I don't necessarily think Neil is a bad choice, I think the problem has been Speakman, if there is a plan in place to play a certain style of football so the transition of head coach is simple, then you have to have the right players to play that style of football
When the bad results came in before it was a one off where a team bullied us and our team folded and they are not up for the fight. Then we would get a team that sat back for a bit to feel us out and we would score a couple early and our tails would be up and their heads down and it was ge over. Now we are toothless so teams sit back and realise they have nothing to worry about and grow in confidence and we ****e ourselves and are lucky if we grab a point.
When you watch our goal back it frustrates the hell out of you. Great skill by Clarke, great Criss by Pritchard, Superb header from Stewart. It was a very good goal. When we know we’ve got that, why doesn’t it happen more. Last night was one of those where we were slightly better than them first half. Their only danger was the dead ball. Second half we got worse. Gave them room to sail the titanic through our defence and they scored. They had another 2 or 3 1v1s as well. All from mistakes. We are such a soft touch. But I don’t agree with getting on the young lads back which a lot do. There’s even a couple of lads around me who were slating Stewart last night ffs. The only thing that having a go at the likes of Neil, cirkin etc will do is make them go into their shell. They’re starting to look scared to try the Hollywood pass or cross in case they get it wrong. I personally thought Winchester showed exactly what we need in midfield last night. Put himself about, tried to drive forward. Defensive may not be great but he’s a midfielder playing centre half (with a centre half on the bench?????) Going to ask this time, are those who wanted Evans in ahead of O’Nien still on that bus? I simply see nothing he offers to a team when things go wrong! He stopped a goal bound effort last night. What else did he do? I literally forgot he was there second half before his number went up
It seems like there’s a discord between the DoF’s ideals and the new head coach’s. We are stuck between playing slick football and being more pragmatic/direct. We don’t have the players to do either well though. At least when we were playing slick football we created lots of chances and scored. While trying (and failing) to fix the defensive side, we have ****ed up the attacking side. Now we’re rudderless.
This is a style of football that Neil isn’t noted for and I’m hoping it’s a case of doing what he thinks is needed to get out of defence and play further up the pitch, trying to stop exposing our fragile defence and trying to force out a couple of results to stop the rot and build some confidence. If this is the case I have no issue with it short term as long as it works (and it hasn’t so far) Long term it needs to be far far better than what’s been served up so far.
Because of changing family commitments, I was on the fence as to if I could justify to continue buying a season ticket, a 15 percent increase may take the decision out of my hands.Im not one to go there and spend daft amounts on overpriced sh$$t drink anyway, so my match day is quite cheap, that and the fact I walk to the group. However, a price hike is a piss take for what we're watching.
Couple of journos on talkSPORT last week said about the direction of the club was an issue for Keane.
I'd have loved a Saudi takeover. The UK has killed thousands of innocent people with our bombs of peace so its a bit hypocritical to point the fingers at the Saudis.
we are, on our day, one of the better passing teams in the league and that is something we have all seen, in fact we were wondering which teams were going to be on the end of a 'hammering' so what has changed to make us so weak and seemingly unable to pass from back to front. plenty thought flanagan was the problem, now it is evans or gooch, then the young lads are feeling the strain now of playing every game...it also appears that some expected AN to walk in and change it all around yet he is already getting slated off some for what he is trying to do. fact is, what can he actually change right now, defense pretty much picks itself although batth and arby should be able to step in soon, evans really should be showing more in games and i expected better cover from him as an experienced player but he and winnie seem to be the ones trying to drive the team forward which leaves us exposed at the back, we have no partnerships across the park due to injuries and players being constantly moved around which leaves players with little idea of where to run or which pass to make and when to make it...unfortunately, AN has little time to try to get this sorted and still has a few of his squad to see playing so i feel he is going back to basic percentage style while he tries to get his ideas into the lads. there is still the hope we can get some momentum going towards the end of the season and finish strongly into the play offs, other than that i feel we are building to next season.
This whole idea of " style of play" "philosophy" and all the other terms is over valued by a long way imo. By all means, have a preferred idea, practiced and prepared for. But you can't always play the way you want and these vague notions are too often something to hide behind. Just this month I've seen Luverpool and City both score by using a very long , semi hopefull punt up the pitch . They are the best teams in the country by miles and they vary their play when they need to. We don't know what we are doing at all ATM, so any notions of style should be forgotten. We're the softest of touches, and now that teams are having their second go at us, which I think has a fair bit to do with the slump, they know if they get stuck in they are big favourites. At least we aren't going down. But leave this pretentious joker in charge and it's a possibility next season, as we'll be losing a few in the summer. Probably replaced by another five highly promising wingers. All part of the clear vision.
kind of what i was trying to say, when players know their position and who will be around them they know when to release the ball and whether to play over the top or to feet and this is 'the style' i would like to see...but any team worth it's salt will also know how to change that to suit the opposition, to get them on the back foot. i think our only 'constants' this season have been stewart up front and doyle in defence and that is pretty much because we had no one to replace them.
I honestly think due to low SC renewals (likely) that KLD will try and buy the 2 Muppets out in the summer and spend some money. I think that depending on how the rest of the season goes it's possible that we could go back in for RK at end of season. Just my opinion.
I reckon Doyle is good now and is going to get better as a CB. However atm the lad needs to be taken out of the firing line... our manager has admitted as much. Last night was probably one of his worst performances. Which idiot moved the obvious replacement out in the January window?
