Matt Rhead | Vital Football

Matt Rhead

sedgleyimp

Vital Champions League
I have not been at the game tonight and could only follow updates via text reports and this forum, but was at Port Vale last Tuesday and thought then that Rheady looked like he was a little jaded and not the player he was and not someone who should be leading the line of a promotion chasing team. So what do others think. Is he the weak link in our current squad and one whose time with us is ending or still a useful asset.

I personally am leaning towards the former despite his efforts over the last few seasons.
 
I thought he had a good first 20 minutes or so tonight - certainly more use as a target man than Akinde from what I've seen of the latter so far - but then became less effective and it was no surprise he was substituted.
 
From what I've seen so far I'm inclined to agree, although he's been written off before and keeps coming back. Fitness not a problem he put in one hell of sprint (by his standards) at one point last week.

Now the competition for his place is Akinde not Palmer, Akinde will usually be the starter, Rheady literally the impact sub if things need stirring up, can't see him getting many starts other than cup games and tonight proved why.
 
Rhead really shouldn't be starting. We reverted to constant long-ball tactics in the first half today, trying to seek him out. As usual, he won quite a few of them, but he just doesn't offer the same threat as Akinde when the ball is at his feet. If fit, Akinde needs to be starting every game.

This is spot on. Rhead is a useful squad player, however the most obvious limitation in the first half was the type of football we were playing which was a little too predictable.
 
Agree with Merthyr, Akinde doesn’t win flick ons,hold the ball up or I guess anything else other than take penalties.

Absolute nonsense. Rhead may win more headers but Akinde offers far more both in terms of goal threat and more flexible hold up play. He can also turn with the ball, something Rhead is simply not built for.

If Rhead is not consistently getting the better of defenders in the air (as was the case tonight), then frankly he looks a pretty poor player... even more so in this team with more technical players like McCartan, Pett and Frecklington.
 
Our complete inability to pass the ball 5 or 10 yards to our team mates had far more to do with our 1st half performance than any "predictable tactics"
That definitely didn’t help, but we never really opened Bury up in open play until Rhead went off.

Not having a pop at him because he’s been brilliant for us... (and I think he will still have an important role this season)... However, getting a quicker and more technical player like McCartan in the 10 role was the turning point for me. And with his introduction came an inevitable tweak in tactics... more balls to feet in the attacking half rather than swingers up towards Rhead (which in fairness we didn’t do anything like as much as we did at times last season).
 
There is sometimes more to a player than what he does with the ball. Rheady forces other teams to think about him and to organise around him. He forces defenders to battle with him and after 60 minutes battling Rheady, how would you feel when faced with a fresh legged Akinde coming on; or a McCartan; or a Harry Anderson? My 13 year old played tonight at centre-half and stepped wide to bump a runner, who had to run wider. A fellow parent said "why didn't he go for the ball?". My response was that, "because the other defender will get there first now". Rheady is part of a team plan and it I think it would be unfair to judge our 15 minute turn-around outside of the context of the first 75 minutes and how he and Greeny worked the Bury defence before the change. In my opinion the man is still more than just an impact substitute for a little while longer yet.
 
I love Rheady an think he is a great ball player (as shown in the first half) but if when Rheady is on it means "Hoof it to the big man" then it is not going to keep us top of the league.

Rheady has vision, great feet skill and I love moments he utilises these but obviously our tactics when he is on seem to be "big man, hoof" so it is better that Akinde is on who is more of a Mark hughes type. heads, chest, plays the ball backward or holds it up, rather than "flick ons."
 
Imo. Rhead still has something to offer. However, I’d start Green and Akinde. If we play Rhead, I think we need a system that suits him. Yesterday’s system didn’t. That’s because what Rhead provides is forcing the defensive line back and then a focal point. A very fast transition from our third to their’s. Unfortunately the way we set up yesterday doesn’t suit that. A 3 man midfield, particularly with that personnel needs a more dynamic fluid build up so they can move up the pitch and gradually commit to attacking positions. With Rhead, we need at least two already committed to attack. This usually means actual wingers, for that to work imo we’d need to return to the somewhat bemoaned double defensive midfield system.
 
If you cast your mind back to parts of last season and the season before, Rhead played up front on his own, leading the line, and was isolated and it didn't get the best out of him. That's why he reverted to effectively a number 10 after the Dover away game.

He'll still have a part to play this season, no doubt about that.
 
Rheady looked lack lustre last night, and Akinde looked sharper when he came on, but it's only one game. For 70 minutes, no-one bar Pett shone.
 
There is sometimes more to a player than what he does with the ball. Rheady forces other teams to think about him and to organise around him. He forces defenders to battle with him and after 60 minutes battling Rheady, how would you feel when faced with a fresh legged Akinde coming on; or a McCartan; or a Harry Anderson?

Well none of that happened last night. Bury dealt with him well. They didn't deal with the faster, more mobile subs.
 
Well none of that happened last night. Bury dealt with him well. They didn't deal with the faster, more mobile subs.

Given Akinde didn't get a sniff the whole time he was on the pitch (outside of the penno) I'd have said they dealt with him fine as well...