Grimsby Town’s first-half performance in their 2-1 loss to Barrow at Blundell Park on Saturday was harshly criticized by David Artell.
The Mariners manager has been pleased with his team’s efforts overall despite their victories and defeats this season, but with their most recent loss, a different side emerged.
Analyzing the two goals Town let up in the first half, both headers from corners, and the overall performance up to halftime—which was far below the expectations he is trying to set—Artell cut a frustrated figure.
Despite regaining the lead shortly before the half and playing with greater intensity in the second half, Barrow persevered to win after Town had a bad start to the match, giving them an advantage.
“When you give them two goals that were exactly the same and play as we did, then we are going to have a mountain to climb whoever it is,” Artell stated. “We weren’t our usual selves, we were insipid and off the pace against a good team who are hard to beat and break down.”
“We had a free week to prepare for the game, so we’ve got to remember that we’re talking about League Two footballers, so they’re going to be inconsistent at times, but I can’t explain [the performance].”
But, we expect them to run around and be competitive at all times, which they weren’t for the first forty-five minutes. We were far more competitive in the second half and had a chance to win the game after we were given a lifeline shortly before halftime.
“The fact is that we only played for forty-five minutes, so we definitely contributed to Barrow’s strategy by not encouraging their press and allowing free headers inside our box.”
Although Artell has cautioned that success will not come easily, his irritation was evident both throughout the game from the home fans and when he came off the field at full time, reflecting on yet another setback.
The Barrow goal scorers were allowed to run free in the box in both situations, which infuriated Artell, a former center-back, who was in charge of the defense at set pieces.
“In this case, we shot ourselves in the foot by only playing for 45 minutes,” he continued. “Last week, we were talking about football with them after the game because they were good, competitive, and didn’t deserve to lose.”
“It shouldn’t matter that Cam [McJannet] wasn’t on the field for the second goal. As a squad, we must accept accountability for saying, “I’m going to head this ball,” but nobody did. Taking responsibility as a team is essential, regardless of the player who scored; we failed to do so twice.
Every Friday for 30 minutes, we work on set pieces both for and against, and it involves more than simply corners and free kicks.
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