I’m glad that I write my column in the wee hours of Sunday morning as, after the away defeat to the previously promoted Cambridge United, I was pretty much fuming.
And I’m sure that’s how Leam Richardson must have felt too after seeing his team chuck away three points so easily.
The soft underbelly that we’ve seen so many times over recent seasons was punctured twice by errors that were very much avoidable.
It could be my imagination, but we don’t seem to get free headers in the opposition box that
often and score from them, but we managed to do just in our area and get brutally punished for it.
Haydon Roberts could be culpable for both, but certainly was for the first. Yes, the cross from the opposite side to a short full-back in Liam Bennett might have been unexpected, but Roberts was nowhere close to being set and ready to challenge.
The second goal is betwixt both Roberts and Lewis Wing. Maybe it’s just a good cross to find Kell Watts, but both of them were essentially just marking space and not the man himself.
It’s a cliche but this really was a game of moments. We had plenty of them in both halves. It was one of those matches where I watched and genuinely thought that a 1-0 lead wasn’t going to be enough, and that we’d rue these unfinished chances. And rue them we most certainly did.
It’s easy to say you’ve just got to take your chances, but Cambridge defended stoutly and managed those opportunities well.
I’m not sure what Richardson could say to them that would make them more composed in the box, or maybe it is just that: take your time, let the defenders make a move first before shooting, etc. Easier said than done, however.
It’s hard to come down on the players – well, the attacking ones anyway – when they’ve shown more willingness and bite than in previous seasons. We’re a far different proposition now for home sides and this one could have genuinely been out of sight if George Earthy or Kyreece Lisbie had managed to put their chances away.
Sticking to the script
To Cambridge’s credit, they changed formation and made it a lot harder for us in the second half. Earthy found it harder to find space, although he still did that fairly well. Lisbie had it tough all afternoon, being man-marked for the entire game, but that’s to be expected when he’s such a threat.
This is where I think Richardson falls short a tad. We saw it against Luton Town and we saw it here: when the opposition manager makes substantial changes to the first half, we don’t adapt in kind, save for making substitutions for tired legs.
Our shape and roles appear to be the same no matter what. We stick to the 4-2-3-1 until the subs come on and then it becomes a bit of a bun fight.
Chucking two up top with Jamie Reid and Jacob Brown doesn’t seem to be the evolutional tactical enhancement that we require in the 80th minute. I’m not saying that putting two strikers on isn’t the thing to do when chasing a game – it obviously is – but what about behind them?
Could we go to three at the back? Could we put an extra body in midfield instead of a like-for-like substitution? I’m not saying these are the explicit answers, but we just don’t deviate from the script enough to make it difficult for the opposition to read what we’re doing.
I’m all for having round pegs in round holes, that’s entirely fair, but we need a Plan B. We need to take more risks at times if we want to rescue or forge ahead in games.
Maybe that will happen in time as the group matures. Maybe it’s just a bit too soon for that. Maybe Richardson thought we didn’t need to change drastically, or even at all, as we have seen this season already that there’s goals from the bench.
It’s still early in the season for these types of performances – AFC Wimbledon and Cambridge away – where we’re patently the better footballing side, but we’ve got to improve on not just being show-ponies but ones that can take the horse over the line.
Looking to Brentford
On Tuesday we have the rare treat of a Premier League team coming to town under the swanky new floodlights. What a treat!
Well, probably not, as we’re likely to get a total shoeing, but I’m sure we’ll make a good fist of it to a point.
I hope some players will be rested. Jack Marriott for one as Richardson said he felt his hamstring at half-time. It would be good to see more of Reid, Brown and Conor Masterson at least.
So, it could be two defeats on the spin by the time we get Notts County rolling into Berkshire next weekend. But who knows, we could just nick it on penalties or Brentford might be down to eight players by minute 34!
Who knows? We just have to enjoy it for what it is and not take it too seriously.
And that’s why I always write on the next day – I can stop taking it too seriously!
