Empty end of the season
By Ro Roy
April 14 2023
Two home games left. Feels like the end of your holidays when there is nothing left but the grind. Well, actually, that's how it usually feels. The more common refrain I hear is that people can't wait for the end of the season. That should set alarm bells ringing.
Micky has gone, Dawes is in charge, the football is still, let's be kind, dull. There are weaknesses all over the pitch but the lack of goals is concerning. It's 4th February since Kane Hemmings last scored for us. Yes, he's been injured, but he hasn't been banging them in. Harvey Saunders has scored twice since arriving. He seems to work harder than Hemmings, has lots of energy, but so did Nevitt. The absence of goals has severely hampered us, and that will have to be addressed by the new manager.
In Midfield we have lost Chris Merrie, for the rest of the season. The mystery as to why Merrie didn't play more games is beyond me. Him and O'Connor formed a reasonably solid pairing in the centre of the park. The switch to a diamond formation hasn't really delivered much and at times, away at Carlisle, has left us struggling to impose ourselves on the game. Any new manager coming in will need to look at what comes next. Kieron Morris' absence, it feels like decades now, means we have been deprived of arguably our most creative player. Maybe Lewis is a better option at the top of a diamond, Hawkes doesn't quite work there.
Defence has looked reasonably solid but Bristow and Dacres-Cogley seem to have faded a bit. This could simply be a symptom of a team lacking confidence and not firing on all cylinders. Turnbull and Davies have a reasonably solid pairing in the centre of defence, but both are prone to lapses of concentration and giving the ball away too easily. This has made life much more difficult for Mat Hewelt. He's done OK since he came back into the team, but needs to be more confident with his distribution.
With all these problems you can see why everyone is exhausted by watching us. For me we haven't performed well at home since Doncaster on Boxing Day. It's not been so much 'Fortress Prenton' as 'Wobbly Sandcastle'. Visiting teams get this. The SWA have been quiet, finding their voice on a few rare occasions.
Next season? A new manager should be able to sort out some of the mess, but we have lots of players contracted for another year. Whoever comes in will have to be skilled at making a silk purse from a sow's ear. We will still be in this division and we will likely have matches against Wrexham, Accrington and Morecambe to look forward to, not to mention Forest Green Rovers.
Come August let's hope that we are in a much more positive and excited mindset. Looking forward to the match should be hard wired into us all.
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No this end to the season will be a most interesting one as it is preparing us for next. Maybe Palios is going to keep Dawes - there were signs that he sees what needs doing and that tactical change at half time last Saturday certainly worked. The result is we are now sitting in 11th place, the highest weve been for a while.
Unless here is a big name lined up who will pull in mega-fans - like Monk or Fowler, there is no point in wasting money on managers who have failed at League one/two level before.
This season Leyton Orient. Next season Tranmere Rovers. Time we won a league rather than crawling out.
***SPORTY VIKINGS - BBC Radio Merseyside with Sean Styles****
๐๐ [tinyurl.com] ๐๐
Brian Barry-Murphyโs name has been doing the rounds. Etherington and Murty also rumoured to have been interviewed.
Those rumours might all be pie in the sky, but they kind of fit the profile thatโll tick many of Paliosโ boxes.
***SPORTY VIKINGS - BBC Radio Merseyside with Sean Styles****
๐๐ [tinyurl.com] ๐๐
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023:04:14:15:57:57 by Crazylegs Cranebird.
A tweak of tactics against the only team in worse form than us, and in a game marked more by tedium than flair, is barely the evidence to warrant appointment. As posted before, if recent seasons had been good there would have been a case for a continuity candidate, but I can see no evidence of substance to suggest that the answer is already within the club. We saw where that got us with the decision to give Vaughan the job of finding new talent.
Most experienced managers will have a period when things do not work and it is time to move on. We got MM after such a period in his own career. The challenge for MP is judging whose experience and strengths match our context and priorities. There is not a shortage of prospective managers, more an issue of getting the right fit. Nor does it have to be a glamour name, I have never been convinced that makes any sustained difference to the engagement of fans. Producing a winning team and creating a coherent sense of direction is far more important.
In general, an experienced manager is likely to be better equipped for the demands ahead and particularly reshaping an inadequate squad where so many remain in contract
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023:04:14:20:43:06 by DevonExile.