Wednesday, 16 January 2019

A half season of two halves

As the Poppies stumble and thrash away a great position at the top of the league we are all looking for answers.  Why does the team that looked unbeatable a few months ago suddenly struggle to overcome the most modest of opponents.

From the outside, and with no great pretensions to football knowledge or management skills even the most cursory look over our season so far tells you all you want to know.  Or not want to know.

Leaving aside the noddy cups for the sake of clarity during the first 16 games of the season, we played Rhys up top, on his own 12 times.  And three times with Borg alongside him, and once with Aaron.  Our record for this period reads Won 13, Drawn 1, Lost 2.  Top of the table - Confererence North thumpings, here we come!

However, our record over the next 15 fixtures makes far less pleasant reading.  Won 8, Drawn 2, Lost 5.  Play-off thumping, here we come!  But the bare statistics don't tell the whole story.  The last 15 games we have played three up top on no less than 11 times, with 4 defeats coming under this formation.  This is bad enough, but, in many ways the story behind the results is worse.

Other than the big recent win against Hitchin, when was the last time we looked better than the opposition, or even worked as hard?  Even our wins are increasingly hard fought and touch-and-go.  Compare this to some of the flowing wins full of footballing pomp we initially enjoyed this season.

What's the difference?  Pretty obvious we think.  Even with our lack of football knowledge or management skills.


MORE STRIKERS ON THE PITCH MEANS LESS MIDFIELDERS 
ON THE PITCH


LESS MIDFIELDERS ON THE PITCH MEANS THE OPPOSITION 
ARE GETTING AT OUR DEFENCE EASIER


OUR DEFENCE IS TESTED MORE


THE OPPOSITION SCORE MORE GOALS



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