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Too many players were told they won’t be needed next season in the March international break. Should have waited til after the season to tell them.
 
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With hindsight
Just how ****ing crap have our jan signings been

Collyer played about 2 hours of football
koumas looked like a slightly better akintola but without the aura
Less said about the others the better

McNair has been a proper solid signing though, bailed us out in several positions and the only really bad contribution he’s had I can think of was that howler of a miss today. Other than him don’t think any of the other January signings make it into our best 11, and not sure he does either but he’s a great squad player.
 
No cutting edge at all. Whatever midfield we start with it rarely looks balanced or threatening.
 
Lost too many home games AGAIN....The losses to Bristol, QPR and Millwall effectively finished our season..
Plus we went ahead in 5 games and lost them...Went ahead in 4 but draw.....There's 15+8 points....=23, lost from winning positions...
 
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It’s hard to shake the feeling that Serg isn’t as good as we thought.

I’m not saying he’s a terrible manager and deserves to be sacked, because the last thing we need is another summer of chaos.

But the fact remains that stats before Christmas when we were doing well suggested we were relying on vibes a bit. That’s all fine when it’s going well but a good manager knows how to turn things around when it goes tits up and he simply hasn’t.

I’m hoping that injuries and the lack of options in making signings due to the embargo has just seen us run out of steam, but Serg is going to have to win us over again next season (if here) to get rid of that doubt.

I hope he does it cos I like him.
 
As much as we are reliant upon loanees... the club need to have a close look at that area. Just because someone is owned by Liverpool doesnt make them a good fit for Hull City, especially when they have not made it at a comparative club. Unless they improve us significantly or fill a hole we have in a distinct position, then why bother.

What is a massive massive shame is that Carvalho who wanted to come and it seems was arranged got injured.
 
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We had more injuries when we were playing well. In fact, our worst run of form by far has been when we've got the fewest injuries we've had all season. It's a lame excuse anyway, but blaming the injuries doesn't stack up.

There was a point early in the season where we were conceding 2 every game and at one point we looked nowhere near a promotion push, and it was widely said that we'll get nowhere conceding that many goals, and there was some speculation that Sergei would be another Walter/Shota type if he couldn't sort that. Then we went on a run where we really tightened up defensively and established ourselves in the top 6 during that time. Then later, it fell apart defensively again starting with that run of five home games in a row and we've been in that habit again pretty much ever since of conceding two goals a game. Our goals against has been relegation level all season apart from that run over Christmas and January time when we were a lot tighter. Whatever the root cause of that is, that is the issue we need to solve.
 
Thinking it deserves it's own thread?

Up until around end of January we were mostly a joy to watch. Energy, fight, edge, power, pressing, pace. We were typically 1st to the 2nd ball. Most every time we broke we looked a real threat. Playoffs looked near certain, with autos a realistic possibility.

Then things changed, roughly from Feb onwards. The attributes above disappeared.

Why,? What changed?
We lost our confidence.

When the players mojo is up you win when its down you lose.

IMHO the manger has a 10-20% influence on this and the players themselves have the rest.
 
We've mentally imploded since the dodgy pen Sheff U got against us. Couldn't see out a 1-1 draw there, then didn't have the ability to close out the game v Birmingham. Conceded 2 in 2 minutes at Leicester and weren't switched on today.
 
If our recent results are mixed in across the season I don't think anyone would be complaining.

I don't agree with the subs we make sometimes, but other than that, Jakirovic isn't afraid to change things when we need to. If I were to criticise him, I think he sometimes tries too hard to save players for upcoming games by bringing our more effective players off rather than letting them see out the 90 minutes, and this often leaves us pissing in the wind a bit... But then with the injuries we've had, can you really blame him?

The problem for me lies more with the deeper players. Constant **** ups that put us under tremendous pressure or kills our momentum. If we don't pass backwards we lump it way too far. Earlier in the season we had Hughes pinging these gorgeous long diagonals to the wingers who would run rampant and we'd get results. We had Giles rampaging down the left causing all kinds of trouble. Out of possession the midfield has been a weakness all season but we essentially played well despite that. We've become way too ponderous now when starting transitions and the decision making is shocking. Players passing backwards when they've got time to turn, simple sideways passes going astray, missing way too many tackles, just aimlessly lumping the ball forwards. I can see why Lundstram has come back in. He has his flaws but his diagonal long balls are actually accurate. Egan's the best of a bad bunch but even Giles can't get away anymore because we're that ponderous.

On the midfield, Matazo got 4 minutes today, but you could see immediately that his energy alone, regardless of his quality, would have been a vital boon for the side. We need players with energy in there ideally.

I think the players have been 'mentally secure' with a playoff place for a while, but simultaneously aware that autos was 'out of reach' (even though they weren't) and as a result the players have adopted a slow and steady approach to settle for a top 6 spot. When Egan equalised today the first thing he did was give everyone the 'calm down' gesture... Why? The problem is we've now given ourselves a mountain to climb, and because too many of them have been too casual, their performances and results have slipped significantly over time and the standards for too many of them are largely gone at this stage of the season. One more chance next weekend to show who deserves to stay and who deserves to be sold on.

For me, this isn't just on the manager. Some of the players have fallen into holes and they're really letting the side down too often.
 
Isn't this the 3rd season in a row we've fully **** the bed in the last 6 or so games? Felt like we were doing ok under Selles and then just fully ****ed it and it came way to close for comfort. Same under Rosie, we just couldn't get it done.

Do we reckon Acun is putting too much pressure on or something? It's just odd...

At the start of the season the full backs would ping crosses in first time, no touch or fannying about, just chuck it in. Dunno why we stopped doing that. It seems like the more options the manager's had, the worse we've played.
 
If our recent results are mixed in across the season I don't think anyone would be complaining.

I don't agree with the subs we make sometimes, but other than that, Jakirovic isn't afraid to change things when we need to. If I were to criticise him, I think he sometimes tries too hard to save players for upcoming games by bringing our more effective players off rather than letting them see out the 90 minutes, and this often leaves us pissing in the wind a bit... But then with the injuries we've had, can you really blame him?

The problem for me lies more with the deeper players. Constant **** ups that put us under tremendous pressure or kills our momentum. If we don't pass backwards we lump it way too far. Earlier in the season we had Hughes pinging these gorgeous long diagonals to the wingers who would run rampant and we'd get results. We had Giles rampaging down the left causing all kinds of trouble. Out of possession the midfield has been a weakness all season but we essentially played well despite that. We've become way too ponderous now when starting transitions and the decision making is shocking. Players passing backwards when they've got time to turn, simple sideways passes going astray, missing way too many tackles, just aimlessly lumping the ball forwards. I can see why Lundstram has come back in. He has his flaws but his diagonal long balls are actually accurate. Egan's the best of a bad bunch but even Giles can't get away anymore because we're that ponderous.

On the midfield, Matazo got 4 minutes today, but you could see immediately that his energy alone, regardless of his quality, would have been a vital boon for the side. We need players with energy in there ideally.

I think the players have been 'mentally secure' with a playoff place for a while, but simultaneously aware that autos was 'out of reach' (even though they weren't) and as a result the players have adopted a slow and steady approach to settle for a top 6 spot. When Egan equalised today the first thing he did was give everyone the 'calm down' gesture... Why? The problem is we've now given ourselves a mountain to climb, and because too many of them have been too casual, their performances and results have slipped significantly over time and the standards for too many of them are largely gone at this stage of the season. One more chance next weekend to show who deserves to stay and who deserves to be sold on.

For me, this isn't just on the manager. Some of the players have fallen into holes and they're really letting the side down too often.
Your last sentence hits the nail on the head.

You can tell when watching who has high standards, high expectations and that extra bit of quality. Belloumi came on second half and made a huge difference. That pass with the outside of his boot that McBurnie would’ve tapped in were it not for a great clearance by their defender demonstrates his mentality. He’s willing to attempt those passes because of his confidence. Contrast that with some of the others in the team who look scared ****less. We can talk about Coyle and him being ****e but Ajayi and Egan are in that bracket too. Ajayi was hopeless with his passing and his defending wasn’t much better. Egan just blasts the ball into orbit when nine times out of ten, he should be controlling it.

We need a keeper, right-back, an entirely new midfield and some depth on the wings in the summer. It will have to be another rebuild because this squad looks exactly like one cobbled together under a transfer restriction with a few dashes of quality rather than a coherent, balanced team.
 
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Your last sentence hits the nail on the head.

You can tell when watching who has high standards, high expectations and that extra bit of quality. Belloumi came on second half and made a huge difference. That pass with the outside of his boot that McBurnie would’ve tapped in were it not for a great clearance by their defender demonstrates his mentality. He’s willing to attempt those passes because of his confidence. Contrast that with some of the others in the team who look scared ****less. We can talk about Coyle and him being ****e but Ajayi and Egan are in that bracket too. Ajayi was hopeless with his passing and his defending wasn’t much better. Egan just blasts the ball into orbit when nine times out of ten, he should be controlling it.

We need a keeper, right-back, an entirely new midfield and some depth on the wings in the summer. It will have to be another rebuild because this squad looks exactly like one cobbled together under a transfer restriction with a few dashes of quality rather than a coherent, balanced team.

Can’t agree about Egan, he’s a proper no nonsense centre half and has been good on the whole. He needs a decent ball player next to him.

Ajayi has been well out of form and getting worse with every game. He probably shouldn’t have started at Leicester and definitely shouldn’t have today.
 
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Your last sentence hits the nail on the head.

You can tell when watching who has high standards, high expectations and that extra bit of quality. Belloumi came on second half and made a huge difference. That pass with the outside of his boot that McBurnie would’ve tapped in were it not for a great clearance by their defender demonstrates his mentality. He’s willing to attempt those passes because of his confidence. Contrast that with some of the others in the team who look scared ****less. We can talk about Coyle and him being ****e but Ajayi and Egan are in that bracket too. Ajayi was hopeless with his passing and his defending wasn’t much better. Egan just blasts the ball into orbit when nine times out of ten, he should be controlling it.

We need a keeper, right-back, an entirely new midfield and some depth on the wings in the summer. It will have to be another rebuild because this squad looks exactly like one cobbled together under a transfer restriction with a few dashes of quality rather than a coherent, balanced team.
Agreed. The squad we've got is fairly good, all things considered - and it's overachieved this season regardless of how some are portraying recent form as the manager's fault. The reality is too many have run out of steam and gotten too sloppy, probably through nerves, mindset or attitude. Yes it's frustrating, and with the timing it's almost embarrassing for us on this side of the fence.

Does NOT help when the captain is the worst culprit and then goes out on the lash. Fine example. We need to find a buyer for him over the summer. Most of the other culprits are on loan thankfully so they'll be gone.

If the club can use the summer to improve and not just go through the motions like previous seasons then we should only improve. Fully agree on the areas we need to improve. Hopefully next season we're not carrying players week in week out.
 
Can’t agree about Egan, he’s a proper no nonsense centre half and has been good on the whole. He needs a decent ball player next to him.

Ajayi has been well out of form and getting worse with every game. He probably shouldn’t have started at Leicester and definitely shouldn’t have today.
Ajayi and Egan are good centre backs in different ways. Ajayi has been good for us when used occasionally - he's been great at stepping out and snatching the ball before it finds the oppo player, but he has way too many moments where he just switches off completely and it seems like a run of games causes him to go off the boil. Egan has been fairly solid in the way you describe, and pretty consistently too but on the ball he's limited. We've tried to continue using them on the ball as if they're Hughes and they're simply not.

As for defending, the midfield doesn't help out much at all. The Iwata Birmingham goal prime example. Defenders just about clear it, nobody tracks Iwata, rifles it into the top corner. We've been like this all season but overcome it with a bit of luck and being more effective at scoring goals, but now we've slowed right down with the tempo and our outplay we're struggling.
 
Can’t agree about Egan, he’s a proper no nonsense centre half and has been good on the whole. He needs a decent ball player next to him.

Ajayi has been well out of form and getting worse with every game. He probably shouldn’t have started at Leicester and definitely shouldn’t have today.
Maybe. Egan looked better with Hughes next to him. An Ajayi and Egan partnership is a disaster waiting to happen though. I like McNair too.