Ebbsfleet United boss Dennis Kutrieb willing to compromise expansive game to compete for much-needed wins in National League survival battle

Ebbsfleet manager Dennis Kutrieb is happy to put his attacking style on the backburner if it helps the club avoid relegation.

The Fleet conceded both possession and territory at home to Wealdstone last weekend but ran out 2-0 winners to boost their National League survival hopes.

It wasn’t pretty on the eye at times but Kutrieb is willing to sacrifice style in the months ahead if that’s what it takes to steer his side away from danger.

Getting three points can only help the Fleet boss in getting his players into buying into this approach.

“Results will always show the boys that it is possible, so I think this was crucial for us,” explained Kutrieb.

“Did I enjoy the game on Saturday? No, not at all. But it doesn’t matter because we need to win games of football. That’s the only thing that’s important.

“I always enjoy it when I win our games of football but if this is the style of football we have to play, then we’ll play it. I don’t have a problem at all.

“I said at the beginning of pre-season, and the end of last season, if we need to adjust things we will do it, and we’ll do it game by game. It doesn’t mean we will play like this for the rest of the season but maybe we do. It will depend on the opponent.

“We knew Wealdstone would be comfortable to keep the ball and they did it without any danger, although late in the game they bombarded our box with crosses. But I felt comfortable and it wasn’t like against Eastleigh when they had two amazing heading strikers up front and we can’t let them cross the ball to them.

“I was confident that if Wealdstone crossed the ball in, we were stronger than them and that’s why it was the gameplan for that game.”

That gameplan included playing Dominic Samuel further forward and Dominic