I honestly think that half the problem could be the huge amount of change that the club has seen I’ve the last 2 years. New owners, new sporting director, new manager, entirely new coaching team, almost a brand new squad barring 4 or 5 players. All with little experience at senior level or in England, we now need patience and a period of stability. I believe/hope (and it is very much just hope at this point) that Manning will turn things and build a team this season, providing we can keep a team of players fit.
I suspect time is not on Manning's side now that flights from the US have been booked. It's a long time since I can remember circumstances where fans are so pissed off and calling for multiple heads to go. It's like a perfect storm of our team playing crap football, with a rudderless coach, an incompetent SD all combined with tone death decisions off the pitch just to throw petrol on the fire.
Your endless optimism does you credit but most of us have not seen any sign of Manning turning things round. In fact, in my eyes, the match performances have gone from poor to bad to f*****g abysmal.
I don't think Manning himself is the person to turn things around. It's Kvistgaarden and Mahovo. Those two have the chops to play in positions we are struggling (apart from centre mid) If we still had Nunez and those 2 we'd be top six. Schwartau, and Kvistgaarden behind Sargent (or some kind of version of this) is the key.....but I dont see it working enough for promotion before Sargent leaves. The signings of Mattsson and Toplc have severely damaged this team in short term. Mattsson in particular offers nothing but poor 1st touch and weakness.
What that basically means is that Mattsson is currently our busiest player. "Busiest" and "best" aren't synonyms! There are many different reasons for "busyness", including, for example, that the opposition have targeted you as the weakest player. How come Medic is rated above Darling and McLean? Has he really shown himself to be "better"?
WhoScored ratings are not based on 'busyness', but rather on positive contributions made by each player, whether offensive or defensive. Mattsson has consistently scored highly in progressive actions as well as takeaways, interceptions, and 50/50 duels. In spite of his all action box to box exertions he has never yet needed to be substituted. IMO, he has greatly improved our midfield. It's unusual for a player to consistently average over 7 points per game without any goals or assists but he has done exactly that.
I didn't say i thought he was better than Darling or Kenny did I Robbie. Whoscored simply rate his contributions higher. As Rick highlighted, it's likely his workrate intercepting and breaking down opposition possession that's given him a higher rating. But why not, feel free to suggest he's rated no.1 simply because he's the weakest player on the pitch. Mattsson has had a couple of wayward first touches, including a high-profile fumble that lead to a goal. I'm sure that's likely contributing to the way some feel about what he offers overall.
I must admit that even I am running out of straws to clutch. I do disagree on the performance front though, for me the last 4 performances have been good enough to yield points but the players haven’t been ruthless in front of goal, which caused even more disappointment in the result. Grinding out draws is important and positive, playing better and dominating the ball and then losing is more worrying to me. There is a massive lack of goals let alone creativity in this team
The main problem is confidence, which has been drained by the poor run of results. As Suffolk says, the performances have picked up but not the goal scoring. Look at these stats against Derby: The chances were there but not taken and Crnac was denied by an inch on the inside of the post. 17 shots to Derby's 8, 13 corners, a better xG - but no goals. Sargent needs a partner, preferably Kvistgaarden, and they need quicker progression before the defence settles and movement from the flanks by Schwartau and Makama. It's time to see this season from a longer perspective like we were doing last season before it all unraveled.
The glaring stat for me there is we created just one big chance. Which means all the other statistical dominance is just vanity.
I just do not accept that performances have improved. You can produce as many stats as you like but my own judgement suggests that our performance against Derby was the worst yet. In the first half Derby were a disgrace. The person who covered the match for SSN apparently said that the first half display by Derby was the worst he had ever seen from a professional team yet they went in level at half time and eventually won the game. Are we scoring more goals - no. Are we defending better - no. Are we passing the ball around more between ourselves etc - might be - but those sort of stats don't matter and that is why we are in the relegation places and in desperate trouble especially as we seem unfit and struggle to last the 90 mins.
Two goal instances he's been at fault for due to poor control and being weak. He's got no real standout attributes, he's not quick, not strong, no real passing range, 1st touch not great. These players are ten a penny in average football teams. I honestly don't see the point to why we signed him. Especially for the money.
