I was a bit disappointed when I got back to the pub last night if I'm honest. Not with the football match (how could you be disappointed in that?) but with the reaction of some of our fans online. After a magnificent match which was full of excitement and incident, the fact that we had come out on the wrong side of a six goal thriller meant either that some players should never wear our shirt again, the manager is an idiot or a combination of the two.
Supposedly we are to ignore how excellent we were in the first half? We're supposed to discount the fact that we've completely turned our season around with these gung-ho tactics, and we have to ignore the obvious point that in Dom Ballard Orient are lucky enough to have a striker who is at the very least one of the best at the level and more probably too good for it?
I'm sorry this "Yeah but, ignore that bit" stuff doesn't really work for me. Playing like we are requires bravery. It can't happen if the manager isn't brave, the players need to be super brave to keep bombing forward, and the fans need to be brave too. Bravery in this context means accepting the fact that if your first obsession is no longer about defensive shape, sprinting to get back behind the ball and not over committing forward, you ARE going to concede more chances. Not only that, but when you run into a striker as good as Ballard is, you're likely going to concede more goals too. We got outscored yesterday, it'll happen sometimes, but give me THAT game over an hour and a half of arm wrestling and a 0-0 draw any day of the week. If you REALLY try to win, you have to be less afraid of losing. That's where we are, enjoy the ride.
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