[Official Site] MARKUS SCHOPP POST-MIDDLESBROUGH

How are they suddenly not fit?
Gomes looks good, but he is in and out of the team.
Vita has not even had a run.
His starting lineups are bizarre.
His substitutions are bizarre.
How players start, then dropped, then disappear from the squad, then reappear is bizarre.

 

There are lots of issues which can be made with the board, but I am fed up of variations on this comment being made without any supporting evidence.
They may not get their hand in their own pockets, but show me where they are fleecing the club.
Also, show me where they are happy to be in League One, as it is cheaper.

 

It might be worth you reflecting on the effect of losing our fitness coaches and the players not having a base fitness through pre season.

 

The last annual accounts are evidence. Multiple accountants have commented on it and shared why its a bad thing. I'm not sure what evidence you need to convince you.

 

If he wasn't trying to find a better formula, people would complain he was playing the same team.

 

There proffesinal footballers did they let there selves go in pre season?

 

I know why you want him gone.

The bottom line is he's still here. So while ever he is here, should we all hope he can turn it round, starting at home to the blunts?

 

Its got nothing to do about letting themselves go. We lost a huge amount of our back room team in the summer, you may have noticed. Players have individual programmes. Who gives them individual programmes and manages them if the lights are off?

 

Obviously you are making two very good points there, and I am not suggesting that Schopp should shoulder all the blame for our dreadful results, but I do think that he should shoulder a lot of it. I just can't see things getting any better with him in charge. He is clearly floundering.

 

Meh.

 

Drat and double drat

 

I just want to make it clear, which I think is obvious, but it's probably worth saying more widely to everyone (so apologies its a reply to you). I don't have a perception that we're playing unbelievable football and Schopp is just the unluckiest man on the planet. Though I do think he's no friend of black cats!

I think he's in the last chance saloon, and I suspect he knows it given his last post match interview.

I absolutely do think he's playing a part in this run, the disorganisation at the back and the lack of press in midfield is obvious. It should be sorted. But the players also have to take responsibility there too. But there are so many differences to last season both on and off the pitch that I can't be so absolutist and think just simply a change of head coach will make a huge difference.

I also think we've been completely unfair with the guy and he's not got any known friendly faces around him to support him. In a foreign country. With all the summer issues. Thats life and its football. if he was winning every week, nobody would be questioning him and such isolation wouldn't be a problem either. But it can't be easy for him, and I'd hope a few people could realise that and dampen the caustic vitriol at him.

Come Sunday evening, do I think he should get sacked if we lose....? Probably. Though it would still depend on how.

At the end of the day I want us to play attractive energetic entertaining football. There have been pockets of that under him. But there has also been a lot of rubbish too. But I have found some of it entertaining, and when its clicked, it's been stunning. Sadly, that was such a fleeting thing. If we could play more of that first hour against QPR, i don't think people would complain (as much), but we haven't so I understand the frustration, even if I'm not yet at the point of kicking a man while he's down and there's little on offer in the future that would help anyone else necessarily do better.

 

Some decent points and on a human level of course we should try and empathise with Schopp, trying to adjust to a new country, probably feeling isolated too. No excuse for vitriol and dog's abuse is there? He has had to put up with a lot of that. However, on the other hand one has to make a judgement call about the manager in whatever context he's in and even in this shi.tty context I think he should have gone a few games ago. The team are gradually getting worse not better, look powder puff and are definite relegation material if things are left as they are. I'm sure Schopp is a decent human being but he has to go.

 

When we played Blackburn, Brittain played in midfield because we had a shortage due to Palmer and Benson's absence. When they were back available for the Blackpool game, I don't think he would've had any criticism for keeping Callum Styles at LWB, with two out of Benson, Palmer and Gomes in the middle. "I can't believe he's not picked Ben Williams" is not a phrase used that often on here, because he's the backup left back. Similarly, when Benson pulled up injured before the Forest, nobody would've complained if he'd just made the straight swap for Gomes, rather than the more disruptive option of moving a wing back inside unnecessarily.

Our one good performance came with a midfield of Styles, Palmer, Benson, Brittain. No idea why he would want to deviate from that, with Gomes and Hondermarck now also available as options in the middle. Yes, injuries sometimes mean we don't have any round pegs for the round holes, but he seems to overcomplicate things.

I just think the coach's game plan is one that the players can't or won't follow. Likely the former. The disorganisation at the back is all on him. Lack of press in midfield is likely a result of mixed messaging from the coach. He's inherited a mess, but a coach that can come up with a clear game plan should at least see us compete for a place outside the bottom 3, which we're not doing at the moment.

 

Or maybe we're overcomplicating things and looking for things that aren't there? If a player is injured, he's injured. What if a player has a niggle, or the new fitness team say a player is close to injury so needs a rest rather than playing 3 games in a week?

Its perfectly normal to change things during a game if you're losing or even trying to win from a neutral position.

 

I’m not talking about changes during the games, I’m talking about changes from game to game. His selections for the Blackpool and forest games in particular were unnecessarily disruptive. He doesn’t know our best team, and he doesn’t seem to know or be able to convey how he wants us to play.

I’d say any replacement for him would have a difficult job, but I’d find it hard to imagine anyone else doing it as badly as Schopp is at the moment.

 

You're saying its unreasonable for him to change the team that lost (and though I didn't see it, many suggested we didn't offer anything much at all) at Blackpool to try and win the next game against Forest?

 

I'm saying that if he hadn't tinkered too much at Blackpool in the first place, we'd have had a better chance to win with Styles and Brittain at wing back, and two out of Benson, Palmer and Gomes in the middle.

Then at Forest, he picked a side more like the one I'd have picked at Blackpool. With Styles LWB, Benson/Palmer in the middle and Brittain RWB. Benson then pulls up injured, he had these options;
- Bring in Gomes as a straight swap
- Bring Ben Williams, who was his preferred choice a few days earlier and move Styles inside
- Bring Jordan Williams, a right back that can cover left when needed, and move Brittain inside, who had played CM against Stoke and Blackburn
- Bring Jordan Williams onto the left and move Styles inside.

Do you honestly think his choice made the most sense? Do you not think he should have an idea of who his best LWB is by now? And what his best team is, that he can use as a starting point? Because he doesn't seem to.

 

I totally agree with this. We have major problems because of the pre-season debacle, changing Schopp isn’t going to fix that, but I do expect at least whoever pulls on the shirt to give their all and clearly that’s not happening for whatever reasons. Making us competitive should be at least the minimum requirement, as you say, we are just going through the motions of playing football, it’s embarrassing.

 

I think its absolutely natural to change your team around when you're losing and when there are so many injuries. Jordan William has had injjuries, Ben Williams had a niggle. Gomes hasn't played competitive football. Styles was seen as a natural replacement in the centre, but hes not yet made that step.

He can't win. If he keeps a settled side thats losing, he's lambasted. If he tinkers, he gets lambasted. If he changes formation and loses, he'll be lambasted. If he keeps it and loses, he'll be lambasted.