Martin enthusiasts often refer back to the run of seven games from Hull on 17 September to Cardiff on 23 October. Six wins and one defeat. Automatic promotion form. Then it all went wrong, the argument goes, because the squad was asset stripped/we didn't plug the gaps we needed to/confidence was shot by the mess of a transfer window (delete where applicable).
Looking back at the squads for those seven games, I was surprised to see how much continuity there was - then and now.
Benda, Wood, Cabango, Grimes and Fulton all started all seven matches in that winning streak, Sorinola 6, Cooper and Piroe 5, Naughton, Latibeaudiere, Manning, Cundle and Obafemi 4, Darling 3, Ntcham 2 and Allen 1.
In the last seven games (one win, one draw, five defeats - relegation form), he's started Fisher, Wood, Cabango, Manning and Piroe every time, Cooper and Grimes six times (Grimes would have been seven I am sure if he hadn't been ill), Fulton 5, Allen, Latibeaudiere and Sorinola 4, Darling and Cundle 3, Cullen, Whittaker and Ntcham twice and Naughton once.
In other words, it's not just the core of that team that won six out of seven that's intact and (Benda aside), still available to this manager: Obafemi is the only player who started during that winning run who's not currently with the club.
The idea, then, that our current failure on the pitch is due to asset stripping or failure to plug gaps does not hold water. We were able to win then with these players, so why not now?
OK, the loss of Benda was a major blow, although between the Cardiff win and Benda's injury at QPR we let in 15 goals in 11 games and only managed two clean sheets, so let's not pin everything on his absence.
Unless you are going to go down the absurd rabbit hole of complaining that our form went west in late October because of the confidence-sapping effects of a transfer window that didn't even open for another two months, there's really only one coherent explanation: the tactics we've employed. During that winning streak in September and October the players we abandoned Martinball and played football as though we enjoyed it. We can - and should - do it again.
[Post edited 8 Mar 2023 13:46]
|  |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
