DN35 Podcast

Quoted from StacyColdicotts_hairline

Good podcast

View from the findus also deserves an honourable mention

We're very lucky as a fanbase to have two good podcasts to listen to.

The DN35 lot really come into their own when Town are excrement. Their frustration and misery has brought me some joy in a season of otherwise absolute shite.

If I've got this on at home my missus will inevitably pop her head round the corner at some point and ask something like "why is that man so angry?"

Quoted from Son of Cod

The DN35 lot really come into their own when Town are excrement. Their frustration and misery has brought me some joy in a season of otherwise absolute shite.

If I've got this on at home my missus will inevitably pop her head round the corner at some point and ask something like "why is that man so angry?"

I always think it's much easier to talk about something negative that can clearly improve, so it's no surprise that their best content is when we are terrible.

Quoted from Mariner_09

Think Mike made a fair point there, it was probably more of a carry over from Ben and Shaun. They'd improved us in the immediate aftermath of Hurst. He had 45 minutes with them before MK so he can't take any credit for that. More time he's had with them, the worse it's got. Time to go, Dave.

This question has been burning away at me. Artell’s first 3 games saw decent performances against BFS, Oxford and Crewe respectively, even if they only yielded 1 win (we deserved to have beaten BFS quite comfortably).

And that BFS game is a good case in point; you’re quite right in that there’s no way he could have coached anything new systematically into the players in the space of a single, 45 minute training session. But he did have sufficient time to impart a clear message that the shackles were off: “don’t be afraid to make a mistake, don’t be afraid to take risks, find space and pass, pass, pass”. It’s a simple enough message to have taken on board in a short space of time, and a clear departure from the rules of Hurstball that seemed to liberate the players. You can see that in these short highlights:



But all we’re really talking about here is permission for a little expressionism. After all, there hadn’t been time to outlaw every rule of Hurstball, and some still seemed to apply.

Look at this still. For context, the score is 1-1 at this point, and all 11 Town players are involved in our defensive shape. 3 closing down the player in possession and another 8 in the box. Only a single player is in front of the ball.


Now a similar situation in the Walsall game on New Year’s Day. Not the best angle, but quite clearly only Glennon making any effort to stop the cross, and 5 visible Town players (plus Danny Rose) completely out of the game.


Even after the ball pings about in the box for a bit, our defensive shape remains a complete mess, with several players effectively doing nothing.


Donny’s first goal at the weekend. Move starts with a short pass for their goalkeeper, so no excuses about getting caught on the break. In the space of 3 simple passes, we find ourselves out of possession with (and you’ll have to take my word for this slightly) 7 Town players now a minimum of 10 yards behind the ball. That’s Tharme ffs, 12 yards inside their half having failed to win the ball. What is he doing there?


Now that’s all because we pressed hard, and pressed badly. Donny went through us like a knife through butter. These are just a couple of examples - there’s loads of similar ones in recent weeks but I’m saving myself the depression of pouring through all of them.  

We’ve gone from a happy medium of keeping a defensive shape while allowing for some creative expression in possession, to Artell wanting some high press, men in front of the ball approach, coupled with a high-risk, expansive passing style. Any time any part of that fails, we are rendered as vulnerable as a newborn kitten.

I think that’s why you sometimes leave games at the minute going “I know on the whole that was absolute garbage, but there was that 20 or 30 minute period where we looked alright”. Certainly that was the case in periods during the first-half of Walsall and Donny. But it’s those stupid, easy goals conceded that sap morale and confidence to such an extent that that we’ve little chance of doing it over 90 minutes.

Artell seems to want heavy metal football, but he’s going about it in such a brash and naive way that he’s merely committing career suicide. If he wants to keep his job beyond the weekend, he needs think first about our defensive shape both in and out of possession, and when and only when he’s reinstalled some sanity into our system, should he give a moment’s thought to trying to play sexy football. That we keep getting absolutely hammered ain’t no coincidence.

Quoted from Poojah

This question has been burning away at me. Artell’s first 3 games saw decent performances against BFS, Oxford and Crewe respectively, even if they only yielded 1 win (we deserved to have beaten BFS quite comfortably).

And that BFS game is a good case in point; you’re quite right in that there’s no way he could have coached anything new systematically into the players in the space of a single, 45 minute training session. But he did have sufficient time to impart a clear message that the shackles were off: “don’t be afraid to make a mistake, don’t be afraid to take risks, find space and pass, pass, pass”. It’s a simple enough message to have taken on board in a short space of time, and a clear departure from the rules of Hurstball that seemed to liberate the players. You can see that in these short highlights:



But all we’re really talking about here is permission for a little expressionism. After all, there hadn’t been time to outlaw every rule of Hurstball, and some still seemed to apply.

Look at this still. For context, the score is 1-1 at this point, and all 11 Town players are involved in our defensive shape. 3 closing down the player in possession and another 8 in the box. Only a single player is in front of the ball.


Now a similar situation in the Walsall game on New Year’s Day. Not the best angle, but quite clearly only Glennon making any effort to stop the cross, and 5 visible Town players (plus Danny Rose) completely out of the game.


Even after the ball pings about in the box for a bit, our defensive shape remains a complete mess, with several players effectively doing nothing.


Donny’s first goal at the weekend. Move starts with a short pass for their goalkeeper, so no excuses about getting caught on the break. In the space of 3 simple passes, we find ourselves out of possession with (and you’ll have to take my word for this slightly) 7 Town players now a minimum of 10 yards behind the ball.


Now that’s all because we pressed hard, and pressed badly. Donny went through us like a knife through butter. These are just a couple of examples - there’s loads of similar ones in recent weeks but I’m saving myself the depression of pouring through all of them.  

We’ve gone from a happy medium of keeping a defensive shape while allowing for some creative expression in possession, to Artell wanting some high press, men in front of the ball approach, coupled with a high-risk, expansive passing style. Any time any part of that fails, we are rendered as vulnerable as a newborn kitten.

I think that’s why you sometimes leave games at the minute going “I know on the whole that was absolute garbage, but there was that 20 or 30 minute period where we looked alright”. Certainly that was the case in periods during the first-half of Walsall and Donny. But it’s those stupid, easy goals conceded that sap morale and confidence to such an extent that that we’ve little chance of doing it over 90 minutes.

Artell seems to want heavy metal football, but he’s going about it in such a brash and naive way that he’s merely committing career suicide. If he wants to keep his job beyond the weekend, he needs think first about our defensive shape both in and out of possession, and when and only when he’s reinstalled some sanity into our system, should he give a moment’s thought to trying to play sexy football. That we keep getting absolutely hammered ain’t no coincidence.

Great post. That gap in the penalty box in the third screenshot you've posted is just...well it needs no words.

Well done Poojah for excellent analysis 🤙

I thought Ian Holloway had Town doing similar from the defenders making McKweoun look dreadful as he was ‘sold’ in to trouble.
Town have to get ball in to the centre of the pitch, earlier and select the players able to gather the second ball, and build a move in to the forward half of the pitch earlier.
I hope DA can appreciate this and organise his team to do this on Saturday -will be watching
UTM

Quoted from Son of Cod

Great post. That gap in the penalty box in the third screenshot you've posted is just...well it needs no words.

I neglected to make the point above, but I think it also goes some way to explaining why changing personnel hasn’t made the slightest bit of difference - three out of Saturday’s back four weren’t even at the club when we got slapped by Walsall. I’ll stop short of completely absolving the defenders and goalkeeper of blame ‘cos that would be madness, but I think it’s become clear that the issue is more systematic than individual failings.

If there’s a positive, I’d say that this is more on the manager than the players (he’s the common denominator to our thrashings, anyway). I think it’s fixable, whether that’s by Artell or someone else.

The simple answer is, he lost the dressing room awhile back.

Quoted from HerveJosse

Bloody data again.
Can’t be right Mansfield had 40 shots against us in one game.
Maybe that’s where we are going wrong we can’t count.

One assumes its shots on target. DN35 podcast did say it and  if there's a contact you know, I'll gladly ask.

Common denomiinator
- agreed.
Obvious to anyone - apart from directors that have set their own path - could they be right?
Or - are we in the hands of  - who?
What’s the plan?