Well said Canary Rob. Let's hope AN can indeed fire the team to perform as though their lives depend on it from now on!!!
Not sure, but he wasn't really given much of a chance to try and form a partnership with anyone. Good defender, good player, totally misused. Not the only one!
He has number 12, (Pilks's old number) so looks like he's still part of the squad. Who knows, AN could bring him back 'in from the cold'. Really looking forward to seeing the team selection on Saturday and could be quite interesting.
Hooliveld came with a good reputation, but was in my mind never given a fair crack of the whip. I think we have too many CB's if Martin is going to be a CB then we need another RB. It dosen't sit right that Martin is competing to a CB, but seems to automatically get played at RB if he's not one of the starting CB's. In my mind and I suspect in the minds of most of the defenders who have lost out as a result this isn't fair. I don't see Martin as a starting 11 CB, but he seems to by first choice. He is in my mind our best RB by some way. If Martin plays CB then Whittaker is almost guarenteed to start at RB, which in my mind is not giving him real competion. We have a good number of quality CB's, and we bought some over the summer, and all of them seem to be not performing or able to play well alongside Martin. Either Martin is a starting 11 CB or he's not. If he is then, we need to loose one of our CB's to allow us to recruit a RB who is of sufficient quality to give Martin & Whittaker a run for the starting 11 RB. If he's not a starting 11 CB then Martin and Whittaker need to compete for the RB position. In short Martin needs to nail his colours to the mast and be given some real competion for a role in the starting 11 as does Whittaker.
Excellent post and I feel Hooiveld has quite a lot to offer, but as you say, Martin should return to RB, as Whittaker sometimes worries me when he plays there.
Also, will Martin retain the captaincy? We need a more driving leader imo. Jonno would certainly fit this bill. I know Howson was Leeds leader but do not know what type of captain he was.
I agree - I suggested Johnno on the thread about him being nominated for December player of the month
I agree and if we play the 4-1-4-1 formation that Neil seems to prefer then I would expect Jonno to play just in front of the defence, which I think is an idea position for a captain to play in.
I was having exactly the same discussion with another fan on Friday and we were saying we need either BJ or JH to take over as captain!!!!!
Sorry, but how was he "totally misused"? We didn't stick him in goal or on the left-wing did we? Not sure if it's just me, but I'm personally getting a bit tired of these frequent little (unnecessary in my opinion) digs at Neeyul Adams. It's quite obvious you don't like him, but I don't see why you feel the need to constantly keep trying to be-little the more than decent job he did in his few months in charge this season. You talk (often) of him as if he was an unmitigated disaster for the club - which he absolutely was not. You frequently accuse him of playing players out of position all the time, especially Wes, when I personally don't think he was guilty of it that often at all. You keep telling us how "he's not a manager" without even hinting at giving him a chance to find his feet and settle into the role - despite your "patience" mantra last season under Hootun - which I find bizarre. Nobody is born a football manager as far as I'm aware, and whilst I'm not saying he did a fantastic job or anything and I'm not arguing with the decision to replace him when we did, I find your little digs at him really tiresome and also dis-respectful to the man and what he did. Just don't see any need for it myself, thought you were better than that.
Can't say I disagree with anything Munky has written Supers. I know we clashed a few weeks ago on Adams for similar reasons. He has left us in a far better position than his counterparts at Fulham and Cardiff. He made some decent signings. He also did a touch of very decent managing here and there. An unmitigated disaster he was not. He simply wasn't quite up to the task, as he himself has essentially admitted. But I think he can walk away with his head held high knowing he did his best, which wasn't all that bad in the circumstances, for a club he clearly cares about.
What are you talking about? Jerome has been excellent. Cuellar has been respectable. Even the much maligned Grabban has a decent goal return and served a purpose. Lafferty I appreciate has not had the impact I'd hoped for, but I maintain looks a decent player - his form for NI needs translating. VOO has not worked because of injury, but looked tidy in the couple of games I've seen and has plenty of time. So yeah, Adams made some decent signings. I didn't say they were world beaters (though they might become that...)
Forgot about Jerome, if the best of the rest is one being respectable then his signings have not worked. Grabban has slipped into no mans land, lost because he has little to his game. He has spent a lot of money so I'll maintain the signings provided a very poor return.
Well carrabuh, I find myself generally agreeing with you and yes, had Adams not signed Jerome his signings would indeed be deemed a failure, though we still have to see what Vadis can do!!! I like Cuellar and O'Neill looks like a useful player. Yes, Grabban scored several important goals in his first few weeks in green and yellow, but his achievement drew much debate on this site - mostly saying that he should have scored a lot more given the 'goalden' opportunities he had.
Right, first things first, I used the wrong word. I should have said underused rather than misused. I'm sure you'll forgive me this slip - its not like the word 'misused' hasn't been bandied around far too frequently for my liking of late! As for the rest, its just total exaggeration. Have I EVER said he was an unmitigated disaster? Absolutely not. I even said on a different thread last week that he wasn't. The one good thing he did do was lay the away-day hoodoo. I'll give him plenty of credit for taking a positive approach on the road, even if it did backfire sometimes. It was necessary. His start surprised everyone - even him I'd suggest! But the signs were there of naivity. We'd constantly fall one, even two goals behind. And his football on the whole was boring. It was stale. There was no spark. No invention. Sure we beat some teams heavily but that merely showed how good some of these players are rather than Adams managerial talent. His possession-based game plan never worked because it was so slow, even a child could have kept possession. I was far more bored at a number of games this season than I was last. At least our opponents were good last season! We just weren't very good!! How many times did he play Wes out of position? Well I checked back and although some of it has to come from memory, he made the switch to left wing for the Birmingham game. So in half his league starts he's been played left wing. That's pretty bad considering Adams should know more than most that he doesn't play well out there and even more so when you consider he'd started the season so brightly behind the striker (Grabban). What I have always maintained is that Adams was the wrong appointment at a crucial time for the club. I don't think anyone can really argue against this seeing as he's now been dumped after just four months in charge (this season). Had we spent the last three years in the Championship and lost a number of key players, I'd have been more understanding of giving him a go and see if he could bring through some of the youngsters who he'd undoubtedly bonded with. But not now! I never wanted him as manager because I felt he wouldn't be up to it. Hardly a bold claim when you take into account his background, character and ability. He never had the credentials to fulfil the role so why the bloody hell would I want him in charge of my football club at a time when we desperately needed a decent manager?!?! I think McNally and the rest of the board wanted to try and get the fans back on side with one of their own. Actually, the best way to get the fans back on side is to appoint a good manager. You might not believe me but I'm very disappointed it didn't work out for Adams. He's a good guy. Though I didn't listen I understand that his radio commentary was outstanding. He did a very good job with the youth team, albeit they struggled a little in all competitions bar that one cup run. He's just not cut out for the top job - never was - never will be. Full credit to him for giving it a crack - who would turn down the opportunity to manage your club? I wouldn't. He gave it his all. But it comes as little surprise that we achieved our best result of the season without him. None of those players were going to run through a brick wall for Neil Adams. Whether they will for the new guy we shall see but I'd suggest its far more likely they will based on what we've heard. To conclude. If you think 'nobody is born to manage' then I suggest thinking again. Some people just have it. Most don't. Some can learn. Most don't. Neil Adams wasn't a leader and never will be. He was never a captain of his side. Not once. He didn't go straight into management after retiring. He didn't even go into coaching! He never showed any managerial talent UNTIL he won the FA Youth Cup two years ago. He did so with a decent bunch of youngsters who played tight defensively and quick counter attacking football. He hasn't even tried to bring that approach to the first team. Had he done he might have had more success but he was naive and completely out of his depth. How could I have any patience with someone who quite blatantly shouldn't have been in charge? You don't back something that is fundamentally flawed. In Hughton's case it was always marginal and could have gone either way but even I grew tired of waiting. Adams was doing the absolute bare minimum in my opinion (he wasn't even achieving that as far as the board were concerned) - keeping us in touch with the play offs. But even by your own admission, this side should be punching its weight in the top two and should probably be top. A good manager would have us top now, or at worst second. Sad to say of anyone but I'm ecstatic Adams has been replaced quickly because I could only see one way this club was going to go under his management and that was down, down and further down and I was concerned we would make the same mistakes as before. We haven't, and now, for the first time in a couple of years, I think we can ALL get behind something positive. Neil Adams - a good man. A poor appointment. OTBC
