Cod Almighty | Diary

Some guys have all the luck

12 December 2024

Hey up. Your Guest Diarist returns to herald the start of pagan yuletide. The season of pheasant plucking, haslet making and suet recipes. Suet is nowadays suicidally expensive - it costs more per ounce than the meat it sits on top of. But, gentle reader, why not make your own? Grate some lard and coat it in salted flour. Fuck off Atora and die.

So, to business. Since I last bothered you Town have won twice and won pretty well managing three halves of actual football and one other best forgotten. And now we face the twin trials of playing at home and facing up to one of the actual good teams. That ten days before we had a game gave the manager the chance to have his annual soul search and the changes he made have worked so far. Now he has to find consistency - the target this week is to achieve a positive goal difference. So that means winning again. He has, as far as I know, plenty of fit players to pick from. All the right notes just got to get them in the right order.

Will he play Obikwu over Rose? A year ago that question would have seemed risible. Now it seems like a no-brainer the other way. Will he stick with Luker and the Iceman? What I like most about Town's recent attacking play is when they surge through from about 45 yards out. Green does it really well, and Luker and Jason both did it to great effect lately. I have got to admit I am struggling whether the latter two are doing it flat-track bully style or whether they are really gaining confidence and improving. The next few matches will tell us more about that I suppose.

McEachran, Davies and Green. It is hard not to start any of them if they are fit enough and available. But that results in restrictions to the formation options - I like 4-5-1 without the ball and 4-2-4 with it. What I mean by that is Town winning the ball back and then playing fast incisive attacking football. Possession might be nine tenths of the law but it counts for little in football - look at the rapid decline of Peps's team. Alright, I will leave it there - I never played a football computer game in my life so what do I know?

Reading the last few diaries, lists have abounded. First we had fan-types A-D then eras 1-6 (plus appendices). All good stuff. I have only one item in my list (to keep the theme going). I am adding the fan who announces, on the morning of the match, that they will be attending. And then goes on to report that the last x times they have seen Town that they have been a bit shit and we lost. The jonah fan. It is, of course, unlucky - but you have to keep going and you will break the spell sometime.

Speaking of luck, a wise man once said do not wish to be lucky, rather wish to not be unlucky. Think poor old Thomas Cromwell. Let's hope Town make their own luck this season. See yer.