That was simply terrible! The biggest concern and something that cannot be excused is that the players no longer seem to have the passion out there. Passion is something that epitomized Gaz as a player and up until the last month or two his team as well. Tactically a 4-5-1 with only Kuffour up front would never work. Kuffour is terrible generally but on his own up front he was rather similar to Bambi continually falling. I would excuse him for that if others were slipping over but the pitch considering the weather was in fantastic nick and nobody else was having problems staying on their feet. My ratings Ingram - 6 - Didn't really do much wrong Arnold - 4 - Woeful, constantly gave the ball away Stewart - 6 - Was playing well and I probably would have given him a 7 but for his role in getting sent off and giving a penalty away. Johnson - 6 - Did ok, no frills as usually McCoy - 5 - Needs a rocket up his arse, far too laid back at times. Lewis - 5 - Headless chicken, constantly running around, fouling and giving the ball away Scowen -5 - A Lewis clone in the way he now plays Cowan-Hall - 4 - Poor, again gave the ball away a lot and seemed to think it was everyone elses fault when he did. Wood - 4 - Don't think he found a Wycombe player all day with a pass Knott - 6 - Not everything came off but the only midfielder who was looking to create so was then subbed! Kuffour - 3 - No comment Subs McClure- 6 - Should start as our only natural goalscorer. Created a chance out of nothing towards the end Craig - 5 - Offered little when he came on and was soft in the challenge that led to one of their goals Morias - Little time to make any impact Sadly it does look like Ainsworth has lost the dressing room but unfortunately we also cannot afford to sack him so unless he offers his resignation I think we are a little stuck!
utter shambles, well beaten by an average at best Wimbledon team without even getting a shot on target. attitude issues were apparent among most the squad, knott and lewis had shockers in central midfield, PCH was non-exhistant in the second half, Ingram should have done better with the first goal and dropped the ball a couple of times, McCoy at LB just didn't work, Arnold was standard Arnold and kuffour put in possibly the single worst performance ive ever seen from a player in the Wycombe shirt. only LJ and wood escape the game with any credit, and they were hardly superb fans are quick to point the finger at ainsworth but today he started with a poor team and made logical formation and personnel changes. the blame does not entirely lay with the players or the manager, and gaz should not be sacked just yet. he needs a more experienced head working with him, as Dobson is a poor assistant manager in that regard. that is not to say ainsworths job is safe by a long way but I think the trust will be more patient and give him a little more time yet. we need to pick up these performances though, or we will get trounced by oxford next week A final note on Wimbledon - they beat a poor team in front of them and fairplay to them, they easily won. But the tackle on scowen on the end left me fuming - it was late, reckless and potentially a leg breaker. to see the 700 Wimbledon fans then rise to applaud him off the pitch, then chanting his name for England was horrible, and I like to think we wouldn't have done that to one of our players
That challenge was terrible and slightly bizarre in that they were 3-0 up and it was near the halfway line (so little danger). However, I think it is a little short sighted to suggest if the roles would have been reversed and we'd had a player sent off that the overall reaction would have been any different. In terms of the poor team, that is Ainsworth's team and probably only Hause and Morgan were missing from the squad who would have been in his first X1. The formation change came too late. 4-5-1 clearly didn't work in the first half, was still not working when they scored and then the formation change came a good 15-20 minutes later with only 20-25 minutes to go.
I think gaz should have changed the formation at half time, as oppose to waiting to go down 1-0. as for the applauding a sent off player for me it depends how they were sent off, and I certainly wouldn't be applauding a player off had he of made that sort of challenge speaking of our fans, id love to know why some were booing ainsworth for taking off kuffour, that substitution seemed perfectly legit, if a little bit late, for me
The booing I think when Kuffour went off was for the fact that we were still playing one up front. Though if they'd thought about it, leaving Kuffour up front with McClure would still effectively be one up front anyway because of how poor Kuffour is!
I'm concerned if Gaz has lost the dressing room. That is normally down to a ringleader within the team.
Ron there is no leader of any sort! Lewis is a terrible captain. His game is running around at full speed kicking people. His reaction to us going 1-0 down was to kick out and get booked. Josh Scowen has regressed and become another Lewis. It doesn't come across that they don't want Gaz there as there is no sign of arguments within the team. They look shot of confidence, dither on the ball, keep giving it away and don't seem to have a clue how to play football.
for me the obvious leader is one of he centre backs - doc is the best captain but not a regular in the team, stewart I would argue would make a good leader. Sammy wood wouldn't be a bad option either really
I was wondering about Stewart. He seems to give his all, chasing back at speed when we are caught on a break. We always seemed better when Gaz was on the field, which demonstrates the importance of a leader on the pitch. The captain must be someone who never gives up, encourages his players to give their all, whatever the circumstances, and to pick up those who are having an off day. Everyone can have an off day and if they are not encouraged to keep going (as opposed to being moaned at), they reach the point where they don't even want the ball and the lacking confidence starts to spread. Of course, playing the right 11 players is a major factor and if they keep losing Gaz will get the blame for that. Having the right captain is vital. A poor leader can easily deflate the whole team. Gaz, pick the right captain.
A final note on Wimbledon - they beat a poor team in front of them and fairplay to them, they easily won. But the tackle on scowen on the end left me fuming - it was late, reckless and potentially a leg breaker. to see the 700 Wimbledon fans then rise to applaud him off the pitch, then chanting his name for England was horrible, and I like to think we wouldn't have done that to one of our players The wimbledon fans were not chanting his name for England, they were chanting (Leon) 'Johnson for England', seconds after it was announced he had been given MOM!! Probably the worst performance I have seen at Adams Park by the famous quarters. I think Ainsworth should watch a game from the Woodlands (he would then clearly see (and hear) whats going wrong).
my mistake, I admittedly was still furious about the tackle and how we were playing! certainly the second half was the worst second half ive ever seen by the team, now we are later in the week it looks like gaz will be staying at least until the weekend, so we need to get bck on track
When Waddock arrived we started playing good football and winning and he was referred to as The Wadfather. Then it started going wrong and we were all calling for his head. He went. In steps Gaz. Almost immediate transformation, talk of play-offs, Gaz the legend etc. Then it all started going wrong ........................... It could be worse; we could have had an Alan Smith, in which case it would all have gone wrong from the start and just got worse. Gaz's passion was being transferred to the pitch. It sounds as though it isn't any more. That to me sounds as though there are one or two (and spreading) team members who aren't pulling their weight and maybe it's getting Gaz down and that has now transferred to the pitch. Maybe it's the same person(s) who caused Waddock's downfall. That's 2 managers we have had that fans regarded as "saviours" and then turned against. It has to be something to do with one or more players. I can guarantee that if we had a new manager and the same players, however good he starts off, it will go downhill and end the same way. I say, find the root cause of this recurring theme and get rid.
Terrible performance from the get go. One up front is not working especially as we seem to either by-pass the midfield with the hoofing or watch the midfield getting in each other's way and failing to pass to another of their own team! A midfielder should have gone and a striker on for second half. We seem to have too many defensive midfielders all running after the same ball like schoolboys in the playground. To be fair to Kuffour, he may not be much cop but he had no service. Unless I have missed something Junior is not going to turn a game around. Too much pointless running about in the middle of the park with no end product means the defence is constantly under pressure. Despite the poor run, this was the first time I thought we had absolutely no chance of getting something. I find Gaz's subs, formation or team selections quite perplexing and I wonder if he should start watching games from the stand rather than in the dug-out.
As his presence on the touch line no longer seems to have any impact, that might be a good idea. And delegate the touch-line antics to someone else. Presumably he watches videos of every game that should also tell him something. But, I agree, watching from above (the woodlands as suggested earlier) would give a better perspective of what was going on.
I believe that's its possible that one of these said players that led to waddocks downfall from within the club is now currently the manager. however I disagree about that theory regarding gary waddock. I feel that his downfall was due to the sacking of martin khul for punching lewis/Donnelly/ainsworth (delete as appropriate depending on who's story you believe). everywhere waddock has been successful he did so with khul as his assistant, which makes you question who is really running the show. as for an uprising from within the ranks there are a few you have to question. how about matt spring, who would fit this team very well yet doesn't get a look in? or gary Doherty, who is now seemingly the fourth choice centre back and lost his captains armband under gaz? both senior pros, and both potentially very influential within the dressing room so possible confict there. dean morgan, famous for attitude problems and strangely out injured a lot. gaz will (and possibly already has) been given more time than waddock because he is a young inexperienced manager trying to learn the ropes. he also seems to be a stronger character with more guts about him than waddock was so that's got to help as well. many of the players will still run through brick walls for him and the team (scowen, lewis, wood, bloomfield etc) so I don't think the dressing room has been entirely lost.
Cheers Jose. I'd forgotten about the Martin Khul saga. I see he is a qualified coach, currently a youth coach at Reading. Waddock is now working at MK Dons as Head of Coaching and Peter Taylor, who Waddock replaced, is currently manager of Gillingham. He also had two spells as head coach of the England under-21 team and took charge of the England national team for one game. He recently managed England under-20 team in 2013. Outside of England, Taylor was the head coach of the Bahrain national football team. Interesting that they have all moved upwards. But then so has John Gregory (with Crawley Town). Maybe he'll get them relegated to add to his tally of relegations achieved.
im not sure how much it can be counted as upwards. waddock is at a higher club but in a lesser position, same with khul. As for taylor, he went first to Bradford and has his reputation as being a manager who has achieved 5 promotions (interestingly 3 or 4 of those teams have failed to survive the next season)
Relegation odds now available. We are best priced 12/1 with some bookies going as low as 8/1. 12/1 is almost tempting
I totally agree with that mate and I wasn't there Saturday but its been coming only our centre backs and Ingram to thank for it not happening sooner! And yes Gaz needs a touch line ban for 3 games and watch each game from all 3 home stands
