[ We did on the whole see signs of progress over Selles time here. I’m not pretending our final games weren’t bad attacking performances, they were. But progress comes in many ways. We didn’t concede more than one goal in a game after the 12th Feb. We knew our attack was poor so we concentrated on making our defence better. I just don’t understand this obsession with boiling down a run of form to justify a managers total job. The post international break wasn’t great but it wasn’t an almighty disaster either. Teams get nervy. Ultimately Selles was the man who got us into the position where we could afford a bad run of form - we should give him that credit too.
This goes to show the competitiveness of the Championship, outside of the top 4 who were leagues better than anyone else. We finished 19 points behind Bristol City who took the last play-off spot. Bristol finished 22pts behind Sheff Utd, who took the first play-off spot. Coventry were finished with the worst points total for a 5th place team in over 20 years. They got 69pts, and the average over the previous 19 years was 75.5pts Bristol are also the worst 6th place team in that period. Leicester also finished on 68 in 12/13, but had a significantly better GD (+23 vs +4)
Anyone expecting Joseph to score any significant number of goals next season will be disappointed. He has scored 27 in 128 games at League 1 level and never scored at this level after 26 tries. At the very best you’re getting a useful nuisance to tire defences, but the games gone if that costs you 2.5m
How has 'he' gutted the squad? You surely have to look at the manager (coach) and the recruitment team not at the guy who signs the cheques for the players THEY want to bring in. Burstow, Pedro, Gelhardt , Barry, Joseph (and then also gifted Amrabat and Lincoln for a bit of depth). There's good reason why we now have a new chief scout! Joseph has been an atrocious signing for the money for what we actually needed at the time, and Selles must have known all about him. We were unfortunate with Barry's injury, but actually he had no goals, no assists from 4 appearances. Burstow has been under utilised. Gelhardt was a reasonable success. If I was the owner I too would be asking serious questions (again). And yes, he's ultimately responsible, but he isn't the one who "completely guts the squad" and other ridiculous such accusations.
And that's why there's this full review I guess (meaning it's not straightforward). Pros & cons to balance, others culpability, etc etc.
Not difficult to understand but yet we can’t criticise the one person who’s been the constant presence the last 3 years
Yes and I would hope that his whole body of work would be assessed and not just the attacking play in the final 8 games.
I'm not so sure that's 100% true, I mean yes we massively lack creativity, but I can recall chances & sitters that Pedro has missed, along with numerous other squad members.....but other than his sitter at Weds, can't think of many Joseph missed, there's that saying about strikers in a poor patch that at least they're getting in the right positions. Pedro missed a lot more because he had the strikers instinct to at least get into the right positions. An instinct that i've simply not seen from Joseph thus far
Any manager joining a team in a **** position at risk of relegation sorts the defence out as their first priority.....it's like manager 101, Rosey did the same when he joined too. Have your 6 months, stay up then get a pre season and transfer window to add your own stamp is standard format for most football clubs
Acun didn't "gut" the squad necessarily, but he may have had an impact by his decision to fire Rosenior. The 23/24 team was heavily supplemented by players taken on loan from PL teams, that we wouldn't have been able to afford to buy when we failed in our promotion bid, so we would have needed to replace many of our first team. Greaves and Philogene had PL aspirations and left. Seri and Tufan were eyeing up paydays abroad. If Rosenior wasn't fired, would they have stayed? We'd have needed to splash a lot of cash to replace the likes of Carvalho, Delap, Morton and we wouldn't have had the transfer fees from Greaves and Philogene to do it. The replacements we've brought in were not of the same standard, but I don't think they ever would be, cos we spunked too much money in 23/24 chasing a promotion that never seemed particularly likely.
Interesting to compare Rosey V Selles first season. Both managers were appointed after 18 games played. Rosey took us over in 21st on 20 points, he earned 38 points (1.35ppg) and finished in a totally miraculous and all but impossible 15th place mid table finish, advancing us 6 positions up the table. Selles took us over in 22nd on 15 points, he earned 34 points (1.21ppg) and finished 21st on goal difference, advancing 1 point up the table. I remember hardly being prolific in those first 6 months under Rosey but I don’t recall it being anything like the dross we’ve seen the last 6 months. The stats aren’t worlds apart though.
I find this whole situation around Selles utterly baffling.... Selles got us safe with our best players out injured, we have to give him until Xmas at least otherwise it another summer of turmoil & missed opportunities as our rivals sign up the best available players early in the summer while we **** around chasing a new manager. Selles in!!!
So selles earned a massive 4 less points than Rosenior? You're right, it's night and day. As you highlight, there's a big difference in league position because of the different form of teams around us. Rosenior started 5 points ahead and gained an extra 4 points. Staggering difference.
As has been said, if this is true, the only way Acun turns this around is with a marque signing like Bruce. It's turning into a ****show.
