All hail The Beast. Last week I heard him telling a friend/scout I was standing next to at the warm-up. 'They are playing to get the best out of me...so it's great.' I have to agree, but I cannot help feeling like everyone else, wide players delivering on a wider pitch would get even more out of him, but I'm not a football manager,
Pal of mine told me during the close season last year that Bayo was a spent force. He was used solely as an impact sub for the last 15-20 minutes of matches.
Great for us (and greatly to GA's credit) that we have found a way to get the best out of him.
As long as we don't get the beast out of him.
Indeed @micra for us he basically has to stay onside and wait for the ball and then do his magic. It's not like he's going to pull a hamstring tracking back. I reckon while he's getting chances and scoring goals his confidence (never a problem) is going to stay sky high.
Bit miffed about the paltry fans - made more noise from the start and the only time they could sing was when it was quite briefly 2 -2.
Quality not quantity!
I have yet to read any set of comments about a match where the winning team is not described as "poor". That goes here whether home or away. It is good that not all take that line but it seems inescapable.
I hope Akinfenwa never gets injured or starts feeling the effects of age because we'd be clueless without him.
He's an especially good player to have if the opposition are down a player because he either draws in multiple defenders creating space for the rest of the team, or they can't adequately defend against him.
@Chris and therein lies the conundrum. As @Wendoverman says we are playing to "get the best out of him." Consequently we are a little one dimensional but when it works as it did yesterday it can be quite enjoyable.
Take Bayo out of the equation however and with CMS leading the line supported by Paris and Tyson and with Saunders pulling the strings, you never know* we could become a slick, ball to feet, attacking force.
@bookertease - The problem with taking Bayo out of the equation is that Messrs Cowan-Hall, Tyson, Kashket and probably CMS are so injury prone that they can't put together more than a couple of games at a time. To get three of them on the pitch at a time would be a minor miracle!
@mooneyman yes, but we've also got Hayes and Southwell (and Freeman)...
I'm allowed to dream though.
Seriously though, at the moment with Bayo as he is on the pitch and the type of person he appears to be off the pitch, the appreciation (mostly) from fans away from home is such that he negates a lot of our bad press for our dark arts.
What I find fascinating about Bayo is that every manager knows what we are going to do with him and still can't stop him. The most effective defensive job I've seen on him was by us when we played one of the centre halves tight behind him and Peter Murphy in front.
Yup - Lincoln played him very well indeed. Quality defending by both centre backs. Double-teamed him at times, but, even when one on one, were able to get into position A for incoming balls extremely well. Somehow, and it would be interesting to look at it more closely, were able to get around him when they needed to in a way that normally seems impossible.
Also @Chris, Bayo was plainly not match fit and they had the luxury in the second half of being able to release Raggett's fellow marker. Bayo was knackered at least half an hour before the final whistle and most of us couldn't comprehend why he wasn't subbed. We were denied the chance to see 20 minutes of Gormanesque football.
So here is a question then, if we are playing to Bayo's strengths, and I assume the narrowing of our pitch is part of that strategy, then why are we so poor at home?
Fair point looking at the stats. It probably just seems like we perform better away. Definitely the case this season but as Chris says, only two home games as yet.
I could certainly forgive you for not feeling like we were a great home side last year - watching has felt like thin gruel at times, hasn't it. Even the season before, we had the 12th best points tally while finishing 13th so, on balance, it seems the smaller pitch cannot, at the least, be said to be a clear disadvantage.
Mind you, the season before that, when we were fourth, we had the eleventh-best home record in the league and comfortably the best away record. Maybe the pitch narrowing has been a positive asset!
@Onlooker I am not moaning about Bayo dear boy...he is excellent in both boxes. My point is he's not going to get injured making a box to box mazy, run beating 12 players and slotting it under the keeper and into the bottom corner.
Yep, you're less likely to get injured when you're 16 stone, and don't ever have the ball beyond stroll pace.
No-one is going to be stupid enough to try and do a reckless tackle on him, as they'd probably come out smashed.
Comments
Not being there and having to content myself with a part time commentary app, they appear to be a balanced set of views?
All hail The Beast. Last week I heard him telling a friend/scout I was standing next to at the warm-up. 'They are playing to get the best out of me...so it's great.' I have to agree, but I cannot help feeling like everyone else, wide players delivering on a wider pitch would get even more out of him, but I'm not a football manager,
Pal of mine told me during the close season last year that Bayo was a spent force. He was used solely as an impact sub for the last 15-20 minutes of matches.
Great for us (and greatly to GA's credit) that we have found a way to get the best out of him.
As long as we don't get the beast out of him.
Indeed @micra for us he basically has to stay onside and wait for the ball and then do his magic. It's not like he's going to pull a hamstring tracking back. I reckon while he's getting chances and scoring goals his confidence (never a problem) is going to stay sky high.
Bit miffed about the paltry fans - made more noise from the start and the only time they could sing was when it was quite briefly 2 -2.
Quality not quantity!
I have yet to read any set of comments about a match where the winning team is not described as "poor". That goes here whether home or away. It is good that not all take that line but it seems inescapable.
I hope Akinfenwa never gets injured or starts feeling the effects of age because we'd be clueless without him.
He's an especially good player to have if the opposition are down a player because he either draws in multiple defenders creating space for the rest of the team, or they can't adequately defend against him.
@Chris and therein lies the conundrum. As @Wendoverman says we are playing to "get the best out of him." Consequently we are a little one dimensional but when it works as it did yesterday it can be quite enjoyable.
Take Bayo out of the equation however and with CMS leading the line supported by Paris and Tyson and with Saunders pulling the strings, you never know* we could become a slick, ball to feet, attacking force.
*Okay. We do. We won't.
@bookertease - The problem with taking Bayo out of the equation is that Messrs Cowan-Hall, Tyson, Kashket and probably CMS are so injury prone that they can't put together more than a couple of games at a time. To get three of them on the pitch at a time would be a minor miracle!
@mooneyman yes, but we've also got Hayes and Southwell (and Freeman)...
I'm allowed to dream though.
Seriously though, at the moment with Bayo as he is on the pitch and the type of person he appears to be off the pitch, the appreciation (mostly) from fans away from home is such that he negates a lot of our bad press for our dark arts.
What I find fascinating about Bayo is that every manager knows what we are going to do with him and still can't stop him. The most effective defensive job I've seen on him was by us when we played one of the centre halves tight behind him and Peter Murphy in front.
I wasn't there but by all reports Lincoln coped very well with him. Could be down to Raggett being an exceptional young defender.
Yup - Lincoln played him very well indeed. Quality defending by both centre backs. Double-teamed him at times, but, even when one on one, were able to get into position A for incoming balls extremely well. Somehow, and it would be interesting to look at it more closely, were able to get around him when they needed to in a way that normally seems impossible.
Also @Chris, Bayo was plainly not match fit and they had the luxury in the second half of being able to release Raggett's fellow marker. Bayo was knackered at least half an hour before the final whistle and most of us couldn't comprehend why he wasn't subbed. We were denied the chance to see 20 minutes of Gormanesque football.
@Wendoverman Bayo was regularly back winning defensive headers yesterday
So here is a question then, if we are playing to Bayo's strengths, and I assume the narrowing of our pitch is part of that strategy, then why are we so poor at home?
It's only two league games so far, it could very well be chance.
@Blue_since_1990: we're not.
Last season we were 11-6-6 at home, the joint 6th best points tally in the league.
Fair point looking at the stats. It probably just seems like we perform better away. Definitely the case this season but as Chris says, only two home games as yet.
I could certainly forgive you for not feeling like we were a great home side last year - watching has felt like thin gruel at times, hasn't it. Even the season before, we had the 12th best points tally while finishing 13th so, on balance, it seems the smaller pitch cannot, at the least, be said to be a clear disadvantage.
Mind you, the season before that, when we were fourth, we had the eleventh-best home record in the league and comfortably the best away record. Maybe the pitch narrowing has been a positive asset!
@Onlooker I am not moaning about Bayo dear boy...he is excellent in both boxes. My point is he's not going to get injured making a box to box mazy, run beating 12 players and slotting it under the keeper and into the bottom corner.
Yep, you're less likely to get injured when you're 16 stone, and don't ever have the ball beyond stroll pace.
No-one is going to be stupid enough to try and do a reckless tackle on him, as they'd probably come out smashed.