A great many of our problems stem from the fact that the excellent Clunan has not managed to produce that same excellence which we had become accustomed to in the earlier part of the season.
Agree with that Les but I think what I happening with Clunan is part of a wider problem. Before and just after Clunan’s injury he set the tone for the midfield and back four to play crisp 1 and 2 touch football that moved teams around until a midfielder (usually Butterfield) or the wide forwards were in a position to run at the defence in the final third. Numerous times yesterday we ignored the simple switch to a man in space or delayed until the space was closed down and Rushall got back in their defensive shape.
Evans, Scales and Butterfield particularly guilty of needless ball carrying but Clunan, Kouogan, Denton and Ogle all did this at times. This has been happening more and more from the Farsley games onwards.
When we then lose the ball with a poor pass said ball carrier has then left a hole for opposition to exploit. Better teams than Rushall exploit this.
No team in this League can deal with short, accurate and crisp passing and this is what enabled us to blow teams away earlier in the season.
Have we stopped doing it for tactical reasons – if so then its a bad move Jimmy. It could be that the players have lost confidence. Maybe they bought into the HMS Piss the League nonsense.
You win Leagues by having your style and imposing it on most of your opposition game after game. See Man City, Liverpool, Wrexham and possibly Tamworth for recent examples of what I mean.
