Ive said on other posts that I am torn and really cant see both sides of the argument and can agree with parts of both sides aswell.
The summer signings mainly looked good and other than Ellington there wasnt one that either didnt excite me or didnt make sense. Although mainly short term the players should have been able to bring stability to the squad and he did show a glimmer of hope of moving away from obvious signings with Drury and Cresswell joining the team. His approach seems like the approach of a Town manager. He is open, mainly honest, approachable and I can see where he is coming from. He encourages ball playing football rather than 'hoof it' mentality of Keane and also seems to favour an attacking approach.
However we are playing like a bunch of idiots and our defending is nothing short of laughable. Our run is diabolical considering how much 'talent' and experience is in the squad and when you consider how much has been spent in both transfer fees and wages on assembling this squad it makes you wonder if you wouldnt have been better of going to the local park and signing players with no pedigree whatsoever. Although not all this has been spent by Jewell he does still have the squad to choose from. Although the whole team is playing badly he still seems to leave certain players out in the cold. The likes of Priskin, Healy, Hyam and Peters have all been used sparingly at best whilst the players ahead of them have constantly failed to impress.
We signed Chopra even though we knew about his problems and that seems to be a questionable idea at best, especially thinking he has been pathetic, I would ask whether his mind wanted to come here or his bank balance (or lack thereof)
And putting McCarthy straight into goal considering that ALB has not let us down is both unfair, confidence bashing and somewhat unfounded at best.
Although I dont think we made bad signings in the summer, with the exception of Ellington, it is obvious to all that they have been a massive let down and other than Cresswell, and either that is bloody unlucky, our coaching staff is failing them in training, our they had obvious issues during their signing on process/ medical, which we overlooked or ignored.
I have also never seen so many individual errors and moments of sheer incompetence/ madness on a pitch ever and this for me is one of the reasons why I havent turned against Jewell yet.
No matter how bad/ good your training or instructions are all footballers should know the basics. We have conceded goals from such simple things as passing straight to their striker, taking a throw on and throwing it straight to their player. making an unchallanged defensive clearance and heading to the owner oppostion player in sight, not marking, not closing down and not putting in a tackle. A lack of concentration (watch wed's highlights for confirmation) means we have probably conceded at least 10 goals and god knows how many points this season.
I can see why people are clambering for Jewells head but how the same people can be moaning about a lack of contract renewals for the idiots on the pitch just confuses me. Im not sure if Jewell can sort this out but Im not convinced that an outsider can do any better either.
