Page 17 - 360633 LP236168 A Love Supreme 48pp A5 (April 2022)

GET THE
BY FRANCIS TODD MALONE
BALANCE RIGHT
We’re outside the play-off places now and our chances of getting into the top six before
the season ends are in the balance. Automatic promotion is beyond the dreams of even the most drug-addled fan and we’re facing another year in the cesspit that is League One unless we can finish strongly and do something we’ve not managed so far, get it right in the post- season. It’s not a great picture, so why am I in the unusual position of being quite upbeat about things? Two words. Alex Neil.
With him in charge I’m feeling optimistic about the future. I’m pleased with the choice of our latest gaffer, although it’s fair to say that with the exception of Phil Parkinson I’ve not been opposed to any of our recent appointments. Well, until our performances showed us that none of them were a good pick, really.
The early signs are good with Neil. Sure, our progress hasn’t been spectacular, but he’s getting to grips with the things which need improving. And we’ll be the better for it.
and anyone who is disappointed about a lack of entertainment needs to try to find someone in the game who prefers entertainment to success.
Of course, promotion may not be happening this season. The fannying around by those upstairs after we’d sacked Johnson did for
our automatic promotion hopes and a play-off place looks the best we can hope for. But if we do make them, I believe Neil can get us up.
He’s single-minded, knows what’s needed, pays attention to detail and doesn’t get
too carried away by praise or criticism.
And he seems to have the right attitude to substitutions. We’ve had our fair share of stubborn gaffers who will not make a change, even when it’s obvious we’re crying out for one. And then there was Johnson, whose en masse replacements made little impact and too often succeeded only in confusing everyone.
Neil saw the Crewe game slipping away and did something about it. The fact we had lots of the ball but couldn’t score against the league’s worst team says plenty about our current struggles. But he wasn’t afraid to shake things up and get us the win.
Although he’s managed in the Premier League, not too badly despite limited resources, most would rank him as a good Championship manager. And we’re a League One team. So we’re batting above our average with him and we should be grateful we’ve got him.
If it does all go wrong in the next month or two, well, at least he’s got the summer to do something about it, and hopefully he gets a full season to make the right impact. Unless he loses the plot, of course. I hope my judgement’s not flawed with this one but if it is, well, at least I’ve long since (grudgingly) accepted that we’ll be down here for a while.
It didn’t take him long to work out that we can’t go on shipping goals as we have been doing. A lack of clean sheets and giving away cheap goals is a combination which has cost us
dear the last few years, and no one has been prepared to deal with it. Oh, I’m sure they spoke about it in training, but the end product is telling.
Capitulations became too much of a habit under Lee Johnson, who got plenty right but never addressed our defensive issues. I’d always take a 6-0 loss over six 1-0 defeats but don’t see Neil watching over the kind of humiliations that make you want to dig a big hole and jump into it.
Sure, the football isn’t free-flowing and easy on the eye at the moment under Neil. But he knows the importance of results over performances,
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