Phelan said himself after WBA at home- one of the most negative, boring sides - that we have to contain sides for a large portion of the game!! why?? After the first 3 games there were plenty crowing about how exciting & refeshing City were looking under Phelan - what do you say now? We're in the PL but absolutely everything is kaput at this club right now - the owners, the recruitment, the manager, the atmosphere, the attendances, the performances The only positive is the League Cup & the Jak
Our strengths in the past are we had fighters. Set pieces! We had a ****e midfielder who could knock the opposition off the ball. We had a player who could score! At the moment none of the above!
Tonight we played a bang average side and made them look far better than they are. I've praised Phelan a lot but this was awful. Even at half time the game was there to be won
What does it say when your £13m record signing is crooked for Jarrod Bowen? Yes, who the hell is Jarrod Bowen anyway.. I was concerned when Mason signed, the man doesn't exactly instill confidence in you, muttering soundbites such as "I wanted to play football", doubt he'd get in Scunthorpe's first XI.. I could imagine his teacher yelling "Speak up boy!" at him..at least when Koren (I miss you Robbie!!) disappeared for a period he'd bang in a belter out of the blue.. Mason to me just seems like a payday merchant, a shambles of a signing, Bullard had more impact, at least you noticed the loony, but this kid isn't showing anything
Mason needs dropping, publicly hanging out to dry. I expected MP to come out with hairdryer comments but nothing. That's what's getting me now....NOTHING!
On 'FMTTM' many Borough posters are calling Karanky all the ****s for being too defensive and clueless. Football! Bloody Hell!
If Phelan did go, who would replace him? The only reason he got the job in the 1st place was because no one else wanted it
Above all criticisms of individual players it was clear that all players were adhering to agreed tactics i.e. Concede midfield space. No players were challenging for the ball, there was absolutely no pressing. These were tactical orders that make players look much worse than they are. Imagine Klopp's instructions to his forwards and midfielders. I know we don't have that quality, but a good manager will engender some aggressive intent.
I couldn't care less how much they cost, and if you take Bowen's performance in moderation he looked the 13 million pound signing.
I have supported Phelan on other threads but after tonight I hold my hands up. I don't know if that pair of twats intend to sell us or not but they are sure going to lose money if they don't change something.
I like Bowen. Enthusiasm. A young lad not fazed, prepared to take risks and try something difficult at the potential expense of looking a clueless ****. I think I'd like to see him in the team tbh with Tymon at left back, chuck robbo on the wing. I know it's not his position but he's a million times closer to being a left winger than Ryan ****ing Mason.
Can you imagine having a really canny manager, who outsmarts the opposition, anticipating their every move, negating all their strengths, flooding their weaknesses? Be nice eh? Regardless of the players you have. Not sure that we ever had one of those.
We have two wing backs who while not being world beaters are very capable in that role .. get balls into the box and get to the line .. but in Phelan's set up he is nullifying their threat by playing a flat 4 then suffocating the space in front of them by playing 5 across the middle
The problem being our 5 man midfield nullifies **** all. The players he's selecting aren't capable dominating anything. Only Jake can do what hes asking, Mason, Henrikson and Clucas are not up to playing that way. Meyler is yet he stays on the bench.
It says a lot about Phelan's capability when, with a limited transfer budget, he spent £18 in positions we didn't need to strengthen, in the process weakening our starting XI and leaving us without adequate cover at right back or up front.
