Quote:
Originally Posted by northwalian dragon
Darlingtons role in our god awful football is exaggerated in my opinion
He did reasonably well when managing us after Wilkin left and it worked very well under Ricketts
People pin the blame on him for the terrible style of play, negative football and overly defensive tactics but that is down to Keates and Keates alone.
Hughes (although terrible) did play some fantastic football on the rare occasion and went out to play attacking football (scoring in every game bar 1 this season)
Saying all that though I still think Darlington needs to leave
I wonder if they'll leave that decision up to Keates though?
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If you recall back to the early Keates era, the plan was to stop us being pushovers particularly a soft touch on our travels. He prioritised a strong, consistent and proven back 4 and it was working as all successful teams have to get that right first before trying to play expansive football. The plan, having listened to Darlingtom was then to build on that solid platform with better attacking players and that is where Ricketts tried take the next step, but even he had to concede it wasnt an easy task and had to shore things up a bit with a defensive mid (Walker). When Keates left for Walsall, Davies tried to change it and a couple of games in, we heard he was a breath of fresh air, but again the wheels came off, similar to Bryan Hughes bringing in 2 defenders this season, who were more attacking than Roberts and Manny but unfortunately both couldn't defend at NL level.
Give Keates a bit of time to bring in some solid professionals, get a solid spine to the team then the likes of Jarvis, Hooper (if he stays) and Keilor-Dunn can express themselves. Jay Harris was the first cog and a right back who can get up and down but above all, can defend and we will see a massive difference.