He was. And I think.i wanted him out as much as the next person, but in hindsight we didn't give him.much of a chance. I had made my mind up in his first game, a cup tie home to Sheff Weds. Knee-jerk perhaps
I’m with you on Jones and Russ. I thought people definitely overreacted to the things they said at times. With Still, I think for some, it’s that he keeps blaming our sh*t performances on last season. For me personally, it annoys me how he talks the talk, but doesn’t walk the walk. I find myself agreeing with a lot he says, but then his matchday decisions absolutely baffle me, and contradict everything he says pregame. He goes from being very positive, to being incredibly dull and negative. When Russ spoke about being brave, it was clear what he meant. When Will talks about being brave, it just seems too general. Like, be brave how? I can’t stand negative football at the best of times, so when you have a manager who doesn’t seem to understand how defensive his football is, it’s a real head-scratcher.
I couldn't believe how many people had turned on him after about 2 games. Absurd and more than a bit shameful imo. I like Jones, bloke is absolutely box office. "I could have stayed in a mining community, became a PE teacher and married a nice Welsh girl"
I think we all consumed the narrative, God adoring Welsh bloke, and had made up.our minds too early. Not sure he would have done much, but neither has anyone since (bar Russ's little spell)
I’m not angry about it, but I am finding that it’s an excuse wearing extremely thin. We had 7 players on the pitch who weren’t scarred by last season. We could technically play 10 outfield players who weren’t here and we’ll still get the same results. But then I’ve also found anyone saying “10 games after the transfer window closes” and “this season is about consolidation” is also strange, as the season started in August and we had plenty of time pre-season to exorcise last seasons ghosts and nobody intentionally spends loads to build a team for mid table mediocrity. Despite this, I’m not Still out quite yet. I just want to see the man learn from these mistakes and play the best players we have available each game.
The Brighton game was a real smack in the face. At that time they were still just 'plucky Brighton', so the way they dismantled us was a huge shock. It was only after that game that they went on to become the side they are today. Absolutely no shame in being schooled by them now. But for Jones, that game, coupled with the 'Who's this bloke?' element, was too damaging. The worst possible way to start.
Didn't Brighton finish 6th that season which is their highest ever league finish? Also I seem to recall that a couple of their goals were awful mistakes and for all their possession dominance they didn't actually create much.
I've said that and I think that an experimentation period to integrate new signings into a functioning and fluent team was fair. That period has now finished and Still is no nearer to his best starting XI than where he was at the end of the window and that is on him and he should rightly be criticised and judged by performances and results.
That was my point, he hasn't achieved it yet and is probably worse now. Yes "integrate into" was probably the wrong phrase, mould into is better.
I get that, I think it’s just frustrating that we had the bones of a team that won promotion and on paper should’ve been better than enough teams to have a reasonable start.
They ended up 6th that season, but prior to playing us, they'd lost Potter, and De Zerbi started off pretty poorly. They didn't win in his first half dozen games.
