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I never intended to set myself up as a tactical analyst and am far more comfortable writing sentences describing singular observations (for example, Jimmy's running style (as if someone has turned a key on his thigh muscles a quarter turn too tight)) than I am describing the game in tactical terms.
None the less, I feel I have to express myself in order to clear my head for the next match that matters. (The league cup, I don't care about. It's a weird competition that has never really mattered that much to anyone and the best thing about is that it was once sponsored by milk.)
What happened at Crawley was depressingly familiar and, despite the optimism before the game, in hindsight (20/20 vision) grimly predictable.
Here are my main observations:
1: We missed Marvin Ekpiteta - the back three was slow and easily turned. Crawley could attack us by running at us or knocking direct balls at the heart of defence.
2: The defence sat deep - possibly because of the lack of pace in it - that prevented us getting our midfield higher up the pitch and connected with the forwards.
3: We ostensibly played two sitting midfielders with Carey. Sonny's best performances all come in games where we've attacked and we've had mobile players around him. With deep lying midfielders and a striker who is neither mobile, nor a target man, you don't make the space that Sonny exploits. We missed the 'link' man within the midfield (a role Sonny himself played at the end of the season) - the player who can play with both the 6 and the 10 depending on the game situation.
4. CJ Hamilton had a game that defines his career with us. It's not fair to take it all out on him - but he looked both sharp as a tack and blunt as Geoff Boycott forward defensive. Time and again, he got in, time and again, nothing came of it. Shorn of Kaddy and short of playing Apter, CJ is the nearest thing to a danger man we had. Like others, CJ is a better player when there's better players around.
5. We didn't look desperate to score. Coulson's one real contribution was a lovely cross from a delayed Carey pass. No one attacked it. Twice I watched us put average corners in that were made to look terrible because no one fought for the ball. We just don't look hungry in the box. We didn't last season. It's like everything we do is about what happens up to the edge of the box.
6. Both Beesley and Fletcher improved us. Neither of them will win awards for aesthetics but both of them worked hard and seemed aware of both each other and where the ball was coming from. Sometimes a lesser player can make the overall team better and Bees is someone who will do what is needed all day long.
7. I noticed last season that we seem to break tentatively. We'll have a player galloping away and it seems only one or two will go with him. That's grand when you're 3-1 up but we play like that when we're losing too. My best guess is that the players are taught that their job is to hold the shape and held accountable for when the shape breaks down. To me, when the shape hasn't succeeded up to that point, it's a positive when players seek to make something happen and use initiative.
8. Stemming back to Appleton's reign of joy and delight, we've shown a tendency to start well and then collapse after 10-20 minutes. We dominated the opening 7 minutes. We played high and pressed really well. Crawley then broke a couple of times and we never regained that level of performance again. It took an hour for us to really make any changes and a further 15 minutes to try the most likely scorer/creative players on the bench (Apter)
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Overall, I was left with the impression that nothing had changed. That's probably unfair, it's probably me looking at things with a fans results orientated focus and maybe the data vra spreadsheets show loads of great things hidden beneath the surface.
Superficially though, whilst Norburn came close from distance and Sonny had a few efforts with which he could have tested the keeper more and we put a few decent balls in amidst the more speculative crosses and through balls, we didn't manage a sustained period of pressure and only the late and well worked Fletcher chance (crafted by Bees) really worked the keeper. Crawley on the other hand had two goals ruled out and really could and should have scored a third straight after we scored.
There are players to come in. Baggot should add height and mobility. Embleton might add that link play in midfield and quality. Evans will only get fitter and so on.
It's one game in. All is to play for. What we need to see is a bit more in the squad (a Shayne Lavery replacement is a non-negotiable) and a lot more desire to risk the structure, to roll the dice, to chance our arm. That applies equally to the way we attack the ball in the box and the way the coaching staff manage the game on the sidelines. We can faff about with shape against Burton but against Stockport, we need to throw the kitchen sink at winning. To do that, we need to make chances. We might miss them, but make enough and we'll score some. That breeds confidence, joy, pleasure. Shape is important but no one becomes a footballer for the ecstatic pleasure of holding the shape. I want to see us play as if we want to be there.
Glory is inevitable. We go again.
Onward!
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