Another embarrassing defeat – and more alarmingly, shades of last season’s headless chicken defending on display.
No wonder the anti-PJ brigade have their knives out for him. All managers have their detractors, and a few have everyone against them – no names, no pack drill…
To be fair to the anti-PJ faction, PJ doesn’t appear to stand for anything in terms of what kind of football he wants to see played. Derby fans have seen two recent managers succeed in the Championship, albeit with very different styles. Burley with his purist passing approach, and BD with his direct approach epitomised – if you like – the two opposing ends of the football spectrum.
So is PJ a long ball merchant or an advocate of the passing game? Nearly a year after his appointment, I would argue that many fans are no wiser as to what kind of approach he favours.
Of course, all successful managers mix it up when necessary – even Arsenal with their renown passing game play the long ball at times to great effect. But generally, it‘s clear as to what style they tend to favour. This was shown very clearly in the enthralling encounter between Histon and Leeds on Sunday. Histon with their “get it up the field as fast as possible” style won, but arguably, Leeds with their on the floor style would have ultimately won had the conditions been better.
Which is why the BD for F**est news last week didn’t make any sense at all. Calderwood is clearly out of the Clough mold, with his ‘grass is there for a reason’ approach. If BD were appointed he would no doubt ensure that F**est would not be relegated but along the way, he would probably destroy their pattern of play and alienate many fans who would consider his direct style boring and limited. And, of course, he would probably have to off-load several unhappy players who disliked the change of tactics.
But back to PJ – if he truly favoured a direct style, why have Barazite and Commons? Neither are fast direct players who will hurdle down the wings and cross the ball into the box. Nor do we have defenders who are kicking the ball into channels for people to run onto as neither Hulse nor Tito are speedy enough for that. Barnes did this to great effect in the Championship only to fail miserably in the Premiership as teams knew how to close him down.
In most of the games this season, the evidence seems to be that the defenders are only too happy to hoof it up, often when under no pressure so where’s the passing in that? Green and Addison both do show an inclination to pass, but if they haven’t got the ball – as it’s often sailing through the air over them to some opposition defender – then how can they dictate the game?
I think that’s why the manner of the recent defeats are hard to stomach – if there was a clear game plan and we all knew what we were trying to do, and it sometimes didn’t work (as it often didn’t in Burley’s first season), at least we know what we are trying to achieve. This team doesn’t seem to be able to defend, a prerequisite if you use a route one approach. However this team also doesn’t seem to be able to retain the ball for long periods of play which is another form of defending – the Italians have long been past masters at that – that ensures that the other team can’t hurt you as they don’t have the ball.
So it appears that we’re not long ball merchants, but neither are we a passing team. So what are we? And the recent defeats seem to indicate that if we don’t know what we’re supposed to be doing, then we very quickly fall into disarray.
I think this is happening because it is very difficult to change a route one team into a passing team – much work is required on the training ground to absorb habits that require movement and awareness. It is much easier to coach a passing team to punt it forward and flood the box with reinforcements. Along the way, you lose the better players as they become disenchanted which is exactly what happened after McClaren departed for Manure in 1999 and Smith brought in a coach that favoured the direct approach. And we all know too well what happened after that. The good players left to be replaced by the likes of Bragstad – a strong contender for the most expensive mistake ever.
The loans of Tomkins and Varney may provide some clues as to the direction that we are going – the former seems clearly to be a passer – which will placate some of the fans who have lost patience with our defenders who seem to welly the ball anywhere as long it’s away. The latter, Varney, seems to be a fast direct player who will want his service along the channels for him to run onto. But then again, as a product of Crewe, he is more likely to want the ball on the floor.
I think as the season unfolds, with another January transfer window coming up, the players we bring in will show more clearly the dominant style that PJ favours. For what it’s worth, I think it’s a high tempo passing game with the ability to mix it with a few long breakaway balls and achieving that will take time and the right players.
Meanwhile, we need to stop losing in the manner we have done lately otherwise we will have all these smart-alec commentators gleefully bringing out their tired old clichés of ‘worst team ever’ when we lose to Forest Green.