Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Thursday 13 September 2012

13 September 2012

If yesterday was about a person that no-one knew anything about not playing for us, then today it's about some people we do know something about who don't play for us because they're injured. Simon 'it's-looking-a-lot-like-a-Damien-Spencer-sort-of-signing' Ford and Andi Thanoj have joined Liam Hearn, Greg Pearson, Andy Cook and Bradley Wood's arse in what is becoming an increasingly cosy treatment room.

A "sprinkling" of senior pros were joined by plenty of yoofs in the stiffs' 1-0 defeat at Gateshead following a football hiatus. The managerial duo decided that reserve team kickabouts had some purpose after all and weren't just a constant hindrance to first team preparations. When I couldn't afford to go to first team matches I used to freeze my bollocks off in the Main Stand on a Tuesday night with a packet of Refreshers in my coat pocket, so I'm glad that opportunity has once again presented itself to me (only I don't live so close to Blundell Park any more and I've since upgraded to Haribo).

The shorter of the two managers has today told the Telegraph that he believes we are well equipped to deal with any team in this division - particularly any teams that like to play 4-3-3 (as Forest Green did last Saturday and as bottom side Kidderminster are likely to do this Saturday).

So yes, it's likely to prompt yet another discussion about the pros and cons of situating eleven men in a particular order on a football pitch to kick a bag of wind about the place. I give much credit to the coaches and managers of this modern era of football, who seem to take great pride in developing new and innovative 'systems'. But when it comes to your West Yorkshire Diary's opinion on the matter, well, let's just say I'm in the Alan Buckley camp. We should play our formation, our system and our way - especially at this level - and let the opposition worry about us.

Of course, you have to pay some degree of attention to the opposition, their personnel and the way they may play against you. But it makes me chuckle each time someone talks about the extra 'body' in midfield that 4-3-3 teams benefit from, yet no one ever counters that by highlighting the two extra 'bodies' you have out wide in a 4-4-2 formation.

Other than that there's not a lot knocking about today, so I'll leave you with a link to Armando Iannucci's hilarious attempts to talk football with some blokes in a pub, despite not knowing anything about formations or football in general. Ciao!