Artell deserves credit

Quoted from ROKERITE

I know geography played the largest part in their decision to go to Colchester but it still seemed an odd choice to turn down easily the biggest club in League Two and two months later join one of the smallest.

I didn’t know we’d actually offered him the job, he could have gone to Bradford as well…

The turnaround is remarkable.  A few weeks ago I was resigned to relegation.  We have a keeper that let every shot on target in. Defenders with not a clue how to defend. Midfielders who couldn't pass the ball, track back or make a tackle. The one bright light was Danny Rose, but he obviously couldn't do it all on his own.

Now we seem to have a system that the players are comfortable with. We have seen some impressive performances from Cartwright. We look solid at the back. The midfield are working hard and we seem to have more options up front. We now look like a team capable of picking up points home or away.

38 points is a good platform to push on from. We are not safe yet, but look more than capable of staying up.  

I would not back against us getting at least a point at Gillingham.

Have you seen Artell’s post match interview? I think it’s great. He praises the fans, big time, but he also shows his frustration at MK getting no bookings - he says “but I’m not gonna talk about referees”, then a few moments later he says something that will get him in trouble - “Sutton didn’t have a shot on target the other day until some idiot gave them a penalty!!!”. Great stuff.

The tactical flexibility is a revelation compared to PH days. Still think we need an upgrade in a number of players but at least now we should have the opportunity to do it.

Quoted from pontoonlew

He wasn’t saying things that weren’t true though IMO. He said the data suggested that we shouldn’t have been on the receiving end of those results, watching those games I agreed with him, Walsall in particular was bizarre how we managed to concede 6 goals.

We’ve now got what we deserved from most of our games and only really had one slice of bad luck (Sutton). Before that we’d have something ridiculous happen every single game, I think the upturn has been a mixture of shoring up the defence and finally having the rub of the green in big moments. On top of that, his signings have finally started to bed in, it’s been a long time since we’ve made multiple January signings where they’ve all made a positive impact. Smith is the only one who there are question mark on but that’s more him being a victim of the new system. Artell deserves massive credit for those signings, especially after most completely wrote them off within a week.

Besides, you called him ‘Dopey Dave’, I’d put that in the ridiculous category.

When PH was sacked, and interim manager/coaches were in, and what we then needed is someone who hit the ground running fast as we were sinking and fast. A one one-team only and 18 months out of the game person might have been a smaller gamble if hired in the preseason, it was a much bigger gamble in the situation that was. What we needed was a Manager/Coach who had some history and not someone learning on the job. We are his second club only in managerial terms, and anyone who has changed jobs knows that running a second,  third, or  fourth group gets easier as you leave mistakes and problems behind.
DA instead of just steadying the ship and making sure we didn't ship goals (yes boring draws) misread the technical capabilities of his new team, implemented a system which was misunderstood, anyway all players needed to buy into and more to the point, understand their specific roll in it for it to work. The obvious backfire brought things to a head, with improvements.  But it's a pity that the "new improved gritty" Mariners didn't happen in January, as we are now inundated with posts about how many points per game we will get, or if 45 pts is safety or not, or in other words we are hoping FGR or Colchester will do us a favour and go down instead of us.
I happen to like DA, and I believe he'll grow into the job, but I'm not sure how many bridges he's burnt with the fans and the team, however, I do hope he will survive for the 24-25 season in (definitely) League 1. UTM

Quoted from GrimPol

When PH was sacked, and interim manager/coaches were in, and what we then needed is someone who hit the ground running fast as we were sinking and fast. A one one-team only and 18 months out of the game person might have been a smaller gamble if hired in the preseason, it was a much bigger gamble in the situation that was. What we needed was a Manager/Coach who had some history and not someone learning on the job. We are his second club only in managerial terms, and anyone who has changed jobs knows that running a second,  third, or  fourth group gets easier as you leave mistakes and problems behind.
DA instead of just steadying the ship and making sure we didn't ship goals (yes boring draws) misread the technical capabilities of his new team, implemented a system which was misunderstood, anyway all players needed to buy into and more to the point, understand their specific roll in it for it to work. The obvious backfire brought things to a head, with improvements.  But it's a pity that the "new improved gritty" Mariners didn't happen in January, as we are now inundated with posts about how many points per game we will get, or if 45 pts is safety or not, or in other words we are hoping FGR or Colchester will do us a favour and go down instead of us.
I happen to like DA, and I believe he'll grow into the job, but I'm not sure how many bridges he's burnt with the fans and the team, however, I do hope he will survive for the 24-25 season in (definitely) League 1. UTM

Sutton away after the game was met with David Artells black and white army being chanted by the whole away end, same story at MK Dons. I think he's very much won most fans back over with the switch in approach.

A bit it harsh to say Cartwright was 'letting' every shot in. He didn't have a chance with most of them and that's down to the failings of the outfield players.

Biggest improvement is down to the change in personnel and formation at the back, plus the introduction of Thompson. Obikwu beginning to find his feet as well, of course.

Many others have already said so, but just wanted to apologise to Mr Artell for calling for the boot after the Donny game. Fair play to Jason and Andrew for keeping level heads and sticking with him.

I wonder how many of the folk in here who've had to change their minds would reflect on making their minds up too quick and give players or managers a bit more time in future.

DA lost Conteh (didn't have a choice), inherited a pretty poor team, and had to make FB, CB changes, and pull in a new DM. About 3 games later, those players and DA were written off.

People written off this season that are now "not as bad as thought":

Pyke
Obikwu
Vernam
Hume
Tharme (apparently no better than what we had)
DA

Everyone is human, and everyone learns when things go to excrement. We need to start giving people the room to mess up, learn and come back stronger.

Quoted from AncientExiledMariner

I wonder how many of the folk in here who've had to change their minds would reflect on making their minds up too quick and give players or managers a bit more time in future.

DA lost Conteh (didn't have a choice), inherited a pretty poor team, and had to make FB, CB changes, and pull in a new DM. About 3 games later, those players and DA were written off.

People written off this season that are now "not as bad as thought":

Pyke
Obikwu
Vernham
Hume
Tharme (apparently no better than what we had)
DA

Everyone is human, and everyone learns when things go to excrement. We need to start giving people the room to mess up, learn and come back stronger.

Fair points, but as soon as we get thrashed, it will start up again. But I do hate the nasty bits.

Regarding Obikwu:- He's quite good actually. He tends to lollop around languidly and then pounces. But I do wish he was taken aside and taught the offside rule. Yeah I'm impressed by him, hope he starts more often. UTM