by Snowflake Royal »
15 Sep 2025 22:23
Extended-Phenotype Snowflake Royal leon
not so sure - get to mid October and we're still in trouble there will be serious questions getting asked. The owners aren't interested in sentimentality and a trip to L2 is not part of the plan.
Relying on one player coming back and fixing everything is hardly a strategy. Hunt needs to show that he's learning from mistakes - I'm just not sure he is.
Went to go into the season with O'Connor as main CB and MOM main striker.
O'Connor gets injured, quickly brings in Williams. Williams our best defender.
MOM struggling and missing chances, brings in Marriott. Marriott scores 2 in 2 starts.
Start the season firing blanks. Now scoring in each game. 5 in past 3 in league. 9 in last 5 all comps.
Played Wing, Fraser, Savage in midfield. Didn't work. Reset the balance to Wing, Elliott, Savage, working better, but still in progress.
Hunt is certainly tweaking things. Some things improve, some still an issue. Results still some way off but the defeats are narrowing and we're giving ourselves a chance.
No one knows if he'll get it right and it'll come off, but I think it's clear that he is making improvements, and his recent team selections have had very little to criticise, based on what he has available.
I think it’s fair to say Hunt is quite capable of changing up the personnel to fit his gameplan (and, for the most part, the changes have been positive - if marginal). The question is, can he change up his gameplan to better fit the personnel? Because while I’m an advocate for giving him time and have felt all this “Hunt out” is a little premature given the circumstances, I’d like to have seen some indication that he is capable and willing to change the system and tactics.
Are we looking at a poor start because ex players have left a hole and new players are bedding in? Or is it because we are incredibly one dimensional both during games and from game-to-game, relying on a system that isn’t up to task? Probably a bit of both.
Feels a bit like he is on thin ice now. Does he stick and hope the players click and the results come? Or does he twist and try something a bit different? If the latter, what is that exactly?
Given he's only really had his preferred front three available for a couple of games, hasn't had his preferred CB available at all and hasn't quite found the right combination to work in midfield yet, I think it would be very early to consider changing tactics significantly.
It's not a case like it was under Selles where the system was clearly flawed and not working. With 4-2-2-2 we couldn't progress forward, we scored 9 goals in 11 games. You could see the passing lanes were too limited and just constantly blocked, there was no width.
We're playing the same way as last season largely, which we know can work. Currently, the balance isn't quite right and the defence in particular is a problem. But it's a case of relatively small things to get it running well.
I hate the modern approach of play one way no matter who you have in your squad and how it's going, but at the same time binning a system as soon as you lose a few games is as stupid as sacking a manager for the same reason.
What are the alternatives? 5-3-2 - not sure we have the CBs and wing backs for that, and it's a waste of all the wide forwards. 4-4-2? Ok, so which midfielder do you drop for MOM/Kelvin? Our midfield already gets played through a bit too much at times, I don't think that does anything to stop that, and I don't think it does a lot to help the defence, maybe the fullbacks get a bit more support. 4-5-1? It's much the same as the 4-3-3, but maybe more defensive and less creative.
Agree if he gets to 10 games and we're on less than 9 points he's in trouble. And if it doesn't pick up quickly after that he'll be gone. But then's the time to think about it. Not game 3, 5 or 7.
