MotM: 23-08-25. AFC Fylde (A) Thompson

[tonythescout]

I honestly didnt expect anything yesterday. Didnt go, didnt listen in as was at a tribute festival so my info has come from the very brief and edited highlights and people who went.

Team very weird. Though the first 20 looked like a right mockery of how weird it looked. Highlights show we should have been 2-0 up. Seb should be scoring the last chance he had during that spell, as should Devine. It seems like a bit of de-ja-vu in that were hammering teams then getting caught and not getting anything out of it. Both goals are awful. Obi half a sleep for the first. Second goal Adigun with a cross that wouldnt have looked out of place when I was at Mostyn under 12s and then the lack of urgency or even the shithousery of not making a foul and taking the yellow. Talking of edited highlights - apparently there was a Penny error which resulted in Dibble coming out and being very lucky not to be sent off - can anyone clarify that here? If it happened why isnt it included? Same as Williams cursing AMS for missing a sitter at Worksop which wasnt included?

Murray clearly frustrated. He called out AMS finishing last week, I think hes alluding to Penny here. Hauled off at half time. Wasnt good Tuesday. Both players past their sell by dates here. Need to be moved on ASAP as moving them on frees up a bloody good wage for a marquee type I imagine. They arent his players yes, but which Murray signing has had us thinking 'yeah hes the part'? Aside from glimpses of Mooney pre season - none for me.

I am happy to judge Murray come October - this is a transition period which takes time. Swansea - alluding to your comment 'But - playing devil's advocate - after being 90 minutes from the title and promotion, why is it ok for this season to be one of transition? Weaker division on paper, still a full time side with some of the best facilities, decent budget, a manager who has won this division, etc...' If i can Answer, we have lost 7 of the team that started at Southport which was basically 'the side' from last season. Players go for better money usually higher up. We've two loan players who are at clubs higher up the pyramid. So alot of players have come in to replace. That aside, I expect top 7 this season as I hear we have a 'playoff budget' which I assume is us being top 7 budget payers. The squad built kind of reflects that given the amount, and 'depth'. Murray also knows the league. I also think South Shields with their front two will be a massive issue for anyone with title aspirations with their front two immediately up and running.

However, despite all that, failure to win on Monday will make it no wins in 4 and 1 win in 5. If that was Brown last season people would, or were, be going mental and wanting him gone. So as its results based, some wolves will be at Murrays door.

As I said happy to properly judge come October however there are some cracks appearing;

- Davis was captain yesterday, when Tunni come on he took it. What is that about? Just name a captain and he must start every game. Tunni or Davis for me, Stop handing it around like its pass the parcel. Being captain of the team here is a great honour, so it shouldn't be passed about like something of lesser quality IMO. We've had more captains than goals this season.

- We clearly were banking on the Mooney Willoughby link up which has gone out the window and we have no plan b. KW isnt suited to a loan role up front. We either need to drop him for a player who fits it, or change the system. System change is better as TSS is injured and AMS is done. KW will get goals if we get the best out of him IMO. This system doesnt.

- Murray is contradicting himself. One minute its 'horses for courses' with squad rotation next its 'people havent earned the shirts', so which is it? He also says about protecting players who have had injury issues. Why sign them then? Also why play Penny twice in a week, especially after struggling on Tuesday night?

Murray needs to play a settled side for the next month. All this chopping and changing wont get us gelling, will continue to be disjointed with the changes disruptive. He will have an idea of player roles i.e. two centre mids one sits one is box to box so will know which player fit that. Its clear as day its either Clarke or Davis for one role, Spokes and Reynolds for the other. Yet he ends up playing Davis and Clarke together. Weird. Murray is over thinking things, which is the same trap Penn fell into after West Ham. Strip it back keep it simple.

Makes you wonder with the transfer policy. Shields, KL, now Fylde with Mayor have good marquee players who can win them a game. We haven't that since Hemmo left. Will all this 'depth' pay off or would it have been better to sacrifice two/three squad players for us to get a bloody good marquee player in and get some youth loans in as back up? Given Murray thanked RL for the Innocent signing, perhaps he's freed up some money for that?

Team for me for the next few weeks;
Dibble
Kandola Tunniclife Bird
Foulkes Davis Adigun Reynolds Devine
Kurt & Seb
Ideally we get another cf in on loan or what ever. No interest in AMS or No Sho Silva. Stupid keeping one on and bringing in the other on the back of injury issues.

[Phil]

Already growing frustrated with a few, though no flying off the handle by any means. Not sure whether to take that as a positive or a negative.

Which players do we think he’s talking about?

AMS, Alex and Adigun.

If your name starts with an 'A' you're on the list.

[Phil]

Talking of edited highlights - apparently there was a Penny error which resulted in Dibble coming out and being very lucky not to be sent off - can anyone clarify that here? If it happened why isn't it included?

I didn't understand why Dibs came out. It would have been covered anyway but it was 50/50 when he collected the ball. Their bloke came rushing in so had to be expecting a collision.

- Davis was captain yesterday, when Tunni come on he took it. What is that about? Just name a captain and he must start every game. Tunni or Davis for me, Stop handing it around like its pass the parcel. Being captain of the team here is a great honour, so it shouldn't be passed about like something of lesser quality IMO. We've had more captains than goals this season.

I thought Tunni took the armband when Davis was subbed later on into the second half.

[tonythescout]

Tunni appeared to have the arm band on when Seb equalised

[Phil]

Load of stuff from Fylde posted on the first page. You'll have to click on it to see but it is castable which makes a change from Vevo and the like.

Also I saw something that got me wondering yesterday. They had a total of 23 flags dotted around their two terrace stands. 20 of those were permanently in the stand along the side.

That's pretty good bearing in mind their poor support.

How many do we see at Aggborough left there permanently? Is it something we could do?

I don't mind starting a funding effort for a Harriers Online one as long as others do and that it's left there all season and hopefully not torn down which is what I believe happened a few (10?) years back.

Anyone up for it?

[HumpySalters]

15 minutes of great football in which we should have scored at least 2. Undoubtedly, there is a problem up front. It doesn’t require Inspector Clousesu to work that out!
2 sloppy goals conceded. 2nd was a joke.
Midfield is a problem. I would like to see Riley starting tomorrow.
Mostly away from this platform, the utter nonsense being spoken about AM is ridiculous. I understand the frustration, but get out of your armchair and come and support the team

[harriershane]

Just watched it back, so thoughts on that plus the injury time listening on the radio yesterday.

It seems to be our thing that we go hard early. Gameplan to be get a goal or 2 in the first quarter then you can control the game from there against a side always chasing. No problem with that at all. Where the issue comes in is, once we don't get the early goal, we fall off. Is that a mentality thing, a fitness thing? If truth be known, I'm not sure which one I want it to be. Yes you have to always give your opponent credit for suffering then growing into the game, but this isn't a turn based card game. Impose yourself, wrestle control back. To quote Roy Keane, "smash into somebody, just to make myself feel better"

Chances - have to take them. Seb takes one of his, Devine (I think) puts it half inch lower, you're 2 to the good and in as good as dreamland.

Tony's summed the first goal up perfectly. Weak as urine, criminal.

My thoughts on the system. Over the last season and a bit I've seen a real emergence of this 5-2-2-1 wing back system and, I don't mind it, WHEN done correctly. If you're going to play with two tens, the opposite ten to where the play is needs to tuck in to create a front 2 with your 9. Do we do that enough? Added to the fact that neither 10 nor your 9 have the real physical attributes to be a handful, you then need to utilise pace to get in behind. Can one of the 10s break the line, make that run, draw someone with him that may well create that yard for your 9, in our case, Kurt?

Defensively, we have height but no pace or mobility. We commit both wing backs forward, exposing that, especially when one or both of the wide centre backs step in. Up front, we have pace and mobility, but no physicality.

With the pre-season talk of horses for courses, I was hopeful that Plan B wouldn't be "do Plan A better". Sure looks that way as it stands. Has the absence of TSS exacerbated this? His fitness woes appeared to be relatively well known, however, and we are all well versed in the tale of AMS.

Now to the radio. I'm with a lot of the other posts here and elsewhere on Williams. Not a fan. He sounds like a Premier League fan watching a non-league game expecting top flight quality, so colour me shocked when I read on here I think it was that he supports those other lot.

After Oxford, I messaged my brother who went for his take on the game. I mentioned that Williams went mental at Ryley skying one late in the box. His response "the box was rammed, come on".

Yesterday. I turned on near the end of the medical stoppage, when they were going round the grounds. He spends a good few minutes moaning that nobody knows how long is left and that the "PA announcer is conspicuous by his silence" not telling anyone anything. Now I thought that it was pretty common knowledge that when something like that which sees play suspended at whatever minute it is, then the time of stoppage becomes injury time, announced at the usual time on 90. Unless, of course, the ref was supposed to brief the PA guy about it, but I doubt that.

He just strikes me as a whinger, almost childish at times. Every foul is seemingly a lack of discipline, although I'd be willing to bet that if someone were to take his advice and not put a tackle in, they would then be poor, have no stomach etc.

Don't get me wrong, I am VERY well aware that commentary is an extremely tough gig and that we were blessed to have the late Steve Miller calling our games, God rest him, and that he is a tough act to follow. As someone on Twitter posted

Just commentate. I don't want you to be all positive or all negative. Just commentate.

AOB - I have a foot in both camps regarding transition v title debate. I posted in preseason that getting a bunch of lads that he's had before and a bunch of NLS lads will either be a stroke of genius or utter stupidity. Jury remains out on that. If this is a conversation we are still having by mid/late September, then it's time to get worried

[tonythescout]

I stand corrected re tunni capt for the goal, got mixed up with his sleeve label, Davis still had the armband but still why haven’t we named a proper captain who starts week in and out
Williams has always been half empty on comms even back to the EFL days but he’s definitely got worse. Needs to stop his fustrstion creeping into his job. He does however do a good interview asks the proper questions.

[Pershore Harrier]

I was there and for the first 20 minutes we had total domination of the game and should have been 2 nil up at which point I doubt Fylde would have recovered. However, Fylde rode their luck changed their approach and took control. Our goal had a look of fortune about it but it got us back into the game early second half. Our success was but short in time and Fylde heads had not dropped - instead they broke away from our corner kick and with a little bit of accurate passing beat our scattered defence to secure the winner.

Our apparent random player selection whether starting or coming on as a substitute highlights for me at least that we have basically 2 squads of players of equal ability so it makes little to no difference who starts or who comes on. The loss of Richards, Morrison, McNally, Kohyar, Hemmings, Brown and Worrall - 7 of last seasons best players have not been replaced with any players of that quality and it shows.

Just as a matter of interest our goal scorers so far this season are Devine, Davis, Penny and Thompson - all players from last seasons squad.

[Hardham]

Turning to the most important of yesterday's events, does anyone know how the two subjects of the medical emergencies are faring? The first one seemed to have been resolved but the second was clearly very serious.
I thought that the situations were dealt with admirably by all concerned, including Christian Dibble sprinting across the pitch with some of the medical equipment. The bottled water was appreciated and the announcements were clear (from an announcer who'd previously got squad numbers and substitutions wrong and kept insisting that Innocent was captain).

[Phil]

The Harriers fan was a young lad. He was on the coach and I was told he is diabetic so it could have been a simple sugar rush. The only two young un's on the coach were both fine coming home.

The other, more serious, was a female steward who was treated with a defib that Dibs took over and then taken to hospital. Probably Preston being the nearest.

I've seen nothing since to update her condition.

[Stopcarryon]

I cannot listen to commentary anymore,it's beyond negative, everything winds him up and I'm sure Matty paddock must think this is going to be awkward editing for the highlights. It's almost like he's happy we lose as it proves his point more.

Tough job to do after Steve miller I know,but really hope we get someone else on there

[harry211]

Not much to say on the goals beyond what others have said. Poor, poor goals to concede. Very lucky goal for Thompson. Deserved to get at least one given the chances we created in the opening stages.

I think I know the fan who was taken ill. If so, he's okay now. Doesn't sound like the stewards were any good, however.

On the commentator stuff: I've seen some criticism of Williams on Twitter. I think it ranges from the oversensitive, to the arrogant or deluded.

I'm not averse to criticising people in the media (and I've never met or spoken to Chris Williams) but I suspect it's a case of people using him as a bit of a proxy for their own dissatisfaction with performances.

People came away yesterday saying after the 20 minutes where we could have been a few goals up, we played pretty poorly. Lots of comments about no proper shots in the second half. Williams is then criticised for sounding negative? Is anyone surprised...when it sounds like we didn't especially play well?

With Miller you essentially had an amateur commentator, with plenty of character, who became a Harriers fan. People got used to that. I think Williams being seen as half empty is perhaps fair, but also he's a realist. Decades ago people criticised him for saying 'Harriers fans this is what relegation looks like', when we blew a 2-0 lead against Shrewsbury in the league. We got relegated. He was right. His job is to commentate - not to please Harriers fans. If it's bad, he says it's usually not great. It's not like he was whinging when we were beating Hereford 4-1 last season!

Also seen the accusations he's a Hereford fan. Not saying it's untrue, but any proof? I remember some criticising Miller for being a Rushden fan (by a certain Lord K, remember him!), by virtue of him having commentated on Rushden. Clearly rubbish, wasn't it?

As for the arrogant and deluded - have any of you realised what has happened to the Shuttle and the Harriers coverage? What Harriers coverage, you might say. Pretty typical of local media more widely.

Do you imagine H&W have a slew of commentators banging down their door, to do the job for little money, on a Saturday, including all the travel involved. Williams, I understand, drives from his home on the south west coast to do games. So in essence, doing Fylde away, he's driven almost the length of the country. Can't see many doing that.

I've seen some saying he isn't good at telling listeners where the ball is. After listening to/watching the highlights, it seems he's pretty good at giving awareness of key areas during key moments. He called the opening goal for Fylde fairly, saying much the same as others have on the board. The Thompson goal was a bit of a fluke, he called that. Fylde's second goal was ridiculous. What exactly are people wanting him to say?!

Otherwise - we are lucky to have a commentator covering all 46 games in the Conference North, Saturday and Tuesday, bank holiday and weekend, for little pay, and a lot of personal expense. Williams is no spring chicken either. We should be thankful we've got someone, because in the era of continuous BBC cuts, I suspect it won't be around forever.

[Paulwj]

Not much to say on the goals beyond what others have said. Poor, poor goals to concede. Very lucky goal for Thompson. Deserved to get at least one given the chances we created in the opening stages.

I think I know the fan who was taken ill. If so, he's okay now. Doesn't sound like the stewards were any good, however.

On the commentator stuff: I've seen some criticism of Williams on Twitter. I think it ranges from the oversensitive, to the arrogant or deluded.

I'm not averse to criticising people in the media (and I've never met or spoken to Chris Williams) but I suspect it's a case of people using him as a bit of a proxy for their own dissatisfaction with performances.

People came away yesterday saying after the 20 minutes where we could have been a few goals up, we played pretty poorly. Lots of comments about no proper shots in the second half. Williams is then criticised for sounding negative? Is anyone surprised...when it sounds like we didn't especially play well?

With Miller you essentially had an amateur commentator, with plenty of character, who became a Harriers fan. People got used to that. I think Williams being seen as half empty is perhaps fair, but also he's a realist. Decades ago people criticised him for saying 'Harriers fans this is what relegation looks like', when we blew a 2-0 lead against Shrewsbury in the league. We got relegated. He was right. His job is to commentate - not to please Harriers fans. If it's bad, he says it's usually not great. It's not like he was whinging when we were beating Hereford 4-1 last season!

Also seen the accusations he's a Hereford fan. Not saying it's untrue, but any proof? I remember some criticising Miller for being a Rushden fan (by a certain Lord K, remember him!), by virtue of him having commentated on Rushden. Clearly rubbish, wasn't it?

As for the arrogant and deluded - have any of you realised what has happened to the Shuttle and the Harriers coverage? What Harriers coverage, you might say. Pretty typical of local media more widely.

Do you imagine H&W have a slew of commentators banging down their door, to do the job for little money, on a Saturday, including all the travel involved. Williams, I understand, drives from his home on the south west coast to do games. So in essence, doing Fylde away, he's driven almost the length of the country. Can't see many doing that.

I've seen some saying he isn't good at telling listeners where the ball is. After listening to/watching the highlights, it seems he's pretty good at giving awareness of key areas during key moments. He called the opening goal for Fylde fairly, saying much the same as others have on the board. The Thompson goal was a bit of a fluke, he called that. Fylde's second goal was ridiculous. What exactly are people wanting him to say?!

Otherwise - we are lucky to have a commentator covering all 46 games in the Conference North, Saturday and Tuesday, bank holiday and weekend, for little pay, and a lot of personal expense. Williams is no spring chicken either. We should be thankful we've got someone, because in the era of continuous BBC cuts, I suspect it won't be around forever.

Very nicely put .

[Medieval]

Not much to say on the goals beyond what others have said. Poor, poor goals to concede. Very lucky goal for Thompson. Deserved to get at least one given the chances we created in the opening stages.

I think I know the fan who was taken ill. If so, he's okay now. Doesn't sound like the stewards were any good, however.

On the commentator stuff: I've seen some criticism of Williams on Twitter. I think it ranges from the oversensitive, to the arrogant or deluded.

I'm not averse to criticising people in the media (and I've never met or spoken to Chris Williams) but I suspect it's a case of people using him as a bit of a proxy for their own dissatisfaction with performances.

People came away yesterday saying after the 20 minutes where we could have been a few goals up, we played pretty poorly. Lots of comments about no proper shots in the second half. Williams is then criticised for sounding negative? Is anyone surprised...when it sounds like we didn't especially play well?

With Miller you essentially had an amateur commentator, with plenty of character, who became a Harriers fan. People got used to that. I think Williams being seen as half empty is perhaps fair, but also he's a realist. Decades ago people criticised him for saying 'Harriers fans this is what relegation looks like', when we blew a 2-0 lead against Shrewsbury in the league. We got relegated. He was right. His job is to commentate - not to please Harriers fans. If it's bad, he says it's usually not great. It's not like he was whinging when we were beating Hereford 4-1 last season!

Also seen the accusations he's a Hereford fan. Not saying it's untrue, but any proof? I remember some criticising Miller for being a Rushden fan (by a certain Lord K, remember him!), by virtue of him having commentated on Rushden. Clearly rubbish, wasn't it?

As for the arrogant and deluded - have any of you realised what has happened to the Shuttle and the Harriers coverage? What Harriers coverage, you might say. Pretty typical of local media more widely.

Do you imagine H&W have a slew of commentators banging down their door, to do the job for little money, on a Saturday, including all the travel involved. Williams, I understand, drives from his home on the south west coast to do games. So in essence, doing Fylde away, he's driven almost the length of the country. Can't see many doing that.

I've seen some saying he isn't good at telling listeners where the ball is. After listening to/watching the highlights, it seems he's pretty good at giving awareness of key areas during key moments. He called the opening goal for Fylde fairly, saying much the same as others have on the board. The Thompson goal was a bit of a fluke, he called that. Fylde's second goal was ridiculous. What exactly are people wanting him to say?!

Otherwise - we are lucky to have a commentator covering all 46 games in the Conference North, Saturday and Tuesday, bank holiday and weekend, for little pay, and a lot of personal expense. Williams is no spring chicken either. We should be thankful we've got someone, because in the era of continuous BBC cuts, I suspect it won't be around forever.

Very nicely put .

Agreed.

On the squad, i believe AM has stated he wants 2 players per position, but also that he wants players to be good in more than one position. Would have thought finances would dictate we have one set up or the other. Early days yet but i hope our quality hasn`t been watered down to achieve both.