Missed today as travelling home from Porto. Bournemouth equalised as plane landed and were in front before I disembarked. Thought we needed 4 points from these 2 home games and ended with 0. Relegation beckons - players are better than last year but the gap is massive between divisions, still think KMC is looking for his best CM pairing
That performance is typical of our season. We competed well, played some good stuff...didn't make the most of when we're in the ascendancy and then makes a stupid mistake. Never been convinced my Muric, when he doesn't rely on instinct he's a liability. It does feel a little like the Sereni purchase who again was an outstanding shot stopper but didn't give the defence alot of confidence. I think O'Shea and Burgess are actually looking comfortable at this level..Burgess today was outstanding, probably one of the best CB displays I've seen in a Town shirt. Johnson was okay but up against a really good winger and was often left exposed. Taylor and Morsy again looked decent enough although Morsy uncharacteristically lost the ball on a few occasions. I thought Chaplin was outstanding again, he's needs to be starting in the 10 role more for us our attacking play is so much better with him in the team. Whilst Hutchinson and Delap have got great raw attributes I think today we see they've got a lot of improvement, they are what they are inexperienced and sometimes that shows with some poor decision making, holding onto the ball for too long. We are massively missing Hirst...I have no problem with Al Hamidi who I always think has shown good cameos as a sub here but we can't rely on him. And when Delap rubs out of steam and we have a GK who has no idea how to play football it puts us under a lot of pressure.
They battered our right hand side again. We rode our luck and didn’t show composure to take chances. The changes came far too late to shift the momentum. Delap has been awful the last couple of games. They need a rocket up ‘em for Molineux or its curtains. Where was Broadhead when we needed him? Marcus Harness and Kayden Jackson would’ve been getting a game over the powderpuff ****e we’ve signed from Sunderland. £50m squandered for Muric, Greaves and Jack Clarke and the way we are going an unfortunate £20m contract for McKenna.
And lets not forget the disallowed first-half goal, which would have given us a 2-0 lead, which in many peoples opinion was wrongly ruled out.
Bit harsh but there have definitely been mistakes. Even though results haven't been coming the level of the performances particularly from those who we didn't sign in the Summer (except O'Shea) has been outstanding. Tuanzebe has improved immensely, Burgess today looked like a top PL defender, Morsy hasn't looked out of place and Chaplin has upped his game on the ball this season. All our heroes in the main from last season have stepped up. We needed a lot of players but whether they've been integrated in the best way I'm not sure. I think some signings may not work out but I feel give them time they will...Muric has looked questionable to me and perhaps a player bought off his stats over someone watching him...outstanding shot stopper but I feel the balance of that is worth what we've seen.
I’ve cheered the lads on every week up and down the country topbunk. I’m not one of those stealing a living of 5 figures a week off the fans and owners. To be fair to Greaves he’s not done a lot wrong and Ogbene is injured. Johnson gets a bye because he didn’t cost us an arm and a leg, but from all of that money only Hutch, Delap and Szmodics have improved the squad and have given us any kind of a return for our money.
Such a shame, cruel luck, but he will know he cost us the game. It will surely be Walton for the next game.
and also Johnson. He had a horrible game. More than any player though, this one’s on McKenna. Needed to have played Clarke at right back, with Johnson in front. Johnson is a hopeless full back. Failed to get the messages across to manage the game in the closing stages. Morsy with a pointless dribble concedes possession. Invited sustained pressure throughout the second half and didn’t push for a second by leaving subs to the last ten when Delap in particular had already been dead on his feet for twenty minutes. By reinstating Burgess, admits it was an error of judgement to drop him against Palace that cost us those points too. Persists with Muric. Nevermind the mistakes that have cost us so many points, the terrible and slow distribution is costing us dearly. Makes bullshit excuses about the league being hard game after game. Where’s the winning mentality? The players have the capability. For me, McKenna is coming up a little short at the moment.
Honestly, what did Town fans seriously expect this season? I'm sorry to bang the drum of 'this league is hard', but ... this league is effing hard! It's a completely different beast to the one we were in 22 years ago. We're competing in a division where every other club has benefitted and prospered with three-to-four years (minimum) of Premier League riches. We don't have a Luton staying up who are in their second season. So, we're trying to bridge a massive gap with one transfer window and a squad where a sizeable proportion of players were playing division three football two years ago. Relegation was always the likeliest outcome. You can't ignore this stuff. We've not got promoted and massively struggled, in the sense we're being blown away and thrashed week-in, week-out. It just feels like a squad that is probably a relegation and promotion back to top flight away from giving us the experience, depth, and quality to really compete at this level and turn some of those home draws into wins. The result against Bournemouth and the last minute conceded winner was an absolute gut punch of a result. Probably the worst I've felt after a game for many years. For 70/75 minutes, I thought we were good value for a win. It wasn't a poor performance. Most of our players generally played well. Burgess in particular was magnificent, particularly for that first half. We're not being routinely outplayed in this division, which is good. But two sloppy goals to concede and a massive mistake from Muric and the game is lost. What made it more depressing was the exodus of fair-weather 'new' Town fans abandoning their seats and running for the exit as soon as that second goal went in. Didn't even wait for the VAR verdict. Just embarrassing stuff - support your team! What a motivating sight for the team and staff to see that. I agree McKenna needs to take an element of the criticism. His game management hasn't been strong in a few games this season. Yesterday was a key example. The substitutions were strange: Delap was cooked from 60 minutes, had a poor game, and needed replacing much sooner. If McKenna doesn't believe Al-Hamadi is up to it and can only manage 10 minutes, then at least move Szmodics to centre forward position and bring someone else on for Delap. Cajuste needed to come on much earlier - I thought we lost control of midfield second half which is when we reverted to long balls. On the subject of route one football (goalkeeper kicking long and central for a tired Delap to compete), it didn't work. Constantly gave possession straight back to Bournemouth every time. What's going on with Kalvin Phillips? Highest paid player in the squad and he's not come off the bench for the last two games now. If he's not good enough, then we should send him back to Man City 1st January and bring in somebody else. Wes Burns will not provide defensive stability in this division - should've moved Johnson up there and introduced another centre-back. Greaves? Woolfenden? Either of them could've helped prevent one of those goals. McKenna said he took so long to make substitutes because the players on the pitch were playing well. That's true, but by 60 minutes some key players were knackered! Delap, Morsy, Szmodics, and Davis all looked cooked. We're running more per game than we had to do in lower divisions, because that's what the opposition demands of you. McKenna makes continued post-match comments about the opposition's depth and bringing on talented players - implying he doesn't have that. While I agree with him, that is the nature of our rise and the fact all the other Premier League teams have had at least several Premier League transfer windows to build squads. We won't have the same depth as them. Our players might pick up on those comments. End of the day, while McKenna has a deserved reputation within the game and has achieved incredible things here, he's still a young manager learning managing a team in his first Premier League season. He won't be sacked and nor should we sack him. No other manager will get a tune out of this squad. But he does need to change or tweak his system. The inverted winger trick isn't quite working. We arguably need three centre-backs starting to shore up the defence. Walton needs to be given another opportunity. And beyond McKenna, let's look at that transfer policy. Yes, buying young British players with rising reputations within the game isn't exactly a bad model. You think if we do get relegated, it won't be the end of the world as we'll have a squad readymade to compete for promotion. But we ideally needed to bring in more Premier League experience to stay up this season and I don't think we've done enough of that. There is a massive European pool of talent abroad that we - as a club - have historically ignored to our cost over recent decades. And then finally individual players. You can tell these are players that haven't played much Premier League football. Every player has made noticeable gaffes and mistakes - new or old. Mistakes they're used to making in the Championship that don't really get punished much, but up here with the big boys - they very much do!
The next eight games do worry me: Wolves (A) Newcastle (H) Arsenal (A) Chelsea (H) Fulham (A) Brighton (H) Manchester City (H) Liverpool (A) The hope is that we can play a quick, counter-attacking style - similar to the win over Spurs - in the matches against Arsenal, Chelsea, Brighton, Manchester City, and Liverpool. If McKenna is willing to tweak his formation and system, I do think that means a back three of O'Shea, Greaves, and Burgess. We don't look the same side without Tuanzebe at the back. This allows Johnson to play right-wing back and hopefully reduces the defensive reliance on Davis, as he'll start further forwards. Abandon the inverted winger approach and stick with two number 10s - Chaplin and Hutchinson, on current form.
The trouble is it’s only some of the new signings giving less than 100%. It’s not a ‘this league is harder’ problem. It’s a ‘did we sign the right characters’ one? O’Shea and Szmodics are giving their all and performing well but the levels from Clarke and Muric in particular are just not there. Delap has an attitude problem that he needs to work on and is probably doing us more harm than good in the last few weeks with all the silly fouls. He’s a young player and he shouldn’t be the only option we’re employing up front. Regardless of whether they can be as effective at their best, Al Hamadi and Szmodics should be getting minutes to take some of the responsibility for the #9. Somewhere around the hour mark Delap ran aimlessly off to the corner and played a poor tired pass to Davis and that should have been a sign to McKenna to take him off. There are no excuses for McKenna for the way the momentum of the game in the second half went yesterday. It was a waste of all the brilliant defending by the centre backs and chances we created. The million dollar question. What’s gone so wrong with our transfer business that we have signed that many players and yet Morsy and Taylor are our picks in the middle when the others are all fit, Broadhead is still our best option on our left, we don’t have an adequate right back and we don’t have adequate striking options?
It is absolutely a 'this league is harder' problem. Opposition players are better coached than they are in the Championship. They're faster, more creative, fitter, and harder to break down. Opposition substitutes are better than players most Championship sides bring on. The standard and calibre of player is better than the Championship - you can just see it when we watch the games this season. I don't think there was a massive difference between the Premier League and the Championship in years gone by, but over the last several years - particularly when the financial divide has continued to widen due to the TV money and international rights deals - there is now a noticeable, frankly worrying step up in quality. If it wasn't, then loads of Championship teams would beat Premier League sides in the cup competitions. They rarely do now. Even against Premier League sides fielding second string sides. We'd also see more promoted sides generally stay up - as they used to do. They don't now, and it's likely to be five of the last six promoted sides immediately relegated in the last two years. I don't think the new signings are wrong 'characters' or lack commitment. I question whether some of them have made the step up to Premier League standard, considering most of them have been playing Championship football for most their careers - same as the core group we had last season. What we needed the new players to be are clear upgrades on what we had, which is a big ask for players who haven't played much Premier League football themselves. Some are rightly first team regulars (O'Shea, Cajuste, Hutchinson, Delap), some have stepped up but might not be first team material (Greaves and Szmodics), and some ideally shouldn't be first team players (Muric, Johnson, Phillips, Jack Clarke). It's the same with our core players from last season, some have stepped up (Burgess, Davis, Tuanzebe, Morsy, Chaplin), some haven't (Woolfenden, Harry Clarke, Burns), and some have been too injured or unfit to really judge (Luongo, Broadhead, and Hirst). That's not to say the ones who have stepped up have been consistently good - they haven't, reflected in the fact we've won once in the 15 games so far. But we can build on those players. Beyond those nine odd named players, I don't think we've got enough in the squad as it stands. I agree McKenna should have made the changes much earlier - particularly in the case of Delap, who was knackered and wasn't even playing that well. If we had a Hirst to bring on, we'd still have an attacking threat. We'd even probably get Hirst to start against Palace or Bournemouth and given Delap a rest, which he evidently needs. But Al-Hamadi doesn't provide enough for me. Yeah, he runs around a bit but he rarely wins the ball back. He doesn't look composed on the ball at this level. I don't think he'll score a league goal all season. We need to sign a centre-forward in January if we want to stay up. We should've signed another one when we had the chance in the summer, but we couldn't get it over the line.
