I recently moved to St Leonards (I'm an exiled Geordie via a few other places) and am really looking forward to having a club on my doorstep that I can go watch. Just wanted to say hello.
Just wanted to say thanks to all those that I met on Saturday.
I was dade to feel pretty welcome and despite the result & performance on the field (I'll echo the sentiments in another thread: too many high balls, why constantly play balls to left channel [1st half] for crosses when nobody is winning headers against their centre-halves etc) I had an enjoyable experience.
I will return but next time I'd like to see a bit of desire on the pitch!
Really interesting reading Mick's comments there on his first ever visit to the Pilot Field. Its taken him just 90 minutes to see what is wrong with the team at present and it now appears, for the first time that I can ever remember on this forum, that every supporter is in total agreement over the style of play, tactics and sometimes desire. I think we would all happily live with a few defeats if we were playing a more expansive or exciting type of play, but the fact that we are playing long ball football, playing it badly, losing games and languishing in 19th place makes it very hard to stomach, especially with the players that we have. I just really hope the management team are also seeing this and are not stubborn in their future decisions.
For many years Dave Walters got a massive amount of stick for supposedly being too involved with first team affairs, but with the growing concern from all supporters over our style of play I just wonder how the new owners/directors are feeling at present? They are clearly a very popular bunch, They have put their money where their mouth is, crowds appear to be up, and I still believe there is a massive 'feel good factor' around the club but an awful lot of money has been spent and very little return at present.
We all get accused of being a bunch moaners on here and lets be honest, there is a lot of rubbish that is said at times but I think when a new supporter comes to his first ever game and makes those same comments that we have been making all season, you have to sit up and take notice at times.
Apart from one or two we all want Gary and Danny in charge and we all really want them to succeed. Perhaps another forum is required to quell all of our concerns?
-- Edited by johnw on Tuesday 13th of October 2015 07:13:08 AM
John agree with most of what you say, but why do you believe we will suddenly change our style, Gary has always played his teams this way. And I don't believe he can change. I hope I am wrong but if I'm not he will need to go soon or season will be another write off.
To be brutally honest, as a an ex-coach, I thought Hastings (we) were tactically poor/cliched.
I maybe expected a bit more invention and adaptation as, despite conceding an early goal, I thought Hastings were the better side without being particularly effective in the final third. Hastings had enough possession and making those centre-halves turn and run might have been worth a try. They didn't look quick.
However, the thing that surprised me the most was the lack of real intent from the players. As I said, I used to coach and my brother played semi-pro and his words to me when I said I was watching Hastings were "it won't be a great standard but they'll work hard." I was pleasantly surprised by some of the play (Medlock wants to play people in but seemed to be used incorrectly on Saturday) but shocked at what seemed like a lack of effort or desire.
Hastings had nothing to lose in that game but I've watched better contested friendlies.
There's certainly enough to turn it around but, to an outsider, they looked bereft of a clear idea and leaders on the pitch on Saturday.
I really do think we need to keep Saturday's disappointing performance and result in perspective. What I mean by this is Poole were a REALLY tough nut to crack. OK they didn't produce much scintillating football themselves but in terms of 'stopping us playing' they were expert at it. I bet the players would say they are the toughest team we have played this season by a distance. So let's keep this in mind when we consider our own performance.
Prior to Saturday, we had had a great result at Dorking (described by Sean as the best result of the season) and good performances against Wroxham and Herne Bay. (I have chosen to ignore Worthing.)
I'm not saying "everything is fine". Our inability to produce virtually anything worthwhile against superior opponents just tells us where we are at the moment. (We made far more chances at Middlesbrough, didn't we ?) But if we can get Simon calling the tune alongside the seemingly underrated Cruttwell and hardworking Sam Adams we MUST surely start to impress within this league.
I totally agree that we have been terrible to watch in about two thirds of our games this season....but on our day we can actually play some football and look good.
Let's stay patient...there's still a lot of points to be won this season !
You are quite right Mick but that is why there is so much frustration. The squad we have assembled is the strongest I have seen for many years and on our day we can beat anyone, including Poole. We can all try and be patient but when you see the same mistakes week after week, and the same long ball on to the heads of opposing defenders heads, week after week, patience wears thin. I have been a Hastings supporters for 30 odd years and so have not watched the likes of Eastbourne Borough and Lewes and know very little about Gary's tenure there but people keep saying this is his style and it will never change. That worries me does it not you?
I, as some of you know, have been a very regular supporter for some 50 years now. I have over the past 4 or 5 years lost my love and passion for the club. This can be put down to many reasons, but I think the main one was Dave Walters constant chopping and changing his vision for the club. By this I mean he never quite knew whether to stick with local management and players on a relatively low budget or managers and players from outside of the area on a relatively high budget. Whichever way you choose you must stick to the plan and it will eventually pay off.
I have been to 3 home games now and quite honestly I could go down to Bexhill Road on a Saturday afternoon and see as much effort, skill and passion. With the players we have got this is quite unbelievable and hard to understand why. I have read quite a few posts on here saying that Gary Wilson will only ever play one way. Well that way was good enough to get his teams up to 1 league away from the Football League, which I am sure we would all love to see here. So that must mean that he has assembled the wrong type of player to play his way, which I find quite amazing. Of course when he was at Eastbourne Borough he didn't have Danny Bloor with him.
Perhaps there is a conflict there on the type of football they want to play. Forgive me if I am wrong but I don't think this pair together have had a lot of success. Would Gary do the job without his sidekick? What about the coaching at the club. Was Gary asked to keep Ryan Light as a coach. Normally managers bring their own coaches from whatever club they have been at previously. Again forgive me if I am wrong but I don't think Gary has ever had Ryan Light as a coach previously.
I will leave you with 1 last thought. As last season, most of the players have played at a higher level, they come to us and most of them lack the basic ingredients to play at this level, passion and commitment. Personally I would like to see a few more players that have only ever played below this level before, and given the right coaching and management would definitely show passion and commitment(and they might even pass to their own team on the ground).
You wont get out of the division upwards with county league level players, look at KP scores goals for fun at that level, but couldn't at the level we are. And Gary and Danny have not had any success as a combination. Also if you think like I do he has assembled the wrong players for his style, isn't that a serious fault of him as a manager. Playing yo our current style you need a striker who is good in the air, we don't have that. Also we need players comfortable with route 1 and frankly ii think our players are better than that. On the perceived lack of enthusiasm / work rate isn't that probably down to players being asked to do something that is alien to them, and out of their comfort zone.
I wonder how many times we'd have to play Poole before we beat them, John. Quite a few I guess as they never needed to change gear on Saturday.
I have no idea how Garry's teams played at Eastbourne and Lewes but I wouldn't have supported him so keenly if I thought his Plan A was going to be route one football. ( I have to say route one football is fine IF you have the players to do it. Sod the tippy tappy sideways passing...hoof it up to your two big men....get your attacking midfield in support before the opponents midfield get back...and work out an amusing goal celebration. Simples. Wimbledon were brilliant at it; even the top clubs hated playing them and it WAS exciting to watch !)
Of course we can't do that because our forwards win about one header a match on average.
I personally don't believe Garry sends our teams out to deliberately play route one football. Remember we have put in some entertaining attacking performances on a number of occasions this season when we have worked space for our wide players.....though generally this has only happened against inferior opponents.
And that I believe is the problem. Our midfield simply hasn't been good enough to make it happen for the forwards in far too many games.
I don't like to name names but neither Walder nor Hollobone have made a single telling pass in the games I have watched. We need players in there who can kill the ball, move it quickly and accurately and then move to receive it....before playing the killer pass. It simply isn't happening. Far too often the ball ends up going backwards before being hoofed up to the opposing centre half.
A fit Tom Vickers can do it, Sam Cruttwell can do it and I hope Simon Johnson can do it better than both of them.
So I actually believe it's the fact certain players in key positions haven't been good enough rather than a deliberate decision to play route one.
Let's get our best FOOTBALLERS in that key area and see what happens.
To me he looks a really good player, but for some reason Hastings managers over the last few seasons do not want to give him a decent run in our first eleven, playing in his natural position.
Totally agree.
We played him out of position and he lost a bit of confidence.
He is potentially the best play maker we have had in midfield for a long time and it would be terrible if we let him drift away.
On a serious note I think this tactic is being used in preparation for our 4 big games against the oomp pa lumpa XI where the long high ball will prove key.
The notice and talk of lack of desire shows me why Razor should have started that game. Yes, he's had a spell out the team, but if anyone knows about the FA Cup and how much it means, its him. Big mistake leaving him out Saturday.
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