So, here I am writing another report about another league defeat for The Blues. This will be my last for a while.
No! Don't worry! I am not throwing in the towel, far from it, I actually left the car park inspired and assured that the worst is behind us. Let me explain why...
Firstly, I am not going to go into great detail as to what happened during the game, you know the type, usually littered with highly amusing quips and references to Premier League managers etc (although Victoria did record an exasperated Ben Wilson shouting “I’m not SUPERMAN!!!” when looking for a willing recipient of the throw-in he was lining up) . I am going to summarise that in two sentences for you:
Despite a few flashes of brilliance, we played very badly and were rightly punished by an average team on 6 occasions. Ben Wilson’s pass to Seb for our first goal was class and it was rewarded with an emphatic finish on his weaker foot, the second goal was just as spectacularly struck by Isaac following a slide-rule through ball from Seb.
Back on to the actual message of this “piece”.
Last time out we played fantastically well and deserved to come away with 3 points and honestly, I was expecting to see more of the same this week. What actually transpired however was down to a number of things. Firstly, I promised pre-season to ensure that playing time was handed out as fairly as possible, so I made a number of changes this week to “catch a few players up”. In doing so there were a lot of changes made to what was effectively a “winning” team two weeks ago. Secondly, as you are aware, I had an assessment this weekend which meant I couldn’t prepare the lads on Thursday and Saturday as I would’ve liked. Further to this, the boys really did not look like they wanted this game on Sunday. Now I know that may sound harsh coming from someone as positive as me, but I am only saying it because of the conversation I had after the game with a certain Sebastian Calder; the same conversation that left me feeling rather upbeat on the drive home.
I am not going to transcribe the entire discussion here but I will give you a flavour of what was said. In a very measured and intelligent way, it was put to me that the boys (certainly if Seb is to be believed) are ready to start taking their football seriously as they are getting fed up of getting beat every week. They accept that the “messing about” needs to be reduced to the minimum to allow them to develop properly as a team and start winning some games. The Blues want to be able to meet their peers in the Red team on a Thursday night at training with their heads held high. Gareth, Matty & Ben made similar points after the game in our little post-match team talk.
This is exactly what I wanted to hear from them. I still stand by what I said at the beginning of the season, I don’t care about the league table or how many games we win. What I do care about is that we give a good showing of ourselves and ensure we approach training and games with 100% application. The attitude of the boys after the game is what I am pleased about. Not so much that they want to win games, more that they want to be able to feel proud of their own efforts.
So here is the line in the sand....onwards and upwards for The Blues.
