Raoyal painter. I would love to see that but the problem is the defensife system of the likes of dublin, keryy etc would easily break us down. And I'm in agreement with you I'd love to see it but it just won't work in modern day football. We would be beaten easily as you seen today derry defended in numbers. As all teams do now we return we will become poorer. And again I say unfortunately

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 18/03/2012 20:26:01    1131884

Our players do not have the pace to play the game they are trying to play.
There is too much distance between the full forward line and the (non-existent) half forward line.
What is the point of playing a 2 man full forward line when someone moving forward with the ball would need binoculars to spot them?
Paddy Gilsenan tried his best but I was very disappointed with Cians effort today.
What's wrong with him, is he injured or just not interested?
We have 90% of our team running around in circles in the middle of the field and we are so slow moving the ball forward the opposition defense have ample time to get bodies back.
Dublin, Kerry and Tyrone KICK the ball into their forwards, so who's system are we trying to replicate?
To be honest, the performance is a metaphor for this teams development.
We are moving sideways, not forwards.
Midfield is a huge problem as it hurts us offensively and defensively.
Our midfielders are not mobile enough to contribute in either direction.
The modern midfielder should nearly be able to play 6 and 11 if the situation demands it.
Ours can't even play 8 or 9.
I'm sorry if this sounds harsh but great, great men have worn the Meath jersey down through the years and their legacy is slowly being dismantled one game at a time.
To think people considered promotion to Division 1!
We are a division 2 team, and a bad division 2 team at that.

Coylers Elbow (Meath) - Posts: 1075 - 18/03/2012 20:59:07    1131930

Yes our performances are more sideways than forwards. And agree we are playing this system badly. But what do we do? If revert back the results would still be same do you not think? We are damned if we do and damned if we don't.
Do we persevere and hope our half forwards and forwards can get there positions right?
But can this system work without any midfield players we have none simple. We might as well not have a 8 or 9. And as I say that is no disrespect to the lads we try there. But I'd say we easily have worst midfield in country and I take no pleasure in saying that.
So does anyone know of midfielders in the county who should be given a chance as there is none on this current panel

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 18/03/2012 21:20:23    1131947

I saw the future of Meath football today and by god does it look bleak.. there was no shape, cohesion or fluency in anything we did today. Clueless in attack seems to be the real bane in this team's league campaign so far. The management seems to be complicating the forward line's formation beyond logic at this point. We're playing without a half forward line so whenever we attack we have no choice but to carry the ball thus leading to us losing it halfway up the field. From what I see, the game plan seems to be to leave loads of space in front of the 2 inside forwards but whenever the ball does go into this space, its in on top of the small Paddy Gilsenan or a wayward pass into the by line. Our poor and limited distribution into the forwards is starving them of creating anything up front.

And for the love of god, as useful as Stephen Bray is out the field, we need him 20-30 yards in front of goal not at the half back line. He's our most potent forward and also a great ball winner so we need him in there as a target man.

Its looking quite likely that we're in for a relegation dog fight on the last day against Louth and to be honest, we won't get anything from them too easy.

RoyalClass (Meath) - Posts: 790 - 18/03/2012 21:45:50    1131973

We must play a three man full forward line from now onwards with Stephen Bray at 11, not 14.

So we either play Tom Walsh at FF (as a semi-mobile target man) or else leave him at midfield (for the time been) and bring Jamie Queeney or Brian Farrell in instead. Paddy and Cian together will not see or win enough ball. They need an extra pair of hands alongside to function to the best of their ability. If Cian continues to go missing for long spells, then start with Paddy, Jamie (or Tom Walsh) and Brian as the ff line.

Have Graham Reilly at #12 and either Kenny or Tobin at #10 (replace as necessary) and not both of them on at the same time. We simply must have at least five out and out forwards and not just four.

SOR when he returns at midfield will improve that area. Hope we are not taking anything for granted. We assumed Graham Reilly would hit the ground running last year after his op, but it didn't happen.

Reilly at FB and Menton at CHB are solid. Shane McAnarney and one other as wing backs. Since we are stuck with midfield shortcomings (no easy fix) we need to address the two corner backs positions as a matter of urgency. That is an area we have more control over. It needs immediate attention.

GlasagusOr (Meath) - Posts: 1348 - 18/03/2012 21:55:50    1131983

Lads despite the crap we played today and al the things posters have pointed out I'm taking a different approach.

If we could kick a ball over the bar from simple enough positions we would be on 10 points now and already promoted with Tyrone as Kildare would only have 4 points and Galway 3.

Against kildare 60 secs on the clock McAnarney 20-25 yards out and about 10 yards right of the goal kicks the ball off the post instead of slipping it over the bar for victory or a draw at the very least.

Last play of the game v Galway Cormac McGuiness is sent straight through in front of goal 30 - 35 yards out and he hits it wide. He either should have stuck it or laid it off to a forward to slot it over.

Against Derry today Gilsenan kicked at least 2 points wide from places most club footballers would stick over with their bad foot. King had a terrible wide and Alan Forde missed to very easy point chances. Seamus Kenny also blasted over a point that should have been a goal.

What did people think of Brian Meade today? Him and Walsh would make a decent midfield if he actually bothers like he did today and Bring back Paddy O'Rourke.
His kickouts gifted Derry a number of points and opportunities. Some of them landed on our own 45 but Paddy lands them on the oppositions 45.

Bray and Reilly did ok but i don't want to see either receiving a handpass from our keeper again. Bray should stay within the 45 and reilly should be starting at half forward too.



Look on the brightside though our league last year was even worse and we weren't far off the pace come championship. We will be test against Wicklow but if we come through that Carlow will be a handy win and that would set us up nicely for a rematch with Kildare.

BettystownRoyal (Meath) - Posts: 3353 - 19/03/2012 08:12:27    1131993

just how many handpasses do we need to make 20 metres?...can we put the foot back into football?..still we will hold Div2 status, unlike our neighbours Louth..so u see there is a silver lining...

sob (Meath) - Posts: 492 - 19/03/2012 09:25:48    1132015

Actually bettystown royal you are correct. We should have a better points total than we do. And although I have been blaming management really it is players missing easy chances that should be converted. If we had at least drawn with kildare and galway we would be in poll position to be promoted. And that has to lay with players faults and silly shots.
Very few teams will win kicking 15 wides in a match derry had 3. That was difference yesterday.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 19/03/2012 09:41:28    1132019

BR do you mean Mark Ward, not Brian Meade.

As for missing easy enough scores in games, no good using ifs and buts. It doesn't just happen by chance. It reflects moreso on them than just bad luck.

GlasagusOr (Meath) - Posts: 1348 - 19/03/2012 09:49:25    1132020

BR, Maybe you mean Conor Gillespie cos Brian Meade wasn't playing.

GlasagusOr (Meath) - Posts: 1348 - 19/03/2012 10:44:45    1132036

Lads yous just don't have the players that are good enough. You can give out about management,tactics,missed shots etc but the simple facts are yous just don't have players that are good enough.

clondalkindub (Dublin) - Posts: 9926 - 19/03/2012 11:43:13    1132085

gillespe is def worth another look ,he needs to be groomed a little more and would be the perfect partner for o rourke in the centre. im still not convinced of mcenaneys methods of this basketball/hand pass (puke) football.if most teams are taking the foot (kicking) and pysical element out ,why do we have to follow suit.we can be the team that everyone hates to play ,it can be done ,cause this man is not progressing at all .our support for players is patetic and needs serious attention.there should always be a player 10 feet behind whoever has possessin for a dig out.our marking is a shame .derry /galway were always 6/7 steps ahead of our backs .where was/is the tight marking?maybe its just as well were not moving up ,cause were not ready for the big leauge under this regime.finsh the contract and lets move on to the next ,cause i or u aint ,feeling it with banty.

royalpainter (Meath) - Posts: 874 - 19/03/2012 11:45:03    1132088

I would retain Banty's services until after the championship match - hes doing a great job.

sponger (Wicklow) - Posts: 2930 - 19/03/2012 11:59:33    1132100

good one sponger !!

royalpainter (Meath) - Posts: 874 - 19/03/2012 12:10:10    1132106

Its not like Derry were the better team and gave us a schooling.. we were just brutal up front. We had more than enough possession to win that game comfortably but we just seemed to do everything wrong. It was just such a strange game.. we seemed to be all over them for long periods but never really looked like scoring. Cian Ward seems to have gone off the boil altogether so far this year and his place really needs to be taken into consideration. I thought Paddy Gilsenan fought hard for the cause despite missing those 2 scorable chances but we need a target man up alongside him and this is where we really miss Joe Sheridan.

Joe would have been ideal to bring on in the second half to win ball and lay it off and it could have turned the game for us.. but anyway we'll just have to find a way to do without him.

I'm not expecting anything up in Omagh but at the same time, Meath could go up on the day and beat them.

RoyalClass (Meath) - Posts: 790 - 19/03/2012 12:15:38    1132109

royalclass,u are being very harsh on cian ward.the man has not been delivered any ball this season due to the crap system and midfield.so how can u rate him if he hasnt being given any thing to rate? when joe came on the tactic was to bomb it down to him ,was wasnt ward given the same amount of ball .ward is not the problem .

royalpainter (Meath) - Posts: 874 - 19/03/2012 12:21:32    1132113

Clondalkin Dub, we may not have great players but we have some very good ones. And they are not doing themselves justice. Banty's system has them bunching together and then running around in circles. If some players cannot man-mark or tackle properly, you replace them with guys that can. Getting most of the team behind the ball like kids in a schoolyard isn't a good policy, if they all just follow the ball and allow more and more opponents to push forward unmarked. It is about the quality of defending not the quantity that counts. The more players we have behind the ball, the less effective our forward line. We don't have enough players than can go from one end of the field to the other, time and time again over seventy minutes. Attack is our best form of defense, but it needs to be done with discipline and common sense. We should pick at least five lively (not lazy), pacey, mobile scoring forwards at all times, which will test the opposition while reducing the constant pressure we bring on the backline dy dropping so deep. Especially when we are so reluctant to kick pass the ball inside our own forty. That needs to change as well. It is like the soccer team under Tapattoni, where certain players are afraid to express themselves and do what a natural footballer would because it is contrary to the managers gameplan. What ever happened to let the ball do the work. If our best players do not suit the system, well then adapt the system to suit the players. If players had the shackles taken off and were allowed to play a more natural footballing game (not the alien one they are trying to) and so playing to their strengths, results would improve.

GlasagusOr (Meath) - Posts: 1348 - 19/03/2012 12:40:27    1132137

we are a mid to bottom div2 team, and have been for the past couple of years, we have not improved one bit under banty, we dont have good underage teams , the best we can hope for is to hold kildare to 5 or 6 points come summer, and maybe get a couple of handy draws and reach a 1/4 final at best, alot of posters on this site are kidding themselves, lets be realistic, we are just not producing quality players anymore, i dont see any light at the end of the tunnell,

millhouse (Meath) - Posts: 892 - 19/03/2012 13:12:09    1132173

Will not be going to any more Meath games in the foreseeable future

_______


What ? .. Why ?

Am i going mad or is my idea of supporting your county through thick and thin the whole point in supporting them in the first place ? I as a Dub am very lucky i support the current All Ireland champions and a squad who in my opinion has the potential over the next 8-10 years to HOPEFULLY win another two or three more. But in supporting Dublin through winning an All Ireland , We have had to go through some awful hidings and pretty inept performances too. Performances where we just havent turned up and made an absolute laughing stock of ourselves infront of the watching nation. We have had to go through people calling us bottlers and "Dublin will never win an All ireland again".. But you have to get over all that rubbish and show your strong support for your team

But it is at that time , That the team need your support as a fan most. If they win an All ireland they will be on top of the world, thats not when they need ye, they need you when they are at a low point.. Like now. I know you might not have seen us yesterday, But we where absolutely shambolic , It was so frustrating that even bleedin Chuck Norris would have burst into tears , But will that stop me going to Croke park next week to see them play Donegal ? No not at all. And i think it should be the same for you. Come on man , Less of the defeatist pessimistic s***e. Meath fans are always reminding us that yous have great support bla bla bla ... time to start showing your team that first and formost by getting behind them

You might not like the manager , you might not like the tactics , But at the end of the day your not supporting him , your supporting the lads who are actually wearing the jersey. You say your teams have the fight and no fear .. the commitment , so show it as fans too.

Your lucky (As am i) that we support teams who have traditions of winning leinsters and All irelands, playing in the big games, What about the fans of Fermanagh, Cavan, Louth, Wicklow etc who very rarely get to play in finals and in croke park. Who have fans who are 40+ and have never seen their county lift a trophy and know damn well year in year out the chances are next to nil of winning anything , yet they follow their team all over the place , Its dedication, Its support, Its what makes the GAA special, supporters are a huge part of that .. So dont stop now..

waynoI (Dublin) - Posts: 13654 - 19/03/2012 13:31:10    1132185

lads and ladies whats gone wrong at all? where as the lovely free flowing direct football that meath always play, looking from the outside the change to this short hand passing backwards and sidewards has come since Banty and his cohorts took ye over, with all the tradition and football know how thats in meath what were ye thinking of bringing in an outside manager to tell meath how to play football. Now please dont go changing anything until after the first round of the leinster ,after that i for one would love to see the meath of old emerge tough tackling backs with direct long ball into six scoring forwards

dubarra (Wicklow) - Posts: 541 - 19/03/2012 13:34:48    1132187