LJ hero or villain.

[Ian Crabbe]

Can’t quite work out if LJ is a hero for sussing out the state of play at HT and changing formations and tactics

for the better in the second half,or a villain for not seeming to ever get it right from the start,when was the last time

a game was effectively over after 30 minutes or so.

[BS4 on Tour...]

5 minutes ago, Ian Crabbe said:

...... when was the last time a game was effectively over after 30 minutes or so.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42927225

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38864163

[Ian Crabbe]

Fair enough,just turn my point on its head.

[Lrrr]

LJ has us in 6th place with 7 games to play, hero or villain..?

[Robbored]

17 minutes ago, Ian Crabbe said:

Can’t quite work out if LJ is a hero for sussing out the state of play at HT and changing formations and tactics

for the better in the second half,or a villain for not seeming to ever get it right from the start,when was the last time

a game was effectively over after 30 minutes or so.

Jeez........................what an irrelevant thread..............ffs..............

[REDOXO]

5 minutes ago, hodge said:

LJ has us in 6th place with 7 games to play, hero or villain..?

And that really is the point. 

I’m not LJs biggest fan as at times I feel he has been learning on the job in things that perhaps he should of already known. However we are where we are, we are in the hunt and have it in our own hands. The rest of the chasing pack don’t. 

COYR

[TonyTonyTony]

Surely we have reached a consensus now : he has done a cracking job this year

After the two away wins he kept the same formation (can you blame him) but was decisive to change the formation against Wigan and it worked

Seriously don’t know what more you expect of him tbh

[Ian Crabbe]

Don’t get me wrong I’m in NO way criticising anything he does and think he’s doing a great job to 

sort out things ,but maybe being too greedy in hoping for more when I know we have more talent

than some of the clubs around us and need to play for more than 45 mins.

[And Its Smith]

A new angle to criticise LJ. Nice

[David Brent]

4 minutes ago, RedDave said:

A new angle to criticise LJ. Nice

Or praise.

[cidered abroad]

23 minutes ago, TonyTonyTony said:

Surely we have reached a consensus now : he has done a cracking job this year

After the two away wins he kept the same formation (can you blame him) but was decisive to change the formation against Wigan and it worked

Seriously don’t know what more you expect of him tbh

That in home games, we are entertained and that we also win a lot more points at home.

[Lrrr]

5 minutes ago, cidered abroad said:

That in home games, we are entertained and that we also win a lot more points at home.

If we had an improved home form we'd be challenging for automatic promotion, is that what the expectation is now?

[JBFC II]

10 minutes ago, hodge said:

If we had an improved home form we'd be challenging for automatic promotion, is that what the expectation is now?

I honestly think some people won't stop complaining until we've won the champions league, and even then they'd find ways to complain... 

[Robbored]

41 minutes ago, Ian Crabbe said:

Don’t get me wrong I’m in NO way criticising anything he does and think he’s doing a great job to 

sort out things ,but maybe being too greedy in hoping for more when I know we have more talent

than some of the clubs around us and need to play for more than 45 mins.

Wtf are you trying say?  

You start an meaningless thread and then claim that you’re not criticising LJ........

i see you’re a newbie so you’ll get let off time.

 

[foghornred]

Hero for the substitutions but a villain if it was down to him to go defensive and not look for another goal like when we had a corner and decided to play it short just to retain possession as I have said before it gets my goat why can't we beat teams by more than one goal because once we have it we go all defensive.     

[Whale Eye Beef Hooked]

I’ve always been an LJ fan and argued his case when things aren’t going well but I was frustrated on Saturday. The whole keep it tight for 60 mins then make 3 attacking subs is getting predictable. Wigan has the worst away record in the div   They were there for the taking , we should have gone for it at the start 

I watched the Norwich game and they blew qpr away in the first half starting with their strongest team

fustrating   And by the way this is my first ever negative LJ post , he is overall doing a cracking job 

 

[Mr Popodopolous]

19 minutes ago, Whale Eye Beef Hooked said:

I’ve always been an LJ fan and argued his case when things aren’t going well but I was frustrated on Saturday. The whole keep it tight for 60 mins then make 3 attacking subs is getting predictable. Wigan has the worst away record in the div   They were there for the taking , we should have gone for it at the start 

I watched the Norwich game and they blew qpr away in the first half starting with their strongest team

fustrating   And by the way this is my first ever negative LJ post , he is overall doing a cracking job 

 

Why don't you actually look at results, home and away and base things on that a bit as well? For both sides I mean, trends etc as well as just us in isolation.

Wigan in the main do not get thrashed away from home and particularly vs the better sides- they just don't! Expected goals wise in terms of underlying numbers, they probably outrank QPR in the table for a start. Went to Norwich, Sheffield United, WBA- 0-1, 2-4, 0-2 and Aston Villa 2-3. A 2-1 win would have been about par. Think they lost 2-1 at Derby as well.

They actually do create chances on the road though- a park the bus side they are not! Actually average 12.21 shots per game away from home-  they were always going to come and give it a go, especially being in a relegation scrap plus quite physical. QPR OTOH average about 10 per game- always likely to be an open or a close game here, at Norwich not so much.

Plus, QPR have **** all to play for and are managerless. Safe, rudderless- whereas Norwich have all to gain- was likely they could have run up a bit of a score. Whereas Wigan are scrapping down the bottom and we know how dangerous those sides can be.

We should have won, can't deny that- a bit of perspective and context though maybe.

[Ian Crabbe]

Sorry Robbored don’t really know how else I can say what I want to say

all credit to him and his team for most times sorting things out at the break,

shows they all have a good reading of how the game is being played,but I’m sure

many people will agree especially at home this season we have been slow out of 

the traps and very often chasing the game,I just wondered where we could be if 

we started games better.

ps just because you have made 30,000 posts doesn’t mean you have to patronise 

other passionate fans.

[Davefevs]

He is doing a grand job, but he also makes mistakes.  The pluses are definitely outweighing the minuses.

I’m very content.

In some ways I've become a bit passé about things.  In the past I would’ve been analytical about the first half, the second half up until the subs were made, and then the great 10 minutes and then the way we lost control from 2-1 up.

We basically go through a rollercoaster of events in a game.  It is why we don’t win by >1 goal, and why we don’t lose by >1 goal.

If you take a view that we (the forum) are pretty much gonna be happy when we win, we’ve ‘only’ done that 17 times in 39 games.  We’ve ‘failed’ to win in 22 out of 39.  Now, of course we know we aren’t gonna win every game, but even if you take results as black and white as above - win or don’t win, you can see why criticism takes place, despite being 6th with a game in hand.

If you take h-t at 0-1 we salvaged a point....yet from 2-1 up we’ve thrown away 2.

The way we play, we cannot be sure we will kick-on or fall-away.  Makes it interesting.

And I guess it shows despite what is looking like a very good season, LJ still has much to learn.  Same for the players too.

[Davefevs]

13 minutes ago, Ian Crabbe said:

Sorry Robbored don’t really know how else I can say what I want to say

all credit to him and his team for most times sorting things out at the break,

shows they all have a good reading of how the game is being played,but I’m sure

many people will agree especially at home this season we have been slow out of 

the traps and very often chasing the game,I just wondered where we could be if 

we started games better.

ps just because you have made 30,000 posts doesn’t mean you have to patronise 

other passionate fans.

20 home games, leading in 3, drawing 10, losing 7.  In the 3 we were winning at h-t....we failed to win any of them.  It proves we are a better team second half, but too many times we’ve thrown on double / treble subs.  Luckily it has paid off several times...but it is a poor trend, and often the players changing it around, or contributing to turning it around aren’t getting selected to start.  Taylor and Eliasson, plus Palmer to a lesser extent, aren’t being given a fair crack.  That is something LJ will need to solve.

[joenaldo]

My slight annoyance with subs this year is with LB

Both players are great and have great futures - but often this year one has not performed meaning we have used a sub on LB rather than a forward,

Although vs QPR (I think) JDS was a game changes and won the match when changed at HT

[Dr Balls]

No one can deny that getting us to 6th with 7 games to play is a great position to have achieved. However it will count for a lot less if we don't actually make the playoffs.

The biggest negative this season has been the home form. Some very iffy performances, (often in the first half) some really poor results, and at times little entertainment for most supporters, i.e. those who don't get to away games. If we could sort that out our home form for the last 3 games at AG this season that would make a huge difference. It's just about 2 months since our last home victory, which even given our long international break, is not good. 

[Ian Crabbe]

Thanks Dave you’re much better at statistics than I am,but just proves my point 

about us being slow starters,get that right a few more times and the sky’s the limit about where we could be.

[ChippenhamRed]

34 minutes ago, Ian Crabbe said:

Sorry Robbored don’t really know how else I can say what I want to say

all credit to him and his team for most times sorting things out at the break,

shows they all have a good reading of how the game is being played,but I’m sure

many people will agree especially at home this season we have been slow out of 

the traps and very often chasing the game,I just wondered where we could be if 

we started games better.

ps just because you have made 30,000 posts doesn’t mean you have to patronise 

other passionate fans.

Is this a poem?

[pillred]

1 hour ago, hodge said:

If we had an improved home form we'd be challenging for automatic promotion, is that what the expectation is now?

Why not?

[Mr Popodopolous]

23 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

20 home games, leading in 3, drawing 10, losing 7.  In the 3 we were winning at h-t....we failed to win any of them.  It proves we are a better team second half, but too many times we’ve thrown on double / treble subs.  Luckily it has paid off several times...but it is a poor trend, and often the players changing it around, or contributing to turning it around aren’t getting selected to start.  Taylor and Eliasson, plus Palmer to a lesser extent, aren’t being given a fair crack.  That is something LJ will need to solve.

Another interesting angle though might be, though we may have scored more in the 2nd half, in terms of baseline performance it maybe a more even split.

Some sites show 2nd and 1st half split of games- goals, shots, possession etc- I'll look into this in the coming day or 2.

I'm sure we are overall better in 2nd though, but performance level v goals may throw up some different aspects again. Though results ultimately what managers are judged on of course!

Saturday we scored more goals 2nd half e.g. but we had more possession and shots first half- conversely we conceded more chances arguably 2nd half and bore possession certainly despite only letting in one goal in each.

Overall I agree yeah, 2nd half demonstrably better- but performance levels perhaps a bit more variable. At times.

[pillred]

39 minutes ago, Ian Crabbe said:

Sorry Robbored don’t really know how else I can say what I want to say

all credit to him and his team for most times sorting things out at the break,

shows they all have a good reading of how the game is being played,but I’m sure

many people will agree especially at home this season we have been slow out of 

the traps and very often chasing the game,I just wondered where we could be if 

we started games better.

ps just because you have made 30,000 posts doesn’t mean you have to patronise 

other passionate fans.

That's what he does don't take it personally.

[Andy082005]

7 hours ago, Ian Crabbe said:

Can’t quite work out if LJ is a hero for sussing out the state of play at HT and changing formations and tactics

for the better in the second half,or a villain for not seeming to ever get it right from the start,when was the last time

a game was effectively over after 30 minutes or so.

Full credit to him for the changes I say. 

As for 'not getting it right from the start' ....there is no saying those players would have made such an impact from the start. They came on an hour into the game when the opponent was getting leggy. 

How many times have we seen Palmer and Elisason do this .....yet disappear for long periods when they start the game? Elliason certainly 

Fair play to the manager Saturday. I actually thought the team looked decent from the off, who was to know so many of them would be so poor for the first hour 

In answer to your question.....hero

[Robbored]

7 hours ago, Davefevs said:

He is doing a grand job, but he also makes mistakes.  The pluses are definitely outweighing the minuses.

I’m very content

And I guess it shows despite what is looking like a very good season, LJ still has much to learn.  Same for the players too.

I am as well. Imv LJ is doing a good job..He like the players are learning game on game and gaining Championship experience. Let’s not forget that in managerial terms LJ is still a young gun at 37.......

He knows as we all do that home form has been a concern largely because many away teams don’t play in an open manner as they do at home. 

I posted on another thread that I reckon it’s the lack of creativity in midfield that’s the main problem and has been all season. Neither Pack or Brownhill  are creative and Pato is well........far too lightweight.......

[Super]

Clearly started yet again at home with wrong team and tactics. Nobody can deny that. Got is so right away from home though.