I think you’re spot on with the comparison to that early League One McKenna side, ptc. That team was more possession-focused and seemed to be a bit more cautious and - in its worst moments - complacent. Similar to this season, that team was also built at some expense (for the third tier level) and initially seemed to struggle with the sense of expectations. A concerning element to this season is that - like last season - we are too reliant on players doing individual special things, with Philogene a case in point. Even the goal last night with Kipre playing a brilliant through ball felt out of the blue and off-script. Is McKenna guilty of micromanaging the team and over-preparing it? He had the perfect system designed for the double promotion team with skilful players in roles that were completely natural to them and was built on their strongest attributes. I get the impression from this season that we’re just playing a more generic system of possession-focused 4-2-3-1. Hopefully with Nunez at 10, Egeli getting better every game, and the renaissance of Jack Taylor - we can slowly get towards and a system and starting eleven that looks a bit more balanced and solve some of the issues in the attacking third. And of course the more optimistic fan would be saying that had we scored one of those several obvious goalscoring opportunities, got a 2-1 win, and sat nicely at sixth with three wins on the bounce - we wouldn’t be as downbeat. But one point out of a possible nine against Middlesbrough, Charlton, and Watford where we had plenty of opportunities to put the game to bed does suggest it’s not going to be plain sailing.
