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We're Not Very Good
We're Not Very Good
Monday, 23rd Feb 2004 00:00

"We're Not Very Good, We're Not Very Good"???

We're Not Very Good, We're Not Very Good

For two days, the message board has been packed with comments, opinions and thoughts - most of them discussing whether the manager should stay or go and if the latter, potential names to replace him. All hypothetical of course as until the powers that be say different, Brian Flynn is the manager of Swansea City. Only the board of directors and any hidden investors can make the decision whether he remains in that position past this week, month or season but the fans have every right to vent their feelings.

A glance at the current poll on this site shows that a, albeit reducing by the game, majority feel that he is the man to move this club forward to where we all want to be. They feel that the work he has put in over eighteen months in the hot seat at the club are enough to convince them that the club is moving in the right direction and that the recent part of this season has been a down turn that they can live with. The minority believe that Flynn is taking the club backwards based, presumably, on the form over the last twenty games which both camps will agree is disappointing to say the least.

The flowing, entertaining, free scoring football of late summer has long since been replaced by predictable and stale looking play which the opposition managers freely admit make us predictable and they can counter what they know we are going to do and snuff out any danger that we may have. This has resulted in the side not winning in the league since the end of December and amassing very few wins since the first 10 games of the season.

23 points from 10 games, 19 from the next 20 says it's own story - we are a side looking at a mid table finish. Promotion seems a distant memory but still possible as could be a disastrous run that could see us slide into the bottom two. In reality the former has a chance of happening, the latter I think is just worrying where there is no need. No matter how bad we have become we will not fail to get eight points from the next 16 games no matter who the manager is.

So where do I stand? I don't need to answer that with my feelings on Brian Flynn I have documented them. However, I do believe that he deserves the rest of the season as a minimum in charge. A full 46 game season with the squad that he assembled. Forget who he brought to the club, he signed each and every one of the players that we have today whether they were here or not. All of them were out of contract in the summer and he made the decision on who would make up his squad this season. We all believe that one or two of them (whichever one or two you choose) should not be here but Flynn made that decision- it is his squad 100%. On that basis, let him take that squad through a full season and see where he takes them. We don't know what is to happen in the next sixteen games although we can all have a guess. The question that I ask is - are we a good team in a poor run of form or are we an average team that just happened to play well at the start"

My belief is that we are an average team. We are nothing better than that. We have a team that has talent in places - Trundle, Martinez, Britton spring to mind but we also have some players that are distinctly average. Not bad players - average ones. O'Leary, Thomas, Howard spring to mind. Players who will never light up the world with their exploits but players who can do a job. We also have some players that probably cannot do a job at this level. Players (in my opinion) like Durkan and Connolly who have had their day. They could have done a job if they hadn't but they have been brought here by a manager who remembers what they were and maybe was slightly blinkered as to what they are? We have had to rely on these players this season because of injuries and that hasn't helped.

Of course this season we have had a string of excuses at the ready. "Injuries" "FA Cup Run" spring to mind but that is all they are. Sure they are distracting but they are nothing more than an excuse. The fact of the matter is we are not a good team. We were given false hope at the start of the season and we got carried away with it. Form is temporary, class is permanent. A statement not exactly true but all football teams will show their true ability for a longer period in a season - is that not what we have done? Shown our true ability in the last 20 games. We can say 'thank god' for the first ten games sure but that is what we are capable of. What you would generally find is that those ten games would be scattered through the season - a couple here and there - we just had them in a row. Confused? I play golf off a 20 handicap. On my day, I can play off 12, off form I can play off 40. 20 is about right on average. On our day we can beat anyone, on other days we can lose to Carlisle - mid table is about right.

Couple of other issues that I have regards our team

Brad Maylett - I read that he is a good player. I disagree. He played well for a few games at the start of the season but he doesn't look interested any more. He is a passenger at the moment in a team that cannot afford them. He can play a good game but all too often he plays bad games. These are the majority performances. Does that make him a good player?

Lee Trundle - No doubting he can be a good player. But he does seem to have been sussed out. Molby said it on Saturday, we can see it. Wrexham fans called him a 'one trick pony' when he arrived here - please don't let them be right. I don't think we have seen the best of Trundle since he was first injured.

Fitness - our squad doesn't look fit. The opposition look quicker, faster and more hungry for the loose ball. We lose too many 50/50 challenges - this is either lack of bottle, committment or fitness. We seem slow and again we seem to play players not close to 100% fit. Why?

Tactics - much have been said about them. We are one dimensional. 4-3-3 loaded on the right hand side leaving the left hand side exposed. Northampton were the first to really expose this and sides have done it at will since. The Tranmere site talked about their plan B being better after they knocked us out of the FA Cup - at least they have a plan B. If we do - does anyone know what it is.

Kevin Nugent - performs as a sub and not when he starts. So why persist in starting him. By bringing him on we put a fresh threat there. By playing him from the start we are nullified too often. He is coming to the end of his career but worthy of 20 minutes, not 90.

We need to make changes if we are to improve. Not become stale, predictable and most of all boring. Let's change some things. We brought in a huddle last season to fire people up - it doesn't seem to work now. Let's not do it out of habit, let's do it because it makes a difference. If it doesn't then let's not be afraid to stop it.

Managers live and die by the results that they produce. No matter what the industry but in this one more than ever. Brian Flynn will be marked at the end of the season based on what he has done with his squad. At this moment in time he needs to get an upturn in fortunes from his troops. Without that he will see the crowds dwindle, the income reduced and, you would assume, a board of directors starting to worry about making ends meet. The FA Cup money will be reducing in balance as the shortfalls are covered. The team look basically stale and need a lift from somewhere. Any team will look to their leader for that lift be it by way of assurance, motivation or a good old fashioned bollocking. If he is to succeed (or be seen as a success) then he has to take the bad with the good and have the strength of character to turn the bad into good. Whether he has that remains to be seen - a reasonable number of fans believe he hasn't - a larger number believe he has. One of them is right.

Sure mathematics come into it and two wins this week could make it look different but I believe that the mountain we have left ourselves to climb is too big for us now. It's back to that old time again that players are playing for their own future and if that doesn't motivate them then I'm not really sure what will. That message needs to be implanted into their heads and 100% committment and nothing less from now on in.

Can an average side prove me wrong?

Why not check out the latest Vetch Verdict on the BBC site?

Photo: Action Images



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