[NoSkillz]

2020/21 Sky Bet English League One - First Half Results


My first official game at Morecambe saw our club travel to face Rotherham in Sky Bet League One play. There, we'd dominate in all facets of the game, winning 2-0, holding 59% of the ball and outshooting our opponents 25-3 (11-0 on target). Loanee Kyle McAllister and left fullback Bailey Owen scored our goals in a wonderful performance by the entire squad.

However, the results would soon start going against us despite our tendency to maintain a strangehold on possession. We'd drop our home opener 1-0 to a very strong Sheffield United side then get walloped in our next away contest, a heavy 5-1 loss to Luton.

Our struggles continued through September and October, where we'd only win three out of 11 league matches. We got hit with a transfer request during this period as well, as perhaps our most talented defender Sam Lavelle was looking for a new challenge and asked to be moved in the January transfer window to a bigger club.

I'd say we had two major "moments of clarity" during the season, with one of them coming in the midst of a three game winning streak in early November, our longest of the season to that point. The second of those wins was a bore 1-0 away win at Doncaster, where our team was outshot 16-6 and 6-2 on target but somehow came away with the victory. We'd follow that up with a win in penalties in Checkatrade Trophy play after a 0-0 draw in regulation. Our team wasn't scoring and our Gegenpressing 4-2-3-1 system wasn't anywhere near as effective at this level compared to the previous two years in Scottish League play.

So we decided to change it up, moving to a 4-1-4-1 attacking formation, utilizing a defensive midfielder, a rarity in my managerial career, along with two central mids, two wingers and a lone striker.

The formation change served multiple purposes: it got our captain Alex Kenyon on the field with more regularity and at his natural position. It also allowed us to start utilizing ultra-creative Manchester United loanee DJ Buffonge, who to this point had been held to spot starts and the occasional appearance off the bench. Our formation change also freed up our fullbacks and especially started to utilize the talents of unheralded DL Bailey Owen, a right footed left defender. We played both wide defenders as inverted fullbacks and asked them to push forward up the pitch and into the middle of the field, adding two more options in attack.

The changes paid immediate dividends. We'd win 6-2 away at Blackpool and follow that up with a 5-2 home win over Coventry and a 3-0 win home against Accrington. We were incredibly dynamic and everyone was getting into the mix offensively...it was beautiful football to watch!

However, we'd end the first half of the league season with losses to Bury and MK Dons and we would move into the second half of the season in 14th place (out of 24), with a record of 8 wins, 5 draws and 10 losses for a total of 29 points.

Our recent formation change and the resulting goals for allowed us to move into 3rd in the league in that department but our 35 goals against ranked us 14th, something that we'd definitely have to improve upon. On loan goaltender Jonathan De Bie was struggling immensely in the net and was actually being outplayed by U18 signing Lewis Thomas as we moved through December.



January 2021 - Transfer Window

We definitely needed some reinforcements during the January window. I felt we were safe from relegation but not comfortably so, sitting nine points above the line as we hit the midway point of the season. Goaltending was a major issue - on loan GK Jonathan De Bie was not proving to be reliable in net and while I was getting great performances from unheralded U18 keeper Lewis Thomas, I felt I needed a better veteran option going forward. You could definitely say that realization that De Bie wasn't good enough was our second "Moment of Clarity" this year.

I was hoping to find some reinforcements on defense as well - we did a fine job retaining possession in the first half of the season but had a shocking tendency to allow long balls to get over our head. Finding some pacey defenders could be a big help.

Of course, the biggest news was that I needed to try to find a home for disgruntled DC Sam Lavelle - he desired a new challenge at a bigger club but I wasn't going to sell him for anything less than our £160,000 valuation.



Transfers OUT


DR - Zak Mills - £65,000 - Exeter
MC - Charlie Gilmour - Free - Dag & Red
AMR - Stanley Asomugha - £67,000 - Luton
AMC - A-Jay Leitch-Smith - £75,000 - Portsmouth

Some interesting moves here.

If you recall, I tried to sell fullback Zak Mills in the summer and I almost lost the support of the entire squad and fanbase, eventually taking him off the market and promising him I wouldn't try to sell him. Well, in January, Exeter made an unsolicited approach for his services and I decided to accept - Mills was on an expiring contract, my influence was starting to rub off on the team to enough of an extent to where they didn't seem that upset to see him go and even Mills started to recognize that his playing time was dwindling due to the fine play from Liverpool loanee Corey Whelan. Mills would accept the contract and he was gone, leaving Morecambe after two and a half seasons, 88 total games, 3 goals and 18 assists.

The other big move was selling talented forward A-Jay Leitch-Smith to Portsmouth for £75,000, with clauses that could take the total up to £90k. Leitch-Smith was a complete enigma here - lots of talent but he simply couldn't stay healthy, spending four different periods on the shelf with various ailments. Importantly, when he was healthy, he didn't produce whatsoever, with zero points in 15 appearances this year. He leaves Morecambe after two and a half seasons, 94 total games, 12 goals and 6 assists. We wish him well at Portsmouth - if he scores 10 goals for them, we will get an additional £15,000 in the transfer. I won't hold my breath on that one!

I was elated to have Luton approach with an offer for the seldom used Stanley Asomugha - we actually had him out on season-long loan to Harrogate and with an expiring contract, it was a very easy decision to take the money and run when it was offered. The former West Brom U18 leaves Morecambe after scoring a single goal in 7 total appearances last year.

Finally, we decide to move talented prospect Charlie Gilmour out on a free to Dag & Red. This was solely a move to free up our wage bill - Gilmour, like Leitch-Smith, simply couldn't stay healthy here and only made two scoreless appearances off the bench for us this season before moving to the Daggers. The former Arsenal starlet played 44 total games for Morecambe, scoring 4 goals and adding three assists.

Perhaps the biggest shocker was the fact that the transfer-listed by request Sam Lavelle did not leave during the January transfer window. We actually found a buyer in Championship side Crystal Palace but they couldn't come to personal terms. Lavelle indicated that he was satisfied with my efforts to move him but still asked to be moved when the transfer window reopens in the summer. Lavelle still has a year and a half left on his contract with our club so I guess I'll try to find him a team after this season ends.



Transfers IN

GK - Conor Mitchell - Free - 24 years old, Northern Ireland
GK - Rory Watson - £21,000 (from Scunthorpe) - 24 years old, England
DC - Gabriel Osho - £30,000 (from Reading) - 22 years old, Nigeria
DR - Jordan Gabriel - £14,750 + Clauses (from Nottingham Forest), England
DM - Matt Dolan - Free - 27 years old, England
MC - Joe Pritchard - Free - 24 years old, England

The biggest move here is securing the services of talented GK Rory Watson, who came up through the Hull youth system before moving to Scunthorpe on a free in 2016. We get him for £14,000 plus clauses that eventually take the transfer to £21,000. He'll immediately take over the starting job from on loan youngster Jonathan De Bie. A week earlier, we picked up another keeper, 24 year old Conor Mitchell, who should be a solid backup option for us.

We add two key contributors to our defense, signing fullback Jordan Gabriel from Nottingham Forest and central defender Gabriel Osho from Reading. Both are starting calibre players right away and these were nice bargain buys as we had some money in our transfer kitty for the first time after selling players back in July and a few more here in January.

The last key move was bringing in defensive midfielder Matt Dolan - he's got wonderful leadership traits, something that our incredibly young team was lacking and he also brings great ability on set-pieces, something that was also an issue in the early stages of the season for us. He will get plenty of opportunities to play.

Joe Pritchard has some potential but is more of a depth option going forward.



Loans OUT

GK - Lewis Thomas - Harrogate - Free
DL - Tristan Cover - Gateshead - Free
MC - Owen Beck - Barry - Free
MC - Lamin Jagne - Bromley - Free

All four of these players actually served some time with our team in the first half of the season, most significantly GK Lewis Thomas, who actually outplayed his more celebrated counterpart Jonathan De Bie. The additions of Watson and Mitchell in January render him a surplus to requirements and I decide to give him senior football elsewhere rather than place him back with our U18s.

Cover, Beck and Jagne weren't featuring often and I get their wages off the books with these moves.



Loans IN

DL - James Hill - £0 (from Bristol City) - 18 years old, England
AML - Tyreke Johnson - £0 (from Southampton) - 22 years old, England
ST - Rob Harker - £0 (from Burnley)- 20 years old, England

First and foremost, we had two players in on season-long loan that asked to be returned to their parent clubs due to lack of playing time. AMC Matheus Santana and ST Oladapo Afolayan returned to Watford and West Ham respectively - Santana was part of our starting lineup in our first game but would only participate in six total games, contributing a single assist while Afolayan went scoreless in five appearances for us.

All three of these new players brought in are solid but will likely be backup options for our incumbents.