Reading Between The Lines

I am intrigued to see what Richardson does with the team this weekend. There is a best-case scenario where he makes changes over the next 3, gets some positivity on the pitch and in the stands and we can go into the summer with a little less doom & gloom. Of all the possible futures that feels a remote one. In part because there is only so much he can change right this minute. The squad is light in certain positions. Also, I think the perception vs reality on ‘removing the handbrake’ and letting the team go out and play with more freedom can be a chasm. I think Richardson is undoubtably part of the reason we have struggled to get any attacking joy recently but he is not the sole reason and we are also missing either performances or the players entirely in attack. Even with good intentions and sweeping changes it still feels difficult to imagine enough signs of that positivity and then we are left to decide how to weigh up praise for the attempt by Richardson or bemoan the outcome. I suspect we won’t find out opponents very obliging either, particularly Cardiff who will go out to become the 2nd team promoted at the SCL this year…

LR has already suggested he will approach these games with next year in mind but that will mean different things to different people. How he juggles decisions he genuinely believes will be worth pursuing versus decisions borne out of self-preservation is an interesting wrinkle and I would not begrudge a helping of the latter given the pressure on him currently.

Despite what fans might want to see, a significant tactical shift feels impossible given the timeframe involved. This isn’t FIFA ultimate team and we can’t just plug in a new shape and jump straight to cohesive in and out of possession approaches overnight. There is also the player side. Who in their own jobs wants to learn a new process or tool right before heading off for a break? Even the most bought in employee is going to struggle to get fired up for that task and the players are no different. I think Richardson must put some distance between how we have played recently but even then, it’s likely to be roughly within a framework of what the players have already trained for. Doncaster was a good example where we switched to a more conventional 4231 attacking shape (vs the asymmetrical 3421 we’ve seen more of) and had real issues getting the ball into areas to attack. That only got worse when we moved to 442 at halftime and we only vaguely started to look like we knew how to attack when we moved back into a more familiar 532 shape. If’s not going to be a tactical reinvention, it’s going to have to be player selection and mentality…

One fairly straightforward change I hope to see is an almost total exodus of loan players from the squad. I could perhaps see Nyambe continue to start given the other options at RB but beyond that, free up spots for guys we feel will be here next year/academy. That includes Kadan Young who has increasingly become a stick to beat Richardson with given this lack of gametime but that gametime now feels a waste to spend on him going into the summer. The other obvious one which could have the double effect of buying goodwill in the stands plus shaking off some tension on the pitch is involving more of the academy boys. I suspect, and have no issue with, most of those minutes coming off the bench but who and for how long will be interesting. It is a balancing act. Senior pro’s getting overlooked in favour of an academy player means Richardson has to be careful with how it is communicated. From a fan perspective, I have no issue not seeing Paddy Lane play a single minute of the next 3 games given his underperformance this season BUT he’s going to be here next season and I want him fired up going into pre-season. If he’s left out for Kiyan Coke-Miles-Smith how is that going motivate Lane? Hard to say but that is for Leam to juggle. Will it then also be perceived as throwing Lane, and others, under the bus to protect Leam? That’s already a criticism I’ve seen thrown LR’s way. Even some of the “solutions” present their own problems

Combining two earlier points of ‘using more youth’ and ‘need to operate within existing tactical framework’ I do think are two young players who could see themselves heavily involved. If we opt for 532 then it’s a no brainer for Sean Patton to play significant minutes between now and end of season paired with Kelvin E. The other player is a little more left field given he hasn’t made a match day squad in any competition but that is David Hicks. One glaring miss over the last few months is good options at CAM in a system where we try to put 2 players into those central attacking areas. That has only got more obvious since Doyle’s injury. If Richardson wants to play some form of 4231 (and has learned his lesson about some of the other players we’ve seen tried there) then he needs a CAM so I could see Hicks come straight into a starting XI. He is also an option in a deeper midfield role and is more and more looking a level above U21s football over the last few months.

My gut instinct says Leam will not throw youth entirely at the problem so I doubt we will see lineups hugely different from what we’ve seen in recent weeks. He also has player fitness & injury to think about as well given the next 3 games are not going change what league we play in next year. It’s lovely to hear Marriott is coming back into contention but honestly I would err against playing him in this run in. My gut also says we’re going to see some more bad games before this season is done but I hope there is at least some glimmers to get excited about. Whether that would be enough to see Richardson keep his job beyond an end of season review, time will tell.