My latest piece for the blog after yesterday's heavy defeat to Bolton.
By Mark Dennis. 

At 2pm yesterday afternoon, the City line-up to face Bolton was announced, and to much dismay and confusion, Cheick Diabate (a very good centre back) was selected to play up front along with Jack Aitchison.

Chieck as a frontman was trialled in the 2nd half of Tuesday’s 0-1 win against Swindon and it led to the boss saying that it was something they wanted to look at, but it was unlikely to become a more permanent thing. Strange then, that 4 days later, Diabate was starting the game up top against the league’s in form team.

Much has been made of the lack of confidence plaguing City striker James Scott at present, this decision will have done little to help Scott in that regard.

2.20pm saw the players leaving the away dressing room, ready for their pre match warm up. The players looked devoid of enthusiasm and almost had a look of resignation about them as they entered the pitch. It might just well have been that the players were focused, but the body language suggested otherwise.

This is now the second international break in the past 2 months, both of which have been muted as being a chance to get players back and reset. Neither break has been able to change the fortunes of this City team. A team that was top of the league not so long ago, now unable to keep goals out of our net, and unable to score goals ourselves. The squad is almost back to full compliment, with only Deme Mitchell (long term absentee), Caleb Watts and Admiral Muskwe currently unavailable.

By all accounts, City started the game reasonably well, although I have to admit, I have not seen the match. However, once City’s succumbed to Bolton’s first goal in the 34th minute, even the most optimistic City fan probably knew the direction of travel that the rest of the game was going to take.

Most fans would not have expected to get any points from yesterday’s game, but to go on to lose by a 7-0 scoreline is unacceptable and embarrassing. The way that City seem to capitulate when they go behind is a massive worry.

I still believe that we have good players within this squad. It wasn’t so long ago that people (including myself) were talking about Tom Carroll & Ryan Trevitt as the heirs to City greats Ryan Harley & David Noble. The way they were dictating play was a joy to watch. For whatever reason, these players that were performing so brilliantly at the start of the season, cannot seem to find any rhythm in their play. Confidence is clearly a huge factor. But low confidence shouldn’t be an excuse for a lack of tackles, lack of closing down and lack of pressure on the opposition.

The club board released another statement earlier in the week, re-affirming their support for Gary Caldwell, citing that this was always meant to be a long term project. That would suggest that a managerial change is not on the cards anytime soon. It would be an almighty back down from the board if they changed their mind so soon after the recent statements. However, if we continue to plummet towards League Two, and attendances start to significantly suffer, surely the time to act will come.

To be clear, I like the manager, and I sincerely hope that he is able to turn this creaking ship around, but time is now running out. These types of results surely can’t continue to be allowed to happen. The message from the players appears to be that the are fully behind the boss and his methods, but the proof on the pitch isn’t currently backing this up. He simply has to start getting a tune out of the players, and quickly.

It feels very much like City are at a tipping point. The next 2 league matches are home games against Shrewsbury & Port Vale. These are games that City have to be getting points from. City cannot afford to come out of those 2 matches with anything less than 3 points.

The board have suggested that in January, money will be invested into the squad. However, with results and performances dropping off a cliff, are we really going to be able to attract the quality of player we need? When looking at loan players, I would expect clubs to seriously think twice about sending their young talent to a team that is consistently losing and with a negative atmosphere surrounding the club. No serious club is going to want that for their young players. Even when looking at permanent signings, are players going to want to commit, with the uncertainty surrounding our League One status?

Everything currently feels like a mess and it’s hard to see things changing anytime soon.

Tuesday nights game is now huge. The atmosphere will no doubt be tense, and if City concede first, I fear the atmosphere in the stadium could turn toxic. I sincerely hope that this doesn’t happen and I would urge all of the supporters that attend to try and get behind the players during the match.

I have seen some supporters suggest that they would like us to lose the match, to speed up the sacking of the manager. That sort of attitude astounds me.

Lets hope for a reaction from both the manager and the squad on Tuesday, it is imperative that the supporters see some form of response.