What concerns me is when did he realise he made an error? If was during the game then it should've been changed as soon as he realised IMO
This stood out to me, no one was saying this after that fantastic goal against Reading that got all that attention from other fans, ex pro's, sky etc... Most were laughing at him! Our lads have their one wrformance where they weren't at it for the full 90 and suddenly he is right about it! I think **** that! Rather have this team that can do flashes of brilliance and give a good account of themselves majority of the matches they win, lose or draw. Over a team of experienced plodders who can't be arsed most weeks and are just here for the pay!
This is the only criticism he could possibly get, he could have changed it much sooner and it would likely have finished 0-0. People still would have slagged him off like as 0-0 wouldn't have went down very well either. I reckon not many managers would make the change sooner either. There seems to be a reluctance amongst majority of managers to change things with subs before 60 minutes, not sure if that is as a consideration to the player being subbed or themselves? I reckon TM got to half time thinking lucky as **** there and he gave them a team talk, kick up the arse whatever and thought see if they improve after that but it didn't.
Also, subbing Neil and/or Ba off after 20 mins may have done more harm than good. When a manager loses a player for a few weeks it can damage the relationship. Keane admitted humiliating Craig Gordon in training after he conceded a soft goal and asked the players to try and score past him from the same distance (none of them did) but then he realised he lost the trust of Gordon for a while afterwards
And for Mr Neil's sake (not their fans) I hope it gets worse. Not the fact he left, but the way he did it.
I have a feeling managers don't make subs early to save the players feeling like they are being called ****. I personally think a manager should be able to make those changes as soon as they see it not happening out there and be able to explain to the player and the press it is to change something they got wrong nothing to do with the player! The player should then be big enough to accept that and the manager brave enough to risk the player feeling put out, it is and should be different to as you say Keane humiliating Gordon in training (we have had some good keepers but Gordon was ****ing class and probably going to move to a bigger club sooner rather than later before his injury imo).
