Consistency issue has been crippling for the Mariners
INABILITY TO WIN BACK-TO-BACK GAMES HAS PROVED INSURMOUNTABLE STUMBLING BLOCK
THE wretched truth of Grimsby Town’s season came to light again on Tuesday night as they were unable to back up one of their best performances of the season. Having travelled to play-off chasing Crewe and won 3-0 on Saturday, Town went on the road to Colchester on Tuesday with high hopes of securing the points needed to confirm their EFL status for next season. Instead, they succumbed to a 2-0 defeat to one of only three teams below them in the League Two standings.
While it is still not confirmed, the Mariners have extracted enough effort-wise to stay up this season, but once the campaign concludes and there is time to reflect, the main feeling will be frustration that the team could not build momentum at any point. No one in League Two has drawn more games than Town this term (16), which is an indication of the fine margins that have stopped them from being in a much better position than they are in the league table with two games to go.
Aside from that, the main issue has clearly been consistency.
You have to go back a full year to find the last time the club won back-to-back games, the sign of a side that blows hot and cold far too regularly to sustain any challenge at the right end of the table.
This is something David Artell will look to address moving forward.
He does not have a clear answer at this stage, otherwise, and by his own admission, he would have tried to address this issue already.
It could be a number of things that are contributing to this up and down form which has lasted nearly a full campaign.
The mentality of the team plays a big part in how they go from game to game in a long season maintaining a certain standard of play, but there are also the physical and tactical elements to football that can contribute to a side’s struggles with consistency.
There is quality in the squad, as they have shown in individual matches across the year, but perhaps not enough to see the team through moments when they are not performing at their best overall, like on Tuesday night at Colchester United. Artell maintained that Town performed well on the night, but the team lost the incision to their attacking play that allowed them to pick apart a play-off club in Crewe just a few days prior, as well as the ability to defend transitions with proper organisation. It has been another long and likely draining season, but everyone is in the same boat at this stage in terms of miles on the clock, and the desire to stay in the league on their terms should be fuelling the Grimsby players to perform better.
There will be a lot of apathy from the supporters at this stage towards a lot of the current squad who have not lived up to the early expectations and it is obvious that these same problems cannot exist next term if
Town want to be successful.
It has been a period of learning and development for Artell as a coach, and he should be well equipped to deal with the common issues of this season come the summer.
Only time will tell if he can deliver a Grimsby side capable of sustaining a winning football formula in League Two.