Have Stockport County improved under Jim?

Have Stockport County improved under Jim Gannon?

John Miles thinks not, the fans think we have. It`s a question that doesn`t have a definite answer, statements such as “we look fitter” cannot really be proved.

You can prove anything with stats is the usual comment used when someone makes a point you may not agree with, but the only way to truly compare managers is by results as that is the business we are in.

The one big point to state before I start is that other teams can also improve.

The day Didi Hamann left Stockport County we were 17th, two points off the relegation zone with pretty much the same games played as all the other teams around us. Today we sit one point above the relegation zone, in 18th place with a couple of teams cushioning us from the drop zone at the moment.

There are a couple of considerations, Didi Hamann had a lot of draws early on, at the end of September we were 15th, five points away after only a dozen games.

People say teams take time to gel, well lets have a look at the final eight games of Didi Hamann`s tenure. We picked up 5 points, we played a split of teams above and below us but we didn`t have a particularly tough 8 games.

Working from today we`ve picked up 9 points from the last eight games and we`re currently unbeaten in four league games with six points from the last four. You would say that was a considerable improvement, a key factor in the last four is that three of those were home games and none were against the “top” teams.

People say defensively we have improved, we look tighter at the back. In 19 games (league only) under Hamann we conceded 29 goals, that works out at an average of just over 1.5 goals a game. We picked up three clean sheets in those 19 games.

Under Jim we`ve played 13 league games and we`ve conceded 24 goals, working out at just under 2 a game. You`ve got to point out that we did concede 7 goals in one game, but nevertheless that has to included to make the argument fair. There`s been just one clean sheet under Jim by the way.

Just a side point, taking away the biggest defeats out of both managers tenures, Gannon`s average goals conceded is 1.41 and Hamann`s is 1.38.

One area we certainly haven`t been strong in is scoring, but alas again it would not be fair to rule them out of the argument. We scored 24 goals in 19 games under Didi, and under Jim we`ve scored 12 in 13.

The amount of players that County have used this season is verging on ridiculous, looking at our starting line up against Forest Green which looked liked this – Glennon, McCann, Bounab, Hall, Holden, Miles, Routledge, Sheridan, Fraughan, Gritton, Chadwick. Compare it to the team against Newport – Ormson, Halls, O`Donnell, Piergianni, Holden, Turnbull, Mainwairing, Connor, McConville, Rowe, Elliott and there is only one player who played in both games. This is something that happened just over six months ago and in the same season.

Even with Hamann`s last team selection there are only three players present that day against Hayes that were playing on Saturday against Newport.

Jim has brought a new goalkeeper in in Ian Ormson and let an old one go. I think it would be fair to say Glennon had a bit of baggage here and hasn`t had the best of times at County, he conceded a lot of goals and a fresh start was best for all parties.

Gannon has also resurrected the Andy Halls right back of old we knew, he`s brought Paul Turnbull and Matty Mainwairing in on loan from Northampton and Hull and he`s signed a bit of a hidden gem in Joe Connor. The loan signing of Danny Rowe from Fleetwood has been a good one and he has scored a few goals for us.

Hamann stuck with his ‘scouse` players in the form of Fraughan, Miles, Routledge, Nolan and Chadwick. All of those, bar Nolan, have now left the club.

I suppose the only real time we will see whether we have improved under Jim is at the end of the season, if we stay up then its job done. If not then questions will be asked.

I personally think we look more solid now, we have the two midfielders who are tougher in Turnbull and Connor and we do create a bit more. With a goalscorer we could comfortably move up the table had we been taking our chances that have been created.

The stats point in the favour of Didi Hamann, but anyone that has sat and watched County under Gannon and previously Hamann would be able to tell you we have improved.

We have built a base defensively and if we can cut out conceding the silly goals we should see ourselves easily safe. On the other hand a couple of defeats against York and Wrexham and who knows?.