The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

Bevan

Butt Dolman Ashton Brown

Gyasi Confue McInally Lamb-Johnson

Joseph Turner

Not sure how you can include McInally unless you have seen him play elsewhere.
I would certainly keep Dunks to play alongside either Turner or Joseph.
Otherwise I would agree.

Bevan over Finlay based on one game? Butt over Merrill based on 10 minutes and a bang average performance against Brackley in the Hillier Senior Cup?

McNally?!?!

No wholesale changes are required, but i'm not sure I could name our best XI. Haven't got a clue who i'd pick out wide, in central midfield or up front.

I do think the management have had a mare with the strikers though. We have a tried and trusted partnership in Koriya and Dunks that has been broken up to accomodate other players. We then had a player in Turner that was in ridiculously good form, missed a game because of a holiday, and then subsequently had to make do grabbing 10 minutes here and there. Turner should have gone straight back in after his one game absence. I like Lorraine's effort and workrate but he's not a natural goalscorer like the other 3/4 options are.

Who'd be a manager?

I don't think a massive shake up of the team is needed, we badly miss merril and brown so when they return that will help. I agree with the management team having a mare with a few things playing 4 centre halfs really does limit us going forward and the decision to keep leaving turner or Joseph out of the team for Lorraine has been laughable really.

You do all know we are top of the league?

SouthRushdenJFC wrote:You do all know we are top of the league?

You beat me to it Dave !!

We've just lost a cup tie having had 3 players missing through suspension and 2 cup tied. I won't pick a team to take us forward as it's going to be a squad that wins this league.

Merrill is a big miss, as is Sam, these two offer more than having two natural centre halts playing in te wide defensive positions. Get them back regularly an we'll be fine.

There's no need to get all worried and panicky about things (yet!) but we need to start scoring again - we were unlucky on Saturday, we missed a few chances and they took the one that fell to them in the second half, that's football !!

There are lot of twists and turns to come - time to hold our nerve I reckon !!

I'll add, if we lose on Saturday I may review the bit about panicking ;)

A few goals against Whitworths and Buckby and all will be well in the Diamonds camp again.
By New Year we will be 10 points ahead of the rest!

That has to be the best & quickest turn round on this forum ever, in the space of 3/4 posts we've travelled from suicide watch to the gardens at Chelsea on a hot July afternoon. If we have a run of bad weather over the next couple of months we may in Feb look back on Sat as not the end of the world it can appear now. If we also for whatever reason need to add to the squad in the run in we don't have to worry about Cup tied either, so I guess I'm in the summer garden camp, long way to go but if asked "is the squad we have good enough to win the league" only one answer.
Would be good to see Joe back though as don't think 20+ games into the season we have been able to play what many on here consider to be our 1st choice back 4.

We're on a blip hopefully we'll come out of it a bigger and stronger side. We're creating chances after chances and playing good football, just failing to score them.

We need to start scoring again, we should win on Saturday.

What's the best result for us tomorrow. Huntingdon vs PNS, I would say a PNS win.

I don't think there's anything drastically wrong. Out of the 2 league games we're recently dropped points in, both were against top 4 sides. In Dolman, Confue and Dunks I believe we have the strongest defender, midfielder and forward currently available at this level in the Northants/surrounding areas.

In the Holbeach game I think we showed, for the first time since we reformed, a collective confidence to outplay a big team over 90 mins and more than deserved the win.

Yes Peaksy's team selections have been a bit baffling at times, but he and his team know the players better than anybody. As long as we don't repeat the mistake we did at Yaxley (1 up front, cautious approach to bed into the game) I think we have the quality and personnel to win the title come April.

We're in a bit of a rut, no doubt, and some tweaks might be required to fix a few issues (the lack of cohesion in the first half at Cogenhoe is something they're hopefully working on) but with the return of key players from injury - Merrill in particular - we'll have a better balance and can kick on.