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The most talented squad we’ve ever had.


Fordy62

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2 points off 3rd place. Let’s try and keep some perspective shall we? 

I’m less than impressed at what’s been served up recently, but anyone with an objective view can see that given the setbacks we’ve had, the fact that we’re where we are is actually fairly impressive. And I don’t think anyone would argue that we’d probably have a handful more points on the board were it not for Benik’s untimely injury.

Good football? Sadly not, and I fear that we’re in for more of the same, but over the course of nearly half a season it’s been pretty effective. 

Few more defeats and it’s a different conversation but when our worst run of the season is two defeats it all feels just a bit hyperbolic at the moment. 

Aside from WBA and Leeds - one with a top drawer squad and one with a world class manager - no one is getting any kind of consistency together and that’s symptomatic of a league where we’re one of about 18 teams with very similar quality squads.

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14 hours ago, Forever Red 94 said:

I’m not saying Johnson’s the answer, but you can’t blame everything time and time again. He could get it right tactically in every game, but when these highly talented players can’t stand up and win their physical battles you get performances like today and Tuesday. It’s down to the 11 players on the field to do the business once they cross the white line, and for all of their technical ability they can’t seem to stand up and win their 1 v 1 battles! Whether Johnson is the right man for the job or not over the last 2 games you have to question their desire, commitment and mentality

My suspicion is that we sign too many ‘ lovely boys ‘ whose Nans would be proud of and not enough hard nosed winners . 
 

Our identity is ‘ soft ‘ . Look at Preston , a club similar to ours who fight for every yard on the pitch and scrap every season for the right to bloody the noses of the bigger clubs laden with riches .

We want a nice family club and not some snarling , agressive one that strikes fear in the opposition as they win matches.

We don’t have the balance right . 
 

For all our achievements this season the character is once again being called into question which is not good enough.

 

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15 hours ago, Fordy62 said:

I think it’s hard to disagree with the above. But time after time after time they’re not putting performances in and you’ve got to start questioning why. 
 

Johnson is obviously struggling to make us play anything resembling good football. Even a good percentage of this seasons wins have been woeful to watch and whereas there is the 1 in 5 games where everything seems to click into place, we’re just not good to watch. 
 

We’ve got more highly paid players than we’ve ever had. I dare say there are a couple nearing 30k. 
 

surely the time has come to splash the cash in the most important place?

Ah, the post of a Typical spoilt football supporter  

not playing Man City type football , lose 2 games in a row , boo hoo ,sack the manager and demand to get a manager that is never going to come here.  
how many teams apart from wba and Leeds have been consistent this year ?

 

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8 minutes ago, Whale Eye Beef Hooked said:

Ah, the post of a Typical spoilt football supporter  

not playing Man City type football , lose 2 games in a row , boo hoo ,sack the manager and demand to get a manager that is never going to come here.  
how many teams apart from wba and Leeds have been consistent this year ?

 

This so about quality of football. Not results. Even The vast majority our good results have had rubbish football. It can only be Johnson’s fault. It’s far too regular. It’s not even mildly entertaining.  

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3 hours ago, Robert the bruce said:

 

 

All of this allied to the constant chopping and changing of style of play/inconsistency of instruction that is clearly leaving the players hamstrung - so so clear....

Possibly Lee's big ego will ultimatly bring his downfall I'm very sad to say.

Have no fear, it’ll be sorted in January.

The colossus Pato will be back from Derby.

 

Plus we can add DaSilva, who won’t be bombarded with high long balls specifically targeted at him because that wouldn’t be fair. Then, of course, Smith will be back fully up to speed and back in the first team. 

Lummydaze.

Quite how LJ has been allowed to build a squad of ‘mini-mes’ is beyond me. 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Fordy62 said:

This so about quality of football. Not results. Even The vast majority our good results have had rubbish football. It can only be Johnson’s fault. It’s far too regular. It’s not even mildly entertaining.  

With our budget it’s not easy to compete with great football all of time.  Plus we play better football than most in this league.  The pundits say so and most people in the game love what we are doing as a club.  You want to change all that for a man that plays an awful style of football ?. That’s your opinion of course but I’m loving this season 

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9 minutes ago, Whale Eye Beef Hooked said:

With our budget it’s not easy to compete with great football all of time.  Plus we play better football than most in this league.  The pundits say so and most people in the game love what we are doing as a club.  You want to change all that for a man that plays an awful style of football ?. That’s your opinion of course but I’m loving this season 

That pundits watch 3 minutes of highlights (the same for the other fixtures) before giving their opinion at 9pm.

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21 minutes ago, Whale Eye Beef Hooked said:

I’m on about the journalists and others that watch and analyse our games not a tv presenter 

Regarding their opinion, they clearly don't watch us play at home too often. Or they are crap journalists. 

Can we all just call a spade a spade? 

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2 hours ago, RedRock said:

Quite how LJ has been allowed to build a squad of ‘mini-mes’ is beyond me. 

 

 

 Is this true though?

I'm more concerned about the fact he isn't getting the best out of some clearly talented players. Unconvinced by the need for great numbers of physical players-technique and movement given how the game is now can certainly do the job.

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17 hours ago, JonDolman said:

Definitely got it wrong this week. Got it so right against Fulham and Huddersfield though. Hope LJ learns from this. Doing well overall so far this season though.

Those games convinced LJ (and me) that we can play a 2-man central midfield pairing of Massengo and Nagy against anyone. 

However, Fulham and the Terriers played an open, passing game, allowing us space to press and counter attack.

Most teams in this Division aren't so accommodating and have exploited or weakness, the inability to dominate the middle third and link play in order to create goal scoring opportunities.

That means returning to 3-5-2 and trying to make it work, even at the expense of Eliasson.

Mind you, any tactical changes are useless if you haven't got midfield players who can tackle. Korey Smith has to play next Sunday. Plus, we need to sign another ball winner in January, or recall the capable Welsh international, Joe Morrell.

All hope is not lost in our quest for the play-offs because the sides around us are also inconsistent. Fulham have lost 3 on the bounce.

Here's to a happier Christmas. 

 

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6 minutes ago, Curr Avon said:

Those games convinced LJ (and me) that we can play a 2-man central midfield pairing of Massengo and Nagy against anyone. 

However, Fulham and the Terriers played an open, passing game, allowing us space to press and counter attack.

Most teams in this Division aren't so accommodating and have exploited or weakness, the inability to dominate the middle third and link play in order to create goal scoring opportunities.

That means returning to 3-5-2 and trying to make it work, even at the expense of Eliasson.

Mind you, any tactical changes are useless if you haven't got midfield players who can tackle. Korey Smith has to play next. Sunday, plus we need to sign another ball winner in January, or recall the capable Welsh international, Joe Morrell.

All hope is not lost in our quest for the play-offs because the sides around us are also inconsistent. Fulham have lost 3 on the bounce.

Here's to a happier Christmas. 

 

I just really don't like Rowe at left wing back, as he doesn't get up and down the line well enough for me.

But in a 352 or 343 I do believe there is room for Eliasson more central, but floating to either wing.

Eliasson was involved in all our chances yesterday wasn't he? Even on a rare off day he was one of our best players.

 

                                

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23 hours ago, Robert the bruce said:

?...your having a giraffe.

Last game aside - Williams is much more of an attacking threat than Webster ever was.

His positional sense is arguably better.

He is much more of a voice leader on and off pitch.

Let's not forget Webster was part of the defence torn apart by Palace pre-season. He was good (of course) but he also had his fair share of stinkers last season. Has Williams really let us down yet?

PS No giraffe in sight

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19 hours ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

I agree, I was waxing lyrical about going for Hughton on here back when he was transitioning from Newcastle to Brum, got shouted down quite a bit .... after that i’ve consistently highlighted Neil Warnock’s ability to promote teams from this division, and I’ve been roundly ridiculed, which is fine, everyone is entitled to an opinion. 

Meanwhile, between them, Hughton and Warnock have taken Newcastle, Brighton, QPR, Sheff Utd and Cardiff into the premier league from the championship. Impressive stuff .... now take a peek at LJ’s football management CV - yeh, nothing ...

 I've never quite understand the Warnock v Johnson thing, Warnock after 6 years of management was yet to manage a league team (although he was just about to as he'd got Scarborough promoted from the conference), certainly not a better resume than LJ, and not a stick you can use to beat LJ with. Admittedly, he did then go on to take Notts County up, but he achieved that after a couple more years of management than what LJ currently has. 

Hughton did better, but he was thrust into a recently premier league side in Newcastle, who had a squad that was way too good for this league. Since then (and during his time there) he as impressed I do agree (especially at Championship level), but would he want to come here? I doubt it heavily

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11 minutes ago, JBFC II said:

 I've never quite understand the Warnock v Johnson thing, Warnock after 6 years of management was yet to manage a league team (although he was just about to as he'd got Scarborough promoted from the conference), certainly not a better resume than LJ, and not a stick you can use to beat LJ with. Admittedly, he did then go on to take Notts County up, but he achieved that after a couple more years of management than what LJ currently has. 

Hughton did better, but he was thrust into a recently premier league side in Newcastle, who had a squad that was way too good for this league. Since then (and during his time there) he as impressed I do agree (especially at Championship level), but would he want to come here? I doubt it heavily

I think you’re right, Hughton wouldn’t even consider coming to City at this point in time - I reckon he could well be the next West Ham Manager. On the Warnock thing though, he’s averaged one promotion every four seasons in over 30 years as a football league manager - and he holds the record for the most promotions ever in our game, you seem to have forgotten to acknowledge that, you just refer to a promotion with Scarborough and one with Notts County, that’s a bit selective, you just can’t argue against Warnock’s record ...

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Just now, BS4 on Tour... said:

I think you’re right, Hughton wouldn’t even consider coming to City at this point in time - I reckon he could well be the next West Ham Manager. On the Warnock thing though, he’s averaged one promotion every four seasons in over 30 years as a football league manager - you just can’t argue against that record ...

No you can't, has an excellent record at getting out of the championship. My point was more that LJ is still at the start of his managerial career, you can't really compare his CV to that of Warnocks, who's near 40 years into his. 

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2 minutes ago, JBFC II said:

No you can't, has an excellent record at getting out of the championship. My point was more that LJ is still at the start of his managerial career, you can't really compare his CV to that of Warnocks, who's near 40 years into his. 

Fair point, but is LJ really at the start of his managerial career? He’s been a manager for around 350 league games now - he’s not inexperienced anymore ....

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3 minutes ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

Fair point, but is LJ really at the start of his managerial career? He’s been a manager for around 350 league games now - he’s not inexperienced anymore ....

He's not totally inexperienced true, but I would say he is comparatively when compared to Warnock for example

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1 minute ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

Fair enough, just look at his first 350 games as a football league manager then ...

True, they are excellent. But he had a good few years in non league, which would have been invaluable experience, so again not really comparable to LJ

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12 minutes ago, Street red said:

LJ needs to take a leaf out of Chris Wilders book 3 years 2 promotions and pretty much the same squad and certain players having played in all four leagues.

Isn’t it 3 years, 3 promotions for Wilder? Northampton in 2016, Blades in 2017 and Blades in 2019?

May 2016 to May 2019 is 3 years?  ... and don’t forget he also promoted Oxford in 2010 .... remember how some on here said he wasn’t good enough for us?! ??

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5 minutes ago, JBFC II said:

True, they are excellent. But he had a good few years in non league, which would have been invaluable experience, so again not really comparable to LJ

Fair enough, happy to disagree, I think Neil Warnock’s record is better than LJ’s ... you have reservations. That’s fine. It’s nice to have a normal discussion with you JBFC - enjoy the rest of your Sunday. Cheers ?

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On 14/12/2019 at 19:42, steveybadger said:

No I don't bother watching any games, I just guess and come on here to annoy people. Streuth.

Guess what, in some games we're crap and sometimes we're average and sometimes we're good. The last 2 we were poor and the 2 before that we were very good. And the table says we're the  7th best team in the division so far.

I think this weekend's common sense award get delivered to you Stevey. It's been an intensely frustrating week, more so given that I think most expected the full deck of points from Millwall and Blackburn, but what's happened has been a timely reminder of the utterly bonkers nature of this division. The meltdown that's greeted our drop to SEVENTH is disturbing and bizarre. 

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6 minutes ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

Isn’t it 3 years, 3 promotions for Wilder? Northampton in 2016, Blades in 2017 and Blades in 2019?

May 2016 to May 2019 is 3 years?  ... and don’t forget he also promoted Oxford in 2010 .... remember how some on here said he wasn’t good enough for us?! ??

Yea spot on? I knew it was something like that.. It's about keeping it simple and keeping a squad together.. How many time has LJ changed the squad now.. Pretty good achievement and proves without fuss it can been done.

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1 minute ago, Street red said:

Yea spot on? I knew it was something like that.. It's about keeping it simple and keeping a squad together.. How many time has LJ changed the squad now.. Pretty good achievement and proves without fuss it can been done.

You’re absolutely spot on mate - in the Sheff Utd team yesterday there were 8 players who’d faced Villa in the same fixture last season ...

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On 14/12/2019 at 20:04, steveybadger said:

17th best, 5th best attack. As I said, combining both is the most difficult bit but where we are in the league at this time suggests we're doing pretty well.

17th best defence and 5th best attack - Yes and in between is a midfield coached by a mediocre ex midfield player whose biggest strength was avoiding contact - a coach who fielded 2 x 5’ 8” Inexperienced DM’s  against a pretty good attack with skilful 6’ 6” players and stood there wringing his  hands when the midfield was overrun, ball winning backs on the bench???

This coach should not be allowed anywhere near the first team at home, he is a liability!

Tot up the cost of a family attending the gate - for less outlay you could buy and run a small car for the year!

Home form is not giving the fans a return on their investment!

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