Views from the Sieve

wow he dropped all 11 players!!! f**king Hell!!!!

complete 11 new starters from previous game,,madness you get actually get away with that? and against a team who have won their last 3 out of 4 games, how much money taken on braintree win?

No qualms with giving people minutes in a nothing game. But there’s a way to do that. As others have pointed out there’s not a great deal of point in playing those who obviously won’t be here next year. I’d rather make 6-7 changes and keep some semblance of the team from Friday, or at least have Balanta/Wilko (if fit) on the bench. Not sure what sticking Phipps up-front was about either. Basically taking the piss at that point.

Understand there’s nothing riding on the match but people have paid £17 to watch that and what was served up and the way it was served up isn’t really on for me.

Glad I paid to watch that.
And people wonder why this man isn't liked.
Play a completely new team, marvellous stuff.
And what about the fans, don't we matter then?
I'm just sorry we have him for another year.

stanton101 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 22, 2019 11:53 pm Glad I paid to watch that.
And people wonder why this man isn't liked.
Play a completely new team, marvellous stuff.
And what about the fans, don't we matter then?
I'm just sorry we have him for another year.

This. Although I could see the inevitable happening and gave the game a miss.

I understand that 372 Daggers fans made the trip wanting to see a game against an already-relegated side. Daggers to win 6-0 anyone?
(Yes Braintree have had a few surprising wins, but you live in hope).

That was 372 Daggers fans who may have season tickets up for renewal or who may be contemplating buying a season ticket in the hope of great things next season.

I haven’t seen us play all weekend. I’m currently trying to see what my life is like without a season ticket and am dithering on renewal. Peter Freund can shout as loudly has he likes about our aim next season is to win the league, but with Taylor in charge I can’t see it happening and I can’t bear to watch more of what I’ve had to endure the past few months.
He might get the money to build and strengthen but some of his tactics are woeful and he has little respect for the fans. This isn’t his club, he needs to move on.

I think Nick hit the nail on the head for me. I was busy beforehand and possibly couldve made the game, but with virtually nothing at stake against an already relegated side and with a host of changes being already confirmed, this was the game to head straight home and onto the sun lounger.

I nonetheless felt for the 370 who did made the trip albeit small one to Braintree. We didnt have our single attempt at goal until over an hour into the match.

Some changes for such a game are fine with me but as Nick said, there surely has to be a way of doing it...

Lewis Moore & Elliot Bonds 1st ever appearances,
Bellamy his 1st of only 4 total appearances since October,
To dig Hoyte back up from wherever he's been hidden since January,
And the worst of all, Blanchfield who after playing the 1st 3 games of the season was then only seen once more Vs Barnet in December before yesterday.

To think it would work cobbling that lot together with a load of other players Taylor clearly doesnt rate a great deal smacks of pretty shambolic management if you ask me. It may have been an almost meaningless game but yeah, come on mate, get a fking grip will you!

That said, I am still very excited about next seasons prospects (big contrast to how I felt this time last year) and will be taking up the early bird offer without a shadow of a doubt.

My only hope is that with better players available to him, Taylor, too can up his game.

The thing that rankles me is we missed a golden opportunity. Those 3 points would’ve put us in 13th place in the table, leap frogging 5 teams. Opportunities like that must be taken advantage of if we are to win this league.

The first half was incredibly boring, so returned to the pub at half time. Taylor is clueless, he could take us down and people would still defend him on here.

Lots of folk saying they decided not to go because they anticipated the worst; let's be honest we'd hardly bother at all if we applied that rationale to every game. But I get that it's expensive etc so I still respect that.

But football has a habit of kicking you in the bollocks but sometimes surprising you. Yesterday, I thought we would win regardless of the team and we didn't. Equally I was convinced we'd get beat at Ebbsfleet and we were excellent. Point is I'm glad I went to both matches and offered my support. Of course I got more out of the Ebbsfleet game and yeah I definitely get the viewpoint of a waste of money yesterday but if you only went when you thought you were going to be entertained etc then you might not bother at all.

Ally Fraser wrote: ↑Tue Apr 23, 2019 8:48 am he could take us down and people would still defend him on here.

After being told we're going for promotion with presumably a budget to do this, I think you're wrong. If there's any sign of struggle next season, I don't think many will be happy.

This season is a whole different ball game. A team cobbled together on peanuts and then a bit of cash to improve us. He's done the job he was asked to do.

Dagger83 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 23, 2019 11:22 am

Ally Fraser wrote: ↑Tue Apr 23, 2019 8:48 am he could take us down and people would still defend him on here.

After being told we're going for promotion with presumably a budget to do this, I think you're wrong. If there's any sign of struggle next season, I don't think many will be happy.

This season is a whole different ball game. A team cobbled together on peanuts and then a bit of cash to improve us. He's done the job he was asked to do.

Currently several teams cobbled together on peanuts that are way above us in the league, squads of 30 don't come cheap. Some teams in our league have about 20 players and are well above us.

Diggerthedog wrote: ↑Tue Apr 23, 2019 1:01 pm
Currently several teams cobbled together on peanuts that are way above us in the league, squads of 30 don't come cheap. Some teams in our league have about 20 players and are well above us.

You can't just ditch players that were signed on one year contracts mid season though, they remain our players unless you can get someone to sign them. I expect the released list will be pretty long this year.

If by October 2019 we still have no discernable first choice XI or preferred shape then I fully expect lots of questions to be asked of the manager. This season he did the job asked, kept us up. He's earned a go at buildng a team to take us up with a better budget.

Diggerthedog wrote: ↑Tue Apr 23, 2019 1:01 pm

Dagger83 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 23, 2019 11:22 am

Ally Fraser wrote: ↑Tue Apr 23, 2019 8:48 am he could take us down and people would still defend him on here.

After being told we're going for promotion with presumably a budget to do this, I think you're wrong. If there's any sign of struggle next season, I don't think many will be happy.

This season is a whole different ball game. A team cobbled together on peanuts and then a bit of cash to improve us. He's done the job he was asked to do.

Currently several teams cobbled together on peanuts that are way above us in the league, squads of 30 don't come cheap. Some teams in our league have about 20 players and are well above us.

The squad size is partly a symptom of where we were and where we are now. A lot of dross brought in, strengthened when we had funds but are lumbered with what we have until the contracts end. I have no idea how our budget compares to other teams but until we have a full season of stability, I think it's harsh to compare us too much with everyone else. My opinion of course.

You can’t win with supporters:

You play the same team and some would complain that we should have had a look at squad players as it was a “dead rubber”; or

You play the squad players and they aren’t as good as the first team (perhaps unsurprisingly!) and people complain.

I suppose it was made reasonably clear in the media (local and social) that the squad would be shuffled. We took the hint and did something else, even though Hockley Dagger Junior's grandma only lives 5 miles from Braintree and he really ought to go to see her(and I ought to go to see her too)! Mr Taylor's comments after the game suggest a massive clear out. Mind you I wouldn't base my decision to offer a further contract to a player on the basis of a one off performance in an end of season kick about against a team already relegated.

hockley dagger wrote: ↑Tue Apr 23, 2019 3:08 pm Mind you I wouldn't base my decision to offer a further contract to a player on the basis of a one off performance in an end of season kick about against a team already relegated.

And he probably won't, however, if any of them thought they deserved a new contract it was a chance to impress in a proper game of football rather than a friendly or training.

It doesn't appear that many took that chance.