I think everyone seemed to get a bit obsessed with clean sheets at the start of the season. It was frustrating that it took so long to get one but if you analyse our performances, we didn’t defend badly at all.
Whenever someone (and not just our defenders) made a mistake at the back, we were getting punished. That’s something that a manager can’t legislate and prepare for. The more worrying thing is that since Martin has bern a fixture in the team it seems like we are making more and more mistakes than we did in the early part of the season. His arrival seems to have rocked the boat a little, and Keates has got a big decision to make sooner or later
When Russell signed he gave me the impression he only signed as a favour to Keates. I felt that was rather disrespectful to Walsall and to be honest the way he left was also very bad. Very average player for us too if I remember. He comes across well but I prefer to judge him by his actions.
He did reference the commute when he left IIRC. Or it was mentioned on here with his family home being in Brighton.
Way to look at it being actually another missed opportunity.
It was only 5 years ago so if he’d come in and made a better impact and team kept a few clean sheets probably would’ve stayed up.
That’s not to say Keates would’ve then been o.k the next season as he was out of his depth managing in league one. However get the feeling Martin might’ve been in line to take over as a caretaker manager as happened at Franchise a year later.
He could easily be a prem manager in six months time so interested how he’d have done if circumstances had turned out a little better.
Keates didn’t need a coach at that point he needed help managing the set of malcontents who he or Whitney had signed. Somebody who would stand up to the dressing room in a way the modern manager probably can’t. A John Sitton moment or two “Morgan, Cooky, Luke whilst you’re here you’ll conform and play for the shirt otherwise, you can come here and we’ll have a right sort out. You can pair up if you like. And you can bring your dinner because by the time I’m done with you, you’ll need it”.
That kind of “old school” approach to bang a few heads together - literally if required.
Putting the cones out in a slightly different formation wasn’t what was needed.
Yeah went to MK. Still not buying that that’s so much easier than the midlands from Norfolk but each to their own. He was crap anway.
Didn’t like the suggestion he was playing for free or at a loss after petrol either. I’ve worked with plenty of couriers before driving more miles than that. Not many working at a loss and they’re not on even a footballers wage (even at Walsall) for the most part.
Lots of assumptions there. “Luke” and “Cooky” have both gone onto captain other clubs, “Luke” at a higher level than us for the last 5 years.
I’d say a coach like Martin coming in and (not necessarily rearranging cones but) offering an alternative to the way we were playing at the time is exactly what was needed, rather than some old fashioned head banging approach. Maybe even as manager. Maybe that’s why Keates failed with an unlimited (for non league) budget at Wrexham and Martins looking at the Prem
Unfortunately we signed him as a half hearted, half crocked, centre half/defensive mid who looked as interested as my misses is in how Walsall did the weekend. I’ll take a “Luke” or a “Cooky” over that any day.
I always thought the 4-4-2 rigid formation was a big issue. It worked o.k at the start of the season but I went to Luton away (think just after Martin joined) and it was exposed so badly there and I think the team lost confidence after that at both ends. Ginnelly also leaving hurt it a bit.
People moaned at Whitney for not playing Leahy as a wing back and then Keates comes in and plays him at LB aswell. Also had Kane Wilson on loan at the time who’s had a good career higher up as RWB although he was very very young back then just like the other young loanees from local clubs who come here and don’t do much.
The template at the time was 4-2-3-1. Club had been playing it for five years under DS and it worked. Whitney then kept it and that got the best out of Oztumer.
Midfield in that Luton game was Ginnelly-Dobson-Kins-Ismail so pretty lightweight and after a bright start Ferrier certainly wasn’t someone worth putting in as extra forward in the system.
