The roller-coaster season took yet another dip as defeat at Woking last night put Yeovil Town fans’ stomachs in their throats. Ollie Marsh was among the almost 500 who turned out for the rearranged midweek fixture in Surrey and here are his thoughts.
You know what I’m going to say don’t you? The ‘some halves maybe good, some halves maybe s***’ trend continued, albeit in reverse to Saturday’s defeat at Boston. This time we got the rubbish half out the way first, and marginally improved in the second – and it was at least encouraging to see us come out after the break with a bit of spark. Unfortunately, that 15 minute spell of pressure and a late surge failed to create any clear cut chances of note.
These players don’t look like they’re standing up to be counted. We’ve now entered the final ten games left of the season, and you’d hope for players to be raising their levels – whether that’s for the club’s position, or for their own Yeovil Town careers. There are a few individuals who can come out of last night with a modicum of credit in that regard, but there are also so many members of our team that simply aren’t showing what you’d want to see from the players in their roles.
Billy’s post-match interview didn’t make for pleasant listening. Our gaffer criticised the mentality of the team, urging them to “show some passion.” I’ll be honest, I haven’t noticed a complete lack of effort or commitment from the group – as they have been throughout this season, they look simply unfit and low on confidence rather than not trying. But a group of professional footballers playing in front of 400+ fans who have travelled on a Tuesday night shouldn’t have to be reminded at half time to “give their all.”
Millar Matthews-Lewis, the floor is yours. With Aaron Jarvis now missing two games through suspension thanks to a tenth yellow card – and it was a bit of a silly booking to pick up in truth – we’ll surely be seeing a bit more of our new man against Morecambe on Saturday. It’s partly for this reason that I was surprised he wasn’t introduced earlier last night, instead being brought on with just six minutes of normal time remaining. In his limited game time – he also got 12 minutes against Boston – MML has at least shown he’s capable of getting in good positions, and has held the ball up well on a couple of occasions.
With this defence, we’ll do well to keep the Shrimps out. Morecambe have scored 17 goals in their last six games, and that fills me with dread. Woking cut us open incredibly easily last night, destroying us in the channels without really having to do too much. Our back line will have to be far more resolute at Huish Park this weekend, in what could be a season-defining clash. A win is almost essential and could see us rise enough places in the table to quell the nerves. Lose, and I fear an impending sense of doom could loom over us…
If BR can’t put his finger on the problem and the frustration is there to see, does this fall squarely on the players who haven’t adapted to his style, perhaps mentally as much as physically or skillfully?
When I hear a pre-match “we’ve simplified it” and the penny still doesn’t drop in the first 45…how difficult is it to understand – defend well, be brave, forward momentum, score goals?
Sigh!! There’s 27 points to play for – we need about ten (ISH) and we can hopefully forget this most frustrating of seasons still part of an NL without an S after it!
Don’t think many have a future at Yeovil and they don’t appear to want to. Said it a while ago that the contracted players lack ability, mental strength and fitness, nothing has changed
Recognise all of this, but at what point do we examine ‘how did we get here’? I dont get any sense of concerted action by the owner, and those around him, to mitigate the situation. I dont know if they cant or will not. Maybe that remains clouded but the outcomes the same. Fact is we have a young manager with a thin demoralised squad. We deserve better.
I’ve want to go on a rant for a few weeks now…ignore this if you like (thumbs down) but as I don’t do Twitter or other Socials, I’m really sorry it’s ended up here 😂
I’m guessing a few would agree we started with a paper thin squad of quality, approved by Cooper to get us through the season, and bolstered by loanees. Injuries early on and we may have seen empty chair on the bench earlier than expected. Red Flag 1 – small squads will cost you in the long run unless you are 1981 Aston Villa!
After the much approved Cooper dismissal, came the debacle of other managers coming and going, with not much tangible progress in between, and finally when the managerial merry-go-round stopped, Billy gets off and we all feel a bit positive. We signed McCormick to a long-term deal (great!), sent a few out on loan (I get that but maybe 1-2 were questionable in their duration), and a few left for pastures new. We signed four, five or six loanees, plus the injury prone Mukena, the excellent Jones, who along with Dak Mafico has been a superb addition…and I think we once signed some highly rated lad to a long term deal and has since been binned off to WSM? Loanees have come in their droves and many gone again – injured, recalled or not wanted! Red Flag 2 – don’t build a squad around loanees!
Williams loss was big enough but we never properly replaced Efete or Morias either, some would say Charlie Cooper as well. Maddox never really got a look in on his return. There’s a lot of experience in that aforementioned quintet!! Red flag 3 – don’t neglect the loss of experience!
While I do get BR saying you won’t get many players moving this late in the season (well Campbell certainly did!) but Billy had January and February to, ok probably more quickly than he’d like, assess the situation and take a punt on a few beyond the loan system and Ryan Jones. His eye for talent seems to be good. For whatever reason, incl. paying off managers, bigger projects etc, it’s still felt like we missed a golden opportunity to start building the squad for next season and get a better jump start on Prabhu’s futures aims of promotion. The gamble the club has taken is trusting mostly Cooper’s inherited squad and this has hit the skids somewhat, for the present at least and with nine games to go, who knows!
The mind may play tricks but on Tuesday it looked like the first 11 was made up of nine of “Cooper’s squad”, plus Jones and Ward.
Does it suggest those with us last season, who were/are not fit enough according to two managers this season are, whether we like it or not are now running on fumes and we’ve relied on those nine fellas all season (injury and suspension aside). These will likely be the lads + a few other loanees and U19s that either keep us up…or not! Roll your sleeves up time!!
Whatever decisions have been made or not made at all levels at YTFC – the big C of calmness has progressively felt more a buried head in the sand and all the football playing issues will resolve themselves. That said, I honestly am very appreciative of the owner and family that we still have YTFC. To spend time with friends, enjoy an afternoon out, perhaps see a win or a goal or two, and it’s something I genuinely want to keep being a part of the journey for many years to come. What is around the corner…who knows? I’m sure Prabhu, Stuart, and Nicholas have an idea.
Always end on a good note – a massive shout out of appreciation to Ben, Dave and Ian, who carry the feelings of many, have the strength to do what they do week after week and so rarely recently do they get to be the voices of good cheer. Thanks lads – keep up the great work!!
Good stuff and agree on red flags ….and of course the binding and more of Ben, Dave and Ian. On how the Club is run I can only go on outcomes and apply what I know of organisations and effectiveness. Other than the evidence on the park, the 3Cs and what Gcast has gleaned what else do we have to make assessments? I hope my doubts are misplaced and we stay up and thrive again. ” Time alone will tell”
Firstly, I was going to up vote your comment & got a red message “you cannot vote for your comment.”
If you complain on here as much as me, perhaps they think we’re one & the same!
I noticed ten of Tuesdays starting line up were here when Rowley joined.
I’m not sure people are fully aware of how impressed Rowley was with the Yeovil squad when he first took over & saw them in training. I think he believed they were a class above the Walton & Hersham squad, even though we could be in the same division next season!
One of his comments on taking over was “The aim is to get back in the Football League and both the owners and I believe this group of players are almost capable of that.”
I think this seriously overestimates the quality of this squad.
Once again, we have an unbalanced squad, something that’s happened a number of times since we got relegated from League Two.
For the second season running we’ve got a squad with only one genuine centre forward. It didn’t work last season & it hasn’t worked this season.
We had one right-back & Rowley got rid of him. Sims is a serious liability defensively.
The one thing I thought we had sorted out was defensive midfield. At one time we seemed a bit overloaded. But now we’re back to where we were when he took over, McGavin & Cousin-Dawson. Time & again opposition teams are left free to shoot from just outside or inside our 18 yard box. I mentioned this early last season & we still haven’t dealt with it.
I’m also surprised that with all the problems we’ve got that we have the luxury of allowing four senior players out to go out on loan, including two who haven’t had a look in.
” the big C of calmness has progressively felt more a buried head in the sand and all the football playing issues will resolve themselves.”. Perfectly put, and there’s no point in fixing off field issues while on field has gone backwards. The biggest mistake was not removing Cooper after finishing 19th .Even Prabhu admitted in his Gloverscast interview on this topic ‘”with hindsight I would have done things different (immediately after becoming owner )”. I think he took the advice of others, notably Robins, and this is why club is now struggling.