Just been catching up on the last couple of days on this thread. Some really good posts (in amongst some real melodramatic handwringing, it has to be said). My two cents for what they’re worth:
On the playing side:
- I am genuinely sympathetic to the recruitment team having to fill holes in this window. In the summer, a manager gets months to sit with the recruitment team, meet prospective recruits, put together slideshows (!) to attract prospective players etc. You simply don’t get that time in January. I don’t think it’s a failure of the recruitment side not to be bringing in players left and right, especially with what seems to be a slightly fractured / incomplete back room staff (more on that below).
- Despite this, there were at least three positions we NEEDED to fill this January: backup striker, goalie (post Beadle) and wingers (post multiple injuries). We have, at least on paper, addressed those (at least in part - we still need at least another winger). I fully agree that we will at some point need to look to recruit a combative CDM, but, as Des has said, given we do have players there, I can see why other positions were prioritised.
- I think people are maybe underestimating how difficult it is to bring in an effective CDM. It’s the most tactically complex position on the pitch (there’s a reason that the likes of Rodri, Alonso, Guardiola, Pirlo etc, some of the most tactically astute minds of the game in recent years, all play(ed) there). It’s one player being given the responsibility for covering the whole back line, especially if the idea is that, with that player in there, CB and MM are going to push up. Bringing in some kid from a Prem club to play there might work, but it’s a hell of a gamble if your entire game plan is going to be based around that player. Get it wrong and you’re completely exposing your defence every game.
- The Conteh signing on paper looks like it would have been good, but, at a reported £300k, I fear that a lot of this discourse of ‘going for it / showing ambition in this window’ should be tempered by what is happening to a club in our league RIGHT NOW, one whose fans want a minutes applause every game for their owners’ profligacy. Reading fans are paying what now looks like the ultimate price for years of a club ‘showing ambition’ in the sense some people seem to want. We can’t turn out noses up at their turning a blind eye to spending money the club didn’t have if we at the same time demand our owners are shelling out six figures for multiple players in January, money we do not organically have.
- Comments confidently stating what level of budget we have in this league really annoy me. I have no doubt we’re on a higher budget than, say, Cheltenham, but I’m sure I’ve seen on here this year comments saying we have ‘a top 2 budget’. How could anyone possibly know? Why would anyone at any club widely publicise what their playing budget is? Maybe those properly, properly ITK have a good steer of it, but I doubt anyone important enough to have that info spends their time posting on this forum.
As this thread has also morphed into a mid season review of the non playing side:
- I think the question of how well Buckingham is doing is a really interesting conversation. I think it’s very fair to note that he inherited a team out on its feet, with many key injuries, and knackered players unable to play the high pressing game of the first few months (as one poster above astutely observed). The team manning built was primarily constructed to press high (see Harris) and I think it’s pretty clear that as players have fatigued this has become less effective. I think there is also a fair comment to make about over performance in and rose tinted specs of the first half of the season. We were massively over performing our XG - that was always going to come home to roost - and in Manning’s last few weeks we had got conspicuously worse. We threw away points at home to Wycombe and Blackpool and very nearly did the same to Rovers.
- BUT, that all said, I think it’s fair to say that Des’ start has been a little underwhelming. I take the point of his having his hands tied by circumstance, and agree with it to an extent. I just think it’s fair to, at this point, two months into his tenure, question why we can’t really see what it is he’s trying to do, or alternatively why we aren’t implementing what it is he wants us to do very effectively. We’ve had flashes where we look really good, and I always admire when a manager can effectively change his system to account for circumstance (as he did against Charlton by switching to a 3 and bringing in Smyth). But I would like to start seeing something for us to hang out hat on.
- This at least partly, as referenced above, does come down to the behind the scenes. I don’t think it’s been ‘shambolic’, as some have been saying, but it does seem from the outside like there hasn’t been much of a support structure brought in for Des, and it’s difficult to understand why. The length of time it took to bring in (what seems to be fruitlessly) an assistant for him was wild. And just on an eye test, the guy looks absolutely shagged. I promise this isn’t a knee jerk reaction to Tuesdays loss - I only managed to tune in for the second half and thought we looked reasonably good - but it does seem disconcertingly like the KR situation of the last couple of years where one man was asked to shoulder an unreasonable amount of responsibility.
Sorry for getting on my soapbox - always find it quite therapeutic writing out thoughts on here. But a final point to those writing off this season as destined for mid season, would be to remind everyone that this squad, fully fit, has kept itself in the playoffs at least all season. There are big reasons for optimism coming into 2024. Keep the faith!
alienscustom.com
