AB-solutely Dire Tactics And Match Management

When a new manager takes over, the most obvious thing to do is go and look at the opinions of the clubs they’ve managed previously – it’s usually a decent indication of what you can expect. This is what a number of CCFC fans did after the appointment of Aidy Boothroyd, and the responses were slightly surprising.

Boothroyd’s appointment was met cautiously by Watford fans and with derision by Colchester fans. The Watford reaction was especially surprising, seeing as he got them promoted to the Premier League and almost kept them there, so I expected them to think highly of him, and the Colchester response seemed a bit harsh considering he almost took them to the League 1 play-offs (although they were in 4^th when he took over). 

But the overwhelming response from both set of fans was one of direct, long-ball football, which was acceptable when results were going for them but became tiresome very quickly when it wasn’t, and seasons which often petered out with a run of poor results, which sounded depressingly familiar. 

AB defended this long-ball reputation, saying the opposition can’t score if they’re in their own half and that he preferred to get the ball wide and use a bit of pace, using loan signings such as Ashley Young as proof. But Coleman said he wanted width, pace etc. and never once looked like using it, so it was a case of wait and see. 

We waited, and indeed we saw a predisposition for the long-ball. On occasion we tried to keep the ball on the deck (and looked half decent doing it – Crystal Palace in the cup springs to mind) but as soon as it didn’t work for about 20 minutes back came the trusted hoof. A CCFC tradition Aidy has stuck with is bringing everyone back for corners, as has a tendency to fill centre midfield with defensive minded players, surprising given the deployment of the long-ball which requires midfielders to support the front men holding the ball up. 

Playing players out of position is another Sky Blue trait Aidy has picked up lately –centre-backs (Wood/Cranie) playing at left-back when there’s two left-backs on the bench. Cranie has also filled in at centre midfield whilst Baker has been deployed wide right, despite many of his goals and better performances which led to us buying him from Stockport being as an attacking central midfielder. To be fair none of those players played badly, but definitely weren’t comfortable. 

You can also argue Boothroyd’s been unlucky with injuries (Clingan, Carsley, Turner and McPake have been long term casualties and Deegan and Osbourne haven’t even featured at all this season through injury), but that excuse is trotted out year after year and yet every time it seems to come as a massive shock. Perhaps it’s time to realise that we’re not unlucky – it’s a natural part of a football season and it needs planning against by getting in suitable back-up. 

Early on this direct, physical, philosophy got the club climbing high in the league, but since around Xmas results have dropped alarmingly, and it appears that Watford and Colchester fan’s belief that we’d be ‘found out’ had solid foundations. 

It appears AB doesn’t have a Plan B - his tactics are largely one-dimensional and once teams have worked out how to defend against them he doesn’t seem to know what to do to change it. Early on in the season Aidy made a few changes early on in games that weren’t quite going to plan and although they’ve never completely changed the game, the likes of Clive Platt did manage to stem the tide a bit. But recently he’s caught the dreaded CCFC manager virus of leaving subs until 5-10 minutes to go - not giving them enough time to make an impact - and that substitution usually being something almost unfathomable like changing the full-backs – not something you associate with looking to win a game. Opposition teams though have made changes that have made an impact – Swansea and QPR being two recent examples - but once it’s obvious the game has swung in their favour nothing is done to counteract them.  

It appears Boothroyd is completely incapable of affecting a game with subs or tactical changes, as Coventry City haven’t come from behind to win a match once this season, but have lost a lead on a number of occasions and come very close to losing some others in games they were dominating until the last 10 minutes (Palace again?)