The Silkmen hit the front – can we stay there?

Back-to-back wins sends Macclesfield top

Unbeaten and top of the league in August. What were we moaning about? I say ‘we’ as in the Royal ‘we’ – some of you are more balanced and patient compared to more trigger-happy supporters who demand instant success. (photo credit below: Chelsie Ann Louise).

In reality John Rooney is attempting to blood seven new first-team signings, whilst navigating being without club captain Paul Dawson and an injury / absentee list which is already stretching the squad to its limit. Those are the facts, but not withstanding, it’s equally fair to say that Macclesfield FC’s ‘results’ have been better than the ‘performances’ in amassing 16 points from 18.

The bank holiday weekend victories over Darlington and Hebburn were hard fought, but importantly, suggest many positives beyond emerging with the six points.

Hebburn – best performance, or the best result?

Monday’s 3-0 win over early table-toppers Hebburn Town has been understandably lauded as the Silkmen’s most complete performance of the season. Three goals, a clean sheet and a (in the end) comfortable victory over a determined and confident Hebburn side, who arrived in SK11 on the crest of the wave following their promotion last season and impressive start.

It’s interesting though how a scoreline can influence opinions of what was ‘good’. Ironically, from an attacking element I’d label Macclesfield’s display as ‘ruthlessly efficient’, rather than ‘dominant’ or ‘dynamic from a statistical standpoint.

· The 8 shots we had against Hebburn was the fewest we’ve had in the league so far compared to the games against Marine (17), Radcliffe (15), Spalding (17), Brackley (15) and Darlington (12)

· As a consequence, our xG (expected goals) tally against Hebburn (1.32) was also statistically lower compared to our other games: Marine (2.14), Radcliffe (2.94), Spalding (1.65), Brackley (1.99) and Darlington (1.98)

· Versus Hebburn we were much more clinical – 8 shots (7 inside the box), 5 on target and 3 excellently taken goals. A stark contrast to only having 2 shots on target against Darlington and Spalding, and just 1 (Shrimpton’s goal) at Marine

It’s been conveniently forgotten that we didn’t muster a solitary effort until Adan George’s 26^th minute opener on Monday – his first in a Silkmen shirt, following a galloping run and drilled centre from Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, who has done admirably standing in for the sidelined Lincoln McFayden.

George’s relief to get off the mark was visibly evident, but Adan’s goal was welcome for other reasons, too.

· This was just Macclesfield’s fourth goal scored in the first half within our last 15 National League North fixtures (including the play-offs vs Chester and Kidderminster)

· In our last 15 NLN games, the Silkmen have gone behind in 11 of them (6 wins, 5 defeats), including against Darlington, Brackley and Radcliffe this season

Macclesfield’s second goal ten minutes after the break was nicely worked, culminating in Fin Shrimpton’s driving run and cross being flicked goalwards by George and into the net via a Hebburn defender. It was announced as an ‘own goal’ and the video highlights appear to confirm a visiting defender got the final touch.

The cherry on top was an early goal of the season contender from Danny Elliott, who controlled Jonathan Ustabasi’s pass and lashed home an unstoppable volley in injury time to cap a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.

Defensive dominance

The 3-0 reversal was harsh on a Hebburn side who were seldom carved open, rarely under sustained pressure and who contributed to a competitive game outside of the goals. And this is reflected in the areas of the pitch that had the highest concentration of play: 32% in Hebburn’s final third, 38% in the middle part of the pitch and 30% in Macclesfield’s final third.

Whilst they only contributed 7 shots (2 on target), the away side battled hard and posed plenty of questions to our defence. On the deck, Hebburn won 56% of ground duels, but in the air Macc came out on top winning 62% of all aerial duels.

Our defence were outstanding in limiting Hebburn to so few clear cut chances, with Sam Heathcote and Tom Wilson particularly commanding in forming a central defensive brick wall, which for once afforded Christian Dibble a relatively quiet day at the office.

· Defensive contributions: Heathcote 14, Wilson 9, Dyer 5, CBJ 6

· Recoveries: Heathcote 24, Wilson 12, Dyer 9, CBJ 10

· Aerial duels won vs contested: Heathcote 12 (13), Wilson 5 (6), Dyer 6 (6), CBJ 6 (7)

· Ground duels won vs contested: Heathcote 3 (3), Wilson 1 (2), Dyer 9 (16), CBJ 0 (1)

Combining the above, our back four won 77% of all of their duels, not to mention making a significant number of defensive contributions and ball recoveries. And this came against a table-tipping Hebburn side who had scored in each of their five league games, chalking up 11 goals.

Whilst it was pleasing to score three excellent goals, I don’t think our defence have been given enough credit for how well they performed individually and collectively.

Midfield contributions & playing in the right areas

Our midfield has come under scrutiny so far this season for not quite gelling. New signings Fin Shrimpton and George Wilson have done well in cameos, whilst Elliot Osborne has been searching for his best form.

All three performed strongly against Hebburn. Wilson (George) was involved in the build-up to our first and second goals, playing an accurate crossfield pass into the path of Borthwick-Jackson who served it up on a plate for Adan George to bag. Wilson also showed persistence to regain possession and maintain Macc’s momentum which eventually led to our second.

Shrimpton, whilst typically energetic, looked after the ball better than he has done in previous games and showed strong desire and energy to create our second goal. Finally, this was the most I’ve seen Osborne put himself about in the engine room for a while. And all three of them needed to be against a rugged visiting side.

· Passing accuracy: G Wilson 84%, Shrimpton 86%, Osborne 81%

· All three made more passes in the opposition half compared to their own: G Wilson 35 vs 11, Shrimpton 27 vs 10, Osborne 26 vs 15

· G Wilson: 2 key passes, Shrimpton: 1 assist

· Osborne won 12 of his 16 contested aerial duels

In summary, our midfield were tidy in possession, played more passes, more often in Hebburn’s half and were involved in all three goals, whilst providing solid cover (notably Osborne) to Macclesfield’s defence.

And another thing…in previous articles I’ve banged on that Macclesfield have been making too many passes in the wrong areas, most notably in our defensive third with our central defenders dominating the ball with little penetration.

Bringing in the no-nonsense Tom Wilson, who was magnificent at Darlington and lost a front tooth and sported a black eye for his trouble, appears to have added steel with less faffyness (is that a word?) at the back. Here are our possession and passing stats so far:

WITHOUT Wilson:

· Marine: 59%, 375

· Radcliffe: 71%, 461

· Spalding: 62%, 523

WITH Wilson:

· Brackley: 59%, 436 (but bare in mind Brackley went down to 10 men and latterly 9, so I’d expect our passing stats to be high)

· Darlington: 49%, 333

· Hebburn: 57%, 398

I’m not suggesting that Wilson is responsible for a mentality shift in possession across the whole team, but I believe we’re less ‘pretty’ in central defence and more effective in getting the ball forward into better areas with him in the side.

Dibble: different gravy

I can’t praise our defence against Hebburn without commenting generally on what a colossus Christian Dibble has been in goal since joining from Kidderminster.

· 3 clean sheets in 6 league games – we only managed 8 in the league last season

· 17 saves made, several of them to deny clear goalscoring opportunities

· We’ve conceded 3 goals, but according to xG statistics we should have conceded 6.76. Of course, this could be due to a combination of great goalkeeping or poor finishing! Expected goals (xG) is a metric used to determine how likely a player is to score a chance and to calculate how many goals a team is expected to score in a match

Against Darlington, Dibble’s heroics in the final stages earned us all three points, first spreading himself to keep out a header from point blank range, then diverting a low shot around the post instead of pushing it back out into the danger area with Darlington waiting to convert the rebound.

However, I do think both Dibble and Sam Heathcote need to take responsibility for the shambolic goal we conceded. We got done, once again, by an innocuous ball over the top. Dibble came racing off his line, but Heathcote was closest to the ball and should have taken charge and put it in row z irrespective of whether Dibble gave him the call.

Instead, Heathcote checked his run and tried to shepherd the ball from goalscorer Dylan Stephenson which ended in disaster. Stephenson nipped in (was there a case for handball?) and tapped the ball into the empty net. As I suggested when Dibble came off his line in the opening day win over Marine some you win, some you lose.

Of course, all keeper’s need an element of luck and Dibble got that when Darlington’s Fitzhugh’s curling effort struck the post with the score at 1-1. Overall though, Macclesfield’s keeper has been a superb addition.

George off the mark, Danny is BACK

I gave some love-in to Adan George in my previous article, so I was delighted / relieved / smug when he opened his Silkmen account from close range on Monday. It had been coming.

George was livelier against Brackley, and came close against Darlington – a disallowed goal for offside (correctly, see below), a poor effort over the bar when well placed as well as hitting the post with a deflected shot from Elliott’s cutback.

Adan’s all-round display versus Hebburn was his most effective so far. A poacher’s goal in the six-yard box, combined with persistent harrying and pressing of the visitor’s defence which contributed to two Silkmen openings, plus he was unlucky not to bag a second goal when his near post flick was turned in by a defender. George’s finishing lacks finesse (so far), but his strength, movement and speed are welcome additions to Macclesfield’s attack. Hopefully he can kick on from here.

Danny Elliott’s return to the first-team fold may have been more productive than he and John Rooney could have reasonably anticipated. The Silkmen gaffer has been managing Danny’s return from eight months out injured carefully, and when called upon Macclesfield’s ace marksman duly delivered at Darlington.

A brilliantly taken, first-time shot to stroke the ball in off the post to draw us level. This came from outstanding work by Luke Duffy to thwart three Darlington defenders in midfield before threading a pass to the unmarked Elliott to execute his finish with precision. Danny’s winner was a proper striker’s goal, sliding in from two yards out to covert Ammar Dyer’s pull-back.

AND WHAT A STRIKE from Elliott to seal victory against Hebburn, despatching a powerful volley on his trademark left foot high into the net. Three goals in two games, the Silkmen’s number nine is pushing hard to start. I’ll leave Rooney to ponder the logistics of that one at Merthyr!

Dynamite Dyer

Ammar Dyer has been bright at both ends of the pitch since signing from Telford in the summer and appears to have huge potential. The full-back really came to the fore at Darlington, winning possession in midfield, finding Duffy and then bombing forward to receive the return ball in the box and find Elliott with a perfect cross to fire Macc in front.

Then excellent pressing from Dyer saw him win the ball which eventually found Elliott, whose cutback saw George hit the post. But it was Dyer’s anticipation, tenacity and speed which were instrumental in both of the Silkmen’s chances.

He may not look like it, but Ammar is very tenacious who more often than not wins his battles through timely interventions and a strong leap. For a full-back, his performance numbers really standout in his six games so far.

· Won 52 of 82 ground duels = 63%

· Won 19 of 27 aerial duels = 70%

· Defensive contributions (6 games): 37

· Average passing accuracy = 84%

· Successful dribbles completed: 10 out of 12 = 83%

· Shots: 6 (no goals)

· Assists: 1

Based on the above, I think there’s an argument to say that we need to be getting the ball to Dyer more regularly. He’s a solid defender, good in possession and very capable when running at opposition defenders. With Luke Matheson nearing a return after picking up an injury in pre-season, it’s going to be a fascinating battle for the Silkmen’s right-back spot!