Why isn't it working?

I felt after last season we had turned a corner, I have to admit that Chris Kiwomya's appointment was disappointing – I had hoped we would go for experience but none the less I am willing to back any manager, just like I would regardless whoever played for Notts County. The early signs seemed promising, I eagerly awaited the final game and I have to say when it came – I felt saddened as you can imagine but the prospect of a brighter season soon followed. Now, Chris might not be setting the world alight last season but I felt it could improve with his own players signed.

At a glance he's done pretty well with regards to signings – Danny Haynes could very well be a gem but I think we need to find a style which suites him.

Players such as Yoann Arquin and Enoch Showunmi came back with a spring in their steps and certainly it seemed like we had a new strike force. The disappointing side for me was the fact we didn't make our back a little bulkier early on, for me this was a weak area. Though the majority wanted another striker and the midfield improving, one of which we are currently not really progressing in.

It's hard to single out Chris Kiwomya – Can it all be his fault? I wouldn't say so, however for me the majority of things are for him to handle and fix. Isn't this what a manager is for?

For me we could be doing far better, even with Chris who's learning on the job. It's hard to explain where exactly I think things could be improved but I am going to try. I'm sure he feels exactly the same way, as he's plotting his next decisions and tactics.

Firstly – I would try to find a routine and a formation which the players can become used too. I think 4-4-2 might be old fashioned but there's not much wrong with that, it's certainly far better than using Curle's previous formations – The now famous alone forward and of course 3 at the back.. Yawn....

We surely have a first 11 – Those who don't perform well in one game, shouldn't be dropped in the next – The only way I would drop a player is if he shows the same during training or he's been consistently poor. I'd pick the brighter players and tinker with finding ways of motivating the players who are currently not giving exactly 100%.

Yet – with a squad like ours we can't always afford to be choosy and so sometimes old fashioned management can come in handy in these situations. Being honest and open – prevents ill-feelings if handled correctly and hard work cannot be a bad thing.

If we insist on playing on the floor, we need to focus on this during training. There's no reason why we can't play pretty football but it's how it's applied from the back, which allows it to be successful going forward. Watching Notts sometimes reminds me of stacking domino’s and then allowing 'em to fall, we go forward and make good progress, only to knock the ball back and have to start all over again.

Thing's like this is where Chris needs to stamp his authority, it's easy to blame him and the players but a manager who tries hard, often isn't a manager who fails and I honestly feel he's scared of repercussions at times.

In games like MK Don's, there's easy way's to break up the play and hold pressure. The inability to mark/defend only allows teams to punish us and for me you cannot blame the players fully here, the watchful eye of the manager should be the person whom attempts to fix things. I feel we have a lack of inspiring players, vocal and aware.. True leaders who understand how to change games but this doesn't mean we can,t make the most of players like Fotheringham or Liddle – Who'd both be decent vice captains.

The answers to our misfortunes are how we prepare – Morale can be low, players confidence not very high but if you sit on this the situation grows and becomes worse.

It's clear the players need to learn to work together, each strength and weakness needs to be learned in order to aid and prevent mistakes. We should be seeing more partnerships, especially down the flanks and if things were able to click we might see more chances falling to our forwards, I sometimes wish they'd gamble more but you can't expect them to score if the service is poor or below par.

It's bordering on the final roll of the dice for Chris in the eyes of many fans and if the board want to show encouragement to the manager – they'll need to make sure he actually keeps at addressing the problems as we haven't seen any real “fixes”.

Of course it takes time for players to get used to each other, hence why I believe we need to start with simple steps.

The training sessions should be where we try to mix things, encourage creativity and hopefully we can see some of it applied on the field. When games aren't going our way – It needs addressing, even if it's only 3 minutes in!