Today’s visit to Highbury should be a chance to pull out a performance and get things back on track, writes Tom Morton.
On paper, Fleetwood aren’t in a dissimilar place to ourselves. As it stands they sit one point and two places above us in the table. That is, of course, if we can turn out a defence in the face of significant injuries.
It’s a game that would be valuable to win. Of course, all games are important. But, we sit just outside of the traditional safety of fifty points and have a tough game against Sheffield coming up. Banking a win now is not a bad move.
Statistics
Fleetwood are definitely having a better season than last year. Having scraped to safety in the end on goal difference. They picked up just seven points in the last ten games and had to rely on the poor performance of others to save them.
This year I’d say they are sitting pretty safely mid-table, a couple of good results from safety. One thing that did stand out is goals scored. Despite their performance last year, the Fishermen managed an average of 1.35 goals per game. This year they are barely managing to break one goal per game – and yet already have more points! Something that shows goals aren’t everything.
Recent form for Fleetwood has been OK. They took a traditional dip around New Year, losing six times in seven games – a run which ended with a fairly dismal-looking home loss to Burton. Since then, though, things have looked up. Unbeaten in their last four home games and picking up seventeen points in nine games. That run includes an away win at Derby last week and an impressive away draw at Plymouth.
Squad
Fleetwood’s recent form might be down to the January players having an impact. In total fifteen players left the squad (mostly on loan to be fair) during the window. That includes ex-imp Callum Morton who was sold to Salford City.
Those outgoings allowed the Fishermen to bring in eight new players, including Jayden Stockley from Charlton and Jack Marriott from Peterborough. Both Stockley and Marriot have gone straight into the first team to lead the attack. They are players I’ve rated previously who have just not hit form this season and who Fleetwood are probably banking on responding well to a change of scenery.
At the back, they have brought in Corrie Ndaba on loan from Ipswich. The young centre-back looks to be a versatile player who Burton didn’t make the most of in the first part of the season. On the right side of their defence is a real threat in Shaun Rooney. The twenty-six-year-old had worked his way up the Scottish leagues before joining Fleetwood in the summer. To date, he is their second-highest goal scorer, with six goals.
Tactics
Fleetwood play as a very cohesive unit. Last weekend they were very successful in keeping Derby at bay outside the area and you can see how tight their defence holds. On the counter, they move with pace and creativity – certainly something to watch out for. Last week’s goals included a rifled effort from the edge of the box and an even more impressive individual effort from Carlos Mendes Gomes, Fleetwood’s top scorer.
They don’t feel like an especially high-pressing team and are willing to sit back and take the pressure. This will be interesting to see play out as that is an apt description of our own style at times. It would be nice to see us taking the game to them because with such a firm defence finding chances might be tough.
On the other hand, we will need to keep an eye out for the counter. The Fisherman clearly like to race away and take advantage of an opportunity. Mendes Gomes is definitely the sort of player I like to see, willing to run with the ball and cause trouble. He’ll need watching carefully during set pieces.
Head to Head
Our history with Fleetwood is tiny. The current club was formed in 1997 and steadily rose up the ranks. They were promoted to the EFL in 2011-12, so we did briefly face them in the National League. They were runaway winners, however, so we lost out.
Since then, Fleetwood were promoted to League One in 2013/14 and have stuck it out. As a result, we next faced them in 2019/20. In six L1 games, we’ve picked up two wins, three draws and a loss. The last time out was a pretty miserable 2-2 draw at the Bank. Gary remarked in his analysis that Fleetwood were the worst team we’d seen so far in the season. To be fair, we saw a few worse – and they certainly look to have upped their game since – but it was a heavily disappointing result.
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