Dike had been schooled in the first leg and wasn’t fully fit. Morris wasn’t fit enough to start both games - he’s rarely actually started for us. Selecting Adeboyejo was a little left field but not without its reasons. He failed to deliver what Val wanted him to - ie work their centre halves and tire them. He was pulled as he wasn’t doing the job. I think it’s a pretty big jump to assume we’d have faired any better had Dike started with Morris and Woodrow. If he’d started that three and it wasn’t working, the options from the bench in Frieser, Chaplin and Adeboyejo wouldn’t have been sending too much in the way of fright to the opposition. Look at the England rugby side. Eddie Jones doesn’t have subs or replacements, he has finishers, players to come on and turn (or further take away) the game when the opposition are tiring. With five subs that’s sensible and how we’ve had success. Why would you change that approach in a playoff game? Those three named were the best three of the six in terms of individual ability - but how many minutes did they actually play together to draw the conclusion that they were the best combination of three? Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t have Victor Adeboyejo anywhere near our first eleven but I’m in no position to suggest I know better than a professional head coach. And I certainly wouldn’t tell him he’d got it wrong either ;-D
Too many players had a poor game in the first half on Saturday to be able to single out one selection. Styles, Brittain, Woodrow and even Morris were below par in the first half. Personally, I'd have started Chaplin or Frieser with Woodrow and Morris, but I think we needed to completely change our style to combat them. They moved their line slightly higher and won the ariel battles.
I think Val may have had a game plan to win 1-0, take it to extra time and have the best three forwards on the pitch at the end of the game. We're two or three players away from becoming a top Championship side. I hope Val and the board can see that and decide to invest rather than break up the team. I'm resigned to losing Mowatt, but okay with Styles plus a strong central midfielder in the middle.
I agree. If you live by the sword, you die by the sword. Victor always gives 100% and I like the bloke but he's not Championship quality and to start him over Dike was playing Robbie Williams in central midfield level of stupid. Gutted we couldn't win for Eric.
There's a considerable difficulty here though isn't there? If we take this squad as a base and aim to retain the best, that's going to mean higher wages. If we bring in better players to add to the squad, that means wages and likely transfer fees. If and when Mowatt leaves, we get no recompense (which I'm fine with, he's more than repaid us with his efforts). We're also working from a base where we are likely to have lost considerable money through covid, and remember we have the costs to foot to Hull re the MacDonald transfer. If we're to bring in better players on top of retaining what we have, I'm not sure how we square that circle.
Move on the fringe players: Solbauer, Chaplin, Kane, Miller, Odour etc. Keep Jordan Williams, Palmer, Frieser etc as squad players. Buy a couple of top young players, a striker and a central midfielder (spend £2m rather than £500k). We need to go to the next level. I thought that Swansea had four or five better players and that's why we lost (Lowe, Ayew, Grimes, Guehi, Woodman). Offer Val a five year deal.
It's a squad game and Solbauer is a vital member. Kane has only just joined for a large fee, then got injured! Pretty sure he's going to be a first team regular!
I don't think Kane's considered a fringe player. I think a bit more patience needed there, especially given the money we paid and that we're probably about to lose Mowatt. He got unlucky with injury, just as he was starting to show glimpses. Agree we need to be looking at the next level of quality/technical ability. Wouldn't put Ayew in that bracket though. Crazy money. Not sure about offering Val a 5-year deal either. They don't mean owt. He's only 1 yr into a 3 yr deal and there's talk of him going. We could offer him a 10-year deal, there's always gonna be an exit clause in there. In today's game, contracts are nothing more than a guarantee to get paid.
What has worked for other clubs (Burnley, Wolves, Norwich) is sticking with a good manager for 4/5 years and building a team. Are we not going in that direction, but with less money to spend?
I'd say definitely not tbh. I'd say the opposite. Feels more like a head coach production line to me. We've had 16 managers & caretakers in the last 10 seasons. Trying to think of the last manager we had for more than 2 full seasons. Simon Davey mebbi? Not sure. I'm probably wrong.
Thought I'd have a peek into this. Just found this graphic of all the managers we've had, since I started following us. How many of those have left us and gone on to greater success with other clubs? Not many by the looks of it. I exclude caretakers from that, as it's unfair to judge them on a job they never had.
When we sell a couple over the summer we need to not freak out - lets see what the incoming are and how they fit in. I wonder if bit part players that haven't really set us on fire such as Chaplin, be move on on to freshen the squad up. I'd like to see a creative midfielder - someone who can turn a game from midfield like Higgy used to and a lightning quick attacker like Adam Armstrong come in. Palmer is going to be quality but still developing. If Mowatt goes move Styles into the middle (if he doesn't go) and put Williams at left back. We also need some cover for the wing backs. Then maybe if no Dike next year then another big strong attacker and lets have another wildcard with nothing to lose. Move on the ones that have been here a while and not getting games and lets add some new blood but keep the core of the team together - and the manager! But if he goes we have our style of play and we bring managers into that style which means fewer squad changes.
increase passing accuracy, keep it on the deck, and use the wings. Run at defenders in the box and take a shot when you have a reasonable sight of goal. There, all sorted for next season.