Ian Hendon: What does he need to do over the summer?

Leyton Orient confirmed former captain Ian Hendon as their new head coach on the 28^th May. Here is my bucket list for what the new man has to do in the coming months.

Get rid of the deadwood

Dossena showing some skill.

One problem last season was the amount of overpaid players that weren’t delivering. The likes of Darius Henderson, Jobi McAnuff, Andrea Dossena and Gianvito Plasmati often left O’s fans grumbling (well, even more than they already were). That, combined with some of the players that were an important part of the playoff final squad, inexplicably transforming into players who were unable to make much useful contribution to the team at all within a matter of months, led to the eventual relegation from League 1. The new man must eradicate the problem players if he wants to succeed with the club.

Use the loan market wisely

Hedges showed passion when he played

Ryan Hedges and Alex Cisak did make very useful contributions in the second half of last season and they were borrowed from Swansea and Burnley respectively. Players like this pair can be valuable in a battle for promotion or relegation as they want to impress those watching from their parent clubs. Added to this is the fact that players like Hedges are young and hungry, and have a bit of pace about them. With Hendon’s knowledge of the West Ham academy we might possibly see some young, hungry talent coming to Brisbane Road.

Bring stability to the club

The club has been about as stable as a badly constructed bouncy castle over the past twelve months, so Hendon will need to do more than just paint over the cracks. A stable starting XI is a must, as well as capable first team coaches and backroom staff that would contribute ably to the cause. As long as this happens the club will be in a much stronger position than it is at the moment.

Play the younger players

There is a core of about 5 or 6 young players that are on the fringes of the first team and some (e.g. Charlie Grainger and Harry Lee) have been around for what feels like ages. So this is now a better opportunity than ever to actually give these promising players some actual game time. If these players are good enough for the bench they are surely good enough to be given some opportunities in the first team, right?

Keep the better players

Super Kev will always be remembered

With Orient having already lost two of their best players in Scott Cuthbert and Kevin Lisbie, Hendon needs to do everything in his power to keep the remaining talismanic figures (the likes of Dean Cox and Romain Vincelot). A team with a younger average age than last season would show more passion and hang on every word that the new manager says and with the guidance of players like Vincelot it could be a recipe for success.

So those are the main things I would like Ian Hendon to do. Did I miss anything? Tweet me @David12Lloyd or leave a comment below and I will be more than happy to discuss with you.

We Need To Talk About Orient…

Only 12 months ago I was of the opinion that Leyton Orient would be promoted at the end of the 2013/14 season. However, a weak ending to a good season became a poor start to this one. So what’s gone wrong?

Ouch, that hurts...

The first nail in Orient’s coffin was, no doubt, the mediocre end to last season which culminated in a penalty-shootout defeat to Rotherham in the Playoff Final at Wembley. Potential suitors for players from both clubs were present, including Brentford boss Mark Warburton (in a scouting capacity) and Preston manager Simon Grayson (as a pundit for Sky Sports). Now, I’m not blaming managers of other clubs for our demise, but Brentford’s capture of Moses Odubajo left a gaping hole in the Orient team that still hasn’t been filled.  While the departure of Jamie Jones may have seemed rather less of an issue at the time, Orient’s failure to find a keeper as good at instilling confidence into their own defenders has now become a very big problem.

Jobi's Had Anuff

Odubajo’s replacement, Jobi McAnuff, doesn’t possess the skill, versatility or speed of Odubajo and seems to play in 10 minute-per-match bursts, if he shows any interest at all. Jones’ two replacements, Gary Woods and Adam Legzdins, have also looked like square pegs in triangular holes. Woods’ command of his area and distribution are better than Legzdins’, but both keepers’ decision making isn’t exactly the most convincing.   The outcome, too often witnessed this season, is Orient’s habit of conceding soft goals.  A number of which have been conceded against the run of play.

It’s not just McAnuff and the keepers that haven’t been brilliant either. Captain Nathan Clarke isn’t exactly a fan favourite, but his very convincing Steven Gerrard impression in the home game against Coventry and the away League Cup game at Plymouth, both led to goals, proved why the injury he picked up (and played all the way to penalties with) at Wembley in May seems to have taken away the edge that he brought with him in 2012. Mathieu Baudry also proved that he can be, and often is, erratic and prone to taking unnecessary risks in defence. Baudry certainly is Orient’s David Luiz, the not-so-well-disciplined defender who may be better on the bench. This brings me on to poor old Gary Sawyer who, despite playing well of late, will lose his place to Andrea Dossena when the Italian returns from injury and be left with a seat on the bench.

In midfield Orient are missing Lloyd James in the centre. It’s not that Josh Wright’s performances have been poor; it’s more that James plays the “Lloyd James role” better than Wright. Elsewhere I see fans on social media saying that they don’t quite understand what Bradley Pritchard’s role is. To me it’s quite clear. He is the more intelligent remake of Jimmy Smith who will play in almost every position and, thus, not be able to nail one down completely. Marvin Bartley did actually get a good run of form going. ALERT!!! ALERT!!! THE INTERNET HAS CRASHED!!! No seriously he did, before he got injured…again. Speaking of injuries, striker Darius Henderson is due to return soon.That is unless he takes the other meaning of striker and asks for a contract termination. The ex-Watford striker hasn’t really shown the form that helped him propel The ‘Orns to the Premier League, despite having ex-Millwall teammates Shaun Batt and Shane Lowry on hand to help him settle. All of Henderson’s strike partners (all EIGHT of them, to be precise) haven’t been prolific, reliable or even available in some, if not all, matches. The main highlight being the 4-1 win at home to Crewe, which was to a large extent due to perhaps the only exceptional performance by any Orient striker so far this season, i.e. an “on fire” Chris Dagnall scoring one and making the other three.  If only we could see about more of that from Orient’s now considerable strike force, but too often, in other games this season, periods of Orient pressure have failed to produce goals when they have been needed.

It’s not just on the pitch where there have been problems. The new owners have what ex-manager John Sitton would call “Airy Fairy Fantasies” of Leyton Orient becoming this big footballing power from East-London, however, if Mr. Becchetti is reading please take note. This cannot be achieved by continuously sacking managers before hiring ones with a career win percentage of 11.11%, and who can’t speak the language of the country he/she is working in.

Also, things between fans have got heated, with fans first abusing players after away defeats at Gillingham and Bradford, followed by an attack on the local newspaper’s Twitter account for (in my opinion) a rather amusing if not totally true tweet about Jobi McAnuff’s booking at Barnsley. Anyhow, it’s tough enough for players and journalists without receiving abuse from their own followers.

Not the fight we were hoping for Hendo...

Having just mentioned one booking, it might be worth also mentioning the very high number of bookings and sendings off gathered by Orient players so far this season.  Clearly, the resulting suspensions, coupled with the ever present injury list, has not helped the club at all.   The growing total of yellow and red cards is worrying for another reason though in that it suggests a lack of discipline which also can’t be helping the cause very much.

On a happier note, a merry and safe Christmas and a prosperous New Year to all reading and I hope to see many O’s fans at Brisbane Road on Boxing Day for the Relegation 12 pointer against Crawley. Up the O’s. 

Orient, How We Got This Far...

As I, as well as most Orient fans, prepare for the biggest game in the club’s history, I take a look at the Orient’s season and look forward to a day out at Wembley this weekend.

What a Start

Eldin: "Bosnia's Number 1"

It says something about the strength of Orient when they went all the way up to Carlisle on the opening day of the season and won 5-1, the only bad points being Carlisle’s goal (coming from a questionable penalty) and Nathan Clarke’s injury. In fact 12 games unbeaten from a team that only had a 19 man squad before a ball was kicked is quite something. The performances were impressive and the football was slick, but the defeat at Coventry in October opened the door to patchy form until the arrival of Eldin Jakupović.

Goalkeepers

Shwan Jalal: Nervous

This season has carried on the theme of previous seasons of late; the theme of many goalkeepers. Jamie Jones was the first choice up to his injury over Christmas.  Jake Larkins played well when called upon immediately after Jones was injured, but was dropped in favour of fan favourite Eldin Jakupović.  After Jakupović’s first recall to Hull, Ben Alnwick’s disappearance was as quick as his arrival.  It was the low point of the season for the Os as well, because his very short term replacement, Shwan Jalal, had a stay at the Matchroom Stadium that Orient fans will prefer not to look back on. Jakupović then returned for a while the steady the ship before his second and final recall by Hull. Jones was by then ready to come back, thankfully, but surely one big reason that the automatic promotion push failed was the forever changing wearer of the gloves. It never helps a defence when they don’t have complete confidence in the man behind them. Rumour has it that, to fill the unexpected void left by Alnwick, Russell Slade was actually trying to loan in Jalal’s Bournemouth teammate Ryan Allsop (a former Orient favourite) but was told to have Jalal. Anyway it’s happened and we move on.

Strikers that can’t score

Simpson: 100% effort, 0% goals

We’ve seen it before haven’t we? Jamie Cureton, Michael Symes and David Mooney mark 1 (2011/12 version) ‘couldn’t hit a barn door with a banjo from a yard away’. Yet again there have been a couple this season: most noticeably Yohann Lasimant, who has hardly ever come off the bench, and Robbie Simpson, whose stoppage time miss against Preston in November set the tone for his season. Luckily Mooney mark 2.5 and ‘Super’ Kevin Lisbie have got 39 goals between them in all competitions, and January signing Chris Dagnall has now got the goals flowing after a quiet spell that followed his two goal debut. The problem I have with that is that even in some games where the Mooney/Lisbie partnership hasn’t produced goals they have still tended to keep ‘Dags’ on the bench without much of a look in. I’m happy to concede though that having 4 strikers like Lisbie, Mooney, Dagnall and Batt provides a good balance of attacking options, with Batt often proving difficult for opposing defences to handle when coming off the bench. Finally, having said something about strikers who can’t score, some mention ought to be made about two midfielders who can. Dean Cox and Moses Odubajo, who score and create chances, have been a revelation on the wings. Full-backs sometimes look baffled when the pair switch wings or have ‘free’ roles, while some opposing defenders have been seen to freeze at the sight of

Odubajo running directly at their goal. Cox’s determination and industry makes up for his lack of height while his leadership led him to captain the team twice in 2012/13. Besides, Mooney’s red card obtained while standing in as captain should mean he is unlikely to be offered the armband again any time.

Coxy is used to celebrating

Going Up?

Let’s not tempt fate…

Was the Derby a Wake-Up Call for Moyes?

Last week, Manchester United lost quite comprehensively to their big rivals Manchester City.  I watched the match and found some of United’s defensive play rather disappointing. I’ve set out below what I saw as their main defensive weaknesses and have added some thoughts on what I think they could improve upon.

Defending Issues

Obviously, Moyes’ hand had already been played in terms of who was playing at right-back. Rafael was unfit and Chris Smalling has previous experience of a Manchester derby. So, in respect, it might have been a good move, but Smalling was given a hard time by Aleksandar Kolarov and Samir Nasri, thanks to Antonio Valencia’s seeming inability to cover for his team-mate. Meanwhile, on the other side of the United defence, there was a similar ill-balanced contest going on in the form of a one-man roasting of Patrice Evra by Jesus Navas. Turning to the middle of the defence, a Sir Alex Ferguson Man United team would more likely have had a younger centre-back with Rio Ferdinand or Nemanja Vidic and Michael Carrick would’ve been sitting deeper in his midfield role.  However, David Moyes has signed Marouane Fellaini to play in that position but obviously he doesn’t want to defend.

Of particular concern was the fact that all of City’s goals came from crosses into the box, while David De Gea’s failings in relation to communicating with his back-four seems to be, and always has been, a problem and a liability.

Lack of Ability

Another reason that United lost the match is the lack of meaningful cover upfront. After Robin Van Persie and Wayne Rooney, there is precious little in terms of back-up. Danny Welbeck has the first touch of a League Two Goalkeeper, “Chicharito” is out of favour, and Angelo Henriquez is out on loan. So keeping RVP fit would be crucial, surely? Obviously not though, as United look to play-on without the man who is arguably their best player. Added to these problems are Ashley Young’s inability to stand up for more than five minutes, Wilfried Zaha’s inexperience, and the whole Shinji Kagawa affair, which I think Moyes could’ve dealt with better by just playing him when Rooney was injured. Furthermore, the lack of strength in midfield for United (Carrick and Fellaini) allowed Yaya Toure and Fernandinho to dominate proceedings. And the lack of looking for the midfield rock to build the team on has seemingly come back to haunt the Red Devils. In fact, if you look at the successful Premier League teams of the past, there was always some sort of strength in that department. Arsenal’s Invincibles had Patrick Viera and Gilberto, Chelsea had Claude Makelele and Michael Ballack, and the current Man City side being tipped for a good year has the aforementioned pairing.

So if United are serious in mounting a title challenge this season, they need to strengthen in those areas. 

What do you think? Post your thoughts in the comments below.

Do We Really Need the International Break?

Tonight, on ITV (in England), it’s England vs. Scotland. It’s a fiercely contested derby game between bitter footballing, and now seemingly political, rivals. And for these players, after tonight’s game, the whole English and most of the Scottish squad can return to their respective clubs without a fuss. But other times England might be playing Australia or Brazil away from the comfort of Wembley, and returning back to England can be a hassle to say the least. I am now going to look at what effects far-flung international friendlies can have on the players and their clubs, as well as the fans home and away, also taking into account their usefulness to the international squad’s manager, before making my own conclusion on the matter.

I heard, the other day, that the Spanish national team were travelling all the way to Columbia to play in an international friendly. Now, the amount of air miles racked up by the players in that squad will be beyond belief, considering that there is also jet-lag and acclimatisation to contend with. Then there is the flight back to Spain and the subsequent journey to places such as Barcelona, Manchester or any other city in Europe. And that’s not the only problem that domestic clubs have when players return.

Players have previously come back with injuries, keeping them out of domestic action for up to Christmas and New Year, and sometimes beyond. Another problem is if players return late from midweek international duty, it means that they aren’t ready for Saturday afternoon at 3pm when their season starts. And if it’s not injury or lateness, there’s fatigue or just generally not feeling up to playing on the following weekend.

From the country’s perspective, it’s a good thing to have a friendly before the start of the season. It whets the fans’ appetite for the new season and is also a good way of assessing where the national team stand. But the negatives for the players and squads seem to outweigh the positives on this front, because as good as international friendlies can sometimes be, they seem to be of little value for most teams.

In my opinion, friendlies in the international game just don’t get me jumping out of my seat. They are full of offside strikers, substitutions, and general "flim-flam" building up to, and in the aftermath of, the match. So please FIFA, make international breaks just for competitive matches!!!