My view is that Andersen's performances have actually improved over the last few weeks in terms of his general play. Nevertheless he continues to make some horrendous mistakes which cost us goals and points. However, having said that I'm still massively uncomfortable with Struber's press conference comments today about him. He singled him out for criticism and said that he would "change these players who always make these mistakes" and "sometimes it's better you go one or two steps back and I think it's time for that now" and "the situation with our centre backs is not a surprise." Whilst those comments are all true, they single Andersen out horribly and apportion all the blame to him, unfairly imo given that he's left the player exposed by continuing to pick him despite the obvious difficulties he's been having. I read a post on FB this week from a guy who said that Anderson has just turned 22, is living in a foreign country, playing week in week out a level higher than he has played before, has had 4 different centre back partners, 2 different keepers behind him and untold full back variations and 3 managers in his first 6 months here. We shouldn't forget all of that. It seems to me that if you buy young players like we have then there's a responsibility to develop them and part of that is giving them appropriate support, including knowing when to give them a rest and coach them to improve their game, and not throwing them under the bus. Struber has made a mistake by speaking so critically and pointedly about him. Can't help thinking that good management would have been avoiding the question, putting an arm around him and just leaving him out on Saturday. My guess is that Andersen will be feeling pretty low this evening and I wonder whether his career will be damaged in the long term by his experience here. Struber's man-management skills are called into question - again. Edit - apologies, started to type this a while ago and came back to finish it before seeing the other post.....
Starting to really dislike Struber. Doesn't come across well at all. No doubt Anderson has been very poor, but would any of us make a step up abroad at such a young age in any career and just manage it without any hiccups at all?
I don’t like this manager / head coach. We have had useless mangers a plenty in my time but only two I disliked as people - Spackman for the way he treated Eric Winstanley and Flitcroft (once he became permanent manager) for the way he treated Hassell and Steele. This Struber guy I am starting to dislike too
Bahre, Odour and now Andersen. His man management and people skills are getting worse. First half tactical substitutions isn't good. Making it known you've found a scapegoat to drop two days before a game is horrible. Keep it in house and let us all know at 2 on Saturday. The world didn't need to know today.
The things is, the manager will be the one getting the sack if players like Anderson don’t start to be accountable for themselves and their performances. Managers don’t have power anymore like they used to. Statements like this were common place decades ago when Managers had the power and players either shaped up or were shipped out. Sometimes the honest truth hurts but how he reacts will tell us what he’s made of.
Morais took us into the last game being able to survive with a win. Gerhard will not be doing that. But then it's not Gerhard's fault.
Well, the pre-match interview with Gerhard Struber made it clear, not only that Struber does not have the personal strength of character to make a success of football management in England, but also that the bully boys have at last got their reward. I made it clear in my pre-season analysis of the team, that with a very young squad, it would occasionally be necessary to take players who had lost form out of the firing line in order to give them the time that they needed out of the limelight in order to recover. It is important that a coach knows how to do that. The right coach will see a situation developing, and will remove a player before anyone outside the club can ‘second guess’ his motives for doing so. He treats the player with respect. He has a quiet word, and the coaching staff work with the player to improve on his faults and restore his confidence. That is not what has happened to Mads Andersen, today. Andersen was very much at fault for the Birmingham winner on Tuesday. In reality, the error cost the team only a single point because they were never going to score. If you look at my match report, you will see several extenuating circumstances which increased the pressure on the players and contributed to the chances of one of them making an error. I felt sorry for the lad. The coach had already removed Oduor and Styles from the fray, because they too were making mistakes that could have led to goals, but they had got away with it. It is not Andersen’s first error this season, but equally, all our young players have made errors. It is part of the learning process, and it is important that players are supported through that learning process. What should not have happened is that the Chief Coach should not have hung the player out to dry, announced to the media that the player would be rested and given the boo boys the encouragement they crave to use those tactics again against another poor unfortunate who has had too much responsibility piled upon his shoulders too early in his career. It is another mistake, but this time, it is another mistake by the Chief Coach, which he can add to his personal list.
When I think what I was like aged 21 I didn't know my arse from my elbow, and probably didn't feel like a 'man' until I was about 25. It's not so much the fact that these young players are bound to struggle to reach the levels required of them, it's more the psychological beating up they get along the way for being dropped in it.
Some players respond better to criticism than others . Some players like an arm around them some just prefer encouragement and some react better to bollockings . Let’s see what affect this has , Im sure Struber knows what’s best or at least I hope he does.
When I was 21 I thought I knew everything, when I was 25 I knew more, when I was 40 I realised I knew **** all
No need to air dirty washing in public. You say it all to the player, preferably in private but sometimes it may be necessary to do it as a team. Struber not taking responsibility is a bit worrying, he kept selecting him after all
Reading the programme notes it seems hes really popular with staff, polite happy and hardworking. Might be a different scenario if he was lazy or didnt care.