This City side reminds me a bit of the Gary McAllister Leeds side in L1, who were summed up by their defeat to Histon Town on a muddy pitch. Leeds had Snodgrass and Delph in their side, Histon had John Beck as Assistant Manager.
Leeds stuck to their tippy-tappy passing game, mostly side-to-side and in their own half. Histon looked better organised and better motivated, as, judging by results, were the majority of other L1 sides with much smaller budgets that Leeds encountered most weeks in L1. McAllister was sacked just before Christmas and Grayson came in and took them to the play-offs and promotion the following season playing a much tougher, better organised and direct brand of football (witness Preston now-3rd and probably with a not much bigger budget than us; a nasty side to play). Another example is Robins after Thorn and Shaw. We need a manager who organises and demands respect from his players, who knows how to get results in this division, not an ideologue.
I like Pressley as a man, love his passion for the club and I do like passing football, but this is League 1. We need to play effective football-which we often did last season, having Wilson's pace as an outlet for longer balls and counter attacks. The side being so devoid of pace now removes that dimension, and you cannot be an effective side in this division without pace. Or without grit and muscle.
Pressley has had to recruit in horrendous circumstances, but whatever his "miss" rate (and it's high), you have to say that this squad should be performing better than it is-and under a Robins, would probably be 10 places higher in the league, at least. Sadly, I am just about moving around to the view that Pressley does have to go. I probably would still give him until Christmas given that results have picked up slightly, but he has to actually look like he's capable of turning this squar around. At the moment, I don't see how he can be.
