He was complimentary about the job Nige did, and that the team were better now. He didn't say Nige should have ben given more time
Essentially for many years we have been the ultimate Jekyll and Hyde outfit and it looks like this season will not be anything different. At times we have played some very attractive football and I did see a change of direction starting to poke it's head above the mist that usually surrounds us but despite it still being evident even in the Derby game we fell flat on our backsides when put under pressure. Our propensity for shooting ourselves in the foot still remains and I think a lot of us were expecting to see better progress than what has been produced so far and I'm afraid it may get worse if we don't wake up and smell the roses. Substituting anyone with Mehmeti is hole in the head decision and why only give a new player barely minutes to make his mark was ridiculous and had to somewhat of a slap in the face for the young man. Liam has had more than enough time to make his mark ,although I will concede that it is still early days yet, because the business he was allowed to direct is now totally his to carry for the season. Sinclair needs to be used as a bustling substitute later in the game when the achy legs start to appear but he also needs to sharpen up on his one-on-one encounters with only the keeper to beat as he doesn't perform well under that sort of pressure. I looked at the entire cast of players on Saturday and very few covered themselves with glory and it was up to Max to carry the load of a shoddy defence. When, and only when, Liam decides to give other players a chance to prove themselves rather than the stale pedantic lot he intends to pick we are totally wasting the newbies that he brought in to supposedly boost the squads luck and to me that sounds like LM likes to be too consistent in his team selections. Managed change should always be beneficial and the last thing we need right now is uncertainty surrounding why some get picked over others that are not up to scratch when to status quo isn't helping either.
This is an overview of all purchased players who arrived during the spell of the manager Nigel Pearson. # Player Left Date Fee 1 Ross McCrorie Right-Back [excellent] 2 Jason Knight Attacking Midfield [excellent] 3 Rob Atkinson Centre-Back [excellent] 4 Rob Dickie Centre-Back please log in to view this image QPR [brilliant] 5 Matty James Central Midfield [brilliant] 6 Andy King Central Midfield [average] 7 Timm Klose Centre-Back [poor] 8 Mark Sykes Right Midfield [average] 9 Kal Naismith Centre-Back [poor] 10 Kane Wilson [poor] Right-Back 11 Stefan Bajic [poor] Goalkeeper 12 Nikita Haikin Goalkeeper [poor] 13 Haydon Roberts Left-Back [poor] George Tanner Right-Back [excellent] 15 Anis Mehmeti [average] Left Winger 16 Harry Cornick Centre-Forward [poor] # 17 Taylor Gardner-Hickman [average] Central Midfield 18 Danny Simpson [shocking] Right-Back 19 Lewis Thomas [poor] Goalkeeper please log in to view this image Transfer activity Purchased players: 19 Players with fee:4 Transfer expenditure:€7,010,000 Fee per player:€1,752,500 Chosen :23.02.2021 - 28.10.2023 please log in to view this image
Roberts did really well last season and a bit unlucky not to get selected ahead of Naismith who always has a 'rick' in him. Naismith is better in midfield, a liability as a defender. Looking at that list and the money spent shows me, I know not all, what a brilliant job Pearson did keeping us in the Championship. And who else would have given Scott his chance.......at RB just get him in the team. I believe we owe Nigel Pearson.
None of that is in question RP, Red Robin continually states that Nige wasn’t backed in the transfer market, yet the stats above show how much he was backed. Was it enough, maybe not, it as I said before, it’s disingenuous to say he wasn’t backed.
Never played by Nige though was he. He even wanted out before Christmas till Manning convinced him of staying. So that one can be marked down to LM training him.
It’s not unusual for players to flourish under one manager, but not another. Several or ours played better under NP than LM, and some the reverse. TC and Mark Sykes are two examples who imo played better under NP, but seem to have regressed under LM. Management styles, and playing systems I imagine are the difference.
