What's Going On?

[Pietastic]

So - we become this free flowing, attacking, confident, making our own luck, entertaining team. And then in the last six weeks we've lost it. Is it just a psychological thing? Is it injuries tipping the balance? When we ran out against Walsall I might be imagining this but it was like our heads were all down. And in the second half I'm not sure if we created one decent chance.

Since last season we've added some quality - I was talking to a ShefU support and McGoldrick for example was seen as a god so at this level why isn't it more obvious the quality play that he is?

Is it just fear that's stopping us play like we can?

I seriously don't believe the standard in this league is too much.

Please will someone find the answer as I have got used to watching this quality team that pretty much beats everybody we play.

[slack_pie]

It's a combination of factors, including:

Injuries - this is the biggest factor, especially the injury to Palmer, who is absolutely essential to the way we want to play
A collective loss of confidence - our style of play requires players to be brave, and when confidence drops, it affects us more than if we were just hoofing it long all game
Poor recruitment - we're now seeing just how poor some of the recruitment decisions were in the summer (GK and defence not addressed properly, too many players not able to cut it at this level)
No plan B - we don't seem to be able to mix it up when needed, and LW doesn't seem willing to change his approach game to game. We attempt the same thing home or away.

[the_anticlough]

So - we become this free flowing, attacking, confident, making our own luck, entertaining team. And then in the last six weeks we've lost it. Is it just a psychological thing? Is it injuries tipping the balance? When we ran out against Walsall I might be imagining this but it was like our heads were all down. And in the second half I'm not sure if we created one decent chance.

Since last season we've added some quality - I was talking to a ShefU support and McGoldrick for example was seen as a god so at this level why isn't it more obvious the quality play that he is?

Is it just fear that's stopping us play like we can?

I seriously don't believe the standard in this league is too much.

Please will someone find the answer as I have got used to watching this quality team that pretty much beats everybody we play.

I think our whole approach is based on being able to dominate possession and the game.
When we're unable to do that (i.e. thru loss of key personnel) the side isn't equipped to withstand all the extra attacks against us as a result of our play breaking down.
You're right though, heads seem to have gone down and if so that's a big problem.

[The_Don_ORiordan]

The thing is everyone knows what’s gone wrong, it’s succinctly put in this thread.

The concern is that we’ve no evidence we’re near hitting bottom yet.

And even given a very good January recruitment (which I think is unlikely) it’s going to be some time before we start moving up the table again.

But despite the frustration, and I’m as pissed off with the performances as much as anyone, we will not be of risk of relegation, and getting promotion would clearly have been too soon.

A decent midtable finish is far from a disaster and something we should be happy with considering our budget.

[drillerpie]

I think our whole approach is based on being able to dominate possession and the game.
When we're unable to do that (i.e. thru loss of key personnel) the side isn't equipped to withstand all the extra attacks against us as a result of our play breaking down.
You're right though, heads seem to have gone down and if so that's a big problem.

I think this is basically it in a nutshell, and I also think your comment (can't remember which thread I read it on) about putting Crowley in the Palmer role is probably the single best idea I've read in a couple of weeks on here in terms of stuff we can do to stop the rot right now.

Strength doesn't matter too much in midfield nowadays, but speed, skill, agility and stamina matter more than ever, and Crowley has all of the above.

We lose an attacking threat, but he hasn't been much of an attacking threat recently because we can't even get a foothold in games since Palmer got injured.

Get him alongside Bostock, we'll have more options in terms of playing out and won't get stuck in the infinite backpass loop. Bostock will get his mojo back having someone to riff with in CM, and between McGoldrick, Austin, Morias, Nemane, Jones we should be able to fill his position. We might lose a bit of attacking finesse, but it will at least stop us being overrun.

We almost have nothing to lose at this point. More of the same will bring more of the same (bad performances and defeats).

[the_anticlough]

Get him alongside Bostock, we'll have more options in terms of playing out and won't get stuck in the infinite backpass loop. Bostock will get his mojo back having someone to riff with in CM, and between McGoldrick, Austin, Morias, Nemane, Jones we should be able to fill his position. We might lose a bit of attacking finesse, but it will at least stop us being overrun.

We almost have nothing to lose at this point. More of the same will bring more of the same (bad performances and defeats).

the infinite backpass loop was/is a bad dream - anything, anything to spare us from that

[kill_the_drum]

I agree with the above. The biggest factor being the loss of Palmer.
What I don’t agree with is this lack of Plan B.
What does it even mean? If it means switching from playing out from the back to a more direct style, then we have that whenever Stone plays. I saw more long balls against Walsall than I’d seen all of last season.
Williams makes a lot of in-game changes and makes a lot of substitutions. Not sure what else can constitute as a plan b?
The games I’ve seen us lose this season, it’s mainly been down to us being outworked and outmuscled.
The exception to that was the Wrexham game where we just didn’t take any of our chances.

[Pietastic]

Yeah interesting and dare I say well balanced thoughts... I had forgotten just how much Matty palmer is a football genius and the correlation with his injury and the form dipping (diving).

The long balls against Walsall didn't seem like a great plan b. I think it's true that we are expected to dominate the play - at first when this stopped working it seemed to lead to exciting more end to end games and we were still a great attacking threat but with the drop of confidence I think we are in trouble unless something changes. At the risk of stating the obvious - the defence seems very fragile.

Having said all of that the Mansfield game seemed to be shockingly bad and that was before Matty Palmer was injured and we had lost confidence...

[slack_pie]

I agree with the above. The biggest factor being the loss of Palmer.
What I don’t agree with is this lack of Plan B.
What does it even mean? If it means switching from playing out from the back to a more direct style, then we have that whenever Stone plays. I saw more long balls against Walsall than I’d seen all of last season.
Williams makes a lot of in-game changes and makes a lot of substitutions. Not sure what else can constitute as a plan b?
The games I’ve seen us lose this season, it’s mainly been down to us being outworked and outmuscled.
The exception to that was the Wrexham game where we just didn’t take any of our chances.

We might attempt a plan B, but we don't have the personnel to make it work. Against Harrogate, we badly missed McG - the only player capable of holding the ball up. So when the endless back passing didn't work, Stone hoofed it (usually to Nemane, for some reason) and it didn't stick.

We badly miss a player like Wootton if you ask me.

[crazyfists]

Anyone think Gosling could do a job at the back? He's a big lad, played at high levels so could adapt to a role, I don't think he'd panic or get flustered. I would like to see it tried if he stays and gets match fit.