Sums it all up very well. The additional clue is the body language, especially of Clarke, but of quite a few of the players as well. Clarke seems to have developed a mystified air in his post-match interviews, as if he himself cannot quite work out what is going on and why. It is the same if you watch his pitch-side body language. He seems mystified at what is going on and that is of the greater concern. He promised us 'front foot' football to get the fans off their seats, but most of the team don't seem to know where their feet are and the fans getting off their seats won't be coming back unless things improve. I like Clarke and think that he was as good as we were going to get at the start of the season, but he seems to be losing his way and not knowing what to do to put it right. That seems to be getting to the players as well. Today was better in parts than Stockport, or Wycombe, but the absence of any sustained control in midfield means the defence coming under pretty constant pressure and a lack of scoring opportunities for the forwards. I think that it was Uwe Rosler who locked his Brentford team into the changing room for as long as it took when they were in a bad run. Everyone could say anything they wanted and it worked. They then went on a unbeaten run and ended up promoted, as I recall. I really hope that Clarke, the coaching staff and the players can do the same. COYR
Completely agree with everything YT has said, especially the part about us looking over our shoulder. I see no shape, no game plan or understanding in this team. We have probably one of the best midfielders we have ever had on the coaching staff and yet we continue to bypass them or they regularly give the ball away. My understanding was that we brought in Marc Roberts to add experience, leadership and mentoring to the back line, as far as I can see this hasn’t materialised and we persistently continue to hoof it out from the back to absolutely no one up front. We don’t press, we look slow all over the pitch and our inability to string more than 2 passes together is very frustrating. I’m hoping that things can turn around, but I am not very optimistic.
PS Considering the number of corners we conceded and the general % possession we had, I thought that the defence was pretty robust today, with Roberts again showing his worth.
Agree. Although (and appreciate its been done to death) but most of those we had to defend 2 or 3 balls into the box as noone more advanced than the penalty spot.........
Was it? The only thing I can think of that was better than either of those matches was the performance of the keeper. And that was marginal. In every other metric I think we were worse and got worse still as the match wore on.
Clarke will rightly get the fair share of the criticism but Jesus Christ the recruitment team should be hanging their head in shame .
A few things are glaringly obvious to me. Recruitment has been woefully sub standard and looks like we panicked on deadline day when our main targets turned us down. We’ve signed 2 players (Craig and DKD) who we already have players in those positions. We’ve been crying out for an out and out striker and signed Humphries, who I think will do ok but he needs to be played in his correct position. Whoever decided Connell is a box to box midfielder needs sacking immediately. Has anyone identified any patterns of play or identity to our play? I know I haven’t, our play is slow a turgid. Any sort of forward pass is to nobody. I think Clarke is lucky we have an international break as another defeat today and I think his position will be subject of some discussions at board level
Mansfield fans have mentioned on twitter that you play DKD behind two strikers or he's pretty useless, so was excited to see him behind humprehys and Cosgrove today, both big lads who can hold up the ball and introduce DKD to create his magic, shame it didn't turn out like that.
Great post YT. I'm clinging to the fact that he's been highly regarded by the fans of his previous clubs, but with each passing game the doubts are building. Key issues for me after 10 games, beyond the ones you've covered so well: 1) Players aren't being picked/substituted on merit. Benson's absence from the starting line up today and Cosgrove not being substituted on the hour were examples of that. 2) 10 games in League One aren't where you should be experimenting with formations to try and figure out which one is the one you want to identify with. 3) One of my big criticisms of Collins last year was that he didn't develop/improve any players, and the early evidence so far is that we're getting more of the same with Clarke. 4) I'm becoming increasingly cynical of the 'player' element of the Hourihane signing. He needs to be involved in the squad on matchdays. Not sure if he's not being selected or he's not making himself available, but whatever element of his contract is that of a player is being wasted at present. 5) If anything performances are deteriorating at a time when they should be improving. There's been no consistency of selection/formation to build upon. I could live with mediocre but improving at this stage, but I have no confidence that there's any improvement to come in the short term. 6) What the hell are the defensive unit being coached? Roberts should be a steadying influence within that unit, and he's probably been the best individual playing there, but the defence is a calamity waiting to happen in every game and there seems to be a complete absence of communication between keeper and defenders.
It’s not really a shock to see what’s happening when you think about it because at the end of the day we just about hung on for a playoff place last season despite being on relegation form since February and then lost our main goal threats and recruited much more inferior players in the summer to play in a tougher than ever league one.
Yep recruitment has been shocking. We lost Cole, Mcatee, Williams and Kane and decided we'll be fine to just replace them with our squad players from last year. It's mad. Replacing a decent manager in Collins with this bloke is seeming like a mistake too.
The kind of review that should be posted on the official site......saying it straight, like it is, you know.
