i was right bang behind the 2nd goal as it went in and ruddy definitely should have saved it - went straight through him, albeit it was struck well. even so, the defending (if you can call it that) which led to the opening for lualua was (in my best alan hansen voice) diabolical. you wouldn't get away with conceding a goal like that on a sunday morning at hackney marshes let alone the championship.
I agree that he should have saved that. I go back to my defence of Adams. The defensive set up was not at fault. The first goal was down to the full back going to sleep when he was in the right place, the sound defensive set up in the second forced the shot which only succeeded because Howson was too slow in closing down and Ruddy not getting down in time and the defensive set up in the third left the attacker with nowhere to go and only an unnecessary challenge led to the goal. All avoidable individual errors out of Adams control. Dropping Ruddy would be a big call. I wonder whether those advocating it would be sympathetic if Rudd or Bunn came in and had a stinker or whether it would be another tactical error by Adams. Mind you if Rudd or Bunn played a blinder it wouldn't be a good decision by Adams - it would just be good luck!!!
sorry, remind me why we'd thrown almost everybody forward and left huge gaps in behind, both when leading 2-1 and at 2-2? as a team we are so tactically naive it is astounding. everyone i speak to about it thinks likewise. the balance is all wrong, right across the pitch, at all times! whether you blame the manager for that or the players, IT HAS TO CHANGE FAST because we will end up closer to the bottom three than the top six if we carry on in the same vein.
Players will lose confidence if they start getting dropped when they feel that their team mates put them in impossible positions. Quite simply for far too much time in almost every game our shape is all wrong and some players get completely exposed. It's such an irony - we lack the prerequisites so many complained about the last two seasons... A solid shape and good organisation. Now we are on the path to free flowing flexible formations, but keep forgetting what to do when we lose the ball. We aren't doing that well with the free flowing going forward either, it's all quite predictable. The problem I keep coming back to is the total lack of control of the game. We don't look like we have a clue how to shut down a game, even though we did it so well the last few years, going right back to Lambert. I think Adams has hit the wall, trying to stamp his own ethos of attacking football on the team, and not all of them get it or get what they should be doing. Given it's the flattest of flat leagues where no team looks set to dominate, it's too early to rule out anything, but it's already clear that winning over some fans will be impossible for this management team now. Not for a long time anyway.
With reference to the management team, I think the club could well be digging a much bigger hole for themselves with the appointment of Mike Phelan. All I am seeing is another wave of trouble down the line when Adams does eventually get sacked.
I can see a repeated error with Phelan being put in charge. All the recent bad decisions are starting to add up in my head.
I agree wouldnt be keen on that. Standing up for the board a bit I think they did the right thing at the right time in terms of trying to restructure the football side of the business. If it was the right personnel is another matter of course.
Shouldn't we perhaps wait for Adams to be sacked and Phelan to be given the job before we start slating the Board for team performance under Phelan's tenure. Unfortunately a conspiracy theory that this has all been a plot to give the Managers job to Phelan falls a bit flat when you realise that Phelan was available when Hughton was sacked and they could have made Phelan manager then with Adams as his assistant.
Ah but that would have meant paying out a much higher salary from the onset, so rather than do that the board decided to 'stick' rather than 'twist' and gamble our best chance of a return to the top flight
How is it cheaper to give Adams a contract, sack him, pay 3 years compensation, appoint the bloke you really wanted in the first place and pay for a new first team coach? The conspiracy theory gets weaker by the minute!!!
Carrubah, what is your problem with Phelan? Surely his record as part of the team at Old Trafford stands up on its own because SAF would not have been so supportive otherwise, so I wonder what you are finding so potentially worrying? This is a genuine quesion by the way.
