Gone but not forgotten. Or in some cases best forgotten 2014

[notsorecentconvert]

This is a list of players who turned out for the Saints in 2014 but have since moved on. The good, the bad, the ugly and the bordering-on-incompetent.

Paul Bastock
Having not seen him before last season, my first impressions were not great. He’s not the biggest keeper and then I discovered he was 43 years old. But he could pull off great saves and organised the defence very well. He reminded me of an old Sunday League keeper I played with who was nicknamed The Flying Potato. In a good way.

Jamal Lowe
Fragile-looking front man who looked like a strong breeze might blow him in half. I kept expecting to hear that he’d been snapped in half in training by Lee Chappell or someone. Tricky, pacy but not deadly enough in front of goal. Last seen at Hemel.

Richard Graham
I know a lot of fans liked him but I found him incredibly frustrating. I’ve seen faster snails. He had a nice touch but if they had one of those heat-tracking maps of his movement on the pitch his ‘area of influence’ would have had a diameter of six feet. Last seen chucking his shirt at the bench after being subbed in the first half against Truro.

Mark Nwokeji
Reminded me of the old Luton and Chelsea striker Mark Stein, but without the same accuracy. Good movement but erratic in front of goal. However, considering the struggle to find anyone able to play up front alongside Frendo, was he worth keeping?

Ram Marwa
My favourite player last season. He could drop into this team now and improve it, I’m sure. Sorely missed and although Charlie Gorman has done well, Marwa hasn’t really been adequately replaced.

Kerrea Gilbert
He split opinion but I liked him. I can only assume he didn’t fit in, or work commitments got in the way. Solid enough defensively and reasonable going forward.

Connor Calcutt
Could have been the answer to the problem of finding a second striker. Went to Stevenage from Berkhamsted, then to Wealdstone on loan, where he broke his leg. Would be worth a loan move when he's on the way back to fitness.

Chris Henry
Fast, tricky but chaotic. Sometimes he’d beat the man, but without taking the ball with him. Sometimes the ball went past the man but he didn’t. The occasions when both he and the ball got into dangerous areas at the same time were exasperatingly few. But still added something off the bench, particularly against tiring defenders.

Peter Dean
I liked his work-rate and was biased because my Wealdstone-supporting mate said he was popular there. But really he didn’t add enough in his short time here.

George Sykes
Peter Crouch Lite. Very Lite. He was technically good for a big man, which is a euphemism for a No.9 who doesn’t score enough.

Warren Whitley
He came, he didn’t conquer, he went away again. The blueprint for this season’s fruitless search for a striker. See also Buchanan, McBean, Mitchell, Nouble.
Chris Watters
Never left much of an impression on me. When he was in the team it told me someone else was injured.

Tom Ward
I was very disappointed that Ward left. We went from having three good centre halves competing for two places to one and a loanee in a matter of weeks.

Lee Clarke
I know he was very popular because of his previous service for the club but I suspect without that earlier association people would have been on his back. Pressed into action as Frendo’s replacement against Concord in the cup and offered very little. Unfair to blame him for that defeat but his departure soon after wasn’t a surprise. Looked more of a threat when he came on as a sub. Perhaps too expensive for fringe involvement.

Elliott Buchanan
I always feel a bit nervous when managers (at any level) bring in several players all at once to fill the same position. Buchanan barely had a chance but didn’t do enough to deserve another one.

Warren McBean
Anonymous.

Loick Pires
Put on a contract in the summer. What were they thinking? Presumably because he’d played for Orient and had done well at Welling United. Lately it’s seemed a struggle to find clubs to take him on loan.

Sean Shields
Good to watch, with a nice touch, but struggles to influence games as much as his ability suggests he should. Needed to come down to us from Dagenham & Redbridge and make himself the first name on the teamsheet. That he didn’t suggests he won’t make it in the Football League.

Geoff Mitchell
Looked good in the Bromley home game. A handful for defenders in that sort of unrefined battering ram sort of way. Ran like he was trying to hold an apple between his buttocks without dropping it. But I thought he might be effective if given time. Sadly, cleared off to Canvey before we could find out, and didn’t last long there either.

Joel (or is it Jon, does it really matter?) Nouble
This level of football is littered with centre forwards who don’t score, create precious little and who do not frighten solid, no-nonsense defenders. Nouble fits into that category.

Charlie Smith
Loanee from Luton. Looked spritely, scored the winner at Basingstoke. Is he coming back?


Ben Martin
The skipper took a bit of stick for a few rocky performances but was still far more good than bad. Then he got involved in a rather unwise spat with some supporters on Twitter after a very poor display at Wealdstone. Even at this level, footballers need to recognise that it’s more often than not a one-way street. The supporters can dish it out, especially from a distance, but it’s never a very good idea to give it back. Has gone to Boreham Wood where the early pattern appears to be that he plays in all the 3-0 defeats and other people play when there are clean sheets. Probably.

[Hatboy]

I don't think people have been seeing which games Ben plays in he first played in their 3-0 win over Staines then came on against Eastbourne when 3-1 down, played in the 2-0 win over Bishop Stortford and then in the 2-0 defeat at Bath. Josh Hill was playing in the Eastbourne defeat.

[notsorecentconvert]

Twas just a joke about Ben Martin, hence the use of the word 'Probably'. But I guess if I have to explain it, it didn't work!!

[EFMTFTV]

Basically, bar Ram, we've mainly had crap players

[Canary Saint]

Dec 30, 2014 23:51:29 GMT EFMTFTV said:

Basically, bar Ram, we've mainly had crap players

A bit harsh I feel - some are merely just not quite adequate.

[tangerineman]

Highly entertaining recent convert, obviously very tongue in cheek but in most cases an accurate reflection of the player concerned. Some names I had forgotten about from last season but one, Chris Henry, was a player I always looked forward to see coming on from the bench, only to wonder after the game why he had. So frustrating.

[notsorecentconvert]

Yes, I liked Chris Henry too. He was explosive, unpredictable and he did create excitement. But the brutal assessment was that he wasn't effective enough to impose himself on matches, even at Southern Premier level. He's not been a regular at Kingstonian either, which is a shame.

I read on the players in + out thread that Jamal Lowe might be returning. I hope that's true because he was also capable of creating excitement up front with his pace.

[EFMTFTV]

We tended to play Lowe on the wing but he was better up front IMO
He played up front in place of Knockers quite a lot when he first arrived

[notsorecentconvert]

Agree with that... One thing the long spell playing Frendo up front on his own has shown is that he needs a partner, not just for his sake but the team's sake.

He's not the quickest but he does win the ball well. But when he's on his own there's no one to knock the ball down to, no one running into the channel or picking things up. And because of that, I think it affects Frendo's motivation to chase the lost causes because they are just that.

With someone like Jamal playing the number 10 role alongside, we might pose more of a threat, so I really hope the rumour is true and that he is coming back.

[kroofs]

The team choice for the first half on Saturday against Borehamwood was abysmal. What is the point of having Charlie Smith on loan from Luton and not put him on from the get go ??
Is there any danger of getting Kalozci back asap !!?? - what would be a good idea if someone could get the club to put up the match team sheet at say 2pm before a home game and then we can decide to A/ spend 15 notes watching St Albans or B/ Stay in the Crown having a beer and watching SKY ??

As outlined above, the coming and going of some players has been bizarre - Pires being the particular "WTF" was that all about case in point.

Oh yeah, and also can we train Frendo not to just run into / back into players and can we please have 2 x competent strikers upfront.

Thanks

[Saint]

Kaloczi- Returns to the club today.

Team choice- Frendo, Lancaster, Comley, Welch et al are not yet fit, and why not trust the same starting XI that won against Gosport?

Smith - Had not yet trained with the Saints after returning, which probably put the managers off starting him yet.

[EFMTFTV]

Not sure why anyone would want to spend an afternoon in that souless dump The Crown

And the team sheet is put up on twitter usually around an hour beforehand so you wouldn't even have to leave the pub to check the team sheet at the gate