Early Days…..
It’s always considered that the league starts to take shape around the 10-game mark and before we play Harrogate this evening, it’s a good opportunity to have a look at how we have done.
I don’t think I have spoken to anyone since the Fan Forum back in May that didn’t feel that taking a chance on Johnnie Jackson for another season was a gamble, hey even Johnnie has admitted that he would have been out of work at many other clubs. I have mentioned many times that I was becoming disillusioned with our strategy on the management team as we constantly had a new manager each summer. After speaking to Craig Cope for the 9yrspodcast in pre-season and also for the official podcast, it was apparent that the club went all in with Johnnie and were planning for this season way before last season finished.
I think it's fair to say that Craig had to convince Johnnie that things would get better also as you could see the confidence in Johnnie and his management team shrinking before your eyes, when watching his body language on the touchline at Plough Lane. Normally with such a high turnover during the summer, it’s often considered that it takes time for a team to gel, yet we seem to have torn that idea to shreds with the start we have had.
It of course goes back to pre-season which we were unbeaten in and whilst fans say you can’t read too much into pre-season, I tend to disagree as I still remember that 7-0 home defeat by Reading back in the Terry Brown era. We went on to lose 5 of the 8 pre-season games in 2012/13 and the last 3 on the bounce and I think we all could tell that the season was going to be a struggle. This time around we won 4 of the 6 including a good home win against a Pompey team doing very well in the league above.
We now seem to have a very good team off the pitch with recent additions to the management team and anyone who has been to the training ground recently will notice that Craig has worked his magic there also and making a very welcoming place to be. I remember many a times last season players leaving as quick as they could, whereas as now the environment is great, and players are not in a rush to get out of Tolworth and onto the A3 home.
Saturday was a classic game where it provided a massive test of our credentials for challenging the top half of the table. Tranmere come into the game with 7 defeats out of 9 and they took an early lead with a well worked set play, the first we have conceded a goal at this season. Whilst recording the official podcast yesterday I was curious to ask Armani Little why he didn’t celebrate too much for his first goal with Wimbledon. Before he could respond, a few players in the queue for breakfast were quick off the mark to say that the goalscorer for Tranmere was Armani’s man at the corner!! The more I thought about it, the more I liked the attitude form Armani not to over celebrate as it's a clear sign of the standards they have set and he felt that it was a way of repaying the team for losing his man (Let’s be honest, it was a great corner from Tranmere) and also we wanted to win the game and not content on just levelling the score.
If we are breaking down the start it's obvious that we have only beaten teams in the bottom half of the table and the Walsall are the highest ranked team that we have beaten this season, however the win at Colchester now looks even better with their win over Notts County on Saturday, and a recent 3-0 win at Gillingham and a home draw with Mansfield.
Breaking down the stats further shows we lead in nearly all the key areas such as offence, defence and the Away league table, and even though I really don’t like it, we are top 3 of the xG table. Our first home league win on Saturday moves us up to 17th in the home table (Harrogate are 19th in the same table) and it's not the worst thing to only have the main area to improve being your home form. Of course, I think your own eyes don’t lie and don’t provide an instant stat, but from what I have seen, we have clearly learnt the lessons from the last few seasons and built a squad, not just a starting XI.
Before Saturday's game, Biler, Kalambayi, McLean and Williams were going through their paces as they were not involved in the 18-man squad. Add to that Conner Lemonheigh-Evans not in the squad with a hamstring tweak, we have some depth that I can’t honestly think I have seen in many years. Being able to give Aron Sasu his first league start and start to utilise our squad would have been seen as a massive gamble in previous years, but it shows that having so many places up for grabs, means the starting XI are being kept on their toes and if they train well, then get a chance.
In previous seasons we have nearly had a guaranteed starting XI who would start no matter what was on the bench, and it was hardly a surprise that we struggled later on in the games with nothing on the bench to improve the tram and nothing in the squad for future games to even challenge the people on the bench.
Don’t know about you, but I am a bit rusty in this lark about looking at the top half of the table and what is needed to keep our momentum and stay in touch with the early pace setters in League 2. Another 10 games bring us to to a home game against Swindon Town on the 9th December and should tell us a bit more on how this team is shaping up.
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