Some Questions From The Watford Game...

[Olé]

Why is Jamie McAllister STILL in the team? Who does he have pictures of?

Why have we continued to stockpile wingers rather than addressing the pressing needs in defence and in particular full back?

Why when in the 1st minute James made a fantastic save were only the Watford strikers first to the loose ball, yet in the second half when Rose and Stead combined for Rose to sting their keepers hands, were only the Watford defenders reacting to the loose ball? Are our players not interested at either end?

Have we not got any halfway competent young central defenders - Wilson, Ribeiro, anyone?? - who could have come in and provided a bit more quality than the hoof and hope play from Stewart?

Why did Stead join us - with that type of work rate and quality he could have gone to a team where some of his teammates might get involved as well?

Why is no one pulling Adomah aside and giving him some advice so he can better channel his raw but clear talent? Is it because half our team didn't show up and were therefore too embarrassed or disinterested to tell one of the few players who was trying, what he needed to be doing?

Why are we playing a decent player like Skuse in positions he struggles with - left wing and right back - but asking him to organise the team from there?

Why did we take off a striker for a winger, then a little later take off a midfielder for a striker?

Why did we bring Danny Rose into an advanced role on the left, where he created a few things, only to move him to defensive midfield less than 10 minutes later?

Why after weeks of training are we still unable to do anything but hoof increasingly flat long balls into grateful central defenders?

Why when we're unable to create absolutely anything, do we not have Lee Johnson, who was our most creative player in our last home game?

Who was that referee and what on earth was his problem?

Why was the referee so obsessively giving decisions to Watford, a well organised, slick team who needed no favours to take 3 points against the dross we served up?

Why did Sproule give the Dolman an up yours sign after Rose' overhit pass?

Why has the club's ability to defend got progressively worse and more hopeless since the appointment of a former central defender and defensive coach?

Why is Jamie McAllister STILL in the team? (so perverse it needs asking twice)

Who believes we're not stumbling towards spending a season battling in the relegation places?

And finally, how many of these questions are new to the Watford game and how many have been asked before and ignored?

I went to Ipswich and McAllister was garbage. If Millen wants to be taken seriously as a manager he needs to pull his finger out and start addressing glaring long standing faults in the team instead of just perpetuating this six month shambles of p*ssing about with bringing other more glamorous players into the side and not repairing what is actually wrong. In a month our new boss has spent a million and brought in several "names" but no fixes. Why?

Yes Coppell turned our club upside down, left us with an inbalanced oversized squad, then b*ggered off. Now we've given the job to someone who enjoyed a misleading post Gary Johnson bounce - and even so I supported Millen getting it - but he doesn't seem to know what to do and that was as badly prepared and badly managed a home performance as the thrashings we got from Cardiff and Doncaster at AG last season. Half the crowd leaving so early says it all.

The club has more players and more coaches than at any time in recent memory, yet we're in more of a mess than ever. I don't like over reaction as much as anyone else on here, but taken together isn't anyone at least considering the possibility our club has been utterly mis-managed since the fall out of Johnson leaving? Who are all these people and what are they doing? The few qualities we could at least expect from the club seem to have gone out the window.

[chinapig]

Spot on as ever, though don't expect Keith to answer. I would also be inclined to ask why the players drove Gary Johnson out of the club and wanted Keith to replace him? Could it because he is a nice guy who will not give them a hard time after performances like that and certainly not drop any hand grenades? Imagine if you are the likes of McAllister and Elliot and are guaranteed a place regardless of how abject (and in the case of Elliot how lazy) you are? Does any of them give a toss when they are in the comfort zone? It certainly doesn't look like it does it? Gary was too loyal to too many for too long and paid the price. So will Keith if he is not ruthless now. No more we'll work on it in training platitudes. Meanwhile thanks to Steve Coppell for Hunt and Stewart, two of the worse defenders we have had for a long time. The words shit creek and paddle come to mind.

[Coach]

Also:

Why is Jamie McAllister STILL in the team?

Why bring Ivan Sproule on and then fail to give him a single ball to run on to? What else can he do?!?

Why ship out John Akinde, who frightens defenders to death, and keep modest David Clarkson?

Why play Elliott, Cisse & Skuse in a home midfield?

[Bodiesaffer]

Spot on as ever, though don't expect Keith to answer. I would also be inclined to ask why the players drove Gary Johnson out of the club and wanted Keith to replace him? Could it because he is a nice guy who will not give them a hard time after performances like that and certainly not drop any hand grenades? Imagine if you are the likes of McAllister and Elliot and are guaranteed a place regardless of how abject (and in the case of Elliot how lazy) you are? Does any of them give a toss when they are in the comfort zone? It certainly doesn't look like it does it? Gary was too loyal to too many for too long and paid the price. So will Keith if he is not ruthless now. No more we'll work on it in training platitudes. Meanwhile thanks to Steve Coppell for Hunt and Stewart, two of the worse defenders we have had for a long time. The words shit creek and paddle come to mind.

Spot on guys, but I think stewart is the worse. Hunt has been injured for too long and needs games but not all in the 1st team.

We have also sold or lost are leaders. There's no spin to are team.

[internetjef]

OH DEAR

that was really bad. The worst hoof ball i have seen since we played watford about 2 seasons back, unfortunately this time it was us playing it.

Defensively we were all over the place, and central midfield pairing lacked any quality or positional sense.

Only positive points were Adomah looked lively, Rose looked very good and linked up with Stead a few times who i thought was our best player. Stead clearly wants it on the deck though as does pitman who didnt get a sniff.

I expect we will move Skuse inside for elliot/cisse in next match to bring in Rose, whether Skuse has the ability to get the ball to our forwards is aoother story. Wouldnt it have been good to have Williams as an option off the bench tonight?

[fka dagest]

Why is Skuse captain and an automatic pick? Classic Jack of all trades - master of none. There's not a single position he plays in where there isn't someone better to play instead. Time to stop believing the hype people.

[Martyn Hocking]

Don't worry guys - Keith will have worked it all out over a glass of wine with his older mucker Malkay Mackay after the final whistle - see this nauseating story here that was posted on the official site earlier today:

http://www.bcfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10327~2152989,00.html

FYI Keith, we hate the sort of football Watford play and have zero interest in hearing about what a great time you had there - nor do I, personally, want to know that you have a cosy relationship with the staff of a club we are about to face. Did Malkay pat you on the head and say 'better luck next time son' as he left your office on his way home?

[chinapig]

Don't worry guys - Keith will have worked it all out over a glass of wine with his older mucker Malkay Mackay after the final whistle - see this nauseating story here that was posted on the official site earlier today:

http://www.bcfc.co.u...2152989,00.html

FYI Keith, we hate the sort of football Watford play and have zero interest in hearing about what a great time you had there - nor do I, personally, want to know that you have a cosy relationship with the staff of a club we are about to face. Did Malkay pat you on the head and say 'better luck next time son' as he left your office on his way home?

Did you note the contrast between Mackay screaming at his team when they were well on top and Millen standing with his arms folded and occasionally clapping his players (for what?!)? Who wanted it more I wonder? Still no doubt he is delighted for his old club and mate.

[Antman]

I would like to reiterate; why IS McAllister in the team?

work has kept me away from City for a while, I follow the reports and went to the Millwall game, but looked forward to tonight. On the back of a win at S****horpe (albeit luckily at times it appears) I thought maybe Millen had turned a corner and got the team functioning as a unit.

oh dear.

Take on board all of Ole's points, and agree.

But D.James' save ? can he not catch the damn thing once in a while, he seems to like using his body to parry the ball when holding it makes more sense. He also CLEARLY does not behave like one of the team, one of the lads - his body language is one of disinterest and a strange disconnected relationship with the rest of the team.

he doesn't command, he doesn't Shepherd the defence, he doesn't BOSS it! when he is barking, he's shouting at the players backs as they are walking away. - is he better than Dean? but more worringly can Millen ever drop him?

Cisse - what was his role tonight? playing him behind elliott didn't work - watford (a horrid, well drilled, bunch of physical jerks, spoilers and time wasters) passed their way around them both to the point when I forgot Elliott was on the pitch. Get skuse and elliott in the middle playing alongside each other. give them a chance to dominate where they play best.

Now sit down and hold on - we need Johnson, yes, NEED, someone who can distribute the ball if we are not going to sink without trace. no-one tonight was capable of passing the ball, not whooshing those dreadful low flat long balls, but passing.

I watched Watford break as a team, defend as a team and work as a team, we looked like a bunch of lower division players who didn't know what they were doing, but more worryingly didn't CARE what they were doing. disinterested, disjointed and despairing.

and on to Millen. to see our manager staring at his shoes, kicking his toes into the ground like a sullen teenager was a big old worry - where was the anger at such a DREADFUL performance, the motivation, the communication, what about Wrigley, no presence from the sidelines, no inspiration nothing at all.

had he resigned himself to such a shambles 60 minutes in? his substitutions lacked clarity and were poor. lead from the front keith, get it by the balls and LEAD!

(to follow up on Coach's comment - I agree, we play Albert, although he's young raw and a long way from championship material, but Akinde who is young, raw, powerful is overlooked to the point where we seem to want him gone. - uh?)

clarkson? to mis quote old Kev Spacey ' the biggest trick the devil ever pulled was making us believe Clarkson was a striker' -

Stead I like, he worked hard and lacked players around him.

Coppell has come in, taken an almighty dump on BCFC and walked off scratching his confused little bald head - I'll not ever forgive him for that.

we have a problem, and we need to sort it out.

[Drew Peacock]

Hunt has been injured for too long and needs games but not all in the 1st team.

Injured or not injured, you don't let the ball bounce when an opposition attacker is bearing down on you. Sheer schoolboy defending that has nothing to do with fitness and everything to do with ability.

[petehinton]

why is Mccallister still in the team?!?!

[red badger]

All very good questions - I can't help feeling the same sinking feeling I had when Tinnion got the job...Steve Lansdown has made a huge gamble.

Tonight was pitiful - over a hundred mile round trip for a game that barely got started for us...did we create a single chance? Can I be bothered to do that again on Saturday? My family think I'm mad.

What part of the sales pitch for the STs was...."we're offering an unproven manager, a team of strangers, no pattern or shape in our play, a porous defence and hit and hope attacking"....

....so here's another question...which other Championship club would have appointed Keith Millen as their manager?....not a hard one to answer.

[NickJ]

Why is Jamie McAllister STILL in the team? Who does he have pictures of?

Why have we continued to stockpile wingers rather than addressing the pressing needs in defence and in particular full back?

Why when in the 1st minute James made a fantastic save were only the Watford strikers first to the loose ball, yet in the second half when Rose and Stead combined for Rose to sting their keepers hands, were only the Watford defenders reacting to the loose ball? Are our players not interested at either end?

Have we not got any halfway competent young central defenders - Wilson, Ribeiro, anyone?? - who could have come in and provided a bit more quality than the hoof and hope play from Stewart?

Why did Stead join us - with that type of work rate and quality he could have gone to a team where some of his teammates might get involved as well?

Why is no one pulling Adomah aside and giving him some advice so he can better channel his raw but clear talent? Is it because half our team didn't show up and were therefore too embarrassed or disinterested to tell one of the few players who was trying, what he needed to be doing?

Why are we playing a decent player like Skuse in positions he struggles with - left wing and right back - but asking him to organise the team from there?

Why did we take off a striker for a winger, then a little later take off a midfielder for a striker?

Why did we bring Danny Rose into an advanced role on the left, where he created a few things, only to move him to defensive midfield less than 10 minutes later?

Why after weeks of training are we still unable to do anything but hoof increasingly flat long balls into grateful central defenders?

Why when we're unable to create absolutely anything, do we not have Lee Johnson, who was our most creative player in our last home game?

Who was that referee and what on earth was his problem?

Why was the referee so obsessively giving decisions to Watford, a well organised, slick team who needed no favours to take 3 points against the dross we served up?

Why did Sproule give the Dolman an up yours sign after Rose' overhit pass?

Why has the club's ability to defend got progressively worse and more hopeless since the appointment of a former central defender and defensive coach?

Why is Jamie McAllister STILL in the team? (so perverse it needs asking twice)

Who believes we're not stumbling towards spending a season battling in the relegation places?

And finally, how many of these questions are new to the Watford game and how many have been asked before and ignored?

I went to Ipswich and McAllister was garbage. If Millen wants to be taken seriously as a manager he needs to pull his finger out and start addressing glaring long standing faults in the team instead of just perpetuating this six month shambles of p*ssing about with bringing other more glamorous players into the side and not repairing what is actually wrong. In a month our new boss has spent a million and brought in several "names" but no fixes. Why?

Yes Coppell turned our club upside down, left us with an inbalanced oversized squad, then b*ggered off. Now we've given the job to someone who enjoyed a misleading post Gary Johnson bounce - and even so I supported Millen getting it - but he doesn't seem to know what to do and that was as badly prepared and badly managed a home performance as the thrashings we got from Cardiff and Doncaster at AG last season. Half the crowd leaving so early says it all.

The club has more players and more coaches than at any time in recent memory, yet we're in more of a mess than ever. I don't like over reaction as much as anyone else on here, but taken together isn't anyone at least considering the possibility our club has been utterly mis-managed since the fall out of Johnson leaving? Who are all these people and what are they doing? The few qualities we could at least expect from the club seem to have gone out the window.

I had made up my mind to start a thread tonight.

However you've said pretty much everything on my mind.

Firstly just to reiterate the many points I agree with:

- how Stewart is playing ahead of a fit Carey, I will never know

- how we can play a back 4 without a natural leader but leave Carey on the bench, I will never know

- plenty of ill informed posters used to criticise Orr's distribution; I like McCallister's combative approach but his distribution isn't a patch on Bradley's

- if Hunt is an England under-21 Orr will walk into the full team any time soon.

- after season upon season without a winger worthy of the name, we ended tonight with 3 on the pitch but theoretically the best in centre midfield: why?

- Why is our best central midfield player being used as a left winger and right back?

- Gary Johnson spent much of his latter 2 seasons accommodating centre midfield and playing Elliott and Sno on the wing; why is Millen now making the similar mistake to the detriment of Skuse and the team?

- Stead is a pretty footballer and hard working, but he won't score more than 10 goals in a season; he's too similar to Clarkson

- So, in the absence of Maynard and Haynes, we've spent a million quid but I don't see many goals coming our way from either of the new strikers

- Why hasn't Akinde, a kid with raw aggression, strength and desire (ie a combination of qualities lacking in all of our other strikers), not been given a proper chance

- Why did we play like a team that had never met each other.

- Why was our build up play so pedestrian, predictable and laboured?

- That was one boring game of football.

Which secondly takes me on to the root cause and lets face it starts at the top. SteveL is a genuine guy - even if I don't agree with all of his views eg the new stadium, the East End, etc - that much I have come to appreciate but the figurehead of the organisation turns up on the morning of each match (presumably) and then flies home to Guernsey again. How can you run a "business" by telephone and email? The leader of an organisation has to be around the place. Or have some fairly dynamic people running it for you. And as convivial a chap and safe pair of hands as Colin might be, he isn't that, and I don't see Millen and Wrigley having the players think they have to stay on their toes, or else, either.

And a serious question.

Why, in May of this year, if it was considered that Millen wasn't ready for the job and we needed experience, was the complete opposite the decision making process when Coppell deserted?

I didn't get too excited when Coppell arrived, I'm not too disappointed with Millen's appointment, however there does appear to be a certain inconsistency in the strategy. Which is quite concerning.

Was it really necessary to appoint Millen within 24 hours of Coppells' departure? Wouldn't a period of 4 weeks to search for an alternative and let Millen prove his worth been a better approach?

I like Millen and – obviously – hope he succeeds. But on tonights performance, if continued, we will be relegated, because Watford are a very average side.

As I heard someone say after the game, you'd have seen more strategy in a game of Connect 4 than we did at the Gate tonight.

Don't like to criticise, particularly so early on in Millen's reign, however that performance was worrying.

[RedLad]

Why is Jamie McAllister STILL in the team? Who does he have pictures of?

Why have we continued to stockpile wingers rather than addressing the pressing needs in defence and in particular full back?

Why when in the 1st minute James made a fantastic save were only the Watford strikers first to the loose ball, yet in the second half when Rose and Stead combined for Rose to sting their keepers hands, were only the Watford defenders reacting to the loose ball? Are our players not interested at either end?

Have we not got any halfway competent young central defenders - Wilson, Ribeiro, anyone?? - who could have come in and provided a bit more quality than the hoof and hope play from Stewart?

Why did Stead join us - with that type of work rate and quality he could have gone to a team where some of his teammates might get involved as well?

Why is no one pulling Adomah aside and giving him some advice so he can better channel his raw but clear talent? Is it because half our team didn't show up and were therefore too embarrassed or disinterested to tell one of the few players who was trying, what he needed to be doing?

Why are we playing a decent player like Skuse in positions he struggles with - left wing and right back - but asking him to organise the team from there?

Why did we take off a striker for a winger, then a little later take off a midfielder for a striker?

Why did we bring Danny Rose into an advanced role on the left, where he created a few things, only to move him to defensive midfield less than 10 minutes later?

Why after weeks of training are we still unable to do anything but hoof increasingly flat long balls into grateful central defenders?

Why when we're unable to create absolutely anything, do we not have Lee Johnson, who was our most creative player in our last home game?

Who was that referee and what on earth was his problem?

Why was the referee so obsessively giving decisions to Watford, a well organised, slick team who needed no favours to take 3 points against the dross we served up?

Why did Sproule give the Dolman an up yours sign after Rose' overhit pass?

Why has the club's ability to defend got progressively worse and more hopeless since the appointment of a former central defender and defensive coach?

Why is Jamie McAllister STILL in the team? (so perverse it needs asking twice)

Who believes we're not stumbling towards spending a season battling in the relegation places?

And finally, how many of these questions are new to the Watford game and how many have been asked before and ignored?

I went to Ipswich and McAllister was garbage. If Millen wants to be taken seriously as a manager he needs to pull his finger out and start addressing glaring long standing faults in the team instead of just perpetuating this six month shambles of p*ssing about with bringing other more glamorous players into the side and not repairing what is actually wrong. In a month our new boss has spent a million and brought in several "names" but no fixes. Why?

Yes Coppell turned our club upside down, left us with an inbalanced oversized squad, then b*ggered off. Now we've given the job to someone who enjoyed a misleading post Gary Johnson bounce - and even so I supported Millen getting it - but he doesn't seem to know what to do and that was as badly prepared and badly managed a home performance as the thrashings we got from Cardiff and Doncaster at AG last season. Half the crowd leaving so early says it all.

The club has more players and more coaches than at any time in recent memory, yet we're in more of a mess than ever. I don't like over reaction as much as anyone else on here, but taken together isn't anyone at least considering the possibility our club has been utterly mis-managed since the fall out of Johnson leaving? Who are all these people and what are they doing? The few qualities we could at least expect from the club seem to have gone out the window.

You seem to have missed a rather important one - Why the hell did Hunt attempt to clear the ball with what can only be described as a stomach shimmy? Madness, Absolute madness.

[Dolman Queen]

Does any work really take place on the training ground?

Why was Stead the only one trying to get the ball from a throw in?

Do you think you could introduce the players to each other?

Are the players colour blind and can't see we play in 'red' hence always hoofing or passing to the opposition?

Do the players understand they can use the whole pitch?

Where was the midfield?

After last night, there are loads and loads and loads of questions we can all ask. We were slow, never in the right place, left huge gaps and never there for the follow through. Watford weren't that good, but we made them look an OK team. Heaven help us when we play the likes of QPR, it could be a cricket score.

DQ