DPLv Oxford U

If we were to come away from this one with a win and our rivals were to fail to add to their points total there would be much reflection about the points we let slip.

We cannot point to a great deal of bad luck which so often finds its way into explanations for failure, but for me it was the consequence of almost a solid majority of team members not bothered to put in even a moderate amount of effort. They did not want to win nearly enough and had no shame in Iosing. In the Wellens era they were protected from criticism by a manager who preferred to blame everyone and anything except his team.

His successor has favoured the carrot over the stick, but his leadership has been more sophisticated without reluctance to recognise when the players were inadequate. Wellens, the no-nonsense midfield hard man appeared weak, having chosen players who needed hard driving, then utterly failed to whip them into shape. Unfortunately just when we needed a sprint start, GM’s recruits took far too long to bed in and immerse themselves into the action. That was a strategic failure.

It seems generally accepted that it was the Chairman rather than the CEO who led on football matters and there were 3 occasions when off-field strategic intervention was wrong - the surrender by appointing Butler, the unsuitability of Wellens for the rebuild and the failure to sack him sooner. Getting a professional football supremo was necessary and let’s hope it works out for Copps.

How intense the match will be, I do not know. I cannot see GM tolerating less than a fully committed performance, 2-2 (Martin/Odubeko)