Time For Evidence That Lessons Are Being Learnt

Jones the Boss said after the game “I have learned a lot tonight”. I don’t think the rest of us did. Rather the match reinforced what most of us already knew: first, that the notion of us having good cup form but not being able to reproduce that in the league was always an illusion; second, that to date Jones has not been able to fashion a formation and team/squad (including partnerships in key areas) from the available resources capable of getting us into the promotion mix.

I’d suggest on the cup form/league form point last night did provide further evidence of what we currently can and can’t do. Against the weaker teams (including those from divisions below us) we have enough power and strength to overcome them, as our record shows (you might say what about Crawley but against us they didn’t look weak). Our record also shows that against the top teams in League One we can put in a determined shift to get good results. But against teams broadly on a par with us at present, in terms of league position, we are generally poor, tending to concede goals and simply not scoring enough.

We thought after the first three games of the season that Jones had the Midas touch, but that all seems a long time ago. Injuries have for sure taken a heavy, disruptive toll. Some are still short of match fitness, but aside from Ramsay (plus Watson) and Aneke (who we are unfortunately used to living without), perhaps Mitchell(Z) too, all are now back available. I don’t want to hear anymore after a game that “we weren’t good enough”, I do want to see evidence that the causes of poor team performances are being identified and corrected.

It is far too soon to write the season off, this league just doesn’t work that way. If we don’t improve performances we are going nowhere, that’s for sure, and it’s fair to say, given the playing resources available, we are underperforming. The upside of that is potential to improve – but of course if potential remains unrealised it never existed.

It is indicative I think that if you sit down to put the shoo-in names on the teamsheet it’s a struggle: after Maynard-Brewer (I’ve no idea when Mannion may be back available) you’d say Mitchell(A), now Jones, Edwards, and Coventry. I’d add Godden to that (Ramsay too if he were fit). By this stage of a season to be succeeding there surely should be more, plus a Plan A in terms of formation.

It reflects poorly (so far) on Jones the Boss that the midfield stalwarts he identified and brought in - Docherty, Berry, Campbell(A) – are not on that list. But they are not the only underperformers (for whatever reason). We rightly take pride in our club’s development of young players, but so far this season they have been peripheral. Leaburn of course is still feeling his way back after a long injury, Mitchell(Z) is injured, Anderson has played quite a bit but really hasn’t shone, Asiimwe was called back from loan and since then overlooked, Campbell(T) we were told was now a central forward but is now being asked to play wing-back or outright winger, Kanu has been out injured, and Dixon had a tough initiation last night. Laqeretabua has been introduced and for sure looks a prospect, as does Enslin from the little we have seen, but Rylah, Casey and Mbick have not featured (are they injured?).

With the players returning from injury there is plenty of sorting out to be done ahead of the January window. Nobody expects transformation in the window, but let’s get at least some of the young players out on loan and have Jones identify one or two areas where he wants more quality and get the business done, even if it means some moving out.

As for the game last night, it was clear that if Orient had brought their shooting boots we would have been humiliated. They rained in shots of poor quality, hit the bar, and fluffed sitters – set again which were really Godden’s first-half excellent hit on the turn which came back off the post and Leaburn’s run through on goal early in the second - and it took two horrible goals (from our perspective) at the death for them to avoid penalties (my note before them was that from what we’d seen so far we could end penalties at 0-0). Both came from our set pieces in their half – the first we lost possession from a throw and were overwhelmed on the counter, although it took Small’s failed interception to actually put the ball in the net, and the second following an awful free-kick from Taylor when we were loading the box for an equaliser, with their forward doing it all himself from inside his own half.

The match was an experiment for us in some respects, a chance to suss out some alternatives as well as provide match time for some who need it. The positives? Laqeretabua was excellent in the first half (before tiring in the second), Edun provided a reminder that we do have some footballers, interested in passing the ball and retaining possession, and the combination of him and Small on the left side was genuinely exciting – but that is the area where Edwards has established himself. The negatives? Orient cut through our defence sometimes at will, the reasons for that are for Jones and his team to examine. Our midfield as usual struggled to maintain possession and provide good service to the front two. And Leaburn continued to struggle. Oh, and can someone please tell Jones that not having a reserve goalkeeper isn’t ‘being bold’, it’s plain silly.