I’m no apologist for John Rooney, but I was surprised by the reaction from some to Macclesfield’s home defeat against Merthyr Town.
In the National League North teams lose games. Those at the bottom are just as capable of beating those at the top, and quite often, there’s seemingly no rhyme or reason to it other than it being symptomatic of what is a very competitive division.
You only have to look at the current NLN league table and recent form guide for evidence. Darlington, beaten by the Silkmen on Saturday, trounced Marine 4-1 away. Oxford City, who couldn’t buy a win (apart from against Macc, ominously), smashed Alfreton 5-0 (who drew against Macc, ominously) after previously losing 5-1 versus Radcliffe who also couldn’t previously buy a win.
King’s Lynn swept Merthyr aside 4-0 at the weekend, but 48 hours later lost 1-0 at home to our opponent’s on Saturday Kidderminster, whilst we know all too painfully how the Welsh side responded against us.
And whilst it’s early days, who would have thought South Shields (who finished 17th last season) and financially stricken Scarborough (13th last season) would be the early frontrunners at the top? Teams lose games in the National League North. I’ll keep banging this drum like that annoying Darlington supporter did because we better get used to it. Now all eyes turn to tomorrow’s tricky away trip to Kidderminster to see how Rooney’s men respond.
Merthyr meltdown
Was the Merthyr collapse simply a bad day at the office due to mitigating factors (injuries, suspension), or perhaps indicative of things to come? Was it more the manner in which we lost which touched a nerve rather than the fact we got turned over at home? Has our start to life in the National League North been solid overall, or have we been selectively papering over the cracks?
I’m not sure, but some elements of our performances are concerning statistically which I’ll delve into later in this article.
But all I do know for certain is that it’s far too early to come to any conclusions, and both Rooney and the players need us to stick with them because we’re firefighting on multiple fronts right now. And deep down, whether we like it or not, I think most supporters understand this.
Of course I accept, it wasn’t just the 3-1 scoreline that was disappointing against Merthyr, but the capitulation which unfolded in the final 20 minutes as Macc conceded three goals after earlier taking the lead through Danny Elliott.
The nine long minutes of injury time felt like an eternity as the Welsh side’s fans – all 68 of them who had loyally made the 350 mile round trip, jubilantly mocked Silkmen fans about Robbie Savage and cheered loudly as they won a succession of corners. They, just like their team, were taking the p*** right in front of us.
And it stung for three reasons:
The honeymoon period of splashing the cash and guaranteeing success is over
The realisation that we can no longer take victories or promotions for granted anymore
If we thought it would be ‘business as usual’ after Savage left, we better think again
A reaction to an ‘overreaction’?
I don’t know if Tuesday’s performance was any worse than our 2-1 loss to Oxford, the 1-1 draw against Alfreton or the 0-0 stalemate versus Spennymoor (in terms of our attacking play, even prior to Menayese’s sending off). In fact, I’d argue that its been coming.
The difference versus Merthyr was we got punished by an enterprising, attack-minded team who in hat-trick hero Tom Handley have a player who produced two outstanding free-kicks which left Rooney’s men shellshocked.
Similarly, in winger Lewis Twamley (ex-Yeovil) and prolific forward Ricardo Rees, Merthyr had two more standout performers who are of the calibre which Macclesfield used to snap up for fun. The most recent example being Sean Etaluku who terrorised us when playing for Matlock.
Undisputably though, Merthyr played us off the park for long periods. They were much brighter than us in the first half without carving out what you’d describe as a clear cut chance. Yet the visitor’s were full of running, bright, energetic and positive in possession, whereas in contrast Macclesfield looked laboured and bereft of ideas.
If you watched Merthyr’s 4-0 pasting at the hands of King’s Lynn then the blueprint on how to beat them is fairly obvious. Press them into mistakes when they over play in defence, and get the ball out wide and ask questions of their full-backs who look suspect. We never did this frequently enough.
On a rare occasion that we did, it led to Elliott’s goal. Lewis Fensome whipped in a good cross from the right, the ball got recycled to Sean Etaluku on the left who hooked the ball back into the box for Elliott to convert with a glancing header, which he did really well to adjust his body position and get enough purchase on it to direct the ball goalwards.
And less we forget because it doesn’t suit the narrative for some, Macclesfield could have made it 2-0 had Elliott played in Isaac Buckley-Ricketts who was in a great position instead of taking it on himself. I don’t want to be too critical of Danny, who is having a fine start to the season, but he made a poor decision here in what was a pivotal moment in the game.
In truth, Merthyr offered nothing in the second half until they equalised on 72 minutes as the Silkmen were relatively comfortable until that point. What happened thereafter was a car crash. Three goals, all from set pieces, either side of the away side also clattering the woodwork on three separate occasions.
It was a worrying collapse from Rooney’s side, there’s no getting away from that. To offer some balance though, when are we likely to get punished again by two outstanding free-kicks that dead-ball specialist Tom Handley produced?
What do the numbers suggest?
You don’t need to analyse any data to determine that we are struggling to defend set plays and crosses into our box. I think we currently have two issues – 1. our ability to defend them and 2. our positional organisation in how we are setting up.
On Tuesday night, we conceded from a corner that was nonchalantly floated into a crowded box. Lewis Fensome appeared to get underneath it when poised to clear, but the main culprit seemed to be Isaac Buckley-Ricketts who simply lost Handley who stole half a yard and side-footed home. But even then I thought Luis Lacey, who was occupying the back post, might have done better to clear it off the line as Brandon Lee did against Worksop on the opening day. It was a difficult evening all round for Lacey, who got tore a new one by the impressive winger Twamley.
We also conceded from a corner against Alfreton when D’Mani, rather like Buckley-Ricketts did, lost his man (not once but twice when Alfreton earlier hit the post). It’s not just on our defenders to defend – everyone in the team has a collective responsibility to do their jobs, although why we had Mellor defending the back post remains a mystery to me.
For the free-kick goals conceded against Merthyr, Regan Griffiths (for the second goal) and Josef Yarney (for the third) made the fouls. Regan committed what you’d describe as a ‘professional foul’ in hauling Twamley to the deck – the kind of transgressions that Merthyr were also guilty of on Macclesfield’s players on numerous occasions. The main difference being that our set pieces were very disappointing.
I think Regan had little option but to commit the foul – Twamley was advancing on goal and we were under pressure. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t, although Rooney’s response to hook Regan immediately after Merthyr scored probably tells a story.
Defensively we struggled with Merthyr’s runners and were sloppy in possession, as evidenced when Justin Johnson needlessly turned the ball over in the build-up to Handley smashing the upright thanks to a superb glancing save by Max.
The stats: glass half full or empty?
We currently sit 9th in the table, outside of the play-offs on goal difference. Had we won on Tuesday we could have climbed as high as 4th.
Only Southport and Spennymoor (when we were down to 10 men) have had more possession against us. Even against Merthyr we had more of the ball (52% vs 48%) but struggled to convert our possession into pressure
Apart from Spennymoor, we’ve scored in every game and our finishing to chance creation has been very clinical – both Danny and D’Mani deserve much kudos here. We’re not missing many chances (only IBR v Darlo?), but we’re not creating many either
Apart from against Merthyr, we’re not conceding more corners against our opposition. On average we’re giving away 6 corners per game. Or perhaps more interestingly, we’ve earned 55 corners and conceded 44
Macclesfield’s Max Dearnley has had to make more saves in every game so far this season in comparison to the opposition goalkeepers in the games we’ve faced, indicating that the Silkmen have been under more pressure and given up more big chances. In our last three games, Max has been forced to make 5, 4 and 6 saves against Merthyr, Darlington and Spennymoor, in contrast to 2, 3 and 0 saves respectively from the opposition keepers
On average, we’ve been in the lead for only 17% of our games so far (which equates to just under 15 minutes). Only Alfreton, Peterborough, Southport and Leamington - three out of the four sides currently in the relegation zone - have led for fewer minutes (just 9 on average) compared to Macclesfield
Our lead defending rate, in other words how long we’ve been in front in games and managed to hang onto our lead, is currently 43%, well below the league average of 56%
From the above three stats, we can deduce that every point we’ve earned so far has been hard-fought and keenly contested. In the majority of Macclesfield’s games, it’s been about fine margins and we’ve rarely been on top or in control for any length of time
Time for the penny to drop
At times this season, we’ve shown deficiencies all over the park. Suspect defensively, a lack of guile and authority in midfield and an absence of many goalscoring chances being created upfront. And when you combine these challenges with injuries, suspension and the first-team being weaker than the one that cakewalked the NPL title, Merthyr perhaps was an accident waiting to happen. But it’s just one game.
That doesn’t mean we should accept and settle for mediocrity, but some perspective wouldn’t go amiss. The penny needs to drop that Sav…spent our pennies, albeit with the grace of the Board (it must be said) until they exerted more financial control. Collectively, we (or rather Rob Smethurst!) have to come to terms with picking up the tab, certainly in the immediate aftermath in what may be a season of transition.
On Tuesday we were without three of Rooney’s preferred back four in Matheson (injured), Lee (injured) and Menayese (suspended). Lewis Fensome was deputising at right back when he’s most effective at centre half, whilst Paul Dawson arguably shouldn’t be playing because he needs a hernia op, but our inspirational captain doggedly managed 53 minutes.
Luke Duffy, so effective when switched to centre midfield against Darlington on Saturday, was surprisingly on the bench. The reason as to why wasn’t addressed in Rooney’s post-match interview, which I found almost as infuriating as the final scoreline. Given fellow substitute Luke Griffiths entered the fray before Duffy eventually did, the assumption is that Duffs may have picked up a knock at the weekend.
But who knows? Rooney isn’t obliged to confirm or deny, however the club’s official media employees (who overall do a fantastic job) should at least pose him the question that was on many fans’ lips.
What a response from the Board
Yesterday’s loan captures of midfielders Josh Kay Oldham (until the end of the season) and the returning James Edmondson from Blackburn have given us a real shot in the arm. They follow on from last week’s short-term acquisition of Luke Griffiths from Curzon, who has looked tidy so far.
As suggested in a previous article, Rob Smethurst will fund the right players in the right areas and the closure of Monday’s EFL transfer window was always likely to trigger opportunities for us to bring in new faces. Credit to Smethurst and the Board for once again digging deep.
The arrival of the 19-year-old talent Edmondson until the end of January (23 league games) is particularly thrilling. James really impressed when on loan for us last year and showed every quality a midfielder needs to have - calmness in possession, ability to put his foot in, creativity and an eye for goal. What a welcome boost it is to have him back!
Josh Kay has plenty of experience at National League and League Two level. It’s fair to say that he’s fallen down the pecking order at Oldham, but he’s a player John Rooney knows well who has been unfortunate with injuries and being played out of position. In fact, that’s my one reservation over Kay - where is Rooney going to field him? He seems most at home playing in wide midfield areas, but has been known to play centrally and even at full-back.
Either way, after Tuesday’s debacle it’s great to have two new quality signings on board and suddenly there’s a renewed sense of optimism ahead of the weekend. See you at Kidderminster!