Sadly, for me anyway, I think Tuesday has become the crunch game for Martin now. A recent poor run of results, not always performances mind, has made Tuesday a must win game for some doubters. We are in a scrap right now and our next 4 or 5 games are mega tough but we will get what we will from them. The reading game though has to be won to stem the hysterical outcry from some fans over the manager. Our shortcomings are obvious. We need more firepower up front; more pace and creativity in the centre and perhaps a new central defender. I trust and hope Martin will try and address these areas next month but we have to win Tuesday to allow the fans to settle down. Mon and his team will have spent the past few months identifying targets, some he may have missed out on in the summer and to bring a new man in now, without the planning for this window, would be a total waste. Martin is still my man but even I can see the need for results. A win on Tuesday would take us to 15th and level on games with everyone with a bit of hope. 20 points at the turn of the year is the minimum target and then let's see what the window brings. Keep the faith lads. 23 games to go yet.
Things i would change for tuesday I would have sess on one wing johnson on the other Gardner and Vaughan in the middle and Whickham and Campbell upfront I would do this Tuesday bit if Flethcher fit i would play him and Wickham upfront
What if we lose on Tuesday though? I really can't see how he could stay. The camera went on Short yesterday and he looked sick. I was the staunchest of supporters for Mon to get the job but take away the honeymoon period its just not working. Any other manager with this record and the fans would be demanding his head. If we don't beat Reading then we will be rooted to the bottom come January and then its a hard sell for anyone
The primary short coming of MON is that he inherited a midfield of relegation/championship plodders along with an embarrassing strike force. I still look back and find it quite simply astonishing that Bruce managed to completely destroy the best squad we have EVER had within a mere 12 months when all that was required was a little bit of tinkering here and there. I studied the league table last night and concluded that we will be finishing in the bottom 5 and more than likely to be relegated this season. I'm afaid that Southampton and Wigan have something about them that would suggest they are capable of surviving, something that we appear to be lacking. Whether that be luck or whatever, it's just a feeling in the air. Unless we obtain a high quality central midfielder and striker during January we will be relegated. If we do obtain these players then we have a fighting chance of surviving. Is MON still the man for the job? I think so, relegation or no relegation. The only doubt about MON that I have is this number 2 John Roberton issue. It's difficult to assess from an outsiders standpoint just precisely how important Robertson was to MONs previous successes. The thing is we have a poor squad and will be staring down the barrel if we keep or replace MON. If we replaced MON, we could end up with someone else that has us in exactly the same situation the following season so therefore, we must draw the line in the sand somewhere, be strong and stand by our chosen manager. We need to give a proven manager the opportunity to rebuild the squad, even it is takes 5 years.
I get the distinct feeling that if we lost on Tuesday, especially at home to a very poor Reading team who are certainties for the drop this season themsleves, then MoN would walk and hand the keys back. To be quite frank, even I wont accept anything other than a win either and I'm his staunchest ally here. We don't have a great team but we have far too much (with or without Fletcher) to beat Reading. I think my point is here a loss or draw on Tuesday and the tide will turn for many fans imo and the inevitable change of manager will ensue very quickly as we play Man utd (a), Southampton (a) City (h) and Spurs (h) in our next few games, where points will be sparse imo. Lose and he is finished in many fans eyes. Spot on mate. MoN will have been putting plans together for months for new players in January and a new man wont have the time to do so which means no new faces of note (just as Martin wasn't when he took over at this stage last year). I strongly believe that we will bring in 2 or 3 players (min) that will go straight into the team and have a positive effect from the off and we simply wouldn't get that with a new man. A central defender, a midfielder with some pace and a striker are my guesses. We will build again this summer when I think a good 5 or 6 (maybe more) will be shipped out as well. Martin is still my man 100%, as I believe in him to get it right. I just hope and prey he gets the time and the opportunity to put his plans in place before the inevitable sands of time run out for him here with some fans. I honestly believe he can succeed and I do think he lacks a Robertson figure to give him some straight answers (I think that Walford is a yes man) and maybe we can entice him up to help out for half a season? Come on Marty, big win on Tuesday and we can move on.
I think your right on the first one as I think he'll sit down with Short and leave by mutual consent Wednesday morning if we lose. As for not going down? Only the most optimistic can say there are 3 worse teams in this division.
i dont think were one of the worst teams in the league at all, were playing some nice football but we really are unlucky as **** atm nothing is going for us at all.
being in the bottom 3 is breaking my heart, the games we have coming up is normally a good sign for us as we usually play well against the better teams, which to me means some of the ****ers only up their game when there on the telly, so they aren't trying, Mon still makes some ****e tactical decisions which often baffle me, lets see what we go do first on Tuesday before going off the rails, on his tenature.
Not beating QPR was bad. Not beating Reading is not an option. Some hard games coming, so this is a must win for the club. I don't think it's a must win for MON though. We're too close to the transfer window for a change, whatever happens.
'not going down' is not remotely acceptable for the club. Why is everybody here overlooking that fact?
whats all this **** I keep reading about the manager needs time. yes he needs time to turn us into a top 8 team. yes he needs time to make us top 4. does he need time to stop us from being relegated, is that what you are saying?
Spoke with a Villain friend of mine recently who still wishes MoN was still there. He did say that results did seem to improve after Christmas when he was at Villa. Let's hope the same thing happens again. Short is a very astute business man and can see that the team needs a substantial rebuild. Replacing MoN isn't an option for me as there are no creditable alternatives so my question is will Short heavily invest this January or contemplate relegation looking at the longer term picture and allowing,say, 2 or 3 years to fully rebuild the club? Bruces buys, to me, were either past it or used to failure/relegation. No winning mentality. MoN is a winner.
That's interesting because Villa used to be horrendous in March as well. That's five and a half months of bad form every season if your mate's right...
Came away from SOL on Saturday with a bit of a lift in spirits despite being beaten by Chelsea, the result flattered them by the way and if not for a stupid tackle for their penalty and a howler from Bardo then we could easily have got something out of that game. Even so, the performance was there, we were a million times better than previous weeks and looked to continue where we finished off at Norwich. A good sign for me anyway. We can play, no doubt about it, we showed that against a resurgent Chelsea so if we can continue that level of performance then we will be fine. Lady luck didn't exactly go our way either and on another day, who know's? we might have nicked a draw. We must win on Tuesday, no brainer but lets stop this rubbish talk of MON out, it would be suicidal at this stage of the season.
