Match Day Thread Brum,brum,are we there yet?

What’s required is to learn from this season and not to lose our bottle if we are not top half after a couple of months.

I doubt that we can solve all the issues in one window. The thing that may help us is the drop in level but it’s going to be far from a walk in the park.

 

I would counter that with a bit of (tentative) support for Evans given he went and sorted out the new contract for Judge early.. and he would not have been cheap.
In fact he would have been exactly the sort of player we'd have loaned in under Mick, only to see him move to Blackburn, Wigan, QPR etc. the following summer as they were willing to pay more in wages.

Obviously one player is not going to rectify all ME's previous faults, but hopefully is an indication of a shift in his approach moving forwards.

Completely agree, but I am perhaps less scathing of our current squad than a lot of people (probably down to naivety)

In the past couple of months 'Inconsistency' has replaced 'incompetence' and in a lot of cases, the positive spells are beginning to outlast some of the calamitous mistakes during matches and we're beginning to talk positively about individual performances (something we couldn't do pre Xmas)

We have a young squad that is taking some turning around after the pragmatic approaches of the past and a horrific run of form, but if we can add 3 or 4 quality additions and finally bring some balance to the squad then I think we'll be in for an exciting season. (By that I mean in and around the top 6 all season)

 

Appreciate how you're looking at this positively, San Diego, as we desperately need something positive to cling onto this season. However, the full Marcus Evans statement does worry me. It ignores the lack of quality in the squad and hinges next season's approach to promotion upon fielding a load of youngsters and largely sticking with the status quo. Considering the issues with the squad this season, as well as the fact a third of the team are out contract or returning to parent clubs this summer, promoting a load of young lads strikes me as a convenient excuse for not providing much-needed investment into the playing squad. Without bringing in much-needed reinforcements and competition to the defensive positions and to our struggling strike-force, I think a promotion run next season will be a difficult challenge.

 

Got to stay positive mate, I'm not the type to walk around with a face that looks like I'm sucking on a lemon full of razor blades (picture it in your head...go on )

I don't see the point in doing anything if you're just going to spend more time bitching about it than enjoying it, seems like a waste of time and effort. Some of those twtd lads sound almost suicidal sometimes. I really wonder why the bother following Ipswich

As to your point about Marcus ignoring the quality of the squad and banking on the academy to step up I think that was addressed in this paragraph -

"Where we don’t have talent in the building that is ready for developing in a particular position and it’s clear that we need to invest to improve we will do so but we will not bring in anyone who blocks our own players’ development and we will ensure we give our young homegrown players a run of games"

He's basically saying that if we can't fill a position from within then we will look outside. Take the left wing for instance, a position we don't have covered too well in the first team or the U23s and may be a role that needs improving via a purchase/loan.

We've got to do something different, what we've been doing up until now has led to relegation.

Mick's focus every summer was to put together a squad that would survive the season. Young lads he did bring in barely got game time and were soon gone again. Old pro's saw more minutes and got the job done but had no sell on value and were short term fixes only. Any academy lads that did get on the pitch was usually more because he had to and not because he wanted to and they were soon back on the bench regardless of performances when the old pro was back.

The more successful smaller teams of recent times have a common theme of developing players and selling them on, something we have the facilities and the coaches to achieve but up until now haven't had the manager. It really feels like Lambert is coaching Evans, from painting the offices to engaging with the community to Marcus himself saying that he's more hands on now. I don't think any of this is coming from Marcus but it's Lambert's influence guiding him along.

Lambert has correctly identified that you can't keep making large changes to the squad and expect progress. A few in and out each summer is the way to go. Using the academy is the way to go. I mean come on, how much cash is spent on putting these boys through the academy for us to then never use them or just release them, it's nuts. The U23s have been playing together for a while, there are ready made partnerships and understanding of each others game that will translate to the first team, this is a plus point and something that should be worked on throughout the age groups.

It's time we started getting some benefit out of the academy and Paul seems the type to stick with it. The supporters now have to stick with it. There will be those saying that it's all smoke and mirrors to obscure Evans not wanting to spend money and they may be right. For me, I'm going to support the new change of direction and hope that we rebuild to be something better.


Sorry for the long winded response, it felt good to write that lot down

 

Morning SD. The section you’ve picked out actually worries me, because it indicates that a problem has been identified and addressed but that the mentality is still the same - much like a politician’s response or something from George Orwell.

Why do I feel that? Well the answer is that the last decade has been dominated by several narratives. Throughout Mick’s time it was that we are doing really well considering we have to cut our cloth. This statement could be just another narrative that is ‘we had to bring the loan in because we don’t have a first team player in that position yet, but trust us we’re all about promoting youth.’

This position enables Evans to carry on not spending any money whilst changing the narrative and keeping supporters sweet for another few years.

The underlying premise is flawed, because every player you bring in is going to block somebody getting a chance to prove themselves or improve. Throughout Town’s history players have been thrown in, often against huge clubs. This is League One level and there should not be a single professional who can’t handle this level. Young players are going to make mistakes, they need two or three seasons of regular first team football to really bed in. Woolfy, for instance, was ready to play this season.

What we should have been hearing was that ‘funds will be available when the manager has identified targets that will improve the squad’.

So has the attitude really changed, or just the spin?