Grimsby Home 8th Feb

I wouldn't say the performance was poor, but our gaps and holes certainly made for a very entertaining game - properly end-to-end without being hoof (Grimsby played long ball more than we did), chances galore (though finishing was dire).

What McCall said was we ultimately lacked quality, which was obvious when we smashed all but one shot wide of the target and the crossing in the final third left a lot to be desired.

I don't think he criticised the overall performance, though, but there is a ton to improve upon and McCall even highlighted throw ins!

Anyway, it was infinitely better to watch than Bowyer-ball.

The problem with Bowyer-ball was never long ball or direct football, obviously, the problem was the embarrassing reliance on poor centre backs as our primary play makers. The midfield was expected to doff their caps to players like Ben Richards Everton and Anthony O'Connor who simply can't play football. Messing around at the back? Yeah, not in League Two thanks.

 

Agree with all of that. The team has only really been coached for the last week of the season so far.

 

how would you describe yesterday's performance? considering Grimsby had 56% of possession, that would suggest that they controlled the ball and the game more. stats show Grimsby played 100+ more passes than us and 20+ less crosses which would suggest they tried to play a better brand of football than we did. they also had a 33% 'shot on target ratio' compared to our 7%. considering we had nine times the amount of corners they did and crossed the ball 34 times compared to their 10 shows a severe lack of quality.

i also think we played down our right too much, Pritchard has much more ability on the ball the Connolly but was hardly involved. pace can only get you so far.

maybe everyone just overhyped the effect that McCall was going to have.

 

Bowyer comes in mate doesn't demand his own team and thinks he can turn Drury into this great number 2 but has say in recruitment but we also had Rhodes getting involved because of finances.

So we have gone from Parky to McCall to Grayson to Collins to Hopkin to Bowyer back to McCall..none had the same playing styles and want different kind of players.

It's ok thinking give McCall all the money in the world etc but the problem is this scatter gun approach to our game, recruitment and appointments

Everyone wants McCall here's for years but it's after he leaves that's a problem.

 

A fair reflection of the game, you can tell Holloway has been around his players longer than McCall but in truth Grimsby went far often for the aimless long ball, when they played the ball round they looked half decent. McCall won't have the effect straight away, players like Richards Everton struggle in possession and thats something that cannot be rectified. I can see why McCall went long ball to two big centre forwards as a start, no way can this squad just start passing the ball about. It will take longer than the rest of this season to turn this lot into a team with McCalls signature on it.

 

What exactly were you expecting?

 

Every manager leaves a problem behind, name me one that hasn't bar Jewell?

 

to be honest i'd drop BRE and play the two O'Connor's together, especially if we start to develop a more controlled and passing style of play which hopefully we will. his distribution is worse the Rory McArdle's and that's pretty difficult.

 

honestly, not a lot - but the way everyone was talking this week about the change in management and McCall's brand of football I expected a little more control of the ball. like i've said plenty of times, I hope and expect that in time it will come but yesterday was still a poor performance. it just seems there isn't allowed to be any criticisms.

 

Well they don't if you've a sporting director because it's about creating a footballing identity throughout the club and when a manager leaves then you find another that can play in a similar style.

Man Utd don't have one and that's one of the reasons they're miles behind City and Liverpool.

 

the financial outlay from 6 managerial changes in 3.5 years with pay-offs, players contracts paid up and cancelled, new managerial appointments and numerous squad changes must be crazy figures. the need for a sporting / technical director to oversee such transitions is paramount - not just from a football point of view but a business point of view too. McCall would be good for that role when we inevitably change managers again.

 

That's over simplifying. We had 14 shots to their 9. 9 corners to their 1.

More crosses, corners and shots on goal than they did. The fact they had more of the ball doesn't directly mean they controlled the game. First half especially, the game was played largely in their half.

All in all, we looked more threatening than they did, but there wasnt much in it and a draw was a fair result.

Our biggest problem though, was our finishing. 1 shot on target out of 14 is very, very poor.

Lots to work on. And many changes to the squad are needed. But there was at least evidence of something being coached. A sensible game plan.

 

If you have a sporting director both him and the manager have to see things the same way otherwise it can cause trouble. But in general I agree look at Barry Fry at Peterborough love him or hate him he keeps finding players at 74

 

that fact that we had more shots, corners, crosses but had worse completion rates shows how ineffective and poor we were.

 

Hence the issues with quality of execution, rather than the intent of playing style. The squad isnt good enough. Too big on numbers and short on quality. Lots of changes needed in the summer.

 

Not sure two players so similar up front works however I am told they both played together at Birmingham

 

I think the performance needs to be put into context. Was it better than the god awful stuff that ended Bowyers tenure? Yes. Is a point at home against Grimsby when you are chasing promotion enough? No. there was more attacking intent there, something sadly lacking of late which rightly saw the end of Bowyer. But, we still look a team where the sum of the parts are no better or worse than the majority of teams in this division. By the end Bowyer had sucked the life completely out of this squad and its going to take McCall time and in all honesty, new recruits, to shape it to the way he wants his team to play. I saw a lot of effort yesterday, coupled with the attacking intent and thats an improvement. At the end of the day it was a stereotypical game of league 2 football.

 

Look it wasn't great yesterday on reflection.

Keeper was to slow a releasing the ball
Everton was useless on the ball
AOC dropped too deep then moved forward out of position
Henley didn't offer much

Reeves - A total bottler
Connolly- useless with no end product
Harry - Not in the game much

However, we go from Bowyer's boring football to McCall wanting to play on the more attacking. It's going to take a little bit of time but we don't have the quality.

We need more from our wide men and can't have soft centres in midfield. It was the wrong team. Reeves can play in a 2 and we all know Connolly has no end product.

McCall didn't want to change the team too much but I was shocked Devitt wasn't in the squad.

 

Barry Fry, Mick Harford, Dane Murphy, Robert Rowan (rip) are all examples of successful positions in the EFL. the following is a great example of why it is vital for future sustainability:

“Gone are the days where you just have the first team and a youth team. What you have now is the coaching, the medical, the sports science, the analytics, the recruitment, the women’s team, the youth team operation. You are managing seven or eight individual businesses.

“We cannot be self sustainable if, every time there is a change of manager, all of the plans go out of the window, a big chunk of staff leaves and half the playing squad is considered a cost because the new manager wants to bring his own players in. It would just plough the football club into debt.

“Ryan Lowe is doing very well, but just say he gets a move to a higher level of football. We hope he is with us for a very long-time, but we need to be in a position where we are recruiting maybe one or two members of staff to go again and everything else stays the same.”

McCall would be very good at this for City; set the direction of the club both on and off the pitch, a pathway for players to develop through the club whilst being able to sell the club to prospective new players and managers when changes do come, work with the manager to identify players that would fit into the style of the club and the ethos that both the club and the fans have whilst working with the CEO to identify the managers that would fit into the club too. he'd be good at judging whether the player has the right mentality to play for City whilst respecting the managers final decision on which of the players identified he'd like and working on those deals.

 

What does McCall want? He's never been a sporting director and always strikes me a man who prefers the day to day management of the players rather than a director type role.