Coylers Elbow

couldnt agree more.... me and u wud get on very well witht that attitude u should add that comment to the midfielders forum. we need someone like graham reailly or cormac mcguiness or even shane o rourke in and around the middle someone with some pace who can carry the ball, wel lacked goodf ball carriers today, laois looked far more settled and a superior outfit, meath looked like a club team. are they going backwards from the night they played laois in pairc tailteann?

hardywomen (Meath) - Posts: 90 - 06/02/2011 19:06:42    861646

We hand pass to much in the backs. I dont mind the hand passing as long as you are going forward at speed and taking on the opposition head on. But this s**t of handpassing and going nowhere is so frustrating. You defend as a team and you burst forward from defence as a team. Joe and Shane O'Rourke dont work together. Have Shane at centre forward and play the ball in, in front of joe instead of a load of hail mary's coming in on top of him. It's early days yet lads so lets hope banty has learned from his mistakes today.

12Royal (Meath) - Posts: 987 - 06/02/2011 19:18:07    861665

Agree with the few people who are calling for a bit more mobility around the centre. The lads who are there at the moment aren't contributing a whole lot. Try orourke or menton there for a cuple if games to try it out.
Laois were very good infront of goal tho, credit where it's due, only 2 wides I think.
Cian ward looks like a guy with absolutely no confidence at the moment. When Farrell came in he looked much more lively and eager to get on the ball.
When Crawford came on we seemed to ouch forward more and that's when the 2 or 3 goal chances came about, but we then left huge gaps at the back.
Where was paddy orourke supposed to be playing when he came on? Overall dissapointed to lose because Meath were capable of beating them, but just not enough steel in their game yet.

Jinxie (Meath) - Posts: 6347 - 06/02/2011 19:22:08    861673

All I want from this league campaign is a sense of progression & cohesiveness.
Forwards need to make space for each other and understand that you can contribute a huge amount to a score without even touching the ball.
Ultimately though, far too many of our moves out of defence break down once they get to midfield where we are too cumbersome.
More pace in the half back and half forward line would help with this so I'd like to see Alan Nestor introduced and Gary O'Brien moved out to wing-back.

Coylers Elbow (Meath) - Posts: 1075 - 06/02/2011 19:25:22    861677

coylers elbow

what would you think off a shane o rouke - gillespie midfield partnership?
we already seen himself and joe dont go too well in the 4wards together.

hardywomen (Meath) - Posts: 90 - 06/02/2011 19:32:40    861691

Naturally enough there will be a bit of a reaction to a loss against a team like Laois after the promise of the Dublin game. My own tuppence worth is that maybe we're not as good as we think we are. By the way, I wasn't at the game today.

On the corner-backs issue, O'Connor, Harrington, Dalton, McGill, King, O'Brien, they are all much of a muchness. I don't think any one is definitely better than the rest. The role of corner-backs nowadays is much more of a collective effort as well, and I felt last year Harrington got a lot of over-the-top stick when time after time, he was left very isolated. Although it'll be interesting to see how that plays out and who will eventually be the selected two for championship.

Loyal2TheRoyal (Meath) - Posts: 4522 - 06/02/2011 19:38:03    861700

Part of my last was deleted so I've changed it around a bit:

On Coylers Elbow point that many of our attacks end up with Joe shooting, I think this is partly due to Joe's lack of awareness and vision. Joe is very one-minded when he gets the ball inside the 45'. Shane O'Rourke is not much different. Shoot-on-site no matter how audacious the angle or the distance - this has been their modus operandi for some time now and training it out of them will be one of Banty's biggest tasks.

Loyal2TheRoyal (Meath) - Posts: 4522 - 06/02/2011 19:46:53    861705

I dunno about Shane at midfield, whatever about centre forward.
Then again I think we should just put Meade back in there and leave him there.
As it stands he's our best midfielder.

Coylers Elbow (Meath) - Posts: 1075 - 06/02/2011 19:57:45    861722

bestmidfielder weve seen, but not much experimentin done around that area.

hardywomen (Meath) - Posts: 90 - 06/02/2011 20:06:00    861741

Not long home from the game.Agree with some of the comments from previous posters.Very poor support for Meath in a small crowd considering it was the first match in the National league with a new management team.Apart from Seamus Kenny who lead by example nobody else dominated their position.Most worrying is that it is bascially the same team as last year.We have problems at corner back,centre back, midfield and the only obvious tactic is to aim high balls on top of Joe-still.Shane O' Rourke was poor and needs to show a lot more appetite.Despite playing poorly we could and should have kicked on after Crawford's goal levelled the game with about 10 minutes left.Brian Meade is not the answer at centre back.Major surgery needed for Sligo.

noneutrals (Dublin) - Posts: 316 - 06/02/2011 20:09:23    861749

Coyler's Elbow, I am glad that you now see the point I was making about big Joe last week after the Dublin game. Joe is a great goal getter but he does lack a bit of composure and vision and he does not always see the best option, especially when he is playing with very talented forwards in the county team. I agree with Loyal2TheRoyal.....Banty will have to earn his crust with regards to developing Joe's overall team game. If he does, Joe has the potential to become one of the best forwards in the county.
Overall, a disappointing result but it is still very early days and lets hope we can still challenge for promotion.

trim1 (Meath) - Posts: 162 - 06/02/2011 20:12:18    861751

Looking at todays game alone Joe Sherdian is a class act. He won every ball that went in and caused serious problems all day. If he wasnt playing the margin between us would have been alot more. I think its very harsh to give out about him like some have done.

thetown (Laois) - Posts: 79 - 06/02/2011 20:44:35    861791

Was just thinking after listening to the match today. Alot of us (me included) criticise Joe for not bringing other players into play and trying for the Hollywood scores however at the end of the day, he is an extremely talented score getter and we would have been in awful trouble without him on numerous occassions.

Not sure if he is going to change at this stage, so maybe we just need to put up with him scoring an average of about 1-3 from play in nearly every match he plays for the county. I'm saying this because last week, I found myself criticising him for not seeing people in better positions. I'm just wondering if this is a weakness we need to put up with and shoudl we be asking questions of why other forwards are not contributing as much from open play.

DowdtoFoleyGoal (Meath) - Posts: 292 - 06/02/2011 20:48:52    861803

I dont think people are criticising him.....i think everyone is well aware that we are relying on Joe a huge amount up front. Unfortunately perhaps a little too much and the measure of Banty will be getting our forwards to play as a team and to find a way to incorporate Cian Ward or find an adequate free taking replacement.

I was on my way to the game yesterday when I heard about the postponment, couldnt get out of a family lunch today. I am sorry to hear of the poor support but am not surprised considering the late change.

trim1 (Meath) - Posts: 162 - 06/02/2011 20:53:42    861814

I'm not criticising Joe at all.
Far from it.
I just think we need to spread the scoring load around or you end up with a scenario where every ball is going in on top of Joe and that is too predictable.

Coylers Elbow (Meath) - Posts: 1075 - 06/02/2011 21:07:06    861833

hopefully it will be better when the 2 brays are back

meathalltheway (Meath) - Posts: 789 - 06/02/2011 21:37:47    861868

I was there yesterday, and Saturday (that'll teach me not to listen to the radio when I drive) and we looked way off the pace for much of the game.
Lumping balls into the box in th hope that Shane will get something on it or hoping for a free so that Cian can justify his place on the team is not a secure foundation to build a winning team on. Having said that, Laois looked more organised and purposeful on the attack and played far better football on the day. I think the team selection is just about right, we only need to work on our tactics going forward.

Ex_Pat (USA) - Posts: 186 - 07/02/2011 10:06:54    861953

I know our own midfield has its problems but I have to admit I don't understand why the Meath midfield comes in for so much stick on here. Yesterday, I thought the midfield battle ended up more or less even.

Was surprised that Menton wasn't playing considering that he did well against Dublin.

Giovanni (Laois) - Posts: 303 - 07/02/2011 10:56:30    861991

meathalltheway

thats wishful thinking the brays wont add much yes steven bray might but david bray hasnt been around in a while.been over a year. Paddy o'rourke has been unlucky so far, did well in all games ive seen him, if he dosent get much league time he definely will be off the pace in championship.

hardywomen (Meath) - Posts: 90 - 07/02/2011 11:39:54    862032

Was in portlaoise and understandably the pitch cut up badly and looked as heavy as a bog. This very heavy going would have been energy-sapping on players. Joe was just great and he worked very very hard. He caught balls at times yesterday which were launched with the accuracy of scud missiles. I saw him get possession at one stage with three Laois markers on him. We need more forwards to step up to his level of contribution and his consistency in scoring for Meath.
Lots of work to be done including alternative attacking Tactics, improved midfield distribution and more brain power in defence on the concession of frees.
Im sure Banty Harnan and co. will have seen this and more yesterday.
Yes there are problems but we can learn to play to our many strengths and that includes big Joe effort which made Laois supporters very nervous when he went for the ball. Could do with a bit more of this fear factor from his colleagues also.
It was good to see the team showing the fight to come back from a deficit for the second game in a row.
Lets see how Meath is doing in the game against Tyrone at home before the Championship.

spillanesmeat (Meath) - Posts: 103 - 07/02/2011 11:47:33    862039