Artell’s simplified approach brings an inner belief
SETTING PERFORMANCE TARGETS HELPS TEAM
A SIMPLIFIED approach brings simplified aims for Grimsby Town for this season as David Artell and his squad have begun to establish a standard level of performance that is attainable.
Both the tactical and squad mentality changes that have taken place at the club in recent weeks have simplified things for the players, who have shown their willingness to battle for every ball and fight to make up for what they might lack in overall quality as a squad.
The Wrexham defeat probably exposed what is still lacking from the team, even if they were not quite at the level they had set in the previous six when they had gone unbeaten, but that was always to be expected at some point when coming up against that level of opposition.
Artell said recently that they have been bunching up the games into small blocks recently and setting the team targets on different aspects of the performance and also just in terms of earning a certain number of points.
Again, that seemed to help the team simplify the game and the approach they were being asked to take in their minds, which has seemed to make them better at managing certain aspects of the performance and the opposition most importantly. The selection has promoted consistency within the team with certain players now locking down roles within the starting line-up, whereas at one point in the campaign, it seemed not one player outside of Danny Rose could do that when fit. That factor made it difficult for the team to establish an identity earlier in the season, as well as when Artell first arrived and made it clear that he wanted to play a certain way that the players weren’t prepared for in the end.
The simplified approach to the matches themselves can draw problems if the opposition knows how to deal with it, as it seemed Wrexham did in the first half last Saturday.
The visitors allowed Town to have the ball at times, forcing them to press the issue and then exposing them to a quick counterattack, which was what had undone them on multiple occasions in the home defeats earlier in the year.
The Welsh side had the quality in the attacking positions to make the most of the few chances they had in the first half, and, as Artell stated, his team were not quite at the level he had come to expect of them in recent weeks. Saturday could easily be written off as just a one-game blip amidst this resurgence that the team have had, and the approach that has been established has brought an inner belief that should see the team respond in the right way.