Treading water

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Oldsparkey

Oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Forum Moderator
Jan 27, 2011
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Porthcawl Riviera
I honestly believed we could get something out of that Ipswich game last night, but another slipshod patchy performance from all concerned against a decent side showed that win at Leeds on the weekend for what it was - just an average performance against a very poor Elland Road side.

Two uninspiring trips to the CCS left on my ST and both are games to nothing for all concerned. Blackpool are down, and before them, we take on Millwall who look to be heading that way as well. That's unless Rotherham get deducted the three points they got against Brighton for fielding an inelligible player against them. That probably wont be announced before we play them. I'll go, but it'll be like treading water.

Not sure where we're going at the moment, but I think this club will need more inspiration and drive than Slade seems able bring to it. This season has gone all wrong and there a very few if any positives to take from it. It's Tan's money and Choo's hands on approach that's going to move it forward, but not with this present on-pitch management setup.
 
Millwall will be really up for the game Saturday, particularly if the carrot of a Rotherham points deduction is still dangling.

I anticipate 2,000 or so of their well educated followers in the away end will make for a noisy afternoon.

And as we are now playing just for the sake of it I can see them taking the 3 points home with them.
 
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Apart from Gunner and Whitts mishap at the end, it looks like we had a good go at this. Need to take our chances <ok>
 
Having a couple of minutes spare I looked at our results since mid feb.

We've averaged 1.46pts per game starting with the Blackburn fixture (I can't remember exactly when Trollope was appointed).

That would equal 67pts next season which would almost certainly not be good enough for the playoffs.

We have got 2 of the bottom 3 at home to finish so assuming (yeah I know.....) we win those and lose away at Forrest our average points for since Blackburn would be good enough for 71.8 points next season(I'm not sure which game we'll pick up the 0.8 in <laugh>)
72 ish would put us in contention for that bottom playoff place depending on how competitive the league is.

So despite being fairly terrible we've not been a million miles from playoff form under Trollope. Can they improve the squad this summer whilst retaining the key players?
 
Manga culpable for the first 2. He got the wrong side of Sears for the first (he has a bit of a habit of doing that but usually gets away with it) and a terrible stretched clearance for the second. Skuse scoring? His goals are as rare as rocking horse sh!t. AsSheepy said Gunnar and Whits at fault for the third but game lost by then anyway.

Couple of good chances missed by Fabio and Gunnar but 2 great saves by Marshie levelling that up.

Steve asks the BIG question. We won't know until next season.
 
Blue Sheep said:
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Apart from Gunner and Whitts mishap at the end, it looks like we had a good go at this. Need to take our chances <ok>
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I just watched this on facebook and was here to say exactly the same thing. A wonder goal against and a couple of really good opportunities wasted. It could easily have been a different result.

I think you'd have to be a real glass half empty specialist to not recognise some progress.

When Macheda's back we'll bury those chances wont we Sparks...? <laugh>
 
Sounded a decent effort from the on line commentary. Could have snatched a point. Fabio could also have walked. Pity he didn't as he is useless and we'll have to maybe put up with him next game It also more worryingly showed the incompetence of Slade picking him ahead of 2 natural wingers.

Good to hear Pilkington got a short run out.

Millwall will be a testy game; it seems like if they are going to go down, it won't be without a fight after their clash with Wigan testified.

Turner had a run out for the development side at Colchester, and got the winner so maybe he'll feature?
 
BluefromBridgend said:
Manga culpable for the first 2. He got the wrong side of Sears for the first (he has a bit of a habit of doing that but usually gets away with it) and a terrible stretched clearance for the second. Skuse scoring? His goals are as rare as rocking horse sh!t. AsSheepy said Gunnar and Whits at fault for the third but game lost by then anyway.

Couple of good chances missed by Fabio and Gunnar but 2 great saves by Marshie levelling that up.

Steve asks the BIG question. We won't know until next season.
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It's why there's little threat of Manga going to the PL next season imo. Pace and power wont make up for terrible positional play at that level.

We can worry about that if we ever get there again.
 
Stevoldinho said:
It's why there's little threat of Manga going to the PL next season imo. Pace and power wont make up for terrible positional play at that level.

We can worry about that if we ever get there again.
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But that can be learned and improved upon as he plays more English football. He won't go to a Prem team but you could see one of the teams that come down/don't get promoted taking a punt on him.
 
FFS Stevo and the rest of you guys, get a grip!! We lost the ****ing game. No matter how many ifs or buts, or maybe Manga had his finger up his nose when he should have had it up Sear's arse, the plain fact is this side and its' management are seriously wanting at this level. You could say the same about the Leeds game. If we hadn't scrambled the two goals by defenders over the line by ping pong techniques, we'd have lost it.

It'll take a lot more than that bald headed twat and his merry men to carve out any semblance of at least half a dozen of the teams currently above us let alone the three coming down for next year. God knows what next season's three imports from League One will do to us after our pitiful effort against the likes of Bournemouth, Brentford, Wolves and even Rotherham who should have beaten us twice if there was any justice.

Whatever the recent signs are held up to be, the reality is we are barely one level above **** this season. It's a good job that Blackpool, Millwall and Wigan were in this division along with us. The six points from Wigan has been a life saver when you remember we've lost to the other two and still got them to come.

And another thing, Macheda is pants.........<laugh>
 
Oldsparkey said:
FFS Stevo and the rest of you guys, get a grip!! We lost the ****ing game. No matter how many ifs or buts, or maybe Manga had his finger up his nose when he should have had it up Sear's arse, the plain fact is this side and its' management are seriously wanting at this level. You could say the same about the Leeds game. If we hadn't scrambled the two goals by defenders over the line by ping pong techniques, we'd have lost
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That's not really fair though. You can't ignore the bad luck/days when it doesn't go whilst pointing out the days we've benefitted and use them both as negatives.

I was out last night, saw the result and thought 'back to square 1 as an instant negative reaction' but those high lights show a close game that could have gone either way. No one wins easily on a regular basis in this league. I honestly don't think we're as far off as you're making out. <ok>
 
Agree with Stevo...I tend to be a 'half-full' type of bloke. Sparky...at the moment you're not even 'half empty'.

I'd rather see the back of Slade, too. However even with him and his merry band, if we hang on to the majority of our better players, and add a couple...decent full back, defensive central midfielder (may already have one with Dickachoi) & a 20 + goal a season striker, then we will be there or thereabouts.
 
I hope you're right Stevo and whiffle, but can't I see the same sort of progress that will turn this club into a challenging force on the pitch when it comes to football - forget the blood and guts effort, that's only part of the story. If you look at the clubs currently above us, particularly the top 10, most are there for a reason. In the main, that stems from a consistency that in essence means they are well managed and coached.

They can all play the game with the ball on the floor and have front men who score consistently. They have a pace of service from midfield that gives those quality strikers a chance of turning defenders - look at Sear's goal.

OK, so we can win the odd game against poorer opposition and sometimes steal an undeserved result like at Watford and Brentford, but that's going to get us nowhere in real terms. Beating a crap side like Leeds with two scrambled goals means nothing when we've just been beaten 3-0 at home in the previous game by another crap side like Bolton.

Nine of the twelve teams above us will be here next season and there will be three Prem clubs coming down. Three crap sides in Blackpool, Wigan and probably Millwall will disappear and three motivated clubs will arrive from League One. For us to have any chance of improving on our current lot next year, there needs to be less of the faffing around paying an alleged pittance to a manager who's spent his 20 years in the lower leagues and won precisiely nothing.

I will accept the "points earned" tally has improved this last dozen games over the previous dozen, but let's face it, if they hadn't, we'd be flirting with the Millwalls of this world. Other than those extra points gained, I still don't see significant progress at the club in playing terms. We are vulnerable at the back, still far too slow in midfield, and toothless in attack. Major overhaul needed and that should start with the manager.

How's that for three quarters empty whiff?........<laugh>
 
Baby steps Sparks. I think we need some pace and power in midfield as you mention.

I remember Steve McLaren saying the Derby group had been together 18 months and they were starting to see the results at the start of last season. You might be able to get world class players to work together quickly but the fairly average sort we have takes time.
Mason looks like he'll be an asset and is like a new quality signing. Pilks, Kennedy, Noone is pretty decent in wide areas. Macheda, Doyle, Alf?, Mason, Revel. We're not far off. We can certainly do better than we have since Feb if we get a bit more consistency and as my very crude stats show our form since then is almost playoff worthy.

The problem for me now with sacking Slade is we'd probably end up with another low level manager who'd look to build again. The pipe dream of getting a Pulis type in is similar to wanting the debt gone for next season.
 
Stevo - the wish (or just hope at the time) for Pulis is all past tense now. We are not going to get a manager of that proven quality with ambition if the club doesn't have it itself. Although I still can't understand why there was such a change in direction/ambition in appointing Slade when OGS went after just 7 league games, it now seems it was a low cost option to see the season out - but why?

Having committed so much money with the new summer signings as well as what we already had, we should have gone for "escape velocity" to push us into orbit around the top 6 by Christmas and decide then - there was still plenty of time. Instead of that, someone fired the retros and we re-entered the "real world" atmosphere and very nearly burnt up in the descent. It had to be soley down to Tan, and a lot of it was the falling out of love with the whole thing because of the unrest at the club - I will add mainly brought about by himself.

Back to Slade. There's always a need for a manager to build a team in his own image (and no, I don't mean 11 Uncle Festers running around <laugh>) but it's gone so far back to a League One scenario that it'll take a very long time to compete at the top of the Championship next season.

I don't think this guy is capable of leading us into that maelstrom where quality and consistency will always rise to the top. The past dozen games haven't held as any significant signs for me that this club is taking next season seriously.
 
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