Solihull Moors (THTS) The Minging to Winning Match Thread

[pgbee]

"As it stands I think the only way we can go up next season is autmatically and with Oldham and Southend breathing down our necks that will be tricky."

exactly this. Oldham will sort themselves out by next season, Southend must be favourites to go up. Let's hope we don't do a Wood.

[rudebwoyben]

A big big assumption that Oldham will sort themselves out by next season. Believe me the malaise is deep there.
That’s not to say that some other club will not come out of nowhere to challenge.

[thebeekeeper]

Good article. This still really hurts.

I don't understand how we go from having just Wynter out to being without O'Donkor and Thompson and with Pritchard virtually immobile and Brunt and Stead unfit to start. Going in to a playoff semi with one fit striker and two fit central midfielders is just dreadful. It's no wonder we offered so little going forwards we were losing battles all over the pitch. We need to sort out our medical department or get in players who are not made of glass.

Starting Oluwu and Pritchard that is purely on Brennan. Neither should have started, you could argue with Pritchard we had no choice but with Oluwu we could have started Coker and gone 4-3-3. Instead Oluwu got Fonduped and we got bent over. Brennan can blame the players all he likes but the brutal truth is he comes up short in the big games and until he gets better as a manager or gets more experienced support this will keep happening. As it stands I think the only way we can go up next season is autmatically and with Oldham and Southend breathing down our necks that will be tricky.

It has been a great season and I can honestly say I did not see Saturday's result coming. Of course if I predicted that we would lose every game and rejoiced in being right then I would sit smugly on my throne of negativity like beesknees but I don't really call that being a supporter.

Brennan did well to preempt the discussion about being unable to rise to the occasion in big games by addressing it in his post-match interview. He essentially pins that on the playing personnel, but there surely has to be some accountability from the manager too - whether that's the preparation for these matches, team selection or tactics.

I think Brennan has done an unbelievable job and his recruitment is second to none, but he's not exempt from criticism. There needs to be improvement on this front, and not just from the players.

[LeftSideRun]

Do you think Brennan seemingly never taking responsibility (from his post game interviews, he might say something else in the dressing room) could drip down into players not taking responsibility on the big day?

[EastBarnetFan]

We know you’d rather now read all about it again, but our man has opted to let the dust settle before summarising that one up.

Hope it doesn’t disturb your Monday morning cornflakes.

http://www.downhillsecondhalf.co.uk/Art ... icleID=327

Couldn't have put it better myself. And such a shame to have a near full house to watch the car crash (significantly more home fans than QF vs BW last year).

DB has got summer recruitment right the last 2 years, so I'm confident he'll cut the fat again and bring in some new talent to improve the overall squad depth. Kabamba will still be around and we should be able to keep the core of the team maybe minus Collinge who'll move on to bigger things.

Great season, shocking ending. Typical Barnet. Maybe next year...

[LeftSideRun]

It was a depressing result but to be honest we have been there again and again this season, passing backwards constantly when in possession, letting ourselves be bossed in midfield, silly to the point of suicidal passing in our own third. It was exactly what I hoped wouldn't happen but also exactly the match in terms of the play that was what we've seen repeatedly. 4-0 was a brutal insult but 2-0 with that performance was as likely with the same outcome. We just weren't good enough and all the passing and possession is nothing if you can't use it. And the SM team pulled and bossed Barnet all the way.

I have faith in DB and the team to learn from this. Much happier to have a committed management team with enthusiasm and nous than the many fools Barnet have had over the last 35 years, such as Mullery 'the players pick the tactics' or half the shower of shyte we've had since. But it's going to take all of them to step up a level, and get some tough new Barnet buggers into the squad.

Good points.

Hartigan looked levels above when he first arrived, receiving the ball in tight spaces, turning and passing forwards. He had back to back man of the match performances. Recently, he's looked a shadow of himself. Immediately passes the ball backwards, never looks to play forwards and often gives the ball away when he does. I don't know what happened to him but it doesn't put the coaching in a good light.

Just for balance, under the same coaching Stead has come on leaps and bounds and become (for the fans, at least) undroppable.

[amberforever]

We know you’d rather now read all about it again, but our man has opted to let the dust settle before summarising that one up.

Hope it doesn’t disturb your Monday morning cornflakes.

http://www.downhillsecondhalf.co.uk/Art ... icleID=327

Good article thanks. Biggest loser is probably the club when there was a chance of bringing in 2000 or so very occasional supporters into the fold. Also the BBB campaign that could have had some top media coverage for the cause. Oh well; good Summer everyone

[EastBarnetFan]

I saw some flags in the corner by the car park fence but was there a missed opportunity to have that giant 'Bring Back Barnet' banner in the gap so the TV cameras would catch it? Any corner or play in that area would mean it would be picked up.

In theory it could be kept there permanently since that area is a dead space and prime for either advertising or a campaign like this one. Imagine how many impressions it would get over the course of a season with every game on camera.

[hoofer2]

I wanted to wait to see the Solihull goals before commenting i.e. what I thought happened vs what actually happened.

It was made even more miserable by having to return to a soaked campsite ( we were camping with 24 soggy Scouts )
and the prospect of packing up camp on Sunday, unpacking 15+ tents to dry at Hut and having to put them all away this evening

We know how good Hartigan has been at passing, but not putting in tackles or leaving defending to others has also been a trait around 18/25 yards. He lost his man for first 2 goals and made no attempt to recover. And for me Collinge rather than Oluwu should have done better for both.

Oluwu should not have been given the responsibility of anchoring the defence, should have been Okimo or Collinge.

The huge space around Kabamba was a problem until Brunt and Stead came on when the game was already beyond us.
Apart from that shot in first half, the three Solihull centre halfs were not troubled all game.

Kanu digs in and gets the ball, runs up pitch and the other players just seem to stop and watch him. The midfield simply not showing any urgency in getting forward quickly enough to receive a ball / give option of a one two. Only option Kabamba marked by 3 receiving a cross from Kanu marked by 2.

Freeman has the touch, but if you can't keep up with play there is no point in being played in such an important game.
I don't think he'll get any fitter or more mobile than he is now.

Too many players had off games in the same match and too many players can only play for 60 minutes. Is this because they lack core fitness/stamina or because high press cannot be sustained for a season/whole match. Bromley and Solihull had more players who can last the game.

For me Walker has a big game personality and should have started but the goals came from appalling defending.

The scraping of the barrell to find any attacking highlights and ineffective set pieces summed it up.

Was not expecting such an abject capitulation lacking in grit and determination. We always change the way we play to match opposition, was hoping we'd go for it from the outset. DB should have changed things the moment Solihull went 2-0 up. Solihull had outsmarted the high press with ease. The flat back four had brought most recent results and defense looked as if it had not played together - which it hadn't for months.

We finished second and should be confident of a play-off challenge next season too. Only have to finish 7th to make it a fourth play-off in 6 seasons.

We have the nucleus of a good team, and can probably guess the players that will be retained / released. Most important signing could be a fitness coach who can get that extra 10% from each player for a whole season.

[ETBee]

Suffering from PTSD so will sign off now until August.

[WhetstoneBee]

My worry about next season is what is the point in finishing anything other than top if you don't turn up in big games? The same happened last season and we seem to have learned nothing from it or done anything to address it. Yes we need to strengthen the playing side and add grit, resilience and mental strength but there also has to be some change in the management team - ideally a shrewd, experienced head to help DB on these big occasions. For most clubs the prospect of finishing in the top 7 again would be exciting but given our record, it currently isn't!

[CrawleyBee]

Suffering from PTSD so will sign off now until August.

Totally can relate! Still feel so angry and chested (not for any other reason than we have ourselves to blame) after such a great season. Hope that anger and disappointment will turn to hope again. Feels like a bad dream, but keep reliving it in my head. This is when I tell myself there is more to life than football!

[letchbee94]

The thing that annoys me still and it may sound strange but it is the fact that we deserved to lose the game.

There is never a good way to lose but had we of lost on penalities or by the odd goal after putting in a good performance then at least we could have looked back and be proud.

[Berlinbee]

The thing that annoys me still and it may sound strange but it is the fact that we deserved to lose the game.

There is never a good way to lose but had we of lost on penalities or by the odd goal after putting in a good performance then at least we could have looked back and be proud.

completely agree. All the hard work of an entire season crumbled essentially after 6 mins

[amberforever]

That score line is haunting me; was expecting the reverse.