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Bat Fastard

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11 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

Has he ?

Are these injuries, perhaps, a symptom of bad player management ?

As I will repeat , other clubs are doing ok with the same problems. 

Couldn't agree more. As I said previously, a fact that @Bat Fastard went around the houses to avoid directly responding to, players like Martin, in the twilight of their careers, are being flogged to death because our illustrious leader can't or won't play anyone in their place. This is exasperating the injury issues, and thus causing further and bigger problems.

Players being played in the wrong positions and/or formations to suit the personel available is also not helping. It's a good job that Bentley is the established goalkeeper, otherwise I'm not sure that we wouldn't have seen him played up front at some point!!

We've also seemingly scrapped the blueprint for success and have turned to signing older more "experienced" (some may say past it) players. The last time we had a mix of that, and had a goalkeeper that saves us from more hidings than we deserve, we were relegated.

It's worrying, and the longer that the three stooges/clowns, call them what you will, stay at this club, the more worried I am that we will start heading out of the league. Just not in the direction that the higher ups want us to go towards.....

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1 minute ago, Bat Fastard said:

I have always thought that clubs sack managers too easily. If they see that the chap has a good plan, then give him time for it to work.  Dean obviously has the necessary qualities because the people who know him really well have faith in him.  Then you must consider his current list of difficulties. I judge him on what he has in terms of quality - other seem to condemn him because of his injury crisis. Injuries pass - he will be a better manager for all this tough experience.  Hold hard I say!

Of course you have to balance everything up - he has had a lot of injuries but that doesn't excuse the insipid performances. As others have mentioned this is a critical period : A run of games coming up that could see us being sucked into a relegation battle, and for me that's a battle we dont want to get into. Dean looks lost, and i think we need to be decisive and make a change. 

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I'm not sure I ever thought things would get this bad, even when over the first 10 games or so, I was one of those concerned by the performances, despite the results.

I also called out Holden on his training processes, when our injury problems were "problems" - not a complete debacle. The comments early season about extra sessions so we could be the fittest team in the league and the reported 'competitive' 11 v 11 games in training midweek between games. Makes you ask the question, would an inexperienced head-coach making mistakes on the 'pitch' make them 'off' them too? 

Yes the injuries mitigate to a certain extent, but when there have been so many, in the manner that so many of them happened, you have to admit it can't just be bad luck. For me the responsibility that needs to be taken for many of these injuries goes a long way to erase the 'bad luck' side of the debate. 

People go on about Towler and the left side. It's a lazy excuse - we've only had to start the last 4 games without a recognised senior LB. We've lost 10 of our last 15: In fact take away the first 4 wins in the league, we've gone 25 games with a 56% loss ratio. We had left sided players for the majority of those games. So?

Let's also add the fact that during this LB issue, we had a transfer window - yet brought in a CM. So we had 3 CM on the pitch against Watford and 3 more on the bench. Even with another 3 injured. Good planning?

And let's be honest, how are we even debating this left back issue? Sorry, since when did a professional footballer become incapable of defending on the left if they're right footed?? Sorry, bull-shit. Fine, they're limited going forwards, cutting back to cross, but defending? Nonsense. Anyone of our fullbacks or CB's could play on the left and make a tackle or block a cross. 

It's another in a long list of excuses rolled out. There has, at all times this season despite injuries, been enough quality in this squad, multi million pounds worth of signed 'talent' to be performing far, far better than we've seen.

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5 minutes ago, Bat Fastard said:

I have always thought that clubs sack managers too easily. If they see that the chap has a good plan, then give him time for it to work.  Dean obviously has the necessary qualities because the people who know him really well have faith in him.  Then you must consider his current list of difficulties. I judge him on what he has in terms of quality - other seem to condemn him because of his injury crisis. Injuries pass - he will be a better manager for all this tough experience.  Hold hard I say!

People are condemning him because he looks like a rabbit in the headlights of a lorry!!

He has:

- No favoured formation.

- No plan B

- Unwillingness to change things when it's quite clear his original plan isn't working. By the time he's made changes it's too late.

- Players being played out of position (yeah yeah sometimes through little choice, but explain why we're still trying to play Wells on a wing?)

- The free flowing attacking football we were told he wanted to play (by himself no less), is nowhere to be seen. We weren't even that attractive to watch when we were top of the league all those months ago!!

 

I agree, he may well end up being a better manager because of this experience. However it won't be at this club, or any other club at this level or above because he's out of his depth.

I admire the fact that you have your opinion and views, and won't be swayed from them. It's more like blind faith I'm afraid to say though.

 

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4 minutes ago, TonyTonyTony said:

Of course you have to balance everything up - he has had a lot of injuries but that doesn't excuse the insipid performances. As others have mentioned this is a critical period : A run of games coming up that could see us being sucked into a relegation battle, and for me that's a battle we dont want to get into. Dean looks lost, and i think we need to be decisive and make a change. 

Tony - you can change a manager but that does not solve the problem that we have 11 first teamers out, including all his left footed players. Those remaining are having to play through fatigue and frequently out of position.  A new manager would be faced with the same problems.  If we suffer any more injuries, we will soon be down to fielding youth players in this most difficult league.  The relegation battle is a threat. I just hope we meet two or three similarly injury hit clubs that enable us to get over the 50 points. We can regroup and refresh the squad over the summer and come again next season. I fear that that is the best we can hope for right now.  We are certainly not promotion candidated right now.

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1 minute ago, Taz said:

People are condemning him because he looks like a rabbit in the headlights of a lorry!!

He has:

- No favoured formation.

- No plan B

- Unwillingness to change things when it's quite clear his original plan isn't working. By the time he's made changes it's too late.

- Players being played out of position (yeah yeah sometimes through little choice, but explain why we're still trying to play Wells on a wing?)

- The free flowing attacking football we were told he wanted to play (by himself no less), is nowhere to be seen. We weren't even that attractive to watch when we were top of the league all those months ago!!

 

I agree, he may well end up being a better manager because of this experience. However it won't be at this club, or any other club at this level or above because he's out of his depth.

I admire the fact that you have your opinion and views, and won't be swayed from them. It's more like blind faith I'm afraid to say though.

 

There is no problem with us not being in agreement.  I reckon that Dean has to keep changing the formation because he has to adjust playing patterns to the squad that he has available. It seems very harsh to criticise him for having unbalanced teams when he has no left footers and is flogging half fit players week in and week out.

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8 minutes ago, Alessandro said:

I'm not sure I ever thought things would get this bad, even when over the first 10 games or so, I was one of those concerned by the performances, despite the results.

I also called out Holden on his training processes, when our injury problems were "problems" - not a complete debacle. The comments early season about extra sessions so we could be the fittest team in the league and the reported 'competitive' 11 v 11 games in training midweek between games. Makes you ask the question, would an inexperienced head-coach making mistakes on the 'pitch' make them 'off' them too? 

Yes the injuries mitigate to a certain extent, but when there have been so many, in the manner that so many of them happened, you have to admit it can't just be bad luck. For me the responsibility that needs to be taken for many of these injuries goes a long way to erase the 'bad luck' side of the debate. 

People go on about Towler and the left side. It's a lazy excuse - we've only had to start the last 4 games without a recognised senior LB. We've lost 10 of our last 15: In fact take away the first 4 wins in the league, we've gone 25 games with a 56% loss ratio. We had left sided players for the majority of those games. So?

Let's also add the fact that during this LB issue, we had a transfer window - yet brought in a CM. So we had 3 CM on the pitch against Watford and 3 more on the bench. Even with another 3 injured. Good planning?

And let's be honest, how are we even debating this left back issue? Sorry, since when did a professional footballer become incapable of defending on the left if they're right footed?? Sorry, bull-shit. Fine, they're limited going forwards, cutting back to cross, but defending? Nonsense. Anyone of our fullbacks or CB's could play on the left and make a tackle or block a cross. 

It's another in a long list of excuses rolled out. There has, at all times this season despite injuries, been enough quality in this squad, multi million pounds worth of signed 'talent' to be performing far, far better than we've seen.

If the quality and quantity of players available do not matter - your logic seems to extend to the playing all youth players with the right management.  Of course injuries make a difference when they impact upon how the team plays.

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5 minutes ago, Bat Fastard said:

There is no problem with us not being in agreement.  I reckon that Dean has to keep changing the formation because he has to adjust playing patterns to the squad that he has available. It seems very harsh to criticise him for having unbalanced teams when he has no left footers and is flogging half fit players week in and week out.

But even with fit left footed players (as you seem to be so big on this fact) he still has no favoured formation, and we still play dull, crap football. 

He was flogging half fit players even before the injury problems.

He has learned most of what he knows from Lee Johnson, the master of baffling bullshit. Too much of it has rubbed off on him, and it's more of the negative stuff than the positive. The Johnson/Holden partnership was far from master and apprentice.

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1 minute ago, Taz said:

But even with fit left footed players (as you seem to be so big on this fact) he still has no favoured formation, and we still play dull, crap football. 

He was flogging half fit players even before the injury problems.

He has learned most of what he knows from Lee Johnson, the master of baffling bullshit. Too much of it has rubbed off on him, and it's more of the negative stuff than the positive. The Johnson/Holden partnership was far from master and apprentice.

So how would you solve the problem of a team with no left footers, no wide players and limited defensive options?

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3 minutes ago, Bat Fastard said:

So how would you solve the problem of a team with no left footers, no wide players and limited defensive options?

You find a formation that fits the players that you have available to you, rather than being rigid and shoehorning players into positions they aren't comfortable with. How would you address it - without going around the houses to avoid answering the question? 

Where would you play Nahki Wells, a proven striker at this level who was scoring goals for fun before we signed him last year?

Would you play someone like Lansbury, an attacking midfield player? In a deep holding role which he has said himself he hates? 

Would you play Williams, a player with about 2 hours of u23 football since last summer, from the start two games in a row? Irrelevant now really because he's injured again, but your opinion?

 

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11 minutes ago, Bat Fastard said:

If the quality and quantity of players available do not matter - your logic seems to extend to the playing all youth players with the right management.  Of course injuries make a difference when they impact upon how the team plays.

I didn't say injuries don't have an impact. Nor did I say quality or quantity do not matter. So you're logic is wrong.

I said, we've had 4 games without a senior left sided player, so it is a lazy excuse from that perspective.

I also said, we have any of Hunt, Vyner, Moore, Mapps (that's almost 1000 first team games in there) who could have come across to the left and done an, albeit limited in ways, job, so we didn't have to put our second choice U23 left back in the LWB position against one of, if not, the best winger in the division on his league debut.

Injuries or not, there were options, there are options. Left footed or not, you can still play on a different side of the pitch. If not, why do wingers switch sides.

I presume Holden knew who we were playing on Saturday and knew their likely line-up, so I can only conclude his choice to play Towler against Sarr was a sign that his judgement is miles off, putting it politely. 

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21 minutes ago, Alessandro said:

I'm not sure I ever thought things would get this bad, even when over the first 10 games or so, I was one of those concerned by the performances, despite the results.

I also called out Holden on his training processes, when our injury problems were "problems" - not a complete debacle. The comments early season about extra sessions so we could be the fittest team in the league and the reported 'competitive' 11 v 11 games in training midweek between games. Makes you ask the question, would an inexperienced head-coach making mistakes on the 'pitch' make them 'off' them too? 

Yes the injuries mitigate to a certain extent, but when there have been so many, in the manner that so many of them happened, you have to admit it can't just be bad luck. For me the responsibility that needs to be taken for many of these injuries goes a long way to erase the 'bad luck' side of the debate. 

People go on about Towler and the left side. It's a lazy excuse - we've only had to start the last 4 games without a recognised senior LB. We've lost 10 of our last 15: In fact take away the first 4 wins in the league, we've gone 25 games with a 56% loss ratio. We had left sided players for the majority of those games. So?

Let's also add the fact that during this LB issue, we had a transfer window - yet brought in a CM. So we had 3 CM on the pitch against Watford and 3 more on the bench. Even with another 3 injured. Good planning?

And let's be honest, how are we even debating this left back issue? Sorry, since when did a professional footballer become incapable of defending on the left if they're right footed?? Sorry, bull-shit. Fine, they're limited going forwards, cutting back to cross, but defending? Nonsense. Anyone of our fullbacks or CB's could play on the left and make a tackle or block a cross. 

It's another in a long list of excuses rolled out. There has, at all times this season despite injuries, been enough quality in this squad, multi million pounds worth of signed 'talent' to be performing far, far better than we've seen.

Take away the incapable and think about is it advantageous. It frequently isn't. The foot patterns are different right to left and from full back to centre back and across the team. Defending principles = generally show outside. A right footed player playing left side showing a player outside will not be pushing off his dominant foot to defend. If the player does not spend extensive time working on this weakness he has to be less efficient. 

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8 minutes ago, Bat Fastard said:

So how would you solve the problem of a team with no left footers, no wide players and limited defensive options?

Dare I say it an experienced manger would not find themselves in this situation.

Out of interst you only seem to post when you are in a minority of one which is to be applauded but do you actually attend the football or do you just enjoy being contrary

 

 

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Just now, Cowshed said:

Take away the incapable and think about is it advantageous. It frequently isn't. The foot patterns are different right to left and from full back to centre back and across the team. Defending principles = generally show outside. A right footed player playing left side showing a player outside will not be pushing off his dominant foot to defend. If the player does not spend extensive time working on this weakness he has to be less efficient. 

Agree with all this, but even I could see that playing a right footed player on the left (with the disadvantages it brings) would be preferable to the complete and utter mismatch that was Towler and Sarr. 

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2 minutes ago, Taz said:

You find a formation that fits the players that you have available to you, rather than being rigid and shoehorning players into positions they aren't comfortable with. How would you address it - without going around the houses to avoid answering the question? 

Where would you play Nahki Wells, a proven striker at this level who was scoring goals for fun before we signed him last year?

Would you play someone like Lansbury, an attacking midfield player? In a deep holding role which he has said himself he hates? 

Would you play Williams, a player with about 2 hours of u23 football since last summer, from the start two games in a row? Irrelevant now really because he's injured again, but your opinion?

 

Ple.se sketch out your plans. How to make sure that all round pegs are in round holes.  Williams must have seemed like an answer to a huge problem - but he was not fully ready. There would have been a discussion between Dean and Joe before selection.  Senior players like Lansbury should be more able to fill in at defencive midfield - especially as he is not the most mobile 

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3 minutes ago, Abraham Romanovich said:

Dare I say it an experienced manger would not find themselves in this situation.

Out of interst you only seem to post when you are in a minority of one which is to be applauded but do you actually attend the football or do you just enjoy being contrary

 

 

I have followed City for nearly 55 years and been a season ticket holder for most of those years. I used to go to most away games until I became too old to do all the driving.  These are views that I have held for many years.  I supported Alan Dicks when similar things were being said about him.  This dissatisfaction with managers is not new, and changes of manager do not seem to automatically guarantee success.  The only manager who I really hated was Pulis.  He was the experience winner that everyone seems to be calling for now.  Dean is in his first head coach job and is learning as he goes. Not many would do better with the current available players.  When the grass seems greener on the other side of the fence, maybe it is time to fertilise your own grass!

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7 minutes ago, Alessandro said:

Agree with all this, but even I could see that playing a right footed player on the left (with the disadvantages it brings) would be preferable to the complete and utter mismatch that was Towler and Sarr. 

But then you still end up overplaying senior players. Hunt looks knackered most of the time. Hopefully Sessignon will soon be back to help and on the left we may have Nurse returning in the next week or two.

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@Bat Fastard - I've got to say, I find the thing you're doing, that others do too, of saying "well what would you do then?" very odd.

We are a bunch of fans on a football forum, it's not our job to find answers.

We have a CEO paid £500k a year to provide our head coach with a balanced squad to do his job.

We have a team of supposedly skilled physios and doctors whose job it is to keep these players as fit and prepared as possible.

We have a team of analysis researching our opponents. 

We have a head-coach who is also handsomely paid to find the solutions on the pitch.

Even with all those resources, you think you'll find answers, better answers on here? 

 

The bottom line is those people I mentioned above, if they are not finding the solutions, it's them you need to be asking the questions about.

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Just now, Alessandro said:

@Bat Fastard - I've got to say, I find the thing you're doing, that others do too, of saying "well what would you do then?" very odd.

We are a bunch of fans on a football forum, it's not our job to find answers.

We have a CEO paid £500k a year to provide our head coach with a balanced squad to do his job.

We have a team of supposedly skilled physios and doctors whose job it is to keep these players as fit and prepared as possible.

We have a team of analysis researching our opponents. 

We have a head-coach who is also handsomely paid to find the solutions on the pitch.

Even with all those resources, you think you'll find answers on here? 

 

The bottom line is those people I mentioned above, if they are not finding the solutions, it's them you need to be asking the questions about.

I agree with all that - but you do not seem to even be able to suggest solutions because maybe there are no decent solutions.  We need players to recover and start playing again. Those will recent operations are not likely to figure. Whatever you pay your management and support staff, these problems remain.  Dean is a football manager not a magician.

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5 minutes ago, Alessandro said:

Agree with all this, but even I could see that playing a right footed player on the left (with the disadvantages it brings) would be preferable to the complete and utter mismatch that was Towler and Sarr. 

Fitness is mentioned on this page. Collectively it was miss match across the pitch. With this fitness City do not pressurise the ball. City are second. The opposition are allowed to play. Bristol City are not a well defined counter attacking team. Towler did not come into a well defined defending unit. A point that goes further than Towler.

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1 minute ago, Bat Fastard said:

I agree with all that - but you do not seem to even be able to suggest solutions because maybe there are no decent solutions.  We need players to recover and start playing again. Those will recent operations are not likely to figure. Whatever you pay your management and support staff, these problems remain.  Dean is a football manager not a magician.

Ah but you've missed my point. What came first, the chicken or the egg?

IMO - if you don't address how we got into this situation, you don't find a solution.

The question marks are over those who got us in this position, and the question then is, would other, more qualified or suitable candidates have a) not got us in this position to start with and b) have better strategies, experience and solutions to get us out of it. 

I, and many many other City fans believe, yes, that is the case.

We can all point to and focus on small details like not having a LB for 4 games, but it's time to step back, look at the bigger picture and ask, if we keep doing what we're doing, we will continue to make the same mistakes.

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1 hour ago, Bat Fastard said:

We HAVE recruited England youth coaches. They are experienced in bringing on young players.  At the same time, amid all the injuries, covid, financial constraints and the like - they are under pressure to get results. If we played all young players in this league, we would likely be relegated.  There has to be a balance of old and young and that is all thrown out of the window if you lose all your left footers and have to play half the team out of position.  Whilst they are struggling with all these difficulties, my solution is to understand their plight and support them. Others on here seem to want to give them a good kicking when they are down.  Our higher impact players will return at some stage and after they have been nursed back to full match fitness, we may well see a different type of performance on the pitch.

Yes, it’s a good point you make about the England youth coaches Bat and that was the one thing the cushioned the blow for me when we appointed the very inexperienced Dean Holden.

Now hand on heart, can you see any evidence that they’ve had a positive effect on our set-up, because I sure as hell can’t!

At the moment, whichever way you look at the playing side of this club, there appears to be people who aren’t, or can’t do their jobs effectively.  There is masses that could be discussed on that matter, but my feeling is, SL has a big investment in this club and really can’t sit back and think this problem is going to cure itself.  

Fwiw, I personally don’t believe just sacking Dean Holden will sort everything out either, which would just be a rinse and repeat exercise.  I suspect our problems run far deeper than that.  

I’ve got absolutely no insider knowledge of this club, but from the outside, it looks like SL needs to take a very hard and critical look at who he’s appointed to make decisions on his behalf and assess how effectively he’s performing in that role!!!

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1 hour ago, Bat Fastard said:

 

Maybe a little prayer is not such a bad idea right now. 

Yes, absolutely old chap! Do we have a prayer? Just text my mate, works down the ground, he says: No, we don’t have a prayer. So, in light of this, how about :

Our Father, who art in tax exile,

Stephen be thy name.

Thy Kingdom wobbleth a tad, 

But Thy will be done

Or out the door ye go.

Give us this day our daily "we go again" 

And forgive us our bedsheets, 

As we don't forgive those

Who bedsheet, er, bullsheet, against us,

And lead us not back into L1,

And deliver us from Eastville.

For Thine is the Sporting Empire, 

But it'll be buggered if you don't pull yer finger out quick smart.

Amen to that.

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28 minutes ago, Bat Fastard said:

 Dean is in his first head coach job and is learning as he goes. 

Nail on the head,every one goes to school to learn, not everyone becomes an A* star pupil indeed some fail.

I feel sorry for DH he finds himself in a situation where his limitations are being quickly exposed , once in this tailspin there will be only one outcome it is only a case of when.

This is not hindsight to appoint a rookie was always a high risk gamble and unfortunately results and performance bear this out

 

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12 minutes ago, Alessandro said:

Ah but you've missed my point. What came first, the chicken or the egg?

IMO - if you don't address how we got into this situation, you don't find a solution.

The question marks are over those who got us in this position, and the question then is, would other, more qualified or suitable candidates have a) not got us in this position to start with and b) have better strategies, experience and solutions to get us out of it. 

I, and many many other City fans believe, yes, that is the case.

We can all point to and focus on small details like not having a LB for 4 games, but it's time to step back, look at the bigger picture and ask, if we keep doing what we're doing, we will continue to make the same mistakes.

Many of the injuries are simply down to bad luck. O'Dowda was playing a blinder when he got injured. Tommy Rowe was playing OK and even Mawson was not too bad.  The injury to Dasilva has been a long standing issue.  Baker, Martin are bad hamstrings and Williams and Walsh were clearly problematic.  Investigations are clearly ongoing but that does not solve the immediate problem.  Criticism without a solution seems harsh.  It has been like watching a car crash in slow motion and people saying "he shouldn't have done that".  Many on here remind me of the (if I recall correctly) the Harry Enfield character who would say " he didn't want to do that".  None of these responses are helpful if they simply load more pressure onto the beleaguered staff and players. I'm sure they know what the problems are.

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7 minutes ago, Abraham Romanovich said:

Nail on the head,every one goes to school to learn, not everyone becomes an A* star pupil indeed some fail .

I feel sorry for DH he finds himself in a situation where his limitations are being quickly exposed , once in this tailspin there will be only one outcome it is only a case of when.

This is not hindsight to appoint a rookie was always a high risk gamble and unfortunately results and performance bear this out

 

OK - but would any other manager be able to do any better with half a squad and no potential to recruit replacements?

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38 minutes ago, Bat Fastard said:

Ple.se sketch out your plans. How to make sure that all round pegs are in round holes.  Williams must have seemed like an answer to a huge problem - but he was not fully ready. There would have been a discussion between Dean and Joe before selection.  Senior players like Lansbury should be more able to fill in at defencive midfield - especially as he is not the most mobile 

Let me put this to you, as once again you've gone around the houses and avoided answering the original question(s) put to you.

As we plan all of our transfer windows ahead of time (2 or 3 ahead) why have we just gone through an entire transfer window, knowing full well we had no left back, or left sided players to fill in at that position before it opened and closed, but didn't recruit for that position at all?

In the meantime we bring in Lansbury who is an attack minded midfielder and will be on a fairly large wedge, so lack of money for wages obviously weren't an issue.

 

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22 minutes ago, BrizzleRed said:

Yes, it’s a good point you make about the England youth coaches Bat and that was the one thing the cushioned the blow for me when we appointed the very inexperienced Dean Holden.

Now hand on heart, can you see any evidence that they’ve had a positive effect on our set-up, because I sure as hell can’t!

At the moment, whichever way you look at the playing side of this club, there appears to be people who aren’t, or can’t do their jobs effectively.  There is masses that could be discussed on that matter, but my feeling is, SL has a big investment in this club and really can’t sit back and think this problem is going to cure itself.  

Fwiw, I personally don’t believe just sacking Dean Holden will sort everything out either, which would just be a rinse and repeat exercise.  I suspect our problems run far deeper than that.  

I’ve got absolutely no insider knowledge of this club, but from the outside, it looks like SL needs to take a very hard and critical look at who he’s appointed to make decisions on his behalf and assess how effectively he’s performing in that role!!!

It may well be the case that younger players are making great progress under the current coaching staff and that it is the massive injury list that is the problem.  These are experienced and talented people and will have an overall plan in mind. This appears to have been blow off course by the injuries.  Lets just hope we can get over the line and stay up and go again next year.

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1 minute ago, Taz said:

Let me put this to you, as once again you've gone around the houses and avoided answering the original question(s) put to you.

As we plan all of our transfer windows ahead of time (2 or 3 ahead) why have we just gone through an entire transfer window, knowing full well we had no left back, or left sided players to fill in at that position before it opened and closed, but didn't recruit for that position at all?

In the meantime we bring in Lansbury who is an attack minded midfielder and will be on a fairly large wedge, so lack of money for wages obviously weren't an issue.

 

Maybe we didn't want to have six left backs and thought that some of the injury problems would resolve themselves in time to influence the season.  I have no deep knowledge of the inner workings on the training ground, but that would seem logical.  We have lacked experience in midfield.  If had been down to me, I would have extended the stay of Korey Smith.  Clearly we have some good young players coming through - but just not fully ready yet.

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13 minutes ago, Bat Fastard said:

OK - but would any other manager be able to do any better with half a squad and no potential to recruit replacements?

It would be reasonable to expect any Manager or coach in the timescale Mr Holden has had to start putting in obvious elements of his front foot football in and out of possession. The Tombola is reflective of Mr Johnson. He was number two there, the new number one was meant to be different.

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