Official Match Thread: Wycombe Wanderes V Preston North End

I can’t recall anybody asking for Stockley recently, maybe 12 months ago.

Its very difficult to do enough to earn a starting birth when you only ever get little cameos here and there and invariably played out of position. 🤷‍♂️ 8 goals last season though isn’t a bad return for a bit part player. It must be frustrating when the other lads for example Browne haven't been performing yet they still get picked every week regardless. It’s clear AN doesn’t rate him, he sees him every day so must have his reasons. Whether people agree or not I think every player needs a run of games to get into their stride. From what I have seen of Harrop he hasn’t ripped up any trees but I don’t think it’s because of a lack of ability. I don’t believe he’s been managed very well to get the best out of him. He’s shown flashes of quality but I don’t think he suits how AN wants to play.

I think your bang on, a move away would be a good move for both parties. Harrop career is stalling and at his age he needs to be playing regular. Like I said very odd decision to give him a new contract if we have no intention of playing him.

I think stockley is useless. Slow, not mobile, hardly wins headers, always on the floor , prefers to foul defenders as opposed to battling with them. However you do make a very fair point here Chris. Neil does this with a few players, stockley, Harrop and storey to name a few. They literally play 1 in 10 and never get a run. Most footballers needs a run of games . If a player can sit on his arse for 6 month then play one game and it always be a worldie, they wouldn't be in the championship.

Fully agree with you and Nelly, I can see Earl as a left sided CB. He has all the attributes. 👍

I see Dirty Leeds are having a cracking day at Crawley, 3 0 down after 80 mins

I can't bring myself to watch any replay Nelson but as I recall for the third goal a free kick came in from a fairly central position, Earl had presumably gone into the middle to add height. Despite his presence and that of Storey and Hughes they failed to win the ball and it was played out to the lb position, where the Wycombe player had been left unmarked. Bayliss then made a belated effort to catch him and stop the cross , but failed. The ball was played into the middle where the defenders were far too slow to react and failed to get tight enough to stop a shot going into the net.

On reflection Earl was not as culpable for this third goal as he was for the first two..he was just part of an organisational defensive shambles.

The finger should have been pointed at Neil for (unnecessarily) changing the entire defence, unneccessarily playing the usual lb at cb, sending out a defence that had never played together before and what appeared to be a wholly inadequate match plan (if there was one) for dealing with Ikpeazu.

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As for Earl I hope the optimists are right because in the last two games he has played he has looked like a Sunday League standard left back.

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As for the players we have got:

Stockley...nowhere near Champ standard, too slow, lack of mobility, make a decent L1 cf
Bayliss...doesn't look good enough at this level
Earl...already said what I've thought of his performances
Storey....L2 at best...I've seen better National League cbs
Rafferty....decent L1 standard
Hughes...likewise
Hunts..decent stop gap, but that's it
Harrop....needs to go out on loan and get some games

Sooner we get another 20 points on the board this season the better...because it's about nothing else.

Wasn't long ago you told us all how ledson was a donkey. Kind of shows that Chris has a point about playing players . Once ledson got a run , he started to come on. If Earl is to come good he needs games and he needs them a LCB for me , now . We ain't going to go up or down playing the way we play so why not transition Earl now ??

No Micky, I said Ledson wasn't good enough when he joined us..and the subsequent two seasons have shown the accuracy of such a view. I'm pleased for him and the club that he has come good but the way recruitment is being handled is no good for anybody.

What is the point, what can be achieved in bringing in young players, such as Bayliss, Harrop, Storey, and then having no team and competitive league for them to play in and no means of development other than on the training ground and occasional look in at friendlies, League Cup games or as a sub etc. How can they be expected to develop?

What appears to make it even worse at PNE is that:
- it seems from comments that AN has had no part to play in their recruitment...even said yesterday that he knew they were not good enough which is why he has not played them in League games
- it appears that for his own vanity or ego that he was prepared to play all the players he knows are not good enough together in an ill-prepared side to prove that these players are not good enough and the squad needs strengthening

We all know that Westley was incompetent but I have nevdr heard anybody accuse him of picking a side knowing it was n't good enough to win.

I recall Alex Ferguson once saying that he never played for a draw. Being the manager he was he wanted to win everything.

The team that was put on the pitch yesterday was a disgrace..and there's only one person responsible for that...and her hasn't the grace to even apologise to fans, instead he blames the players!

Anybody heard about pne being fined by police?apparently a pointless drive to Wycombe north London breaks coving rules .

He more or less did say they weren't good enough

I'm guessing he wanted to throw them under the bus and expose them for what they are possibly?

For me the crux is that you can throw a couple of changes is and be ok, but when so many fringe players play together at the same time, you’re asking for trouble. Especially when so many of the best players are not playing. To me it shows where ANs priorities lie. The league.

Game was rubbish yesterday and illustrates also for me one of the criticisms levelled at Neil is that he has favourites. Always thought this a weird accusation, especially when it comes from people who also call for a settled side. All managers have favourites, the dependable, reliable ones who rarely let them down. We’ve a stack of them. Maguire, Browne, DJ, Barky... etc. They may have the odd bad game, that’s why they play for us not Liverpool! But they do what he asks and generally do a decent job. Yesterday showed us WHY these are his favourites.

Last point I promise...maybe, just maybe, the team selection was a ‘sink or swim’ moment. A chance to show P Riddy and TH what the team would be like should we sell all the best players and replace with substandard players. Of course not all the players deserve this description but ultimately Potts, Riis, Ledson are head and shoulders above Rafferty, Stockley and, I hate to say this, Jordan Storey. Maybe this was a message to TH... ‘back me or the future will look like this’.

Either way, it was horrible but at least it wasn’t a league game.

Totally agree. Storey’s lack of game time has really hindered his progress, same for Earl. I am a big believer that Earl will be a player in the long term, but he needs more games

''.....at least it wasn't a League game'.

The way I look at it Mooney is that we ought to be able to acquire another 20 points this season and stay up....and a long overdue FA Cup would not only boost the coffers but raise the morale of the fans. Success also breeds success.

Seems you think we need to save the better players for the League...as they are going to be needed?

IF AN wanted to send PR/TH a message the team he picked seems a perverse way to do it...one that reflects on his managerial ability.

Now this is a good point. Show the horse racing deluded onwer who knows nothing about football that some of his players are rubbish. We need new ones. Just a thought