News From The Management
From The Management
With all the latest news and updates from the entire Aylesbury United management team, as well as periodic reports from the club captain, this is the best place to keep in touch with the goings on at the club.
We also welcome any questions from supporters. If you have something you wish to put to management team then please e-mail info@aylesburyunitedfc.co.uk.
2009
I would like to give everyone an honest assessment of the last couple of weeks. There is no doubt in football that just when you think great progress is on the horizon things can go horribly wrong very quickly, and we have had arguably our worst two weeks of the season.
After our three wins early this month there was definitely a belief that we could nail the last playoff place. I had improved the squad and we now had healthy competition in all places.
Now after our Chasetown defeat we are left with needing virtually to win all our games and hope for a miracle, as well as carrying injuries throughout the team.
The margin between winning and losing football games is very thin and the two games that have been our undoing was not Chasetown, it was the home games to Bedworth and Bury which we believed we could get a result in.
In the last two games fortune has certainly not smiled on us. Although we weren’t at our best I am convinced that in the first half of the Bury game if Sid’s header goes in instead of rebounding off the inside of the post we would have gone on and got the result we needed.
Our injury problems have come back to haunt us. Ben Stevens is almost certainly out for the season, and the others I will give an update on the website once I know. I couldn’t fault our work rate and effort against Chasetown; it’s a difficult place to go and performance wise I thought we stood up to them and definitely deserved something from the game.
I am not going to use the excuse that decisions that have gone against us are the reason for our recent poor results, but I do feel we have been on the wrong end of some poor refereeing. I agree with the sentiment that it’s a difficult job but what I have seen in our last two games has been complete incompetence.
In truth we have to look at ourselves, we haven’t been good enough when it counted, too many of our players have chosen the wrong time of the season to have poor form; you can sometimes handle 1 or 2 but not 5 or 6.
The areas that have cost us dearly are the consistent waste of good chances and sloppiness in the final third, individual errors and our old nemesis of defending set pieces. In fact I can’t think of many recent goals we have conceded from open play. The problem is if we continually give away silly free kicks in dangerous positions we are simply rolling the dice because every team in this league will ask questions of your defence, it’s a massive part of the game and something we need to improve on if we want to progress.
We have an honest talented bunch of young players we just need to get them a bit tougher mentally to move on to the next level. I am determined that we apply ourselves correctly for the remaining games of the season and finish strongly because as we have seen recently to our detriment in football anything can happen and things can turn around very quickly.
As always thank you for the continued support.
Mark Eaton
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RSS 2008
Although disappointed I am philosophical about our loss to Leighton Town, as reported it was a dire game and we knew on their pitch they would be a tough nut to crack but we created by far the better chances and with Marshy’s two chances in the first half the game should have been out of sight. We also should have had a penalty but I felt the official was trying to referee the game without making any decisions. The only way they were going to score was from a set piece and that’s how in panned out.
As far as the injury situation it is a massive frustration that we have only got Sam Swonnell back, Craig Henney and Maynard should only be a few more weeks, Carl Kavanagh another month. Liam unfortunately is a longer term situation as he made need a further clear up op on his knee which is very disappointing for the lad and a blow to team. Once we have our players back it will certainly make competition for places a lot healthier although I am pleased we have been able to utilize our youth team and give some of those lads some first team experience.
Looking forward we have some big tests coming up which ultimately will tell us a lot about how we are going to progress this year. My wish for the New Year is that we get some positive news on a ground back in Aylesbury and on the playing front find some consistency especially away from home.
As always thank you to our loyal band of supporters who consistently follow us home and away I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Successful New Year
Best wishes
Mark
2008
Well a month certainly is a long time in the football industry.
After our opening day of the season defeat to Leamington we then went on an unbelievable run remaining undefeated for some 11 games culminating in a F.A cup fourth qualifying round defeat to Sutton united.
Since then however we now find ourselves on the other end of results. The major reason for this is the injury situation we now find ourselves in.
Unlike last season none of them are long term but the sheer weight of numbers is having a major effect on us.
The tale of the tape reads as follows:
Liam Smyth (knee) - 6 weeks
Stu Maynard (groin) - 3 weeks
Craig Henney (hamstring) - 3 weeks
Sam Swonnell (ankle) - 2 weeks
Carl Kavanagh (ankle) - 2 weeks
Added to this are Ben Stevens who is just returning from 6 weeks out with broken ribs and Mark Jones just returning from 3 weeks with a fractured wrist.
Unfortunately our financial situation does not permit me to simply go out and replace like with like so we simply have to dig in and do the best we can until more bodies are fit and available.
Hopefully though in 2/3 weeks we will have a strong squad in which to choose from. In the league our form is inconsistent in the extreme. How on earth we can be beaten 3-1 at a very average Bromsgrove then beat Dunstable 4-0 at home only to lose 4-2 on the following Saturday away to another very average Sutton Coldfield.
It is the sort of inconsistency that has managers pulling their hair out.
It would appear that last season’s insecurities on our travels are still lurking beneath the surface.
Currently if we continue in this same form we will finish in a similar position to last season.
Very frustrating for a manager when the same messages are being delivered to the players whether at home or away.
It would be easy to cover up these inadequacies with excuses but that is not my way. With this in mind I have decided to do a bit of team tinkering.
Starting with the defence I am in the process of releasing Nick Leach and have brought in James Saulsbury from Oxford city. James is a very experienced player who has captained every club he has
been associated with.
I am hoping his experience will have a positive effect on the very keen if inexperienced Carl Kavanagh and Ross Taylor.
I am also hoping to bring in another big strong centre half and will experiment with 3 x commanding defenders in some games.
These things will obviously take time to instigate and settle in but as I said earlier if we keep going as we currently are we will finish in a similar position to last season and I will be annoyed with myself for not trying alternatives.
Sometimes you have to take a step backwards to eventually move forward.
Your continued support is as ever much appreciated.
Regards
Tommo
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