Top post, Eddie. The Wigan commentators described Thuram as "Nervy from the start". What a farce when Alnwick, who waited patiently for his opportunity and grabbed it with both hands (didn't punch it, grabbed it), is elbowed aside for Thuram. I can understand the other departures, don't like them but can understand them, but the goalkeeping situation is stark raving mad.
very good post Eddie. I would challenge the statement "In fact none of the new players are up to Championship standard." Since we are tarring at least two of the players who we have not yet seen and those that we did see were not match fit to last the 90. Reza had a couple near on and there was come comment that Loic Nego played fairly well. Astrid I can agree might not make the grade but who would you rather have as the weak link Astrid or Pritchard. The test will come against Birmingham on our pudding of a pitch when the players have had chance to get to know one another have trained together for a whole week and maybe we have a choice of strikers with Church and Pete the Pole competing for the right. However I don't disagree with the majority of the points you make. I am certain that there will be some amongst us wandering down Floyd Road with a banner proclaiming the "end is nigh" and chanting "Chrissie, Chrissie, Chrissie - Out, Out, Out" but I will definitely not be one of them. If you look at the predictions before the game, many thought we would lose by a hatful - in the end, fitness and lack of experience told and we lost by a single goal. Yes, it is not great to be in the bottom three but there is time to turn this around and maybe just maybe now we have some younger fitter players in the squad who will step up to the mark. Don't get me wrong I am the first to complain about the ill treatment of Kermorgant who was at least worth two further years on a reasonable wage, but perhaps we saw the best of him and he wont perform the wonders for Eddie Howe that he managed for us. For those who question my return, I swore in December that I would not darken these pages again, but I am so fed up with hearing the Powell out brigade swelling their chests and repeating their croaks like bullfrogs on the edge of a pond, that I felt compelled to write and support what I perceive to be the voices of reason.
There is the finger pointing to be done about why we went through the transfer window letting players go, but did'nt seem to notice we needed to strengthen the midfield. I was'nt at the game, nor did I listen to the commentary, so my frustrations mostly stem from the niggle of having three points almost in the bag at 85 minutes and none at all at the nintieth. I agree with Eddie's`post here, though I think he's being very harsh on the new lads. We had a very Young side out yesterday, lost Wiggins and had to stick a Young centre back in his place. As a few of us were saying when the transfer window closed, we can't afford to try and see out the season like this, we're missing vrious important components all over the shop, so we need to hit the loan window, or pick up out of contract players now. The one new lad who is picking up flack is the new keeper, and given we had a very competent keeper in Alnwick, and chose to let him go when he was flying along suggests someone is'nt doing their research into the players we need very carefully. None of us I asume know what the relationship between CP and RD is, but something seems out of joint there. Wigan's a tough place to win, but we almost did it goddammit, and all that effort earnt no points. Next week, we need to win.
I agree... Wigan is a tough place to win, home to Birmingham in their current plight isn't, however. And I think it's a bit harsh to criticise the newbies, some of whom were only there for a day, and a bunch of youngsters. Agree that there's little more that Powell could do, though I'm frightened that he still thinks Pritchard's up to it based on the last 3 performances of his that I've seen. We all agree the midfield needs a boost, is the loan window open yet? If not, does anyone know when it will be?
Feb 8th. I am mildly encouraged that with each sale the club has promised the money will be used for strengthening the team. But they didn't say when. They could mean next season.
What possible justification can there be for the sale of Kermorgant? Unless: (1) We got a load of money for him (at least one million) which I don't believe or (2) We know that he has ongoing fitness problems and we conned Bournemouth His departure could well be the difference between relegation and staying up, which must be worth several times whatever we got for him, in gate and TV money and not devaluing the club and players. The only reasons I can think of are to provoke Powell's resignation, or the new management are bloody idiots who have done no homework on our players.
Think Yann was a mixture of injuries/age/contract. They probably wanted to lower his wage as it would probably have been his last contract - to which I'm sure he would have been reluctant.
There is the alternative... he really doesn't care about us going down. And I don't mean that he doesn't care long-term, but he simply sees us as a long-term investment focussed on bringing youth through, and he'll take a short term drop if it means we go by his rules and ethos. Get the right young people in on 3-4 year deals, then just hold onto them when we go down and bolster them with more young talent to get us back up and push on. Total clear-out. I'm not saying that's what's happening, but it's a possibility.
Sorry guys, I was a bit sloppy with my wording. First of all, I would not criticise any of them for their performance yesterday. Most of them must have played out of their skins. But I think it is totally unreasonable to expect them to do that game after game, which we would need them to do to stand any chance of avoiding relegation. Our own three products are entitled to come into the team for short bursts of matches, and to make mistakes from which they can learn without the crowd on their backs. We are already expecting too much from Cousins, and Poyet and Lennon are a year younger. I welcome all the overseas signings (though I think Adjarevic might be in the wrong country. It will take to next July to build his fitness to the level required for the Championship which is a lot more rough and tumble than he is used to). Peter Pan is clearly a bright prospect but he cannot be all that outstanding yet or he would be playing for Liege. I reckon it is like signing one of the best young players from Div One (like Ritchie, or like Stephens was). So yes, he could be Championship standard but it is going to take games for him and Reza to learn to play with the rest of the team, whereas a player like Kevin Phillips can change clubs more often than I change my underpants and has the experience to slot in immediately. Nego has come from a lower standard. I think he got outplayed yesterday but stuck at it bravely and limited the damage. Good for him. So promise for the future, but we need something instant to avoid relegation. Hamer, Wilson., Morrison, Wood, Jackson and Church are good enough at this level, but not good enough to carry those learning the game or learning to fit in. Adrenalin carried them through for 85 minutes yesterday, but once your adrenalin drops you go completely flat, which is why we conceded two avoidable goals. With successive matches, and a few knocks and disappointments incurred, the adrenalin will drop earlier and earlier in the game. Teamwork and experience must replace it, but these guys don't have enough time to acquire those this season.
Unfortunately for the club, I can't argue with a word of that... except for some of those you've classed as 'good enough for this level' from the existing crop!! So am very worried, but I'll repeat... I think there are 4 teams not good enough for this league, and we only have to finish ahead of the other 3.
I have suggested that possibility elsewhere on this board. I could live with that provided he has the money and determination to see it through. Destroying everything and building up from ground zero didn't work out too well for the Cultural Revolution or Khmer Rouge though. It just seems a risky and longer way to go about it. It is not as if the club was rotten to the core and divided into factions. Things were going well on the pitch and with the academy and club spirit was high. We just needed a comparatively small injection of cash to move to the next level, Certainly a lot less than relegation and rebuilding will cost us. Arthur and Terry had already done the dirty work of pruning the admin and office staff.
The club wasn't rotten to the core, but despite the refresh in 2011 it was hardly in a shining state prior to takeover, pitch... team... and what is consistent in RD teams is that he values youth set up, which we've got a shining example of. We were also haemorrhaging 5-7m per year. It's a long shot, but I'm struggling to see the logic in this otherwise.
I've been saying consistently that we need to break even, and the only way we can do that is to put the Academy at the heart of our development, so I'm struggling to be too critical of Roland's plans. It seemed that our previous owners wanted that as well, judging by their investment in the Academy, but weren't as ruthless as Roland. I also had doubts that Sir Chris bought into this philosophy, but now it seems that he is being forced into it, otherwise Poyet wouldn't have got his debut so soon. So my hope is that Sir Chris is fully committed to working with Roland &co along these lines and it works in the short term and eventually the long term. In return Roland must listen to Sir Chris when he tells him he is making a blunder, eg in the goalkeeping department. Because if we are all pulling together we might get somewhere nice!
The assumption that we would get back if we went down is taken so lightly, we would be one of many similar teams. We must stay up in the Championship, no relegation is at all an acceptable 'plan'.
True enough Oz Addick. Anyone who thinks it's a simple matter of being a big enough club should take a look at Sheffield Utd these days.
I didn't go to Wigan, but listening to those who did they reckon that Nego was poor and Thuram was terrible. Why we sold Ben Alnwick to Orient FFS will go down as one of the most perverse decisions in our recent history. We were a weak side before last week - then we go and sell three of our few Championship performers, and replace them with untested foreign non entities. Can you imagine our Iranian striker and French keeper running out of the tunnel for our Div 3 fixture at Hartlepool next season ? Worrying times.
Bollocks. RD just sees us as a way of making money. He has got as much interest in Charlton as I have in getting into bed with Susan Boyle. It is absolutely shameful what is going on just now, if we lose v Birmingham I hope the ordinary fans (as opposed to the CAST arse lickers) let RD know what they think.
""RD values the youth set up" Yep....just watch how quickly he flogs Solly, Cousins and Poyet when we go down this summer.
