and is averaging 0.5 points per game, can we agree it’s not the manager and it’s the board and the quality of the squad that’s the issue?
The board have cocked up big time. Cannot sign anyone until January . We are screwed. No manager except a desperate one will be interested and no player will want a relegation on his cv. and sign for the wages we pay.
I don't know. Money talks, but I suspect the money from Oakwell will only be a whisper. We will see what happens but I suspect that we will offload one or two of our best and prepare for another season in League 1, but I have not given up on this season just yet.
Issues with Stendel- 1) didn’t pick Cavaré - lots of people were wondering why he wasn’t playing, clearly better option at the minute then the Williams twins. 2) Didn’t change tactics or formations despite conceding goals from committing too many players forward and being caught out. 3) not picking Dougall despite him being fit, clearly Dougall thought he should have been playing at least 2-3 weeks before he came back-even them only came back once Stendel left, who knows of he’d have picked him? He had been missed clearly. 4) interesting quote from Woodrow in the program points to issues with training. “We are doing a lot of good stuff in training now and there seems a proper structure in place, the boys are starting to see things more clearly.” no one is above criticism.
In all fairness Murray is averaging 0.75 ppg from 4 games 3 of them against top 6 teams Not saying he is the Messiah and conceding 2 goals a game is a problem but not sure who could do much better with the squad we have
In the 4 difficult games Murray has had, 3 we have played OK in, other than the continued defensive lapses. Selling Pinnock & not replacing him with a player ready for this league is a major error, that is blatantly obvious. i'm surprised we haven't ditched the zonal marking system, that has left players free to run in unchallenged. I can be critical of that. Zonal marking is great, when you have a steady, strong team, not a struggling one.
Exactly. I'm not sure I'd have backed us to grtt three points from the last four games at the height of my confidence. I think we're doing OK at the moment.
Agree no one is above criticism BUT the fact remains that this is now the squad we have, all fully fit. DS hasnt had that luxury for a lot of the season.
There's clearly issues with experience and defensive nous, but you don't get draws against three of the top six teams without any championship quality. That said defensively we were poor by any standards for the two goals last night. Cavare was a statue from the moment the ball was kicked to the moment it hit the net. The second was actually worse from a collective point of view as we had 8 v 5 at the corner and the guy scored with a header whilst running away from goal. Clearly got to cut out pretty basic defensive 101 errors, and if we can we can maybe start knicking wins instead of throwing away points.
Actually you are right, what I should have said was that most of the squad are short of championship quality. We do have some players who might attract championship attention in January. The problem is that we're poor in key areas and conceding too many soft goals - we need to score three most weeks to have a chance of winning. I can see potential in a lot of them but throwing so many young players in at championship level is suicidal - for this I completely blame our owners.
I think it was very revealing when Murray was asked if he'd want the job. Said he'd have to speak to his family and give it some careful thought. Not exactly chomping at the bit. He knows it would be an incredibly difficult job with a likely relegation on his CV. I suspect the delay in appointing a new Head Coach is down to the poor quality of applications, as no-one wants to take it on...
Although 3 draws against top half teams are decent results we lost the one that really mattered against Huddersfield. We’d have been better off getting comfortably beaten in them 3 & picking up 3 points against Huddersfield & keeping them near us. Still got the same issues for me. The squads threadbare & inexperienced. We’re pretty much full strength at the minute but any injuries other than keeper & we’re massively weakened
1 Cavare playing musical statues in the Penalty area as Williams strolled past him to score last night might give you a clue why he wasn't being picked 2 Don't know if you've noticed but we are still conceding goals 3 Dougal may have thought he was fit to play, but maybe the medical staff didnt I seen loads of players come back too soon and either aggravate the existing injury or pick up a new one. 4 The recruitment team were tasked to recruit players to play Stendels system they obviously failed to do that in the summer but yet they are still in post and Stendel isn't imho it should be the other way round.
Just watched Hibs against Celtic. I'm not sure we've replaced Jackson & Mallon with better squad players.