Clutton Caveman

How on earth did we buy Cornick?

Parachute Payments are ruining the Championship. As an alternative I would like to see a rule change that all Prem player and staff contracts contain a relegation clause there their package reduces significantly when relegation occurs. Most contracts are not more than 3 years in duration so over a 3 year period the parachute payments could be phased out. This would protect relegated teams and get rid of the 2 paced league.

No plan B is a long running problem

Cornick, really??

Great. that will really be adopted and sung from 3 sides of the ground What about he's one of our own ........

I am finding it hard to get worked up on this topic. For me it is clear that we are set up to not go down. Anything better than that is a bonus. With a good striker we could probably be 6 points better off but they cost a lot and we don't do that, so to me our position in table reflects the ambition of the owners and we have to accept it or be habitually angry.

Attacking mainly consists or robbing the ball close to the penalty area from teams who are obsessed with playing out from the back. Defending means not giving the ball away in those areas. Football is becoming so predictable. How many times per game do we see goalkeepers kicking the ball to a player wide on the halfway line and it sails over his head. Then you get 10 passes close to your own box until some player gets closed down and hits it long anyway. It would be interesting to learn how many goals are scored each year when teams over play close to their goal, why are we so obsessed with this? It works only for teams with players who can receive the ball under pressure and not panic and lose it, and where the whole team wants the ball and is constantly moving into space.. Frankly at our level there are not too many of those. I consider Luton at the moment. They have fast wingers and big forwards and get the ball in the box as often as they can. It seems they frighten defences more used to a slower build up and at least they entertain. I sort of understand LM's thoughts on possession but when our forwards need so many chances to score 1 and our possession takes place mainly well away from the opposition goal something doesn't add up. The most worrying thing is when LM ball is not working, there does not seem to be a plan B like for instance the radical idea of playing to together up front.

I think a big lose is no reflection on ambition. Much more a reflection of previous poor management. As I said they want to stay in the Championship to retain income level and maximise the chance of selling. £22.2 and 28.5 turned out to be the cost of staying in the championship.

When you are that small you either have to be extremely fast or very tricky. Unfortunately Bell is neither

I think the thing that would make the difference is "Genuine Ambition". Genuine is important because no matter what JL says they know this is not a top 6 squad and the fact that he says it is shows he is either insincere or stupid or both. Ambition means that the club is determined to reach the prem and shows that in all it does. I think with Genuine Ambition the players would at least give it 1 more year. The reality that they see is that we are a club with owners that want out. They want to stay in the Championship with as close to a breakeven as possible. Where, in the Championship does really matter. The management have learned that whilst we are in the Championship season tickets sales and gate receipts are pretty much the same whether we are 8th or 15th. No matter what dross they serve up the loyal 20,000 or so keep showing up.

Before his injury he would have left the defender in his wake when he was put through one on one but now whether can't or wont run flat out, he certainly has lost a lot of pace. Also is not suitable to play as the lone striker. Simply not his game.

It seems we have a 1 trick pony as a manager. When teams figure us out and adjust at half time we change the personnel but not the tactics. Yesterday the opposition played 2 up front so supposedly we had a man spare somewhere. When things were not happening we took off Conway and replaced him with Wells rather than switching to 2 up front for a change. When Sykes went off I thought this was the perfect stage for Yeboah as at least he can cause a bit of chaos against huge defenders but instead we put the headless chicken on with typical results. We are very predictable and really a plan b & c when a is not working.

Great read thanks for posting

Remember LM has a different feeling on loans compared to NP

Looking forward would seem to be a good idea at the moment so lets think ahead to the January transfer window Where should we strengthen Who could we realistically afford How much if anything will LM get. Should we move anyone on Just to kick it off, I think we need strikers. As per normal we will almost certainly be shopping in League 1 or 2 where I don't have a enough knowledge to identify potential signings, I think LM will get approx 1.5 million, I think if we got a decent offer for either Wiemann or Mehmeti we should take it. Based on his injury record Naismith should also leave.

For me I am more concerned about the queues. Last season you could leave your seat on the half time whistle, get in the long but fast moving queue for the coffee shop in the back of the Dolman concourse and be back in your seat ready for the kick off. They used to have 5 or 6 servers and the queue moved super fast. Now it is more fancy with just 2 servers and you would need to leave your seat on 40mins mark to get served and be back in your seat for the second half,

I think the problem for the AG experience comes in 4 parts We haven't recently been involved in play off contention or a relegation scrap so few games have been super critical Atmosphere generated during these high stakes games remains for some time, conversely when you don't have high stakes games for a long time, the norm becomes dull. We haven't exactly had a team to get you off of your seat for a few seasons. With the exception and Scott and sometimes Antoine we haven't had a player that makes runs and beats people or even a crunching ball winning midfielder. At the moment if you bought a shirt for your kid there is no stand out name to put on the back. Finally the fans sense that the owners are going through the motions and so they tend to do the same. No a nice picture but imo a true one

Didn't look like they bought into his style of play in the 2nd half. I lost count of the times we hit a simple pass to a close by team mate but they were on a totally different wavelength and the ball went out for a throw in. They look confused and leaderless on and off the field and had no plan to tackle the second half formation of Norwich.

Its a Chicken and Egg situation. When the team produces boring football the crowd loses engagement and it goes quiet. On Sunday we were clutching at straws, every won tackle each corner each mini break the crowd got up but with the ball moving endlessly sideways and backwards just brings everybody down

I think this style is on the way out in the Prem. Pep sticks with it but Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs have become far more direct.

For me there is a problem of credibility. LM has very little. He has only coached for a short time at League 1 level. He is attempting a huge change in playing style. He replaced a coach that had the respect of the group. So if his new approach fails to bring results fairly soon, how long will he have the dressing room.

Buy what's happened to the Pring that would get up a head of steam and drive to the by line or into the box. No its seems its all about keep the ball at all costs and try to walk to ball into the net.

I wish he had said, " we haven't got any strikers and until we do we can 99% of the ball and draw 0.0." For me this a glaring point and no manager can be successful until it is fixed.

He promised, exciting football playing on the front foot. Sorry but the delivery is something quite different. When the ball spends more time with the 2 centre backs and the goalkeeper than anyone else, I get very bored. When he keeps playing Conway up front on his own with no good result and in the process destroying his confidence and when he can't see that Bell is shot and needs a lone at a lower level it worries me. Great to believe in a certain way to play but when the squad doesn't suit that system and we are not getting results we need a plan B. That is just not evident.

My worry is the second half. Either LM's system is too physically demanding to maintain for 90 mins or the other teams figure us out and get on top. Knight looked knackered after the half time and so did many of the team. To play 90mins of LM ball needs massive concentration and also courage not to just hoof it in tight situations. In may opinion in recent weeks our key players stop making the runs in the second half and although we keep the ball we have it in the wrong areas of the pitch and it becomes really boring to watch.