Sky Blues 2012/13 Vintage!

I have had a first look at the squad for the forthcoming campaign and have to say that it can only be described as two shocking results against Conference sides Nuneaton Town and Wrexham, defeat at Nuneaton could be explained away with: "Well it was mostly trialists and reserve players". But the 4 - 1 thrashing against Wrexham should start the alarm bells ringing.

There can be no doubt about it, City look undercooked, underprepared and lacking in shape. Nuneaton looked like every player knew his job and took great pleasure in getting one over their opposite number, which they managed in all areas of the park, whereas we seem to have gone backwards, with no real shape or game plan to speak of and a lot of players who didn't really look interested.

I spoke with Andy Thorn prior to kick off, and you could tell that he had great hopes for the coming season. He explained that the 7 players bought in had still kept the budget lower than last season, we both discussed the strength of support in the Area and what a good start would mean for the City, with the fans coming back in droves to support a winning team. He also stated that there were 7 or 8 players to come into that team and that he wanted to give some new faces a run out.

So, what do we get, two performances well below an acceptable level, players seemingly lacking fitness and self belief and a lack of any sort of game plan. We seem to have reverted back to the hoof ball, favoured by Ady bothroyd, with balls pumped up to Calum Ball to head on. The trouble is, he is one of the players who looked totally disinterested, he offered very little of an attacking threat, looked static and unsure of his role within the team. He is not alone, two or three of the new boys looked like they weren't really up for the fight, but let's not just blame them, the old heads look like they are not really up for it either!

Both Nuneaton and Wrexham seem far in advance of the Sky Blues in terms of their fitness levels and the team ethic they displayed, yes they both had points to prove, but there will be loads of teams coming to the Ricoh this season with that very same attitude, so the City coaching staff had better get their fingers out, or we could be in for another very long season!

There is still time to get it right and we do, on paper at least, appear to have a squad capable of competing at this level, but they need to get their act together pretty sharpish and instil some much needed organisation into a very disjointed group of players.