Rotation, Rotation, Rotation

I get why GA has seemingly abandoned his rotation policy that served us so well last season and at the start of this.

We radically changed almost half the squad in January and although most seemed like upgrades on paper compared to the players that left, the problem was, we didn't have enough time to get them all up to speed on the way we do things, on our formation/tactics, and on the important positional nuances that are so important for our approach.

You could also argue few, if any of them were at the fitness levels our style of play demands.

So, with hindsight, although the January shuffle was an attempt to make us a stronger team for the run in... it's fair to say the newcomers have failed to meet expectations.

Which is why we went on such a bad run while playing miserably in the process. And why we haven't seen the likes of Joe White since his Kirklees 'no-show', or Sibley since his Wimbledon embarrassment.

Now the gaffer seems to have settled on a handful of players who he's sticking with every week regardless, even though a fair few of them are bang out of form.

Josh Neufville looks a completely different player than we all saw in the first few months. He's committed and works as hard as ever, but he seems confused what to do with the ball when he receives it - that's if he can manage to get it under control in the first place.

Jenson Metcalf is making too many errors and bad decisions of late, which to be fair to the kid, is completely understandable and to be expected in his first full season as a pro, not to mention at a higher level than he's played before. He's been great and come on leaps and bounds this year. For sure, he will grow into a top player for us, but right now, he's really struggling.

You could argue that Max Power (which sounds like a misnomer since he seems to have lost half a yard in recent matches) has dropped off a little and is making more and more mistakes. To be fair to him, it's not necessarily his age catching up as he hasn't really played for two years, so it's understandable he needs a break.

Then you have Touray who managed to keep his place despite horror shows like his performance at Wigan, though it's fair to say he's been better the last two matches since replacing Wright in his natural wingback role.

We've been sloppy in defence also but despite all that, GA doesn't seem to want to mix things up.

I get how Joe White, and the likes of Ciaran Kelly who's like a fish out of water in our system have played their last games for us... but sticking by under-performing players who are making us look average every week, despite having good options at our disposal, could well be our undoing.

If it weren't for injuries to Sarce and Bobby, then I'm certain we'd have seen the last of Lapslie in c&a. But he's always been a class act and all the way back to his Charlton days. I always thought he was Mansfield's best player whenever he faced us and that was as a central midfielder. We've rarely played him but when we have, he's been used as a wide attacker which is probably why we haven't seen the best of him yet.

But since coming back into the fold for the past 3 games, his performances are growing and his influence is obvious. Even the sponsors managed to identify him as MotM yesterday - which must be the first time they've got that right!

He was great, initially as a #10 - unlucky to not score with his early offside effort, then when replacing Metcalf, he was equally as good, if not better in midfield giving us more energy, positivity, and creativity.

That's his natural position even though I think it's the first time we've seen him in the middle. But he's a 110% type of player, he's a good presser, and he always scores goals, so why we only use him as a wide right attacker once we're all out of options is a mystery to me.

When we signed Ashby in January, I was really excited as he's been a top prospect for a number of years now, which is why Newcastle paid $5m for him after he broke into the West Ham first team.

I get that he wasn't up to speed at first, and I understand Josh was playing well enough to keep him out but given his quality and the fact he's apparently comfortable on the left too, I presumed we were gonna play him every week on one side or the other.

When he finally got his chance at Wycombe recently, he was class and played a delicious through ball that resulted in us scoring the winner. I know he picked up a knock which set him back a week or two, but if he's fully fit then I'd be selecting him at RWB ahead of everyone else.

There are always factors we don't see from the outside and GA seemed to send a message via the media aimed at some of tour fringe players when he said performances in training plays a huge role in team selection... essentially saying he's not happy with the effort of some players, and regardless of any promises made when signing, he's not gonna pick anyone who isn't fully committed.

But we're sticking with too many out of form players right now when we have good alternatives, and possibly even better options at our disposal.

Powell could be key for us in the next (hopefully) 5 games to give us a spectacular return on our investment. His class has never been in doubt, it's always been his commitment and fitness levels that have let him down but he's been looking good and making a difference in that last couple of matches. He's a big-game player who has scored the winning goal in a play-off final at Wembley before too.

Therefore, instead of picking players that aren't delivering, why not try something different?

If they're not 100% committed then fine, but now is the time to be brave because presuming we make the play-offs, then anyone we face is gonna be tough and teams have figured out that our current 11 can't break down opposition who defend deep in numbers... that we hit too many wasteful long balls... and we're making too many mistakes when under pressure.

We've been lacking quality while our attacking intent and ideas have all dried up.

We don't want to be going into the playoffs as a team short of confidence and lacking creativity while also being easy for the opposition to figure out and nullify - which is what we are right now.

So let's have a good look at Lapslie, Ashby, and Powell while we still can... and anyone else who could give us something different, to try and raise our game and potency levels, because it could give us a huge advantage (and lift) just in time for the play-offs and improve our chances of going up, which if I'm being honest with myself, don't look very good right now on current form and performances.

 

It was strange hearing GA rave about him afterwards, praising his attitude despite not being selected which seemed a swipe at a few others who mustn't be happy being left out the team, but despite acknowledging he was exceptional in the middle when replacing Metcalf, he said Lapslie has been unlucky because of how good Sarce and Bobby have been playing - which is a fair comment, but he also said that his performance in midfield surprised him, which I'm baffled by.

Okay, he might not have seen him play for Mansfield, or maybe as he was more of a box-to-box or attacking midfielder, and like he described the Metcalf role as a 6 pivot, that he assumed he wasn't a fit... but he sees him in training every day, and apparently he trains like he plays - always demonstrating his commitment... so surely his quality and value to the team must be evident on the training pitch - I mean they've had him 15 months now to figure it out.

So, I really don't get it. Sure, Sarce is one of the first on the team sheet, but for me, Lapslie is a much better fit for a midfield role. He made twice as many tackles as anyone the other night, his passing accuracy and vision is better than our averages, he's one of the best pressers at the club (something we claim to be but we're not actually that good at), and he always scores goals.

I think his energy and pressing, make him a better fit for our style of play. With more players like him and Jackson in the team, who press really well, the more we'd be able to play the front foot football that is supposedly our style.

I get why we brought in Evans. We all know how good he can be when he's at it, and he seemed like a logical Power stand-in, but sadly he's been a little hit and miss. Some of the others though, I absolutely agree with - I mean, I'm not all that sure why we brought White in anyway. What has he actually done so far? Last season he did 'okay' in L2 and this year he went to Orient and struggled to get game time, so what made him stand out as a better option than Lapslie?

Hopefully Tuesday gave GA food for thought as we've been pretty abject of late. Pointless long balls, too many errors, short on ideas, and lacklustre performances... which currently looks like it's set to bring what has been a good season, to a very disappointing end - if we don't do something about it.

So if fully fit, why not at least put Ashby at RWB and Lapslie for Metcalf as they've both been really poor of late, especially since they couldn't do any worse.

 

I partly agree. Most of the loan players, except Ashby don't seem good enough. They were all upgrades on paper for those who left but for one reason or another, they haven't delivered. Much of which is probably down to not having a full pre-season and learning our style of play.

You can see Wheatley is a nuisance and pesters defenders into winning back possession high up the field, which he's done on numerous occasions - it's just he can't score a goal. He probably should have had 4-5 by now.

Unfortunately, that's what cost Cook because GA wants a striker who puts defenders under pressure first and foremost. Personally, I think keeping Cooky was the better option and we'd have scored a lot more goals as a result - especially with all the long balls we've been hitting recently.

That said, I still think there's enough quality in the ranks, but for some reason, GA has stuck with the same players despite poor performances. I'll be surprised if he doesn't make a few changes tomorrow though after what we saw on Tuesday.

 

I saw flashes from Sibley before his horror show at Wimbledon but I'd agree with that - Jackson and Ashby are the only two from January that are upgrades on those who left.

I think on paper, each replacement that came in, was an improvement on the player they replaced, but for one reason or another, they haven't delivered.

I'm not convinced any who left in January, except Cook, would have made a difference. Ashby has already shown he's a level above Halliday, he's just not getting game time to prove it. I think Jackson was a replacement for Kavanagh. Pattison is out injured again at Walsall, who have nose-dived since he signed... and Leigh seemed to have an attitude problem - his fall from favour coincided with the bust up he had with GA after an home game earlier on in the season - possibly Blackpool.

I don't think Mullin has had a fair crack either but then again, I'm not sure he fits into the team with his attributes - unless we start playing with a target man. Perhaps Wheatley was supposed to replace Cook and give us more energy from the front but then late in the window they realised we didn't have an option if we want to play long? Maybe signing him was a last minute rush of blood as the deadline came to a close. I don't get it either, but I thought he did well on his debut to help us win - Orient, maybe?

To be fair, I think we have enough strength in depth but the problem is, we have too many players out of form and GA has stuck by them - possibly trying to play them back into form? But with potentially only 5 games left, it's time to roll the dice and take positive action.

If he doesn't and we lose with the same underperforming team tomorrow, then Exeter away who will probably need a win to stay up, could end up being a must win game to hold on to the play off spot we've held all season long.