Away Goals

[Ooh aah Paskin]

Originally Posted by Drury-red

Bring your boots to the Racecourse Saturday

Bit old and unfit now unfortunately, otherwise..... tempting!

[panda23]

Originally Posted by dixienormous

It's what you tell youngsters, "make the keeper work " " Get it on target ".
When our strikers have a shot, it's either over the bar or a mile wide.

The best striker of the ball is Summerfield but the chances seem to fall to Ruthers, Grant and Wright and it's usually off target or a weak effort , very frustrating.

[Dudders666]

Originally Posted by NottsRed

Boden is an interesting one. Couldn't score for toffee here yet at Gateshead hes scored more than all our strikers combined. I don't think its the players I think its more the system and how we set up. issue is we don't seem to have a Plan B.

Yep. been saying this for ages. Far too many players fail here and cant score and then go away and bang them in.

[Haruki]

Originally Posted by TaidTom

I don't know anything about how Darlington works on the training ground, but this argument gets stronger by the day. He is the common denominator, but you'd like to think the combined experience of Barrow and Newell would have enough about them to see this and override him.

A coach doesn't determine how the side play though. A manager determines the style of play, buys players who can perform that style and instructs his coaches to coach that style into the players.

I think this is Keates style of play and Ricketts and Barrow have carried that on purely on the basis of already having he defensive unit settled, drilled and on long contracts. Given our lack of attacking fullbacks we don't have many other options so I believe Ricketts and Barrow are playing the style that best suits what they inherited.

I thought we played some entertaining stuff when Darlington was in temporary charge of the team after Wilkin left and TNS scored bucket loads of goals with a really attacking team when he was there.

Not sure the fingers should be pointed at Darlington

I would also add that if you watch Pearson in the second half of games, especially away from home he commands the fullbacks to stay tight to the centre backs and the midfield to drop in. I feel that this is self preservation to protect "his" clean sheet rather than thinking of the bigger picture.

[Phils-an-alki]

Originally Posted by Haruki

A coach doesn't determine how the side play though. A manager determines the style of play, buys players who can perform that style and instructs his coaches to coach that style into the players.

I think this is Keates style of play and Ricketts and Barrow have carried that on purely on the basis of already having he defensive unit settled, drilled and on long contracts. Given our lack of attacking fullbacks we don't have many other options so I believe Ricketts and Barrow are playing the style that best suits what they inherited.

I thought we played some entertaining stuff when Darlington was in temporary charge of the team after Wilkin left and TNS scored bucket loads of goals with a really attacking team when he was there.

Not sure the fingers should be pointed at Darlington

I would also add that if you watch Pearson in the second half of games, especially away from home he commands the fullbacks to stay tight to the centre backs and the midfield to drop in. I feel that this is self preservation to protect "his" clean sheet rather than thinking of the bigger picture.

Fingers should be pointed at everyone from board to managers coaching staff and players. Why should Darlington be bombproof? He doesn't even commit much time to the club which in itself I don't agree with. Lets a get a full time coach who's fully committed and is on the training ground every day.

I still don't buy into the Darlington hype because I've seen nothing on the pitch to suggest he's the coach people claim he is.
How many players have improved here? Most go backwards.

If Pearson is doing that against the managers instructions he needs to be told who's boss.
Second goal on Saturday was his fault and I could have run back quicker than he did. So before he gobs off at others he should look at himself.

[Haruki]

Originally Posted by Phils-an-alki

Fingers should be pointed at everyone from board to managers coaching staff and players. Why should Darlington be bombproof? He doesn't even commit much time to the club which in itself I don't agree with. Lets a get a full time coach who's fully committed and is on the training ground every day.

I still don't buy into the Darlington hype because I've seen nothing on the pitch to suggest he's the coach people claim he is.
How many players have improved here? Most go backwards.

If Pearson is doing that against the managers instructions he needs to be told who's boss.
Second goal on Saturday was his fault and I could have run back quicker than he did. So before he gobs off at others he should look at himself.

Keates (and as a result subsequent managers) had a defensive approach to the game and spent big on defenders and instructed the coach to implement that style on the training pitch. Given that we have topped the league for goals conceded and clean sheets in the last two season it indicates to me that Darlington is doing a great job within the brief he has been given.

If a manager signs good attacking players and instructs him to coach an attacking style of play we may see similar great results but we will never now unless that becomes the clubs style of play

[Phils-an-alki]

Originally Posted by Haruki

Keates (and as a result subsequent managers) had a defensive approach to the game and spent big on defenders and instructed the coach to implement that style on the training pitch. Given that we have topped the league for goals conceded and clean sheets in the last two season it indicates to me that Darlington is doing a great job within the brief he has been given.

If a manager signs good attacking players and instructs him to coach an attacking style of play we may see similar great results but we will never now unless that becomes the clubs style of play

To be fair you don't know that as fact do you. I'm not sure his one session per week can take all plaudits for the defence.

You have to admit the hype that we've had about Darlington is OTT. Just because results picked up when he took temporary charge for a few games. Which usually happens anyway. That team he took over was a decent side don't forget and we had a striker then too
That's not taking into account last seasons debacle after DK left which he was a big part of also. No manager telling him what to do then.

Other than TNS (who sleep walk to the title in the WPL) what's he done as a coach?

[cynprifathro]

Corner Flag: Putting cones out is the assistant manager's role and responsibility. Is Barrow still in Assistant Manager mode mindset? He needs to delegate simple menial jobs during training to others, even to players. This would stop them hanging around. He needs to start acting the role of Manager from little things upward and take control!

[Haruki]

Originally Posted by Phils-an-alki

To be fair you don't know that as fact do you. I'm not sure his one session per week can take all plaudits for the defence.

You have to admit the hype that we've had about Darlington is OTT. Just because results picked up when he took temporary charge for a few games. Which usually happens anyway. That team he took over was a decent side don't forget and we had a striker then too
That's not taking into account last seasons debacle after DK left which he was a big part of also. No manager telling him what to do then.

Other than TNS (who sleep walk to the title in the WPL) what's he done as a coach?

Fact maybe not but it is a pretty fair assumption to know that Keates had a negative approach to game management and that he prioritised signing defenders - we can all see that. We also know that Keates was interviewed many times at the start of last year and talked about us "being hard to beat" and "in every game" so it is clear to me that his priority was coaching the defence. He was also very quick to praise Darlington's work in that respect in his interviews

I know someone who is a very senior football coach in Welsh football and from what i hear then Darlington is incredible highly rated and we are very lucky to have him. I don't think turning our current displays onto him is the right approach as clearly the issues are deeper than being down to a coach.