AFC Frack (Away) The Wet and Fylde Match Thread

[Bee_Forever]

So.... Saturday sees the bees hit the road as we head in to Lancashire to face the resurgent frackers from AFC Fylde in the Bananarama League.

Fylde, like their town of Wesham are a relatively recent construction and the decision to call them AFC Fylde rather than Kirkham and Wesham is odd. It would be like us renaming ourselves London Bees (!) based on our district rather than our town. While their small fan base was not born to be Fylde and few supporters can claim to be Fylde at heart, it is a nice stadium with interesting beer and another tribute to what the ego of a local businessman can stretch to.

With only BeesKnees99 more excited about their recent form than their own fans (13 points from 5 games) it is fair to say that their Director of Football has found life a Beech since taking over from a failing manager in October (aka doing a Brennan) and their hawaii over Aldershot was particularly noteworthy albeit 4 of the 5 goals were against 10 men.

Barnet have recovered from the immense frustration of the trolling stones to get back to winning ways vs Welling and with a new striker on the books and attacking re-inforcements we are well set for the rest of the season as the likes of Oldham stir and start chasing us in earnest.

It will be a tough game but I am confident that with our re-inforcements we will be able to beat Fylde. It will be interesting to see if Gorman makes it back for this one and I think if he is fit this would be a good game for him to play in.

-------------------------------Walker-------------------------------

------------Oluwu-------------Thompson----------Okimo--------

------Hall-Johnson------Gorman-------Hartigan------Coker----

-----------------------Freeman----------------Pritchard------------

-------------------------------------Kabamba-------------------------

Subs: Stevens, Cropper, Brunt, Maguire-Drew, O'Donkor

I am doing this one on the percy bus. Long trip and hopefull a vital 3 points to get us back on track.

COYBS

[JWTBee]

So what has Keeley done to upset you? Of course he will be starting!

[WillesdenBee]

So what has Keeley done to upset you? Of course he will be starting!

Oh, and he’s 10 times better than Walker. Also, Brunt has to start

[JWTBee]

So what has Keeley done to upset you? Of course he will be starting!

Oh, and he’s 10 times better than Walker. Also, Brunt has to start

I'm in total agreement!

[jerroll]

The only ways Keeley doesn't start are he gets injured or with the max 5 loanee rule we have a massive outfield injury crisis, and need extra loanees to cover

[hoofer2]

If the season started with a defender like Thompson who is clearly a leader and organiser of those around him, I suspect Walker may not have been dropped.

With Collinge marauding forwards and Oluwu at times, I think he was left with too much to do clearing from the back - especially with no continuity from fullbacks as lineup kept changing. I think our high line has dropped back 10 yards - we press, but not us far up the pitch.

Hartigan has helped taking the ball from central defenders

Trouble with the Keeley loan - he won't be with us next season, and Walker must be thinking of a move - so back to square one.

[Bee_Forever]

10 times better than Walker? Behave! There's being a spurs fan and then....

I know keeley will start and he will probably play well.

I also know that if Laurie Walker had starjumped over a Wealdstone equaliser he would have been out of the team faster than you can say Aymen Azaze.

Given Brennan's effusive praise of him after welling it is clear he has staked alpt of his credibility on keeley so it is a moot point but I'd still rather he had kept faith with Walker rather than jumper.

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[amberforever]

10 times better than Walker? Behave! There's being a spurs fan and then....

I know keeley will start and he will probably play well.

I also know that if Laurie Walker had starjumped over a Wealdstone equaliser he would have been out of the team faster than you can say Aymen Azaze.

Given Brennan's effusive praise of him after welling it is clear he has staked alpt of his credibility on keeley so it is a moot point but I'd still rather he had kept faith with Walker rather than jumper.

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Agree

[BeesKnees99]

#Obsessed


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[becbee]

Keeley is good and should only improve with experience. He made a costly error in 99th minute which Walker almost certainly wouldn't have made but then, Walker could have made a different mistake. All keepers, even the best, make mistakes. Watch Match of the Day.

Keeley is better than Walker but no way 10 times better.

[Bee_Forever]

Keeley is good and should only improve with experience. He made a costly error in 99th minute which Walker almost certainly wouldn't have made but then, Walker could have made a different mistake. All keepers, even the best, make mistakes. Watch Match of the Day.

Keeley is better than Walker but no way 10 times better.

Sometimes this team lineup is provocative and these is one of those times.

Some interesting and less interesting responses to the idea.

Do we have any idea when Collinge is back? Not as urgent with us upgrading Potter to Thompson but still I am sure supporters and Peterborough scouts would be keen to see him on the grass.

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[Jdk103]

My thoughts on Keeley are positive, I think he’s done well so far barring that one mistake. I also don’t massively mind if Walker was playing.

Looking at the bigger picture, it’s a loan from a premier league club. Part of the agreement surely must have been that Keeley plays unless he is injured/suspended. In the long run, if we can prove to be a good home for young players it might pave the way for a link between the two clubs, allowing us to take players on loan we might otherwise not have had a chance to sign. I’m not saying that that is the best justification for playing Keeley, but I can understand if it was.


As for this game, I think we will take confidence in last weekends result, and I think we come away with the 3 points. GO’D off the bench for the winner. COYB

[11bee717]

GOD nailed on to start for me

[Itsmeerc]

Not that the point needs any more going over, but my take on the JK / LW situation is as follows.

On the playing side, the decision makes sense. Brennan has always been candid with the fact that he only wants to bring in players that are an improvement on what we have in the squad and make the team stronger. I think this particularly decision has been so divisive as Walker has been one of stand out players over the past season and half, and is also a fan favourite, so was not at the top of many peoples' lists of players who need upgrading. Nevertheless, replacing Walker with Keeley is consistent with Brennan's philosophy. It seems harsh, but he is objectively (well at least in my view) the better all round keeper and, more importantly, is better suited to the system we play. Maybe not quite 10x better. But an improvement, definitely.

Using Keeley's mistake against Wealdstone, or the fact we've won fewer points per game since he signed, to suggest this decision was incorrect is, in my view, reductive. Laurie has made plenty of mistakes this season and has by all accounts not hit the heights he did last year. And our poor run in terms of winning games has coincided with our suddenly slack finishing; if we finished even half the chances we should have we would have picked up close to maximum points in these games. Blaming the GK is unfair.

Despite all this, I'm a big Laurie Walker fan and my bigger worry is how this has been dealt with off the pitch. He doesn't deserve to simply be frozen out but it's not clear what's going on. There's been several rumours about potential injuries or forced moves and LW's family have also been engaging with things on social media suggesting that they aren't happy with how things have been handled. I wouldn't expect or want Laurie to be happy with being dropped, but I would still like to see him in and around the squad, as he's a big character and has been a great player for this club. If there is a good reason why is isn't involved, I would like to know it. So, as fans, it really doesn't help that none of this has really been addressed or communicated.

Anyway, enough rambling from me. They're both great keepers in their own right and it's a relative luxury to be having this debate.

[ETBee]

I think that this game is potentially the toughest since we played Chesterfield. Fylde are top of the form table and over the last 6 games are averaging 2.5 goals per game. Their confidence must be sky high and playing at home must give a lift although their away results have also been good.

On the other hand our performances have been erratic which is no surprise given the number of personnel changes. We continue to struggle to hit the target. We are still giving the ball away too often and giving the opposition an easy run to goal. Fylde may well expect Nicke to start and that we just try to get the ball to him so I'd like to see O'Donkor start and use his pace, power and shooting to notch up a couple of quick goals. I think Fylde will score 3 goals so we just have to get 4 or more! Could be an exciting game.