LILYWHITES ARE A SHAMBLES
DUNDALK are a shambles - more relegation candidates than title contenders.
That is the only conclusion that can reasonably be made after watching another awful home performance against a struggling Bohemians in their SSE Airtricity Premier League clash at Oriel Park on Friday night.
The coaching staff don’t seem to know the formation they want to play, nor the players to select to suit their preferred system, leaving the players running round like headless chickens at times, most notably in the latter stages of games as substitutes are introduced like confetti being showered on a bride in a forlorn hope to rescue something from the game.
It was embarrassing to watch at times, with the only salvation being that the ground was empty of the supporters who have been nurtured, particularly during the Stephen Kenny era, on a winning side, but not only that, playing attractive football.
After losing their third successive League game in their opening four fixtures, constituting the club’s worst start to a campaign in 50 years, the owners, Peak6, if they are inclined to read the signs, both on and off the field, must face up to the reality that the structures and player recruitment policy they have put in place at the club are not working.
In those circumstances they have two alternatives - sack the coaching team, or try to bring in new players to an already bloated and totally imbalanced playing squad.
Since most of the players are on at least season-long contracts, and the scope for signing new players at this stage is limited to the ‘out of contract’ players, the best and most likely option is to admit that their bold experiment of bringing in from New York an untried and inexperienced coach, Filippo Giovagnoli, has failed, and begin a rapid search for an experienced coach who will be faced with the difficult task of trying to mould a miscellaneous group of players into something that resembles a team.
It may seem harsh to call for the head of the coaching team, given that their team finished last season winning the FAI Cup in a thrilling final and putting up some creditable performances in reaching the knock-out stages of the Europa League where they had their moments against quality opposition.
Some, including a former stalwart at the club and now commentator, John Murphy, maintained that it was the battle-hardened players, through their strength of character and experience, who saw the team through the Cup campaign and their European performances, and that the coaching team had little impact on results.
It is difficult to argue with that conclusion, especially when the consideration of the team’s record in the bread and butter of any season, the domestic League, for in the 13 League encounters that Giovagnoli has been at the helm Dundalk have won just three (two against relegated sides Shels and Cork City), drawing four and losing six.
In addition they have won just one of seven games at Oriel Park, which was a 3-2 win over Shelbourne in the Italian’s first game in charge way back in September last year.
Since that day the hierarchical structure at the club may have been altered for official consumption, but seeds planted by the of upheaval at the club that have seeped into the players minds spawned by the confused lines of communication were on show at Oriel Park on Friday night.
At the start of the game Giovagnoli took his seat in the main body of the stand in a public show of defiance to the club’s critics who have continually questioned the transparency of the coaching structure.
He maintained his social distance in the stand area from sporting director Jim Magilton, while team manager Shane Keegan took his place on the sideline, with assistant Giuseppi Rossi sitting on the bench.
However, a restless Giovagnoli found it hard to keep his seat, and as the second half progressed with his team floundering, Rossi had left the dugout to stand at the perimeter wall where he started to exchange audible instructions with Giovagnoli on the substitutes to be introduced.
The raft of substitutes used meant that there was no discernable shape to the team in the final quarter, with almost all players totally confused about the positions they were required to take up.
The situation was highlighted by one daily newspaper senior soccer writer who liked the parade of substitutes introduced to ‘throwing darts at a board’, while former Dundalk defender and manager Dermot Keely, writing in the ‘Mirror’, claimed that there was ‘no logical sense to the substitutions being made by Dundalk in their games, adding that they appeared to be made on numerical order for they had no bearing on what was happening on the pitch.
Friday night’s game with Bohs was in many ways typical of the team’s performance this season, for they started well, appearing to be comfortable with the new 4-3-3 formation, but as soon as the visitors took the lead with the poor concession of a penalty, the confidence slowly started to ebb from the players, and by the end of the game they were confined to pumping long hopeful balls into the box trying to snatch an equaliser.
It was hard not to feel sympathy for the players, for the majority lacked nothing in effort, but they were shackled by the failure to devise a system the suits the players at the club, and by the constant changes that are made not just in the introduction of substitutes but in the roles that they are asked to
perform.
Typical of that was the decision to start with two players in roles in which they are not suited, Ole Erik Midskogen asked to play on the right wing when clearly he hasn’t the skills for that position, while Korean Han Jeongwoo, normally a winger, was asked to try and fill the void as a creative force in midfield.
The game was not a half an hour old when this decision was abandoned, with the players instructed to switch positions, and when the second half started Jeongwoo was replaced by Patrick McEleney, with Midskogen reverting to the wing before he too was replaced.
This constant changes in formations and personnel may be partly explained by the arrival of so many new players at the club, and the need to slot them into positions where they can best perform, but in the process established players who have been the backbone of the side in recent seasons, like captain Chris Shields, Michael Duffy, Patrick Hoban and central defenders Daniel Cleary and Andy Boyle are not making the impact normally expected as their contributions are being dragged down by the uncertainty that is emanating from the bench onto the field of play.
Good players like Shields, Duffy, Hoban, Cleary, Boyle and to a lesser extent David McMillan, McEleney and Cameron Dummigan don’t become bad players overnight, but it was difficult to watch Shields, determined as ever to lead from the front, struggle to make an impact, while Duffy, who admittedly was well contained by the impressive Andy Lyons, was back deep in his own defence in the latter stages of the match trying to play himself into the game.
Again the attention was on the newly signed players, with one, goalkeeper Alessio Abibi, dropped in preference to Peter Cherrie, while Raivis Jurkovskis, who can’t be happy with the role he played in the lead up to the match-winning penalty, and Midsdkogen, who couldn’t play himself into the game, were both replaced.
The only one of the newcomers to show any real promise on the night was Scottish midfielder Sam Stanton who was at the heart of the team’s best passing moves, worked hard to make an impact and will feel that he should have done better with a second-half header that brought the only real save that Bohs keeper James Talbot had to make.
Bohs left Oriel delighted with the result, for they too, like Dundalk, have surprisingly struggled to match last season’s form, but they won without needing to be at their best.
True they moved the ball quicker, passed better, and always threatened mainly because of the energy that former Dundalk player Georgie Kelly brought to the game, but while they defended stoutly and were well organised, they were confronted by an attacking force that lacked inspiration, penetration and sharpness.
That was especially evident from the threat posed by Dundalk from set places and corners, for while their greater share of possession won an abundance of both, their deliveries, mostly from Duffy, were mostly floated not driven thus rarely causing the visiting defenders problems despite Dundalk’s height advantage.
Failure to try other players in dead ball situations, or resorting to some invention from set plays, was worrying, and posed serious questions about the intensity and planning at training sessions.
With surprise leaders St Patrick’s Athletic due at Oriel next Friday and coached by a former captain and favourite, Stephen O’Donnell and with two former players, Robbie Benson and John Mountney, in their ranks, supporters will be bemoaning the exit of not just these two players from the Oriel Park staff but also the failure to recognise O’Donnell’s qualities as a coach and leader.
Dundalk certainty could do with a leader both on and off the field, and with rumours circulating over the weekend that the coaching staff was facing the sack, it will be interesting to see the response from everyone involved in the club as to their approach to Friday’s game.
The players, who are struggling badly for a confidence boost, must share the blame for the poor start to the season, for in games to date when they go a goal down they forget the basics and in trying to force the pace make too many poor decisions.
The owners, Peak6, have invested heavily in the Dundalk project, and according to reports have assembled the most expensive side in the history of the league, providing not just top wages, but considerable benefits for the players.
They will want to see a better return on that investment - and soon.