Planet Swans ArchivesMany times this season a phrase has been banded about, the phrase is, quite simply, “Anything will be an improvement on last season”. The phrase is of course very true in the meaning of it. We finished 21st last season so technically speaking only 3 positions could be worse, of which two don’t bare even thinking about. But should we adopt that attitude and take a mid table finish with happiness or should we be disappointed that we failed to get out of this division (if, of course, it comes to that)
Over the summer months, the board of directors invested heavily in the playing side of the football club. Against the beliefs of many (myself included) we managed to get the signatures of some quality players in Trundle, Robinson, Martinez and Britton. Players of this quality do not come cheap and whilst they are not on mass amounts of money compared to some of their counterparts up the M4, they are on a good wage I would imagine. The board have then backed the manager by allowing extensions to the contracts of those that it became clear we could not do without and when the injuries struck early season they allowed their manager to dip into the loan market and bring re-inforcements in. Not all of these made an impression but the backing was there. I have no idea what the outlay is on putting this squad together but I would hazard a guess that it was considerably more than the outlay to put last season’s starting squad together.
Most of the comments I have read on the tactics, formation and motivation used on matchdays I would guess have some relevance. I wouldn’t say all are completely spot on but none of them are a million miles off. The one thing I always console myself with at times like this is that the board are like you and me – fans. If the majority are thinking one thing then I cannot imagine they are thinking too much different. After all they watch the matches as we do and it bugs them as much when we lose as it does us. Difference is they have the ability to be able to speak to the manager about it and, in view of the fact that this was supposed to have happened last season, I have no doubt that it will happen again – be it now or in the future. The question we don’t know at the moment is whether we have the financial ability at the club to change things.
However, we can take a guess that we have some money from the cup run that we weren’t expecting at the start of the season. The club was always likely to be run on a tight budget especially with the CVA still in place but gates have been good and we are in the 4th round of the FA Cup. There may be some money there somewhere. I know that the club are looking at a number of trialists at the moment, presumably because they could unearth another Lee Trundle or Roberto Martinez. Trialists is a good way to go rather than offering contracts left right and centre and then deciding someone is no good. On this basis I would expect to see some signings over the next few weeks.
The point I am trying to make is with the investment being made in the club then promotion should be the aim that we are looking to achieve. We should not sit back in May and say if we have failed in that bid “Ah well it was an improvement on last season” because although it is, we also failed in our objective of getting promotion. It won’t be the end of the world to fail but it will definitely, in my book, be a failure. Most fans that say we are wrong in our formation are probably right. Too often we get ourselves exposed down the left because of the lopsided formation and that is killing us. I have heard two opposition managers say after games that they had briefed their side to hit us down that flank because they knew this. If they can see it and can exploit it – why do we insist on playing it?
We are also, in my book, playing the long ball to the target man too often. Nugent was superb at the start of the season but is ineffective at the moment yet we insist on doing it. Against Oxford it was laughable as it was just making their job easier. Yet when we ran at them they looked far less solid at the back. They are not alone in this factor. Assuming that martinez is now on his way back to full fitness we have to look at this formation and see where it can be improved. 4-5-1 could work if we give a free role to either Robinson or Britton to try and get them to create something. But I could see us trying 4-5-1 with the high ball to Trundle – clearly that wouldn’t work. We also have to question the fitness of the players. Brad Maylett seems to be playing shifts at the moment (two on, one off) – if he isn’t fully fit then lets not play him. I would rather do without him for 2/3 extra games and see him back to the form at the start of the season then coming in for two games before missing one again. Same principle applies to Martinez. We miss them but missing them is not reason enough to rush them back into the action. Sure they are probably fit in ability to play but they aren’t the same player until they are 100% fit (if that all makes sense)
We are way off promotion form at the moment and we have to acccept that. However, we are not in an impossible to retrieve situation. We can pull it back but we have to get results and quickly. We have four home league games between now and the end of February – 10 points from those 12 is a bare minimum, the three away games in the same period we should be aiming at four points. Anything less than that and I think we may start to struggle to keep pace.
We are good enough to gain promotion on top form but promotion winning sides win games when they aren’t playing well – this is something that we don’t do. Does that make us a non promotion winning side? Ask me in May!
