Originally Posted by
John Buchanan
TOBW, I always enjoy reading your blogs, they are, in my opinion, well written, fair and accurate assessments of the game. Attributes that are also evident in your, often calming, common sense posts on here.
One point however I am not convinced about: I often hear people comment that one of the factors to consider in our imperfect performances is the fact that we are having to adapt to a new style of play. If we were asking last year's team to play this new (and far more enjoyable) style then I would get it. But we are not. Apart from a couple, this team was brought in by the manager to suit this style. This is not meant as a criticism of anyone, just a pedantic observation. I fully agree that there is a very strong factor around getting a new group of players to gell around any particular style and that this is extremely relevant but it's not like this team was playing under NW or MM. Personally I think that, given the short time together, the team have gelled around this style remarkably well, especially the hair-raising, entertaining and potentially career-ending way we pass it around at the back. I have seen many teams who have been together a lot longer falter when trying this. I love it. Long may it continue, as may your blogs (contribution on the way).