Happy New Year everybody..
There's a pause in the matches, so a chance for us fans to take stock.
For a NL club like ourselves, and one that reached last season's play off final, we're clearly on the wrong track. Losing 36% of our league games makes us look like a side that might scrape into the play-offs, rather than one to grab an all-important top 3 spot (one home game for a play-off final). The team as constituted clearly lacks the resilience needed to avoid getting beaten by pretty ordinary, but well organised and motivated, middling NL teams.
Ardley needs to find a starting 11 that clicks, and clicks fast, and find it within the squad he has now, realistically.
I don't think it's too far away.
I wouldn't want to take anything away from the great professional careers of Doyle and Turner, but for me they are our latest versions of Stead and Smith and the limited level they can reach now has been holding us back.

Can we trust Rawlinson and Reeves? I think so (both have been good), but it isn't as if we've got much choice. This is what I'd like to see...

1) Turner's suspension should mean the end of him ever being a first choice...it clicked when we introduced Lacey last season and it can happen again. Graham is a great back-up.
2) Give Rawlinson the club captain's armband and make Reeves the vice-captain
3) Let's see Reeves and O'Brien given a 5-6 game run in centre midfield. Both can protect the defence, both can support the attack, they can even interchange...(if it doesn't work, we'll probably need to bring in a new player)
4) We don't have a problem with the forwards (apart from needing to add a Dennis-type player to the squad) and in such a compressed season they have to rotate anyway...but Rodrigues is first-choice and must be allowed to finish games.

I was looking forward to Doyle staying on, assuming that at 39 it would be more in a coaching than a playing capacity.
I've been amazed he's been playing every minute of every game. With players peeking at 27-28, carrying on with a player in his 40th year is the equivalent of going backwards to play a 17 year-old every game...Honestly, how is this working for us? The changes I've suggested are pretty modest, but what they would do is change the leadership in the squad at a stroke. I think that's what's needed.

Just my personal preferences of course, from watching the streams like everybody else...
We need things to fall into place pretty quickly, and that's going to take changes I think. Anyone else have a formula that they'd like to see?