TangerineTom
Well-known member
Listen, I’ve backed Neil from day one and I still do, although he’s been reduced to first name basis for now.
Let’s have a look at the home and away tables:
Home
Clearly our home record speaks for itself, we’ve scored an impressive 28 goals in 13 games and have in many ways, proven the trusty 3-5-2 formation works.
Away
Now, our away form is the crux of the issue. From the 12 away performances so far this season, these are my observations:
1. We are dominating possession but doing absolutely nothing with it. Teams who play this mould suffocate defences by retaining possession in the last third, we absolutely do not do that and end up slowing the game down too much, with not threat, which gives teams the confidence to come back at us.
2. The 3 at the back get too exposed, how many times has the first line been broken and a simple through ball puts strikers in 1 on 1? Its a fragile formation when teams look to counter on the break.
3. When we do go down, there’s no attempt to push the pace. I look back at Fleetwood when we were 2-0, that 20 minute period in the second half was exceptional, we dominated the ball, made runs, took risks and got rewarded for it. Why can’t we do it again to teams like Port Vale??
4. Similarly to my last point, when we go down, there’s no change of strategy, no new formation to adopt, we just carry on carrying on. It feels like 1-0 is a mountain to climb, but we haven’t got any Sherpas on the bench.
My last point is to be careful what you wish for with sacking the manager. This season hasn’t been a disaster by any means. There is far more room for a new manager to fail than there is to succeed from our current position. We crumbled when Neil left, then fell off a cliff after Appleton…I can’t see an available manager that can come in and bring guaranteed success. That being said, I do understand the frustrations at our away form and I’m concerned about where we are currently heading.
Let’s have a look at the home and away tables:
Home
Clearly our home record speaks for itself, we’ve scored an impressive 28 goals in 13 games and have in many ways, proven the trusty 3-5-2 formation works.
Away
Now, our away form is the crux of the issue. From the 12 away performances so far this season, these are my observations:
1. We are dominating possession but doing absolutely nothing with it. Teams who play this mould suffocate defences by retaining possession in the last third, we absolutely do not do that and end up slowing the game down too much, with not threat, which gives teams the confidence to come back at us.
2. The 3 at the back get too exposed, how many times has the first line been broken and a simple through ball puts strikers in 1 on 1? Its a fragile formation when teams look to counter on the break.
3. When we do go down, there’s no attempt to push the pace. I look back at Fleetwood when we were 2-0, that 20 minute period in the second half was exceptional, we dominated the ball, made runs, took risks and got rewarded for it. Why can’t we do it again to teams like Port Vale??
4. Similarly to my last point, when we go down, there’s no change of strategy, no new formation to adopt, we just carry on carrying on. It feels like 1-0 is a mountain to climb, but we haven’t got any Sherpas on the bench.
My last point is to be careful what you wish for with sacking the manager. This season hasn’t been a disaster by any means. There is far more room for a new manager to fail than there is to succeed from our current position. We crumbled when Neil left, then fell off a cliff after Appleton…I can’t see an available manager that can come in and bring guaranteed success. That being said, I do understand the frustrations at our away form and I’m concerned about where we are currently heading.