Cheers Drive

29 minutes ago, Mendip City said:

And under Pearson I never felt players were hiding, confused, going missing. I can’t say that now. 

This is it. We weren't always entertaining, sometimes awful TBF but, we were competitive, had a togetherness and united purpose. It was slow but I could see the direction of travel.

Never has a manager had such a firm foundation and dismantled it so quickly. Bickering and arguing on the pitch after and during games.

In the early days I saw positive signs albeit without results we were evolving. I now don't care if he stays or goes. If I didn't already have tickets for Leicester I'd have seen my last game for the season today 

Yep. Truly depressing.

5 minutes ago, Jose said:

Reaction at final whistle? 

People stayed specifically to boo. It was pretty depressing leaving to watch people just vent 

How we have regressed so far so quickly is my biggest concern.

Well I'm totally devoid of any emotion after getting back from that. I'm sure he is describing a managerial style akin to a dressing room mood hoover.

1 hour ago, Harry said:

I’ll tell you where I am. 
 

Today was the worst performance under Manning so far. 
 

I am someone who originally said on here that I didn’t think Manning’s style would suit our players. 
However, once he was appointed I was happy to see what he could do. 
 

I felt in the early games I did see some signs of progress. He did actually manage to get our players to start to keep the ball much better. Ok, a lot of it was quite slow possession, but that’s where the ‘fit’ comes in. Our players and his style do not fit. 
So whilst they showed some signs of being able to keep the ball a bit better, it was never consistent enough nor anywhere near quick or slick enough. But the early signs were one of “ok, he can at least get them to pass it to each other which I didn’t think was possible”. 
 

The other slight positives I saw in some of the early games was the ability for us to run in behind full backs, and into channels, where ‘sometimes’ someone had the ounce of ability to find the right pass. 
I felt a little positive on some of those early games that he was a) managing to get us to keep the ball better and b) managing to get some decent movement up front. 
 

But…… and it’s a big BUT. It’s REALLY REALLY tailed off. To the point where I am now majorly concerned. 
 

Those early signs were enough for me to say “ok, let’s give him a bit of time and see what he can do”. 
But the last 2 months have been pretty dreadful. 
The only game where I felt really positive was after Watford away. I thought in that game we had found a formula. We were good both on the ball and off of it and we looked really well organised. 
Ever since then I haven’t seen any positives. And things have been sliding backwards quite badly. 
 

To the opening poster - whilst I can understand your points to a certain extent, I actually think the writing is on the wall now and I can’t personally put any faith in Manning any more. 
 

There are a few things to note :

1) We spent 2.5 years signing players who were ‘runners’ ‘counter attackers’ ‘workers’. We then approach and poach a manager (who didn’t apply for the role) who clearly has a CV which displays a totally different philosophy. 
Why?? 
 

2) We have a good stadium and a good base to build from but we continually employ people who are not ‘best in class’. I am still highly critical of our recruitment set up. Even more so now - if we are targeting a manager with a clear body of work that doesn’t align in any way possible with the players we’ve spent 3 years signing. 
If Mannings head has to roll then so does Tinnion’s head and Gilhespy’s head 
 

3) Prior to this week I was still sitting in the camp that says “ok, let’s give him time” but the recent trend has been very much downward and today for me was a low. Very very poor in all aspects both on the pitch and tactically. 
The press conference on Thursday was very telling for me. Manning openly admitted that this squad were not capable of playing his way. 
Mainly, that is a huge fault of Tinnion. But for me Manning shouldn’t have said this and shouldn’t be looking to adapt. He really should stick to his principals. 
I don’t think he should adapt to this group. He should double down on his beliefs. After all; that was why we poached him! 
That for me showed a weak mentality. I’d prefer him to stick to his guns, but he wilted in front of my eyes. 
And then with a performance like today, that was now the final straw for me. 

I'm glad someone had the energy to write my exact sentiment. I have gone from positive, to he deserves time to looking down the table. Top that with today's post match interview and my confidence has gone. 6 points off the bottom three with seemingly a number below us finding results and form makes me nervous.

My biggest concern is we are shipping out the leaders in the summer and a team that appeared unified, competitive and now look anything but.

Last night was the most one sided 1 nil you will ever see. We had the perfect storm of a quality opposition that attacked with real pace and a number of players just off their game. The thing that stood out for me was the amount of pressure we added to that with poor passing and unforced errors.

Talk of playoffs and relegation are both a little far fetched but I'll always have the hope of one and fear of the other. The January window shows for me the plans are about next year. I am weirdly optimistic about next season but I've been there before many many times!

Difficult to believe anyone thought Anis's cameo last night was anything other than a player who doesn't look like he will cut it at this level. I had high hopes for him when he joined. Felt more recently it looked like he was improving and benefiting from game time but last night highlighted everything bad. Poor movement, positional awareness, decision making, awareness of what's going on around him, lacking the physical attributes and to top it all predictable on the ball. At times last night he was just a passenger jogging around. Tommy and Cam were screaming at him. Some tricks and silky skills are not enough. I don't take any pleasure in singling out players and genuinely hope I'm wrong but I think our January window shows the areas we are looking to improve upon for next year.

Not the best game to be objective the morning after a performance like that though.

I disagree a bit on Bell. I think he has been effective off the bench in occasion and wouldn't cast him adrift just yet.

Belgium and Romania I have on good authority are countries you can watch from. Coverage doesn't start until 1455