Unofficial Halesowen Town FC Forum

It doesn't sound promising at all. I know injuries happen but to be in this position when you have had all pre season doesn't seem right to me. If it had been Stourbr*dge for example we would all be saying its poor planning and preparation

RaidenYeltz wrote: But for Platty it could have been 5 or 6-0. It was a little too easy for Buxton, I can only recall one shot on target, which was a Griffiths free kick. We're not gunna win games if we can't create chances.

We need to improve quickly.

Don't forget that Buxton also hit the woodwork at least 4 times.............

Yeltz27 wrote:It doesn't sound promising at all. I know injuries happen but to be in this position when you have had all pre season doesn't seem right to me. If it had been Stourbr*dge for example we would all be saying its poor planning and preparation

I'm not sure the significance of the argument of Stourbr*dge?

Delaney has been carrying a knock, Rio injured and on the bench, Brad Lewis' hamstring gone again, Ash's new long term injury. Turner injured in the warm up. Haynes away on holiday. Griff playing out of position as arguably fifth choice at right back. I'm not sure how many players we're expected to have on the books?

As for the game, big improvement needed for sure. Buxton were much the better side but when 2-0 down, you've barely had a shot and you don't bring a striker on until 10mins from the end it tells you that there were certainly problems on the bench too.

RobYeltz wrote:

Yeltz27 wrote:It doesn't sound promising at all. I know injuries happen but to be in this position when you have had all pre season doesn't seem right to me. If it had been Stourbr*dge for example we would all be saying its poor planning and preparation

I'm not sure the significance of the argument of Stourbr*dge?

Delaney has been carrying a knock, Rio injured and on the bench, Brad Lewis' hamstring gone again, Ash's new long term injury. Turner injured in the warm up. Haynes away on holiday. Griff playing out of position as arguably fifth choice at right back. I'm not sure how many players we're expected to have on the books?

As for the game, big improvement needed for sure. Buxton were much the better side but when 2-0 down, you've barely had a shot and you don't bring a striker on until 10mins from the end it tells you that there were certainly problems on the bench too.

I used Stourbr*dge merely as an example. People would be laughing at them if they were in that position.

It's not as though we are mid way through a season and have picked up loads of knocks. To have so many injuries before the season starts suggests something isn't right. That's only my opinion. Also as was said last week, Having so many trialists so late in pre season was another indicator of poor planning and preparation

Highlights for those who may not have seen it on social media:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGr5neJhv1Y

I do think you're being a little harsh on the injuries. I do agree with the trialist comment. It's not ideal IMO to play three trialists the game before the season starts. I don't think that was ideal preparation.

It was clear that APS would be out for some time and I'd like to think that John would've known about Hains' absence well in advance, so the fact we went into the game yesterday light at right back shouldn't have been a surprise.

I can only guess getting a short term player who is good enough with a week to find someone is tough.

We had a trialist at no.2 against Bromsgrove who was appalling, on the other hand we had a no.6 trialist playing against Gresley, who I thought looked good. so I can take an educated guess that John has been looking to strengthen the area.

I think if Lewis was fit, he'd have slotted in at CB and Morrison at right back - which wouldn't have been too bad. It is a freak to have so many players in a similar position unavailable at the same time.

Hindsight is wonderful, but looking back, maybe it'd have been better to have gone 3-5-2? Use Deny as the extra CB, being as he's previously played there, just to give us a more solid base.

I do wonder whether it'd have been better to have Griff at left back in a 4-4-2 and have Williams play left mid, as we looked very exposed down our flanks. But then who would you have played down the right? Brags as emergency RB? Melvin, perhaps?

I don't like the idea of having a left footed RB, although whoever is picked on Tuesday will probably be a square peg in a round hole, unless we get someone in sharpish.

We haven't looked too solid at the back all pre-season and now we're short it's looking tough. I feel as though we need to score two or three goals a game to get anything from it, as I don't have confidence we can keep a clean sheet. That's a little worrying.

RB option 1 - Haynes - holiday
RB option 2 - Rio (1st back up right back)- injured in training.
RB option 3 - APS - long term injured from penultimate pre season game.
RB option 4 - Brad Lewis' - injured in penultimate pre season game.

JH brought in a trialist for that position for the last pre season game when three of the above were injured at relatively short notice. As mentioned he didn't really look good enough hence why Griff has stepped in. It will be interesting to see if any other club has so many right backs available to them in this league?

John and Matt Clarke have both said on social media that we need more numbers in as a result of these recent injuries, but I should imagine the only players who are available are players who haven't figured elsewhere yet for their clubs and only being at most 2 or 3 games in it's early still for clubs to decide whether players will figure or not. A squad too big would mean we'd struggle to keep players happy and inevitably they'd move on, so what is the point of signing 20+ players? We have continuity with a large number of players resigning, new faces added to that in due course will help of course but we know full well John will only bring in players if they're good enough and not just for the sake of it.