Has our season peaked too soon?

It's been a while since my last Blog, but I thought now would be the right time to express a few of my thoughts about what I see as the problem we're currently experiencing as we're reaching the end of the season.

Firstly, let me just say how delighted I am that we are even in contention of a play-off spot after the faltering start we had to the season. It took a while for the large squad to get to know each other and for Neil Chritchley to get accustomed  to his new role of Head Coach. Added to the fact that Covid has had a massive impact on football matters, it's not been an easy time for anyone.Secondly and most importantly the unbeaten run we had, which has been unbelievable finally came to an end against Rochdale on Tuesday night, unfortunately we repeated the same mistakes again yesterday against Shrewsbury Town. Both teams are currently lowly placed in League One  and are fighting relegation. That said it's not the first time we've struggled against sides lower than us who play in a certain way. We have beaten all the tops sides in the division mainly because they play in a more attacking style, which makes for a more entertaining watch. Where I see our problems start is when these sides adopt a very defensive line-up, which we find hard to break down and which highlights our lack of goal scoring opportunities.

When teams first come to Bloomfield Rd you can tell they are a bit wary of our reputation, because they know when we set our minds to it we play well. The trouble is if we don't get an early goal we start to lose our initial confidence, which the opposition usually picks up on and then they start to control the game more. Too many times in our last two games our formation went out the window. At times I didn't know what formation we were supposed to be playing. Yesterday in particular our midfield was all over the place. Embleton was playing too far wide and too deep instead of being in the centre of midfield, which left Dougall and Ward trying to cope with their attack. 

I think the main reason we don't score enough goals is because we rely too much on our strikers. We need to be more adventurous coming forward instead of allowing the opposition to control the game. Statistics may show we have a greater percentage of possession in games, but if that possession includes aimless sideways, backwards and so called safe passing then it is meaningless. I find it absolutely frustrating seeing us resort to this type of play when we're behind in a game or if we are just leading by the odd goal. Equally frustrating is when we manage to get into the last third of the opposition's half only to see us pass the ball all the way back to Chris Maxwell because it is the easier/safe option. We should be running at defences and shooting more. Teams hate having to defend against adventurous sides, it not only forces them into mistakes but it also disrupts their rhythm. Our set plays and ball crossing is woeful. We constantly take quick free kicks that go nowhere? Why? I was always told never pass to a colleague in a worst position than yourself and yet it happens time and time again. What happened to the art of turning with the ball and going pass the defender? What we see now is a player getting the ball only for them to pass back to the same player? Again why do that, it only takes the pressure of the opposition and puts it back onto us. Ok, I know we're missing a lot of players who can give us different options, but don't forget we still managed an unbeaten run and win games with a lot of these players missing. We also did the same mistakes we do now when they were playing. What I find amusing is during pre-match warm ups we have sessions of shooting at goal and yet during games testing opposition keepers is something we seldom do. Why? 

Despite these latest set backs we are still in a play-off position albeit on goal difference but with a game/s in hand. So it is still in our own hands to get promoted via the play-offs. We can do it, but we need to address where we are going wrong before it is taken out of our hands. #UTMP