Quote Originally Posted by jackal2 View Post
The thing most annoying me at present is Ardley's constant formation changes. Many managers, probably including him, will tell you it's players who win games, not formations. I'll throw that argument right back and say maybe that's right, but if so, then Notts have arguably the best squad of players in this league, so why not settle on a formation and stick with it? Give the lads a consistent identity and formation they can believe in.

I try to put myself in the mindset of a Notts player and what I repeatedly hear from my manager is how strong this league is, how good the (even lowly) opposition are, and that we often pick our formation and style to counter what he has seen the opposition do on various video tapes. We're giving the initiative away before the game even starts. How about concentrating on what WE want to do, and how WE'RE going to impose the way WE want to play on the opposition irrespective of what they do, because if our players are confident in what they're going, they're man for man better than virtually every team in this league?
I don’t know the bloke, but does he come across as that sort of manager to you?

He always comes across to me as a nice man who lets strong characters dominate him, plans his match tactics according to what the other team (no matter how sh!t) might do, can’t get his players up for anything other than a big game, and falls back on poor excuses when his team loses.

The evidence seems to back that up.