any positives?

[shrimplestiltskin]

i'm hearing alot of negative coments and fair enough 1 point from 9 say's it all but i'd rather focus on the positives. wilson looks a good signing as does duffy. at times we have played some good stuff and i can see it coming together sooner rather than later. we need to tighten up at the back and get wilson involved on the left as he can provide some quality for our strikers. jevens has showed some good signs too.

[P/T Indie]

When we click going forward we look good like Hereford and even Burton for a period in the 1st half. If we could sort the defence out we would have a good team.

[Christies Child]

After the Hereford game I really thought we had played very well. In fact, possibly the best opening to a season entertainment wise for many a season.

But somehow it's all gone tits up since then. Despite an earlier post of mine today in which i mentioned about concentration, i still get the feeling that if we can sort the defence out then this season will be very good.

The problem as I see it is that Sammy is asking Moss to play as a wing back which if you read the Shrews comments after we signed him, they said almost to a man that it wasn't his type of game. Danny, wonderful reader of the game, has lost whatever pace he had and Jimbo isn't match fit.

That leaves McStay, Wilson, Parrish and the new lad. McStay deserves a chance. Wilson is fulfilling the faith placed in him by others on SVs.Parrish I've never been convinced of and the new lad looks a class act. For me, the defence when everybody is fit should be made up of McStay, Jimbo, Haining, Wilson and Adams if only because there's no ready made replacement for the Iron Man.

Duffy looked excellent in pre-season but has failed to impress in games so far. Maybe the price tag of £50K is weighing on his shoulders and he feels he has to justify it and is trying too hard.

Going forward we look better than for many a season but we still need a target man to get the best out of PJ.

I'm looking forward to this weekend when we can kick start our season. But the longer the present defensive problems exist, the greater chance that the teams confidence will suffer.

[james456]

Duffy looked excellent in pre-season but has failed to impress in games so far. Maybe the price tag of £50K is weighing on his shoulders and he feels he has to justify it and is trying too hard.

We bought Duffy for £20k

[Posh]

i'm hearing alot of negative coments and fair enough 1 point from 9 say's it all but i'd rather focus on the positives. wilson looks a good signing as does duffy. at times we have played some good stuff and i can see it coming together sooner rather than later. we need to tighten up at the back and get wilson involved on the left as he can provide some quality for our strikers. jevens has showed some good signs too.

First of all that's a quality username. A very warm welcome to you.

Lawrence Wilson, for me, has been the pick of the new signings so far. At the two games I've seen he's been excellent. Great first touch, pace, really good on the ball, a good crosser and covers excellently. Ideal for a wing-back role.

Mark Duffy also has a superb touch and in pre-season looked like a League 2 player rather than a Conf North player with potential. However for me he's not an out-and-out winger and certainly not a wing-back. As a couple of Southport fans said he's not the quickest and struggles to beat a man. He does though have speed of thought though plus trickery and when he plays inside he has a lot more options. In my view he'd be great in the hole behind two strikers. We'll see.

Phil Jevons is clearly a great finisher and excellent when receiving the ball facing goal in and around the edge of the box. However with a man on him he goes over easy. Needs to able to find space and a big target man would give that to him. I think he and Twissy are similar players except Twissy is stronger but less pace.

Ian Craney has already bagged two goals, has phenomenal passing boots and create chances. Really needs to start imposing himself though and as a senior player dictating a bit (there's a few former and obviously current captains in the side though). He'll improve, as others will when he settles.

Darren Moss I feel sorry for and is the one player I really hope starts to improve. Obviously loved by Shrews fans but Paul Simpson obviously didn't rate him. We'd obviously been turned down right backs / right wing-backs who fitted the bill from places like Rotherham and Rochdale to name but two and then we got Mossy. For me he's not a wing back, he's a right back in a flat four. Yet at Burton he played virtually right wing and at Barnet he was a centre back in a three. In those two games he was responsible - partly or fully - for at least four goals. I'm sure it will come but we've got very little cover - McStay or Bernie Clifton's Ostrich is the lot.

It is going to be interesting.

[George Dawes]

1, look like scoring going forward
2, still unbeaten at home
3, Craney
4, Panther
5, Wilson
6, Twiss
7, Haining




cant think of anymore, but probably will after i submit this

[Blackpool Shrimp]

We are not in a relegation spot - only other positive for me is we have 43 games to sort this shambles out

[sandgrown]

the one CB pair I would like to see is Haining and McStay, they both have good pace and are good in the air, McStay had a very good run last season and only lost his place due to injury, and it's probably the only pair Sammy hasn't tried.

[George Dawes]

the one CB pair I would like to see is Haining and McStay, they both have good pace and are good in the air, McStay had a very good run last season and only lost his place due to injury, and it's probably the only pair Sammy hasn't tried.

McStay like Stanley there might be a problem with SM, so dont be surprised to see both Moss & Adams both play on saturday with McStay on the bench, and no lessons learnt.

[mfcbro]

Everyone is going on about the defence,Posh had it right in one of his previous posts.I.m.o the problem lies with midfield through no fault of their own.Drummy,Stanley,Craney all like to get forward as do Wilson,Duffy,Wainright,if they all bomb forward it leaves the defence exposed.Hopefully when the Panther settles in he might be able to play a holding role in midfield.Since pre season we have signed some quality players,it takes time for them to gel.Haining signed,1 training session and straight into the team,Panther signed the day before he played,lets give them a chance.Like sammy says its a marathon not a sprint.Come on you shrimps lets have 3 points saturday.

[Mark S]

Everyone is going on about the defence,Posh had it right in one of his previous posts.I.m.o the problem lies with midfield through no fault of their own.Drummy,Stanley,Craney all like to get forward as do Wilson,Duffy,Wainright,if they all bomb forward it leaves the defence exposed.Hopefully when the Panther settles in he might be able to play a holding role in midfield.Since pre season we have signed some quality players,it takes time for them to gel.Haining signed,1 training session and straight into the team,Panther signed the day before he played,lets give them a chance.Like sammy says its a marathon not a sprint.Come on you shrimps lets have 3 points saturday.

Thats exactly how I see it Mick.

Been away for a few days camping in The Lakes but managed to listen to Barnet v Morecambe on the radio. I said to my wife that it will be slit your wrists time on here and calls for Sammy's head. I even named the members that it would be, and the ones that would follow like lemmings off a cliff. I was right. It happens every season. For some reason one or two have got it in for Sammy and are determined to try and convince the rest of us that the most successful manager in Morecambe's history is no good at his job. Bollocks. Its personal and its sad. One or two others (who should know better with their age and wisdom) jump on every bandwagon going and are just blatently spreadbetting.

We should have beaten Hereford and were all over them. A 90th minute goal stole two points from us and did not tell the story of total domination.

We are not a bottomless money pit that should be competing the likes of Preston in the Carling Cup. We had a freak run a couple of seasons ago. Nothing more. They are a Championship side that nearly go promotion to the Premiership last season. That game was irrelevant.

Burton was a bad day at the office. One of those scorelines that happens once a season. I am glad that we got it out of the way early. It was awful but they were well up for it and sussed out our lack of midfield cover. The three guys at the backl were left running all over the place and clearly Jimbo came back a game or two early. Had the two woodwork strikes of Twissy's gone in and if Danny hadnt have had a rush of blood to the head it would have been different. I didnt speak to a single fan at half time at Burton who wasnt convinced we were going to come back and win.

Barnet (the only game I havent seen, but did listen to the whole 90 minutes from Derek Quinn, whose opinion I hold very highly) was a disallowed goal and a dodgy penalty away from a very respectable point, from what I heard.

This Saturday is what counts, and then the next game after that. Sammy will get it right. He always does. As Keith will tell you I have a thread I can show you from our promotion winning season that called for Sammy's head in October after a few poor results, and another the following February. Keep your cool and trust in Sammy and the lads. They will get it right. Dont get fooled by personal agendas.

This is the highest level of football we have ever played in our history. We are a small town and we have no divine right for league football. It has been earned with hard graft and personal financial sacrifices of a few men to whom we all owe a personal debt. The facts are that with our income, we could not sustain the club at this level. It loses thousands and thousands of pounds a year and we talk on here of 'get another striker' or we should sign so and so. We have the strongest ever squad on paper (insert your own punchline) and when the get it together, they will be a force to be reckoned with. Talk of relegation three games in is not only premature but makes the authors of such words look stupid. We were still in the hunt for a play off position up until the penultimate game of the season last season.

Roll on Saturday and get right behind our team! Come on You Shrimps!

p.s. I challenge anyone who talks about Danny Adams and pies to say it to his face! No? I thought not. Not only disrespectful for a player of his pedigree but out of order. Danny has obviously worked hard in the Summer to keep the weight off.

p.p.s Singing the very camp 'do you take it up the' or the unimaginative 'who are you?' or the predictable 'you're just a small town in' or just about any other song based at upsetting the opposing fans does not constitute 'getting behind the lads' (IMHO of course)

I feel better now. Please keep the faith and enjoy our last season at CP. It will get better!

[Keith]

Welcome back, it's been quiet without you!

Hope you had decent weather for camping? It's been p'ing down here for the last couple of days, quite relieved I'm not allowed out of the house

Well constructed argument as usual... bloomin' spoilsport

[Curly]

Well said Mark, it needed saying, some people need to get a bit more realistic
and as Shrimper said before, "which huge name would we get to replace SM"
I don't see them queuing round the block.
Sammys never let us down and I doubt he will this season.

More interesting though, Why has Keith been grounded?
Have you been naughty again? tut, tut

[Mark S]

Well said Mark, it needed saying, some people need to get a bit more realistic
and as Shrimper said before, "which huge name would we get to replace SM"
I don't see them queuing round the block.
Sammys never let us down and I doubt he will this season.

More interesting though, Why has Keith been grounded?
Have you been naughty again? tut, tut

I understand he wants to join the ladies Isle of Man athletics team and drew inspiration from Caster Semenya

[John L]

Caster Semenya

Such an ironic surname, don't you think?

[Bare bum]

Totally agree with Mark, well said man.
I am now prepared to wear blue facepaint and do battle. I don't know why but there it is!

[Star08]

Well said Mark. If as fans we are an extension of the team then surely we should all be pulling together to support a common aim as constructively as we can? Initial results are just that...like assessments in schools and colleges they provide the opportunity to look at what's going on before adjusting tactics and moving forward. To suggest that people should be sacked for poor results is like saying a kid should be kicked out of school because s/he's struggled to complete coursework a few times...its unhelpful and ruins confidence.

[feelingguilty]

How many positives do you need.

We are playing at the best level of football we ever have
We have the best team we have ever had (in my opinion)
We are moving to a new ground next season
We are financially stable

Bet there are a lot of other teams wish they could say that.

Everybody needs to calm down. 1 draw in three games and there is serious talk about whether Sammy is the right man for the job (ridiculous). Nobody is disputing that is not good - do you really think we (or Sammy and Mark in particular) are happy with this.

Anybody thought that Sammy may be reading this and conclude that is not worth the aggrevation and take the next offer that comes along. Think back two months and there was the possibility we might loose him and how we felt then.

Sammy if you do read this I for one think you have done a great job so far and hope the fans decide to back you. There should be no further questions regarding is he the right man for the job until Christmas.

[Keith]

Everybody needs to calm down...

No, a 'few' people need to calm down!

To be fare, there was always going to be some frustration displayed after we've not started the way we hoped, but the people calling for a change in management either have other agendas and were just waiting for an opportunity or haven't really thought it all through. I don't think there is any danger of relegation, far from it, and any final position in the top half of the table is a great success for a club our size.

I'd also hope that the players & management don't even bother looking on here when they've played badly or lost and certainly don't take it seriously!

As for 'any positives?' which was the original question, for much of the game against Hereford, I thought we looked excellent. We played some nice football with good crisp passing. I've criticised the 'hoof' tactics in the past and said that I'd rather see good football, on the deck. We did that and thoroughly deserved to win. If we'd had a little bit of luck, we'd have gone 3-1 up and I'm sure that would have killed Hereford off. A missed penalty against Preston at a time when they were struggling to find their rhythm? in short, a little dash of good luck and we could have been looking at a completely different start to the season.

A little tuning up required, not open heart surgery.

[Crazeenick]

Great post Mark - totally agree.

Much too soon to be writing off our chances this season. We will bounce back, like we always do with Sammy & Mark at the helm.

I predict a decent win on Sat vs Macc.

Onward and upward - Come on you Shrimps !!

[Christies Child]

No pessimism from me.....far from it!

Get the defensive problems sorted and with the ability of our forward players this season everything will be OK.

However, Sammy needs to play to our strengths with the players he's got and as I've suggested in my previous post on this topic, certain players old and new are not fulfilling the roles that they have apparently been given, for whatever reasons.

It does take time for new players to gell and to find the best formation with what you've got.

This Saturday will see us bounce back.

[shrimper]

Well said Mark, it needed saying, some people need to get a bit more realistic
and as Shrimper said before, "which huge name would we get to replace SM"
I don't see them queuing round the block.
Sammys never let us down and I doubt he will this season.

More interesting though, Why has Keith been grounded?
Have you been naughty again? tut, tut

Cheers Curly - though the point I was making wasn't that we wouldn't have some prominent names interested in managing us - I think we would.
It was more that, in footballing terms, there AREN'T many bigger names than Sammy McIlroy.

[Christies Child]

Posh offered Bernie Clifton's Ostrich as an alternative in defence.....parrish the thought!

[simmy]

For the first part of last season we looked insecure defensively and very predictable when we attacked.

This season we have looked poor defensively, but very inventive in attack.

Against Hereford and for most of the first half against Preston we looked really good. However, the Burton game was another matter. Defensively, as a team, we were really torn apart. Our defence is certainly not the quickest in the League but they were not helped by the midfield not providing any cover. It was depressing to hear individual players booed during the game and calls for the sacking of the Manager at the end of the match.

I would presume that the signing of Manny Panther is to address the midfield problem.

From the highlights on TV we looked to be unlucky with some key decisions at Barnet, otherwise we may well have got a good result there.

The positives are that we look as if we will create chances and score plenty of goals this season. Twissy looks more like the player that we used to see and has been unlucky with a couple of great efforts.

As a team we have problems that need to be sorted defensively. But once the team starts to gel, as I am sure it will, things will improve and we be fine.

I think that some of the negative postings on here following the last couple of games, are largely as a result of how good we looked against Hereford.

[marky]

It was more that, in footballing terms, there AREN'T many bigger names than Sammy McIlroy.

Aren't there? No one would dispute that he was a famous footballer who played at the highest level but he's been in management long enough for what he did as a player to be totally irrelevant. He's had success with ourselves and Macclesfield in the lower leagues, failed with Stockport and was totally out of his depth when managing Northern Ireland. I wouldn't personally say he's that big a name in terms of management (because if he was, he wouldn't be with us). I would like to point out that I'm not calling for him to be sacked as it is far too early and there is plenty of time to turn it around. Indeed. I suspect that we probably will.