Mac or Connell

[NorthamptonBee]

I loved watching Connell, he did things that most players who have played for us dream about. An impossible turn or a flick with so much vision and a sublime finish every now and then.
CM works his balls off and stands up to the physical pressure applied whilst putting away most chances that come his way. He works the flanks and can pass and cross and must be a nightmare to mark. Grant Holt is a similar if not taller version and cost 175k, I know who I'd prefer in my team.

Anyway, I have put statistical evidence into a mathmatical formula and have come up with the answer that states that anyone who mentions that we are missing Connell is a dullard. It would have been nice to have both of them when fit but we are 2nd because we have CM IMO.

 

[Markybee]

Is this a joke? :shrug:

 

[wanderer paul]

agreed, but i wish Connell HAD stayed, as with him maybe in a Centre Mid position, i feel we would have more coming from the middle and not just the wings. Another option, IMO, is to have a Bean/Poole CM with Dickson wide left, but this is really nit picking when we're doing so well IMO.

 

[wanderer paul]

Is this a joke? :shrug:

No. It's an open debate. As for NB's dislike of Williams, well......................thats another matter for discussion!

 

[NorthamptonBee]

Is this a joke? :shrug:

Yep but I still read yesterday that Connell was missed, I had tired eyes but I'm sure I read it on here somewhere. I read that Elder is crap and I really am interested to hear if we have any Connell diehards left. I have room in my ignore list.

The other thing about CM is that he seems such a team player, I really get the feeling that they love him and his encoragement brings so much harmony on the park. He doesn't react when asked to wave by the fans, I like that. I'd love to have played for BFC but if you lot sung "NB,NB give us a wave.." then I would be thinking feck off gaylords.

 

[NorthamptonBee]

No. It's an open debate. As for NB's dislike of Williams, well......................thats another matter for discussion!

He did loads right yesterday but bolloxed up after some great touches to burst clear. He did well for the goal but that was after his control went missing once more. I like the lad but I want to see more.

Newton's dead ball ability anyone?

 

[NorthamptonBee]

. Another option, IMO, is to have a Bean/Poole CM with Dickson wide left, but this is really nit picking when we're doing so well IMO.

I've banged on about this. A side with Wood, Dickson and Poole has 3 very good players in it.

 

[wanderer paul]

Newton's dead ball ability anyone?

i mentioned this on the match thread too. Newton's position in the 'team' is under pressure IMO, his passing and dead ball delivery these last few games have been poor. If Elder was supposedly dropped, then so could Newton, no doubt i'll now get slagged off, or put on someones 'ignore post list' !!!!

 

[Markybee]

CM is the best we've had up front since Forster. Pacy, nippy (if not explosive) reads the game, alert, intelligent and works his socks off each week. Big Nath doesn't read the game that well yet and is a big raw lump at the moment - which I say with resect - but hard work could see the second half of this season see them become a lethal combination.

I liked Connell. Probably the best touch and skill level of any forward in this league but his upper body strength was negligable and he would always get bullied in this league. Mac has far, far more to offer.

 

[jlove]

NB, you're started this off in an attempt to kill it!

Connell flattered to deceive in a poor team, like Jo Kuffour before him. If he had been playing yesterday, he would have been flattened in the first five minutes and out of the game until subbed later. At our level we need physical players; even Charlie Mac gets flattened... but he gets up again and dishes it out. AC vs. CM - the trick I want to see is goals!

 

[Mads Bee]

i mentioned this on the match thread too. Newton's position in the 'team' is under pressure IMO, his passing and dead ball delivery these last few games have been poor. If Elder was supposedly dropped, then so could Newton, no doubt i'll now get slagged off, or put on someones 'ignore post list' !!!!

I agree with you wp

 

[Claire]

MacD

 

[love and mercy]

Charlie
our best finisher since Deano

 

[mundee4england]

Mac is a class player, he works hard for the team, runs well off the ball, has great strength for his side and most importantly puts away the vast majority of chances he gets.

I cannot remember having such a natural finisher in the team, going back through the Owusus, Taylors, Asabas, Forsters etc I think Mac is more of a natural finisher, probably have to keep going until you get to Deano.

Mac had one sniff today and took it, having a player that can do that gives the team confidence that any game can be won and along with a very strong defense he is the reason we are where we are in the table.

AC was talented for this divison but still lacked in many areas and didnt offer nearly as much as Mac.

 

[North London Bee]

This is the first time in a long career that CM has been a first choice in a football league team so I expect that he will be giving absolutedly everything to provr that he should have had this opportunity years ago.

My only concern is that he runs out of steam later in this season but I have him down for 25 goals now.

 

[big neil]

My only concern is that he runs out of steam later in this season but I have him down for 25 goals now.

My only concern is that we might sell him to a team only slightly better than us in the January sales for a knockdown price.

 

[shouldbee]

My only concern is that we might sell him to a team only slightly better than us in the January sales for a knockdown price.

It would have been nice to keep Connell as he could have played a role as a sub, but he wanted to be in the starting eleven and Charlie and Nathan is the best partnership. IMO Charlie is the best striker we've had since Deano, I can't believe Sarfend let him go !

 

[sonofabee]

i mentioned this on the match thread too. Newton's position in the 'team' is under pressure IMO, his passing and dead ball delivery these last few games have been poor. If Elder was supposedly dropped, then so could Newton, no doubt i'll now get slagged off, or put on someones 'ignore post list' !!!!

I think we'd miss Newton more than we realise if he wasn't playing. I wrote yesterday that his distribution was woeful. Howver, he has a great ability to turn defence into attack quickly and is capable usually of good delivery into the box.
He links up well with Williams and personally I think he's the best right back we've at at the club for a long long time.

 

[sonofabee]

It would have been nice to keep Connell as he could have played a role as a sub, but he wanted to be in the starting eleven and Charlie and Nathan is the best partnership. IMO Charlie is the best striker we've had since Deano, I can't believe Sarfend let him go !

Agreed, sure other clubs in league 1 and possibly championship will be keeping tabs

 

[mhead bee]

I've banged on about this. A side with Wood, Dickson and Poole has 3 very good players in it.

Our weakness is a bit of steele in midfield, neither connel nor poole would provide that for us. Connel was a useful but slightly lightweight forward and poole is a lefty, there is and never should be anyplace for them in CM.

 

[walkerbee]

Our weakness is a bit of steele in midfield, neither connel nor poole would provide that for us. Connel was a useful but slightly lightweight forward and poole is a lefty, there is and never should be anyplace for them in CM.

why? could offer a bit of balance? though with poole theres always the risk of him running wide
though if smith is out for much longer i would consider trying this out for the final 15 minutes of a match to see if it works... would give us more attacking threat from the middle, and still plenty of pace and crossing ability from the left flank

 

[walkerbee]

i mentioned this on the match thread too. Newton's position in the 'team' is under pressure IMO, his passing and dead ball delivery these last few games have been poor. If Elder was supposedly dropped, then so could Newton, no doubt i'll now get slagged off, or put on someones 'ignore post list' !!!!

agree here. i know he's the captain, but maybe he feels a little cozy knowing he'll always get picked.
he's a good player, but i get the feeling he could give us more than he does at the moment.

 

[Datchetbee]

Charlie has been absolutely brilliant so far!

Not sure about the best since Forrester or Deano etc yet?..PS what about Lloydy (In his prime) and even DJ!?

 

[wanderer paul]

Our weakness is a bit of steele in midfield, neither connel nor poole would provide that for us. Connel was a useful but slightly lightweight forward and poole is a lefty, there is and never should be anyplace for them in CM.

STEELE !!! Bean is our midfield ball winner/play breaker.

Our weakness in midfield is a creative player to drive forward, a la Smith, not a ball winner, Connell/Poole IMO could/'ve do this job. But it's all about opinions.

 

[Simon C]

Yep but I still read yesterday that Connell was missed, I had tired eyes but I'm sure I read it on here somewhere. I read that Elder is crap and I really am interested to hear if we have any Connell diehards left. I have room in my ignore list.

The other thing about CM is that he seems such a team player, I really get the feeling that they love him and his encoragement brings so much harmony on the park. He doesn't react when asked to wave by the fans, I like that. I'd love to have played for BFC but if you lot sung "NB,NB give us a wave.." then I would be thinking feck off gaylords.

From first whistle to last he has a look in his eyes of total concentration bordering on arrogance. During the warm up to the Barnet game he dragged Nathan over to the side of the pitch and stood with him arms folded glaring at the Barnet players warming up. Not seen anything like that since Talbot.

 

[PrincessBee]

if it were up to me i'd have both, to give an option or possibly to play connell in an attack minded midfield.

every time i see charlie mac play i like him more. i was/am a big connell fan, but i think if i had to chose, certainly bearing in mind the context of the rest of the team, i'd keep charlie.

newton had a mare on saturday i thought, i think he'll need to have a few more to be dropped tho.

the only change i'd make to the current 'first team' would be to swap halls for koc. i think that bean plays a lot better when he's not the more defensive in midfield, and i think koc does that job better than halls.

that plus the occasional sub of moses for elder (when he struggles for whatever reason) with moses on the wing and marvin moved up front, or a straight moses for marvin to give us another dimension when games go stale.

 

[PrincessBee]

My only concern is that we might sell him to a team only slightly better than us in the January sales for a knockdown price.

nah, i don't think he's scored enough goals yet to catch the eye from anyone big enough to take him.

i reckon the only player we'd be in danger of losing in january would be poole, and with his ankle seeming to be an issue, and him not finishing matches, i think we might be safe - clubs don't want to spend big money (which is hopefully all we'd part with him for) for someone with injury issues.

 

[PrincessBee]

having said all that, could do with them having a bad game against havant (as long as we win) just to be sure. let's face it good as DJ was, without those couple of goals in the cup he'd have never got that move.

 

[West Ealing Bee]

I think we'd miss Newton more than we realise if he wasn't playing. I wrote yesterday that his distribution was woeful. Howver, he has a great ability to turn defence into attack quickly and is capable usually of good delivery into the box.
He links up well with Williams and personally I think he's the best right back we've at at the club for a long long time.

One thing i don't think many people notice about Newton is his 1vs1 defending.

I can't recall many left wingers getting the better of him in a race or when theyr un at him, he often pushed them wide, holds them up, makes them release the ball and more often than not he'll win the ball back when we need it.

He joins in the attack very well and if his final ball was a little better we'd all be raving about him.

 

[Simon C]

One thing i don't think many people notice about Newton is his 1vs1 defending.

I can't recall many left wingers getting the better of him in a race or when theyr un at him, he often pushed them wide, holds them up, makes them release the ball and more often than not he'll win the ball back when we need it.

He joins in the attack very well and if his final ball was a little better we'd all be raving about him.

And Posh wouldn't have let him go. People expect the full works because he's a senior pro but there's a reason he's in the bottom division.

 

[nick logan]

One thing i don't think many people notice about Newton is his 1vs1 defending.

I can't recall many left wingers getting the better of him in a race or when theyr un at him, he often pushed them wide, holds them up, makes them release the ball and more often than not he'll win the ball back when we need it.

He joins in the attack very well and if his final ball was a little better we'd all be raving about him.

:thetruth:

 

[LinnersBee]

I was a big fan of Connell i thought he was a class act and is a big loss to the bees! Having him on the bench now and possibly starting him with mac when playing against a team like Morecambe (Slow big (well over weight to be a pro footballer) defenders) and bringing him on with 20 mins to go when we need an option would have been amazing and may have (in my opinion would have) changed the games we have drawn to wins! Is he still injured as i dont see him in the team in the sunday papers for Bournemouth which is a shame!

Obviously though it's not all doom and gloom as we have a new class act up front who looks dangerous and runs his nuts off for Brentford

 

[warwickroadbee]

i mentioned this on the match thread too. Newton's position in the 'team' is under pressure IMO, his passing and dead ball delivery these last few games have been poor. If Elder was supposedly dropped, then so could Newton, no doubt i'll now get slagged off, or put on someones 'ignore post list' !!!!

went down for the first time in about 3 weeks on Saturday (I'm a very busy guy... and honeslty not a fair weather fan... errr... anyway)...

Controversially, I thought Newton had a good game. Problem with him, is he takes all the corenrs a free kicks when in fact he's not very good at them. If you exclude all that dead ball stuff which presumably he does because that is the decision of the manager then as an attacking full back I think he's pretty good. Just my opinion but when you have a full back who is willing to burst forward it gives the oppo more the worry about (thought Wood did well getting forward on the left too...)

Final balls into the box were admittedly poor from both but the constant attacking threat was what kept Shrewsbury on the defensive and meant their mid players couldnt push on as they would like... Best form of defence is attack and all that...

I like Elder and even though Poole did nothing I still think he's the one player we need to keep. Charlie is a goal scorer which is something Connell was not so I'd rather have Mac any day.

Final point, does anyone else think Bean looks like he was lost in 1988 - what with his shorts pulled up higher than Simon Cowell... I like the style though and thik more players should adopt it.

 

[PrincessBee]

Final point, does anyone else think Bean looks like he was lost in 1988 - what with his shorts pulled up higher than Simon Cowell... I like the style though and thik more players should adopt it.

we noticed that as well, was the same at aldershot. i thought it was moses at first because he wears his like that, presumably to stop his shirt dragging on the floor and tripping him up...

 

[Markybee]

went down for the first time in about 3 weeks on Saturday (I'm a very busy guy... and honeslty not a fair weather fan... errr... anyway)...

Controversially, I thought Newton had a good game. Problem with him, is he takes all the corenrs a free kicks when in fact he's not very good at them. If you exclude all that dead ball stuff which presumably he does because that is the decision of the manager then as an attacking full back I think he's pretty good. Just my opinion but when you have a full back who is willing to burst forward it gives the oppo more the worry about (thought Wood did well getting forward on the left too...)

Final balls into the box were admittedly poor from both but the constant attacking threat was what kept Shrewsbury on the defensive and meant their mid players couldnt push on as they would like... Best form of defence is attack and all that...

I like Elder and even though Poole did nothing I still think he's the one player we need to keep. Charlie is a goal scorer which is something Connell was not so I'd rather have Mac any day.

Final point, does anyone else think Bean looks like he was lost in 1988 - what with his shorts pulled up higher than Simon Cowell... I like the style though and thik more players should adopt it.

:suspect: Why are you looking at mens shorts?

Personally I prefer looking at their torsos :shrug:

I think Newton can cross a lovely ball...his delivery against Macclesfield from corners was stunning...and what about his vision and execution to put a quick free kick on Nathans head 6 yards out against Morecambe, which the bug man (sadly) wasted.

More consistency is whats required and I do like him at right back, he hassles and reads the game well and as WEB mentions can get an attack going at pace.

Isn't is heartening to know this team is second yet you feel there is more to come from many players and the team can still raise its game.

 

[Charlie Bee]

I would pick MacDonald before Connell everyday of the week.

In MacDonald, Elder and Poole we have the best strikers and winger for years. Sign them up longterm!!

 

[Isleworth bee]

C.M What a wicked player just hope we can keep the team to gether
But saying that he is getting plenty of the ball from the passes via midfeild
The team is doing well this season

 

[jharvey85]

In a decent League 1 team Alan Connell would be top scorer IMHO. The fact that we are a half-decent League 2 team... AC is prob better than CMaC in the higher leagues but that's not where we're at yet...

 

[shouldbee]

In a decent League 1 team Alan Connell would be top scorer IMHO. The fact that we are a half-decent League 2 team... AC is prob better than CMaC in the higher leagues but that's not where we're at yet...

Elder will never be anywhere close to Alan Connell who is a proper footballer.
I guess all managers make mistakes and this is the biggest one AS has made.

If AS has real intentions of getting us promoted and holding our own in league one then I just cannot see why he offered Elder an extension to his contract.

 

[nick logan]

Elder will never be anywhere close to Alan Connell who is a proper footballer.
I guess all managers make mistakes and this is the biggest one AS has made.

If AS has real intentions of getting us promoted and holding our own in league one then I just cannot see why he offered Elder an extension to his contract.

Because we are a much better team when Elder plays. Have you watched any games?

 

[nick logan]

In a decent League 1 team Alan Connell would be top scorer IMHO. The fact that we are a half-decent League 2 team... AC is prob better than CMaC in the higher leagues but that's not where we're at yet...

Connell is nowhere near as good as Mac.

 

[gashbee]

I cannot believe people are still writing complete drivel on this thread.

Connell = A good player at this level that wanted a move down south to his former club instead of fighting for a first team spot.

Scott has not made a mistake, the decision was made for him by the player.

I for one, would not want a player playing for this club if he didn't want to.

THREAD CLOSED

 

[Ghost]

Charlie has already scored half as many league goals as Connell scored for us in total.
Don't get me wrong I wish we still had Connell but for sticking the ball in the net which is what you judge a striker on, I would take Charlie Mac anyday, far more instinctive and a natural poacher as his goal at H+W showed. He managed to stab the ball in even in an unorthodox fashion to get his goal. AC is/was probably a far more gifted footballer however.

 

[North London Bee]

If AC was such a good player as has been intimated on this thread then surely a higher level club at some point would have bought him.

He has played at Bnmth, Hereford and Brentford without establishing himself at any of them and whilst football is all about decisions, no manager has ever wanted to make him an integral member of his team.

He has some great strengths and qualities but these are counterbalanced by a large number of deficiencies. All of which have already been argues to death on the GPG!

I would have loved for us to have kept AC in the squad but he was a luxury that we could not afford given how the playing budget needed to be allocated.

Would I swop him for any of Elder, MacDonald or even Bowditch - no.

 

[Gee Bee]

If AC was such a good player as has been intimated on this thread then surely a higher level club at some point would have bought him.

He has played at Bnmth, Hereford and Brentford without establishing himself at any of them and whilst football is all about decisions, no manager has ever wanted to make him an integral member of his team.

He has some great strengths and qualities but these are counterbalanced by a large number of deficiencies. All of which have already been argues to death on the GPG!

I would have loved for us to have kept AC in the squad but he was a luxury that we could not afford given how the playing budget needed to be allocated.

Would I swop him for any of Elder, MacDonald or even Bowditch - no.

 

[Gee Bee]

poole is a lefty, there is and never should be anyplace for them in CM.

A large proprtion of games that Poole played for both Thurrock & Grays in the conference were in the central midfield area.

 

[Braemarroad_Bee]

Mac is a class player, he works hard for the team, runs well off the ball, has great strength for his side and most importantly puts away the vast majority of chances he gets.

I cannot remember having such a natural finisher in the team, going back through the Owusus, Taylors, Asabas, Forsters etc I think Mac is more of a natural finisher, probably have to keep going until you get to Deano.
.

Mac is a very decent finisher and great all round striker, he gives as good as he gets for a player his size too!

I didn't get to see much of Connell to be honest, but for all his skill he wasn't the quickest, so would definitely prefer Mac!

As for forwards from the past, i think the F-T index (Forster, Taylor) takes some beating! Forster in particular was and still is a brilliant natural finisher

 

[youngdelly]

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Charlie Mac, Charlie Charlie Charlie MacDonald.

Connel Who?????????

 

[Jimbee]

The one big difference that I see is Charlie's strength holding off his marker. AC has great ability but is about as strong as a wet paper bag.

 

[hairman]

If only that idiot Scott hadn't forced Connell to leave a club he so dearly loved - he wouldn't have got injured in a kick about & would now be bullying defences the length and breadth of the land - I reckon he would have about 30 goals so far this season!