He limped off last night with it. Shota confirmed hamstring but don't fully know the extent. Definitely unlikely for sat.
No point comparing, McCann and Shota now, had plenty of performances like last night under Grant’s management. But because we had our 2 best results in 2.5 years just before he left people seem to forget they happened... This squad are 8/10 1 in 5 games 6/10 3 in 5 2/10 1 in 5 Young, inconsistent and poor in some cases. Overachieving as it is, need to play to their strengths and put us in a position where we can exploit our strengths which is being defensively solid in a 352 or 343 hitting teams on the break and out working them. At least in 352 we almost guarantee a point every game we play. Which is all we need to do for the rest of the season. Big clear out in summer and then we can look forwards...
Watch the clip again. Smallwood tracks him back through THE MIDDLE (not from our left) then at the crucial moment he just stops and leaves him to score!! He wasn't Fleming's man at any stage in that build up. Attriocious decision making that cost us a goal and effectively the game. Btw, I'm not defending Fleming, he was shocking last night.
Had time to reflect on last night and my angry posts did not do it any justice. That first 45 minutes was the worst I have seen from a professional football team.
To be fair to Barnsley they had a lot of new loan players from some top European clubs. I think they’ll certainly chalk up a few more wins this season. They had quite a few players that looked very comfortable on the ball in tight areas. It was as bad on TV as I’m sure it was for those in the ground. It was a terrible performance, that has all the hallmarks of some of the ****e we witnessed under Terry. Shota isn’t helping himself by continuously chopping and changing the formation and starting 11. With the exception of injuries he needs to pick a settled side and a settled formation - then stick with it. There was nothing good about last night, it was a total embarrassment in front of a bigger crowd. The players should be ashamed of that performance. There was a lack of effort in certain areas, losing the ball then making no effort to recover the ball. I have no issues with losing, I do have issues with losing through an apparent lack of effort. Continue in this manner and we will more than likely be having to build a squad for League One next season. Last night set the alarm bells ringing - it was that bad. Our points gap between us and the bottom 3 can very quickly be whittled away if we put in anymore lacklustre performances like last night. It was interesting listening to the SKY commentary (Not sure who was commentating) but they weren’t very complimentary about our ‘style’ of play. I agree, I’ve seen better organised Sunday League teams.
So the question is GLP.... just why were we not in the market for some of this international loan talent, with our super DOF and his international contacts. Its alright people saying (not you) they didnt want to come here, but BARNSLEY!!!!... re Forss, its my opinion and just an opinion that he doesn't want to be here. Everything i've heard from him (I appreciate he's a Finn and I deal with them and know how flat they are) to his on pitch demeanour tells me so... There just seemed to be zero camaraderie last night and I personally think something is very much amiss behind closed doors and we are very much in the doo!!!!
Honeyman in particular looks down to me. Contracts not being renewed poor relationship with the new manager who knows.
It was Smallwoods turn to do the 'not good enough' speech last night... it was Honeyman's against Derby....
I get the feeling with the new man it his way or the highway. A few alpha egos have been hurt. Last nights performance demonstrated that they are not playing for him.
you maybe right the manager mentioned a week or so back that contract talks with players out of contract at the end of season had begun, or not in the case of players who won't be here next season .
Re. these conspiracy theories. So what's changed so much since say the QPR performance? They were for sure playing for him then. Horrendously poor 'day at the office' for us, and the total opposite for Barnsley. Hopefully it's now out of the system, but moving forward the one thing that really worries me now is not the manager, not some conspiracy theory, not effort, but simply how hard injuries are biting resulting in how few options in certain key positions / areas we currently have.
right, Shota needs to go 3-5-2 against Posh on Sat & then stick with it. Lets pack the midfield & put 2 strikers up top. Chopping/changing the formation every game ends up with shocking displays like Derby & Barnsley.
Rubbish, they all put in big shifts against Sheff Utd and QPR. They were just bullied last night by a team who wanted it more. Injuries and shape aren't helping but I don't think we'll go with 4 at the back on the weekend. Too many of them became untouchable under McCann and funnily enough they seem to be the worse performers since Shota took over. Shota wants people who can play, hence why Docherty etc has been dropped. They were all ****e last night, selection was wrong, no point trying to delve deeper then that. If we played like that under McCann which we have multiple times this season no one would act as if the players weren't playing for him. Transition period now, those who want to be here will show it. Slater for example. Injuries unfortunately seem to be stopping certain individuals from being dropped who probably on the balance deserve to be. Williams would be starting every game for me at wing back but his season is pretty much done. We've had some impressive wins this season but we've had Baxter to thank in some of them more then a lot realise, Bournemouth if not for him we'd have been 3/4-0 down at HT. Shota has to switch back to a 3 centre back formation whilst there is no fit right back at the club, if these players can't do basics as most exhibited last night why would we want them here beyond this season if we are supposed to be looking up rather than down, most of them aren't good enough. They're getting away with far that performance far too easily to some who are blaming a guy who's played football at an elite level under and alongside some elite managers, not knowing a thing about the championship means jack **** when you have players who swapped their boots for trampolines last night. Most of these players would still have been here next season had Grant stayed in charge and we'd have made no progress. If Grant had his way big Josh would still be playing for us beyond this season FFS.
