I really wanted a manager who would come in here and shake it up. Kev is proving to be a quite Phil. Zero strategy, zero new manager bounce-
Of course there’s zero new manager bounce. There was zero new manager bounce with the last 5 appointments either. You are deluding yourself if you think a change in manager can remedy things overnight in what is a fundamentally flawed team.
But what there is - and this won’t be popular amongst those who can’t look past the result - is signs of improvement. Think back to Solihull, to Chesterfield at home. Unlike those matches the effort was there, they are moving the ball about much better and not looking as hopelessly directionless. And this was without our best two players in Bridge and Ralph. Obviously there’s still a long way to go and we don’t look like scoring but it was never an overnight job. This is probably a two year fix - assuming we don’t lose courage and panic and change course again - but that doesn’t mean we are doomed to relegation. We are still above the relegation spots despite this start. We’ll be in for a rocky month or two and then the improvements in performance should start to translate into more consistent results.
We all want it to be quicker though. More progress is needed and more reinforcements are needed - I’ve been calling for a right back and some legs in midfield since for months now - but the oil tanker is at least starting to be pointed in the right direction.
You first stop the rot by making the team hard to beat. That means sacrificing attacking threat and going more defensive - hence the 4-5-1. It won’t always work but Grimsby rarely threatened to add a second so maybe we weren’t that far off. Murphy and Walsh give us a bit of pace for the counter but we probably need a bit more. We certainly need to improve set pieces. But we need midfield reinforcements to provide some legs to that midfield and we need to fix the right-side of defence which has been leaking goals ever since Elvis left the building.I don't think it is about Dalby personally. It is more about the fact we look to not lose by to many goals rather than plan to attack the opposition. We worry to much about them instead of them worrying about us.
That being said we do not really have much to offer on any part of the pitch atm so what team is going to be worried about us? I don't see that much change in the set up playing/ style wise than before Kev was here.
We need drastic change and the sooner the better otherwise it will be 3 relegations on the trot. Personally I don't think we will go down but paying fans want to see something different out there on the pitch and not have to face losing game after game week after week with the same old players.