Help me doctor. I’m suffering from passbacks.

 

Regular readers of this blog will know I claim no particular mastery of tactics. But even I know the likelihood of scoring a goal diminishes the further away from that white rectangle you are.

Thus, City, with moments go before the end of the match, staring another defeat in the face, were studiously heading away from the supposedly intended target. Players, it seems to me, are unwilling to put themselves in the way of criticism by actually getting in a position to have a swing at a ball flashed across the goal area and as we all know, if you don’t have a go, you don’t score. That, in a nutshell appears to be the problem at the moment.

Having said all that Chris Maguire, a player I regard as one of City’s more skilful, did somehow conspire to send a shot over the roof of the stand, a feat I’ve rarely seen in sixty years of presenting myself at Sincil Bank in the hope of being entertained. That’s the way it is presently.

I’m told the team endured a chorus of boos at the end. I heard some booing but it wasn’t that much, certainly over in the more genteel surroundings of the library. Those I did hear seemed to be the result of said Mr Maguire supposedly telling a fan or some fans where to get off. I don’t mind that to be honest. I’d sooner a defeat hurt the players than not. It certainly hurt me. You can tell me I’m wrong, I frequently am, but pound for pound I thought City’s players were better than Hartlepool’s were, not that it made any difference as the game took on a now familiar pattern of City fashioning some good attacking play, failed to convert any of it, our opponents had one chance, or it seemed like that, ball in the net and as we all know after that it’s goodnight Vienna.

What do we do about it? Well I’ve heard the inevitable calls for the managers head. I can’t in all honesty see what good that will do. I do wonder about Michael Appleton’s health though, well we know about it. The trouble is, like the Queen, he can’t really take a couple of weeks off to recuperate from his recent travails so we wait, I guess for the sound of galloping hooves as the cavalry arrives to relieve the beleaguered garrison. At least I hope they do.

I‘ve often thought, in the last few years, we’ve had more than our fair share of luck. In those moments we were enduring with City supposedly heading for defeat, those skywards glances hoping for divine intervention were sometimes answered and even the most desperate situations were occasionally turned around. Not anymore. Just rain, rain and more rain.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.