Just back..

Quoted from forza ivano

think that brings our average home league attendance to nigh on 6700. When was that bettered??

On target to be the best for 30 years

I’m a bit conflicted on the whole McAtee return narrative. There’s an expectation that if we stay in touch until he’s fully fit, we’ll improve enough to get into the play offs. While I think that’s most likely true, there is a slight danger that he comes in and disrupts the team.

We play almost everything through McAtee, hence we struggled badly last season whenever he was unavailable. We are doing very well at the moment with an energetic midfield three full of legs (Clifton, Green and Holohan). Given McAtee 100% needs Taylor to play off, you’re already looking at changing the system. Most likely we’ll two in midfield, shunt Harry out wide again and play Khan on the other side. I hope that doesn’t then mean we lose that ability to overrun and out battle sides in midfield as we have of late.

I still think the most likely outcome is he comes in and gives us that bit of magic that we’ve lacked in several games so far, he would likely have changed 3-4 draws into wins and losses into draws I think, but we shouldn’t rule out the possibility outlined above and get too carried away expecting miracles when he does come back. Not that anyone is expecting miracles per se.

Quoted from Mariner_09

I’m a bit conflicted on the whole McAtee return narrative. There’s an expectation that if we stay in touch until he’s fully fit, we’ll improve enough to get into the play offs. While I think that’s most likely true, there is a slight danger that he comes in and disrupts the team.

We play almost everything through McAtee, hence we struggled badly last season whenever he was unavailable. We are doing very well at the moment with an energetic midfield three full of legs (Clifton, Green and Holohan). Given McAtee 100% needs Taylor to play off, you’re already looking at changing the system. Most likely we’ll two in midfield, shunt Harry out wide again and play Khan on the other side. I hope that doesn’t then mean we lose that ability to overrun and out battle sides in midfield as we have of late.

I still think the most likely outcome is he comes in and gives us that bit of magic that we’ve lacked in several games so far, he would likely have changed 3-4 draws into wins and losses into draws I think, but we shouldn’t rule out the possibility outlined above and get too carried away expecting miracles when he does come back. Not that anyone is expecting miracles per se.

Fair point but with mcatee it wouldn't be just 2in midfield,more 2 and a bit as (when fully fit) he helps in midfield as well as playing up front with that 4-4-1-1 formation.

The trouble is nobody else who has his energy and bite also has his vision and skill so he's unique in our squad (and almost certainly every other at this level). If he's not in the team we need to play a different way really.

Quoted from Mariner_09

I’m a bit conflicted on the whole McAtee return narrative. There’s an expectation that if we stay in touch until he’s fully fit, we’ll improve enough to get into the play offs. While I think that’s most likely true, there is a slight danger that he comes in and disrupts the team.

We play almost everything through McAtee, hence we struggled badly last season whenever he was unavailable. We are doing very well at the moment with an energetic midfield three full of legs (Clifton, Green and Holohan). Given McAtee 100% needs Taylor to play off, you’re already looking at changing the system. Most likely we’ll two in midfield, shunt Harry out wide again and play Khan on the other side. I hope that doesn’t then mean we lose that ability to overrun and out battle sides in midfield as we have of late.

I still think the most likely outcome is he comes in and gives us that bit of magic that we’ve lacked in several games so far, he would likely have changed 3-4 draws into wins and losses into draws I think, but we shouldn’t rule out the possibility outlined above and get too carried away expecting miracles when he does come back. Not that anyone is expecting miracles per se.

Saves me writing it out again...

Quoted from TheRealJohnLewis

I think we are a better TEAM without McAtee, whilst he is our best individual player, last season we tried to always play through him, so when McAtee had a bad game we failed to perform. This was highlighted when we went on a bad run without him in the team.  This season everyone is contributing and play is not through one person, and I think McAtee coming back into the team will disrupt the team.

There’s not a team in this division that wouldn’t put him in as a starter. I think things go through him all the time because of how he plays, he makes that happen. We have now found a way to play without him that we didn’t have last year and will definitely need next year.

I'd say that the strength of the squad is better in most areas this season so no reason why this shouldn't improve McAtee's opportunities more when he does return. We were too reliant on him doing something last season. This year, we have a bit more about us in general without him so that ought to reflect positively when he gets fit and presumably starts playing again.

A different hypothetical scenario but the same point.

Ryan Bennett agrees to sign for £500 a week, bargain! He is leagues above Smith and Waterfall individually, literally. So he replaces one of them and it's now Bennett and one other as our CBs. As a result, our defense is now excrement, and the CB partnership or either Water & Smith has made us weaker at the back. We would have to return to Waterfall & Smith because as a collective we are stronger than any individual player.

I see it the same with McAtee, I would love to be wrong, and when he gets back in the team it makes us better as a collective, but only time will tell.

Quoted from TheRealJohnLewis

A different hypothetical scenario but the same point.

Ryan Bennett agrees to sign for £500 a week, bargain! He is leagues above Smith and Waterfall individually, literally. So he replaces one of them and it's now Bennett and one other as our CBs. As a result, our defense is now excrement, and the CB partnership or either Water & Smith has made us weaker at the back. We would have to return to Waterfall & Smith because as a collective we are stronger than any individual player.

I see it the same with McAtee, I would love to be wrong, and when he gets back in the team it makes us better as a collective, but only time will tell.

It’s an interesting point. It is potentially an overlooked challenge, players playing alongside team mates well below their level. We’ve seen it in the past when we had Oster back on loan in the early noughties - he was on a different wavelength at times and it meant we would lose possession as a result of brilliant balls that no one else in the side had the intelligence to read.

Another mention for Jim Dobbin today, as I had the pleasure of playing with Jim alongside me at centre half on several occasions. He’d have been in his early forties, me in my early twenties and having never been any more than a Sunday league clogger, the gulf in ability between Jim and I was just absolutely enormous. You could see him struggling to fathom how shít I was by contrast; his interpretations of “time” and “free header” were worlds away from mine. Always a true gent though - never a cross word, only words of perplexed encouragement. But, true to your point, I was personally more at ease playing alongside a fellow clogger.

Thing is though, though McAtee might be our best player on paper (as his signing by Luton suggests), I don’t think he’s on such a different wave length to the rest of our squad for it to become a problem. If anything, there were moments last season when his link up play was breathtaking.

I do understand the theory that it might not work, and I also think Hurst will be aware of the potential jeopardy, but for that reason alone I don’t think there’s a sizeable chance the reintroduction of McAtee makes us a poorer team.

To the contrary, there were bits of Saturday that reminded me of the second half against Stockport last season. Naturally, Bradford had 11 men, but them having made a change in shape at half-time that didn’t really work, all the momentum was ours and the crowd was right behind the team.

McAtee was instrumental in that Stockport win, and I honestly believe that with him in the side on Saturday we’d have beaten Bradford too. It’s often about fine margins, and McAtee’s guile and tenacity just helps tip things in our favour.

I can’t wait to have him back, personally.

Quoted from TheRealJohnLewis

A different hypothetical scenario but the same point.

Ryan Bennett agrees to sign for £500 a week, bargain! He is leagues above Smith and Waterfall individually, literally. So he replaces one of them and it's now Bennett and one other as our CBs. As a result, our defense is now excrement, and the CB partnership or either Water & Smith has made us weaker at the back. We would have to return to Waterfall & Smith because as a collective we are stronger than any individual player.

I see it the same with McAtee, I would love to be wrong, and when he gets back in the team it makes us better as a collective, but only time will tell.

The difference being we’ve currently got one of the best defensive records in the country, whereas we’re the joint lowest scorers in the top half and have the 5th worst home record in the division where you’re generally expected to be a bit more attacking and adventurous.

I don’t think it’s a case that everything we did last year went through McAtee, he was just very good at either finding space and making himself available, or doing a lot of the legwork himself to win the ball further up the pitch.

He will fit in perfectly, you wait and see.