Grimsby Town shortcoming could save Colchester United, Forest Green Rovers or Sutton United: View | OneFootball

Grimsby Town have had two very differing managers in terms of approach this season - the pragmatic Paul Hurst replaced by a more possession-based David Artell in the latter part of 2023 - yet the same problem has persisted throughout; difficulty with creating chances and opening up opponents.

While it's rare for the Mariners not to get on the scoreboard, it's become even more unlikely that they will register more than one goal per match - and given Grimsby have conceded 69 goals over their 40 league games thus far - that's a ratio that won't see them claim three points on a regular basis.

Artell's side have scored more than once on just a single occasion this calendar year, January's 5-5 draw with Notts County at Blundell Park, where, whilst certainly entertaining, the defending from both sides could be best described as amateurish.

The issue could, perhaps, be traced back to the pre-season recruitment, however, where the squad assembled had an abundance of hard-working midfielders, but little in the way of genuine quality on the ball in offensive areas to prise an opening.

Gavan Holohan certainly gets into good positions, Curtis Thompson is a very accomplished holding midfielder, Kieran Green and West Bromwich Albion loanee Jamie Andrews are grafters, and the versatile Harry Clifton has been deployed in the wing-back role of late. However, there's no genuine 'number 10' to look to when faced with a well-drilled defence requiring craft to bypass, and the general lacking quality of passing often sees attacks break down at crucial stages.

While it's unfortunate that Callum Ainley, the one midfielder in the squad with those unique technical attributes, has suffered from serious health issues this season (it was pleasing to see Ainley return to the matchday squad for Saturday's clash with Bradford City), the lack of depth and variety has been evident at key stages.

The 3-5-2 formation has thrown up a catch-22 situation

After struggling to put in place his favoured possession-based game at Blundell Park, and with his side conceding goals at an alarming rate, head coach David Artell opted to go back to basics for February's game at Morecambe, and has largely stuck with the 3-5-2 formation he implemented that day for the subsequent eight games since.

The alteration has undoubtedly made the Mariners more solid on the whole, but it does further curtail the limited attacking options they have within their squad. While wingers Abo Eisa, Charles Vernam and Arthur Gnahoua have all flattered to deceive when available or selected this season, they are the three players in the Grimsby squad that are capable of doing the unexpected. Tricky players, capable of beating their man, but none really suit a 3-5-2 system, where their defensive awareness would be exploited at wing-back and their qualities less effective when played off the striker.

This has given Artell something to ponder. Keep faith with the solid, but blunt back three shape with which the likes of defenders Toby Mullarkey and Harvey Rodgers have looked more comfortable, or change tact in an attempt to offer more of an offensive threat, while risking a return to those old defensive frailties.

High number of crosses suit Grimsby strikers

Grimsby's forward options offer the physical presence and hold-up skills of Danny Rose and Rekeil Pyke, and quick feet and pace in behind in the shape of Donovan Wilson and Justin Obikwu, on loan from Championship side Coventry City. What the four don't possess, however, is the skill-set(s) to drop deep to link the play and create for others consistently.

The quartet are a genuine threat in the opposing penalty box, if the service is adequate, but the aforementioned widemen of Vernam, Eisa and Gnahoua are usually played as inverted wingers when involved, cutting in off their flank onto their favoured foot; often predictably so, and to the detriment of getting the best from the Mariners' frontmen in terms of providing assists.

Rose, Pyke and Wilson in particular possess the abilities and combative physicality to thrive from deliveries into the box. To make this beneficial, wingers could be used on their 'opposite' side(s), enabling them to feel more comfortable putting quality crosses into the danger zone on a regular basis, thus maximising their forwards' better attributes and, in-turn, potentially leading to more goals.

Whether system or personnel changes are made for Saturday's visit of Newport County in League Two, the Mariners' coaching staff must formulate a way of putting their opponents' goal under more threat to give them a better chance of winning matches in their quest for Football League survival.

Simply, failure to do that will give those sides below them in the table a sniff.

Whilst there's an imbalance to the games played at this late stage of the season, only four points separate Grimsby, Sutton United, Colchester United and Forest Green Rovers. The Mariners' shortcomings, in the end, could well be what saves someone else, rather than one of that trio punching their way out with their own endeavour.