Post by thesauce16 on Apr 11, 2024 8:39:11 GMT
This year has been a car crash. But what is it that’s actually caused us to lose control and collapse? I’ve seen lots of people blaming this and that, but for me, it’s been the perfect storm of a whole plethora of issues.
Managerial changes
Shock, but for me this is the route cause. Had we not sacked Eustace, we wouldn’t be in this position imho. We wouldn’t be top half either, but we’d have had a solid stable season which was much needed. The start of the season under Eustace was good. Players were confident and comfortable. I think Eustace understood the deficiencies in the squad (more on that later), and set the team up to guard against them. Two defensive midfielders protecting a weak back line, a direct approach taking the pressure off players who weren’t good enough to play pretty football. Rooney came in and that confidence dissipated, the players looked lost and their mental fragility was shown. You can blame Rooney, the players or the board (I blame all three), but it happened. Mogga comes in and sparks something, but then Venus (who I don’t blame as he was never intended to be a manager) also lost the players or at least the belief. Rowett has come in too late, and the players are too low on confidence to be pulled around. Add to that we don’t have players to suit Rowett and it’s a recipe for disaster.
Weak minds
The players have shown they are seriously lacking in fight, in grit, in determination. I make no apologies for saying that that’s why Eustace was doing so well. He was the glue keeping the players focussed and battling. They bought into him and the system. After his departure they’ve been hiding, and there isn’t anyone who has the bottle and desire on the pitch to pull them around, tell home truths and get them firing. Mogga did to a certain extent, but it all went again under Venus. You can get away with having a team made up of a number of players without that side to their game, but not 100% of it. We don’t have a true captain, we don’t have a leader at the back, and we don’t have a nasty little shit in midfield who snaps into challenges and does the real dirty work, leading by example.
Imbalanced team
There are four key positions this year that are, imho, the reason this team doesn’t function.
Goalie - Ruddy just hasn’t been up to scratch, and his kicking is woeful. I really this a lack of confidence in that position has put pressure onto the defenders and they are wilting. If we had someone with a modicum of confidence with the ball at his feet I think it would have changed a lot.
Centre back - I’ve already mentioned it but where is the leader? I think Sando is a decent CB, but decent is the best I can say. Defences work best when you have a primary and secondary CB, one takes the dirty, rough and tumble stuff, the other mops up and covers. Sando is a secondary imho, Long was ok at the other stuff and it was a massive misstep to let him go. After that, and due to injuries we’ve needed Sando to be a primary, and he just isn’t. Aiwu isn’t even a tertiary, he’s just shit!
Centre Mid - I’ve mentioned above the snapper, the guy that doesn’t give the opposition a moments peace. The only thing close is Sunjic, we all know his faults, and he’s no leader, but he makes life a little tougher for opposition players. I personally would have gone back to the bielek/sunjic pivot with an attacking cm ahead weeks ago. But in any case it mightn’t have been enough as they do have deficiencies, but I don’t think we’d have been as easy to play against. We have umpteen players who are just too similar, we’re too easy to play against and ‘nice’ centre mids is a major reason for that in my view.
Striker - quite simply we don’t have one. Hogan is shot, juke is crocked and Stansfield, by his own admission, ain’t one. Having a small nippy finisher is all well and good, but if the ball doesn’t arrive in places he can deal with it what’s the point. He doesn’t have the physique or strength to play on his own… but guess what, we have no one else! Such a stupid oversight in recent transfer windows. Yes strikers are difficult to come by, but every other team manages to at least get one or two who offer something. We’ve been left without a plan b. We’re forced to try to play football for 90+ minutes as we have no way to change things. If that doesn’t work, and invariably it doesn’t, we’re done.
Add all of that up and you have a team with a very weak core. If we had a striker to take the pressure off Jay, and a CB to take the pressure off Sando, this team would be decent, add a ball playing GK and a leader in midfield it would be good. Without all four, we’re a weak team that’s easy to play against. I honestly believe this squad is technically more than good enough to win matches and compete to a far higher level, but they lack the experience and know how not to lose. How many times have we conceded late, or dropped our heads when we concede early.
Where’s my next pay check?
Too many players at a pivotal time know their future isn’t with us. Be they loans or out of contract. Quite simply they won’t care enough, and this is a situation that could have and should have been foreseen. Players with a strong mentality can keep on battling, but as I’ve already said, we don’t have them. So too many are just going through the motions, weakening and already weak squad.
Given the above, it’s no surprise we are where we are.
Managerial changes
Shock, but for me this is the route cause. Had we not sacked Eustace, we wouldn’t be in this position imho. We wouldn’t be top half either, but we’d have had a solid stable season which was much needed. The start of the season under Eustace was good. Players were confident and comfortable. I think Eustace understood the deficiencies in the squad (more on that later), and set the team up to guard against them. Two defensive midfielders protecting a weak back line, a direct approach taking the pressure off players who weren’t good enough to play pretty football. Rooney came in and that confidence dissipated, the players looked lost and their mental fragility was shown. You can blame Rooney, the players or the board (I blame all three), but it happened. Mogga comes in and sparks something, but then Venus (who I don’t blame as he was never intended to be a manager) also lost the players or at least the belief. Rowett has come in too late, and the players are too low on confidence to be pulled around. Add to that we don’t have players to suit Rowett and it’s a recipe for disaster.
Weak minds
The players have shown they are seriously lacking in fight, in grit, in determination. I make no apologies for saying that that’s why Eustace was doing so well. He was the glue keeping the players focussed and battling. They bought into him and the system. After his departure they’ve been hiding, and there isn’t anyone who has the bottle and desire on the pitch to pull them around, tell home truths and get them firing. Mogga did to a certain extent, but it all went again under Venus. You can get away with having a team made up of a number of players without that side to their game, but not 100% of it. We don’t have a true captain, we don’t have a leader at the back, and we don’t have a nasty little shit in midfield who snaps into challenges and does the real dirty work, leading by example.
Imbalanced team
There are four key positions this year that are, imho, the reason this team doesn’t function.
Goalie - Ruddy just hasn’t been up to scratch, and his kicking is woeful. I really this a lack of confidence in that position has put pressure onto the defenders and they are wilting. If we had someone with a modicum of confidence with the ball at his feet I think it would have changed a lot.
Centre back - I’ve already mentioned it but where is the leader? I think Sando is a decent CB, but decent is the best I can say. Defences work best when you have a primary and secondary CB, one takes the dirty, rough and tumble stuff, the other mops up and covers. Sando is a secondary imho, Long was ok at the other stuff and it was a massive misstep to let him go. After that, and due to injuries we’ve needed Sando to be a primary, and he just isn’t. Aiwu isn’t even a tertiary, he’s just shit!
Centre Mid - I’ve mentioned above the snapper, the guy that doesn’t give the opposition a moments peace. The only thing close is Sunjic, we all know his faults, and he’s no leader, but he makes life a little tougher for opposition players. I personally would have gone back to the bielek/sunjic pivot with an attacking cm ahead weeks ago. But in any case it mightn’t have been enough as they do have deficiencies, but I don’t think we’d have been as easy to play against. We have umpteen players who are just too similar, we’re too easy to play against and ‘nice’ centre mids is a major reason for that in my view.
Striker - quite simply we don’t have one. Hogan is shot, juke is crocked and Stansfield, by his own admission, ain’t one. Having a small nippy finisher is all well and good, but if the ball doesn’t arrive in places he can deal with it what’s the point. He doesn’t have the physique or strength to play on his own… but guess what, we have no one else! Such a stupid oversight in recent transfer windows. Yes strikers are difficult to come by, but every other team manages to at least get one or two who offer something. We’ve been left without a plan b. We’re forced to try to play football for 90+ minutes as we have no way to change things. If that doesn’t work, and invariably it doesn’t, we’re done.
Add all of that up and you have a team with a very weak core. If we had a striker to take the pressure off Jay, and a CB to take the pressure off Sando, this team would be decent, add a ball playing GK and a leader in midfield it would be good. Without all four, we’re a weak team that’s easy to play against. I honestly believe this squad is technically more than good enough to win matches and compete to a far higher level, but they lack the experience and know how not to lose. How many times have we conceded late, or dropped our heads when we concede early.
Where’s my next pay check?
Too many players at a pivotal time know their future isn’t with us. Be they loans or out of contract. Quite simply they won’t care enough, and this is a situation that could have and should have been foreseen. Players with a strong mentality can keep on battling, but as I’ve already said, we don’t have them. So too many are just going through the motions, weakening and already weak squad.
Given the above, it’s no surprise we are where we are.
