NL: Solihull Moors (H) 11 Nov 2023

[Diggerthedog]

Totally agree that Johnson was out best player yesterday, this season is turning out to be exactly how I expected. Hessenthaler is a holding midfielder not sure what people expect from him, 10 times better than Rance, Effiong scores goals, if we lost him we would almost certainly be relegated.

[Mark]

Indeed. I think you have to back Effiong and then build round him. So far Sears and Kendall aren't the answer, they don't link up, they don't really have the raw pace to compliment him.

Main problem is the midfield 3 is totally sterile. DLK played well but he's defensive, Hess is pretty defensive, Rees is absolutely pony, Vincent has one good game in ten.

[ARNU]

Main problem is the midfield 3 is totally sterile. DLK played well but he's defensive, Hess is pretty defensive, Rees is absolutely pony, Vincent has one good game in ten.

Totally agree with this. Midfield is woeful.
DTD do you stand by your " Great signing " statement in the Jake Hessenthaler thread ?
I think he played well v west ham in the friendly and hasn't really shone since.

[Diggerthedog]

Yeah Hess is superb, our defensive players have been pretty good this season it’s the attacking part of our play that’s consistently letting us down. As said we’re too one paced and have no flair/excitement if Hill is not playing. We had 8 players in the side yesterday all defensive minded, for a home game that’s scandalous, Ben needs to release the shackles a bit.

[len]

Yeah Hess is superb, our defensive players have been pretty good this season it’s the attacking part of our play that’s consistently letting us down. As said we’re too one paced and have no flair/excitement if Hill is not playing. We had 8 players in the side yesterday all defensive minded, for a home game that’s scandalous, Ben needs to release the shackles a bit.

Agree totally that without Ryan Hill our attacking flair is very one paced and hope that he will be back soon. Also hoping Ibie will gain some confidence out on loan at Aveley having scored a couple of goals already, as in the friendlies he looked our best player.

[Mark]

How about Hill as the most attacking of the midfield 3? Not sure if it would work but he's got the work rate for it and would mean he's involved in the game more.

[RayleighDagger1986]

So, instead of signing Sears, we should have added another pacey attacking midfielder like Hill to the squad. Would Georgie Saunders have done better than Sears or Rees??

[Dagman]

The result was disappointing but there are signs of improvement, although remain of the opinion that Phipps is a liability as he seems unable to stay in position which led to their first goal. It all could have been different if we had kept the lead at half time.
The continued discussion on how bad this side is compared to previous sides really depends on how long you have been attending Victoria Road. This is my 60th season of attendance and would nominate the 1996 side as the worst I have seen, although those in seasons 2003 to 2005 were not that great either and I still shudder at the memory of the Hereford game.