Trouble at't Mill(ers". At home to Rotherham, Tuesday 8th Apr. 19-45.

[Worthy4England]

I thought in recent games, we defended really well against Hudds and Brum. Both games where we were expecting to defend so set about them to make sure we did. They both had scary periods where it felt like we we under it, but we did the job and won both.

It feels like there's a clear out coming, but we don't have a financial open book. It may take more than one window.

I'm happy to give the manager free reign (apart from the fact he's Head Coach), I wouldn't shed a tear at any departure. Not because I don't like the individuals, I just don't see them getting us promoted as it stands.

It's interesting to look at a couple of stats when they got promoted Plymouth had the joint highest goals against in the top 5. They scored fewer than us in promotion season than we did last season. (Mind so did the two promoted teams).

Sheehan still needs a shift of position for me (I don't dislike him, he tries to tackle). The job description is defensive midfielder kudos on his reading of the cover block that could've made it 0-2, but just go look at his attempted tackle on their goal. You'd shake your head if it was an u14's match. He's great at many things not related to "defensive."

As a team, rather than a collection of spreadsheet stats, this isn't working. An example from last night was when Morely put a great ball in to McAtee that just needed something on it, SKD would have removed a bollock and thrown that at it, we're trying to reach a play-offs.

My hope for next season is we have more consistency, stop having as many off days, defend better, focus on all the team rather than just the attacking bit.

[The_Gun]

Schumacher has also called out Sheehan for bottling yet another tackle. About time. Absolutely need one or two proper defensive midfield types in the summer. Can’t keep relying on a bloke who has absolutely no desire to do the grafting part of the game.

I don't think it is fair to say Sheehan doesn't graft. He's lightweight and not great defensively. That said he takes plenty of hits in possession. The problem is we can't stop conceding soft/daft goals and we've an army of lightweight 10s and no 9s. I think a preseason of working on Schumacher's pattens of play and a few personnel changes and he'll fix it. How much we can flog players for and how much he can spend will dictate whether we're automatic contenders or playoff hopefuls.

Which players are we likely to flog, AT?

Collins, Morley and Johnston the only ones I can see that other clubs might pay decent fees for, but we probably don’t want to lose any of them.

[Worthy4England]

Can’t keep relying on a bloke who has absolutely no desire to do the grafting part of the game.

Utterly, utterly ridiculous statement, about another player you can't wait to shoot down at every opportunity.

Sheehan grafts - if he didn't he wouldn't be picked for us or be picked as captain of Wales.
As already said, he isn't necessarily the toughest tackler, but thats not his game. And for someone as "lightweight" "non-grafting" "soft" "etc etc" he doesn't half take a kicking every game and continues to get up, dust himself down and crack on.

Last night he was completely dictating play from the middle for large periods. Interestingly, whilst also acknowledging the mis-tackle that led to the goal, a non-Bolton fan mate of mine who came along singled him out as our best player by far.

SS called him out for the tackle - rightly - but also said "he hasn't made too many mistakes" either. Sounds to me like a manager who acknowledges the value Sheehan brings to the team but isn't afraid to point out the odd mistake.

I don't have a larger problem with Sheehan than any other player. He will dictate play, has good passing range and vision etc. Just put a defensive midfielder in there next to him and push him up the pitch a bit.

That missed tackle is awful. It's like watching the fcuking Brownies. How can you get the "best player on the pitch" tag, when you've been so instrumental in the one move that determined who got the points and you're the defensive midfielder?

[BWFC_Insane]

Can’t keep relying on a bloke who has absolutely no desire to do the grafting part of the game.

Utterly, utterly ridiculous statement, about another player you can't wait to shoot down at every opportunity.

Sheehan grafts - if he didn't he wouldn't be picked for us or be picked as captain of Wales.
As already said, he isn't necessarily the toughest tackler, but thats not his game. And for someone as "lightweight" "non-grafting" "soft" "etc etc" he doesn't half take a kicking every game and continues to get up, dust himself down and crack on.

Last night he was completely dictating play from the middle for large periods. Interestingly, whilst also acknowledging the mis-tackle that led to the goal, a non-Bolton fan mate of mine who came along singled him out as our best player by far.

SS called him out for the tackle - rightly - but also said "he hasn't made too many mistakes" either. Sounds to me like a manager who acknowledges the value Sheehan brings to the team but isn't afraid to point out the odd mistake.

He’s playing the defensive midfield role. His job is to break up play and protect the defence.

He can’t do it. It’s happened repeatedly too. The problem is that his play beyond that isn’t good enough to compensate. Sideways passes and scurrying round is ok if you are also doing the defensive job and making the team solid. Or even if you were bagging double figures. But he has little end product if we are honest. He’s a luxury in a league one side as a 6. Maybe an 8 he’d be ok as if he was able to cover the ground - I’d be interested to see that. But I think he’s emblematic of why we aren’t going up. What wins you games is stopping the opposition scoring and scoring goals. And Sheehan broadly doesn’t contribute too much to either.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Which players are we likely to flog, AT?

Collins, Morley and Johnston the only ones I can see that other clubs might pay decent fees for, but we probably don’t want to lose any of them.

I've no idea tbh Gun. I'm hoping Schumacher has a plan for Randall, as I can't see us getting much there at this stage. As you say, the saleable ones are the ones we need to keep. I've been a big critic of Morley in the past, but since he's come back he's been fantastic. Hopefully Schumacher can uncover a pacy powerful (and affordable) striker as I think that will help us enormously. Could we check if Muamba has younger brother to sort our midfield out?

[BWFC_Insane]

Who we sell is dictated by the market. I don’t think there is any single player I’d say ‘we can’t sell as they would be hard to replace’ but Collins goals would be relatively difficult to find a replacement for.

The rest I think it’s pretty much open season and depends who offers what - and how much Schumacher wants to or is allowed to do.

I feel like we need major surgery not tinkering round the edges.

I was making a list in my head last night of who I think is definitely good enough for a league one automatic promotion team. My list of definites….

Baxter
Toal
Morley
Collins

That’s as far as I got. Some maybes for sure but those are the only ones I think I’d say ‘yeah in the right role with right players round them they are absolutely good enough’

[Worthy4England]

Which players are we likely to flog, AT?

Collins, Morley and Johnston the only ones I can see that other clubs might pay decent fees for, but we probably don’t want to lose any of them.

I've no idea tbh Gun. I'm hoping Schumacher has a plan for Randall, as I can't see us getting much there at this stage. As you say, the saleable ones are the ones we need to keep. I've been a big critic of Morley in the past, but since he's come back he's been fantastic. Hopefully Schumacher can uncover a pacy powerful (and affordable) striker as I think that will help us enormously. Could we check if Muamba has younger brother to sort our midfield out?

I think I saw a stat that Morley had 111 touches last night. Randall had 2. In 15 minutes. Sure, they're in different postions. I hope we can get him integrated (not written him off yet!) But it's looked pretty thin so far.

[The_Gun]

Looking at the squad, I’d basically forget about selling anyone for cash. I think it will be frees and loans.

[dave the minion]

I was making a list in my head last night of who I think is definitely good enough for a league one automatic promotion team. My list of definites….

Baxter
Toal
Morley
Collins

That’s as far as I got. Some maybes for sure but those are the only ones I think I’d say ‘yeah in the right role with right players round them they are absolutely good enough’

See, I don't see it as bad as that - albeit league position etc etc would suggest I'm maybe wrong ......

In addition to the 4 you mention, I think the following are "good enough" to get out of L1:

Santos (injury free)
Sheehan
Forino (if he can sustain recent performance levels)
Forrester (pre-injury form permitting)


I then get to the "maybes" of

JDC
Shon
Osei-Tutu
Thomason
Mcatee
Johnston


When I look at that - in my head at least - we've got the core of a promotion-chasing squad. Solid keeper, centre halves, midfield and a striker.
Add the maybes in and we're not far off - so I would want us to retain 14 of them for definite, which hopefully gives enough wriggle-room in the squad/budget to make a few tweaks and - et voila - HMS PTL incoming!!!

[TANGODANCER]

One glaringly obvious problem last night was the quality of shooting. At best, we had a couple of decent shots , but some of the rest were pretty awful. (I'm looking at you Thomo). Considering we dominated the shot total so much it makes the match result a joke. Talk of moving up a division is just pie in the sky, or Real Madrid v Sunday pub league. In short, chances are there to be taken, not wasted. Get your weight over the ball, not leaning back like rugby territory clearances.

Amen.

[BWFC_Insane]

I was making a list in my head last night of who I think is definitely good enough for a league one automatic promotion team. My list of definites….

Baxter
Toal
Morley
Collins

That’s as far as I got. Some maybes for sure but those are the only ones I think I’d say ‘yeah in the right role with right players round them they are absolutely good enough’

See, I don't see it as bad as that - albeit league position etc etc would suggest I'm maybe wrong ......

In addition to the 4 you mention, I think the following are "good enough" to get out of L1:

Santos (injury free)
Sheehan
Forino (if he can sustain recent performance levels)
Forrester (pre-injury form permitting)


I then get to the "maybes" of

JDC
Shon
Osei-Tutu
Thomason
Mcatee
Johnston


When I look at that - in my head at least - we've got the core of a promotion-chasing squad. Solid keeper, centre halves, midfield and a striker.
Add the maybes in and we're not far off - so I would want us to retain 14 of them for definite, which hopefully gives enough wriggle-room in the squad/budget to make a few tweaks and - et voila - HMS PTL incoming!!!

Santos won’t be here so no point discussing him.

Sheehan in his current role isn’t good enough. Whether as an 8 he could be I don’t know. But he struggles to cover ground and isn’t a goalscorer….so….

Forino is a maybe certainly impressive thus far but we can’t really call it yet. Same for Forrester. Given how defensively poor we’ve been generally this season all defenders have to have question marks on them to some extent. Toal for me is the best we’ve got he just is injured too often.

On the maybes I would agree with Thomason and Johnstone. Tutu if he stays fit is a maybe. JDC is solid enough to be in the maybe column also. But all these are questionable. And if we can we should look to improve on them.


Can’t agree on Schon he’s shown nothing whatsoever.

And McAtee is not very good and I don’t think is anywhere near the level of a player who would be in a league one promotion side. Sorry but I think he’s miles off it.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

He’s averaging 1.7ppg since being here which is probably just about top 6 across the full season. The problem is not what’s happened since he was here. It was the criminal in charge before and some of the rubbish he signed.

1.69ppg x 46 = 77.8pts. Last season that was enough to finish 5th; before that, going backwards in time and ignoring the Covid-truncated season, it was enough for 6th, 8th, 4th, 6th, 5th, 6th, 6th, 5th, 6th - so yes, almost always good enough for the playoffs.

There have also been some hard-luck stories in the losses, from Etete's handball at Reading to last night's "tee to green" domination of Rotherham. Obviously we need to avoid such unhappy endings, and conversely we were also fairly fortunate to win at Shrewsbury and Burton. But Schumacher's squad audit has turned up some results which we might deem... familiar. Defence prone to a mistake; midfield prone to fade for periods; attack prone to wastefulness.

Statistically, Schuey has turned us from an upper mid-table team (we were on course for 67pts when Evatt left) to a play-off team. I still think there's headroom to improve but it's becoming obvious that we'll need more than a couple of changes in summer.

Still not sure though that the "criminal" accusation is fair. I still don't get what Randall brings but it's worth noting that Etete was signed with Schumacher's approval after Evatt's departure. But I doubt we'll go for him again in summer...

[BWFC_Insane]

One glaringly obvious problem last night was the quality of shooting. At best, we had a couple of decent shots , but some of the rest were pretty awful. (I'm looking at you Thomo). Considering we dominated the shot total so much it makes the match result a joke. Talk of moving up a division is just pie in the sky, or Real Madrid v Sunday pub league. In short, chances are there to be taken, not wasted. Get your weight over the ball, not leaning back like rugby territory clearances.

Amen.

We don’t have enough players who are just going to give it a proper thump. It’s a skill in itself. Shearer the best I’ve seen at just keeping his head over the ball and putting the laces through it.

But we also lack what I’d class as natural finishers. No midfield Nolan no McGinlay sort up front. And I think many times those players who score you half chances make the difference in games. Think Klasnic or Le Fondre. There was not a player last night who I thought would make the difference in front of goal because we very much are a team without that sort of player or players.

[Bertie Wooster]

Who we sell is dictated by the market. I don’t think there is any single player I’d say ‘we can’t sell as they would be hard to replace’ but Collins goals would be relatively difficult to find a replacement for.

The rest I think it’s pretty much open season and depends who offers what - and how much Schumacher wants to or is allowed to do.

I feel like we need major surgery not tinkering round the edges.

I was making a list in my head last night of who I think is definitely good enough for a league one automatic promotion team. My list of definites….

Baxter
Toal
Morley
Collins

That’s as far as I got. Some maybes for sure but those are the only ones I think I’d say ‘yeah in the right role with right players round them they are absolutely good enough’

We certainly need better quality as Schumacher has eluded to post match, I'd add Forino & Dempsey to your list - the rest are either not good enough or not consistent enough for an automatic promotion level side. 4 defeats out of the last 6 games for a side aiming for the play offs with a new manager tells me enough about the overall quality & make up of the squad - we need at least 3 or 4 better quality starting players to have any chance IMO next season, more pace, more physicality and more experience.

However, whilst I can see SS being backed by the board to bring in a few quality additions, unfortunately I can't see the club being able to offload that many of these players in one summer window to free up enough squad places for any more than say 5 or 6 new SS signings.

Who is going to come in for the likes of Randall, CMG, Johnston, Sheehan, Thomason, JDC, Schon, Forrester, McAtee, Lolos, Adeboyejo etc. one or two of these who may be actively wanting to leave due to a lack of opportunity may go but that may be it, they won't want to take a drop in salaries.

[BWFC_Insane]

Who we sell is dictated by the market. I don’t think there is any single player I’d say ‘we can’t sell as they would be hard to replace’ but Collins goals would be relatively difficult to find a replacement for.

The rest I think it’s pretty much open season and depends who offers what - and how much Schumacher wants to or is allowed to do.

I feel like we need major surgery not tinkering round the edges.

I was making a list in my head last night of who I think is definitely good enough for a league one automatic promotion team. My list of definites….

Baxter
Toal
Morley
Collins

That’s as far as I got. Some maybes for sure but those are the only ones I think I’d say ‘yeah in the right role with right players round them they are absolutely good enough’

We certainly need better quality as Schumacher has eluded to post match, I'd add Forino & Dempsey to your list - the rest are either not good enough or not consistent enough for an automatic promotion level side. 4 defeats out of the last 6 games for a side aiming for the play offs with a new manager tells me enough about the overall quality & make up of the squad - we need at least 3 or 4 better quality starting players to have any chance IMO next season, more pace, more physicality and more experience.

However, whilst I can see SS being backed by the board to bring in a few quality additions, unfortunately I can't see the club being able to offload that many of these players in one summer window to free up enough squad places for any more than say 5 or 6 new SS signings.

Who is going to come in for the likes of Randall, CMG, Johnston, Sheehan, Thomason, JDC, Schon, Forrester, McAtee, Lolos, Adeboyejo etc. one or two of these who may be actively wanting to leave due to a lack of opportunity may go but that may be it, they won't want to take a drop in salaries.

Yeah this is the issue. The board have absolutely stuffed us - we are potentially stuck in this league for a long time and all because we stuck with a man who was incapable of getting us up.

[Worthy4England]

Can’t keep relying on a bloke who has absolutely no desire to do the grafting part of the game.

Utterly, utterly ridiculous statement, about another player you can't wait to shoot down at every opportunity.

Sheehan grafts - if he didn't he wouldn't be picked for us or be picked as captain of Wales.
As already said, he isn't necessarily the toughest tackler, but thats not his game. And for someone as "lightweight" "non-grafting" "soft" "etc etc" he doesn't half take a kicking every game and continues to get up, dust himself down and crack on.

Last night he was completely dictating play from the middle for large periods. Interestingly, whilst also acknowledging the mis-tackle that led to the goal, a non-Bolton fan mate of mine who came along singled him out as our best player by far.

SS called him out for the tackle - rightly - but also said "he hasn't made too many mistakes" either. Sounds to me like a manager who acknowledges the value Sheehan brings to the team but isn't afraid to point out the odd mistake.

He’s playing the defensive midfield role. His job is to break up play and protect the defence.

He can’t do it. It’s happened repeatedly too. The problem is that his play beyond that isn’t good enough to compensate. Sideways passes and scurrying round is ok if you are also doing the defensive job and making the team solid. Or even if you were bagging double figures. But he has little end product if we are honest. He’s a luxury in a league one side as a 6. Maybe an 8 he’d be ok as if he was able to cover the ground - I’d be interested to see that. But I think he’s emblematic of why we aren’t going up. What wins you games is stopping the opposition scoring and scoring goals. And Sheehan broadly doesn’t contribute too much to either.

Folks mention our best "defensive" season in L1 when we conceded 36 (22/23) - Josh only played 1100 minutes - so about 12 games all told. Our most played XI, was Traff, Jones, Santos, Johnston, Bradley. Morley, Dempsey, Iredale, Lee, Dion and Kacha. There's two obvious loanee "advantages" in there in Traff and Bradley - but how many of these would you swap for what we had out last night? I know some of this list was in last night, but it's only 3 and a sub.

Defensively, you'd probably take all of this team vs last nights. Dion and Kacha used to press till they were dead.

[Harry Genshaw]

it's worth noting that Etete was signed with Schumacher's approval after Evatt's departure. But I doubt we'll go for him again in summer...

Bloody hell DSB! If we do, it'll make the Nlundulu signing look like the perfect example of due diligence! Off the pitch only Mario Jardel looked less like a footballer than this lad. On the pitch, we're in Ali Dia territory.

[irie Cee Bee]

We need better players next season. From the starting side last night, I would say that we should be able to get get good transfer fees for McAtee, Thomasson, Tutu and Sheehan that can be reinvested. We must cut our loses or loan out CMG, Lolos, Dan and Randall. Jones and Santos are out of contract and seem to be gone. Then there are loan options to replace poor loan signings of Etete, Murphy and Matete.

Schuey does not like a large squad but has enough room to get some quality in all 3 areas of the pitch.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

it's worth noting that Etete was signed with Schumacher's approval after Evatt's departure. But I doubt we'll go for him again in summer...

Bloody hell DSB! If we do, it'll make the Nlundulu signing look like the perfect example of due diligence! Off the pitch only Mario Jardel looked less like a footballer than this lad. On the pitch, we're in Ali Dia territory.

Don't forget Dan is back for another year in the summer

[Prufrock]

I think there's only Morley, Collins and Baxter I'd be gutted if they left.

But I don't think it needs major surgery. Plenty of then are talented we just need the right additions to do the things we currently just can't do. I.e. be hard to score against.

We need a number 9 and we need to be better defensively. Not enough of them love defending for it's own sake. Some of that you can work on, some of it is inbuilt. I like Sheehan a lot but he needs a bastard next to him. There's a lot to like about Johnston, but can he only play in a 3? Toal but can he stay fit.

Fundamentally you just can't concede as many goals as we have. L1 teams are always going to concede some bad goals, I don't think there's much to be gained from looking at single ones in isolation. It's the numbers. Cannot concede that many goals, cannot lose that many games. But there's a lot of talent, and a lot of attacking threat. That side just needs someone to finish it off regularly and be a threat in behind. He had that with Hardie and Ennis at Plymouth. Someone in that vein and then it's defence defence defence.