Johnnie has over the years increasingly "got" what Wimbledon is all about, I think pretty much everyone would agree with that. He comes into the Alex from time to time and is a thoroughly decent man, always taking the time to talk football with everyone, even me sometimes. Equally I don't think anyone can fault his record in the league (see what I did there 😂) taking us up a division and against all odds keeping us there last season. He's done that while always having a budget down the bottom end of the spectrum, not an achievement that should be downplayed. More recently he's seen his best mate and right hand man suffer with a terrible illness, AND he's been navigating his way through a potential buy-out where he'd have been unsure if he was going to be kept on. Whenever he gets a player who even looks like they might be quite useful they get sold from underneath him, and some of our best players are injured. None of this stuff makes his job easy and he has my heart felt sympathy for all of it.
All of that said, we've won four games in the last 30. That's not my stat as I don't do those, I'm quoting off a forum. Now amongst the managers many qualities is the fact that he isn't an idiot. He'll know full well that had he been at pretty much any other club in the country he'd be gone by now. He'll also know that even at Wimbledon, if things don't improve soon he'll be on wafer thin ice. I'm not privvie to discussions on the various boards at the club, but my guess is that he needs a result and sharpish.
So how to get one? Well ANY fan who thinks they can impart some advice to a manager who's done well over 100 league games that will make them more likely to win a football match is living in cloud cuckoo land. I pull pints for a living & have no idea what the inner workings of the dressing room are, so there is nothing I can say that makes us more likely to get a result against Blackpool. BUT....
But. I CAN say some stuff which makes it in my opinion far more likely that we'll get a PERFORMANCE. Now I've heard the "He's lost the dressing room" rumblings, and while I don't agree with that at all I DO think there's a danger that he's sent them to sleep a bit. Not because he's a boring person (he isn't) but he's in his fifth season with us now and at times, hearing the same voice saying the same things over a prolonged period can lull you into a sea of tranquility (readers who are married will know what I mean 😂).
So what to do? Obviously I'm not suggesting he puts an American accent on or speaks in a higher pitch, I'm asking him to say DIFFERENT STUFF.
And what do I mean by different stuff? Well it has to be different enough to jolt the players into a "Fucking hell I'm loving this new approach" mindset. Firstly I'd totally change the formation. Whether that's to a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3 (my preference, as much because it's totally different as anything else), but anyway SOMETHING so drastic that everyone gets fired up about a new beginning. I'd be going back on everything we've said before and asking them to drastically speed the game up. No more taking ages over every time the ball goes out of play, no more strolling over to take throw ins, sprint and actually play like we're at home. Take risks, bomb the full backs on, commit bodies forward, leave three up when THEY'VE got a corner, give Jonno license to randomly get into the box when we're putting a cross in.
Now I realize that all of stuff is utterly off the wall relative to how we normally play. I'd categorize our normal style as very conservative, very risk averse. The stuff I'm on about here is the opposite, it is by definition going to make us more likely to concede goals. It also though gives us much more chance of scoring one, and as an aside I'm convinced that we are a better team in an end to ender than we are a game of chess.
Does it make it more likely we will win against Blackpool? Maybe, I secretly think it does but I couldn't guarantee it. What I CAN guarantee though is that the players will be woken up by it, energized. AND, I can be sure the fans will love it too.
If we go down 4-2 on Saturday having had a proper go I'm sure to nearly everyone it would be more palatable than sliding to a 0-2. We're getting beat being boring, fuck it surely it's time to just have a go?
