That's probably about right. We all remember the great moments from Marriott in 2016-17: scoring the first goal of the Cowley era, that pass against Ipswich, the winner at Macclesfield, the winner against Tranmere, and turning the game against Torquay. All five of those are key events from that season, so it is easy to forget that he only started 11 of our 61 matches. He was an impact sub, either by design or accident, and four of those key moments came from the bench. He only made two appearances during the cup run, both as substitute. Rumours of injury problems abounded, and he did break his arm in a friendly against Peterborough. For a player who had such an impact on the season, there has to be a reason why he only started 11 games. Perhaps DC will tell us one day.
Everything in football now is governed by statistics and formal analysis, usually carried out by a team of specialists. We have had a recruitment team for some time, headed by Jez George, to source and analyse players. I'm sure there will be parameters set by the manager to identify suitable candidates for each position for his style of play, and the better candidates are considered by the manager once the basic research has been done. Makes perfect sense to me to take this spadework away from MA and allow him to concentrate on everyday team matters. Some players will be known to the manager, some will not. In fact, I would be worried if we were only to consider players the manager personally knows about.
Quite right - he was discovered by the analyst that Appleton found out about and brought to the club..... to do just that.
Yep, in which case he knows every single one of them, how they have their tea and is their Facebook friend!Unless you're Danny Cowley, of course.
I think you're probably right there. It would be even more remarkable to have reached those figures largely as a sub/not playing often! It does surprise me that more League Two clubs haven't taken an interest, but perhaps that will change now he's a free agent.
