Welcome back to another episode of Sutton United Talk Time, in association with Lucky Star Gin. This week I was joined by Paul and Julian, or JR if you prefer, to look back at the defeat to Scunthorpe, briefly revisit Barrow and try to work out where the goals have disappeared to.
There was also the small matter of Agi’s post-match interview. His comments about the atmosphere being flat certainly generated some discussion, so we got into that too. Who is responsible for creating an atmosphere? Is booing after seven league games really helping anyone? And are some people just a little bit too pleased when things go wrong?
Plenty to get through.
Away Travel and a Few Club Bits
First, some useful information for anyone planning to follow Sutton on the road.
The supporters’ coach to Halifax is running, leaving at the frankly offensive time of 5:45am. It is £60 for adults and £40 for under-16s, who now need to be accompanied by a responsible adult.
For Tamworth on Wednesday 30 September, the coach leaves at 2:30pm and costs £60 for adults and £25 for under-16s. Kidderminster on 3 October is an 8:45am departure, at £40 and £25 respectively.
Bookings can be made through suttonunitedcoachtravel@hotmail.com or at the Supporters Hub on matchdays.
The women’s team were also in action, losing 2-1 away at Bromley. By all accounts the second half was much better, even if the result did not go their way. Sarah has also continued her cycling trips to the games, with the latest instalment of the blog due shortly.
A Quick Look Back at Barrow
We did not record after Barrow, partly because nobody had come forward beforehand and, after a 3-0 defeat, I was not entirely convinced people would suddenly be queuing up to volunteer afterwards.
The recurring issue from that game was familiar: we are not scoring enough goals.
JR felt the scoreline flattered Barrow slightly. Sutton had a huge chance which really should have been taken, and there was also a very strong penalty shout before half-time. Change either of those moments and perhaps the game looks different.
That does not mean everything was fine. After those opportunities, Sutton did not create enough.
There has been plenty said about that miss, but I still think some of the criticism has been a little unfair. Yes, from six inches you want the ball in the net. Brandon also knew perfectly well what he was supposed to do. The awkward bounce did him no favours.
Sometimes players miss chances. Unfortunately, when you are already struggling for goals, every miss suddenly feels enormous.
Sutton 0-2 Scunthorpe: Was It Really That Bad?
That brought us neatly into Scunthorpe.
Losing 2-0 at home is never going to have anyone skipping down Gander Green Lane afterwards, but Agi raised an interesting point in his post-match interview. Are we judging the entire performance through the result?
JR thought the first half was actually reasonable.
Sutton created several half-chances from corners and long throws, Charlie Carter had a header, Will Nightingale threatened in the air, Joe Knight had an effort and Scunthorpe’s goalkeeper produced an excellent save to prevent what could easily have been an own goal.
Then Scunthorpe scored an excellent goal from the edge of the box.
Sometimes you have to acknowledge that the opposition have done something very well.
The second half was much harder to defend. Brandon Njoku had the clearest opportunity, but apart from that there was not a great deal that made you think a Sutton goal was inevitable.
Scunthorpe defended well and Sutton increasingly struggled to find a way through.
The Horseshoe of Doom
Paul introduced us to a phrase I had somehow avoided until now: the Horseshoe of Doom.
Once explained, it was depressingly familiar.
Rather than endlessly passing the ball across the back four, Sutton are now getting further up the pitch. The problem is that we then seem to hit the same wall.
Try the left. Nothing there. Back inside.
Try the right. Nothing there. Back again.
Try through the middle. Opposition have flooded it.
Repeat until somebody loses the ball, crosses hopefully or everyone gets bored.
That does not automatically mean the system is wrong. Earlier in the season we saw some excellent football from essentially the same ideas. But at the moment the attacking side of it looks predictable.
The question is whether teams have worked Sutton out, whether we are simply not executing the plan particularly well, or, most likely, whether there is a bit of both going on.
Forty Penalty-Box Entries... So What?
One of Agi’s more interesting statistics was that Sutton had nearly 40 entries into the Scunthorpe penalty area, apparently our highest total of the season.
On the face of it, that sounds very impressive.
Watching the match, it really did not feel impressive.
That is the problem with individual statistics without context. If you enter the penalty area 40 times but hardly ever look like scoring, what exactly is the stat telling us?
A lot of those entries came through long throws, crosses and pressure around a crowded box. They still matter, because pressure can eventually create mistakes, but this was not a match where Scunthorpe were hanging on desperately while Sutton battered the door down.
Paul summed it up well. It never felt like one of those games where you were sitting there wondering how on earth we had not scored.
That is more concerning than the raw number itself.
Where Have the Shots Gone?
JR had another statistic which probably tells the story more clearly.
Sutton have one of the lowest totals for shots on target in the division.
That matches what we are watching.
We are getting into decent areas, but too often the final action is another pass. There were moments against Scunthorpe where both Brandon and Temi appeared to have opportunities to shoot and instead tried to find somebody else.
A few weeks ago Temi looked full of confidence. He was bullying defenders, getting shots away and scoring goals. Against Scunthorpe he looked much quieter.
Brandon has also had a long spell out injured, so perhaps there is still an element of match sharpness rather than simply fitness.
Confidence can disappear remarkably quickly in football. A striker makes the same run five times and does not receive the ball. Eventually he hesitates on the sixth. Naturally, that is the exact moment somebody finally plays it.
Three league defeats without scoring starts to create that sort of pressure.
Have Teams Worked Sutton Out?
This has become one of the more common comments among supporters.
Maybe.
But I always think we need to define what we mean when saying a team has been “worked out”.
Sutton still caused problems from long throws against Scunthorpe. The delivery from Joe Knight at corners was excellent. There were balls dropping inside the penalty area which, on another afternoon, might easily have landed at a Sutton player’s feet.
The issue is that if the opposition defend the set pieces and congest the middle, what happens next?
That is where the need for another option becomes important.
Give Me Some Width
I make no secret of the fact that I like wingers.
Perhaps that is partly because they are entertaining. A player getting the ball out wide, running at somebody and getting supporters out of their seats can change the feeling inside a ground even if nothing eventually comes from the attack.
JR agreed. Width stretches the opposition and creates space elsewhere.
Jermaine Francis came on and immediately brought energy. David Ogbonna has started the season well and offers another direct option. Ben Brookes also showed against Scunthorpe that he has a very useful left foot.
The interesting question is whether we need more of that from the start.
If we are going to put balls into the box, it would also be quite useful to keep someone like Temi in there to attack them.
Seems almost too obvious when written down, which is why none of us have UEFA coaching badges.
Two Very Encouraging Debuts
If there was one clear positive from Saturday, it was the two new arrivals.
Ben Brookes looked comfortable immediately and showed exactly why York supporters spoke so highly of him. His left foot gives Sutton another weapon and there were some very good deliveries during the first half.
Joe Knight was even more impressive.
He always seemed to be looking forward when he received the ball, his set-piece delivery was excellent and he deserved his man-of-the-match award.
Throwing two new players straight into the team after a heavy defeat might look dramatic, but we are a professional football club with stated ambitions. If players arrive who improve the side, they are going to play.
It is also worth remembering that they have barely been here.
If those are their starting points, there should be plenty more to come.
Nightingale Back in the Defence
Another major positive was the return of Will Nightingale.
It is increasingly obvious how important his leadership is.
Alex Kirk also looked comfortable alongside him, and eventually Jordan Moore-Taylor will return too. After conceding 79 league goals last season, Sutton clearly needed to become harder to score against.
Despite conceding seven over the last three league matches, the underlying defensive record remains one of the better ones in the division.
The contrast is striking.
We are near the better end defensively and near the wrong end offensively.
You do not need an advanced analytics department to identify the current problem.
Seven Games. Everybody Calm Down.
This is where football supporters, myself included, are ridiculous.
Win a few games and we are going up.
Lose a few and everything is broken.
There seems to be virtually no middle ground.
If Sutton had started the season by losing three matches and then won four, everyone would currently be delighted. Because the wins came first and the defeats followed, suddenly it feels as though the sky is falling in.
It is the same seven matches.
That does not mean the last three league performances and results should be ignored. The lack of goals is clearly a concern and something needs fixing.
But we are still seven league games into the season.
There is plenty of football left.
The Atmosphere Debate
Then came Agi’s post-match interview.
His comments about the atmosphere being flat certainly caused a reaction.
Was he wrong?
The ground did feel quieter as the game went on, although JR pointed out something important: the attendance itself was noticeably down.
Sutton have never exactly been famous for creating 90 minutes of intimidating noise. There was plenty coming from behind the goal at the start, with the drum and singing, but once the match became slow and frustrating, the atmosphere naturally dropped.
That led us back to an old question.
Does the crowd lift the team, or does the team have to lift the crowd?
The answer, annoyingly, is both.
A crunching tackle, a shot flying narrowly wide or somebody suddenly running at a defender can completely change the atmosphere. Twenty sideways passes generally will not.
Players can give supporters something to react to.
Supporters can also give players something when things are not quite happening.
It should be a two-way relationship.
Frustration Is Louder Than Support
Another part of the discussion was whether negativity simply carries further.
When a crowd is quiet, one person shouting abuse can suddenly sound like 500.
That does not mean 500 people agree.
Managers hear it. Players hear it. Unsurprisingly, sometimes people react.
Agi would hardly be the first Sutton manager to respond to somebody shouting from the crowd. Matt Gray did it. Paul Doswell did it. Matt Morrison had his moments.
Football managers are human beings.
Who knew?
Booing After Seven Games?
I am not a fan.
JR made what I think is the important distinction. If a player is not trying, that is different. But if someone is giving everything and it simply is not working, what exactly are we hoping booing achieves?
Players are not robots.
A lot of this Sutton squad are very young men. Some are barely out of their teens.
If somebody stands a few yards away and spends 90 minutes shouting abuse at them, it is going to have an effect.
Paul went further and described some of the more sustained stuff as bullying. I think there is a difference between a frustrated boo at full-time and repeatedly screaming abuse at one person throughout a match.
Professional football comes with criticism. Players know that.
That does not mean everything automatically becomes acceptable.
Do Some People Actually Enjoy Being Right?
This is one that probably gets me into trouble.
Sometimes it genuinely feels as though a small number of supporters are almost delighted when Sutton lose because it allows them to say, “See, I told you.”
JR and Paul both recognised it.
It happened with Matt Gray.
It happened with Steve Morrison.
It happens with Agi.
Somebody will decide a manager is useless and then spend the following months waiting for evidence to prove themselves correct.
Social media makes that even easier.
I understand frustration. I get annoyed at football matches too. But I genuinely cannot understand paying money every week to spend the entire afternoon being miserable.
There are people who can watch Sutton win 3-0 and still find something to moan about.
At some point you have to ask whether they actually enjoy football.
The Connection Works Both Ways
This was probably the part of the conversation that matters most to me.
We want players to care about Sutton United.
We want them in the bar after games. We want them talking to supporters, joining events, appearing on podcasts, responding on social media and becoming part of the club rather than simply employees wearing the shirt.
But that connection cannot only work in one direction.
Most of this squad are new to Sutton.
If their first experience is their own supporters getting on their backs after seven games, why would they want to do all the extra stuff?
Their job is to play football.
Everything beyond that is something we should probably value rather than assume we are entitled to.
Support them. Criticise the football when it deserves criticism. Debate tactics until we are all blue in the face.
But there is a difference between criticism and hostility.
So Where Are We?
Three league defeats.
Three league matches without a goal.
An attack that currently looks predictable and a squad that needs to rediscover the confidence it showed during the opening weeks.
Those things are real.
So are the positives.
Joe Knight looks an excellent addition. Ben Brookes impressed on debut. Will Nightingale is back. The defensive structure is considerably better than last season and this squad has already shown that it can play some very good football.
Now we need to see what happens next.
Tuesday brings Eastleigh and, of course, the return of Matt Gray.
He deserves a very warm reception for everything he achieved here.
Once the whistle goes, though, Sutton desperately need a performance that gives everyone something to get excited about again.
Maybe a goal would be a nice place to start.
Thanks as always to Paul and JR for joining me, and to everyone who listens, watches, comments and shares the podcast. It genuinely helps more people find us.
Up the U’s.