It is a combination but I feel the bigger contributory problems are coming from the gaffer. If the players are below par, why? Who motivates them, selects them and tells them what to do? If they are not doing as he tells them, then he isn't managing them. If they can't do what he asks, he isn't managing them.
Maher has persisted with his system and clearly it is not working. Maybe we have the wrong personnel to play the way he wants or maybe his system is just not suitable for the division we are in. Either way, the only course of action is for him to change his thinking. That clearly is not happening. He is either delusional or stubborn, or maybe both. I was a fan of his when he played for us and really wanted to see him do the business for a club he served so well. Sadly, sentiment plays no part in football.
It's not too late for him to win people over but I fear he won't even try. Football is a results business and an entertainment business and he is providing neither.
I have some sympathy and feel COSU have not got the balance right. The supporters have turned out in fantastic numbers for a team that is predictable and mostly boring. The loss of revenue when the numbers drop does not help sustainability. Bringing in Hillson and Foran will never placate anyone. It smacks of, ' oh well, that'll do'.
The fact, for me, remains that we are not seeing the best of the players we have and the system will never see them consistently at their best.
The fact that we were a playoff team on merit last season would suggest that your second and third bolded points aren't entirely accurate.
One person's "delusion" or stubborness, is another's conviction and belief that their way will bear fruit eventually - and Maher is emminently qualified to hold that conviction and belief.
Your first paragraph, particularly the bit I've highlighted, is indicative of this pervading subconscious sense amongst supporters that footballers are robots.
The ones that have been here for the past few seasons have been through a lot. A hell of a lot. At one point, the togetherness and siege mentality in a tightly-knit and barely-changed squad got them through the tough times. That can only get you so far, though, and it can be difficult to muster that sort of a mentality every time there is a knock back.
Unfortunately, the departures of Kensdale and Cardwell were not only about their effectiveness on the pitch. They were also dressing room leaders in a very tightly-knit squad. Their departures, plus the circumstances of Kensdale's and the sudden nature of Cardwell's, have been further psychological hammer blows, and possibly a couple too far.
In the cases of some players, perhaps both the club and the player need fresh starts. Perhaps this is what Maher meant when he alluded to needing a "mini rebuild" back in August/September. It won't happen overnight, though, because we need to be able to land our targets before we let anybody go.
On paper this squad is more than a match for most teams in this league. Languishing three points above the drop zone is unacceptable but hardly surprising given the stultifyingly pedestrian, predictable and possession based football dinned into this team by such an uninspiring coaching set up. Time for a change before relegation becomes a real possibility.
I'm not so sure this is the case right now. Perhaps last season, but even then, I do think the team togetherness and siege mentality probably had us punching slightly above our weight, although the players were also effective in the tactical setup.
People are understating, even ignoring, the damage to that team spirit, though. Leaving aside what I've said above about Kensdale and Cardwell.......Powell, Demetriou and Fonguck. Say what you want about their respective abilities, but all three were big characters and big voices in the dressing room and on the training pitch, and they all left over the summer without the ability to properly replace them.
Dave Martin too. A monumental loss on the training pitch and in the dressins room.
Footballers are not robots. There is so much more nuance than this than most people seem to be realising, and it needs time to be turned around.
