Caldwell out?

[Boyo]

The club got the call right, but in essence they backed the principle that investing in players was a better way out of trouble than sacking the manager. For GC Now though, we can never have a repeat of another run like the 100 day winless run. The January window bailed us out this year, next year we cannot be using the January window to fix the broken train like we did this season.

Possession only matters what you do when you have it, not how much of it you have. We do very little for the amount of possession we have.

Like when out of possession, it is all about how you manage it, not how long you are without the ball. Some at the moment are obsessed that possession means prizes and it really doesn't.

In the next game, would you rather that City had a) 40% possession, or b) 60% possession?

 

[Grecian Max]

There are always anomalies and whatever style of play you go with, if you get it working then you will do well as Stevenage and Lincoln (lately, the addition of Joe Taylor seems to have really kicked them on) have shown, both with a shout of the play offs. When you look at the top three and bottom three, it does show a trend. You are more likely to do well in this division with possession, if you get it right on a consistent basis. If you don't then it's interesting that ourselves, Wigan and Rovers all seem to be tied together in the possession table and the league table (obvs Wigan points deducted). All the teams that are now battling relegation though have less than 50% possession suggesting whatever the style they are attempting, it isn't working even if they are attempting to be a possession based team.

I agree Derby are not outstanding, but they are experienced, organised and clinical. That's why I said at the time we played them that they are more likely to go up with Pompey, although I would much rather watch Peterborough.

The original point I was debating was around this idea of "effectiveness" - we aren't an effective team in the final third but we have managed to get over the line

The table shows we're good at holding onto the ball; somewhat less good at making anything from it

I do see potential in how we play but it's going to need a storming pre season on the recruitment side I think to not have another patchy/ok year like this one

 

[MJP_Exeter]

In the next game, would you rather that City had a) 40% possession, or b) 60% possession?

I don't care. Because of what I alluded to it. You can have 60% and do nothing with it and do loads with 40% possession. I care about what City do in possession and out of it, But not how much of either we have, because each game is different and to be a truly good side, you have to be really good without the ball and really effective with it.

 

[Grecian Max]

In the next game, would you rather that City had a) 40% possession, or b) 60% possession?

I'd like to see us converting more chances

I'm fine with us retaining the ball if it's for a purpose

 

[Boyo]

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Thought this was an interesting table to look at

We regularly have more of the ball than other teams but this doesn't translate to league position; possession doesn't necessarily correlate with success, although the very best teams do dominate the ball as you'd expect. And score a lot more goals with it as they have the quality.

I'm sure we're all casting envious glances at Stevenage and Lincoln's overachievements; something that we'd presumably like to mirror but they haven't done that by retaining the ball.

Certainly not my expectation - GC has met that in league position. But this talk of possession is something everyone is doing to gain success isn't black and white.

Many said Derby were excellent (I was less impressed) but they sit on 13th in this table.

Thanks for sharing. Your observations are of course correct, but I also think it's worth highlighting that the top three in the possession table are 1st, 3rd and 4th in the actual league table, while the bottom three in the possession table are 17th, 20th and 22nd in the actual table.

If I get 10 mins I'll plot a scatter graph of points vs possession %. That would be interesting to look at (for me at least )

 

[Rosencrantz]

The original point I was debating was around this idea of "effectiveness" - we aren't an effective team in the final third but we have managed to get over the line

The table shows we're good at holding onto the ball; somewhat less good at making anything from it

I do see potential in how we play but it's going to need a storming pre season on the recruitment side I think to not have another patchy/ok year like this one

Effectiveness which I did acknowledge in the first sentence . That's the point though with us, it's all a work in progress which was always going to be the case after the summer. I was just adding that you can see why a manager might look to play possession football in L1 as the balance from that table suggests it is a more successful way of playing, if you do it right (or effectively).

Come on Max, I was agreeing you .

 

[Boyo]

I don't care. Because of what I alluded to it. You can have 60% and do nothing with it and do loads with 40% possession. I care about what City do in possession and out of it, But not how much of either we have, because each game is different and to be a truly good side, you have to be really good without the ball and really effective with it.

Do you think a team has a better chance of scoring when they a) have the ball, or b) don't have the ball?

 

[Grecian Max]

Thanks for sharing. Your observations are of course correct, but I also think it's worth highlighting that the top three in the possession table are 1st, 3rd and 4th in the actual league table, while the bottom three in the possession table are 17th, 20th and 22nd in the actual table.

If I get 10 mins I'll plot a scatter graph of points vs possession %. That would be interesting to look at (for me at least )

I'd like to see that too!

The point I was making was around us being 5th; the top 3 teams - the very best - will dominate the ball regardless as they have the best players, it's the in between that's more interesting

Likewise, the very worse teams won't see much of the ball

 

[Grecian Max]

Do you think a team has a better chance of scoring when they a) have the ball, or b) don't have the ball?

Anyone who watched the Wigan cup game will know there are no guarantees...

 

[STURTZ]

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Posted without comment

Ha ha! You're one of these people that can dish it out but can't take it aren't you?