Was at the Brum game myself, Billy, but only the second half. Was standing at the corner of the pitch, on the road up to the dressing rooms etc. Unusual position for me to observe a game from, so can't offer too much analysis. For me, Sarcik is the pick of the forwards & looks ready to break through, given the chance. Only seen him twice though, so not really enough to judge him on. A lot of talent, but I'm not sure many of them are ready for the first team. Will be delighted to be proved wrong. I think Denton is a goner myself. Not many of the old guard left now. Still angry at Stokes being let go, especially when after the event I read that TC had said he got his break into the first team & didn't take it. One game!! I had just about accepted the decision until I read that. One game! Huh!
Very fair comment Billy. Whilst I was one who was calling for him to go, I for one do not wish the man any harm and wish him well for the future. I also don't believe he was 100% to blame, unfortunately for him, Radz and I suppose ourselves to some extent needed a scapegoat., and he was in the firing line. Let's just hope Radz does better with his next appointment.
A certain Mr Bremner was six stone wet through when he arrived at ER. Perhaps the little lads need some good old deep fried mars bars, eh? Seriously, you've put your finger on a problem we were discussing at the match. In the past we've had 1, occasionally 2 flair players that we've carried in the hope they'd produce a bit of magic. I always remember watching Kilkenny running away from tackles, and he's not been alone over the years. But we have a whole front line of them! Soggy can't catch anyone, and the 3 lads behind him are struggling to stay upright if it's windy. They offer very little impact - literally - when it comes to tackling. That's a whole lot to carry & we rely far too heavily on our DMs. It's been a common feature to slate our DMs, no matter who plays, but FFS, you could have the best 2 DMs in the world with that forward line & they'd struggle. Therein lies the problem for me. The team is imbalanced in favour of flair & attack, which is fine if you're knocking in more goals than you're losing. But we've stopped knocking in the goals, haven't we? Sad, but true.
FFS, just had the most horrible thought - even worse than BrollyWally. What if Orta takes over temporarily?
If we,'re gonna stick with the dof model then I think we should get a manager who s used to not having any say over the players available and just has to work with what he s got. I.e. an international manager and more specifically one from a smaller nation with a limited pool of players who has overachieved. Examples are Michael o Neill and the guy in charge of Iceland. You could put mick McCarthy in that category too
Kinnear will probably put an F1 racing car on badge to celebrate MaClarens appointment if he got the job.
Good post Billy and I agree with a lot of your points. For me, TC shot himself in foot, he was the master behind his own downfall. The first 7 games or so made TC look good, and he was cos he wasn't tinkering with team, and we were all on his side, as we do. The players played and looked enthused and inspiration driven, then it all began to change after the first Millwall game.......something must've happened between the Millwall game and the game before for the whole team to suddenly play crap, and it was slowly going downhill from there untill the Newport game, and the downhill slide seemed to accelerate. Ristac mentioned, how does a whole team all of a sudden play crap. Many times people had mentioned the players look tired, I even noticed that the likes of Alioski and Sacko had lost some pace. The passing was becoming way off the mark , TC's subbing left a lot to be desired, and he couldn't read the game and see the problems we had on field; I doubt if he ever did any homework on opposing teams. While I agree with you, he seemed a nice enough lad in front of cameras, but so was Darko, I personally don't think he was being entirely honest in his pre and post match interviews, and as you mentioned, it's a results business, and his performance as a coach wasn't enough. He made a dossier on what was going wrong at Leeds; whatever tactics and remedies he had in that dossier were obviously wrong and wasn't working. Me personally, I think when Radz booked a meeting with him, TC saw a chance of getting his foot into English football and conned his way in, but that's a different story. For TC to compile a dossier on Leeds United, he would've had to be watching all their games under Monk before he could put his dossier together, and he didn't have much time to do that. What you mentioned about your observations with U23's doesn't really come as a surprise considering the players Orta was bringing in, and I would agree with you without seeing the U23's play. It was only a matter of time before the fans began turning on him, as nice a he portrayed himself to be, he was inexperienced and out of his depth. Again, I agree with you, a coach who can put some umph and ruggedness into our players is what is needed......
Agree with much of the above. Although I believe more in Rad than previous owners, I’m worried he (plus his exec team) are not sure footed. Really doubt Orta too. Would not usually have wanted a Mick Mcarthy type but someone like that would sort out how to get the talent we do have to be more effective. And I doubt he’d just accept the players Orta finds without question
The sacking of TC smacks of pandering to the masses to me. Don't get me wrong I wanted him gone and he should never have been appointed. It does look like he's been sacrificed to appease the fans and take a bit of pressure off orta and rads himself. We definitely need someone to take over with championship experience,but finding someone like that to work under orta will be hard.if orta is still here,whoever we appoint will be no better than a yes man,because any decent manager with a bit of self respect won't work under these conditions.
Some fans reactions to TC's departure. https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co...-the-sacking-of-thomas-christiansen-1-9000722
Just read an article, when TC arrived at ER, and Orta says the coach will have the last word on players coming in, don't know how much truth is in there, but it does beg questions. Also, TC said he was going to bring the Cruyff football philosophy to Leeds United, didn't work.
I'd like to see Strachan given a crack, he was part of the team that got promoted from the old 2nd division to 1st. He has the experience, and knows what's required.
I’d be happy because if things don’t improve then at least Rads will know for sure who’s fault it is and we’d see the back of him too. LeedsLover - Too much stuff to drag up again but not a chance TC had a say in any of the signings. In fact the foreign striker Doc liked who was scoring for fun in Cyprus or Greece (can’t remember which now) was probably one he mentioned and wanted and was ignored. Agree with Billy, Thomas acted with dignity, he has had a somewhat unlucky run but he wasn’t getting to grips with Championship football. My fear is the next man in might fair no better as it’s probaby a combination of Ortas signings and Thomas lack of ability. We are LIMITED to who will be willing to work under a DOF
Nope, I am quite normal in the deffacation dept. We have got rid of Postecoglou and don't want him anywhere near the socceroos, thank you. We now have a Dutch manager (coach), the last time we had one we got to the World Cup quarter finals (2006).
