting one, because for me if you can’t use and retain the ball as well as others (Thomason and Sheehan) and you’re a bit wasteful trying to break a poorer opposition down, I think it’s going to be harder against league one opposition on Saturday.

Anyway all opinions - some thought he had a MOTM performance.

Let’s hope when he gets his next chance, he scores a goal/creates a chance and helps us to victory. 

He did and was quite rightly voted MotM. I have watched the game back and am completely puzzled by your reference to Sadlier being poor in his ball retention. His was everywhere and involved in everything we did going forward and was unlucky not to get 2-3 assists as well as his well taken goal. His pass completion rate was 88%.

[desperado]

50 minutes ago, JJ352 said:

His pass completion rate was 88%.

Must admit that surprises me.

Have a you a link? I wouldn’t mind seeing what Sheehan’s and Thomason’s was

[JJ352]

7 minutes ago, desperado said:

Must admit that surprises me.

Have a you a link? I wouldn’t mind seeing what Sheehan’s and Thomason’s was

I’ll see if I can dig it out and attach for you