Downward turn

[onewayup]

For me our downward turn started when martin left out our little man striker cartman ,
yes he was having a lean spell but as we all know all strikers go through a bad patch, however that was not the whole issue what with injuries to key players also playing a very big part lately.I think martin had lost the changing room and maybe engineered this move with mcclaren and york to restart his ambition to manage in the football league sooner rather than later with us.anyway we have had five very good years under Martin Gray and i wish him well ,life is full of uncertainties,we will see if he made the right decision in the fullness of time.

[super_les_mcjannet]

For me our downward turn started when martin left out our little man striker cartman ,
yes he was having a lean spell but as we all know all strikers go through a bad patch, however that was not the whole issue what with injuries to key players also playing a very big part lately.I think martin had lost the changing room and maybe engineered this move with mcclaren and york to restart his ambition to manage in the football league sooner rather than later with us.anyway we have had five very good years under Martin Gray and i wish him well ,life is full of uncertainties,we will see if he made the right decision in the fullness of time.

We seemed to play very well the first 4 games when Cartman was out on loan and we were hitting the goals and heights in the league.

Maybe a coincidence but we haven't lost a game this season that Brown has played in, which generally allowed Ferguson further forward. 2 key players for me who have been out or out of position since.

[onewayup]

Agreed, think maybe it was martins AGM speech also didn't do himself any favours,
However we must move on Darlington football club is bigger than any one person.

[en passant]

I've heard a lot of opinions about Cartman, both on here and when at the match. He was the favourite player two years ago when he was leading scorer. Last season, as you say, he had a lean spell which cut his goals by just more than half, and suddenly people began to doubt his worth, especially in the higher league. Yet part of that was down to MG preferring Hardy at the start of the season as he had brought him in and probably felt he needed to justify the money spent in doing so. However, I have always thought that Cartman worked so much better with Beck. He anticipated Beck's knock downs much better than Hardy and by being a pain for the defence took a lot of pressure off Beck, which surely contributed to Beck being top scorer last season. The fact that he stopped scoring a hat full of goals meant, to some folk, that he had lost his touch, but I always saw someone working hard for the team, laying on goals for others (like Turnbull's memorable goal last year), and with a bit more luck would have scored more himself. It is noteworthy that out lone victory in the last 11 games has been when Beck and Carts combined to kick start the win with a well-taken opening goal. Yet again, at the start of this season MG seemed to want to try anything but the successful combo of Beck and Carts, and put the latter out on loan whilst he tried to make a winger with an even worse scoring record into a striker. He has tried several other combos, including the one on Saturday with another winger playing as striker, or the hard to define formation that was played against South Shields. MG seems to have no faith in Cartman, and for all I know he may have been right, but from where I was standing Cartman provided more than enough effort, threat, and goals to justify his place in the side above Caton, Thompson, Fenwick, Syers, and even Saunders (who gets an honourable mention for effort but still lacks experience).

[shawry]

It was interesting to see Lee Gaskell pop up on Twitter to question why Cartmen wasn't starting.

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[Feethams 1966]

I've heard a lot of opinions about Cartman, both on here and when at the match. He was the favourite player two years ago when he was leading scorer. Last season, as you say, he had a lean spell which cut his goals by just more than half, and suddenly people began to doubt his worth, especially in the higher league. Yet part of that was down to MG preferring Hardy at the start of the season as he had brought him in and probably felt he needed to justify the money spent in doing so. However, I have always thought that Cartman worked so much better with Beck. He anticipated Beck's knock downs much better than Hardy and by being a pain for the defence took a lot of pressure off Beck, which surely contributed to Beck being top scorer last season. The fact that he stopped scoring a hat full of goals meant, to some folk, that he had lost his touch, but I always saw someone working hard for the team, laying on goals for others (like Turnbull's memorable goal last year), and with a bit more luck would have scored more himself. It is noteworthy that out lone victory in the last 11 games has been when Beck and Carts combined to kick start the win with a well-taken opening goal. Yet again, at the start of this season MG seemed to want to try anything but the successful combo of Beck and Carts, and put the latter out on loan whilst he tried to make a winger with an even worse scoring record into a striker. He has tried several other combos, including the one on Saturday with another winger playing as striker, or the hard to define formation that was played against South Shields. MG seems to have no faith in Cartman, and for all I know he may have been right, but from where I was standing Cartman provided more than enough effort, threat, and goals to justify his place in the side above Caton, Thompson, Fenwick, Syers, and even Saunders (who gets an honourable mention for effort but still lacks experience).

Agree completely. What he lacks in hight, he makes up for in effort.