Or is it? Here is a schematic showing the average position of each of our players in last night’s game against Leeds: please log in to view this image Look how narrow we are, which makes it easy to defend against. [That we managed to get away 27 shots merely underlines how mediocre Leeds were.] Look how exposed our backs are, which doesn’t make it difficult to understand why we leak goals. [Not that this explains why so many goals conceded are from corners. Try a man on the post??] Above all though, the story the picture tells is that we did not play as a team. I think most would have agreed before kick off that the side Kit put out was the one of choice; given the odd little quibble. And it was a side full of players who should have been able to adapt to a fluid formation within the game; be it 4-3-1-2 or 4-5-1 or 4-4-2 (as intimated by the Club) or indeed any combination thereof. But they didn’t.. There was no shape whatsoever - unless you can call the ’inverted umbrella’ shown in the picture, a formation. So is it all Kit’s fault? I firmly believe he should have been more pro-active during the game. Not only through different subs and at an earlier point in the game, but also he should have been out on the touchline bawling them out. However can he honestly be blamed for players who clearly did not stick to a plan? There is a limit to what a manager can do once the game starts. Some other, possible reasons come to mind; * the players don’t believe in the plan in the first place; * they lack confidence in each other; * they simply lack confidence, full stop. Whatever, it’s far too big a risk to let things drift and assume that all can be sorted in the summer. Kit needs to sit down with Curbishley and decide what the best formation is and which players will carry that through to grind out results in the remaining 9 games. Sod reputations among the players; sod entertaining the fans; sod everything except keeping clean sheets.
