Well that was the week that was...exhilarating, unpredictable, dramatic, surprising, at times mesmerising but finally disappointing.
A three game week in which I came out of all of them exhausted but I came out of two of them very pleased. This was, it goes without saying, not the one that I found much to be positive about.
Walking out of Home Park post-Orient and post-Exeter I was full of vim and vigour about what looked to be the beginnings of a very promising team. I gave John Sheridan a lot of credit for forming it, motivating it and making the right changes. Today however, we saw the very worst of John Sheridan encapsulated and it's exactly why I still don't entirely trust him as a manager. A team made with one iffy selection- Cox clearly wasn't fit. I'd have given Allen a start with Harvey (disclaimer, neither of them are the messiah I know well well) and seen what he can do. Whatever they would have done, it'd surely have been better than 'one notch above sweet FA' which is what Cox contributed because he was clearly too unfit to make any meaningful impact. Also, McHugh is still not a left-back and never will be. Purrington is far from perfect- he was overrated last season and poor concentration contributed to a few goals conceded. However, I simply cannot imagine him being so utterly ill at ease with the position he's been allocated as McHugh. He just doesn't know where he should be positionally at any one time. He rarely overlaps for wide play on the left. And when he does he doesn't get back fast enough. The man is a centre-back- if that means he has to sit on the bench until he gets his chance to break into the team then so be it. But he is never in a million years a left-back. Playing Carl McHugh as a left-back is a masterclass in making a promising, likeable new signing who came with rave reviews into a complete flop. Let's cease it.
The other disappointment was the subs. Allen never got in the game and showed that in spite of his undoubted promise he still has some way to go yet. Morgan was more like his self of last season than the improved specimen which we saw in the last two games- didn't do nearly enough harrying up front which to be frank, is all he can do really. Smalley was a fresh pair of legs and he made himself available but his end product until the penalty was absolutely atrocious. It just about summed the game up that he fell over when he was nowhere near the ball. Great penalty though and I admired how determined he was to be the one to take it.
Our performance for 97 or so minutes was on the whole negative, morale-sapping and very uncreative. Even in extra time, heads were drooping against the ground. A decent spell of play for about a minute or so before the penalty was just about the only thing we troubled them with in the whole of the last 10 minutes which is pretty appalling really. I think it's fairly obvious what was at the root of such a tepid display. We played very well against Exeter and Orient who were two teams who gave us a game of football on similar terms. When we were up against a team who played nasty, cynical hoofball which we haven't really come up against so far, we were then faced with a challenge. Do we continue to play our own game and make things happen or do we reduce to their level, not attack very much and try too many hopeful long balls? Sadly, what we did was the latter when we should have done the former. When we did try and play attacking football, there were spells where we didn't look too bad. In those spells, Harvey shone out as a threat too. Sadly, those spells were few and far between. For most of the game, we had a complete headloss, abandoned our initial plans and tried to mimic Stevenage's play. And of course in those moments Tyler was completely useless. Next time, let's play our own game and not try to do a pastiche of an opposition purely because we haven't played against a team of their style yet. Because the rare occasions that we threatened, were the occasions that we played it on the deck. A lesson to be learned.
McCormick did most of what he had to do well- although I'll need to see the goal again. Mellor was one of our better (less bad) outfield players who defended generally very well but needs to be doubly decisive going forward. Doesn't offer enough in that regard at all. Nelson and Hartley were patchy- not quite the below par performances that they put in against Orient but far from their majestic presence against Exeter. Both of them struggled badly on crosses in the air.
Alessandra for me is not cutting it so far this season, one very good game against Exeter excepted. If ever there's a confidence player, it is him. When he's got it, he will take players on, get past them, run around like a duracell bunny charging people down and score goals. When he's not got it, he will look like a little lost lamb off the ball and make the most conservative pass possible every time he receives the ball. Very poor game today. Banton will get slated for his second half display but I thought he was the only forward player in the first that was consistently showing for the ball even when those around him lost their heads in a sea of hoofball. That said, all that he tried to do in the second half went poorly. Last season though, he wouldn't have even been trying to do the things which is a more acceptable type of poo. I think he badly needs a goal for his confidence. Reid didn't move off the ball very well and in a game where he wasn't getting much good service, that's something he needs to do. Hints of promise and he's still our best player but had a poor game today.
Cox wasn't fit. Harvey wasn't suited to the game. O'Connor was very busy as usual and has half of the attributes needed to be a superb DM. He covered an absolutely insane amount of ground against Exeter and I said he had all the hallmarks of a player you'd see in a promotion side. I still stand by that, based on his off the ball work. His distribution however, simply does not cut the mustard and it nearly cost us a goal today. I really hope he can work on that side of his game because it's all that's stopping him being sublime for us.
Aside from our comical performance, that utter clown of a referee really does make you wonder how bad you have to be to be booted off the listings. Every single foul that was committed he seemed to miss and he made up several non-existant fouls that oddly enough seemed to come on the rare occasions that we were in a good position. We can only blame ourselves for such a turgid performance but up until minute 98, it would certainly be fair to say that the referee didn't help us. I'd need to see both the Mellor yellow card controversy and the penalty decision again- but my first instinct was that both of them were the correct decision. Their man should have walked for the elbow on Lewi- as should their manager for raising his hands to an opposition player. It should have been 11-10 on the pitch and 1-0 in the dugouts. Though with Sheridan's subs today, I'm not sure whether that would have made any difference or not. Stevenage are one nasty teams of illegitimates- if there's one team I hope we do good and proper this season, it's them up at their place. Typical Westley team who suck all the life out of the game. It was almost as good to get one over on them as it was to equalise.
On the whole, we got lucky. The one occasion in the last 10-15 minutes in which we bothered applying pressure got us a penalty kick. That said, these things do sort of even themselves out and no doubt there'll be a game soon when we're unlucky. Still, it wasn't good. A poor game but one which we were saved nasty scenes of booing at the end by one fantastic moment. It may not have taken away from the 97 minutes of trash that preceded it but it did provide one moment of euphoria that nonetheless sent me out of the ground with a grin on my face. We need to seriously step it up a bit at Bury and stop pooping ourselves every time a team plays in a way that we don't expect. Drop McHugh, drop Harvey (as much as I like him) and let's shake things up a bit. Because we can do a lot better than that. Good week, felt I got my money's worth for certain. And on the positive side at least we didn't lose, as Sheridan says. But a crap game- performance was miles below what we are capable of.
McCormick 7 MOTM
Mellor 6
Nelson 6
Hartley 6
McHugh 4
O'Connor 6
Cox 3
Harvey 5
Alessandra 3
Banton 4
Reid 5
Allen 4
Morgan 5
Smalley 4
