Cod Almighty | Diary

Don't mess with Mr Inbetween

12 August 2013

Miss Guest Diary writes: I have heard it said that the only reason women put themselves through childbirth more than once is because there is some chemical in their brain which, in between pregnancies, makes them forget all the pain and discomfort. I think there must be something similar going on with the brains of Town fans. Why else would we all go back season after season, filled with excitement and the hope that this will be the year when it all goes right?

On Saturday, it took about 20 minutes for the hope to vanish and the memories of past pain to come flooding back. Those pretty triangles which looked so good in the pre-season friendlies failed to withstand the first couple of crunching tackles, and the lack of attacking options resulting from the 4-3-3 formation was clear for all to see. And then there's Clayton McDonald.

Fans are still speculating as to why Town failed to keep Ian Miller, arguably the best central defender in non-League. At least from his pre-season performances, Chris Doig seemed a fairly adequate replacement, but he wasn't in the side on Saturday, or even on the bench. Instead we had a man who seemed incapable of marking, tackling or kicking the ball. My other half called him the new Tony Crane after we saw him at Grantham last week, but that is doing Crane a severe injustice. I even wondered whether McDonald could actually be an imposter along the lines of George Weah's cousin.

Perhaps the absence of Doig was one of the matters raised by John Tondeur in his post-match interview with Shouty. I don't know because I haven't heard it. All I know is that Twitter was later abuzz with people commenting on Shouty's rudeness and commiserating with John. I can understand that it must have been galling to have almost been beaten by his older brother's team – especially when that team was, by all accounts, assembled only after the lifting of Aldershot's transfer embargo on the previous day. But that's no reason for Shouty to take his frustration out on a third party who was only doing his job.

In stark contrast to Aldershot, Town had the luxury of six weeks in pre-season to assemble and work with what appears, on paper, to be a very good squad of players. I can't help thinking of that Morecambe & Wise sketch with Andre Previn, where Eric says he is playing all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order. From Saturday's performance, it certainly looked like Town's management duo had failed to play the right players in the right formation. Maybe it's time for a change?