Team for Concord

Massive game on Saturday at Concord but to be honest in our position they are all massive games I guess.
With Concord known to be big, strong and physical I feel we will need to match them in that department so if Matt Taylor is fit and fine then id bring him straight in to the back four. I also feel Andy Gallinagh`s experience could be vital in the run in.
I imagine the pitch will be dry, hard and bouncy so we will need to battle for anything we get down in Essex. I would bring Billy Murphy into the team for that reason as although small in stature will put himself about and battle for the cause.

In the home game they were lacking in pace at the back so if he is ok Andy Watkins should come in for me.

My team would be:

Phillips
Gallinagh, Batten, Taylor, Ball
Kelly, Hemmings, Murphy
Watkins, Pratt, Harvey

SUBS: Bowman, Kington, Artus, Williams, McCootie

Agree most of that, we have little options tbh. Taylor and Watkins must come back. I would play Artus though, only one who has skill in midfield to hit Watkins, and Pratt if as Owers says he wants him to stay forward.

I think Artus will play as he's banned for the next two home games. I'd leave him clear of free-kicks though. Decent player but his crosses from them are poor.

With Taylor and Watkins injured even with our full complement of loanees we can only muster 15 players. ie four subs. Most are going to play a part during every game.

You wouldn't expect loanees to put their bodies on the line when it comes down to matching up to physicality. Our best bet is to avoid it. Liam Kelly has impressed me because he was outmuscled in his first few games but he has quickly learnt to use space better. Likewise Dan Bowman is someone who maintains personal space to good effect.

Taylor's out for the rest of the season

No Taylor then......... A real blow.

Watkins for the bench by the sound of it with McCootie.

Harvey, Kelly and Murphy all need loans confirmed.

Not great but against the odds hopefully we can pull through.

.....Not to mention Greenslade has gone.....

Still 5 games to go, Frankie suspended for 2, bring yer boots for the home games !

This all makes allowing Sekani to leave even more baffling to me.

I got the impression that Taylor was more here for his coaching abilities rather than his playing. Still, he would have been good cover for a lean time such as this.

Sekani not in contract so Bath couldn't hold on to him

If he is on a dual-reg, bring back Luke Matthews!

Midsomer-steve wrote:If he is on a dual-reg, bring back Luke Matthews!

Someone said on the coach on Saturday that he is now in America.

So the squad is looking down to the bare bones. Perhaps Owers should have pushed through a signing or two as he mentioned he was looking to do before the transfer deadline.
Just hope Reading, Bristol City and Plymouth will allow the loanees to continue with us until the end of the season otherwise we will be screwed.

Squad looks light

Phillips
Bowman
Ball
Gallinagh
Batten
Hemmings
Murphy
Hutchinson
Kington
Artus
Kelly
Williams
Harvey
Watkins
Pratt
McCootie

Also substantially weaker than the start of the season when we had Simmo - Coupe - Nicholson - Davis - Adelsbury

Is Louis Perry fit? Perhaps Jimmer might dust his boots off and sit on the bench.

If you had seen Jimmer against Street you wouldn't even want him on the bench.

HerefordRoman wrote: Perhaps Owers should have pushed through a signing or two as he mentioned he was looking to do before the transfer deadline.

The transfer deadline doesn't affect clubs below National League Premier though, does it? I assume we are still able to sign players - if not, we are in big trouble!

HerefordRoman wrote:

Squad looks light

Phillips
Bowman
Ball
Gallinagh
Batten
Hemmings
Murphy
Hutchinson
Kington
Artus
Kelly
Williams
Harvey
Watkins
Pratt
McCootie

Probably not the time for another compo, but I predict only a third of that squad will be around come August!

Manchester Romans wrote:

HerefordRoman wrote: Perhaps Owers should have pushed through a signing or two as he mentioned he was looking to do before the transfer deadline.

The transfer deadline doesn't affect clubs below National League Premier though, does it? I assume we are still able to sign players - if not, we are in big trouble!

Yes the Non-League deadline I believe was Saturday 26th March, 2 days after the Football League deadline. Just got to hope we pick up no more in injuries.

It's interesting, I have just been reading a history of Welsh football and it is notable the amount of players who made their professional debuts at 16 - for English clubs before anyone gets cheeky! Also, you look at Scott Sinclair who made his league debut appearance for Rovers at 15, Aaron Ramsey at 16, Wilshere at 16, Aaron Lennon at 16.

Now I doubt we have a Ramsey, Wilshere, Lennon or even Sinclair in amongst our youngsters but, there again, we don't need one, do we? We are a Conference South club on our uppers. Also, I am not necessarily talking about taking 16 year olds to Concord on Saturday but some of our younger players should be able to populate the bench, at least. I was impressed enough by Hutchinson to say that he should be in the first-team squad until the end of the season and wonder if there are one or two that would not only benefit from being in the first team squad but who also could end up being genuinely useful at this stage. Rather than relying on old timers like Taylor and Rollo who are at the end of their careers, injury prone and more useful for their coaching abilities.

I know a lot of people will say that the game is different now and we are playing non-league not League or Premiership football but the game when the likes of Toshack were making their debuts of 16 was far more physical than now and, at this level, the levels of speed and fitness, with so many ex-pros and older journeymen around, is far less than those leagues. Also, young players nowadays are looking after themselves better, knowing how to keep physically fit and coached from a much younger age. After all, we got Aden Baldwin on loan at the start of the season and he was only 18.

It could be that our youngsters are just not good enough to even warm the bench. If this is the case, we need to look at our U-21 set-up (as has been discussed at length before). While throwing a 16 year old in is a bit of a big ask, 21 is now quite a mature age for a lot of footballers - playing wise if nothing else - especially if you look at Bowman who is now almost a regular and, arguably should be picked more. There should be some players ready for first team squad players by now.  Leaving aside Matthews, Gibbons and Monelle who are both on dual registration, what has happened to Bole, Perry and Sloggett. There was another couple of guys that played with Hutchinson against Street - Grosvenor, Hackett , Woolley and Stinson. I say, if we have space on the bench, start putting these kids on it otherwise we get into a vicious circle of never playing them because they haven't got the experience but them never getting any experience because they are never played because they haven't got the experience etc. I realise that we shouldn't be relying on kids and should probably bring them in in less pressured games but needs must presently.

Part of the issue may be, as far as I can see, that we don't have a U-21 coach and I have no idea whether anyone from the senior coaching team is doing anything with them. Billy Clark seems to be completely on the ball with the Academy team. I expect that Owers is concerning himself with the senior team and our current predicament but I wonder whether he has run the rule over the U-21s or even spent some coaching time with them. He put Hitchinson on so obviously saw something in him so perhaps he has been looking at them. I know he is and should be concentrating on the senior team and upcoming fixtures but I will be interested to see what his view is on bringing U-21 and Academy players through and the mix of younger players with older players at the end of their career he wants to bring into to the team for next season (a lot will depend where we are). Don't get me wrong, I am glad we signed Phillips (especially as keepers carry on for longer) but, when he goes, is Barrington going to be ready or are we going to have to sign another older, ex-professional, presumably expensive keeper.

I have spoken before at length - even more so than here - that, wherever we end up, we are going to have to look at costs very carefully and playing younger players who are cheaper and who, hopefully, can be sold on is a much better idea than band aid fixes with older more expensive journeymen. Having someone like Sekani who is willing to play on non-contract terms at the end of a 10 year career with consistently reliable performances with a club is a very rare thing.

An interesting post.

I believe Che Wilson is Head of Coaching at The University and in essence the man in charge of a lot of the U-21 players that form our Development Squad. He holds the UEFA A licence and played professionally at Norwich, Southend and Bristol Rovers, totalling in excess of 250 Football League games.
He also and has been head coach of Cambridge University for the past four seasons, as well as having coached at Ipswich Town academy under Roy Keane. Alongside this, Wilson has also completed a BSc (Hons) degree in Sport Science at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. He also completed a master's degree at Loughborough University in Sports Biomechanics in August 2014 so he certainly seems the idea man to push our youngsters through.

Looking at the University of Bath squad the likes of Hutchinson, Stinson, Grovesnor, Woolley, Hackett, Perry and Bowman have all been involved to varying degrees around the first team for SPC games and to fill the bench.

However looking at some of the other names many are playing for other clubs in the area. For example Elliot Gibbons is at Mangotsfield, Joe Tumelty is at Hereford FC and Conor Roberts is at Chippenham.

Jake Sloggett is studying at Gloucester University and is playing for Evesham United.

The answer to the question 'why are not more of these younger players coming through?' is usually to do with the lack of competitive football the under 21 players are getting. The links with the university spoken of in the club's three year plan have clearly not worked in this respect and the whole thing needs reviewing. We can't afford to splash out on players like the Ebbsfleets of this world do, so we need a system where we are developing our own players, not simply providing match time for other clubs'.

Very interesting, Hereford, thank you. Where did you get the info from? I couldn't find anything about the U21s on the website.

Yes, Wilson does seem to be well-qualified with the right focus areas. What does seem apparent from that CV is that he is - or, at least, has been - very busy so, perhaps, the U21 coaching has somewhat pushed aside. Equally, however, we have no idea what the last management's attitude was towards the U21s and their progression. Either way, hopefully, we will get some more U21s and maybe even U18s pushing through to the first squad quicker. As I say, we may be in a position where they are our main hope.