keith margam
Vital Football Legend
The season started with high expectations, a new head-coach in charge bringing with him the prospect of an exciting brand of attacking football and a unique style of play based on high possession rates.
Fast forward to the present day with one game of the season left to play and we find ourselves at the lower end of the league table and shipping goals for fun.
We got the attacking possession football but it came with it’s flaws.
High possession rates were attained mainly by passing backwards or sideways in our own half. Trying to maintain possession by playing the ball out from the back instead of hoofing it upfield often resulted in us losing possession and conceding goals with canny opponents high pressing us.
The much criticised Steve Cooper, our previous head-coach who left with a year still to run on his contract, took us to the play-offs in successive seasons here. The fans disliked his style of play so he moved on to manage Nottingham Forest and took them from bottom of the table to the cusp of promotion this season. He well and truly rubbed our noses in it with his new club, inflicting heavy defeats on us home and away, nine goals conceded, with a brand of attacking football we thought he was incapable of producing.
It is a season of transition the sages said.
So what we are left with is a club in limbo. Can Russell Martin and his inflexible methods take us back to the Premier League? Do we stick or twist? If we stick with him then we face considerable upheaval with player turnover. Many players are deemed not good enough for the system and will be discarded leaving room for more suitable players. That’s the plan but unfortunately we have no money and will have to sell one or more of our best players to fund any incomings.
It’s certainly going to be an interesting summer.
Fast forward to the present day with one game of the season left to play and we find ourselves at the lower end of the league table and shipping goals for fun.
We got the attacking possession football but it came with it’s flaws.
High possession rates were attained mainly by passing backwards or sideways in our own half. Trying to maintain possession by playing the ball out from the back instead of hoofing it upfield often resulted in us losing possession and conceding goals with canny opponents high pressing us.
The much criticised Steve Cooper, our previous head-coach who left with a year still to run on his contract, took us to the play-offs in successive seasons here. The fans disliked his style of play so he moved on to manage Nottingham Forest and took them from bottom of the table to the cusp of promotion this season. He well and truly rubbed our noses in it with his new club, inflicting heavy defeats on us home and away, nine goals conceded, with a brand of attacking football we thought he was incapable of producing.
It is a season of transition the sages said.
So what we are left with is a club in limbo. Can Russell Martin and his inflexible methods take us back to the Premier League? Do we stick or twist? If we stick with him then we face considerable upheaval with player turnover. Many players are deemed not good enough for the system and will be discarded leaving room for more suitable players. That’s the plan but unfortunately we have no money and will have to sell one or more of our best players to fund any incomings.
It’s certainly going to be an interesting summer.