Devil's Advocate

A large feeling of anti Artell this evening...but...
I felt today that we DEFINITELY didn't play out from the back as consistently as we have done, a clear change in tactics IMO...
but we still shipped 5 by going a bit more direct....i think the different approach was a definite nod to public opinion..

Players regularly serve up the ball to opposition when under little pressure...
Whether a midfield interchange, a counter attack, a defender with ample time....although I cannot say with 100% proof I DO IMAGINE that at Cheapside during the week the instructions from the coaching staff aren't.. "when you have a free header...nod it down to an opposing player"

And the same players  are then instructed to " if you lose the ball then put in a half arsed challenge that gives you a 20% chance of getting the ball back"....

He has picked the 11, he has to accept responsibility in some part...but in all honesty...the players at his disposal just aren't
good enough.

That midfield 3 though. Could Holohan or Hunt been worse?

Personally I thought they were playing it out until before the penalty, then got bollocked for dropping the plan at half time. Hence the flaccid second half.

Would you employ the devils advocate ?

Frankly I’d employ the devilled avocado at the moment.

Quoted from grassbandits

That midfield 3 though. Could Holohan or Hunt been worse?

I have criticised that elsewhere...but the public wanted less tippy tappy....that midfield delivered that in spades today...
First half we dominated 35 mins of it...
Albeit we were 2-0 down by then but we dominated....but hardly troubled the goal.

The crowd reaction from the last game  has steered today's selection and approach.....it failed.

Speaking with Donny fans after the game the most worrying thing they said was..."don't worry FGR and Sutton are terrible"....unfortunately the only difference I can see is that we gained more points earlier in the season and that credit is diminishing.

Yes, we did change strategy today and played out less which I think was the correct decision. We were also unfortunate in that they had 4 shots on target and scored 5 goals. Getting points is the manager's job though and unlucky or not, if you can't do that you should be gone.

Quoted from moosey_club

A large feeling of anti Artell this evening...but...
I felt today that we DEFINITELY didn't play out from the back as consistently as we have done, a clear change in tactics IMO...
but we still shipped 5 by going a bit more direct....i think the different approach was a definite nod to public opinion..

Players regularly serve up the ball to opposition when under little pressure...
Whether a midfield interchange, a counter attack, a defender with ample time....although I cannot say with 100% proof I DO IMAGINE that at Cheapside during the week the instructions from the coaching staff aren't.. "when you have a free header...nod it down to an opposing player"

And the same players  are then instructed to " if you lose the ball then put in a half arsed challenge that gives you a 20% chance of getting the ball back"....

He has picked the 11, he has to accept responsibility in some part...but in all honesty...the players at his disposal just aren't
good enough.

An interesting point of view. I think from his interview it was clear there was more pragmatism in this performance, but the players just did not execute The team has serious issues. There is a complete lack of pace and the midfield is one dimensional and the players are just not good enough
In a minority of probably one, I would give David Brent one game, he keeps speaking about the away form. He has one chance to get a good away. Result next week or the trigger should be pulled. UTM.

Quoted from Zmariner

An interesting point of view. I think from his interview it was clear there was more pragmatism in this performance, but the players just did not execute The team has serious issues. There is a complete lack of pace and the midfield is one dimensional and the players are just not good enough
In a minority of probably one, I would give David Brent one game, he keeps speaking about the away form. He has one chance to get a good away. Result next week or the trigger should be pulled. UTM.

I think it was the kick off of the second half, Donny kicked off....the Town midfield pressed and in one pass Donny beat the press and were running into 20 yds of space in midfield and eyeing up the goal.
Players are clueless.

Quoted from moosey_club

I think it was the kick off of the second half, Donny kicked off....the Town midfield pressed and in one pass Donny beat the press and were running into 20 yds of space in midfield and eyeing up the goal.
Players are clueless.

Yup. Noticed that too. Organisationally confused I thought. Stick or twist? Just a mess. We let their bang average players have yards and yards, time and again.

If you watch the highlights you'll realise the players running back to stop Donny attacks look like 6 year olds all clumped together trying to get the ball.
It's so disorganised at the back, maybe a consequence of losing players like waterfall, there's no leaders out there.

As a manager of a sales team myself, albeit not of a football team.

I have some sympathy with Artell, he has inherited the he majority of this squad, he spends a lot of time and effort coaching them, advising them and likely demonstrating to them how he wants them to play.

During those exercises I’m sure they all implement the training and repeatedly execute it. All talking a good game and being enthused about it.

Then comes Saturday, they cross the white line and fail, they don’t complete the most simple of passes, they don’t get stuck in, the majority run around clueless, many choose to not put in the effort or look up to the fight.

As a manager this is highly frustrating, I believe people who do not do as they are told either don’t understand or they have chosen not to follow the instruction.

Having selected the players following the weeks training/coaching I suspect those players have demonstrating they know what to do and can do it,

Therefore in conclusion they have chosen not to on the Saturday or simply are not good enough to implement this against an opposition with its own game plan and desire to stop us playing.

For me I cannot judge Artel until more of the players are of his own choosing and some of these players that are “not fit to wear the shirt” have moved on.

Quoted from Northy81

As a manager of a sales team myself, albeit not of a football team.

Interesting comparison. You will know that you measure a team through input and output measures. When the outputs are poor you focus on the inputs and you give poor performers very specific measures to signpost what good performance looks like. You also make it clear what the consequences are for not delivering on the input measures. You drive better outputs through delivering inputs.

I don’t see the team delivering anywhere at the moment. Is Artell giving them clarity of inputs and what the consequences of poor performance are? (For the individuals, the consequences for the club are obvious).

For poor performance you also move from a management style of coach and delegate to direct, making it clear what they have to do and how to do it. The lack of organisation on the pitch suggests this is needed.

The players don't know their jobs, it's an organisational and managerial issue.
We need to pick the right team, the players need to know their jobs and then do them.

I think it's clear that the players don't believe in the manager and his methods. They look confused and don't trust the system, which reflects on the pitch as they are second guessing everything, and being too slow in their thoughts and actions.

They are doing the dreaded get rid and let someone else pick up the slack routine that struggling teams fall into. They don't want the ball.

Then we inevitably go behind and things just spiral out of control from there. At that point, we become desperate to get back in the game, and the opposition just bide their time and pick us off. Stockport could have had 5 or 6 last week, but they just spent the second half keeping us at arms length, and using all their subs.

It's become the equivalent of a big man putting his hand on a small mans head while he desperately swings punches at thin air.

Quoted from BrMarin

We were also unfortunate in that they had 4 shots on target and scored 5 goals.

They also hit the post to be fair.

Plus the o.g. came when their right back was left unmarked and we were outnumbered at the back.

It's not unfortunate to lose goals when we play like that. It's inevitable.

We,ve replaced glennon and mullarkey and we still leak goals, showing how exposed our defence is.

Quoted from ex-merseymariner

They also hit the post to be fair.

Plus the o.g. came when their right back was left unmarked and we were outnumbered at the back.

It's not unfortunate to lose goals when we play like that. It's inevitable.

We,ve replaced glennon and mullarkey and we still leak goals, showing how exposed our defence is.

We replaced them with defenders that their current club's fans said were decent going forwards but not defensively. So we replaced them with the opposite of what we needed. We'd apparently been looking at these players in the summer, so we can't blame the manager ignoring the recruitment expert anymore