It's not the players. It's the manager and how they are setup. I've posted in the relevant Keith Andrews topic elsewhere.
I've been posting on the GPG since virtually day one and anyone who knows me knows that I always look for the positives in our team and management. But I cannot find any positives about tonight's game.
We've gone backwards. We are showing zero signs of encouragement. We have no patterns to our play in possession beyond the halfway line. By that, I mean that there should be triggers for player movement to move opposition players to create space, create options for players to make decisions, and I can guarantee that this can be coached into players irrespective of the quality of personnel, at least at this level.
I will say that at this early stage of the season, we actually look pretty organised in respect of our low and mid block. But that's about all the positives I can find.
I challenge anyone to find two patterns of play from tonight's game that clearly looks coached into the team, and is a positive sign of encouraging and enterprising football. Look through the season, I doubt you'll find much in any game. There's no characteristic to our style of football when in possession. The team is not being coached to do anything other than try to run a setpiece or force the opposition into making a mistake.
Last two seasons, we've clearly coached the improved passing into the team, we've played enterprising football, but we've gone backwards. It cannot continue for much longer like this, but I fear that so far this season, we have displayed zero patterns of play that give us any hope at all. And believe me, in 35 years of watching Brentford, I very rarely lose confidence in a manager so quickly.
