Frecklington and Habergham

J

JT_LCFC

Vital Football Hero
Both players it’s probably fair to say ha vent been the most consistent but for me are crucial they are both fit for the playoffs.

Freck has the big game experience and still a calm influence on the pitch with the ability to arrive late.

Habergham offers the balance and also allows Wharton to play back at centre half to give us that left/right foot balance in the centre of defence. Plus with the doubt with Eardley the last thing we want is to go into the weekend without our first choice full backs.
 
A key thing about the players we get in nowadays is their mentality. As we saw last time out, players might have a tough season but still have the character to come up clutch. I can see Freck and Sam having a big contribution when it matters most.
 
Thought we missed both on Saturday with Wharton poor at left back and Whitehouse not much better in midfield. Really hoping their absence had a precautionary element so they can be fit for the play-off games.
 
79imp said:
Thought we missed both on Saturday with Wharton poor at left back and Whitehouse not much better in midfield. Really hoping their absence had a precautionary element so they can be fit for the play-off games.
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Agree 100% with that. Whitehouse has the touch of an industrial steam-hammer and Wharton is not a LB.
 
Agree r.e. Wharton.

Looked like a CB playing at full back at the weekend, probably not aided by Wilson having a shaky game.
 
Someone told me on Saturday that Sam is out for the season - anyone know for sure? We haven't really had any indication of his condition.
 
Sam has struggled since February and apart from at the Trophy Final has been way off his best. Better to have him fit for next season than bring him back too early just because the games are important.
 
this small squad approach means players are forced to play when not 100%. overplaying that eventually leads to loss of form or injury. which is a big downside. going by performances it appears to have hit habergham, frecklington and eardley. i would say anderson is also suffering from a level of burn out, along with woodyard and bostwick to a lesser degree. i don't think the small squad approach is sustainable if we want to progress on the field.
 
berksimps said:
Sam has struggled since February and apart from at the Trophy Final has been way off his best. Better to have him fit for next season than bring him back too early just because the games are important.
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Would still take a 70% Habergham over Wharton. Adds solidity, balance and calmness to our back four and is better than Wharton going forward. His big game record for us is also fantastic... don't think he's missed a minute in the many crucial matches we've played over the last 2 years.

Agree that Wilson's very shaky display didn't help on Saturday. For me, he's a bit like Waterfall in that he's fine at right centre-back but looks much more suspect on the left-side.

With all the fitness worries, there's quite a few permutations for the back 4 on Saturday. In an ideal world, I'd go with Eardley, Waterfall, Wharton and Habergham as the back 4. But if Sam can't make it, I'd have Long in at RB and Eardley over at LB (where he played so well at the beginning of the season). If Eardley can't make it, then Bostwick/Waterfall would be my CB pairing.
 
nlondonimp said:
this small squad approach means players are forced to play when not 100%. overplaying that eventually leads to loss of form or injury. which is a big downside. going by performances it appears to have hit habergham, frecklington and eardley. i would say anderson is also suffering from a level of burn out, along with woodyard and bostwick to a lesser degree. i don't think the small squad approach is sustainable if we want to progress on the field.
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Anderson's a strange one. He was on fire for a few games around November, December and January (which was probably our best spell as a team as well). I wonder if the red card at Luton interrupted his flow a bit because he didn't come straight back in after that (was benched at Barnet... wrongly in my opinion), and hasn't really been the same since.

Thought he probably had his best half in a good long while on Saturday though, and perhaps could/should come in for Palmer from the start at the weekend.
 
79imp said:
Anderson's a strange one. He was on fire for a few games around November, December and January (which was probably our best spell as a team as well). I wonder if the red card at Luton interrupted his flow a bit because he didn't come straight back in after that (was benched at Barnet... wrongly in my opinion), and hasn't really been the same since.

Thought he probably had his best half in a good long while on Saturday though, and perhaps could/should come in for Palmer from the start at the weekend.
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agree about the red card being the point from which his dip started. imo it made him think too much about tackling and getting involved... he seems a bit more hesitant now, whereas he used to be all-action.

looking at his record, this season is the most games he has played in one season, all high pressure games, more tactical thinking required, and his minutes have doubled from last season. [and last season his minutes tripled from the previous season.] i think that is also a factor for a 21 year old.

eta
he has also had to change from winger in a 442 to fitting in with the 433. confident he will progress though...
 
79imp said:
Would still take a 70% Habergham over Wharton. Adds solidity, balance and calmness to our back four and is better than Wharton going forward. His big game record for us is also fantastic... don't think he's missed a minute in the many crucial matches we've played over the last 2 years.

Agree that Wilson's very shaky display didn't help on Saturday. For me, he's a bit like Waterfall in that he's fine at right centre-back but looks much more suspect on the left-side.

With all the fitness worries, there's quite a few permutations for the back 4 on Saturday. In an ideal world, I'd go with Eardley, Waterfall, Wharton and Habergham as the back 4. But if Sam can't make it, I'd have Long in at RB and Eardley over at LB (where he played so well at the beginning of the season). If Eardley can't make it, then Bostwick/Waterfall would be my CB pairing.
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long is also carrying an injury... which is most likely why eardley played with a hamstring injury on saturday, very risky.
 
Unfortunately, Long has hardly played for months. He had an awful game when he last played (against Crewe). He has only started two games since November, and we conceded 4 in each of them (Luton 2-4, Crewe 1-4). In the last 6 games he has started, we have conceded 13 goals.

In the 19 games he has started, we have kept just 2 clean sheets (10.5%).

In the 37 games he has not started, we have kept 15 clean sheets (40.5%).

Not just down to him of course, and it is difficult to play well when you haven't been in the side regularly, but there may be a little problem there.
 
As an alternative you could play 3 at the back - Waterfall; Wilson and Wharton - with Anderson and Williams as wing-backs and three more centrally in midfield from Bossie/Freck/Whitehouse/Woodyard
 
collingham imps said:
As an alternative you could play 3 at the back - Waterfall; Wilson and Wharton - with Anderson and Williams as wing-backs and three more centrally in midfield from Bossie/Freck/Whitehouse/Woodyard
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Would you dare try that in a play-off semi-final, though?
 
Danny they practised playing with three centre backs on training last week, although they obviously weren't convinced enough to go for it.
 
I don’t think Wharton is that bad at full back. He looked okay at Coventry and Accy, but, admittedly had a bit of a stinker against Yeovil. He kept to trying to dribble the ball out through the middle of the park and failed every time. Defensively he’s good and he’s decent at playing balls he just doesn’t have the positional knowledge for playing at left back. Would rather sam back there.
 
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