I think the general consensus is the primary issue is with midfield. This is the area that has been our most successful I believe in past (Maddison, Buendia, Vrancic, Sara, Nunez, Sainz). We have nobody even remotely like this. Nobody with touch and technique and creativity. Theres really only Wright who may do this but I'm not sure he's a creator, he's more of a Leitner. Of our midfield They are of similar limited ability They are of a similar ilk They are not creative They are not particularly athletic They have little personality They are not good in small spaces Our chance to sign this type of player has gone. That time was the Summer but Knapper wanted something different. To know Nunez wanted to leave and not have a similar player lined up is unforgiveable. It makes no sense and tells me there is either no real plan or what they were building towards was so conceptually wrong we now find us where we are.
Well whoever touted that obviously hadn’t watched him play. But they are hardly going to announce a new signing “well, look, he’s not great, so we wouldn’t want him playing too many games, but we needed someone who could play across the midfield and he came cheap”
Knapper has bought a bunch of poor players. Knapper has sacked Thorup and brought in Manning. It is no good sacking Manning and leaving Knapper to pick his replacement so Knapper has to go first. We are in it up to our necks so long term planning has to go out of the window. IMO, and I know others will disagree, we need a Sporting Director who knows the EFL inside out hoping that he can find a Head Coach, like Saunders and Lambert, who can get the squad fit and kick, shove and organise a bunch of mediocre players into a unit capable of getting enough points to stay in this division.
Kick, shove and organise I don't think is the answer. We are generally ok defensively. We've not been smashed 4,5 by anyone. I say defensively ok with the context we are 2nd bottom . Its creativity we are completely lacking and what's put us as low as we are. I was ok with keeping Manning for a few more games but I've now come to the conclusion he has no idea how to create anything. It needs a system (so I suppose it is still essentially organisation), not trying to put it on the players to express themselves and make decisions (they don't have the skillset).
We are terrible defensively! Our defence is has conceded substantially more than under Thorup. But I agree the problem is one of creativity and unpredictability in attack. We have no-one who can do anything surprising.
Gary O'Neil might do it, but why would he come? (He's rumoured to be top of Birmingham's list of possible replacements for Chris Davies if things unravel there.)
No thanks to Gary O'Neil. I don't see what he offers that will help. We need someone who can create chances for Sargent from the players we have. Needs to be a foreign coach IMO who can create a plan and has knowledge of foreign players for January......because we know we can't trust either the scouts or those signing off to sign on the scouts reports.
Sky are reporting that Manning is believed to be safe in his job for now, and meetings with the Attanasio's will focus on how things can be improved.
Sadly, the question isn't how long do we (the fans) give him, it's how long Attanasio or even perhaps the inept Knapper gives him, which seems to be at least several more games. Three more defeats before the next international break and we will need upper mid-table or even play-off form to merely get to safety.
I thought there was some symmetry to this, but alas, unlikely to happen. Attanasio is a guest on Canary Call on Wednesday; I look forward to hearing his rationale on all thhe ****ty situation
But the symmetry could also mean Thorup continuing from where he left off and us sinking further with a tactical approach that failed in the end. I liked him and hoped it would work, but he never showed any sign of a Plan B when things went wrong. I think our biggest hope is that the returning players like Kvistgaarden and Mahovo can make a difference and that Jurásek can finally come good and Makama continues to make an impact in the coming games.
And what plan B has Manning got? Same tired old system game in game out as we were warned to expect by Bristol City fans. I'm sorry Rick but relying on a hope that crap players suddenly improve enough to get us out of deep deep trouble does not instill me with a lot of confidence. So the owner flies in, gives a pep talk, rearranges the deckchairs on the sinking ship, gets an up to date valuation on Colney and pisses off home leaving the comedy act of Knapper and Manning to sort it out. Wycombe Wanderers here we come!!
I don't agree that our players are crap. The biggest problem is injuries and after Knapper set out to solve it, nothing has changed. The key for me is Kvistgaarden, who IMO is just the player to pair with Sargent or to form a three with Makama that would threaten any defence. We need that capability to score first and put the opposition under pressure and now we have the chance to do so.
I also don’t agree our players are crap. I think the squad is strong - certainly enough for a playing-off scrap, in my view. However, it is distinctly lacking in creativity in midfield. That is a product of both the players and the system. An exceptionally creative player can create despite the system - and we definitely do not have that. So we need the system to be improved significantly. That’s not going to happen under Manning, from what we have seen. Bringing Thorup back wouldn’t work because even though I liked him it is pretty clear to me that there was a breakdown in his relationship somewhere which meant he was not going to be able to manage the team. We need a new manager with a fresh take on how to use our current playing squad best, with more creativity and momentum so that we could attract a couple of creative additions in January. Getting rid of Knapper would be a bonus and cannot happen too soon, but that is not going to solve our league position and performances before January.
Crap maybe strong. But they mostly all either squad or support. Of the outfield there's really only Mahovo, Darling, Mclean, Sargent who are good enough to play week in week out. Kvistgaarden, Wright,Fisher and Schwartau should also be playing but more for development. The rest are so limited on the ball with their passing, touch and technique. Gibbs, Mattsson, Topic, Medic.... all have flaws in their game. They are squad, support players. They all struggle in tight spaces. Mattsson, I am coming round to the idea he is crap. He's getting there slowly with each game. Diallo for me, like most wingers, is a white elephant. All fluff no product.
