Stop The Rot

Wow! It didn’t take long to rattle his cage. After the Blackpool game – for which he made three changes to the starting line-up but crucially one in each area on the pitch - Jones acknowledged he may have got things wrong with team selection. For the Stevenage game there were six changes – needless to say in each area again – and a change in formation. For the Bristol Rovers game, our third successive defeat, there were four changes, once again to the defence, midfield and attack. Jones said after the game “I’ll take full responsibility for this result. I got the team wrong, tactically I didn’t get it right today. I picked a team that didn’t perform but I picked that team, so I’ll take full responsibility for that today.” And now he’s commented in an interview with the South London Press that “a week ago, I was being questioned if I was going to a Championship football club and now every single decision I make is being scrutinised”.

Not exactly surprising that decisions are being scrutinised, is it? Losing three in a row and taking four points out of 18 is bound to get a reaction. Of course there’s an element of ‘damned if you do and damned if you don’t’. If we sent out the same team and lost three in a row Jones would be criticised for not ‘freshening things up’. And if Jones is to take some flak for too many changes and recent results he also deserves to take the credit for our very positive start to the campaign.

Just that the over-reaction doesn’t sit well. Neither do some of the comments. Jones might have said “I take full responsibility for the result” but on the basis that he picked the team believing it would perform but was proven wrong – ie the thinly veiled message was that it was the players who let him down, not him making the wrong decisions or just too many changes. He might have added he was responsible for a number of them coming to the club.

No reason for us to over-react. We’re a long way from thinking in terms of the club being forced into yet another managerial change or anything other than discussing what makes sense to us, accepting that we are not privy to what happens on the training ground and in private, and stating some obvious truths – including you can’t make so many changes to the team, even in this age of squad games, and expect cohesion, especially in the early stages of a season and with players still new to each other.

In the first three games it looked as though Jones had forged a powerful defence, including the players in front of it. Of the changes made, the first was forced by Edwards’ injury. Small didn’t really grab his opportunity, which was disappointing, and Edwards hasn’t yet reached the level he was at before his injury. Leaving Mitchell out for the Blackpool game was curious at the time and with hindsight an error, bringing Potts in for one game and then dropping him smacks of tinkering, as did leaving out Ramsay for the Bristol Rovers game. Against Blackpool at the back we looked confused and leaderless; I didn’t see the Stevenage game but the three we conceded on Tuesday night were all poor in their own way from our perspective.

We’ve now conceded nine goals in nine games – or nine in six, six in the last three. Four of these have been shots from outside or the edge of the box, a couple of screamers (Reading, Rotherham) and two (Bristol Rovers) when the player has been allowed time to pick his spot from closer in. Two (Reading’s second and Stevenage) have resulted from quick turnarounds, us having piled forward for a set piece and being caught out. One (Blackpool’s first) was an unfortunate own goal, one (Blackpool’s second) the result of defensive confusion, and one (Bristol Rovers’ third) static defending from a ball into the box.

So there are couple of lessons. First, be tougher and stronger in getting bodies in the way of shots from outside the box, in closing people down. We did that very well in the first three games but seem to have lost the knack. Second, if we’re sending defenders forward for set pieces just be more aware of the breakaway risk, whether that means making sure the opposition can’t get forward quickly, perhaps taking one for the team. If we concede more such goals there’s no excuse – and if we cut out these goals the defence grows again in confidence and cohesion, which would probably reduce the errors resulting in other types of goals conceded.

All of this does not obscure problems in finding the right mix in midfield and up front. Our style of play, with extensive use of the long ball and no risks taken, doesn’t lend itself to beautiful football and tends to leave the front two starved of good possession, fighting a losing battle with their backs to goal. Ahadme has had a tough time, the conversion of Campbell(T) to central forward has not yet produced actual goals, Kanu hasn’t taken his opportunities yet, while Aneke we know can’t play a full game and neither yet can the returning Leaburn. All of which makes the fact that Godden has started so few games, none alongside Ahadme, all the more hard to understand.

At the start of the season the midfield trio seemed to select itself, with Coventry playing well, Docherty given the captain’s armband, and Berry, with Anderson then missing out. Since then Campbell(A) has been added to the mix, Anderson has had some game-time, and Taylor’s absence has been more keenly noticed (in truth none of us know what he might be capable of). It means perming three from seven to start with at most two on the bench and two missing out – if we stick with the current formation.

We do have a strange immediate situation in that we’re up against a flying Birmingham side then have a couple of weeks off (due to the postponement of the Burton game). So there’s an immediate need to stop the rot and then the time to work on things at the training ground.

With that in mind I’d change the formation, from 5-3-2 (or 3-5-2 if you prefer) to a 5-4-1, not a 4-3-3. Our priority is keeping a clean sheet and 5-4-1 doesn’t have to be ultra-defensive, if the wing-backs are encouraged to get forward and one or two of the midfielders have licence to get up quickly in support. What it would require is a move away from long balls out of our half, which would be pointless. Instead use the flanks and midfield to get forward with the ball. And for the lone forward I’d be tempted to opt for Godden, on the understanding that his job is to get on the end of things in the box, not to play outside the box trying to hold things up.

Sure this might not work, but so far this season playing two up top hasn’t worked either; we have one goal to show for 405 minutes plus stoppage time of nine first halves. And this approach could be easily switched to a front two when the changes come, even a front three. It could work, if there has been the time to work in training on who would do what.

Whatever team takes the pitch tomorrow, the minimum requirement is a return to the determination and character shown in our own half in the first three games. Birmingham might be flying high and full of confidence, and have a certain forward, but for crying out loud it’s only Birmingham. Win the individual battles, don’t concede in ways we have been doing of late, and see what football throws up.

COYA.