You know, until I found out I couldn’t go to Macclesfield on Friday, I was looking forward to a trip up to just south of Manchester…
Perhaps unsurprisingly, nobody has taken enough crack to write a report for me on yesterday, although Tudor has given SW19 a nice, short and sweek haiku:
Today’s numbers are
(Sesame Street defending)
four and zero
By the sound of it, maybe having a backline of Big Bird, Elmo and Katy Perry running around would have worked better.
I won’t prolong the memory of this game any longer than I have to, but by the sounds of it there was something inevitable about this result. A 4-0 loss always hurts, but it wasn’t a total surprise that stung you.
And that’s worrying.
It’s not a case of, we’ve been playing well and have merely got ahead of ourselves, but it felt more like what the first half of Plymouth away could have well ended up.
Both Stuart and Brett Johnson have been singled out for being too slow etc, and when you consider the transfer deadline is on Wednesday, it gives TB a not-very-relaxing bank holiday weekend. Reportedly, he said to somebody in the stand afterwards that we need a defender, so whether he’s flicking through his little black book with a degree of urgency remains to be seen.
This is his first real big test as a Football League manager. Does he stick with BJ and Stuart, and hope it’s just down to bad form? Does he gamble on dropping either or both of them and put in Chris Bush? Does he wait until MMK stops being so injury prone, or until Doomsday, whichever comes quickest? Or does he start phoning round agents and start begging Erik just to loosen the purse-strings just this one more time?
Maybe it isn’t the defence at all? Maybe it’s the midfield being arseholic? Reportedly Toks and Luke Moore were having a bitchfest at each other during the game, which isn’t a good sign. And to further compound things, one notes that Max Porter was on the bench again…
We’ve now had five competitive League games, and we’re obviously having a few teething troubles. Every game – and I mean, every game – seems to have a mention of how poor we are defensively, and we’re relying on the opposition to be shit in front of goal. Trouble is, that now becomes a known weakness – if supporters can see it, you can bet our opponents have picked up on it as well.
If we were in the JPT this week, I would have expected Bush to have started. Sadly (or thankfully?) we have another good few days to lick our wounds and fester in the juices of this result. And at the very least stops TB claiming we’re tired and leggy for one more week.
One other thing – I note we signed Kieran Djilali on Friday. With questions about our back line and midfield, it will come as little surprise to read that he’s a wide attacking player. So if nothing else we’re preparing to win every game 6-5 from now on.
Obviously, we wish him well with us, and hope he does the business. And presumably we’ve been watching him for a while. But you can’t help but wonder why we’ve gone for somebody in that position. Maybe it’s the first sign of a new change of ethos in transfers? Namely telling the existing squad that playing League football is a privilege and not something to be taken for granted?
KD does tick a few boxes – he has League experience to the point he’s what one would call a legitimate Football League player. He’s local, so no need to uproot him, and he’s young. Amazingly, he hasn’t played for Brentford though.
And you have to admit, his transfer came a bit out of the blue – no speculation in the papers, no hints from anyone beforehand. Maybe we’ll sign another CB/defensive midfielder in the same manner?
Although you have to say, right now that can’t come quick enough…