February 2024... The Perfect Storm?

[trousers]

So, there we were at the turn of the year... Unbeaten run intact and slowly but surely reeling in those above us (to the point where we had reached 2nd place and automatic promotion was in our own hands)... and then a series of events that, on their own would have had little impact but, when combined, have led to our downfall...?

- January transfer window... Decent acquisitions but gave Martin selection headaches leading to more squad rotation and less consistency

- Stephens and Sulemana returning from long injury layoffs, which also added to the squad selection dilemma

- Downes injury coinciding with 3 'unexpected' defeats in February versus Hull, Millwall and Bristol City

- distraction of our FA Cup run... replay vs Watford and midweek away at Anfield leading to fixture congestion 

- Wilcox quitting... Must have caused some unrest behind the scenes, surely?

- the unbeaten run becoming a millstone around our necks as we ended up being content with draws in order to achieve a new club record? 

February? The 'Perfect Storm'...?

Or....in homage to Russell Martin, am I overthinking things here and all it really boils down to is not having a clinical striker nor a defence that can concentrate for 90 minutes....?! 

🙂

 

Edited April 1 by trousers

[S-Clarke]

If you look back to our form over November, December and into January it was built on the basis of a very, very consistent 11. (notably the back 4)

KWP - Bednarek - THB - Manning

Downes 

                Smallbone

Armstrong

Wide players were usually Fraser and S Armstrong with Charly playing in the 10. We didn't have Sulemana, Edozie, Stephens to pick from during December. We were having to fill the squad with Meghoma, Bragg, Dibling, SAA etc - but I think that forced Martin's hand a bit, he couldn't really tinker and the side picked it's self. Our December run of form in particular was really consistent in terms of wins and defensive stability, we conceded just 3 goals in 6 games. Fast forward to today and we have just conceded 13 goals in 6 games, and that's from a chopped and changed back 4.

Once Stephens came back he played a couple of games, but was still on the bench for most games in Jan as we continued with that original back 4. We got stacks of clean sheets with that back 4.

Come the end of January and into February we have Edozie and Sulemana back, Stephens fully fit, we've gone out and added Rothwell and Brooks to the side. No sign of Dibling, SAA, Bragg, Meghoma anymore. All of a sudden he seemingly has too much choice, from a settled and consistent base the availability and additions of other players have, in my opinion, tempted him to overcomplicate and try to be too clever (i.e. specific players for specific matches, different in-game formations etc etc). 

I will always stand by the notion that football is a simple game, you help yourself by picking a consistent 11, allow relationships to build and that's what we did during November/December etc - but he got a little too fiddly imo and has tinkered way too much with something that wasn't particularly broken. We got to 2nd on the basis of a consistent 11 (specifically the back 4) but we went away from that and have obviously started conceding goals like no ones business.

Individually I don't think Stephens has done particularly bad, but Martin's comment about the team 'needing' Stephens 'at the moment' was crass and probably pissed the guys off who had been doing admirably during the previous weeks.

Edited April 1 by S-Clarke

[Roger]

3 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

If you look back to our form over November, December and into January it was built on the basis of a very, very consistent 11. (notably the back 4)

KWP - Bednarek - THB - Manning

Downes 

                Smallbone

Armstrong

Wide players were usually Fraser and S Armstrong with Charly playing in the 10. We didn't have Sulemana, Edozie, Stephens to pick from during December. We were having to fill the squad with Meghoma, Bragg, Dibling, SAA etc - but I think that forced Martin's hand a bit, he couldn't really tinker and the side picked it's self. Our December run of form in particular was really consistent in terms of wins and defensive stability, we conceded just 3 goals in 6 games. Fast forward to today and we have just conceded 13 goals in 6 games, and that's from a chopped and changed back 4.

Once Stephens came back he played a couple of games, but was still on the bench for most games in Jan as we continued with that original back 4. We got stacks of clean sheets with that back 4.

Come the end of January and into February we have Edozie and Sulemana back, Stephens fully fit, we've gone out and added Rothwell and Brooks to the side. No sign of Dibling, SAA, Bragg, Meghoma anymore. All of a sudden he seemingly has too much choice, from a settled and consistent base the availability and additions of other players have, in my opinion, tempted him to overcomplicate and try to be too clever (i.e. specific players for specific matches, different in-game formations etc etc). 

I will always stand by the notion that football is a simple game, you help yourself by picking a consistent 11, allow relationships to build and that's what we did during November/December etc - but he got a little too fiddly imo and has tinkered way too much with something that wasn't particularly broken. We got to 2nd on the basis of a consistent 11 (specifically the back 4) but we went away from that and have obviously started conceding goals like no ones business.

Individually I don't think Stephens has done particularly bad, but Martin's comment about the team 'needing' Stephens 'at the moment' was crass and probably pissed the guys off who had been doing admirably during the previous weeks.

This is spot on.

[coalman]

10 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

If you look back to our form over November, December and into January it was built on the basis of a very, very consistent 11. (notably the back 4)

KWP - Bednarek - THB - Manning

Downes 

                Smallbone

Armstrong

Wide players were usually Fraser and S Armstrong with Charly playing in the 10. We didn't have Sulemana, Edozie, Stephens to pick from during December. We were having to fill the squad with Meghoma, Bragg, Dibling, SAA etc - but I think that forced Martin's hand a bit, he couldn't really tinker and the side picked it's self. Our December run of form in particular was really consistent in terms of wins and defensive stability, we conceded just 3 goals in 6 games. Fast forward to today and we have just conceded 13 goals in 6 games, and that's from a chopped and changed back 4.

Once Stephens came back he played a couple of games, but was still on the bench for most games in Jan as we continued with that original back 4. We got stacks of clean sheets with that back 4.

Come the end of January and into February we have Edozie and Sulemana back, Stephens fully fit, we've gone out and added Rothwell and Brooks to the side. No sign of Dibling, SAA, Bragg, Meghoma anymore. All of a sudden he seemingly has too much choice, from a settled and consistent base the availability and additions of other players have, in my opinion, tempted him to overcomplicate and try to be too clever (i.e. specific players for specific matches, different in-game formations etc etc). 

I will always stand by the notion that football is a simple game, you help yourself by picking a consistent 11, allow relationships to build and that's what we did during November/December etc - but he got a little too fiddly imo and has tinkered way too much with something that wasn't particularly broken. We got to 2nd on the basis of a consistent 11 (specifically the back 4) but we went away from that and have obviously started conceding goals like no ones business.

Individually I don't think Stephens has done particularly bad, but Martin's comment about the team 'needing' Stephens 'at the moment' was crass and probably pissed the guys off who had been doing admirably during the previous weeks.

Agree with the sentiment above.

Edozie was out injured in early January having been a key part of our run of form. He and Fraser were pretty much sharing duties down the left wing. Contribution wise there's not much between the two of them. Don't see how Sulemana jumped back in ahead of them.

Thought losing Aribo was also a big miss. He's really deserved more minutes this season. Offers more ability in tight spaces than Smallbone.

Still boggled why we brought Rothwell in on loan and to a lesser extent Brooks as Armstrong has been out wide right.

As for fucking with the THB and Bednarek partnership... That's mental.