ChrisBCFC Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 Listening to Del and watching his interviews you really cant help but like the bloke. Comes across really decent and its no coincidence that despite the awful run he is still supported by people on the other thread. BUT.....while we all like Derek as a person, there are some serious questions he needs to answer. Firstly, tactically he seems all over the place, constantly playing 2 centre midfielders who frankly arent good enough as a pairing, some of us have been saying that for weeks, where as Del still cant seem to see it at all. On top of this, the Hull game where he flooded the midfield with defnders backfired not to mention the likes of Bryan getting a run until it was made clear he wasnt ready for football at this level. 442,433,451 3 changes per game Del really has no idea what his best side is, and his inability to sort our defence out is a DISGRACE.....especially after last season having the summer to sort it out. Secondly, some of his signings have proven to be poor. While Davies, Cunningham and Heaton have been good signings thus far....they are proven championship quality. The signings of Foster, Pearson, Baldock, Mcmanus, Anderson and Morris have had mixed results.....Baldock deserves time but the other 4 have been generally poor. We were warned about Foster, and we were warned about Morris.....one a liability who has 1 good game in 10, and the other whose legs have apparently gone.....WHY Morris was signed when we were crying out for a sizeable centre midfielder is beyond me......as for Anderson, bizarre that someone proven can have such a limited chance.....to pick Bryan ahead of him was downright bizarre. As for Pearson, a 2 year deal was more than he deserved.....someone who can do a job, but not a regular starter at this level.....the fact he couldnt get into Derby's 25 really tells us something. I like Del, he has a spark and a likeability about him.....but tactically and personel wise I do worry that he doesnt have the experience or know how at this level? Hope he turns it round, cant see him getting the chop either way though tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
123456789000 Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 We definitely needed another thread on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glynriley Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 We definitely needed another thread on this. Another ? Why , are people restless then !?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pooki Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 Got to meet him at a media day we had against Cardiff and watched his press conference etc downstairs after the game , top bloke all round ... i think you put it well at the end there about experience , he's still learning at this level and sometimes some fans forget just how hard the championship is . we've lived off wembley up to now and even that was a disaster . In the whole he's been a revelation for the club and i'm sure not having the injuries and some of the playing staff he inheritted we wouldn't be in this mess , we were top not back in August I think he's here irrelevant of results too , the club have let him change so much it would be inconceivable to even think of getting rid .. and besides i dont think we'd attract anyone of note Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slartibartfast Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 OP could be talking about Millen, really nice guy ,sus tactics . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eskay Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 It seems so simple from the fans perspective but you have to remember that the manager sees the team all week and probaly sees things that we don't (if we did we may make the same decisions). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
You Do The Dziekanowski Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 Who reckons the story would be the same if we signed a centre back and didn't have Davies and baldock we would be saying 'we have had all summer to bring in more strikers yet del hasn't done anything' someone change the record we all know are defence needs sorting out and I for one think del did the right thing bringing in new strikers as Pitman and stead wouldn't keep us up and if one of them got injured we would be stuffed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 I've said before that I am not showing blind loyalty to Del, but I do think he's being given a hard time by a lot of people. He is not beyond criticism and I have been outspoken on a few occasions (the selection of Skuse/Pearson being one of them) but also I questioned his tactics away at Barnsley v 10 men, and I also question his team selections of late. However, a lot of people are giving him a hard time over stuff which is unnecessary - for example some of the quotes he's come out with (I'll get into that later!) When he came in he needed to rebuild the whole team and I have said that this takes time. I don't agree that 2 transfer windows is enough. At his first window in Jan 12 we were already staring up s*** creek. He had to bring in players who he thought could do a job right away and with it being a Jan window there are not a whole lot of options unless you wanna spend big bucks. He recognised a weakness at RB and filled it with Foster. He recognised a weakness as CM/LM and filled it with Pearson. He recognised a weakness at ST and brought in Wood. After the window closed he still knew he didn't have the right team to keep us up, so : He recognised a weakness at CB and brought in McManus. He recognised a weakness at CM and brought in Davis. McManus went back so he replaced him with Amougou. He further strengthened the CB depth by bringing in Keinan. Also added more depth and options with Ephraim. So, clearly he knew the team he had was not good enough and had to bring in multiple players to strengthen (1 RB, 3 CB's, 3 MF & 1 ST). This tells me that he knows full well that the CB and MF positions were not good enough and he needed to replace them. I don't know what more we would have expected him to do in his first window / season. So, when it came to the summer window, he'd already improved the RB position with Foster, and knowing MF was still a big area for improvement he kept Pearson. Both fair enough in my eyes. Positions of need thereafter were : GK - He brought in Heaton - in my opinion an upgrade on what we had (i.e. Gerkin). LB - He brought in Cunningham - a definite upgrade on what we had (i.e. nothing). ST - He brought in Baldock and Davies - an upgrade on Pitman, Stead & Taylor in my opinion. CB - He tried to sign many many players - Monk nearly went through, Keogh became ridiculously overpriced, Amougou wanted too much wedge, Ward wanted to stay at Norwich for some reason, Gerrard chose elsewhere, Dawson fell through, McManus eventually came again. This clearly signifies to me that he knows full well he needs to improve this area - he brought in 3 loanees last season, has had to loan again this season and has tried to sign at least 5 or 6 good Championship CB's. Recognising there is a problem and not being able to improve on it is one thing - what Millen was perhaps more guilty of is not even recognising the problem! CM - Again, he knew there was a problem. Pearson came in and it could be argued it's not totally worked out. Morris came in and looks as though this won't work out. But at least he has tried to improve this area. Again, this shows me that he wants to make change in CM, but it's hard to get the men you want. MR - Anderson has also been brought in and he considers himself to be a right winger. I would have liked to see him on the left, but we've not seen too much of him yet. I honestly think he was brought in as Del thought he would lose Albert in the summer. RB - Strengthened in depth signing M Wilson. Having then suffered the injury to Cunningham he's had to loan Elokobi, who was then injured to be replaced by Briggs. We now have the injury to McManus too. I don't think we are in a position to question his 2nd transfer window. He's improved the squad in some area's of need, and in the other area's of need he has tried but failed. I am prepared to give him Jan 13 and Summer 13 to replace our CB and CM positions regardless of what division we are in. The difference with Millen, is that at least Del knows what he's trying to achieve albeit without much luck or success so far. Milly didn't really have any long term plan at all and I was never convinced that he knew what he was doing. Del has got a lot of work to do and has made a few mistakes. But overall, this isn't HIS mess. The players he has brought in permanently (9 players) have been better than what we already had in 5 instances (Heaton, Foster, Cunningham, Baldock, Davies). You could argue the toss that Pearson and Anderson are also better than what we had at LM. So arguably he has between 55.6% and 77.8% success rate at improving the team with his transfers. No-one will get it right 100% of the time! He has acknowledged the need to improve the CB and CM positions and I will allow him time to do this. If he doesn't then I will start to ask serious questions. The mess he is trying to sort out is the likes of Gerkin, Carey, JWilson, Nyatanga, Skuse, Elliot, Kilkenny, Woolford, Stewart, Hunt etc who are all not good enough for this league and were not signed by Del (aside from Carey's contract extension and you can understand the reasons for this), and trying to do it at the same time as reducing the wages by 40%. It's not HIS mess! He's got an incredibly tough job here. Onto the "QUOTES". I'll tell you what I'm getting fed up with. Fans scrapping around and trying to pick out certain things that Del has said in interviews and trying to use it against him, to undermine his decisions. There are some people shouting at the moment about "Del said he didn't want to be in a relegation fight this year, yet look where we are" What do they want him to say FFS! "Yes, I think we are one of the favourites for the drop and to be honest I can't disagree. I'm really looking forward to another dogfight this season" Yeah, that'll really inspire confidence won't it!! Others moaning that he's "Sticking with his players, he's saying our performances are good etc etc" Again, what do they want from a post-match interview? "Yes, we were shocking and I think Fonts, Skuse & Pearson were all terrible and I'm considering dropping them for the next game". Again, a real inspiration that'll be won't it! Someone criticised bringing in Elokobi and then replacing him with Briggs as they are 2 very different types. So he signs Elokobi and points out that he's aggressive and a leader. What's wrong with that, draw on his good points, big the guy up - all part of the sales pitch to the fans to say who this guy is and what we can expect. Just because he then signs a LB with different attributes it doesn't mean he's clueless. He just didn't draw on the same strengths as the previous guy to big him up to the fans. It's really starting to nause me off, people picking up on things Del has said and judging him on it. It's just soundbites. It means nothing. He's got to say positive things about his players and about our chances, otherwise he's written us off. Give the guy a f'ken break FFS!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eskay Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 I've said before that I am not showing blind loyalty to Del, but I do think he's being given a hard time by a lot of people. He is not beyond criticism and I have been outspoken on a few occasions (the selection of Skuse/Pearson being one of them) but also I questioned his tactics away at Barnsley v 10 men, and I also question his team selections of late. However, a lot of people are giving him a hard time over stuff which is unnecessary - for example some of the quotes he's come out with (I'll get into that later!) When he came in he needed to rebuild the whole team and I have said that this takes time. I don't agree that 2 transfer windows is enough. At his first window in Jan 12 we were already staring up s*** creek. He had to bring in players who he thought could do a job right away and with it being a Jan window there are not a whole lot of options unless you wanna spend big bucks. He recognised a weakness at RB and filled it with Foster. He recognised a weakness as CM/LM and filled it with Pearson. He recognised a weakness at ST and brought in Wood. After the window closed he still knew he didn't have the right team to keep us up, so : He recognised a weakness at CB and brought in McManus. He recognised a weakness at CM and brought in Davis. McManus went back so he replaced him with Amougou. He further strengthened the CB depth by bringing in Keinan. Also added more depth and options with Ephraim. So, clearly he knew the team he had was not good enough and had to bring in multiple players to strengthen (1 RB, 3 CB's, 3 MF & 1 ST). This tells me that he knows full well that the CB and MF positions were not good enough and he needed to replace them. I don't know what more we would have expected him to do in his first window / season. So, when it came to the summer window, he'd already improved the RB position with Foster, and knowing MF was still a big area for improvement he kept Pearson. Both fair enough in my eyes. Positions of need thereafter were : GK - He brought in Heaton - in my opinion an upgrade on what we had (i.e. Gerkin). LB - He brought in Cunningham - a definite upgrade on what we had (i.e. nothing). ST - He brought in Baldock and Davies - an upgrade on Pitman, Stead & Taylor in my opinion. CB - He tried to sign many many players - Monk nearly went through, Keogh became ridiculously overpriced, Amougou wanted too much wedge, Ward wanted to stay at Norwich for some reason, Gerrard chose elsewhere, Dawson fell through, McManus eventually came again. This clearly signifies to me that he knows full well he needs to improve this area - he brought in 3 loanees last season, has had to loan again this season and has tried to sign at least 5 or 6 good Championship CB's. Recognising there is a problem and not being able to improve on it is one thing - what Millen was perhaps more guilty of is not even recognising the problem! CM - Again, he knew there was a problem. Pearson came in and it could be argued it's not totally worked out. Morris came in and looks as though this won't work out. But at least he has tried to improve this area. Again, this shows me that he wants to make change in CM, but it's hard to get the men you want. MR - Anderson has also been brought in and he considers himself to be a right winger. I would have liked to see him on the left, but we've not seen too much of him yet. I honestly think he was brought in as Del thought he would lose Albert in the summer. RB - Strengthened in depth signing M Wilson. Having then suffered the injury to Cunningham he's had to loan Elokobi, who was then injured to be replaced by Briggs. We now have the injury to McManus too. I don't think we are in a position to question his 2nd transfer window. He's improved the squad in some area's of need, and in the other area's of need he has tried but failed. I am prepared to give him Jan 13 and Summer 13 to replace our CB and CM positions regardless of what division we are in. The difference with Millen, is that at least Del knows what he's trying to achieve albeit without much luck or success so far. Milly didn't really have any long term plan at all and I was never convinced that he knew what he was doing. Del has got a lot of work to do and has made a few mistakes. But overall, this isn't HIS mess. The players he has brought in permanently (9 players) have been better than what we already had in 5 instances (Heaton, Foster, Cunningham, Baldock, Davies). You could argue the toss that Pearson and Anderson are also better than what we had at LM. So arguably he has between 55.6% and 77.8% success rate at improving the team with his transfers. No-one will get it right 100% of the time! He has acknowledged the need to improve the CB and CM positions and I will allow him time to do this. If he doesn't then I will start to ask serious questions. The mess he is trying to sort out is the likes of Gerkin, Carey, JWilson, Nyatanga, Skuse, Elliot, Kilkenny, Woolford, Stewart, Hunt etc who are all not good enough for this league and were not signed by Del (aside from Carey's contract extension and you can understand the reasons for this), and trying to do it at the same time as reducing the wages by 40%. It's not HIS mess! He's got an incredibly tough job here. Onto the "QUOTES". I'll tell you what I'm getting fed up with. Fans scrapping around and trying to pick out certain things that Del has said in interviews and trying to use it against him, to undermine his decisions. There are some people shouting at the moment about "Del said he didn't want to be in a relegation fight this year, yet look where we are" What do they want him to say FFS! "Yes, I think we are one of the favourites for the drop and to be honest I can't disagree. I'm really looking forward to another dogfight this season" Yeah, that'll really inspire confidence won't it!! Others moaning that he's "Sticking with his players, he's saying our performances are good etc etc" Again, what do they want from a post-match interview? "Yes, we were shocking and I think Fonts, Skuse & Pearson were all terrible and I'm considering dropping them for the next game". Again, a real inspiration that'll be won't it! Someone criticised bringing in Elokobi and then replacing him with Briggs as they are 2 very different types. So he signs Elokobi and points out that he's aggressive and a leader. What's wrong with that, draw on his good points, big the guy up - all part of the sales pitch to the fans to say who this guy is and what we can expect. Just because he then signs a LB with different attributes it doesn't mean he's clueless. He just didn't draw on the same strengths as the previous guy to big him up to the fans. It's really starting to nause me off, people picking up on things Del has said and judging him on it. It's just soundbites. It means nothing. He's got to say positive things about his players and about our chances, otherwise he's written us off. Give the guy a f'ken break FFS!! Quality Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiltshire_exile Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 I've said before that I am not showing blind loyalty to Del, but I do think he's being given a hard time by a lot of people. He is not beyond criticism and I have been outspoken on a few occasions (the selection of Skuse/Pearson being one of them) but also I questioned his tactics away at Barnsley v 10 men, and I also question his team selections of late. However, a lot of people are giving him a hard time over stuff which is unnecessary - for example some of the quotes he's come out with (I'll get into that later!) When he came in he needed to rebuild the whole team and I have said that this takes time. I don't agree that 2 transfer windows is enough. At his first window in Jan 12 we were already staring up s*** creek. He had to bring in players who he thought could do a job right away and with it being a Jan window there are not a whole lot of options unless you wanna spend big bucks. He recognised a weakness at RB and filled it with Foster. He recognised a weakness as CM/LM and filled it with Pearson. He recognised a weakness at ST and brought in Wood. After the window closed he still knew he didn't have the right team to keep us up, so : He recognised a weakness at CB and brought in McManus. He recognised a weakness at CM and brought in Davis. McManus went back so he replaced him with Amougou. He further strengthened the CB depth by bringing in Keinan. Also added more depth and options with Ephraim. So, clearly he knew the team he had was not good enough and had to bring in multiple players to strengthen (1 RB, 3 CB's, 3 MF & 1 ST). This tells me that he knows full well that the CB and MF positions were not good enough and he needed to replace them. I don't know what more we would have expected him to do in his first window / season. So, when it came to the summer window, he'd already improved the RB position with Foster, and knowing MF was still a big area for improvement he kept Pearson. Both fair enough in my eyes. Positions of need thereafter were : GK - He brought in Heaton - in my opinion an upgrade on what we had (i.e. Gerkin). LB - He brought in Cunningham - a definite upgrade on what we had (i.e. nothing). ST - He brought in Baldock and Davies - an upgrade on Pitman, Stead & Taylor in my opinion. CB - He tried to sign many many players - Monk nearly went through, Keogh became ridiculously overpriced, Amougou wanted too much wedge, Ward wanted to stay at Norwich for some reason, Gerrard chose elsewhere, Dawson fell through, McManus eventually came again. This clearly signifies to me that he knows full well he needs to improve this area - he brought in 3 loanees last season, has had to loan again this season and has tried to sign at least 5 or 6 good Championship CB's. Recognising there is a problem and not being able to improve on it is one thing - what Millen was perhaps more guilty of is not even recognising the problem! CM - Again, he knew there was a problem. Pearson came in and it could be argued it's not totally worked out. Morris came in and looks as though this won't work out. But at least he has tried to improve this area. Again, this shows me that he wants to make change in CM, but it's hard to get the men you want. MR - Anderson has also been brought in and he considers himself to be a right winger. I would have liked to see him on the left, but we've not seen too much of him yet. I honestly think he was brought in as Del thought he would lose Albert in the summer. RB - Strengthened in depth signing M Wilson. Having then suffered the injury to Cunningham he's had to loan Elokobi, who was then injured to be replaced by Briggs. We now have the injury to McManus too. I don't think we are in a position to question his 2nd transfer window. He's improved the squad in some area's of need, and in the other area's of need he has tried but failed. I am prepared to give him Jan 13 and Summer 13 to replace our CB and CM positions regardless of what division we are in. The difference with Millen, is that at least Del knows what he's trying to achieve albeit without much luck or success so far. Milly didn't really have any long term plan at all and I was never convinced that he knew what he was doing. Del has got a lot of work to do and has made a few mistakes. But overall, this isn't HIS mess. The players he has brought in permanently (9 players) have been better than what we already had in 5 instances (Heaton, Foster, Cunningham, Baldock, Davies). You could argue the toss that Pearson and Anderson are also better than what we had at LM. So arguably he has between 55.6% and 77.8% success rate at improving the team with his transfers. No-one will get it right 100% of the time! He has acknowledged the need to improve the CB and CM positions and I will allow him time to do this. If he doesn't then I will start to ask serious questions. The mess he is trying to sort out is the likes of Gerkin, Carey, JWilson, Nyatanga, Skuse, Elliot, Kilkenny, Woolford, Stewart, Hunt etc who are all not good enough for this league and were not signed by Del (aside from Carey's contract extension and you can understand the reasons for this), and trying to do it at the same time as reducing the wages by 40%. It's not HIS mess! He's got an incredibly tough job here. Onto the "QUOTES". I'll tell you what I'm getting fed up with. Fans scrapping around and trying to pick out certain things that Del has said in interviews and trying to use it against him, to undermine his decisions. There are some people shouting at the moment about "Del said he didn't want to be in a relegation fight this year, yet look where we are" What do they want him to say FFS! "Yes, I think we are one of the favourites for the drop and to be honest I can't disagree. I'm really looking forward to another dogfight this season" Yeah, that'll really inspire confidence won't it!! Others moaning that he's "Sticking with his players, he's saying our performances are good etc etc" Again, what do they want from a post-match interview? "Yes, we were shocking and I think Fonts, Skuse & Pearson were all terrible and I'm considering dropping them for the next game". Again, a real inspiration that'll be won't it! Someone criticised bringing in Elokobi and then replacing him with Briggs as they are 2 very different types. So he signs Elokobi and points out that he's aggressive and a leader. What's wrong with that, draw on his good points, big the guy up - all part of the sales pitch to the fans to say who this guy is and what we can expect. Just because he then signs a LB with different attributes it doesn't mean he's clueless. He just didn't draw on the same strengths as the previous guy to big him up to the fans. It's really starting to nause me off, people picking up on things Del has said and judging him on it. It's just soundbites. It means nothing. He's got to say positive things about his players and about our chances, otherwise he's written us off. Give the guy a f'ken break FFS!! I don't come on here often - but i had to sign in and say what a well written post - best I've read...............ever! Well said that man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
And Its Smith Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 Well said Harry. OP starting another thread for attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the red monk Posted November 9, 2012 Report Share Posted November 9, 2012 I've said before that I am not showing blind loyalty to Del, but I do think he's being given a hard time by a lot of people. He is not beyond criticism and I have been outspoken on a few occasions (the selection of Skuse/Pearson being one of them) but also I questioned his tactics away at Barnsley v 10 men, and I also question his team selections of late. However, a lot of people are giving him a hard time over stuff which is unnecessary - for example some of the quotes he's come out with (I'll get into that later!) When he came in he needed to rebuild the whole team and I have said that this takes time. I don't agree that 2 transfer windows is enough. At his first window in Jan 12 we were already staring up s*** creek. He had to bring in players who he thought could do a job right away and with it being a Jan window there are not a whole lot of options unless you wanna spend big bucks. He recognised a weakness at RB and filled it with Foster. He recognised a weakness as CM/LM and filled it with Pearson. He recognised a weakness at ST and brought in Wood. After the window closed he still knew he didn't have the right team to keep us up, so : He recognised a weakness at CB and brought in McManus. He recognised a weakness at CM and brought in Davis. McManus went back so he replaced him with Amougou. He further strengthened the CB depth by bringing in Keinan. Also added more depth and options with Ephraim. So, clearly he knew the team he had was not good enough and had to bring in multiple players to strengthen (1 RB, 3 CB's, 3 MF & 1 ST). This tells me that he knows full well that the CB and MF positions were not good enough and he needed to replace them. I don't know what more we would have expected him to do in his first window / season. So, when it came to the summer window, he'd already improved the RB position with Foster, and knowing MF was still a big area for improvement he kept Pearson. Both fair enough in my eyes. Positions of need thereafter were : GK - He brought in Heaton - in my opinion an upgrade on what we had (i.e. Gerkin). LB - He brought in Cunningham - a definite upgrade on what we had (i.e. nothing). ST - He brought in Baldock and Davies - an upgrade on Pitman, Stead & Taylor in my opinion. CB - He tried to sign many many players - Monk nearly went through, Keogh became ridiculously overpriced, Amougou wanted too much wedge, Ward wanted to stay at Norwich for some reason, Gerrard chose elsewhere, Dawson fell through, McManus eventually came again. This clearly signifies to me that he knows full well he needs to improve this area - he brought in 3 loanees last season, has had to loan again this season and has tried to sign at least 5 or 6 good Championship CB's. Recognising there is a problem and not being able to improve on it is one thing - what Millen was perhaps more guilty of is not even recognising the problem! CM - Again, he knew there was a problem. Pearson came in and it could be argued it's not totally worked out. Morris came in and looks as though this won't work out. But at least he has tried to improve this area. Again, this shows me that he wants to make change in CM, but it's hard to get the men you want. MR - Anderson has also been brought in and he considers himself to be a right winger. I would have liked to see him on the left, but we've not seen too much of him yet. I honestly think he was brought in as Del thought he would lose Albert in the summer. RB - Strengthened in depth signing M Wilson. Having then suffered the injury to Cunningham he's had to loan Elokobi, who was then injured to be replaced by Briggs. We now have the injury to McManus too. I don't think we are in a position to question his 2nd transfer window. He's improved the squad in some area's of need, and in the other area's of need he has tried but failed. I am prepared to give him Jan 13 and Summer 13 to replace our CB and CM positions regardless of what division we are in. The difference with Millen, is that at least Del knows what he's trying to achieve albeit without much luck or success so far. Milly didn't really have any long term plan at all and I was never convinced that he knew what he was doing. Del has got a lot of work to do and has made a few mistakes. But overall, this isn't HIS mess. The players he has brought in permanently (9 players) have been better than what we already had in 5 instances (Heaton, Foster, Cunningham, Baldock, Davies). You could argue the toss that Pearson and Anderson are also better than what we had at LM. So arguably he has between 55.6% and 77.8% success rate at improving the team with his transfers. No-one will get it right 100% of the time! He has acknowledged the need to improve the CB and CM positions and I will allow him time to do this. If he doesn't then I will start to ask serious questions. The mess he is trying to sort out is the likes of Gerkin, Carey, JWilson, Nyatanga, Skuse, Elliot, Kilkenny, Woolford, Stewart, Hunt etc who are all not good enough for this league and were not signed by Del (aside from Carey's contract extension and you can understand the reasons for this), and trying to do it at the same time as reducing the wages by 40%. It's not HIS mess! He's got an incredibly tough job here. Onto the "QUOTES". I'll tell you what I'm getting fed up with. Fans scrapping around and trying to pick out certain things that Del has said in interviews and trying to use it against him, to undermine his decisions. There are some people shouting at the moment about "Del said he didn't want to be in a relegation fight this year, yet look where we are" What do they want him to say FFS! "Yes, I think we are one of the favourites for the drop and to be honest I can't disagree. I'm really looking forward to another dogfight this season" Yeah, that'll really inspire confidence won't it!! Others moaning that he's "Sticking with his players, he's saying our performances are good etc etc" Again, what do they want from a post-match interview? "Yes, we were shocking and I think Fonts, Skuse & Pearson were all terrible and I'm considering dropping them for the next game". Again, a real inspiration that'll be won't it! Someone criticised bringing in Elokobi and then replacing him with Briggs as they are 2 very different types. So he signs Elokobi and points out that he's aggressive and a leader. What's wrong with that, draw on his good points, big the guy up - all part of the sales pitch to the fans to say who this guy is and what we can expect. Just because he then signs a LB with different attributes it doesn't mean he's clueless. He just didn't draw on the same strengths as the previous guy to big him up to the fans. It's really starting to nause me off, people picking up on things Del has said and judging him on it. It's just soundbites. It means nothing. He's got to say positive things about his players and about our chances, otherwise he's written us off. Give the guy a f'ken break FFS!! I only judge managers on results and perfomance . Take off your rose tinted specs, wake up an smell the coffee. Del is failing on all fronts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookEnd Posted November 10, 2012 Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 I've said before that I am not showing blind loyalty to Del, but I do think he's being given a hard time by a lot of people. He is not beyond criticism and I have been outspoken on a few occasions (the selection of Skuse/Pearson being one of them) but also I questioned his tactics away at Barnsley v 10 men, and I also question his team selections of late. However, a lot of people are giving him a hard time over stuff which is unnecessary - for example some of the quotes he's come out with (I'll get into that later!) When he came in he needed to rebuild the whole team and I have said that this takes time. I don't agree that 2 transfer windows is enough. At his first window in Jan 12 we were already staring up s*** creek. He had to bring in players who he thought could do a job right away and with it being a Jan window there are not a whole lot of options unless you wanna spend big bucks. He recognised a weakness at RB and filled it with Foster. He recognised a weakness as CM/LM and filled it with Pearson. He recognised a weakness at ST and brought in Wood. After the window closed he still knew he didn't have the right team to keep us up, so : He recognised a weakness at CB and brought in McManus. He recognised a weakness at CM and brought in Davis. McManus went back so he replaced him with Amougou. He further strengthened the CB depth by bringing in Keinan. Also added more depth and options with Ephraim. So, clearly he knew the team he had was not good enough and had to bring in multiple players to strengthen (1 RB, 3 CB's, 3 MF & 1 ST). This tells me that he knows full well that the CB and MF positions were not good enough and he needed to replace them. I don't know what more we would have expected him to do in his first window / season. So, when it came to the summer window, he'd already improved the RB position with Foster, and knowing MF was still a big area for improvement he kept Pearson. Both fair enough in my eyes. Positions of need thereafter were : GK - He brought in Heaton - in my opinion an upgrade on what we had (i.e. Gerkin). LB - He brought in Cunningham - a definite upgrade on what we had (i.e. nothing). ST - He brought in Baldock and Davies - an upgrade on Pitman, Stead & Taylor in my opinion. CB - He tried to sign many many players - Monk nearly went through, Keogh became ridiculously overpriced, Amougou wanted too much wedge, Ward wanted to stay at Norwich for some reason, Gerrard chose elsewhere, Dawson fell through, McManus eventually came again. This clearly signifies to me that he knows full well he needs to improve this area - he brought in 3 loanees last season, has had to loan again this season and has tried to sign at least 5 or 6 good Championship CB's. Recognising there is a problem and not being able to improve on it is one thing - what Millen was perhaps more guilty of is not even recognising the problem! CM - Again, he knew there was a problem. Pearson came in and it could be argued it's not totally worked out. Morris came in and looks as though this won't work out. But at least he has tried to improve this area. Again, this shows me that he wants to make change in CM, but it's hard to get the men you want. MR - Anderson has also been brought in and he considers himself to be a right winger. I would have liked to see him on the left, but we've not seen too much of him yet. I honestly think he was brought in as Del thought he would lose Albert in the summer. RB - Strengthened in depth signing M Wilson. Having then suffered the injury to Cunningham he's had to loan Elokobi, who was then injured to be replaced by Briggs. We now have the injury to McManus too. I don't think we are in a position to question his 2nd transfer window. He's improved the squad in some area's of need, and in the other area's of need he has tried but failed. I am prepared to give him Jan 13 and Summer 13 to replace our CB and CM positions regardless of what division we are in. The difference with Millen, is that at least Del knows what he's trying to achieve albeit without much luck or success so far. Milly didn't really have any long term plan at all and I was never convinced that he knew what he was doing. Del has got a lot of work to do and has made a few mistakes. But overall, this isn't HIS mess. The players he has brought in permanently (9 players) have been better than what we already had in 5 instances (Heaton, Foster, Cunningham, Baldock, Davies). You could argue the toss that Pearson and Anderson are also better than what we had at LM. So arguably he has between 55.6% and 77.8% success rate at improving the team with his transfers. No-one will get it right 100% of the time! He has acknowledged the need to improve the CB and CM positions and I will allow him time to do this. If he doesn't then I will start to ask serious questions. The mess he is trying to sort out is the likes of Gerkin, Carey, JWilson, Nyatanga, Skuse, Elliot, Kilkenny, Woolford, Stewart, Hunt etc who are all not good enough for this league and were not signed by Del (aside from Carey's contract extension and you can understand the reasons for this), and trying to do it at the same time as reducing the wages by 40%. It's not HIS mess! He's got an incredibly tough job here. Onto the "QUOTES". I'll tell you what I'm getting fed up with. Fans scrapping around and trying to pick out certain things that Del has said in interviews and trying to use it against him, to undermine his decisions. There are some people shouting at the moment about "Del said he didn't want to be in a relegation fight this year, yet look where we are" What do they want him to say FFS! "Yes, I think we are one of the favourites for the drop and to be honest I can't disagree. I'm really looking forward to another dogfight this season" Yeah, that'll really inspire confidence won't it!! Others moaning that he's "Sticking with his players, he's saying our performances are good etc etc" Again, what do they want from a post-match interview? "Yes, we were shocking and I think Fonts, Skuse & Pearson were all terrible and I'm considering dropping them for the next game". Again, a real inspiration that'll be won't it! Someone criticised bringing in Elokobi and then replacing him with Briggs as they are 2 very different types. So he signs Elokobi and points out that he's aggressive and a leader. What's wrong with that, draw on his good points, big the guy up - all part of the sales pitch to the fans to say who this guy is and what we can expect. Just because he then signs a LB with different attributes it doesn't mean he's clueless. He just didn't draw on the same strengths as the previous guy to big him up to the fans. It's really starting to nause me off, people picking up on things Del has said and judging him on it. It's just soundbites. It means nothing. He's got to say positive things about his players and about our chances, otherwise he's written us off. Give the guy a f'ken break FFS!! Top class post, agree with every single word! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poland_red Posted November 10, 2012 Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 Top class post, agree with every single word! yep, nice post. has no room on here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YouReds Posted November 10, 2012 Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 I only judge managers on results and perfomance . Take off your rose tinted specs, wake up an smell the coffee. Del is failing on all fronts! im with this guy ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesus Posted November 10, 2012 Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 Pearson has our highest number of assists this season, followed by Jon Stead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phileas Fogg Posted November 10, 2012 Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 I've said before that I am not showing blind loyalty to Del, but I do think he's being given a hard time by a lot of people. He is not beyond criticism and I have been outspoken on a few occasions (the selection of Skuse/Pearson being one of them) but also I questioned his tactics away at Barnsley v 10 men, and I also question his team selections of late. However, a lot of people are giving him a hard time over stuff which is unnecessary - for example some of the quotes he's come out with (I'll get into that later!) When he came in he needed to rebuild the whole team and I have said that this takes time. I don't agree that 2 transfer windows is enough. At his first window in Jan 12 we were already staring up s*** creek. He had to bring in players who he thought could do a job right away and with it being a Jan window there are not a whole lot of options unless you wanna spend big bucks. He recognised a weakness at RB and filled it with Foster. He recognised a weakness as CM/LM and filled it with Pearson. He recognised a weakness at ST and brought in Wood. After the window closed he still knew he didn't have the right team to keep us up, so : He recognised a weakness at CB and brought in McManus. He recognised a weakness at CM and brought in Davis. McManus went back so he replaced him with Amougou. He further strengthened the CB depth by bringing in Keinan. Also added more depth and options with Ephraim. So, clearly he knew the team he had was not good enough and had to bring in multiple players to strengthen (1 RB, 3 CB's, 3 MF & 1 ST). This tells me that he knows full well that the CB and MF positions were not good enough and he needed to replace them. I don't know what more we would have expected him to do in his first window / season. So, when it came to the summer window, he'd already improved the RB position with Foster, and knowing MF was still a big area for improvement he kept Pearson. Both fair enough in my eyes. Positions of need thereafter were : GK - He brought in Heaton - in my opinion an upgrade on what we had (i.e. Gerkin). LB - He brought in Cunningham - a definite upgrade on what we had (i.e. nothing). ST - He brought in Baldock and Davies - an upgrade on Pitman, Stead & Taylor in my opinion. CB - He tried to sign many many players - Monk nearly went through, Keogh became ridiculously overpriced, Amougou wanted too much wedge, Ward wanted to stay at Norwich for some reason, Gerrard chose elsewhere, Dawson fell through, McManus eventually came again. This clearly signifies to me that he knows full well he needs to improve this area - he brought in 3 loanees last season, has had to loan again this season and has tried to sign at least 5 or 6 good Championship CB's. Recognising there is a problem and not being able to improve on it is one thing - what Millen was perhaps more guilty of is not even recognising the problem! CM - Again, he knew there was a problem. Pearson came in and it could be argued it's not totally worked out. Morris came in and looks as though this won't work out. But at least he has tried to improve this area. Again, this shows me that he wants to make change in CM, but it's hard to get the men you want. MR - Anderson has also been brought in and he considers himself to be a right winger. I would have liked to see him on the left, but we've not seen too much of him yet. I honestly think he was brought in as Del thought he would lose Albert in the summer. RB - Strengthened in depth signing M Wilson. Having then suffered the injury to Cunningham he's had to loan Elokobi, who was then injured to be replaced by Briggs. We now have the injury to McManus too. I don't think we are in a position to question his 2nd transfer window. He's improved the squad in some area's of need, and in the other area's of need he has tried but failed. I am prepared to give him Jan 13 and Summer 13 to replace our CB and CM positions regardless of what division we are in. The difference with Millen, is that at least Del knows what he's trying to achieve albeit without much luck or success so far. Milly didn't really have any long term plan at all and I was never convinced that he knew what he was doing. Del has got a lot of work to do and has made a few mistakes. But overall, this isn't HIS mess. The players he has brought in permanently (9 players) have been better than what we already had in 5 instances (Heaton, Foster, Cunningham, Baldock, Davies). You could argue the toss that Pearson and Anderson are also better than what we had at LM. So arguably he has between 55.6% and 77.8% success rate at improving the team with his transfers. No-one will get it right 100% of the time! He has acknowledged the need to improve the CB and CM positions and I will allow him time to do this. If he doesn't then I will start to ask serious questions. The mess he is trying to sort out is the likes of Gerkin, Carey, JWilson, Nyatanga, Skuse, Elliot, Kilkenny, Woolford, Stewart, Hunt etc who are all not good enough for this league and were not signed by Del (aside from Carey's contract extension and you can understand the reasons for this), and trying to do it at the same time as reducing the wages by 40%. It's not HIS mess! He's got an incredibly tough job here. Onto the "QUOTES". I'll tell you what I'm getting fed up with. Fans scrapping around and trying to pick out certain things that Del has said in interviews and trying to use it against him, to undermine his decisions. There are some people shouting at the moment about "Del said he didn't want to be in a relegation fight this year, yet look where we are" What do they want him to say FFS! "Yes, I think we are one of the favourites for the drop and to be honest I can't disagree. I'm really looking forward to another dogfight this season" Yeah, that'll really inspire confidence won't it!! Others moaning that he's "Sticking with his players, he's saying our performances are good etc etc" Again, what do they want from a post-match interview? "Yes, we were shocking and I think Fonts, Skuse & Pearson were all terrible and I'm considering dropping them for the next game". Again, a real inspiration that'll be won't it! Someone criticised bringing in Elokobi and then replacing him with Briggs as they are 2 very different types. So he signs Elokobi and points out that he's aggressive and a leader. What's wrong with that, draw on his good points, big the guy up - all part of the sales pitch to the fans to say who this guy is and what we can expect. Just because he then signs a LB with different attributes it doesn't mean he's clueless. He just didn't draw on the same strengths as the previous guy to big him up to the fans. It's really starting to nause me off, people picking up on things Del has said and judging him on it. It's just soundbites. It means nothing. He's got to say positive things about his players and about our chances, otherwise he's written us off. Give the guy a f'ken break FFS!! As always, well written, informed and once again I totally agree with you Harry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob k Posted November 10, 2012 Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 I only judge managers on results and perfomance . Take off your rose tinted specs, wake up an smell the coffee. Del is failing on all fronts! So you don't acknowledge any of the points raised? Do you really think its that easy to replace a whole team that were not good enough whilst REDUCING costs by nearly half? What do you think will happen If we sack Del? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbo7 Posted November 10, 2012 Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 The Birth of Derekanity In the Beginning strange men in brightly coloured skirts came from the frozen lands of the North telling tales of miracles on the banks of the Tay (water into wine, loaves and fishes, small provincial club in the SPL etc,). And the People, hungry to dream and brought up on legends of Gow, Gillies, Ritchie and Jordan, were quickly convinced and welcomed Derek into the land of the cider apple and suspension bridge, his miracles to perform. Great was expectation and results duly followed with glorious victories in Yorkshire and the Capital, and then at the home of the Champions on the South Coast. But as the People dared to dream, reality raised its ugly head as a glorious FA cup campaign came to a premature end in the shadow of Gatwick Airport. Pointless trips followed to Brighton, Reading, Hull and Peterborough and the Doubters first found voice - was Derek no more than just another merely human pretender? Had stories of his immortality been greatly exaggerated? But again, as Easter arrived Derek recruited a man with two names (and possibly as many hearts), and the People (or at least a couple of dozen of them) witnessed an unlikely resurrection in the East Midlands. Again better performances and results followed on cue and the mighty Bristol City cruised into the top 20 in the nick of time - with points and a position to spare! And the People departed to enjoy a summer of Cycling, Olympics and for once some real belief that the future could be brighter. And so August came around and a League Cup aberration was quickly forgotten as City discovered a scoring touch and Derek added unexpected talents to ensure it continued. But something went wrong, there were signs of mortality for all to see as Rovers and Peacocks and Clarets and Tigers in quick succession all left Ashton Gate with the points, and trips to the cities of the Midlands and the satanic mills of the North proved fruitless. But still there was hope - Derek could see what others (with the exception of Stockhausen) could not - there was more good than bad in the performance at Huddersfield - enough to play an unchanged side at Birmingham three days later. This time something was different, Derek was embarrassed and the Doubters would not be silenced. Heretical views were aired: 1/ was 49 points really a miracle? 2/ did the resurrection have more to do with two French-speaking players of strength, quality and great expense (and no longer available) than with Derek's unerring touch? 3/ could survival perhaps have been no more than a product of two terrible teams finishing below us and Portsmouth's ten point penalty? But the Believers (85%) remained strong and continued to back Derek with all that they had - although some began to contemplate what gifts might be offered to Addicks and Tangerines in the coming days - and what this might mean for Derek's future. And so it might soon come to pass that for all the goodwill on offer, Derek will be invited to spend forty days and forty nights in the wilderness?? TO BE CONTINUED ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JammyOne Posted November 10, 2012 Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 I've said before that I am not showing blind loyalty to Del, but I do think he's being given a hard time by a lot of people. He is not beyond criticism and I have been outspoken on a few occasions (the selection of Skuse/Pearson being one of them) but also I questioned his tactics away at Barnsley v 10 men, and I also question his team selections of late. However, a lot of people are giving him a hard time over stuff which is unnecessary - for example some of the quotes he's come out with (I'll get into that later!) When he came in he needed to rebuild the whole team and I have said that this takes time. I don't agree that 2 transfer windows is enough. At his first window in Jan 12 we were already staring up s*** creek. He had to bring in players who he thought could do a job right away and with it being a Jan window there are not a whole lot of options unless you wanna spend big bucks. He recognised a weakness at RB and filled it with Foster. He recognised a weakness as CM/LM and filled it with Pearson. He recognised a weakness at ST and brought in Wood. After the window closed he still knew he didn't have the right team to keep us up, so : He recognised a weakness at CB and brought in McManus. He recognised a weakness at CM and brought in Davis. McManus went back so he replaced him with Amougou. He further strengthened the CB depth by bringing in Keinan. Also added more depth and options with Ephraim. So, clearly he knew the team he had was not good enough and had to bring in multiple players to strengthen (1 RB, 3 CB's, 3 MF & 1 ST). This tells me that he knows full well that the CB and MF positions were not good enough and he needed to replace them. I don't know what more we would have expected him to do in his first window / season. So, when it came to the summer window, he'd already improved the RB position with Foster, and knowing MF was still a big area for improvement he kept Pearson. Both fair enough in my eyes. Positions of need thereafter were : GK - He brought in Heaton - in my opinion an upgrade on what we had (i.e. Gerkin). LB - He brought in Cunningham - a definite upgrade on what we had (i.e. nothing). ST - He brought in Baldock and Davies - an upgrade on Pitman, Stead & Taylor in my opinion. CB - He tried to sign many many players - Monk nearly went through, Keogh became ridiculously overpriced, Amougou wanted too much wedge, Ward wanted to stay at Norwich for some reason, Gerrard chose elsewhere, Dawson fell through, McManus eventually came again. This clearly signifies to me that he knows full well he needs to improve this area - he brought in 3 loanees last season, has had to loan again this season and has tried to sign at least 5 or 6 good Championship CB's. Recognising there is a problem and not being able to improve on it is one thing - what Millen was perhaps more guilty of is not even recognising the problem! CM - Again, he knew there was a problem. Pearson came in and it could be argued it's not totally worked out. Morris came in and looks as though this won't work out. But at least he has tried to improve this area. Again, this shows me that he wants to make change in CM, but it's hard to get the men you want. MR - Anderson has also been brought in and he considers himself to be a right winger. I would have liked to see him on the left, but we've not seen too much of him yet. I honestly think he was brought in as Del thought he would lose Albert in the summer. RB - Strengthened in depth signing M Wilson. Having then suffered the injury to Cunningham he's had to loan Elokobi, who was then injured to be replaced by Briggs. We now have the injury to McManus too. I don't think we are in a position to question his 2nd transfer window. He's improved the squad in some area's of need, and in the other area's of need he has tried but failed. I am prepared to give him Jan 13 and Summer 13 to replace our CB and CM positions regardless of what division we are in. The difference with Millen, is that at least Del knows what he's trying to achieve albeit without much luck or success so far. Milly didn't really have any long term plan at all and I was never convinced that he knew what he was doing. Del has got a lot of work to do and has made a few mistakes. But overall, this isn't HIS mess. The players he has brought in permanently (9 players) have been better than what we already had in 5 instances (Heaton, Foster, Cunningham, Baldock, Davies). You could argue the toss that Pearson and Anderson are also better than what we had at LM. So arguably he has between 55.6% and 77.8% success rate at improving the team with his transfers. No-one will get it right 100% of the time! He has acknowledged the need to improve the CB and CM positions and I will allow him time to do this. If he doesn't then I will start to ask serious questions. The mess he is trying to sort out is the likes of Gerkin, Carey, JWilson, Nyatanga, Skuse, Elliot, Kilkenny, Woolford, Stewart, Hunt etc who are all not good enough for this league and were not signed by Del (aside from Carey's contract extension and you can understand the reasons for this), and trying to do it at the same time as reducing the wages by 40%. It's not HIS mess! He's got an incredibly tough job here. Onto the "QUOTES". I'll tell you what I'm getting fed up with. Fans scrapping around and trying to pick out certain things that Del has said in interviews and trying to use it against him, to undermine his decisions. There are some people shouting at the moment about "Del said he didn't want to be in a relegation fight this year, yet look where we are" What do they want him to say FFS! "Yes, I think we are one of the favourites for the drop and to be honest I can't disagree. I'm really looking forward to another dogfight this season" Yeah, that'll really inspire confidence won't it!! Others moaning that he's "Sticking with his players, he's saying our performances are good etc etc" Again, what do they want from a post-match interview? "Yes, we were shocking and I think Fonts, Skuse & Pearson were all terrible and I'm considering dropping them for the next game". Again, a real inspiration that'll be won't it! Someone criticised bringing in Elokobi and then replacing him with Briggs as they are 2 very different types. So he signs Elokobi and points out that he's aggressive and a leader. What's wrong with that, draw on his good points, big the guy up - all part of the sales pitch to the fans to say who this guy is and what we can expect. Just because he then signs a LB with different attributes it doesn't mean he's clueless. He just didn't draw on the same strengths as the previous guy to big him up to the fans. It's really starting to nause me off, people picking up on things Del has said and judging him on it. It's just soundbites. It means nothing. He's got to say positive things about his players and about our chances, otherwise he's written us off. Give the guy a f'ken break FFS!! Decent post. I have to say I disagree with your comments about Del clearing up the mess with regards to Skuse, Elliot and Carey. I think Del rates these players highly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRL Posted November 10, 2012 Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 Yes we are in a position to question his transfers, by and large they have been terrible, journey men, wastes of cash, unfit or panic signings. Some are good, but not many and the use of them once signed is odd at best and some awful man management at the other. For all the look we have signed new players stuff. Not many are used effectively others are clogging the squad and there are issues with fitness. He has had a year and the squad is a mess. This is rebuilding, more like hit and hope! Is his plan to have a non cohesive unit that look like they have never played football, cant defend and have players who dont look interested or have a clue, and then play them out of position? This is what Im getting so far. There has been naff all in going forward on the pitch, we cant even do the basics right after a year, that's shocking. Yes it is his mess, he has had a year and we are worse than before and failing at even the basics he has signed his players and made his squad and it's not working. Luck helped him over the line, but in general it's awful Got to say ralph, i agree with almost everything you have posted. Seems to me people like to get on your back because you don't pander to the common view. Keep up the postings, they make a lot of sense to me. but I am a moany old bugger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodEmperor Palpatine Posted November 10, 2012 Report Share Posted November 10, 2012 I've said before that I am not showing blind loyalty to Del, but I do think he's being given a hard time by a lot of people. He is not beyond criticism and I have been outspoken on a few occasions (the selection of Skuse/Pearson being one of them) but also I questioned his tactics away at Barnsley v 10 men, and I also question his team selections of late. However, a lot of people are giving him a hard time over stuff which is unnecessary - for example some of the quotes he's come out with (I'll get into that later!) When he came in he needed to rebuild the whole team and I have said that this takes time. I don't agree that 2 transfer windows is enough. At his first window in Jan 12 we were already staring up s*** creek. He had to bring in players who he thought could do a job right away and with it being a Jan window there are not a whole lot of options unless you wanna spend big bucks. He recognised a weakness at RB and filled it with Foster. He recognised a weakness as CM/LM and filled it with Pearson. He recognised a weakness at ST and brought in Wood. After the window closed he still knew he didn't have the right team to keep us up, so : He recognised a weakness at CB and brought in McManus. He recognised a weakness at CM and brought in Davis. McManus went back so he replaced him with Amougou. He further strengthened the CB depth by bringing in Keinan. Also added more depth and options with Ephraim. So, clearly he knew the team he had was not good enough and had to bring in multiple players to strengthen (1 RB, 3 CB's, 3 MF & 1 ST). This tells me that he knows full well that the CB and MF positions were not good enough and he needed to replace them. I don't know what more we would have expected him to do in his first window / season. So, when it came to the summer window, he'd already improved the RB position with Foster, and knowing MF was still a big area for improvement he kept Pearson. Both fair enough in my eyes. Positions of need thereafter were : GK - He brought in Heaton - in my opinion an upgrade on what we had (i.e. Gerkin). LB - He brought in Cunningham - a definite upgrade on what we had (i.e. nothing). ST - He brought in Baldock and Davies - an upgrade on Pitman, Stead & Taylor in my opinion. CB - He tried to sign many many players - Monk nearly went through, Keogh became ridiculously overpriced, Amougou wanted too much wedge, Ward wanted to stay at Norwich for some reason, Gerrard chose elsewhere, Dawson fell through, McManus eventually came again. This clearly signifies to me that he knows full well he needs to improve this area - he brought in 3 loanees last season, has had to loan again this season and has tried to sign at least 5 or 6 good Championship CB's. Recognising there is a problem and not being able to improve on it is one thing - what Millen was perhaps more guilty of is not even recognising the problem! CM - Again, he knew there was a problem. Pearson came in and it could be argued it's not totally worked out. Morris came in and looks as though this won't work out. But at least he has tried to improve this area. Again, this shows me that he wants to make change in CM, but it's hard to get the men you want. MR - Anderson has also been brought in and he considers himself to be a right winger. I would have liked to see him on the left, but we've not seen too much of him yet. I honestly think he was brought in as Del thought he would lose Albert in the summer. RB - Strengthened in depth signing M Wilson. Having then suffered the injury to Cunningham he's had to loan Elokobi, who was then injured to be replaced by Briggs. We now have the injury to McManus too. I don't think we are in a position to question his 2nd transfer window. He's improved the squad in some area's of need, and in the other area's of need he has tried but failed. I am prepared to give him Jan 13 and Summer 13 to replace our CB and CM positions regardless of what division we are in. The difference with Millen, is that at least Del knows what he's trying to achieve albeit without much luck or success so far. Milly didn't really have any long term plan at all and I was never convinced that he knew what he was doing. Del has got a lot of work to do and has made a few mistakes. But overall, this isn't HIS mess. The players he has brought in permanently (9 players) have been better than what we already had in 5 instances (Heaton, Foster, Cunningham, Baldock, Davies). You could argue the toss that Pearson and Anderson are also better than what we had at LM. So arguably he has between 55.6% and 77.8% success rate at improving the team with his transfers. No-one will get it right 100% of the time! He has acknowledged the need to improve the CB and CM positions and I will allow him time to do this. If he doesn't then I will start to ask serious questions. The mess he is trying to sort out is the likes of Gerkin, Carey, JWilson, Nyatanga, Skuse, Elliot, Kilkenny, Woolford, Stewart, Hunt etc who are all not good enough for this league and were not signed by Del (aside from Carey's contract extension and you can understand the reasons for this), and trying to do it at the same time as reducing the wages by 40%. It's not HIS mess! He's got an incredibly tough job here. Onto the "QUOTES". I'll tell you what I'm getting fed up with. Fans scrapping around and trying to pick out certain things that Del has said in interviews and trying to use it against him, to undermine his decisions. There are some people shouting at the moment about "Del said he didn't want to be in a relegation fight this year, yet look where we are" What do they want him to say FFS! "Yes, I think we are one of the favourites for the drop and to be honest I can't disagree. I'm really looking forward to another dogfight this season" Yeah, that'll really inspire confidence won't it!! Others moaning that he's "Sticking with his players, he's saying our performances are good etc etc" Again, what do they want from a post-match interview? "Yes, we were shocking and I think Fonts, Skuse & Pearson were all terrible and I'm considering dropping them for the next game". Again, a real inspiration that'll be won't it! Someone criticised bringing in Elokobi and then replacing him with Briggs as they are 2 very different types. So he signs Elokobi and points out that he's aggressive and a leader. What's wrong with that, draw on his good points, big the guy up - all part of the sales pitch to the fans to say who this guy is and what we can expect. Just because he then signs a LB with different attributes it doesn't mean he's clueless. He just didn't draw on the same strengths as the previous guy to big him up to the fans. It's really starting to nause me off, people picking up on things Del has said and judging him on it. It's just soundbites. It means nothing. He's got to say positive things about his players and about our chances, otherwise he's written us off. Give the guy a f'ken break FFS!! Spot on, although I think some fans were doing that with Millen and beyond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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