Just regarding the changes or lack of. Dawson will have had basically one day on the training ground. How much do people expect him to change in that time? When is he even meant to have had chance to explain it all? Clearly today was about putting out the best side possible at short notice, there was no way he was going to make radical changes. We might see more change in the coming games, but to be honest, the team selection was never really the problem with Walter; this is roughly our best team. Maybe Giles will get more of a chance under a new man and one or two other things might change, but the lineup isn't going to be flipped around massively, and that doesn't mean the manager is doing nothing. There's much more to the job than the team they pick.
The prep work for this game surely wouldn't have started after the game on Tuesday. This team is probably what Walter would have chosen and Dawson probably thought it was best sticking to what the squad knew with the limited time available. He's now got a week before Blackburn - I dare say you are right we'll see a change or 2 next week.
A lot of football is confidence and our team just haven’t got any. We haven’t got a team of world beaters but we’ve definitely got a team good enough to finish comfortably outside the bottom 3. Another problem is we’re asking players to do too much. Jones for example is a solid defender at this level as proven last year, but he looks absolutely woeful in this weird system were our defenders end up on the wing. So we need a manager who can go back to basics a bit and just give them some confidence. If we get that we should have enough to finish about 14-18th.
It's difficult to sum up. At 0-0 they should have had a player sent off, blatant pulling Pedro's shirt when through on goal and the last man. Ref bottled it big time. Conceded 2 goals after that, that should have being avoided, Individual mistakes in our half. Substitutes enlivened us. Burstow scores within 2 minutes of coming on. Possible penalty for handball turned down. Another poor pass from one of our players leads to their third goal.
I’m glad the German has gone. I can’t remember such a manager I’ve hated so much at my club. Burstow interview is very telling as well.
The fact a first teamer tried to speak to the manager about what he needed to do to get more playing time and didn't get an answer is a disgrace. He'll never manage effectively working like that. Especially in England.
I think you’ve summed the game up perfectly Ernie. It would have been so much different if the referee had made the correct decisions! The foul on Pedro was so obvious and even the Boro pundits said it should have been red. Billy B
I've said it all week. He has been the cone boy for 3 consecutive managers that Acun has sacked. Who in their right mind thought he should be kept on and given the interim job? Needed a clean sweep and a temporary coach to see the team through until a permanent appointment. Warnock might have done it. A fresh face and clear mind would pick a team based on ability and attitude not friendships
I must admit that when the team was announced I was a bit surprised and disappointed that Daws had stuck to the same line up (bar the enforced change) but I then realised, as a couple of others have said recently, that it would have probably been too much to try and make big changes to personnel and system within such a short space of time. I don’t know what people were really expecting, we lost by the same margin at home in midweek to a much worse team than we played today. We are missing two or three of our best players but I still think we will start to see an improvement, even by Saturday when he’s had a week with them.
What other options do we have? They're all terrible and even Sellars-Flemming has turned Ferriby down and gone to Poland so can't give a youngster a chance. Whoever comes in is picking from Bedia, Pedro or Burstow. It's like having a plate of chips and having to choose one of dog crap, rat piss or elephant jizz as condiments
Burstow. Quick, hard working, scored today. Not perfect - his mistake led to their third - but he shows promise. Also, Longman can play up there and be effective.
We could go full Steve Bruce and play Kamara as a lone striker and hoof aerial balls at him all game for him to try and get his noggin on.
I have a feeling even if we get rid of Pedro somehow, we will end up with another garbage Fener player. My candidates are Tosun (bench warmer) or Under and Aziz (out of squad completely). Let's rehab them for next 6 months.
