Defence absolutely awful. Spence and Knudsen in particular had terrible games. Just terrible. We are going down this season, gents, I just cannot see us salvaging safety from this wretched season. Evans, sell up.
Absolutely shocking,the worst defending I can recall seeing in over 45 years of following Town.Be very interested to see how Mr Lambert puts a positive spin on that because he really ought to be tearing a strip off! I feel very despondent about our chances of survival after that as Bristol have got to be one of the poorest sides to visit PR in quite a while.
Interesting that lambert said earlier this week / last week that he though of Danacien as a centre back rather than a right back but for me, he is a mile ahead of Spence. LB is a bit harder as I probably think Knudsen is better than Kenlock. Also don’t think you can play both Skuse & Chalobah and again for me, Skuse has been the better player. On to Forest and I can only see 1 result (hope I’m wrong)
Until we get full backs who have the basic skill of stopping the crosses coming in we will struggle, Spence and Knudsen are not up to Championship standard in their stock in trade of keeping the winger quiet, ok there's glaring deficiencies elsewhere but there's nobody else behind the full back so once they are out of the game the alarm bells start ringing, pathetic performances by both of them.
How many times this season have we said “this is a must win game” and how many times have we been let down? This is a sucker punch, because we actually looked pretty decent on the front foot. But defensively, we capitulated. Bart has gone from player of the season to someone hoping Mick McCarthy is going to come striding back through the doors. It pains me to say it, but he needs dropping, again. Get Chambers out of this side. Stop carrying him and his below par performances! Captain Fantastic? Heart on his sleeve? People who say that should pull the other one and get their heads out of the man’s ar$e. He’s hardly vocal on the pitch. None of them are. Heads always go down, Chambers included. We took the lead twice and still contrived to lose another sodding home game! Two home wins in eleven months. Jesus wept, we are bad! Spence needs to be dropped. Knudsen, poor yet again! If we had somebody better than Kenlock in support, Knudsen would’ve been dropped by now. I’m almost tempted to give Kenlock a go. He can’t do any worse, surely? Skuse had a good first half, but we don’t need both him and Chalobah in this starting eleven. Send Chalobah back to Chelsea. We don’t need him in a relegation fight. And send Edun back too. If we aren’t going to use him, a technically tidy player, then what’s the point? Edwards is treading water, getting by on good performances from a month or so ago. Our left hand side is an issue. Roberts is not the answer. Well done Sears for scoring twice, at least we actually have a striker capable of scoring consistently. Four games and no wins for Paul Lambert. If he wants to throw in the towel and give up on this rag-tag squad that clearly lacks quality and sadly have lost all belief thanks to the last idiot in charge, then I would hardly blame Mr Lambert. You won’t get any money in January mate. Not from this tight-fisted, tax-evading crook of an owner who made £5m alone from our last transfer window, and made a profit in the last seven or eight windows. God I am so annoyed being a Town fan. Mr Evans, you have had this coming. This is what you get in football when you strip asset after asset from a club and replace it with a lower quality product. We are sleepwalking into division three and the reaction from most of us is barely contained apathy. And I completely understand. I don’t even have a season ticket anymore. Thirteen odd years of this under Evans. One solitary play off season in thirteen years of his ownership.
Hurst had about this many games before the calls for him to go started so what do we do now? Lambert out? It’s depressing but we are headed for an embarrassing points haul this season. I think we are left with only one way forward and that’s for Evans to go.
Spot on Nuggets, years of diluting the squad and keeping the profits have led us to the tipping point, the squad is now overloaded with ageing, sub standard, and lower league players, how many years have we been saying that we need 2 quality players per season to stand still ? Instead Evans has done the exact opposite and now we need almost a complete team of proven Championship players to reverse the neglect. The decline has been obvious to a fool for years now and our useless owner has been content to allow this to happen, I don't know what his motives are as to carry on in this manner, it makes no financial sense whatsoever to continue down this spiral, for Gods sake Evans please go so our Club can flourish.
I think you all know my thoughts on things Itfc so zero point me repeating them. Onto Forest..... yeah that’s a loss
Lambert deserves leniency because these bunch of no-hopers were not signed by him. This is not his squad and he hasn’t had a transfer window and money to spend yet. So Lambert didn’t build this useless team, it was Evans’ austerity, Hurst’s failed lower league gambles, and Mick’s automatons that are responsible for our current state. When Lambert came in, morale was at rock bottom. Players no longer believe in themselves, and while Lambert’s tried to foster a good spirit about the place, and his media comments are trying to paper over cracks, I honestly think this group of players know they aren’t good enough. When Lambert came in, we didn’t have a style of playing, unless going two goals down and playing some sedate midfield passing counts, so I like the fact he’s at least got us scoring goals and taking leads in matches. In the grand scheme of things though, they are all minor improvements that have not yielded three points in what have looked like winnable games. I don’t think many managers would be able to fix the mess and mistakes of the past several months.
I’m really sorry but Hurst did not inherit a team or world beaters and he did as much as he could with scant resources. At least we were disciplined, hard to beat and beginning to be a threat going forward. When Lambert came in we were already three matches and a spectacularly poor showing against Millwall on from the decision to sack Hurst. Morale was not low after the Swansea match but the decision to make the change at that time - with three crucial fixtures coming - and appoint Lambert with no time to implement anything and his dire track record has cost us any chance of retaining our Championship status. By making the change with Millwall, Preston and Reading fixtures coming Evans threw the club under a bus because any new manager needs a little time and patience. Lambert said in his first press conference that if his players made mistakes that was his fault because he picks the team and they are carrying out his instructions. Fast forward just a few weeks and he’s digging out his full backs. The man is disingenuous and full of hot air. We are performing worse and it’s terminal. That said, under different circumstances he would not now be in the position of dragging a corpse around. Next time around we are still likely to be 6 or 7 points from safety because the sides above us are bunched up but I will be interested to see what the owner does when that gap becomes 9-10 points and any pretence at survival under this manager is extinguished.
Didn't it go something along the lines of "Disgraceful criticising the players in public,all that should be kept behind closed doors blah,blah,blah"?I have no reason to stick up for Hurst but if he was criticised for that sort of attitude then where are his detractors launching the same vitriol at Lambert. Personally I've no problem with the manager calling out the team or even individuals (and last nights comments were obviously aimed at the fullbacks) especially as they are as woeful as they were last night.Perhaps Lambert's discovered that "nice cop" doesn't work!
He was right in his first press conference really because anyone who picks Spence is asking for it. He should be nowhere near the first team. Chambers has far from covered himself in glory this season yet he retains his place and the same can be applied to Knudsen. You can get away with one point of weakness because the others can cover but you just can’t get away with three inept defenders. Bart had an off night but he was the only starter to come out of the West Brom match with any credit.
I never said that Hurst inherited a team of world beaters, nobody remotely thinks that. I admire your perseverance in trying to excuse Paul Hurst's failings and your attempt to paint him in a more positive light, maybe it's the contrarian in you? Like you, many of us wanted Paul Hurst to do well and many of us, including myself, continuously attempted to support Hurst and give him the benefit of the doubt when we were losing and drawing games, hoping that maybe, just maybe, he would crack it with another game in charge. But results prove we were kidding ourselves. Paul Hurst had inherited an ordinary, average squad and he contrived to turn that ordinary squad into the undeniable whipping boys of the Championship. Hurst wasn't helped by a few factors, but I think most sensible supporters will acknowledge that Hurst was responsible for only one solitary win in fifteen games (a terrible statistic), and ultimately results are what you are judged on and Hurst didn't get anywhere near enough of them. Hurst was responsible for the naive, misguided transfer policy of signing League One and League Two standard players, many of whom look utterly incapable of making the step up. Hurst was responsible for some of the most baffling in-game tactical decisions, how many times did we question he numerous tactical changes on here? Hurst was responsible for giving the big talk pre-season about entertaining, passing football and changing the mindset, but when faced with problems implementing his desired style, he completely about-turned on his philosophy and attempted playing to our perceived strengths, direct football, and couldn't even coach this lot how to play that way! We were a shapeless mess. The only times we played well in the latter half of Hurst's reign, Swansea aside, is when we would go our customary two-goals down and the opponent would relax a little. And as players widely acknowledged in interviews when Lambert joined the club, morale was low. You could tell how they played. I mean, if you cannot see or acknowledge these basic, demonstrable facts, then I must call into question if you can actually understand all this, Hampy, or if you're just on this forum for a wind-up, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. By all means have sympathy for Hurst, but don't excuse the man for this. Not for what he has done to this club. We all acknowledged that Lambert would have a massive task on his hand to salvage anything from this season when he joined, and that's an indictment of how Evans and Hurst have operated this season. Some of us joked Lambert should have a statue outside the ground if he kept us up, such was the severity and difficulty of his challenge in keeping this lot from League One. If we do get relegated, then Lambert will have to take his portion of the blame, naturally. Similar to how he took over from Mark Hughes at Stoke. But make no mistake, this current squad is a Paul Hurst, Mick McCarthy, and Marcus Evans horror show. Two years of decline have been furthered by poor, naive management and some further irresponsible under-investment from the owner. The prep, signings, and game-plan for this season was all set by Hurst. Don't let him off the hook.
Yes Hurst made some baffling tactical and selection decisions but that is perpetuating now. Morale was low but all the talk of a ‘happy club now’ was complete and utter bollocks. How is keeping the same line up working out for us now gents? Wake up for Christ’s sake.
