Gloversblog (Page 24)

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An penalty in second half injury time saw Mark Cooper kick off his career as Yeovil Town manager with a draw at Maidstone United.

The result leaves the Glovers one point inside the National League relegation places as they prepare to take on Darren Sarll’s Woking on Tuesday night.

Inexplicably, Dave made the trip to Kent from his Lancashire home and here’s how he saw it…..

 

It was better than it has been. Let’s start with the positives. There was much more desire and bravery to attack the game in the first half (we’ll get to the second half soon enough) and we completely deserved to be in at the break more than one goal ahead. Was it the shame of knowing they held a good slice of responsibility for Chris Hargreaves’ sacking, or some pearls of wisdom from their new manager, Mark Cooper? Who knows, but it had an impact…..in the first half.

Alex Fisher. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Feed the Fish and there’s a chance he’ll score. Having come in for some unwarranted stick from his own ‘supporters’ four days  earlier, Alex Fisher responded in the best possible way. In the first half, he held the ball up well, brought team-mates in to play and, most importantly, scored our first goal since Chiori Johnson’s winner against Solihull three games prior. He benefited from the Maidstone keeper being out of position, but never the less.

Confidence is key. Having put so much good work in during the first half, I dearly hoped we would have come out and done more of the same in the second half. But, sadly it was an all too familiar story of dropping deeper and deeper and inviting Maidstone to attack us. This is a poor Maidstone side, but our tactics gave them confidence and as it poured in to their performance, it visibly drained from ours.

Too many round pegs in square holes. Call them fish out of water or round pegs in square holes, a big part of our problem was players not in their best positions. Ben Richards-Everton is no more a left wing-back than I am and Chiori

Mark Cooper watches on from the stand at Maidstone United.

Johnson, who seems every bit a wing-back capable of playing on either side, is not suited to the midfield. I have managed zero EFL matches, never played professional football and have more Cub Scout badges than UEFA ones – but playing players out of position when better options exist is not good.

There’s a lot of work to be done. There was plenty of gesticulating from Mark Cooper in his position in the stands where he will have been able to “get a good look” (don’t mention the ban) at his new squad. That second half performance will tell him a lot about what needs needs putting right – I doubt he’ll read this though. He knows there’s a lot of work to be done and there undoubtedly is. But, to finish as I started, it was better……in the first half.

There is a sixth conclusion but it completely smashes Rule 1 [Gloverscast Rule #1 – Don’t complain about National League officials, they are all awful] and, on the balance of opportunities created, Maidstone did deserve a point from the game. But, if you’re wondering what I am talking about watch until 8 minutes and 20 seconds in to these highlights……

 

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Following the departure of Chris Hargreaves, Glovers fan and now multiple time Gloverscast blogger, Jake Gallagher penned some words on how Hargreaves couldn’t get the best out of his side, and how whoever comes in has an almighty job on their hands… take it away, Jake.

“Don’t suppose you want a 1,000 word rant for the website?” That’s how I pitched this to the Gloverscast team.

Okay so you were right. You are all right and I was wrong.

In early October I penned an article asking for the fans to give Chris Hargreaves time and detailed some reasons why. You can read that piece here and you can call me a fool on Twitter here.

So where did it all go wrong? It’d be easy to blame the manager’s lack of experience, call him the P.E teacher and suggest he’s just a pundit out of his depth. Let’s do some actual analysis.

Formation

We can’t avoid the topic of the formation despite feeling like it’s all we’ve discussed in recent times. Against Aldershot Chris Hargreaves did finally alter the shape to the 4-3-3 we were all begging for but with it came with a couple personnel changes in key areas which smelt to me of desperation. In a must-win game against a team next to us in the table, is it the right time to give a first start to 19-year old Ollie Hulbert and a debut to 19-year old Ewan Clark on loan from Bristol City? Come on, Chris. Don’t stand there after the match saying we lack experience when we have Gime Toure (28) on the bench. We needed goals, bravery, know-how. The team picked was lacking in know-how, and it really showed.

Ultimately the formation change came about six or seven matches too late. Hargreaves’ pig-headed commitment to the 3-5-2 (which always turned into a 5-3-2) didn’t work and didn’t suit the players in the squad. It was the hill he died on.

“He lost the dressing room.”

This is an overused cliché in football but against Aldershot I’ve never seen it truer. The body language of the players was abysmal and it’s because they completely lost confidence in the manager’s methods. There were two moments in the second half, at 0-0, when a free kick was awarded to Yeovil in our own half and all three central midfielders were head down, not looking at the ball, walking to their position up the pitch. Sam Perry, Matt Worthington and Callum Rowe all trundled slowly forward as Grant Smith lined-up. There was no urgency, no grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck, no understanding of the gravity of our situation. It was 0-0, all to play for, and our engine room workers looked resigned to defeat.

This was a new development by the way – the players not playing for him – ever since the Taunton Town debacle(s) and was truly evident after Richards-Everton and Worthington were fighting and arguing after being humbled at Wordsworth Drive. Before that though the players were playing for Chris Hargreaves and they were playing for each other. But not anymore. And that’s why he had to go.

Tactical Ineptitudes

It was clear throughout most of his tenure that Chris Hargreaves could motivate the group, that was shown by how we started matches.
We tended to score early when games weren’t yet settled into their tactical patterns. In fact, we scored before the 10th minute on four separate occasions but never went on to take all three points.

There was a theme about our play, we’d come out of the blocks fast but started to look flat and without ideas as the games grew.
As Hargreaves would say, we ‘worked our socks’ off but ‘lacked ruthlessness’ or started to look ‘leggy’.

In truth, he bemoaned the lack of ruthlessness because we simply had show a sniper-like ruthlessness to score from the only decent chance of the game we got. Without the killer instinct of someone like Erling Haaland, if you’re only going to create one or two chances in 90 minutes of football, if you’re not ruthless, you’re f*****.

Chris Hargreaves in conversation with his assistant Chris Todd. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

It’s also a myth in professional football that players look ‘leggy’. Often if a team looks off it physically it’s because they can’t get near the opposition tactically.

They would be two yards off the pace because the team’s shape and set up isn’t allowing them to get into the game. ‘Leggy’ is the excuse managers give when they can’t see what happening in front of them.

They can’t see that they’re being overrun, out-manoeuvred and as Sam Allardyce would say ‘out-tacticed’.

Being ‘out-tacticed’ by the opposition is one thing. But ‘out-tacticing’ yourself is another.

​Against Wealdstone, after they had halted us to a 0-0 despite being down to ten men in the 9th minute, opposing manager Stuart Maynard said: “Yeovil made it comfortable for us today, they changed their shape at half-time and it helped us. They went 4-4-2 and we were banked up in 4-4-1 so it helped us. We even looked more dangerous on the break.”

After our 1-1 draw with Dorking Wanderers, manager Marc White said: “Yeovil’s back three defend deep and narrow. The wingbacks work hard to make it a back five.”

Chris Hargreaves couldn’t see that his system and his tactics were failing and instead blamed lack of experience, lack of ruthlessness and a lack of leaders.

What’s Next?

As was evident on Tuesday night, not only had Hargreaves lost the dressing room but he had lost the fans. I have never seen a more toxic atmosphere at Huish Park, or any football ground, than at the final whistle against Aldershot. Singing about the owner is fine, it’s clear his intentions aren’t best placed for this football club.

The Thatcher’s Gold Stand at Huish Park. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

But singing about Hargreaves, and Alex Fisher, that was low. How you can chant “Fisher is a w*****” and call yourself a supporter is beyond me. Alex Fisher is not the reason we’re in this mess. He’s just one of many out of form, out of confidence players in the squad who needed support. Booing him when we got substituted was unacceptable. It was embarrassing.

​One thing is clear, whether it’s Jamie McAllister, Carl Dickinson or one of the other 40 phantom applicants in the summer, whoever replaces the manager has quite the job on their hands. They must reunite the fanbase, the squad and restore some much-needed confidence at the football club all while upward managing an owner who cares little for the future of Yeovil Town Football Club.

If you’re reading this Jamie or Carl, all the best.

 

As ever, we always value a range of opinions here on the Gloverscast and you can contact us in all the usual ways, on social media via @Gloverscast or via email, Gloverscast@gmail.com

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So Chris Hargreaves has the dubious pleasure of being the shortest lived Yeovil Town manager in many a year.

No question a decent man, a good football man, but someone who will not be surprised that a in the ‘results business’ his two wins in 15 National League fixtures and an exit from the FA Cup simply was not good enough.

His stubborn refusal to bend on a formation which obviously was not working from the start appears to be the hill that he has died on.

It seems his replacement will be Mark Cooper someone with a longer football CV than his predecessor with some considerable success taking Forest Green Rovers to promotion to the Football League in 2017, and guiding Swindon Town to the League One play-off final two years before that.

The big question is – is he going to get the backing needed to fulfil the club’s stated ambition of a return to the EFL? Maybe not immediately, the long-term financial health of the club has to be balanced against its on-the-field ambitions, but promotion would undoubtedly open my many a revenue stream.

Darren Sarll. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Darren Sarll departed for Woking six months ago seemingly believing he had more backing there and, with his side which the Glovers will face in Surrey next Tuesday night sitting pretty in the play-off positions, it seems he was quite right.

Hargreaves spoke frequently about how he knew the Yeovil job was going to be a tough one from the moment he left his job as a pundit on BT Sport and prior to that a coaching career in the youth systems of many a League club.

So, if Cooper is the man for the job and he does not get the backing he requires, does it matter if it’s Pep Guardiola or Houdini who is in the dug out?

We’ve said it many a time on the podcast and in various articles, the words of chairman Scott Priestnall and his board of directors, which is only extends to Stuart Robins at the current point with more apparently set to arrive, need to backed up by actions.

In his most recent update a fortnight or so ago, the chairman spoke about his belief that Hargreaves was “building a team that can compete and I certainly believe we are improving in that department” and it would appear the exit from the FA Cup at the hands of Taunton Town and the capitulations in the past couple of league defeats quickly changed his mind.

I don’t think many Yeovil Town supporters would disagree it is the right decision with a relegation battle now well and truly in place.

Mark Cooper in the stands for Yeovil Town’s 2-0 defeat at Oldham Athletic last weekend.

That same statement spoke about “additional resources to improve the squad” being afforded to Hargreaves – were they enough? Hopefully if it is to be Cooper, he will have been very clear about the support he requires to do the job.

For us as supporters, we continue to have one job on the pitch, to support the team. A change many of us wanted has been made and now we have to hope it can spark us out of our malaise starting with an important match at Maidstone United this weekend.

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Halloween came early at Yeovil Town last night as a second 2-0 defeat in as many matches saw the Glovers slide in to the National League’s bottom four.

Ian was in the stands for the Huish Park Horror Show and here’s how he saw it…..

That was as sorry as it gets. I don’t think I’ve ever known Huish Park be so toxic. Boos in the first half for misplaced crosses and passes. There was a section of supporters on the Thatchers willing things to go wrong so that they can pile in. That’s not conducive to creating a winning atmosphere and if that’s the sentiment going into matches under Chris Hargreaves, we may as well call it now and prepare for part time football in the National League South.

Alex Fisher.
Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The performance was devoid of anything. It’s really sad to see how low these players are on confidence, which is not helped by the above. There’s a reluctance to get the ball forward and the balance between patience in possession and fear of a mistake has been crossed. Alex Fisher chased things down as a the isolated striker, Josh Staunton put himself wherever he could to make a difference, Matt Worthington tried to run things in midfield, Grant Smith did what he could. It’s a moot point assigning blame now, everyone is culpable.

Change in the dugout needs to come immediately. The manager can’t survive off of Wrexham, Chesterfield and Solihull. Those results are the outlier in what has been a dreadful season so far. We were playing well but drawing, and now we’re playing badly and losing. There’s no recovering this sentiment. There’s no turning it round. It boiled over last night to an element of nastiness wasn’t even reached when Darren Way was leading us to this dismal League.

I’ve never experienced an atmosphere like it at Huish Park. When the final whistle blew, the boos from the supporters that were left inside were clear. The anger and shouting at players as they walked round the pitch was a level I’ve not witnessed. The club is in a dark place at the moment and it needs to be addressed, dealt with and steered in a direction of positivity. Will our owner grab the wheel and put us back on track?

The Thatcher’s Stand. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

We need to come together. Everyone who was there last night witnessed us at our lowest ebb and we need to harness that feeling to make a difference. Whether it’s the Glovers Trust, the Green and Whites, the entire SAG or another. There is structure in the Supporters Alliance Group that exists to align supporters and groups, although in my experience its been quite handy for creating division. That group needs to come together, away from the club and hold an open forum for an honest and open discussion. The need for change is clearer than ever and if we can’t come together after last night then what is the point is supporting a club? The club is on its knees and genuinely in danger. I fear relegation would be a death knell rather than an opportunity to reset.

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Ben Barrett was in the press box for the Glovers’ 2-0, defeat to Oldham.

It was a tough, stressful and genuinely quite emotional experience.

Here’s his five conclusions.

It’s probably worth bearing in mind I haven’t seen this Yeovil Team since mid August.

Back go back games against Barnet and Altrincham were both either reasonable performances or a reasonable result, since then I had been told tales of some of the good, the bad and downright ugly side of YTFC.

Regardless of what had gone before it, we had to come out strong, we had to be the first to draw blood and to kick ourselves out of our slumber.

To go down 1-0 early was an almighty hammer blow.

Obvious as it may seem, that sixth minute goal, the scrappy defending and the unlucky deflection set the tone for a torrid afternoon for the Glovers.

A ball that could have been prevented from coming into the box, fell into an area from which it could/should have been cleared. I felt the ‘hear we go again’ from the 144 in the away end.

Shall we wrap up the positives in one go next?

Owen Bevan. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Owen Bevan and Ollie Hulbert did alright and Grant Smith is the best keeper in the league. 

Bevan had an important role as the central figure in a Staunton-less defence and I think he shone the most of the back line. In the second half, Ollie Hulbert sensed a chance to make an impression on debut, and in difficult circumstances, I thought he did alright.

He’s quick, direct, showed some nice little link ups. I reckon he’s got every chance of getting more minutes over the coming weeks.

And Grant Smith is the best shot stopper outside the EFL. He just is.

Chiori Johnson. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Positives taken care of, who wants some more negatives? Jolly good.

I don’t like wing backs, you don’t like wing backs, we get it.

But if you have to have wing backs, you’d probably want them to be Chiori Johnson and Jamie Reckord.

So… why on earth did we start Sam Pearson at wing back and Johnson in the middle?

I’ve said this 100 times before but why we can’t start playing our best players in their best positions I simply do not know.

Chris Hargreaves thinks this formation has worked OK so far. It hasn’t Chris, it just hasn’t.

I’m not a qualified football coach, but I have eyes. There are some simple, tactical tweaks which I’m convinced would make a difference;

The front two need to be closer together, there was no chance of catching a flick on, or getting a little combo of passes together in the final third, nobody close enough to get busy and pick up the pieces of a broken down attack and it was infruariating.

Set pieces need a complete overhaul because we are shocking at defending them and trying to score from them and please, play people in their best positions.

Josh Staunton was on a one man mission to play in all 10 outfield positions, as admirable as that is, it stopped him being good at what he’s good at. I felt for him, he’s clearly feeling everybit of the disappointment we all are.

Confidence is rock bottom.

So many times, players were showing obvious signs of the sheer lack of confidence we as a unit are struggling with right now.

Maybe it’s a fear of making a mistake, of losing possession. Maybe it’s a desire to get off the ball as quickly as possible. A panicked clearance, a slashed ball forwards, a overhit pass, a sideways or negative move when a braver option was on elsewhere.

There’s no magic wand to make confidence just appear out of nowhere, it’s down to working hard (to levels where socks indeed come off), positive reinforcement and some excellent man management and leadership.

Finally, then.

I’ve not said it on the podcast before now, I’ve kept my mind open, my thoughts to myself until I can see with my own eyes what’s going on.

In the current state of the country, it feels odd and to be honest, fairly horrible, to talk about someone else being in or out of employment.

But purely from a football point of view, I have no choice to confirm that I am absolutely Hargreaves Out.

I’m sorry, Chris, I am.

But this formation doesn’t work, there’s no plan B, our side looks a dishevelled shell of what I think it can be. Results haven’t been nearly good enough.

I feel like when you appeared on the pod, we were all backing you. We forgave some early season wobbles, we saw glimpses of what this side could be, but it’s time now to call it a day. An experiment that didn’t work.

I feel like I could chat football with you over a beer all day long, but right now our football team is hurting, things have to change.

 

 

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FA Cup giant killing and Yeovil Town have a long history. But, a season after setting the record for the non-League club with the most League scalps in the FA Cup, the Glovers’ campaign has been ended early by lower league Taunton Town.
As he was for the first match, Rich Willcox-Smith was watching on from the stands at Wordsworth Drive – we’ll not ask in which end – and here he gives his conclusions on another difficult night to be a Yeovil Town fan.
It started okay. In my conclusions after Saturday and on the podcast on Monday, I said that I was surprised how sluggish Yeovil were from the off in the first game. But from the off, they looked faster and fitter and the ball spent a lot of time in the Taunton half. If the personnel were the problem at the weekend, the arrival of experienced heads like Jamie Reckord, Alex Fisher and Gime Toure seemed to be the tonic – for the first 15 minutes at least.
We struggled with balls in to the box. We know we are struggling to score goals and, if that is an issue, a sound defence is absolutely crucial but we really struggled with Taunton’s balls in from wide and set pieces. It was one of these that got Taunton a penalty. It was a dangerous ball in that was on its way out if it was left, but a silly, more stupid, raise of a hand gave the ref no option to point to the spot. Couldn’t really be argued with. Even know Grant Smith did get booked for not agreeing with the decision.
The scoreline could have been a lot worse. As was the case of Saturday – I seem to be saying that a lot – Taunton could have been more than one goal ahead at half-time. In the second half, if they had got another two I don’t think anyone could have complained. They were more than deserving of their victory and an away tie at MK Dons in the first round.
If you don’t take shots, you don’t score goals. Forgive me the obvious comment, but the way we struggled to make Jack Bycroft in the Taunton goal work was painful. Over 180 minutes of football, there was nothing which made the keeper have to pull off a worldie for his cleano – sorry, Ben! This is the same team by and large that has managed to get results against the likes of Wrexham, Chesterfield and Solihull Moors in the league.

Is this rock bottom? Two abject performances in space of three days, Ben Richards-Everton and Matt Worthington coming together after the match and supporters protesting against the manager the owner, it’s not a great look. In his post-match interview, Josh Staunton said that this has to be our rock bottom. [Think we said that was the defeat against York City, Rich, or was it the draw at Altrincham? – Ed] It is heart-breaking to see so many supporters say they have had enough and will not return until Hargreaves, Scott Priestnall or both are gone. As Dave keeps on saying, nothing changes until everything changes – but the big question is, who is going to bring about that change? Whoever it is and whatever it is, it needs one happen fast.

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The FA Cup has always been an important competition to Yeovil Town – who still hold the record for the most League club scalps as a non-League club – and this season’s campaign got underway with a 0-0 draw at home to Taunton Town yesterday.

The final whistle was met with boos from the stands at Huish Park and a recognition that it will take a journey up the A358 to the county town for a replay on Tuesday night if Chris Hargreaves’ men are to make it to the competition’s first round.

It was a hard watch for any Yeovil fan and here Rich Willcox-Smith, who some of you will have heard on last Friday’s podcast was in the away end this weekend, gives his  conclusions…..

Grant Smith. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Yeovil were slow to start: After last weekend’s impressive 1-0 home win over a decent Solihull Moors side, I was expecting Yeovil to come out with an extra spring in there step but actually they were very slow to start. For large parts of the first half, they were second best to a side sat a division below them. The crossbar was the Glovers’ friend to save them going into the half-time interval a goal down. Taunton midfielder Ross Stearns effort hitting the woodwork gave the Yeovil back line a sigh of relief. The big frame of Ben Richards-Everton is usually enough to scare most forwards. But today he looked like he had met his match in visiting striker Nick McCootie.

Players looked uninterested and frustrated: The first shot on target for the home side did not come until a minute in to the second half, by which time Taunton had called Grant Smith in the Yeovil goal in to action on a number of occasions. There was at least a fr*st*a*t*ion [the F-word is still banned here, Rich – Ed] from the Glovers players which could easily have been described as many of them looking uninterested. Presumably something was said in the dressing room at half-time – possibly ‘have a shot’ – but it was still limited to efforts from outside the box and not enough to test Jack Bycroft in the Taunton goal.

Malachi Linton. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The lack of goals is concerning: Building upon my previous two points, we saw Malachi Linton, Alex Fisher and Jake Scrimshaw – the three out-and-out strikers in the Yeovil Town squad – and there was very little to threaten. No Charlie Wakefield isn’t a striker. It is now 14 games in to the season and 13 goals have been scored with our top scorer is still left wing-back Jamie Reckord. For context, that’s exactly the same number we scored in the first 14 games of last season when our strike force was widely considered as powder puff. Yeovil could still have been playing come Sunday morning and no goals would have come, the only saving grace from that is that Taunton didn’t really give Grant Smith much to do.

There’s no Plan B: The plan yesterday seemed to be to play the ball sideways and back, there was very little going forwards and even when Fisher and Scrimshaw came on, it seemed to be the same tactics and nothing to try and take on a fired up Taunton side. We can only hope that seeing the Peacocks in the flesh will give Chris Hargreaves something to work on in the 72 hours before the replay – otherwise, it’s difficult to have too much confidence going in to the replay.

The final whistle was toxic: The final whistle was met by boos from the home supporters in the biggest crowd of the season at Huish Park. I could hear it over the cheers coming from the away supporters, so it must have been loud! I’ve not heard anything like that since the dark days of Darren Way’s time as manager and our slump out of the Football League. I thought those days were gone, but it looked – or more to the point sounded – like they were back with a vengeance yesterday. To be fair, it’s hard to argue with the response of the paying public – that was one of the poorest displays I have seen from a team playing in green-and-white.

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Chris Hargreaves’ Glovers picked up a much-needed win against Solihull Moors yesterday at Huish Park, here are Ian’s Five Conclusions…

The win was well-deserved. We’ve seen so many draws this season where we’ve deserved more and yesterday we finally got the result our play merited. Grant Smith was called into action a couple of times in the first half but we had the better of the chances, showed more determination to get forward and kept Solihull’s key players quiet. We looked comfortable, confident and even after taking the lead we didn’t sit back or let Solihull gain a foothold.

Charlie Wakefield looked more like himself. It was the performance we’ve been yearning for from our Starman. Without having to think about his defensive duties so much, Charlie was playing instincitvly, he was confident with the ball and getting himself in the right areas too. He got through plenty of socks, with his running and was given the full 90 minutes. He’s made a case to play further forward, let’s hope he stays further forward.

Chiori Johnson put in another impressive performance. He should have opened the scoring early when he spurned a chance in the opening five minutes, but he didn’t let that miss bring him down. He was in the right place at the right time to score the opener, albeit with sloppy defending from Moors. There’s something about playing on the left side isn’t there? Against Chesterfield he was a standout at right wing back, and yesterday he was strong in left midfield. He’s pacey, versatile and a well-disciplined player and he’s setting himself up to become an important figure in the team.

I thought Solihull looked lethargic. I thought we looked comfortable after going in front. Solihull really didn’t seem to have the urgency I thought they’d show after conceding. This wasn’t the same game as the Dagenham win where it was backs to the wall. They had one chance through Josh Kelly, but other than a couple of corners, we weren’t overly stretched defensively. Andrew Dallas was kept quiet, Joe Sbarra didn’t do a lot and Neal Ardley’s changes didn’t bear fruit. In his post-match Ardley was livid with his teams performance and understandably, it felt like they settled for defeat.

This needs to be the springboard. We’ve got what could be a tricky FA Cup tie with Taunton next weekend, followed up with Oldham away and Aldershot at home. If we’re going to climb the table, we need to put our foot on the gas and follow this up with wins. The celebrations of supporters, players (particularly Alex Fisher) and the manager were one of immense relief, let’s bottle it and drink it with thy cider.

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As Yeovil Town slipped in to the National League relegation zone following Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw at Dorking Wanderers, manager Chris Hargreaves admitted he understood supporters’ frustration and indeed shared them.

Some fans took to social media to call for the manager to be given his marching orders after just 12 matches, but here supporter Jake Gallagher sets out why he believes the boss should be given more time by the Glovers fans…..

 

Well this piece got tougher and tougher to write as I drilled down into the analysis but the title remains and so does the sentiment, it’s my belief that Chris Hargreaves should be given time at Huish Park, to at least the end of October.

The Caveat

Look I get it, ten points from 12 games is not good enough. Nor is 13 points from 12 games which is where the algorithms and statistics – I’m talking about the dreaded xG [expected goals – how many goals a team should have scored based on the quality of the chances created]– suggest Yeovil Town should be based on performances. Looking at the squad, I’d suggest something closer to 16 or 17 points would be where we want to be – sat plumb in mid-table. I don’t think anyone would complain about that.

But 10 points and 21st place is a fact that is difficult to hide from.

With a new manager and fresh promise I naively bounced into the season regularly chanting about winning the f****** Conference in 2003 and hating those b******** in claret and blue. The ‘We want Priestnall out’ songs were loud and clear too, as the overarching message from us all that the owner is not welcome at Huish Park was coupled with getting behind the team.

 

Expected Goals

That bounce I mentioned has waned into a mild bob in recent weeks as good performances have resulted in fewer points than we deserve. The xG, expected goals, suggests that Yeovil should have three more points than we currently do – and that would put us 16th.

Expected goals (xG) calculates how many goals a team should have scored based on the quality of the chances created.

Now 16th is clearly not where we want to be either but it’s not in the drop zone. So where did those extra three points wriggle away from us? In two specific games actually, both in August. The first was the loss to Barnet at home which saw them go top of the league. Our 1.78 xG compared to their 0.88 was the epitome of a smash and grab away performance and rubber stamped our lack of ruthlessness which has plagued the season. Against Barnet we should’ve had at least a point.

And the second was away at Wealdstone, who were top when we played them, and we couldn’t turn our man advantage, 15 shots and xG of 1.91(!) into the solitary goal needed for the full three points rather than one.

I’m aware these are all ifs, buts and maybes and xG doesn’t win football matches, but these statistics do have weight when analysing performances.

But it’s not just those games and missed points, it’s the timing of them. If we did manage to back up the home win against Dagenham and Redbridge with a win at a Wealdstone who were top of the league when we kicked off against them on August Bank Holiday Monday that would have been a huge step in the right direction.

Confidence would’ve been high and we’d have kicked into a very winnable home game against York City. Instead we put in our worst performance of the season and these are the fine margins that have big consequences.

Yeovil were given rough fixtures at the start of the season seeing us travel to Scunthorpe, a relegated side wanting to put last season behind them in front of their own fans, followed by hosting the overwhelming favourites for the league title in Wrexham. That tough start has continued and now 12 games into the season you’ll find that Yeovil have faced eight teams currently positioned in the top half and four in the bottom half. To hammer home this point, two of those teams in the bottom half are 13th and 14th. We’ve played a higher standard of team in the league than the average, is what I’m saying. And not only have we played teams in the top half currently, but we played them when they were flying at their highest.

Now, due to sheer fact that all teams have to play each other twice over the course of the season – not exactly breaking news I know – means we’ll be facing some sides in the bottom half and have fixtures versus Oldham (16th), Aldershot (22nd) and Maidstone (15th) in October to look forward to.

Improvements must be made though – I know that. I’m not sat here typing this on my lunch break telling you that it will all be fine once we’ve played the poorer teams in the division. The signs are clear that we’re underperforming. Yeovil Town have dropped ten points from winning positions this season, no team has dropped more in the National League. There’s a clear mental block in the squad when we go a goal up that I cannot put my finger on, and I can’t dig out a statistic to explain it. We seem stuck between pushing for the second and sitting deep into a low block to protect the lead. In reality, we do neither.

The Glovers have had the second fewest amount of penalty box touches (144) in the league and our top goal scorer is our left-wing back. It’s time to make some tactical changes.


Solutions

So how do we get out of this situation? What are some actions we could take? Well, a change in formation must be the most obvious. In pre-season, Chris Hargreaves said repeatedly that we will change formation between games and within games based on the opposition but we’re yet to see that despite a run of bad results.

Changing to a back four is one call from the fans I can get behind. The issue though is Josh Staunton. Not because he’s not a good player, he’s arguably our best, but because I think Hargreaves is terrified to take such a reliable player out of the defence. If you push Staunton into midfield you lose Staunton in defence and the option of playing him in a back four isn’t feasible. Josh is perfect for that Conor Coady-esque role in the centre of a back three but Hargreaves must now push him into midfield, shielding the defence, as opposed to leading it.

So that’s settled, a back four is needed. But what about in front of it?

As we can’t hold on to a lead and seem to fade in games, a central midfield three making us less reliable on the ball playing abilities of Lawson D’Ath would be suggested. This would also mean our ‘five-figure’ signing Will Dawes, a winger, and Charlie Wakefield, a winger, could play in their actual positions. But not just Dawes and Wakefield, Gime Toure is very suited to the wide-forward role running at defenders with the ball at his feet.

The persistence in playing the 3-4-3 or 3-4-1-2 has meant we’re not putting our best attacking players in their best positions. Playing Wakefield at wing back, as you’ve mentioned on the podcast many times, is the squarest of pegs in the roundest of holes. Just play him in a wide-forward role, preferably on the right, give him the ball and tell him to run with it. Job done. Don’t overcomplicate things.

Conclusion

Confidence is everything in sport – one good result changes everything and with some very winnable fixtures coming in October I’d suggest patience with Hargreaves and his team. One thing you have to say is the players are leaving it all out on the pitch for the club – there’s no issues in motivation or playing for the badge or the manager or whatever cliché you want to trot out.

Just changing the formation though won’t be a magic pill that results in three points against Solihull on Saturday – but showing willingness to try something new is what’s needed on the terraces. If I see three at the back on Saturday at 3:00pm, it might be the last straw that makes me join the #HargreavesOut brigade.

 

We welcome everyone’s opinion here in the Gloverscast – goodness knows, you hear enough of ours – so if you fancy putting your point across about an issue relating to Yeovil Town, drop us a line at gloverscast@gmail.com.

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Last month, we published a blog, The Priestnall Tapes – Five Months On – which looked back at words spoke by Yeovil Town owner and chairman Scott Priestnall to supporters in April and reviewed where his promises had got to in the months that had passed.

Among the topics we covered were the issue of the almost £1m (£998,538, to be precise) in loans the club took out from Sport England to help the club survive the COVID-19 pandemic – yes, that’s on top of the sale of the club’s stadium, surrounding land, the £50,000 raised by supporters in the Crowdfunder and furlough payments the club took during the period.

For your recollection, here’s what that blog said about the loans from the Sport Survival Package:

 

Sport England loans

Scott said: “We’ve taken not as much as some other clubs and only what we needed and we have been promised as a league by the Sports Minister that over the next four years, he is working towards getting those loans written off.”

What’s happened since? The Sports Minister, Nigel Huddlestone, is the same man who promised Scott and his fellow club owners he would be working towards getting the almost £1m which we have borrowed written off. We’ve got in contact with the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) to ask how the Minister is getting on – but, to be fair to the department, they’ve been in charge of arrangements for The Queen’s funeral in recent weeks. We’ll let you know if we hear anything…….

Now, we’re people of our word and far be it from us to promise something and not deliver upon it, so here’s the response we’ve had back from the DCMS today:

  • The terms of the loan repayment remain the same as when it was provided in early 2021. We expect every loan recipient to fulfil the terms of their loan.Loans were provided to beneficiaries of the Sport Survival Package at a low interest rate, with a flexible approach to loan terms and repayment holidays.
  • Sport England is in regular contact with every loan recipient and we will continue to work closely with them to understand each individual organisations’ circumstances. If an organisation is concerned about its ability to meet repayments, we would encourage them to contact their relationship manager in the first instance as soon as possible.
  • We do not comment on the specifics of individual Sports Survival Package cases given their commercial sensitivity.

The other thing to correct is that on the day we published The Priestnall Tapes – Five Months On blog, Nigel Huddlestone was replaced as Sports Minister by Stuart Andrew. Either way, there seems no appetite from the DCMS to cancel the loans or turn them in to grants.