Had a bad patch and now we are playing well. I’m sure we will have more ups and downs to come. As supporters we can just get behind the lads through thick or thin.
Not much of a discussion to be had on this topic at the moment. Hopefully it continues and we can discuss his merits as a manager in the championship next year.
If a manager loses a few games on the trot, questions arise about the longevity of his employment. If a manager loses lots of games he is sacked. If a manager wins games and you are top of the league, his position is secure ( until the next dip?)
We’ve started to look like a team with players who now know the system. First ten minutes with the size of their players I was thinking here we go again we’ll struggle as usual and be bullied by these lot, couldn’t have been more wrong. Pritchard is an absolute diamond and alongside Neil and Embleton weave got a midfield easily the best in the division imo.
I was losing confidence rapidly in Johnson but I’ll hold my hands up and admit I may have been wrong. We have toughened up as a team and give out as much as we get, that was desperately needed. It was this easy bullying I was more worried about as we need to scrap to get out of this tinpot league, no matter how attractive the football can be at times. Something has changed, we have belief again and not afraid to get stuck in. Johnson has to be given a lot of credit for this turnaround in form. If we go in a good run now I can see us pulling away a bit.
Fair play to Johnson but I think also a few players coming back to fitness/form has helped. Wright looked a bomb scare a few weeks back but has been solid recently. Pritchard is now fully fit and is looking the player we hoped we’d signed. hopefully a few solid recruits in January can help us push on and finally **** this league off for good.
I was a bit concerned in November but I was sure Kyril wasn’t going to sack LJ. He’s not into kneejerk sackings. There’s a long term plan. The thing now is to keep the momentum, and with players coming back and hopefully new players in LJ should be able rest players if needed. Previous years we’ve had games in hand to go top and screwed up. I thought the same would happen last night. But we’re not that team any more. Let’s hope Wigan and Rotherham have a nice little blip.
LJ has stated that he prefers a smaller squad. I think at the moment he is able to pick his favourite players out of what's available, and then shuffle them about to fit - even during the game as necessary. The players are up to task currently.
It's easy to lose faith in a manager who's struggling and we really did struggle ... ... I couldn't believe what I was watching at Portsmouth, dreadful in every way. But the players seem to like what he's doing and some have improved beyond recognition. It was usually the case that good players arrived and became average ... ... now seemingly average players are signed and become very good, Pritchard, Winchester, Wright, etc. Plan A means bringing in players on big wages and selling them for less than we've paid, glad we've moved onto plan B.
I’ll be honest, the Shrewsbury game made me massively question him. His substitution cost us the points there. Bringing on a DM for an attacking player, regardless of intention, gave the opposition a lift. he didn’t do it to make a “defensive sub” as he did it to change formation and moved players on the pitch, but you could see it gave them a lift. Fickle bunch us fans!!
Ha aren't we just! I'm with you on the Shrewsbury match, how many times have we seen managers go defensive when we have a slender lead...it almost never works. I kind of shrugged the Portsmouth game off, it should never have gone ahead and inexperienced players tried to play their usual way instead of hoof ball which was clearly needed. Anyway I have a feeling this is going to be our year
