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You could possibly trace our run of form right back to the reverse fixture, being forced to play despite our COVID issues. Football is a funny old game and there would be something quite romantic about it all coming full circle on Saturday. It's very hard to see that happening but as HashtagAlty says, all we can do is support.

Solihull are absolutely not the type of opposition you want when you're struggling. Physical side that will press, harass and frustrate with a great defensive record. We haven't dealt with being pressed and teams have cottoned on to the weakness.

I'd take any form of result.

It can happen, you know. I remember against Macc a few years back at the Moss Rose. We were struggling, with players out, Macc were going for the title and made a huge effort to move the snow and get the game on to try and take advantage. And then Dean Pritchar scored a hattrick as we won 3-2 (or 2-3!). And after all, we only narrowly got beat with 13 players unavailable earlier this season. And there were some encouraging signs against an in form Torquay. You just never know. Don't give up on it quite yet Wayno!

Quote from: Hugh on January 28, 2022, 03:13:49 PM

Makes sense with Jordan Hulme coming back. I see Peers scored two goals on Saturday against a "big" club and remember thinking that if we didn't have him already, someone who scored two goals for a top seven NLN club was the sort of player we ought to sign. Hopefully he has benefitted from his loan spell.

A club 16th in the league.

And who were getting lower crowds than Spennymoor earlier this season. I wonder if their new manager has managed to improve them at all yet?

Intelligent debate isn't a possibility with Hugh, JD.

He keeps talking though and we keep on having to have his baseless beliefs rammed down our throats on a forum about f**king football for Christ's sake.

Can we not just go back to asking where Chris senior is? Or making puns based on the opposition defenders name? Or he can keep it up and this forum can become even more like 4chan.

Sounds like you want to ban me from commenting on first team players as well! That's not how it works though. The point is for someone like me to throw out an idea. People more knowledgeable about the matter can discuss it, put me right if necessary. I will learn something, and hopefully a few other people who happen to be reading the comments might learn something too. What's so bad about that?

And for my part, I think you've been all over the place with some of your comments (and lacking in empathy). It's just an opinion about Digie. Since when did someone have to be an expert to have one? Maybe I will have to make detailed notes...

Anything on the other points I made then (and which made the main body of my original post)?

I seem to remember being surprised about Shotton turning up at Matlock last season (and having a bit of a row as I recall). Then again, John Johnstone ended up at Kidsgrove, so I suppose these things happen. I always hoped that Kevin Ellison would come back to us at some point, but instead he carries on in the football league at 42! He must be on for some sort of record by now.

Quote from: Hugh on January 27, 2022, 03:01:53 AM

Quote from: Amsterdam Alty on January 26, 2022, 09:15:38 AM

It's hard to tell which posts from you make you look more delusional.

Be nice if you could actually contribute to the discussion sometimes.

You are right I promised myself I'd only make you look silly on your covidiot rants. I'll leave others to tell you how terrible you are at spotting football talent.

Oh, you mean my concerns (which you have failed to adequately address) about the biggest policy and social disaster of modern times that has been ruining football?

So you don't wish to say anything further about Digie then? What about my other points on Asian players or the FA Cup or African cup? I thought they were worth discussing anyway, but somehow it just seems to have got back to slating Digie (or in your case deriding my legitimate concerns about the totalitarian measures of recent times that have been afflicting the game, the same as you have derided people's concerns on other issues).

I accept that for whatever reason, Digie has been making too many bad mistakes that have cost us, the point is whether he did as badly as all that for 40 minutes after the second goal (yes there was one more bad mistake at least but I think there were some good things too) and whether Parky can make a decent player out of him. I seem to remember Micky Hayde could hardly pass at all as I recall, whilst Shepherd could pass but only with his right foot. Maybe it's not as easy as we imagine to get good passing defenders, I don't know. If he was the finished article he would go to someone like Stockport, I suppose management feel they just have to take a chance on players sometimes and hope they can do something with them. I still think some of those mistakes can be cut out with training ground work and a settled team. I remember back in 1997 when we had nearly a whole team out and were forced to play some very Strange(!) teams. It must be extremely disruptive and unsettling having so many players out.

Quote from: Hugh on January 27, 2022, 03:01:53 AM

Quote from: Amsterdam Alty on January 26, 2022, 09:15:38 AM

It's hard to tell which posts from you make you look more delusional.

Be nice if you could actually contribute to the discussion sometimes.


I mentioned an unsettled team. The first Torquay goal would appear to be a case in point - new player Osborne and new player Berkoe both apparently pointing the finger, in one case while the ball was still in play. Would this sort of thing happen if we had a settled team?

It would also be interesting to hear from management about Digie. Presumably they know more about it than any of us, and they must have their reasons for playing him. What is their thinking?

And just out of interest, perhaps AA (or anyone else) would like to tell me if Digie made any other mistakes after the second goal, or if it was just the one mistake in 40 minutes of football, and also say what else he did. Very difficult for me to prove anything from just brief highlights and my memories (maybe I should make notes next time if people are going to be so fussy).

Hannigan is injured.

Certainly I wouldn't expect Digie to play at the moment if Sutton and Hannigan were fit, available and on form. The thing is, longer term can Digie be a decent player at this level if he cuts out the mistakes? Is that likely, or is he being used as an emergency measure?

I forgot about Laidlar's report. They tend to be quite extensive don't they?

I'll have a look at the highlights, though they may not be extensive enough to highlight all those good tackles I remember in the second half. A pity they don't make the whole match available so I can see how much of what I believe to have happened actually occurred.

The first bit seems to be right though...

Edit: Watched the highlights now. Yes, that was poor to concede possession there (though those were the only two serious mistakes to make it to the highlights I think). Seriously - I know Parky likes a passing game, but when Digie gets in those positions and there's not a pass on, someone really should tell him to boot it out. At least he won't give away a goalscoring chance then. Though perhaps other players need to take responsibility too and give him an option or tell him to just clear it. The trouble is there's been so many players coming in and out of the team - Furman, Fitzpatrick, White coming back from injury and now Berkoe. Easier said than done, but we need to get a settled defence and some training sessions together - hopefully they will have times to work on these things this week.

I see Digie did one good pass inside, so at least one of the good passes weren't just imagined! And he actually won a header as well - "half cleared". As I thought, he went up field a few times too. I wonder if he might actually be more effective up there, trying to unsettle defenders and scrapping for the ball? It wouldn't matter so much if he gave the ball away in those positions either.