Player Performance Analysis vs Chesterfield (H) : EFL League Two
22/08/26
Starting Lineup/ 4–2–3–1
GK Will Norris
RB Oli Turton
CB Ade Oluwo
CB Will Aimson
LB Luke Garbutt
DM Joe Powell
DM Jorge Grant
RWF Luke Molyneux
AM/SS Ben Woodburn
LWF Kelly Nmai
CF Macaulay Langstaff
Team Selection
As soon as I saw the team sheet for this game, I breathed a huge sigh of relief and thought, “thank God, the world’s not gone mad after all”.
If Butcher and Cesay would’ve been in the starting lineup for the third game in a row, I know it might seem premature, but I’d have been seriously questioning whether our new manager is the right man for the job.
While I know our on-field problems run a lot deeper than just rearranging the deckchairs on the pitch, we have to start somewhere.
And as I mentioned last week, both Cesay and Butcher have been subbed in each of our opening fixtures. And more importantly, the team has functioned better once they’ve been replaced.
So I think Mr Cklamovski managed to avoid falling into the trap of doing the same thing and expecting a different result, but not all in the garden is rosy.
I’ll loop back to discussing how Woodburn and Grant performed when I slip my assistant manager jacket on later in the article. But before that, I can’t just brush over the return of Luke Garbutt to the side, in place of young Hayden Carson.
As I may have mentioned in a previous article, I’ve been given information that our new manager values younger, more energetic fullbacks than the starting options he’s inherited. Whether that detail is 100% accurate or not, I can’t really say, but the rumoured interest in signing Rotherham’s Denzel Hall seems to add some credibility to what I’ve heard.
I’ve just double-checked, and Carson was not listed amongst the subs against Chesterfield, which could suggest he’s picked up an injury in the time since the Barnet game. Or, maybe, with the arrival of our Swiss Army knife utility player, Brendan Sarpong-Wiredu, in the matchday squad, we probably had enough cover in defensive positions to not require Hayden on the day.
By the close of this transfer window, the picture will be a hell of a lot clearer in terms of who Cklamovski actually rates in this squad. But for now, with results at such a premium, opting for an experienced player like Luke Garbutt, ahead of a youngster from the Academy, looks to be the safest play.
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So now it’s third time lucky as far as my newest segment goes, as I drift into the world of make-believe and transform into…..
Danny Shepherd: Assistant Manager
“How do Pete.
Hope you’re feeling a bit more chipper than you were after the game yesterday, Rome wasn’t built in a day, as they say.
I’ll try not to take up too much of your time, but there’s a good few points I want to rattle through about this game, starting with discussing:
Dan Udoh
“I’m with the fans on this one. Everything I’m reading online is saying that when Dan gets subbed on, we look like a much better team than when he’s on the sideline. Yesterday was a case in point. I’ll come back to discussing Woodburn later, but the simple truth with Dan is this.
Of all the options we have to play that support striker role, there’s no one else we can fire it into, and it sticks, like we can with Udoh.
Cesay’s too lightweight to hold off defenders, and his technique is ropey. Graydon is really a winger in striker’s clothing, so I’m not factoring him in here. I think you might need to signal to the owners, pretty sharpish, that we want to keep Dan around, as every time I go online he’s linked with a move to another League Two club.
Even if you don’t rate him, I think you’d struggle to find someone better than him in January who’s prepared to accept the role as backup to Langstaff.
I hear he was overplayed under Karl Robinson for most of last season, but if we use him sparingly, I think we’ve got an asset there who gives us a target to aim for when we’re forced to go long.
While I’m talking of support strikers, I might as well throw in my two pence worth about….”
Ben Woodburn
“Do you remember that Croatian lad who used to play at Man City and Chelsea? What was he called?
Ah yes. Mateo Kovacic. That’s the one. I knew you’d know him.
Well, one thing I heard was that he used to bust a gut for the first few months once a new manager joined, but then coasted after that once he’d become the teacher's pet.
My feeling is that Ben’s a bit like that. I can’t fault his effort in the game yesterday, as he definitely put himself about a bit, which is not always the case with players whose main strength is their creative ability.
All I’m saying is, whatever levels you’re seeing from him at the minute, don’t expect that Woody will be repeating that game in, game out until May.
But, to his credit, when he had the ball at his feet against Chesterfield, I’m pretty happy with what I saw from him.
To compare him to Cesay, there’s a world of difference. Ben plays with his head up, as his first touch is good, and he doesn’t need to watch the ball in as it arrives. With Kallum, it’s the complete reverse.
But the biggest thing is that Woody seems to have far more awareness of the options around him than Cesay, or especially Austerfield does. Having that early picture in your mind of what you want to do with the ball is essential for the fast tempo we want to play at.
I saw the same kind of positives from Udoh, as he’s always scanning his surroundings, which lets him control the ball and lay it off to a teammate in one motion.
As we’re having major struggles getting into attacking positions, we can’t afford to waste these opportunities when we do manage to create them.
I’d put my house on both Woody and Udoh making a better decision in these moments than I would with Cesay. So, I’d vote to keep Kallum in reserve as a pressing specialist rather than having him in from the start. When he did come on yesterday for that short burst near the end, he did exactly what we needed him to, which is run around like a blue arse fly.
In my view, his strength is in his work off the ball, and I don’t see a case for starting him when you have options like Dan and Ben chomping at the bit for gametime.
Talking of chomping at the bit, I must admit it was nice to see the return yesterday of…..”
Luke Garbutt
“He looked on it!
I know he’s 33 years old, and that doesn’t really fit the template you want from your fullbacks, but I think he plays with the energy of someone much younger.
I love the aggression he brings to defending, but I think we need to make sure all of our back line is on the same page here. Yesterday, I saw Luke shooting up into midfield to join the press, but there were times the rest of our defensive shape didn’t follow him.
It’s like Langstaff said at the fan forum a few weeks back: sometimes one player pressing too aggressively is a bad thing for the team.
If we don’t move as a single unit, then other teams will pick us apart by finding the seams of space we leave behind.
So maybe, in the sessions with the lads next week, just check everyone is on message, whichever approach you want them to stick to.
Before I move on to another topic, just wanted to mention something I picked up doing video analysis from last season. I found that Garbutt seemed to try a bit too hard when he was made captain under Robbo. There was a particular game away against Walsall where, despite playing at left back, he was trying to do everyone else’s job for them. He kept popping up near the right-hand touchline for some reason, so I’d just say that’s something to keep an eye on, is all.
Moving to the centre-backs, I’ve been rewatching some of our previous games, and I’m getting a bit worried about the partnership of…..”
Will Aimson and Ade Oluwo
“In the first half against Shrewsbury, they allowed an attacker to waltz right in between them, completely unmarked. We were so lucky that the lad didn’t put the header in the back of the net, as it looked an easy chance to convert.
For me, the worst thing was that Ade and Will both blamed each other afterwards, which isn’t the way you fix the problem.
So far this season, I don’t think we’ve looked a solid defensive team, and as soon as Cooper is available again and Rose is fit, it could be a four-way shootout for those centre-back spots. Or should I say five-way shootout, as based on the thirty minutes I saw from him yesterday, I’ve got quite a lot to say about our latest signing…..”
Brendan Sarpong-Wiredu
“I know it’s very early days, but Brendan gives me the same vibes that the centre-half, Ruben Diaz, did when he first arrived at Man City. I remember saying to one of my pals at the time, “they’ll be alright in defence as they’ve got a daddy back there now.” Up until then, City had gone through a few misfits in their back line, but Diaz stood as being ultra solid and dependable.
This is what I’m sensing for us with Wiredu. The only shame is that as he can play CB, CM and DM all to a high level, we can’t use him in all three positions at once. I feel pretty sure that if he was in the side against Barnet last weekend, we wouldn’t have been as easy to bully through the centre of the park.
Totally agree with you, though, not to start him against Chesterfield as he’s hardly had any time on the training pitch to learn our system. But once he’s up to speed, which shouldn’t take too long, the next decision is where to slot him in.
Would he make a better partner for Oluwo than Aimson does?
Is he a better option as a ball-winning midfielder than Bonds?
Or is he going to help us more in the centre than either Powell or Grant?
Good luck with making that call, my friend, but that’s why you’re being paid the big bucks.
Sorry for bringing the mood down now, but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t say my piece on….”
Will Norris
“We’ve both seen what he can do in training, and his highlight reel shows he should be fine playing the role of sweeper-keeper, but there’s no sign of that once the ref blows the first whistle.
For a player that many of our fans won’t have seen play live before, I could feel the anxiety around the stadium every time the ball was at his feet. He seems to be making everybody nervous with the amount of cock ups he keeps on making.
He pulled off some good stops against Barnet, but that was cancelled out by a poor kick of his leading straight to one of their goals.
You’ve been pretty clear that Norris is your number one option back there, and based on preseason I’d say that seems the right way to go. But if Will keeps making blunders, and info from the Wycombe end suggests that’s part of his makeup, we need to decide whether we give the jersey to Sam Long or look for a replacement ASAP.
It might be a stretch to say, but I can’t help thinking our defensive problems might stem from the lads having a lack of confidence in Norris, as they’re seeing exactly the same things that we are.
Might be too early to make a change after two League games, as once you’ve dropped a keeper they might lose confidence for the rest of the season. So it’s a delicate one to ponder, is this.
Also, by playing out from the back as much as we do, it’s always going to expose a goalie more than if they only have to punt it upfield each time. My notes show that the first time Norris kicked it long yesterday was in the 44th minute. So, whoever we have between the sticks, we’re expecting a lot of involvement and decision-making from them; that's all I’m saying.
Keeping with the negatives, I want to look at the problems we’re having out wide with……”
Luke Molyneux and Kelly Nmai
“For a start, I think they both have a bit of a get-out-of-jail card because of them having to play narrow due to the system we play.
With the way our inverted fullbacks make underlapping runs, and the DM’s shift out wide when we have the ball, this leaves the “wingers” caught in a no man’s land sandwiched between these two channels. In an ideal world, I think both Kelly and Luke would be happier hugging the touchline and getting chalk on their boots, but that’s not how our system works.
Although neither player is looking effective at the minute, of the two of them, I think Nmai’s play is more of a worry. Again, going back to the video I’ve studied from last season, Kelly seemed to get obsessed with dribbling at every opportunity rather than maintaining the flow of attacking moves.
I don’t think it’s helped that the club appear to have told him he’s not allowed to leave until the end of his contract, so maybe there’a bit of sulking mixed in there too. Either way, he needs to start playing more of a team game, rather than treating it as playground football, or we might as well sell him if he won’t buck up his ideas.
It’s a bit of a different story with Luke, as I’m just not seeing him getting involved in the game much at all. The lack of quality service is obviously a factor, but I definitely expected more impact out of a player with his kind of quality.
Maybe it’s as simple as the formation and system not suiting him, which is the polar opposite of Joe Powell. I don’t think either of us expected Joe to be a standout when we brought him in, but from the FC United game on, he’s looked like he was born to play the role he’s taken on.
But before I get lost on a tangent, I’ll get back to the wingers.
Malcolm and Odoh have both done pretty well when they’ve come on as late subs recently. But the difference in class between Nmai/Molyneux compared to the other two is pretty huge. So what do we do?
I think it’d be a big shock if you dropped either of them for the next game, and possibly a bigger headline if it was Molyneux that missed out. In fact, I think you can drag Langstaff into this conversation too. With both him and Luke, I’m not 100% clear how much of the problem is down to their individual performances versus the way they’re being used by their teammates.
We can come back to that one sometime in the week if you like.
Just one thing I want to add is a more general point about when we….”
Play Out From The Back
“It feels to me as if the front of our team is totally disconnected from the back end for at least the first hour of our opening games. Once we tweak things and bring the subs on, it tends to look a bit better.
But I don’t think we should forget that, so far, the opposition tends to be protecting a lead, which makes them sit back a little more to help protect the three points.
Up until then, I see us really struggling to get down the side of other teams, especially when we play out from the goalkeeper. I was keeping a mental count yesterday, and from when our fullbacks receive the ball, they have one and a half to two beats as a maximum to play it forward before the press reaches them.
If they miscontrol the ball, or hesitate in the slightest, that space to play the ball up the line completely disappears. And then we have to recycle possession by feeding it across the defensive line, which means we’re back to square one.
It’s a bit of a radical shout, but I think we should maybe drop our wide forwards into the fullback positions as we’re building up from the back.
Their strength tends to be receiving the ball in tight areas, and using the ball on the half turn. Fullbacks, even really good ones, maybe not so much.
What this should do is buy us a little bit more time when we have the ball out towards the touchline. Rather than the two-beat limit we have now, our wide forwards will generally control the ball quicker and be ready to do something with it, giving us a vital split second more before the press arrives.
All of our best attacking moves seem to be when we’re able to break out from our own half down the wide areas. From there we can feed it inside to the underlapping fullback, or maybe Langstaff has dropped deep, and we can feed it into him to link up play.
But until we go behind in games, and the opposition slightly take their foot off the gas, we don’t seem to be able to progress the ball beyond the halfway line as regularly as we want to.
Anyway, Pete, have a think about that one, and let me know if you think it’s a goer or not.
See you Monday”
Just for info, I’m planning to write a piece next week about the Karl Robinson vs Peter Cklamovski debate, but I think 3000+ words on this game is enough for now.
As always, I hope you enjoyed this article, and many thanks for taking the time to read it.
