Adapting to a Style of Play

You also get 3 points for a win, so if you win 1 and lose 2, or draw 3, it's the same points haul. Artell came in and realised we'd not going to keep many clean sheets, so roll the dice and attack and try to outscore. It hasn't always worked and won't, because when you move players forward, you give openings away, but attacking football is about courage, and with courage comes confidence. If you hoof it, because your first pass isn't succeeding, you don't earn the right to work on the second and third pass. You cannot improve that movement if you aren't giving players the opportunity to experience that in game. By passing it out, they are faced with those situations, and in doing so, they learn how to do to that, and improve that, and what not to do. They develop that know-how and ability.

Every mistake we make stresses out fans, but every time that happens, those players go home, and are probably in bed thinking about it and what they messed up and how they can approach it differently. They'll be reflecting on it, and we need to not take that opportunity away from them.

No one here wants to get relegated, but we're in this excrement because grinding out results weren't working. Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.

IMO playing this style is ok but it has to instilled into the players on the pitch to make quick decisions whether playing out from the back in every instance is on or not . Trying to force it when it’s more likely to result in losing possession when in your own 1/3rd needs to be instantly recognised and a less risky alternative taken . A lot of its success comes down to getting the ball moving quickly from the GK before the opposition has time to reset and press .

What makes me laugh is when teams pass it around at the back then roll it back to the GK who just lumps it . There’s no sense behind it other than it shows the players aren’t capable of the system. And this isn’t a L2 thing , you see it all the way up to CL matches.

As a fan it bores me watching this style . I’d rather see players competing for the ball from kicks , making tackles for the second ball etc . Perhaps I’m a dinosaur but I don’t care tbh !

Quoted from louth_in_the_south

IMO playing this style is ok but it has to instilled into the players on the pitch to make quick decisions whether playing out from the back in every instance is on or not . Trying to force it when it’s more likely to result in losing possession when in your own 1/3rd needs to be instantly recognised and a less risky alternative taken . A lot of its success comes down to getting the ball moving quickly from the GK before the opposition has time to reset and press .

What makes me laugh is when teams pass it around at the back then roll it back to the GK who just lumps it . There’s no sense behind it other than it shows the players aren’t capable of the system. And this isn’t a L2 thing , you see it all the way up to CL matches.

As a fan it bores me watching this style . I’d rather see players competing for the ball from kicks , making tackles for the second ball etc . Perhaps I’m a dinosaur but I don’t care tbh !

Your final paragraph illustrates how different people have a different variation of the "Grimsby way" of playing.

Although I prefer it myself I don't think that many fans here actually like the patience of playing it out from the back, and would prefer a more up and at 'em style which many would say is the "Grimsby way" and more Grimsby grit which excites fans.

In the final analysis I don't mind what the style is as long as it works, and things are often transient/fashionable.

There is only one way Artell will play, which means to a degree he has to coach the fans to accept it besides instilling it into the players so it is a tough ask.

Any worries about the style will melt away if we start winning but will we ever get a chance to find out?

This is no criticism LCL but it’s got nothing to do with it being my perception of the Grimsby Way . It’s just my preference to watching 2 teams battling and using a combination of physicality and skill to attempt to win a game . At the end of the day a manager may want his team to play a certain way and that’s their right as manager. But fans pay to attend to be entertained. I don’t feel entertained watching tippy tappy football , no matter how much the puritans now use possession stats to back up the style . I’m not sure of the figures about how much more % chance of winning this provides in principle but I’m guessing it’s not that much greater.
I’m sure someone on here could provide the figures to shoot me down! In fact I’d love to hear it from Pep or DA as they’re the professionals who are obviously far more knowledgable than a mere fan like me .

Quoted from louth_in_the_south

This is no criticism LCL but it’s got nothing to do with it being my perception of the Grimsby Way . It’s just my preference to watching 2 teams battling and using a combination of physicality and skill to attempt to win a game . At the end of the day a manager may want his team to play a certain way and that’s their right as manager. But fans pay to attend to be entertained. I don’t feel entertained watching tippy tappy football , no matter how much the puritans now use possession stats to back up the style . I’m not sure of the figures about how much more % chance of winning this provides in principle but I’m guessing it’s not that much greater.
I’m sure someone on here could provide the figures to shoot me down! In fact I’d love to hear it from Pep or DA as they’re the professionals who are obviously far more knowledgable than a mere fan like me .

To be fair that is what I was trying to point out that if you polled the fans on what style of play they like to see it would be quite split.

I think Stockwood made a mistake in his Grimsby way comments because it means different things to different fans. We just want a winning team really.

I am getting rather depressed about our current situation and can see nothing but relegation.  Maybe that is because I am depressed - a chicken and egg situation.  But if football and other team sports are a form of non-violent warfare, then our current situation reminds me of this....

Blackadder: Now, would this brilliant plan involve us climbing out of our trenches and walking slowly towards the enemy sir?

Darling: How can you possibly know that Blackadder? It’s classified information.

Blackadder: It’s the same plan that we used last time, and the seventeen times before that.

Melchett: E-E-Exactly! And that is what so brilliant about it! We will catch the watchful Hun totally off guard! Doing precisely what we have done eighteen times before is exactly the last thing they’ll expect us to do this time! There is however one small problem.

Blackadder: That everyone always gets slaughtered in the first ten seconds.

Melchett: That’s right! And Field Marshal Haig is worried that this may be depressing the men a tadge. So, he’s looking to find a way to cheer them up.

For, 'The Grimsby Way', I've always considered a team playing passing, attacking football. But then I was raised on football during the Buckley Mk. I and II eras. Back then, we played with a much, much more skilful and passing-based style of play than the vast majority of our opponents who were cloggers, some with better forwards or better defenses than others.

As the Buckley Mk. III era showed, the bigger size and improved fitness of footballers made Buckleyball more difficult, especially for the players he managed to sign.

Hurst has earned himself a place in the GTFC history books for his achievements, but I don't think anybody could claim it was ever particularly pretty to watch.

The question now is whether or not Artell will be able to replicate a similar style of football (i.e. the passing game) which we saw during the Buckley Mk. I and II eras, with the players who he is able to sign. I'm personally happy to see us attempting to pass the ball a lot more, though we obviously need to mix things up somewhat and that comes with repetition and confidence. The question, this season, is whether or not the players we have are capable of passing the ball well enough to make it work. As Artell noted in his pre-Colchester interview, we've done pretty well with the possession-style of play in the away matches since he arrived. The next step is to replicate it at BP when the context is different and teams are trying to hit us on the break more. I'd be OK if we could win enough games this season to keep us just a few points above the drop on the expectation that the squad will be strengthened in the summer to improve our capabilities of playing Artell-ball. (It goes without saying I'd be even happier if we won loads of the remaining games).

As Ska noted, we've played a lot of the top teams since Artell arrived so hopefully we will be more capable of picking up the points we need as we play the teams around us.

Quoted from louth_in_the_south

As a fan it bores me watching this style . I’d rather see players competing for the ball from kicks , making tackles for the second ball etc . Perhaps I’m a dinosaur but I don’t care tbh !

Perhaps rugby union is more your game.

Thinking back to style of play and the Grimsby way had me thinking of the first successful side zi saw at town which was McMenemy’s 71/72 side with basically a 4-2-4 with Chatterley and Boylen in the middle Brace; Gauden & Woodward as your wide men Tees; Lewis and Hickman as options down the middle and that side scored 100 goals. Hard to remember back but obviously Tees got 27 many with his head and no doubt he would have been high with assists flicking them on for Brace and Lewis in particular. Late seventies similar formation with Waters and Bonnyman the central two, Ford; Brolly and Cummings out wide and Kilmore and Drinkell down the middle.

Looking back those were my most enjoyable years watching town ( more so than the Buckley era) and maybe, as Louth in the South, said we are dinosaurs football wise. But in those days there was such a mixture of styles but you needed a good physical presence throughout the team but particularly your spine. Wide players got up and down but contributed considerably to the goal scoring and the midfield was a mixture of physical battles and skilful passing.

Thing was both these team were very good at it particularly the late seventies team but the man who probably started that ball rolling was Tom Casey who was unluckily sacked before his hard work came to fruition via Newman and Kerr.

Trouble is now if we don’t plat Artell ball where do we go as we lack physicality throughout the team and our midfield don’t look like they are up for a bruising battle to take control of this area. Vernam is the only wide player who looks capable of beating his man and non of the wide players really put a shift in.

Anyway I’ll stop now as the more I think about our current squad the more concerned I feel so let’s hope plan A bloody well work’s starting Saturday.

The major problem we have is that the midfielders don't show for the ball or trust themselves. You can immediately see the gap left by Conteh who did both. Recruitment wise that is what we need.

I'm a bit confused about why people think we will start accruing loads of points if we try to dig in and not play football. The evidence doesn't really back that up.