One further point. We probably had 20 goal kicks, 18 of them were passed 15 yards to Mellish on the left. Why??? It got to the point of stupidity.
The Swindon forwards targeted this action putting both Mellish and Collin under pressure.
The manager must have insisted on this. It was ridiculous.
That again made Mellish look like the fall guy.

I think he'll turn out to be a decent centre half but it's frightening watching him play in his present position.

You wouldn't have played Jackie Ashurst or Kevin Gray at full back.

If Pressley continues to play him on the left he could ruin the lad's career before it's even started.

Mellish is being asked to play in a position he's never played before, at a higher standard than hes ever played before, and folk are already getting on his back.
It's ridiculous.

Mellish played Left-back for Gateshead plenty...

Musher.... Listen too Ian evatts post match analysis after barrow game yesterday. He said modern footballers should be able to slot in anywhere if asked to play there. They're professional footballers and not just a CB. It is easy enough to make the transition playing along back line from cb to lb, as alluded to my previous post though this lad isn't and wont and as said looks like a fish out of water. That's all their is too it. You can tell within 4/5 games if someone's gonna be half decent or not if you know the game and this lad isn't. He's got absolutely nothing about him at all to suggest that he's going to improve. Shame but it's a fact.

He played ok at centre back against Hibs.

I'll bow to your better knowledge on this one Dazzy.
You seen him play a lot more than me.
But if you're going to sign a centre-half to play at centre-half, then play him at centre-half.
If he's not as good as the 2 already in those positions then have him on the bench as back up.
Don't play him in an alien position in a higher standard of football to get torn to shreds game after game.
Fans turn on him, he loses confidence, and eventually he is out of the squad never to be seen again.
This is the way its heading, and will only destroy the lad.

Musher.... Listen too Ian evatts post match analysis after barrow game yesterday. He said modern footballers should be able to slot in anywhere if asked to play there. They're professional footballers and not just a CB. It is easy enough to make the transition playing along back line from cb to lb, as alluded to my previous post though this lad isn't and wont and as said looks like a fish out of water. That's all their is too it. You can tell within 4/5 games if someone's gonna be half decent or not if you know the game and this lad isn't. He's got absolutely nothing about him at all to suggest that he's going to improve. Shame but it's a fact.

Mellish played 47 times for Gateshead last season and was voted 'Best Young Player’ in the National League.

He can't be as bad as you make out!

Musher.... Listen too Ian evatts post match analysis after barrow game yesterday. He said modern footballers should be able to slot in anywhere if asked to play there. They're professional footballers and not just a CB. It is easy enough to make the transition playing along back line from cb to lb, as alluded to my previous post though this lad isn't and wont and as said looks like a fish out of water. That's all their is too it. You can tell within 4/5 games if someone's gonna be half decent or not if you know the game and this lad isn't. He's got absolutely nothing about him at all to suggest that he's going to improve. Shame but it's a fact.

I have to disagree with this Daz lad, I feel I know the game enough to give an opinion (just an opinion mind,I have been wrong a few times!), and I don’t believe it to be fact he is not upto it.

Had a great season for Gateshead last year,it’s a step up this year,I do think he needs taken out the firing line,but I do feel he will come good if used and nurtured correctly.

Never mind Mellish just seen the highlights and Webster looks well dodge.

Dazzy you think it's easy for a centre back to switch to full back ? I actually believe based on your post you've one never actually watched a game of football and noticed differnt attributes for differnt areas and two never actually played a football match.

Certain physical attributes at centre back make it a lot hard to play full back, due to the power and size of a CB they often lose the crucial agility needed to play centre back .

Fully back is probably now the hardest physical position to play and learn, you have to be able to defend and attack and have tremendous stanima

Jon Mellish has potential but as a centre back not full back.

As I just said, Mellish started as a LB. He’s clearly grown a bit, so the natural move is inside to CB.

Iredale had a knock late pre-Season, so Mellish has covered. Likely Iredale will be up to speed now, so will slot back in at LB.

As said, Mellish is young, he’s said himself if he plays 15 games he’ll be chuffed. How about we get behind him instead of writing him off after two games?

"If you're a full back you should be able to play centre back as they're the same"? Hilarious.

I think Mellish has been absolutely terrible in his first two games but if he's been played out of position then that's not how fault.

Never been a fan of Presley, want to give him a chance too but he's.starting to make me feel like my original opinion was on the money.

I agree that you can sometimes tell after 4 or 5 games if someone is going to be really shit, I could tell pretty much straight away that Bennett was.

But with Mellish I think there’s something there. I haven’t been impressed with him at LB, he’s definitely more suited to CB based on preseason and I’m sure if given the opportunity will look more comfortable there at this level. I’d like to see Iredale in at LB for the next game and perhaps even Branthwaite tried there as a back up as he looked useful at right back despite being a left footer.

Musher.... Listen too Ian evatts post match analysis after barrow game yesterday. He said modern footballers should be able to slot in anywhere if asked to play there. They're professional footballers and not just a CB. It is easy enough to make the transition playing along back line from cb to lb, as alluded to my previous post though this lad isn't and wont and as said looks like a fish out of water. That's all their is too it. You can tell within 4/5 games if someone's gonna be half decent or not if you know the game and this lad isn't. He's got absolutely nothing about him at all to suggest that he's going to improve. Shame but it's a fact.

Well maybe that's why Evattt's managing in the Conference then, with football knowledge and an outlook like that.
Players adapting seamlessly from their natural position to another is an exception, not the norm.
How would Virgil Van Dyke or Vincent Kompany or Harry Maguire cope with being shoved out on to left-back/wing??
Not very well I'd think.
They'd probably struggle just much as Mellish is struggling.

And look what happened when Devitt was moved out of his best position last season- He was sh1t.

Musher.... Listen too Ian evatts post match analysis after barrow game yesterday. He said modern footballers should be able to slot in anywhere if asked to play there. They're professional footballers and not just a CB. It is easy enough to make the transition playing along back line from cb to lb, as alluded to my previous post though this lad isn't and wont and as said looks like a fish out of water. That's all their is too it. You can tell within 4/5 games if someone's gonna be half decent or not if you know the game and this lad isn't. He's got absolutely nothing about him at all to suggest that he's going to improve. Shame but it's a fact.

It’s not a fact at all, it’s an opinion.

Reminds me very much of Abbott’s insistence on playing Potts at right-back a few year ago, a young inexperienced lad who’s still learning the game being asked to play out of position and it wasn’t doing the player or the team any good at all.

I honestly though Abbott was going to knacker Potts’s career before it’d even started, he never looked comfortable, he didn’t have the fitness to play there and as soon as he was skinned early on or made a mistake his head went down and his confidence was shot to bits. Mellish looked the same last week.

Reminds me very much of Abbott’s insistence on playing Potts at right-back a few year ago, a young inexperienced lad who’s still learning the game being asked to play out of position and it wasn’t doing the player or the team any good at all.

I honestly though Abbott was going to knacker Potts’s career before it’d even started, he never looked comfortable, he didn’t have the fitness to play there and as soon as he was skinned early on or made a mistake his head went down and his confidence was shot to bits. Mellish looked the same last week.

Weird - just said something similar on another thread at the same time

Give the lad a chance, probably the worst player I've seen wear a Carlisle shirt on his debut was Danny Livesey he was horrendous must have taken him a good 10+ games to settle and he turned out all right ;-)

Surely Harry Worley or Paul Warhurst win?

I really don't get this, 'lets have an absolute pop at somebody..... anybody, ah well it might as well be Mellish'
This is a young lad hasn't played league football before hes been thrown into a position which by all accounts isn't his natural one, and is suddenly expected (in some peoples weird expectations) to be some kind of world beater overnight.
Personally I didn't think he played that badly against Crawley, and he wasn't completely like a fish out of water in any of the friendly's.
It just seems to me that some people on here are absolutely desperate to have a go at somebody. For Christ sake give the lad a chance, try giving a bit of encouragement, sometimes it can work wonders..............honestly!!!!
He just needs a bit of time and patience, something some people round here seem in very short supply of.

I saw the Crawley game and thought he looked like a CB playing LB but was sure he'd be a good player at this level. Impressed by his strength, overall athleticism and attitude. He may have played LB in Conference but doubt he will for us unless he is being asked to fill in there, which my guess he is.

I saw the Crawley game and thought he looked like a CB playing LB but was sure he'd be a good player at this level. Impressed by his strength, overall athleticism and attitude. He may have played LB in Conference but doubt he will for us unless he is being asked to fill in there, which my guess he is.

That is because he is a centre back playing left back. Iredale has been injured and has not been ready to start a game.

I saw the Crawley game and thought he looked like a CB playing LB but was sure he'd be a good player at this level. Impressed by his strength, overall athleticism and attitude. He may have played LB in Conference but doubt he will for us unless he is being asked to fill in there, which my guess he is.

That is because he is a centre back playing left back. Iredale has been injured and has not been ready to start a game.

He’s a LB who moved to CB...

Pre-season, the entire back 4 looked solid and I thought were an upgrade from the back 4 performances of the second half of last season.
Mellish had a superb game against Hibs, playing at centre back. He defended well, broke out from the back, carried it forward superbly and played, for me, with someone with the heart of a lion.
Pressley said that Mellish is a left sided centre half. To me, he looks like a real old fashioned blood and thunder central defender but with the added bonus of someone who can carry the ball out from the back.
One of the best centre half pairings I ever saw play was Hansen & Lawrenson. Almost peerless but move them to fullback and they would have struggled.
Anyone remember Gary Pallister playing at fullback for England? Such a classy player and a wonderful centre half. Looked like a giraffe on ice at fullback.
It’s a completely different position and more often than not you are facing a nippy wide man as opposed to a more solidly built centre forward.
You get dragged into areas you don’t want to be in and you have little or no cover. When it’s not your day, it’s a lonely position to play. No centre back alongside you to bail you out.
From when he got moved to LB his performances have suffered. The ball is rolling over or under his foot and 6 yard passes seem like advanced trigonometry. I’m sure most players have been there. Confidence is at a low ebb and he can’t do right for doing wrong.
Currently, we must have the most lopsided front 6 in the league. The 2 wider midfield players offer as much protection to Elliot and Mellish as a johnny with a hole in it. It’s no surprise that both fullbacks have had difficult starts and in fairness to Scougall & Bridge both are playing in positions that are also not their best.
Pressley can earn his corn here in how he manages Mellish.
For me, moving forward the issue is whether he considers playing 3 centre halves with our current lack of central midfield options.
Personally, I’d like to see Branthwaite starting a few games alongside the older heads and he’d get good protection, as Mellish would, with a couple of bodies alongside.
For me, he’s an exciting young player with great potential playing in his wrong position, with little cover in a side that barely knows one another. It’s no surprise he has looked all at sea at times.
He's only a handful of games into a league career in a brand new side. Let's see how he is a few months down the line.

The whole defence looked ropey against Crawley, though they did improve as the game went on. Knight-Percival was probably the best one. The full back situation may improve with young players being there.

Looks like we'll concede a lot of goals - as in many recent seasons.


Mellish looked raw but not without athleticism and strength.

We weren't looking too brilliant after a couple of games last year either, or for a long time.


More games will show whether we've just got a very poor shoestring squad, or whether they will improve and develop and be competitive.

Still hacks me off to this day - was it 86/87 or whenever and we played Middlesbrough, possibly a bank holiday league fixture and Pallister and Mowbray played and me and my pal went with our regular pocket money, around two pounds fifty to get in with an extra fifty pence each to grab a pasty in The Paddock.

The cheeky gets had upped the entrance fee to three pounds fifty because of who we were playing - we tried to offer three quid to get in and were told basically to [censored] off, we were probably only about fourteen.

We went and bought loads of goodies with the money we had, I think we lost 0-1 anyhow.

Anyone else really not rate Mellish? A lot of stick gets given to Webster (for good reason) but see very little about young Mellish. Go back and watch the highlights of Cardiff, 3 out of their 4 goals come from his losing his header. Don’t know him so can’t claim that he has a poor attitude but to me he never looks like he cares. You will never see him diving around the box trying to make blocks.


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I quite like Mellish but he is playing in a poor defence. I think the jury is out as to whether he's good enough for League 2 though.

I am all for giving young players a full crack of the whip, hopefully after his first season and a full pre season he will settle down and start showing the player we hoped we had signed.

I am all for giving young players a full crack of the whip, hopefully after his first season and a full pre season he will settle down and start showing the player we hoped we had signed.

Yea agreed, needs a consistence run of games, then we can can judge him properly, despite not having the best of games on Wednesday night, I still think there is enough in there to give him a decent run in the side.

I don't think he's been good enough so far but hope he improves.

Anyone else really not rate Mellish? A lot of stick gets given to Webster (for good reason) but see very little about young Mellish. Go back and watch the highlights of Cardiff, 3 out of their 4 goals come from his losing his header. Don’t know him so can’t claim that he has a poor attitude but to me he never looks like he cares. You will never see him diving around the box trying to make blocks.


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I agree. It’s a shame because he seemed a fairly smart signing. Overall he just seems too passive, he’s often put simple passes out of play or not to his team mates, and he seems flat footed, and not ready to receive the ball. He looked okay when he played with Branthwaite that game, but more often looks poor IMO.

Still though. Young enough and obviously rated at Gateshead, he could certainly turn decent.

I think Mellish and Hayden could develop into a really good centre back pair at 4th division level. Both are decent at reading the game, strong and quick. Everyone is on Mellish about heading but every time Cardiff put the ball over the top he was first to it, he looked better than Webster who gave him no help and Mellish'll learn from being beaten in the air. The 2 of them at teh back just need some time, a commodity unfortunately which is in short supply in football

I agree, once Mellish gets a run of games next to Hayden his confidence and game management will improve.

Not sure if being next to Webster is helping, as he's bound to do as he's told due to age/experience difference.

Was interested to hear Chris Beech's mention of Bryan Robson when talking about Mellish yesterday.
Clearly, Robson was a different class of footballer but it struck a chord.
Someone who can get about the pitch, get in opposition players faces, arrive late in the box and score and a player who can lift others.
I know he's been much criticised. He is rash and he has made mistakes and his passing, in particular, needs improvement.
But I wonder if he's given time to learn the role and Beech and Skelton can coach him week after week on his positional play and decision making then maybe there's a diamond in the rough there?
I know I'm in the minority on here but I find there's something really engaging about watching him play and I find myself really rooting for him.
I know he got dogs abuse after the Scunthorpe game but the last 2 matches you could make a case for him being one of our better players.
Coming back to Robson, his passing was arguably the weakest part of his game. The drive, desire, and work rate put him above other players on the pitch and Mellish does get into the box just as well.
Who knows? Maybe Piglet is right and it'll never work for him in MF and maybe covering every blade of grass isn't enough.
But I think there are signs, that despite improvements still being needed and despite all of the criticism that Mellish could make a real go of it.
Let's hope so.

Was interested to hear Chris Beech's mention of Bryan Robson when talking about Mellish yesterday.
Clearly, Robson was a different class of footballer but it struck a chord.
Someone who can get about the pitch, get in opposition players faces, arrive late in the box and score and a player who can lift others.
I know he's been much criticised. He is rash and he has made mistakes and his passing, in particular, needs improvement.
But I wonder if he's given time to learn the role and Beech and Skelton can coach him week after week on his positional play and decision making then maybe there's a diamond in the rough there?
I know I'm in the minority on here but I find there's something really engaging about watching him play and I find myself really rooting for him.
I know he got dogs abuse after the Scunthorpe game but the last 2 matches you could make a case for him being one of our better players.
Coming back to Robson, his passing was arguably the weakest part of his game. The drive, desire, and work rate put him above other players on the pitch and Mellish does get into the box just as well.
Who knows? Maybe Piglet is right and it'll never work for him in MF and maybe covering every blade of grass isn't enough.
But I think there are signs, that despite improvements still being needed and despite all of the criticism that Mellish could make a real go of it.
Let's hope so.

Personally I don’t want Mellish getting on the ball in the middle of the park at all, he needs to stay out of it in there. I don’t think that’s what beech wants either for obvious reasons. You want Guy or Furman or malley whoever’s in there with him on the ball sending it wide to Toure or whoever is on the wing. Mellish needs to forget being an option around the edge of the box, his run for the goal was fantastically timed yesterday, I always kept thinking when he would make little runs down the line or into pockets just get yourself in the box because there’s no one big enough to stop you. He won countless 50/50 and headers yesterday and against Scunthorpe as well tbf. You can’t help but like his determination and power, sometimes you need a powerhouse in there to create time and space for the tricky players, Allesandra hasn’t played well this season but him being there meant that Mellish didn’t have to worry so much about being creative and just get on with the rough stuff. I’d rather have him in the trench than a Bridge say.

When he first came he looked a real prospect maybe like others he will fulfil that promise given time.

No

Bit early to be on the drink NCF!

I don't think Bryan Robson played many of his games against the likes of Barrow.

He's a better centre half than McDonald though.

Lol 1 goal and being compared to Robson.

Did you watch the first 5 games? Hes had a very poor start to the season and needs to go back to his original position.

Can’t knock his attitude and commitment, he gives a shit and puts in the graft, and he was really good yesterday but most of that was off the ball and runs into the box, he didn’t actually see much of the ball in terms of passing... still long term I don’t think he’s the answer in this midfield. Maybe if we add a Dickenson in there so there’s more technique and creativity it will give it a bit more balance then Mellish’s attributes getting around the pitch, making runs, winning headers etc, could be more useful on the whole.

He played well yesterday , although he's could play well for the rest of his time at carlisle and fans would still find him crap as a lot of our fans like to judge players on their first few matches .

One does get sick of watching midfielders who have been coached to death to pass the ball backwards and sideways in a completely ineffectual way, which makes for one dreadful spectacles.
As a general idea, I agree with the sentiment. Keeping the ball for the sake of it is an overrated attribute in lower league football

Watching Thirlwell every week was bad enough....then some harped on about the mythical "unseen work"

Well this unseen work was a lot of needless fouling, not picking up his man...etc..not to mention about his crab like antics of sideways backwards football.
Its a style of play i truly detest.

My new irritating fad is keepers who seem to not be able to catch a ball..vampire on crosses antics, or even dive properly to save a ball,often leading with the wrong arm....Pickford is a prime example of modern day shitness

Watching Thirlwell every week was bad enough....then some harped on about the mythical "unseen work"

Well this unseen work was a lot of needless fouling, not picking up his man...etc..not to mention about his crab like antics of sideways backwards football.
Its a style of play i truly detest.

My new irritating fad is keepers who seem to not be able to catch a ball..vampire on crosses antics, or even dive properly to save a ball,often leading with the wrong arm....Pickford is a prime example of modern day shitness

Although keepers should catch more often , the modern football is now a lot harder to catch , it's much smoother , more rounded and lighter. This means it moves a lot quicker and why you see the ball being spilled more often now .

Try it for your self kick old football up in the air try and catch it , now catch a modern one up and try and catch it.

Could he be the new Steve Soley

Watching Thirlwell every week was bad enough....then some harped on about the mythical "unseen work"

The same Thirlwell who ticked us over when we were mid-Table in L1?

The fact that we have someone in the middle of the pitch who we don't want on the ball because of his lack of ability speaks volumes especially when it is an area where play can be dictated from.

I couldn't believe my ears when Mellish was compared to Captain Marvel which is quite frankly an insult to one of, if not the best player(s) of his generation.

Watching Thirlwell every week was bad enough....then some harped on about the mythical "unseen work"

The same Thirlwell who ticked us over when we were mid-Table in L1?

Thirlwell and Berrett were Abbott’s favourites for some inexplicable reason. Painful to watch them pair.

Watching Thirlwell every week was bad enough....then some harped on about the mythical "unseen work"

Well this unseen work was a lot of needless fouling, not picking up his man...etc..not to mention about his crab like antics of sideways backwards football.
Its a style of play i truly detest.

My new irritating fad is keepers who seem to not be able to catch a ball..vampire on crosses antics, or even dive properly to save a ball,often leading with the wrong arm....Pickford is a prime example of modern day shitness

Was it better in the good old days?