Like I said last year we had 1 player,take away his contribution and we are better in every other area.
But sadly we haven't improved as a team, compared to the team including the fly tipping, child abandoning, greedy jock bastard.
My take on todays' match .... Worst man on the field - the ref. Several times this season I've uttered the words "this is the worst ref I've ever seen. They can't come any worse than this". But they do. Silly bookings for us, missed bookings for them - including a red for their #3 after clearly hitting Cook! 3 nailed on penalties for us, a clear handball in the lead-up to their goal. Lots of advantages & soft decisions for them, bugger all for us, resulting in 2 enormous ironic cheers when we did get awarded a free kick! Worst man off the field - Redders. Where do I start? Morison & Sharp selected up front. Morison won 1 header in the whole match. Sharp was completely ineffective. Again. Do we really want to score goals, 'cos this pair have proved time after time that they're not the answer). Wootton at RB. Question is - is Berardi better? My answer is that he's as average as Wootton is - but at least he's average in their half too! Austin at LM? Why? He's been playing a blinder behind the striker(s) of late. Why change that? More important than the team selection was our whole approach. It was clearly shown up today. For corners, whilst drawing AND winning, they put 3 men on the halfway line, and nearly scored every time WE had a corner! We, on the other hand, played NONE on the halfway line when they had a corner. Not even when we were chasing a goal. So clearly they are geared towards winning whist we are geared towards not losing. That is my biggest criticism of Redders. He seems more interested in keeping his job than winning games, and I detest him for it. Just while I'm mentioning corners, why oh why do we take a short corner that ends up being passed back to the halfway line. We had 8 outfield players of 6 foot or over waiting in the box for the ball. Jeez! One other criticism - why is Austin not attending extra training sessions each day to learn how to keep a ball down when he shoots? Easy to blame him, but the management should be addressing this rather obvious fault. He could rack up quite a few goals with something resembling accuracy. Perspective - we were playing a team that's playing well & in genuine contention for a play-off place, so it was always going to be difficult. We nearly matched them. If only we had someone capable of scoring ..... Silvestri - starting to get his confidence back again. Distribution still quite poor, and did not come for the ball when Bamba told him to, causing a little flutter in the heart. From what I've seen, I'm pretty sure Bamba will be having a word with him & it'll get sorted. Wootton - competent in his own half, but clearly not a natural RB. For me, this is a problem, but not an immediate one. Bamba - First class, with one exception. As the Leicester fans warned us, he likes to go forward. He exposed us on more than one occasion today. Need someone with big balls to chin him. Cooper - Good solid game. Nothing particularly outstanding. Seems to be forging a good partnership with Bamba. Taylor - I actually thought he was superb today. Fantastic engine, always available, great crossing, tackling, blocking etc. (and one Warnock-like last ditch clearance!). Byram - Good game, but not great. Doesn't get the support from his RB that he always offered his RM when playing RB, so it's possible that there's better to come if we can find another Byram for RB!. Cook & Murphy - both played well together, but weren't brilliant. Austin - put in a great performance despite being played in yet another position. Redders should make his mind up. Morison & Sharp - Me with my beer belly & Glory without his specs could have done a better job whilst drinking copious amounts of beer (and not spilling a drop!). Subs - not enough time to judge them.
I have been saying we are ****e since September, you might be slow but you ain't a cretin so you were bound to catch up. on an unrelated theme (honest) i Wonder where Mike is tonight?
I'm not quite there yet. We have a good solid unit with enormous potential. It's not all ****e. We need scoring strikers, & these 2 aren't them! We need a coach that wants to win, and Redders isn't him. Incidentally, I'd say that this team is probably better than September's team! Think Mike's at home tonight. Don't think Moe's fit enough to go out. That was the impression Mike gave me at the match today.
Redfearn is the problem in my opinion Glory, he hasn't got a clue. I think a good coach/ manager could get the best out of this team. I'm giving Cellino til next season to see what he does before I jump on the Cellino out bandwagon he's laying the foundations, there is a lot of work to do and that's not just on the pitch, it takes time And yes, I know he appointed Redfearn, so he's to blame for that one, no ones perfect Blackpool Wigan and the Wallies are as good as down so we're ok Mourhino couldn't save the ****ing Wallies Fo'fuxake
Agree with your comments Olof, except the bit about Cellino appointing Redders, even though he did. At the beginning Cellino didn't want Redders to leave the academy, but virtually all the fans, including the media were calling for Redders to be appointed as full time coach, including me, and Cellino reluctantly succumbed. IMO, what Redders did was tinker with team and played his favourite academy boys all time, then slowly ousted some of Cellino's signings in favour of players who had previously played badly, didn't and hasn't worked so far. Redders, imo, is the one that's detrimental to team, and his best friend ain't doing much either.
I agree LL, I was gonna write the same thing regarding Cellino wanting Redfearn to stay with the academy and gave in to pressure, but i couldn't be arsed, he's probably regretting it now and soon Redfearn will be out of a job
Olof, To be honest I think Cellino will be patient and give Redders till end of season then he's gone, providing we stay above the relegation zone however, I wouldn't be surprised to see him gone before. A lot of fans are starting to see Redders for what he is and for what he's been doing. Personally, I'd like to see McCallister or Eddie Gray back. Gus Poyet would be nice, but can't see that happening.
I still think, and have been saying for ages. The biggest difference between this season and last season is last season we had a manager. Admittedly pretty much everyone didn't like McD and I am not saying he shoulda stayed but at least he was a proper manager with previous experience of doing well. We haven't been blessed with a good manager for many years now but we go out of our way and spend money in this department rather than random foreign players no one has ever heard of and we will see a huge improvement.
Heyup LL , cant support you on Mccallister or Gray back as managers, ****ed it up last time, and IMO with some better players. Replacement, have not got a clue, bad time of year for anyone to come in.
You're alright Whites... I just thought McCallister had us playing good football and we were getting the results untill the 5 game blip, I think he was treated a bit harshly however, I also thought that Fuzzface waited for an excuse to get rid of some managers because it looked liked we may get in playoffs.
Good morning from a sunny Bardsey We deserved at least a draw and I would have taken Morrison off at half time Cani was given 6 minutes to babtise himself and I thiught he at least unsettled their defence The ref was totally useless as were the linesmen .Wooton is no right back and it was left to Byram to defend the right flank against a lively Dallas I agree with many posters who say REDDERS doesnt yet know his best teamI dont think he has the nous to make a good managerId love Gary Rowett to be given the job Still think Billy should be given a good run if he gets the service he will score
Well justify it then. There is no point just saying it when the only thing that really matters (the results) absolutely suggest ( I would say prove) otherwise. We might have a younger prettier squad that play tippy tappy but that ain't improving the stats.... Loyalty is one thing, blindness to obvious truths is something else.
If we manage to survive in this league, MC will need to do something about Redders in he summer. The experiment with coaches hasn't worked unless you can get a top bloke like Karanka, because Midds have been shyte ever since been relegated from the prem but this Spaniard has turned them around and will probably get them promoted.
Not being so old my memory still works and I can remember some fookin dismal performances last season,the football was awful.Its opinions,I believe we are playing better football and I believe the team is much better but not too confident in the manager.