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Unless there has been a real attempt to remedy the long standing shortcomings in the basic skills involving team preparation, it really wont matter too much who plays where. I wonder has anything really happened to take account of the need to focus on improvement in preparation, other than just playing around with names. Thats a cop out ,and will not yield any real change in outcome . Without doubt all the shortcomings can be improved on with proper coaching and management .
nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1266 - 19/01/2022 19:45:07 2395664 Link 16 |
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Is this the first year Andy is using radio? Noticed he had the headset in on Saturday. bert09 (Meath) - Posts: 1807 - 19/01/2022 21:25:16 2395676 Link 0 |
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I don't understand what you mean by shortcomings in team preparation?
ratlag (Meath) - Posts: 582 - 20/01/2022 09:52:43 2395691 Link 2 |
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The list is long and goiing by what was on show over last two games issues have not been addressed. Its now a case of wait and see. Same team same tatics and same prep. will get us nowhere. Next two games will tell a lot.
seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2196 - 20/01/2022 12:08:25 2395723 Link 12 |
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Well its well known for years now what our shortcomings are .Hardly need to go through them again. Kickouts , Poor fielding especially at midfield leaving keeper with reduced options . Fielding CAN be improved through coaching no question. Freetaking Can be improved through coaching no question. As a team build up to attacks are far to slow and cumbersome.WHY? i suggest too much fear of making a mistake . Team preparation... Its clear management style is far to dictatorial. That may be necessary as a last option at times but not as a first option every time. I cannot at all see where the objective is to establish and maintain a team. culture where continuous improvement as a team is top priority .Players are encouraged to do self analysis and change and improve themselves and not just because they are being shouted at . Yes Dublin set the standard here .They have a culture .Just listen to their players in interview...continuous improvement all singing from the same sheet,.Started byGilroy and fine tuned by Gavin. I support Meath and i very much admire Dublin because of this team culture. That culture has yielded massive results. Resourses yes that helps we know .but too easy to use as an excuse.. Getting our act togheter is first by way of culture the rest will follow in time. What culture have we as a team .name it. How will i recognise it . Will our players be able to articulate it like the Dublin lads ? We dont have a culture. because we dont learn from mistakes. Again we could not even do a proper review last year and thats only the first step ! Team preparation includes everything that is designed to improve performance County Board are chief culprits here because of no proper review. The manager is a chief culprit because he did nothing to improve shortcomings that could and should have been sorted out long ago.How does he ENCOURAGE players ? I dont accept his style of management of imposition and not listening when needed. I supported his appointment at the time but i do not expect any worthwhile improvement. Then i ask myself in the current state who would take the job ? I would expect the top table to answer that one ? nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1266 - 20/01/2022 12:48:22 2395732 Link 15 |
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1) Goalkeeper issues - We've over a dozen used in this managers reign and we're no closer to settling or solving the problem of who the best one is. Colgan must be a cat given the number of times he's come back in to the team. I fully expect him to start on the 30th v Galway. Pick one keeper, allow them to make some mistakes and allow them the chance to come good rather than chop and change. 2) Kickout strategy - or utter lack off one. This team cannot get off kick outs properly, they constantly get pressured on the kick out and teams all over the country know they can go after it. We don't know whether to kick long, short or a place where we can win it. Colgan is liable to give up 3-4 poor kick outs a game which result in scores. This means we're always giving teams a head start. Colm Nally has been with us for 3-4 years, a supposed restart guru and we've no coherent strategy. That's on Management. 3) Midfielders and middle eight - we've no one in the middle eight of the team who has the ability to win clean or dirty ball. This results in us putting pressure on ourselves and the ball going straight back towards our goal. A kick out strategy being communicated to the team and implemented by management would certainly help us break more than even in this area. 4) Slow starts - We've given teams huge head starts in multiple games during Andy's tenure and tried chasing them down. Why has this team an utter inability to start a game at a much better tempo and have to rely on changes in games at half time. Since 2021 we've given Mayo, Kildare, Dublin and Laois 10 point head starts and lost all 4 games. Heck even on Saturday we got four scores in the first half. Surely it's on management having the team at the right pitch to start a game. 5) Free taking - does this need to expand on. We've had more free and 45 takers than keepers used and I've honestly lost count and not one of them has a better than 70% conversion rate. Kicking a dead ball is a skill that can be thought and done in repetition by a group of players with a kicking coach which doesn't seem to have been considered by management. We'd a 45 on Saturday after the missed penalty and i don't even know who took or what came of it as the commentary team seemed to not even mention it. Why do we not have someone working with a group of players on kicking the dead ball, every team has a kicking coach bar us it seems. 6) Build up play - slow laborious and allows teams to get back in place and get organised. The team is risk free and keep mistakes down. They can't hit teams on the break as they're not allowed kick quick or long ball into the inside forwards. The better teams can drown them in retreating players as they slowly move it about. This team when the do go quick and they have shown they can at times and to great effect, can score. But most of the time the don't as the manager will be ripping into them on the sideline for making mistakes when they do. 7) Inability to break down teams - Utterly unable to break down a team that defends the D well and coupled with an inability kick scores from distance they often get turned over. Management allowing them to play with more freedom and allowing them to make mistakes with out an ear bashing might help them move quicker. Look at the better teams, quick transitions and have scored within 5-10 seconds of a turnover. Our default is almost to turn back and make sure we don't give it away. Allow the players to play whats in front of them and make mistakes. 8) Lack of leadership - we seriously lack leadership on the field to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and make things happen. This is a direct consequence of the risk free football we play for fear of an ear bashing. All of the above are shortcomings which are known within the county but almost more embarrassingly by most teams we face and they can game plan for us accordingly. Teams don't fear playing Meath because they know what to expect. Its why they push up on our kick outs, give up frees and defend their D's extremely well. brian (Meath) - Posts: 1973 - 20/01/2022 14:56:08 2395759 Link 13 |
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This is my guess at what I think the team will be for the Galway game. LeitrimRoyal99 (Meath) - Posts: 1527 - 20/01/2022 15:37:51 2395763 Link 10 |
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On the goalkeeper and dead ball taking issue I can't accept laying blame at the management entirely. Andy can't exactly be faulted for not trying new lads in goals, we've used god knows how many and apart from Hogan can you honestly name one lad whos shown themselves as any better than Colgan?? Even when Marcus Brennan went in he was on a level par with Colgan and looking at club games there doesn't seem to be a whole pile better out there really. Free taking and 45's is down to players, each lad who takes frees for Meath does so for their club as well, McMahon, O' Reilly, Walsh, Morris, O Sullivan and all are well able to kick them, management can't be blamed for a lad missing a simple 13 yard free as Walsh did say in the Super 8's or be as wildly inconsistent as O Reilly has been at times. This is something a manager or coach can only do so much work on, after that lads need to get down to the pitch on their own and just practice at, its as simple as that. Kickout strategy is a massive issue and one that at this stage Andy has to take the flack for, you're right it does seem non existent and if we don't get a quick one off we revert to the long hit and hope which isn't good enough in the modern game. Slow starts is a player thing, once they cross the white line its down to the 15 men out there to take ownership and control of the game. Managers can have you as psyched and pumped as you like but if you don't attack it from the off theres nothing the manager can do. I think this leans into your lack of leadership point and while its not every game we start slow, the ones where it matters we do tend to start them on the back foot more often than not. I don't think Andy is perfect but a lot of what people here give out about is more down to the players than the management. I've said before we have improved since when he first took over and yea maybe this is his last year and he can improve them no more but unless the players themselves do a bit more as well, you could have Jim GAvin, Sean Boylan and Jimmy McGuinness in there and we still wouldn't do any better ratlag (Meath) - Posts: 582 - 20/01/2022 15:46:37 2395770 Link 4 |
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Fair points Ratlag and good to have an opposing view without being told you're totally wrong. I think you make a very fair point on keepers and free's and I don''t entirely blame management for it. Yes they can only put the players in a position and the players have to take accountability from there, absolutely true. On the keeper I would like to go through a season and just have one keeper play every game and the team doesn't have to think who's our lts line of defence today. It might help settle the team a little. For me Andy has been a bit trigger happy in dismissing keepers very quickly ala Dominic Yorke. I think whomever the next man is they have to identify 1 keeper and allow that keeper time and space to make mistake without fear of the hook from management. Free taking i do agree with you on that too that players need to do their own work on that and practice practice practice and then practice some more. I think a kicking coach to be brought in and work on the technique and approach would certainly help. If i remember Costello v Wicklow in 2020 attempting to take a few and i'm not singling him out more the need for technique, he seemed to run and kick the ball as hard as he could and hoped it was on target. If you look at Rock, O'Connor, Beggan and Morgan for example, they all have a technique and approach to their kicks. Poor Mattie that day seemed like a lad kicking an O'Neills for the first time. Its more about getting the coach in and giving the players the best chance to succeed but then they need to take the ownership of it. And like the keeper thing we assign one player and they don't get taken off them for one or two misses as that will be in their head that they're not trusted rather than i know if i miss the manager has my back on this. Again accept the point re slow starts too, and you're right players need to start right and get themselves in the right frame of mind. I'm not sure how it can be improved because TBF i think Andy has tried and failed with several approaches. We all remember the 17 game v Kildare where they did a huge warm up pre match and he got hammered unfairly in my opinion as it being the reason we lost. As you say we all know this is Andy's last year and maybe if he could spare the rod and spoil the child a little and empower the players a bit more we might see something better than what we have previously. I know many think i'm very anti Andy and I'm not its more the seemingly lack of effort to improve things and adjust and learn from past mistakes that simply frustrates me. Now players do need to take a bit of ownership and start saying this is our team and we need to show we're good enough and many of our underage teams are showing that attitude and hopefully as they trickle into the senior set up they'll bring that attitude with them. brian (Meath) - Posts: 1973 - 20/01/2022 16:57:24 2395780 Link 10 |
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Wish i could pick a hole in that but you're absolutely spot on there LeitrimRoyal99.
brian (Meath) - Posts: 1973 - 20/01/2022 16:59:23 2395781 Link 4 |
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I believe all posters on here want to see things improve. I also believe every poster on here must know the well documented shortcomings outlined above. I also believe every poster can see these faults have not been adressed . These flaws are on this forum for years at this stage. How can we expect to improve so ??? Everyone must know the dominant tactic is rule through fear. Why > Its clear that all the shortcomings Goalie, fielding, freetaking, quick transition to attack ,shooting for scores etc. require confidence in the individual and thus in the team . So why are these faults still there after years......FEAR . . It is a poor outdated style of management. Everybody knows a manager will not be made to measure for the role. He must be willing to learn and listen as you go. If not willing to do so you become surplus to requiements as manager in ANY sport . On this forum it seems the dominant focus is who plays and where. Thats a side issue. The real issue is the lack of continuous improvement culture being fostered . How can it be said we want to improve if we dont address the shortcomings. Is that not what training sessions are designed to achieve. So who and how are the quality of training sessions measured. Is it just on the quantity of sessions rather than the QUALITY of the sessions? Perhaps we may see more posters on here write about the issue of team improvement by way of better preparation as outlined. Maybe some people believe if you are critical , you are just negative or not loyal and less of a supporter. I say rubbish to that. I am not critical of Andy McEntee the person .I dont even know the man ! I totally accept the right of the admin to refuse to print my post if i was casting doubt on the iintegrity of the man . I simply am critical of management STYLE.
nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1266 - 20/01/2022 17:01:06 2395782 Link 16 |
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With Menton and Jones both injured and unlikely to feature in the first couple of league games, it gives Andy the chance to look at new midfield options. If he could find new options for midfield Menton would be a great asset as an attacking wing back who could also mark a physically imposing opposition wing forward. Likewise Jones could be an addition as a wing forward to give another option for kick outs. But will he find these new midfield options ??
kingofclubs (Meath) - Posts: 330 - 20/01/2022 17:30:48 2395786 Link 0 |
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Agree with all you've said. And I've said it many times before, name a player that is a better footballer than he was 3/4 years ago on that Meath panel? Maybe Ronan Ryan but he wasn't even starting for his club team when called up. If you look at the narrow defeats to Tyrone and Donegal in the qualifiers, you'd have said hard luck but we've a team developing… where did it go? They didn't seem to go anywhere. Serious lack of expertise and innovation in the management team. No doubting Andy Mc's passion and work ethic … but great leaders surround themselves with people who are more intelligent than them.
Crinigan (Meath) - Posts: 1352 - 20/01/2022 20:28:31 2395808 Link 12 |
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https://youtube.com/watch?v=rB9evR-d2Xc&feature=share
bert09 (Meath) - Posts: 1807 - 20/01/2022 20:38:07 2395809 Link 1 |
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Any word on when club na mi are taking subscriptions for this year ? royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 21/01/2022 07:03:35 2395816 Link 0 |
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Just had a look ....again. Should be compulsary viewing for all Meath GAA supporters. Encouragement, belief, calmness, FUN atmosphere is a very positive approach. Most importantly it delivers results .Well done to all. Can you bottle that atmosphere i wonder?
nobull456 (Meath) - Posts: 1266 - 21/01/2022 11:06:02 2395837 Link 8 |
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I think Andy will work with what he has and there won't be much change. I'd expect your midfield in their absence to be some combination of Ethan Devine, Brian Conlon, Shane McEntee, Padraic Harnan. Maybe Gavin McGowan, Jack Fynn and Matthew Costello would come into the reckoning too. I would love to see Jones at WF in the future as he's able to work around the pitch and score which is what you need from a modern WF. We have some decent midfielders coming through in Conor Gray, Jack Kinlough and possibly Sean Emmanuel so hopefully with our next manager they'll have multiple options there. brian (Meath) - Posts: 1973 - 21/01/2022 11:31:21 2395844 Link 9 |
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And he's done all that in the same time frame Andy has been managing the men's senior team. Yes i know men's and ladies football aren't comparable but look at the atmosphere around the ladies team, relaxed, fun, they're all great friends, have a system they play to where everyone knows their role, a management team which encourages them during the game. The fact the ladies team all get on so well is an example to everyone. When they're as close off the pitch they'll fight harder for each other on the pitch. brian (Meath) - Posts: 1973 - 21/01/2022 11:34:30 2395846 Link 8 |
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I would consider that a weak halfback line and you may need a stronger line there considering the mid-field options-just hope I am wrong. The best of luck to team/management in their 2022 campaign which is shorter time wise than normal.
browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2342 - 21/01/2022 13:18:09 2395863 Link 16 |
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Think fionn reilly is back over in Italy playing soccer,can anyone confirm this? huge blow for meath if thats the case. Between himself and Jimmy Corcoran opting for soccer then Nash and McBride in the AFL its hard not to feel really unlucky. I know all counties deal with it but feels like Meath have been hit a bit worse. redser123 (Meath) - Posts: 404 - 21/01/2022 15:45:00 2395885 Link 0 |