RedRoss

You really can't have seen him play. He's brilliant.

Re: Mehmeti I would try him centrally in front of Knight and TGH. Maybe I'm clutching at straws because we don't have many options but that could work but could equally be a disaster.

Alot of people say this or he's underrated because you just don't see the work that goes unnoticed. I personally don't agree just look at his stats. I understand there is certain aspects of the game which will go unnoticed that are important that include off the ball movement, player positioning, communication ect Communication I think Matty does well by the way. He's important for that reason right now because we lack that throughout the squad. However I just think we need to improve on him. Not just him. I personally think we need two CM's to provide competition but would settle on one. I don't want to make him the scapegoat because it's not his fault I just don't think he complements the rest of our players. I'd say the same about Weimann, King or whoever else we'd try. He's the best we have currently so that's why I'm highlighting him particularly.

But isn't that only because we have no better options? I agree I prefer him in a 3 over say Williams, Weimann, King or OTC. However I'd argue we're better only because the other options are so poor.

The disconnect is our midfield. Knight is brilliant at breaking up play but what do we do with it. I know people will shoot me down but it's my opinion we need to improve and ultimately replace James. He's too slow and cumbersome, he always commits to his credit. He also tries long passes that don't often come off but atleast he's trying something. We need a ball carrier or a play maker of some kind. Same with Weimann. He's not a midfielder and seems to have lost that pressing edge he used to have. TGH needs more games because he atleast tries to make things happen. However, he's not the complete answer. We need a new CM addition in Jan as I can't see any in our squad injured or not that can progress us. We defend well, look for options to progress find out there isn't any recycle the ball. We do this very slowly and allow the opposition to reset. Do this a couple of times. Get frustrated hit it long or try a Hollywood pass and lose possession. When we play quickly and burst down the wings on occasions and get a ball in the box we have limited success. There has been alot of talk about Conway but he's feeding off scraps. I think if he had more opportunities presented to him he'd put them in the back of the net.

We were the same at Sheffield Wednesday we just got lucky with a Dickie goal. We don't have the players unfortunately that have enough quality to put their foot on the ball and relax in possession. The quality of passes and decision making is poor. It's rushed and and it's been like that for a while now. That could easily of been a team under Nigel so no reflection of Manning. The question is was Nige getting the players to play to their best or can Manning squeeze more over time. If JL/BT think we've got a competent squad to compete and it was just the person leading them holding them back I reckon they are in for a rude awakening. Most fans can tell you that we need quality additions with or without returning injured players.

Calculations on the back of a fag packet springs to mind. You've over estimated Manning/staff costs way too high and Nige's/staff too low. Here's a survey from 3 years ago. You'll see the average for a Championship manager is 878k and the drop off to League One is substantial to 182k. We'll likely have had to pay the remainder of a couple of months of Nige's larger wages and his staff. I listened to BBC Oxford Radio when the news broke and they discussed the compensation package and they understood it that Manning was on a 12 month rolling contract so we ultimately bought him out of that year. Would of been nowhere near 600k. His new contract with us will be larger than his last in League One and I'm almost certain he's doubled his last salary but it will still be less than half of what Nige's would of cost.

Yes initially we have to pay off outgoing staff for the short remainder of their existing contract and compensation for new staff from Oxford. However, you're not factoring in the money we would have spent on renewing Nige, Fleming and Rennie in the coming months. I guarantee they were on a much larger financial package than Manning and co are. Perhaps we've taken a hit now but over the longer term the finances even out.

Not sure you can ascertain that without being directly involved which of course you weren't. Infact I can recall many interviews with Nige where he said he wanted a smaller squad so they we're all fighting for positions. I also remember him being very pleased with signing TGH. I have no idea like you but you definitely can't say that's a lie with ultimate conviction. I know its fashionable on here to accuse every senior staff member of sabotage because of Nigels departure.

Nope never even thought about it.

Wow you are relentless with your anti Manning agenda. Over the last few hours you've said: Promotion or bust because JL says so even though you don't respect JL. Has to win straight away no excuses. The players clearly hate him because he's not Nige. He's not credited the current players enough even though he did and then compared it strangely to Clough telling Leeds players to rip up their medals. He'll over complicate football but football needs to instructed simply so it doesn't confuse the players (again I'm guessing another reference to Clough liking to keep it simple, I'm sure you've just watched a documentary recently and think you've cracked the manager code) You've automatically associated LJ with Manning because simply they are both young. I've probably missed some other golden nuggets from you. You really need to get over Nigel leaving. I know it's been hard on you since he left. Everytime you get into bed with NP pjamas on, in NP bedsheets and then waking up to a NP mug of tea. He's gone mate. It's fine to be critical you've more than done that. Like a broken record infact!

How do you know that?

You're joking! Oh no hope we have a receipt. First I've seen of this..

Someone just mentioned the reason on the OSIB podcast and they we're bang on. It's age bias.. if he was an older manager they wouldn't be saying it. LJ was accused of being a 'yes man' same with Holden and now the same with Manning.

This is also my worry. I'm not sure if we have the players to fit Mannings objective of retaining the ball. However, can he coach that or install the confidence for the existing players to do that. It'll go one way or the other. Plus as you said we'll need to strengthen correctly in January.

I think its more about principles not style of play. How would you describe our current style of play? I'd struggle to be honest, i don't think we have one. One week we dominate possession but don't do much with it. The next week we don't have possession but kill teams on the break. Other games we hit it long. I'm not critiquing Nige btw. He's had to clear out alot of deadwood to get us even to here. As already described in his recent interview Manning is going to focus on principles. I'd describe our team as hard working, put their bodies on the line, pacey, high intensity. I'm not sure the formation ect is that difficult to train professional players on. They will have played a mixture of formations and systems at other times in their career. It's the principle element that needs to continue the other bits just need refining.

What if he picks three at the back and we wins games? Still bin it yeah?

Do we? Individually surely we can have our own expectations for our new manager. Regardless of what JL says. I'll give him the same expectations as Nige. Better than last year. Top 10 would be good, top 6 would be excellent. Promotion would be unbelievable.

What if we're 7th?

I did see that said but didn't actually see any examples. If that's the case its just bizarre and outright stupid. Also as you highlight it may just be some. Why does it matter either way. They'll likely say something positive in respect of JL or Manning or something else club related and multiple other posters will say the opposite. I'd rather encourage debate rather than destroy it.

I understand the thought process but they can't be certain can they. Without proof it's abit unfair for potentially new users who are just regular city fans getting abuse for their perspective and accused of being BS employees. It couldn't equally be feasible that a huge change i.e the sack of Nige could attract new sign ups for discussion? We have regular browsers of the forum who haven't signed up already. We don't have to automatically attach a conspiracy of foul play and potentially put off new users. Again just seems a very gas like way of dealing with posters on here.

I agree I'm not sure why playing three at the back is so criticised by some posters. It's a perfectly good formation if used right and has been by loads of teams of the past including us. It's not even set in stone we'll use it.

They didn't. He made it up.