by @FMDoop
It’s funny how football just has a way of producing a narrative out of nowhere. You’ll never guess where we head to for our first away game of the season… Barnsley. So what’s interesting about Barnsley, I hear you ask? They are managed by the man we replaced as Cheltenham Town boss. Micheal Duff. After a hell of a long trip up north, we face a Barnsley team that has just narrowly lost to a solid Plymouth Argyle.
Barnsley (A)
We started the game at a very fast pace. Working hard to win the ball back and creating lots of chances. And then 6 mins into the game our superstar Alfie May finds the ball in an acre of space at the edge of the Tykes box. He paused for just a moment and then marches the ball into the box. In a flash, he delivers a low-driven shot into the bottom corner making it 0-1 to the Robins. Then it starts. This is where the proverbial shit hits the fan. The onslaught towards our goal was relentless. Double the possession, double the completed chances and 10 times the number of chances created. Something had to give.
And just like that, in the 54th minute, Cheltenham’s goalkeeper Luke Southwood’s clean sheet was gone. Ex-Forest Green player James Norwood looped a header over Southwood and into the empty net. This was coming. I’m not sure if we were just awful or if Barnsley were awesome. I felt this game slipping away. They had all the ball; all the chances and we had nothing. In this part of the game, I always like to have a moment and pause to evaluate. 30 mins to go. So much to lose but, so much to gain. Should I sit and try and hold this point or do we go all out and try and snatch a win to take the points back down south?
I decided to drop the AF-AT into DM DLP-DE. This was to assist the back four, help them out defensively and support them with getting the ball forwards and away from danger. I swapped the CM-AT to a Carrilero. As much as the CM-AT drives with the ball, the Carrilero will help shuttle the ball between the DM and the IF-AT midfield lines. We have a couple of very good ball carriers in the squad, and this helps to keep the ball secure. If you haven’t guessed, I decided to try and shut up shop.
We did switch our mentality from cautious to positive and some small team instructions tweaks. Nothing to write home about really. As the clock ticked the chances slowed, it was strange to see our XG grow, and we saw some good chances go begging. It makes sense, but when this is not what you’re trying to achieve, I find it strange. The fourth official lifted the board to show 2 minutes. No more highlights, please. The full-time whistle goes, and we manage to hold on to the solitary point. Fist pumps to the travelling Robins fans. Well with the way the last 30 minutes went, perhaps we dropped a couple of points. Maybe attack is the best form of defence. Let’s save that tactic.
After the Barnsley game, we lost 3 games on the bounce. The first saw us crash out of the EFL cup to Millwall. 4-0 to the mid-table Championship side. We are so far from Championship level, it hurts! Then Pompey came to town, 20 minutes into their visit they were 3-0 up. Oh dear, I think I may have underestimated this challenge. Lastly, we travelled to Fleetwood. They blew us out of the park. An 86th-minute consolation goal from our young left-back Ben Williams at least gave the travelling fans something to cheer about.
As mentioned in the previous post, I stated that 4-4-2 was the formation we ran with through the preseason and if it didn’t go to plan in the first few games, I also stated that I wouldn’t panic. You’ll never guess what I did. I panicked. Panicked quite badly!
Time for the change-up.
In the Barnsley game, we ditched the 4-4-2 with 30 minutes to go and this showed we can create chances all while being disciplined and strong at the back. I think we need to explore this more. The 4-4-2 created a lot, however, caused us to leak chances like a sieve. The end of August saw us travel to Exeter and host Oxford and League two Walsall in the Papa John’s Trophy with the new system. Two draws with Exeter and Oxford in the league with very positive performances and a 1-0 win against Walsall with a very weak line-up.
To try to support and improve what we have, I went to the job centre and picked up a legend of the game as a Director of Football. Marco van Basten. We have very limited space for staff, so I have tried to be clever to maximise what little space we have. I have doubled him up as a Technical Director to help build a team to support with all things in the backroom. Looking at him, I should have used his 17 attacking coaching attributes to help with the coaching team.
September went a lot better than August, not only with results but performances. We played so well, such a big difference with the new system. The full-backs pushed forward more, creating more spare players in the attacking phase. This is helping with our chance creation. Also, the DLP-DE who sits in the pivot is supporting the back line. This will be Glen Rea’s position, on loan from Luton. Rea is yet to make an appearance for the Robins yet, but his defensive attributes are just as sexy as his passing and vision. But more importantly, his teamwork and positioning are very high. This is going to keep him disciplined and focused on sticking to the instructions given to him. He’s perfect for the role.
At the start of the month, we were 16th; one month and 5 games later we didn’t lose a game. In this spell, we only conceded 3 goals while we scored 8, propelling us up to 6th place and into the playoff race. Please can we end the season now 🤞.
Thanks for reading - more to follow soon.
Be sure to follow Doop over on Twitter for more Hometown Hero updates, you can also hear him every Monday with the rest of the gang on 5 Star Potential, the longest running weekly Football Manager podcast.
