Here we go again. All aboard the bus to Nowheresville. If this is a journey, it’s a long one – on an uncomfortable bus, with limited snacks and a destination that never seems to get any closer.
The bigger
picture says we’re becoming hard to beat, but in isolation our home form – the bedrock of everything else – is turning into a frustrating trip.
From start to finish, with only one spark near the end, this was an irritating, sulky showing from the Royals. The players knew it, too. Noel Hunt too was frustrated but wouldn’t expand on the minutiae of why. We were poor – desperately poor – in almost every department.
What’s becoming painfully obvious is that the opposition don’t have to do much to stop us. We usually focus on what we don’t do well, but even an average side like Mansfield Town could comfortably cope with whatever our plan was, assuming there even was one.
When Lewis Wing is visibly shaking his head, huffing and muttering his way through a game, you know it’s not going well.
From the stands, it’s hard to tell what some of the plans are meant to achieve. At times we had Paddy Lane, Jack Marriott and Daniel Kyerewaa so close together you could have thrown a blanket over them – yet we rarely overlapped or stretched the play. The one time the ball did reach Lane in space, he somehow missed from six yards.
Elsewhere, Kamari Doyle kept drifting into clever pockets, constantly on the move, but was underused. Instead, Wing did his usual Wing things – trying the killer ball time and again.
No progress, just fear
We seem trapped between two modes: either playing the most obvious pass possible, or attempting a wildly ambitious one that never connects. There’s nothing in between.
It’s the former that really grates. I don’t mind a ball over the top for a winger to chase – it’s a fair route to goal – but the endless, safe, “I can see you, so I’ll pass to you” stuff drives me mad. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
Yes, the nearest player is often the safest pass, but what’s the bigger purpose? Nobody moves into space (except Doyle), so we get these endless stretches of sterile possession: Wing to Charlie Savage, Savage to Matty Jacob, Jacob to Finley Burns, Burns back to Wing – and we haven’t even crossed halfway. How is that progress? It just screams fear.
The link-up between midfield, the wide players and Marriott up top is non-existent. It’s only when Matt Ritchie appears that anything sparks. That’s no coincidence. Ritchie knows the game, knows when to act. He takes responsibility, drifts into the right spaces, backs himself every time. Yes, experience counts, but it’s his fearlessness that stands out.
Are the others doing the same? Marriott aside, not really. They look terrified of making mistakes – which, of course, only creates more of them.
The crowd offered a few boos, but it wasn’t toxic. Still, the team played as if mentally under siege. The lack of communication was striking. The back four – average age about 22 – looked jittery and disorganised. We’ve missed Derrick Williams’ voice and composure, but who’s doing the talking now? Certainly not Wing, our captain.
Rudderless
Right now, we’re taking one step forward by not losing, but two steps back in terms of development. The football is one-dimensional and stale.
Mistakes from young players are inevitable, but where’s the leadership to help them through it? Without Williams or Ritchie, the side looks rudderless. The inexperience at every level from the management down is very much apparent. Some of that is acceptable and understandable, some is not.
We can’t keep waiting for a substitute to save us. We can’t keep passing sideways and pretending it’s control, and we can’t keep watching a team that looks like it doesn’t trust itself.
Hunt has to build the spirit, yes, but the players have to meet him halfway. Someone, somewhere has to show a bit of spark, a bit of joined-up thinking or even just a bit of bravery.
Because right now, joined-up thinking is missing – not just in action, but in inaction. We find ourselves difficult to beat, thankfully, but it’s such a difficult watch in the process.
