Tan has lost interest and is cutting his losses. He can still give us a better option than Slade though. Tan will be gone within 3 years probably less. What division we will be in is anyones guess.
I agree with this, unfortunately. I found myself (almost) wanting the Canaries to put a few more past us. ew shouted loud enough for Tan to hear the Blue argument (or at least his mother heard), now, I find myself thinking that we need a few thrashings. I've not felt like that for may years, if ever. It's incredibly frustrating. However, I think that Tan is looking for a way out, not a new manager.
We went though a 'Whitts out' period a season or two back. He was benched for a couple games and came back all the better for it. Him and Ralls see to be the only players who can put their laces through a ball. With one up top, these are the guys we need running on to the loose balls. I'm with the majority, keep Whitts but play to his strengths and put the team around him to do some leg work in the centre of the park and give him some cover with the wide men and striker to benefit from his passing skills and give him the space to get some shots off. Pick your back 5, put Gunner and Ralls in front of them, Pilks/Noone, Whitts and Harris across the middle and Revell up front. Our edge of the centre circle to their 18 yard box for Whitts, box to box for Ralls, anchor role for Gunnar. Swap KWJ for Ravell or ALF to play the channels. Adeyemi as a swap for Ralls or Gunner, Kim-Bo as an alternative on the right or in the middle and Witts on the left. Lots of options in the right formation.
Thanks all for your opinions, not the same as me from your answers other than maybe Ninian. A bit strange that the vote went the other way. As for me I think Whitts is over rated slow and uninterested comes to mind, needs a massive kick up the backside and living on past glory. It seems to me that his fans think that every manager other than Jones has played him in the wrong role, I somewhat agree, water carrier would be his best.
Whitts is passed his sell by date it pains me to say, I think it is a possibility that if we don't sack Slade we could be dragged into a relegation fight.
Until we find someone else with the ability to hold the ball and pass short and long then Whitts stays. There is no one else in the current squad. Ralls doesn't have the same skill level or vision and Kimbo doesn't perform under pressure, is a worse tackler than Whitts.....and falls over a lot.
Yes Bluey, he does fall over a lot (cue Stevo ) Seriously though, Whitts is currently the only player at the club with the touch to set others free. Gunnar doesn't have that and Adeyemi certainly isn't that type of player. Ralls is an option for either of them but not the complete answer and in all honestly is little faster than Whitts over the ground - did you watch Middlesbrough's second goal? Playing Noone in a more central role at the point of a diamond is another red herring. He is a head down arse up player who charges forward with little vision of what's available around him. The only real place for him is out wide where he has the skills to beat his fullback and get a delivery into the box. His cutting inside and shooting should be a less used option - it should be used to surprise defenders instead of streching them out wide where they expect him to operate. If we are looking for a playmaker from what we have to replace Whitts now that Daehli and Ravel have gone, then only Kimbo fits the bill on the strength of what he did in our promotion season. Sadly this season, he's been played out wide or asked to do defensive duties when we all know (except Slade it seems) that it's just not his game.
Agree totally on Noone. And I would play him on the right. Yes he likes to cut in on his left but on those occasions when he goes outside on the right he usually leaves his full back trailing and can actually cross with his right foot when he needs to. Then we just have to get players in the box challenging for the ball.
Noone is an out and out winger. He has none of the vision or passing quality required to play a number 10 role. Selling Daehli, releasing Morrison, playing Kimbo out of position (and writing him off because of it) then playing a system that requires a 10 sums up everything about Slade. His solution to hammer a square peg into a round hole by wasting our best winger in the 10 role just compounds the issue further. So to sum up, Slade's ****ing useless and I can't stand the prick.
..............don't hold back there Stevo! ........and I don't think his assistant prick is worth a **** either. I wish Tan would pull them both off.
