SAME performance, same result. On Saturday night, I saw a few mentions of déjà vu. For me, Albert Einstein’s take on insanity is more appropriate: “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Insanity is being ten games in to a season and still relying on a 39-year-old centre-half to spearhead our attack. Insanity is said 39-year-old centre half being our best defender by a country mile and yet not playing him in defence.

Now, before I get started, I do realise that we’re second in the league. Also, yes, I do realise that if we had held out for a point, we’d be top of the league.

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Despite a significant number of reinforcements during the summer, this side actually looks weaker than last season’s. From what I have seen of this league so far, I’m fairly certain that last year’s vintage would be top of the league now, probably with a little buffer between the second placed team.

This summer has been one of transition for Darlo. There’s been a lot of new players come in, some of the old rearguard have left and that seems to have had an effect on how the team functions. For the past three years, we’ve seen a cohesive unit that thinks and works as one. This season, at times, we’ve been a shambles. Update; yes, I do realise we’re second in the league.

The biggest change from last season is Alan White not being in defence. For the past two years, he has been Darlo’s spiritual leader, marshalling the defence and midfield in front of him making the side a resilient unit. With him not there, our defence and midfield look utterly clueless when not in possession.

Our midfielders seem to neglect their defensive duties and the defenders, particularly our centre half pairing, seem neither able to deal what they face or secure support from their teammates to do so.

Nobody reads the game like White does. Nobody sees the threats like White does. Nobody marshals the troops like White does. Ten games is more than enough to see where the problems lie.

A prime example was a Hyde corner in the first half. Alan White was marking one of their centre halves. The ball came over and found its way to a Hyde player on the edge of the area. He was completely unmarked; nobody had read the danger apart from one man. In the blink of an eye, White left his position in the six yard box and was steaming out towards the opposition player, getting there in time to block the shot.

That one corner summed up our defensive unit this season. No marking, no tracking and no idea how to deal with a threat.

I’m sure Martin Gray will resolve these issues. I’d imagine he’s probably beating himself up a bit due to his summer transfer activity. Some of his new players aren’t performing to the expected standard and despite having a significantly larger squad compared to last season, it’s unbalanced with some positions lacking the requisite numbers and quality.

We get the opportunity to bounce back on Monday at Ilkeston. Like Hyde, the Derbyshire side are inconsistent. However, they’re a full-time outfit; their players won’t be at work on Monday and that could be a factor.

Hopefully, Alan White will find himself in the defence, marshalling his troops and securing a much needed clean sheet. Not playing Alan White in defence, for me, would be the definition of insanity.

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