I had a number of headings for this post but this is probably most apt. What a f~$&1@? joke we are, 4 games in 3 at home and one positive result to show for it. For all the comings and goings over the summer it is clear as day that at this point we are worse of for it. We currently do not have a fit CB at the club who has the 1st idea of how to defend, our midfield would come 2nd in a one horse race & a manager who is at the moment losing the faith of supporters that even Roy Keane would be had pushed to match. For weeks now I have been saying we are well short on CBs and our squad is about as shallow as a puddle, yet reading through other posts etc on hear tonight there are other fans who still think it is not PJs fault.......f~$&1@? hell wake up and smell the coffee....Deja vu part 2 or is it 3 is about to be screened at a local football ground in Portman Road.
what is it with you and the league one boys eh hoppers?! 5 conceded again??? out of interest, how good were saints tonight as i've always had a soft spot for them and would love to see them 'do a norwich' so to speak. was it them being great or you lot being useless again... bit of both maybe?
Not PJs fault Keane let 3 of our 5 CBs contracts run down, leaving only Smith and Delaney and not PJs fault there are no CBs out there to buy at the right price. We don't have endless amounts of money to throw at players like Leicester, we can't break the wage structure, our location clearly is a factor when it comes to deals (a la Jason Pearce and Shotton), most good freebies go to the prem leaving us with Inig or Sonko to choose from. Please explain what you expect Jewell to do, take a gamble and bring in an unkown foreigner, how many times has that worked out well? Break the wage structure and upset the other players? Give the guy a chance to build a squad ffs!
Defo bit of both Super, it was very similar to playing you guys last year except for 20 mins we looked like scoring. We are definitely making progress!
Sorry Sven but you can't blame all of this on Keane, What manager in his right mind continually picks a back four that is made up of 3 left footers, picks a midfield tonight that is made up of 4 CMs. Offers Brown & Eastman such cr4p contracts that their only option is to go else where, when we have not done enough to keep GMac, even if his contract was up. I do appreciate he has walked into a dogs dinner of a mess but he is not covering himself in glory just now, before you ask I want him to turn this around cos I am f~%&ed if I want another transitional period.....
cheers sven. always humiliating to get thumped at home as you and indeed i will know! still early days of course and the window hasn't shut yet but you must be concerned that despite making a number of signings you've not really made them in the right areas, chopra apart... of course, i only look at it as an outsider - i'm only going on what i've heard, but you seem like a team who have square pegs in round holes. surely, given a whole summer to sort it, jewell should have made more progress? i think you may have fluke'd the brizzle game to a degree as they appear to be even worse and saints are a good side - they were close to us in terms of ability in league one and only missed out due to points deductions. personally, i'd say he's had ample time to get the vast majority of his team together now and you seem to be no better off, arguably worse. difficult to assess i suppose after only four games...
In total agreement. PJ certainly hasn't become a bad manager overnight, and I still have faith in the guy, but at the moment not all is making sense on the decision making front.
The only other choice he has is Ainsley and he is worse than Smith. Eastman and Brown were not worth keeping, Jewell was right to offer them reduced terms and Gmac was offered a contract by a premiership club. I struggle to see what Jewell could have realistically done better, he's gone for CBs which he thought were viable (not talking about Woodgate and Upson as they weren't) but the deals haven't come off for one reason or another. I'm not saying give Jewell 5 years to sort it out but at least wait until after the window has closed. If he still hasn't addressed the weaknesses I too will be livid but now is not the time
Well we were lacking in all areas so all of the players Jewell has brought in were needed, goes to show how crap we were that we've signed 8 and still need another 5 or so! Wouldn't say Brizzle was a fluke, we won because we had a defence (Ingi played his only competitive game so far) and we took our chances. Plus we're more suited to playing away (as long as we have defenders!) I think it would be fairer to judge PJs squad after the transfer window has closed.
Fair play Sven, am more than happy to agree to disagree on this one........you will see the light soon enough.....
Well I hope I don't see the light, I know what you mean about de ja vu part 3 but I have faith PJ is a better manager than Keane and Magilton and will address the problems in the squad asap and we will have a team than can compete with the top teams in this league I'm in pinewood too, wanna fight about it?
I actually cannot believe what I am reading. I'm wondering if some of you are just trying to be wind up mechants, Anyone who knows an ounce about football can surely see that Keane ruined our club and PJ has been left to pick up the pieces. For me atm we are in the process of serious rebuilding. Keane was easily the worst manager in our history and I feel soo sorry for the next club he manages. We are by no means worse off by the signings we have made, yes the 2 positions I believe we are worse off than the end of last season are where McAuley and Bullard plays but other than that our team has been improved vastly. The loss of these 2 is a major blow and we can all now see how important they were for us but PJ cannot help at these losses. The majority of his signings he has brought in have been great IMO, an England GK, Cresswell looks a great little player, and JET has bags of potential along with Chopra who is one of the best strikers in the division. The others seem decent, especially when comparing what we have been used to in the past couple of seasons!!! It is clear that we are in major need of CB's, Jewell is well aware of this and trying to strengthen this area, I think we are going to have to take some knocks before we can come out of the other side for the time being, we need to be patient in bringing the players he wants in and not just panic buy!!! I will be worried if we haven't bought anyone by the end of august but atm we have to be patient. I have full confidence in PJ. We lost tonight against one of if not the best team I have seen at this level, although our central defence was awful, I do not blame Jewell for this, although his starting line up was not overly convincing tonight we would have most likely lost whomever we played. And despite the result, I believe we are definitely making progress, last year we would have never even looked like getting back into that match. We showed some quality going forward, Chops looked class and when Martin and JET came on they looked superb. Hoppers you say what man continually picks a defence made up of 3 left footers, a) he doesn't have much choice at this point b) we are 3 games into the season, so continually seems a little harsh, c) i think you will find most teams have 3 right footers. And continually playing 4 CMs(i found this a little strange) but again continually when its only been deployed in one game??? And I hardly think you can blame PJ for McAuley leaving at all!!! Your f####d if you want another transitional period, well clearly we are only still at the beginning of one so you better get used to a few low points like this before we can enjoy better times, like svendust says at least let Jewell build a squad first ffs!!! Superman we have made signings in the right areas because basically we needed to make signings in every position and still do. So although we now currently really need to strengthen at CB at the beginning of the summer we needed to strengthen every position!!! I really can't believe what I am reading!!! We are talking doom and gloom already 3 games into the season when we have had one of the biggest overhauls in playing personnel in the clubs history, we've basically had to start from scratch and are still really only half a team!!!
ITFCPTC......please read my post again before you misquote me,....... see tonights CM selection....! I am wondering whos fault it is if not the managers for the situation we find ourselves in regarding CB position, I am sure he has spent plenty of time trying to get the right players in, but he is also guilty of wasting time py chasing unrealistic targets...! If Martin looked superb, then I clearly was watching a different game, we had momentum for 15-20 mins in 2nd half, but when we got the 2nd all of a sudden we alomst looked as if we froze as a team with the thought that we might just pull this one out of the bag..!
PJ has been left to pick up the pieces and we don't know the ins and outs of who makes what decisions but a £1m bid for Ryan Shotton is a complete joke. Short on centre backs - Carlos Edwards is NOT a right back. We only have one decent striker. All problems that we've had for three or four years now so you can't blame PJ but this is evidence that if we want to ever get back into the Premier League the only way we'll do it is by signing a few £2m-£3m players to go along with the bargains and the youngsters. Poor old Stockdale must be wishing he'd stayed warming the Fulham bench.
itfcptc - in my opinion ypur post totally misses the point. "The majority of signings have been great" - I assume this is based on past reputation and not performance to date then. "Martin looked superb" - sorry but I clearly missed that. He lost and gave away the ball last night more than any other match (and no, I am not anti Martin normally) "Let PJ build a squad first" - quite right but let's not use that as an excuse for everything that was wrong last night. The point is that getting all the players to give 100%, making sure the players know where they are supposed to be, playing the right players in the right positions, building a team and 'want to win spirit', stopping team mates arguing amongst themselves, is not related to building the squad or transitional issues - it is basic good management. We can't blame PJ for everything I agree but, by the same token, he cannot be exonerated from blame for everything either. The squad and new signings is a major factor in our future succes of course, but I personally think that there are underlying issues which could be resolved quickly and simply around team management.
Jesus we are only 3 games into the season... Calm down dear! The CB issue is annoying for everyone but perspective, we been **** at the back for years it's going to take a while to change that. We seem to kepp missing out on our Cb targets like St. Ledger but the window is still open. PJ has made a mistake in not getting another Cb or two, but he will know that more than anyone else.
"We've been ***** at the back for years and its going to take a while to change that" How many more years would you think would reasonable then? ....and 3 games into the season or not, there is more to put right than just our centre back issue DEAR.
I would say Jewell has made a mistake in not bringing in more CB’s, I think we all know this and felt this before the start of the season. He’s made a good start with Cresswell and Inga could be useful if he stays fit (might be a big if). We seem to be scoring goals and creating chances so it can’t be all bad (admittedly I wasn’t at the game so i’m only going on what I’ve read), and we have a whole new midfield that needs to settle. Oh and Rushmere that “calm down dear “was a general Michael Winner impression not directed at specifically you, sorry for any offense
