The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

......I keep reading this, how long does it take a team to gel?

13 games gone (28% of the season), training as much as they do, surely the team has gelled by now?

Sure I get that we have new players like Sills coming into the mix, but I don't get why a group of guys who play football with eachother almost daily, haven't gelled already. Just struck me as weird that fans are still saying we're gelling, when in reality, we may already be as good as we're gunna get !!

Thoughts??

It depends on the players themselves how long it takes to gel could be a a few games to a whole season, they are all individuals and some pick up quicker what the manager wants but others sometimes never fit in. On the whole it is always best to have most players on 2 or 3 year contracts so you do not have the problem of the major gelling process every single year.

For me, the reason I keep mentioning gelling is because unlike last year, we weren't hit by injuries in preseason, like we were this. That plus Tommo being lost a week before the start of the season, has meant out of neccessity, we've had to experiment a bit and can't really say yet what our best 11 is in reality, rather than on paper. For example we've just moved Matt Johnson in centre midfield and dropped Alan Power to try and add something different to centre midfield.

There have been times in matches where things aren't quite clicking into place, and given time, might (that could open up a completely new debate, but let's focus on the topic at hand).

Or you could come along on Tuesday and see for yourself! :P (I'm joking ;) )

Yeah, come along, you know you want to! (and I'm not joking

Wanting to has never been the issue SS, but I'll be sticking to my guns on this one - Tamworth and Kiddy next up for me - oh and I get to watch Mansfield on the telly with a few beers

You missed a treat last night Piggers, some quality football played at times - think the team has gelled on that performance!

Moving Johnson into Centre-Mid has been a masterstroke, he just seems to get better the more I see him play.

I thought we played some good football last night tried to keep it on the deck and play. I think we looked much better balanced after the substitutions Stiils did nothing when on ,Osano and Day give good wide options Howe and O Connor are a handfull and every time I have seen Hulke at centre back he has impressed me, and even Charles looked lively. I think we should give the finishing line-up a start on Saturday

As soon as Robbo came on and Osano, Huke and Day all shifted, they all seemed to up their game and looked much better. Start with this on Sat

TheIncognitoKid wrote:As soon as Robbo came on and Osano, Huke and Day all shifted, they all seemed to up their game and looked much better. Start with this on Sat

Agreed, I like Miller at RB but Osano gave us a bit more pace and power and he wasn't afraid to cut inside and really run at the defence and open up some space for the other forwards.

Day

Robinson Stuart Huke Osano

Day Porter Johnson Charles

Howe O'Connor

Perfect!

Actually I thought Miller was doing a decent job last night and was suprised when he was taken off. Osano was awful at centre-half and we really need to get a replacement. He was better at right back.