Fuber

Only of those I'd consider would be Wilder, Neil, and as a wildcard, Rosler.

I'd argue nobody here would want Campbell, Lambert, Monk, Lennon, nor Pulis, they can be wrote off completely.

The only ones of any of these that have a style and philosophy are Rosler, Wilder, and outside of these, Lowe.

Wilder is probably the only person available who would be an upgrade on Pearson. Only in that his formation better suites the players we have available, i.e. 3-5-2.

7 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said:

It's an interesting system - feels a bit like shoehorning in lots of good players slightly out of position but I can see the logic. I assume it would be with Reid dropping a tad deeper, Bryan staying pretty disciplined on the left with Kodjia given a bit more free reign? Similar to the Liverpool system?

Basically yep.

Wouldnt quite call it shoe horning - just fluid. Pressing style as per LJs second full season, such a system doesn't require as strict positioning and can easily be rotated between phases. Lots of legs in the middle for closing and tracking runners, forcing openings.

14 minutes ago, TonyTonyTony said:

Joe Bryan in a front 3??

 

Id have Brownhill, Brownhill, Brownhill, Brownhill and Brownhill right now

In my head I'm thinking more fluid, just more akin to him and DaSilva down the left, rotating.

Bryan's best games for us came at LM imo. Man Utd as an example.

9 minutes ago, Fuber said:

Reid, Bryan, Webster, Brownhill, Kodjia

Just to add with the above, i.e. I'd line up akin to:

Bentley

Kalas, Webster, Atkinson, DaSilva,

Brownhill, Massengo, Williams,

Kodjia, Reid, Bryan (rotate with DaSilva down the left).

4-4-1-1/4-2-3-1.

Reid, Bryan, Webster, Brownhill, Kodjia

It's huge. Simply with regards to how many areas with regard to staffing need an overhaul.

Medical is in Rennie's capable hands.

Fitness there are possible question marks, but that could be still due to the work of the previous team under Rolls' guidance.

Coaching - Downing and Simpson (you assume) must have been sacked on some reasoning, in progress.

Squad - Major overhaul needed, however the most expensive area, added to which we have no funds available.

The only area where we appear fine is academy.

It's a huge task. Arguably even worse than what O'Driscoll had, as the fitness team then with Carr, etc, was at least capable - never too many injuries. That aside there are many parallels. Lack of identity, expensive flops, cutting costs.

1 hour ago, jj77 said:

He spends crumbs on the club compared to his wealth. Lets not pretend he does more than any other billionaire owner (Mike Ashley excused)

 

Wouldn't agree with that. Compared to most owners at this level is net spend is very substantial. I also don't doubt SLs commitment to the club.

The fundamental issue is that basic decisions have been wrong, name at the top of the heirarchy and with regards to all management appointments.

1 minute ago, Davefevs said:

I like this post 

I like this one too, actually I like this one even more.

Yes, but he was suffering ill-health and had stepped back a bit from what I recall.  Was chatting to someone in recruitment the other day and he said Keith was bonkers!

Yet still achieved better recruitment under him than Ashton.

How shite must the latter have been?

40 minutes ago, VT05763 said:

Can't be long before the senior players take him aside - IMO.

They're the ones who in the large aren't performing.

If they try taking Nige aside I hope he ****ing outs the boot into them.

47 minutes ago, Bs4Red said:

Pearson only needs a centre half to lump the ball. We could play with no midfield and it wouldn’t matter.

This squad isn’t as bad as is made out, that’s been proven. What he’s doijg with it is the problem. 

Barnsley have a far worse side and played much better football than us by far. 

 

 

Barnsley came fifth last season with near that same squad, less one player.

The difference was their manager. The replacement for whom has now been sacked.

1 minute ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

We got rid of 12 players last summer. This isn't fantasy football league where you can just sack most of the rest off and bring in a lot of newbies and expect them to be a great team. Apart from anything there isn't the money to do that.

Realistically, Pearson (or any manager who'd replace Pearson) will have to work largely with what we have and seek to improve and get the best out of them. Blackpool have shown this can be done with "L1" players.

But ATM we're miles from getting the best out of what we have. We seem to have regressed people, not improved them.

For this reason, I think Pearson and Fleming - both of whom seem genuine, feet-on-the-ground, decent guys - could do with a bit of coaching help from someone with a fresh perspective. Someone really good. As an investment, it's more affordable than "buy 10 new players next summer".

 

I agree 100% with the above in bold.

Only point of contention I'd raise is that confidence goes a major way, re Blackpool.

When that inertia wears off will be their acid test. Confidence is short term, ability longer.

1 minute ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Think Williams is a big miss tbh. That unit could be a platform for better things IMO if fit and consistently in there as a 3- him, James and Massengo.

Think he had a 70-80% availability average at his prior 3 loan clubs or clubs- Wigan, Bolton, Barnsley in whatever order- strange how that's imploded here or desperately unlucky.

Think it's the impact of the historical misdiagnosis under Rolls' medical team, where he went missing for half a year.

That long out with no treatment may have taken much more of a toll than many, including Rennie, may have realised.

1 minute ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Williams is League One standard? Definitely can't see that as the case, Weimann has quite a useful return, Martin is being and has been flogged, Wells- well we don't play the way that QPR did when they had a better version of him not so long ago. Scott and Semenyo as we know have promise.

Martin has scored 7 goals in 70 games across 4 years. I just do not think he offers enough.

Wells is, for me, part of a wider problem with regards to squad balance.

Just now, Mr Popodopolous said:

Williams is League One standard? Definitely can't see that as the case, Weimann has quite a useful return, Martin is being and has been flogged, Wells- well we don't play the way that QPR did when they had a better version of him not so long ago. Scott and Semenyo as we know have promise.

Williams isn't league one standard. But evidently unfortunately cannot be relied upon.

Just my personal ultra critical take.

13 minutes ago, Edgy Red said:

I completely agree Fuber and i'm certainly not denying that Johnson brought alot of players in, many of which didn't work out.

I think what is frustrating me most is that we are no further forward than we were 2 or 3 years ago.

Pearson was appointed as someone who would shake things up and sort us out, but if anything, we are going backwards.

We are in a relegation battle and the January window will be pivotal as to whether we survive in The Champ.

Not sure I agree 100% with this.

I can't compare to the second half of last season, as players simply downed tools altogether. It wouldn't be fair. No manager is getting anything from that squad, ie. the previous fitness disaster earlier last season, let alone the morale impact of the contractual situations being what they were i.e. Pato, Hunt, Diedhiou, Watkins, Walsh, etc.

I agree to us having gone backwards, but that's as has been highlighted is something with regards to the coaching.

Of whom we have sacked our two most senior in the last 10 days aside from Fleming. Likely no coincidence.

My suspicion is that part of the reasoning for NP's watching from the stands is to see how well organised and communicative we are with regards to movement between phases - basic coaching for a match day, I.e. pressing. I assume he hasn't been pleased with his findings, hence Downing and Simpson being shown the door. Will be interesting how soon any appointment to the staff will come.

Add in Benarous coming on against Barnsley and Pearson's ethos on training and match day performance deciding his squad for him, it makes you question the dedication behind the scenes when Ayman is beating Palmer and O'Dowda to the first 11, among others.

Ive said it before, but if we avoid relegation this season, can only be a positive in my book.

32 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

The evidence is our own ******* eyes.

These players HAVE played better. They HAVE been more organised. They HAVE been able to close down attackers better. They HAVE been less wayward in passing. They HAVE made better runs off the ball.  They HAVE linked up better.

But - with what I consider only a temporary and very marginal improvement in their ability at the start of this season - it has been a slow decline in their ability to do the basics. Until you get a game like tonight, where we end up looking like pub players. 

So, given that they weren't always this shit, what can you blame the decline in their footballing ability on?

Yes morale can come into it, but ultimately we don't seem to be coached to do basic things.  Bloody Yeovil standard players would've been embarrassed by that third goal.  Stuff like that quite simply should never be happening. 

I agree - many of them can indeed do better.

But in my opinion, which is open to disagreement, I simply do not think the large majority of this squad are good enough or suited to this league. Which I think is a larger factor.

The only members of this squad on paper I'd keep concrete for the first eleven are Bentley, Atkinson, Massengo, Scott, Williams (if fit), and James, possibly Weimann. Add in a couple of younger players as squad options and the academy prospects (I.e. Tanner, Pring, Benarous).

The rest of them I simply wouldn't miss. Even Kalas - who while outstanding in his own right, does not get basic communication right whatsoever, which is imperative when you have two inexperienced defenders either side of you.

Of course, I could be completely wrong, NP gets sacked down the line, and things improve. But that's a matter of hindsight.

25 minutes ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

Yep- he probably felt the same way at his last three clubs:

 

Sacked by :

Derby 8/10/16

OH Leven 52/19

Watford 19/7/20

and it's now all everyone's fault except one of the worst performing managers in recent history.

Good luck everyone if you think the problem is BCFC alone. 

If rumours with regards to his time at Derby are correct, he all but walked out on Morris but was apparently 'sacked'. The latter interfering with his running of the club, again, if believed.

Leuven, foreign club, different league, always was going to be a challenge. Many other managers aside from NP have tried and failed who are better than him. Moyes, etc.

Watford - bottom when he took over, 17th when they sacked him. Went onto lose their last two with an absolute whimper and got relegated. If anything it's a plus on his CV rather than a negative.

4 minutes ago, Edgy Red said:

But again to be fair we got our money back on players like Eisa and Szmodics. 

Of course there were mistakes and i'm not denying that Johnson was backed financially but i just don't see where Nige is taking us (other than Lg1)

It was clear to every single City fan that we needed offensive reinforcements in the summer and if that meant that we didn't spend nearly 2million on Atkinson then so be it

We may have broke even on the initial fee, but we still blew wages on them for a year apiece in Sammie and Eisa's cases.

They're a small portion of the profits blown that I could name, I could go on to list Magnússon, Djuric, Taylor Moore, Hegeler, Gary O'Neil, Joel Ekstrand, Giefer, Marinovic, Adelakun, among many others.

The list goes on and on with regards to Money wasted on the wage bill.

4 minutes ago, JoeAman08 said:

COD and Palmer aren’t playing though. And if I add some OTIB scapegoats like Vyner and Bakinson, they aren’t really holding us back financially. 
 

It is nice that some care but wouldn’t it be nice if they could play at a decent level? 

Did you just take world class managers and compare them to Pearson, Warnock, Houghton and McCarthy? 

Go look at the top 10 teams in this league and their managers. Not much experience in the championship but all doing better than the dinosaurs. 

Worth noting that all said teams are able to write off the majority of their COVID losses with regards to FFP where their wages were moderately more sustainable than the likes of us, Derby, Reading, Cardiff, and 'Boro.

We blew all our profit, on wages I.e. up the wall for mediocre options. Blame is square on LJ for that, and MA for allowing/encouraging it.

6 minutes ago, ashton_fan said:

SL was in charge when Cotts became manager so must have appointed him. It wasn't all bad under LJ, he actually did as well as anyone at this club in the 2nd tier if you think about it, at least we were never in danger of relegation which hasn't been the case with virtually every other manager we've had (apart from his dad).

Was Dawe not Chairman until 2016?

3 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

I actually think the coaching is as much to blame as the players. These guys are not all "L1 standard" as some claim. We've seem most of them perform far better, both here and at other clubs. Lets face it, we've seen most of them play better earlier in the season.

It's in this respect, I wonder if Pearson isn't someone who talks the talk, but doesn't walk the walk.

As Leicester fans have told us, Craig Shakespeare was crucial to his success there in their opinion.

Do we need better replacements for Simpson and Downing?

 

On what evidence?

Bentley, Kalas, DaSilva, Atkinson, James, Baker - arguably would agree, Championship Quality.

Massengo - likely too good for us.

Pring, Tanner  - Solid squad options, but only young and lacking experience at this level.

Note the common theme, no forward players anywhere have I listed. And barring Massengo and James, no midfielders.

The rest? - wouldn't touch any of them with a barge pole for the first eleven given a choice. Especially on their supposed wages.

26 minutes ago, JoeAman08 said:

He is a dinosaur. Those older managers living off past successes are all failing. Forest and Cardiff were smart enough to get rid. Middlesborough aren’t exactly flying either. Without looking I reckon the top 10 teams don’t have a manager older than 50. Fresh faces and fresh ideas is the way forward. 

LJ got us into this mess. Along with MA.

Pearson's signings are the only ones barring a handful of individuals who seem to care, we're still bogged down by the likes of O'Dowda, Palmer, etc on the books who shouldn't even have a career at this level imo.

13 minutes ago, ashton_fan said:

When you look at the stadium, training ground and all the transfers must be close to £100m

Unfortunately gets it wrong when it counts. MA, LJ, etc.

Cotts was a Dawe appointment iirc.

2 minutes ago, Edgy Red said:

To be fair he had funds because we had consistantly raised money by selling players... Kodjia, Magnússon, Kelly etc.

The FFP debate annoys the hell out out of me but at least LJ gave players a chance who went on to make us decent profits.

If Nige has to cash in on Massengo or Bentley to bring in a couple of forward options then so be it

This ignores the tens of signings made under LJ and MA's purview that didn't make it with us. Engvall, Szmodics, Eisa, plus a multitude of others.