Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Thursday 3 May 2012

3 May 2012

Just when your original/regular Diary was allowing myself to get cautiously optimistic about next season, I saw the team line up for the Southport game. They were in a 4-3-3 formation.

I'm not going to get all messageboardy and play pundit. I won't start pretending I can do that tactical analysis thing. All I know is what I see on the pitch. And what I've seen on the pitch for years now is that 4-3-3 doesn't work. It was a huge failure when Shorty and Shouty used it this season. It was a huge failure when Mike Newell used it at Meadow Lane in 2009, and when he switched to 4-4-2 at half time Town won and stayed up. It was a huge failure when Lennie Lawrence couldn't decide which two forwards to perm from Bradley Allen, Steve Livingstone and David Nielsen so he played all three. All the available evidence seems to suggest that when Shorty and Shouty try it again next season, it will be a huge failure.

It's perhaps with an eye on their 'new' formation for 2012-13 that the managers have opted to release Gary Silk. When Silk returned from injury midway through the season just ended, he and Conor Townsend offered an attacking threat from the full-back positions that was pretty much unique in the Conference. Silk's ability to cross a ball productively became a significant contributory factor to Town's great mid-season winning run.

The one telling weakness in Silk's game was a lack of pace. This is less of an issue in a 4-4-2 set-up, where the wide midfielders are tasked with covering when space opens up behind a full-back. In a 4-3-3 system, though, the full-back is left more exposed with no wide midfielders, and needs greater pace to peg it up and down the flank all afternoon. And, reading between Shorty's lines, that's why Silk is out.

This is different to what I assumed when I heard earlier this week that Silk's future was uncertain. I thought the move towards a more rational budget meant there was no room in the squad for two right-backs, and Bradley Wood would be enough. But no: the Shorty manager has said today that a replacement for Silk will arrive over the summer. "It may not be exactly like-for-like," he explains, "maybe someone with different attributes to Silky and fitting in to the way we want to play next season." If that way is 4-3-3, and if it turns out the way it always does, then good luck with that.

Breaking news, and breaking hearts: Charlie I'Anson has also left the club after rejecting a new contract. Last week I did kind of think the release of Scott Garner might prove to be, well, a huge failure if this were to end up happening. Now I feel this was a bit premature. It's not a huge failure at all: it's a disaster. If you're allowing yourself to get cautiously optimistic about next season, then good luck with that too.