Prove the Doubters Wrong

It was no accident....but the haters believe otherwise!!

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/lee-johnson-reveals-switched-bobby-335586

"It's funny because you're looking at players with attributes not as good as Bobby and you're talking about spending £5 or £6m on them.

"So I'm thinking hold on a minute, let's have an experiment. I spoke to Bobby Reid at the end of last season and told him of my intentions.
"I love him, I'm desperate for him to play, but as a midfielder sometimes the competition is too strong and he doesn't have quite the attributes in a defensive sense that I'm after, or the physical prowess.

"But as a striker he's got good movement, his technique's good, he can handle the ball [with his] back to goal, he never stops running - he's like a Duracell battery up there - at shutting down and pressing and he's just a pest to play against. But we see him every day and we see he can finish as well.
"He's a brave little git as well - he gets in dangerous areas and he doesn't mind taking one for the team," said Johnson.

The Bristol Post recently spoke with a leading scout and player recruitment expert about what goes into the DNA required for certain positions and what it really means.
And Bobby Reid has shown up to be just the type of player that could flourish in a position further forward.

 

Absolutely he is our best hope in decades.

 

Seems to me that the haters are saying, when a manager gives a player his chance, because he believes it could work (trial) and it works out.. “it’s an accident”
I think it’s good management but hey ho seems like introducing Conway was an accident too!!!

nah that’s just silly!!!

 

For me, LJ's football started to 'decline' following the defeat to Wolves towards the end of our (fantastic) cup run.
It didn't 'plummet' - the decline was slow - we still won games and gained points, but decline it did until ultimately it stagnated completely and he had to go. I supported him to the very end - and I must admit that the timing of his sacking was utterly stupid, given the crazy and unprofessional way his replacement was chosen. I would have expected the club to quietly look around for a preferred replacement whilst letting LJ see out the final few games of the season. What followed his sacking IMHO was a debacle which probably damaged the reputation of our club amongst potential managers around that time.
Back to LJ's playing 'style' - I think that over time his study and analytics became his worst enemy. LJ himself admitted that he is a workaholic who studies stats and analyses all his games in minute detail. He overthought games - concentrating far too much on how the opposition played and how to neutralise them - rather than finding our OWN best formation/tactic to hit the opposition and let THEM worry about how to contain US.
That tactic is understandable when facing a far superior opposition that you know would beat you easily on paper, but LJ seemed to slip into applying this tactic to ALL his games. Basically he set us up not to get beaten, rather than to try and hit the opposition hard. The result was the 'boring' football that RR described. However, it's important to point out that whilst it might have been 'boring' to some people, it was still effective enough to deliver a top-half table finish. As I said above; we still won games and picked up points - and although we came close, it was just not enough to make the playoffs which ultimately let to his sacking.
At least now, after a period of what appeared (to me) to be a bit 'random' Nigel appears to be setting out to win games. I'm not saying LJ didn't care about winning - it's just that he cared about not losing more. I notice with interest that on the thread about our formation for Blackpool the team suggestions are positive and attack-minded - which is refreshing to see.
We are however a very fickle bunch - after the defeat to Sunderland we were all doom and gloom. Just 2 (league) wins later we are suddenly going to win the league - it's a funny old game
In Nige I trust - but that doesn't mean he's immune to any criticism - it means he's our current manager and he has my support.

 

I actually agree with most of that and yes LJ over thought things and made them complicated.. certainly the players brought in, wasn’t right with the way (style) he initially wanted to play.. imo a couple of decent players would have changed things rather than the quantity of hopefuls that was brought in..
Bit like we have now, just a tweak of players and correcting tactics can make a world of difference.

 

Yes - and it didn't help him having his team captains and most influential players sold from under him on numerous occasions.

 

Which if it happens to NP, with the likes of Semenyo, Scott, Massengo, etc sold off we will see exactly the same situation..

 

Think he would walk-gut feeling.

 

I think LJ had more of an affiliation for the club to do that.. but would be totally understandable imo..

 

In a nutshell LJ was given time to succeed and didn’t , now it’s NP’s turn. I think success for NP will be a lower bar, I guess NP ‘s goal is to achieve relative success whilst working within a much more realistic budget.

 

The same as most clubs!!

 

I think we paid about £1.4m for Atkinson, and a further £250k for Tanner

 

I don’t care about other clubs

 

You were making out as if NPs job was more difficult.. SL brought him in to be more successful than his predecessors..

 

i don’t think it was Basso in goal for that game - in fact I’m sure it wasn’t. Who was our number 2 at the time - Heaton?

 

Marbella for an extended training session ?