LJ just can't win with our fans

For months a large section of our fanbase has been demanding 2 up top in the league. For weeks people have been saying he should give M.Smith a chance. Since dropping Roberts and Davies everyone has been saying they should be brought back. After Tuesday people were saying he must stick with the 3-5-2.

He's done what a lot of fans wanted. It hasn't worked and the knives are still out. I feel sorry for him, I really do.

 

It's all self inflicted and the hole is becoming significantly deeper to climb out of!

 

Fixed it for you.

 

Re: LJ just can't win?

At the end of the day, to use all the old cliches, winning is what football is about and we are just not winning! I really like LJ but it isn't working; I wish it was as I want my team to win every game but we are losing to poor sides after dominating possession. Something has to change.

 

LJ just cant win with our team, that's why we are were we are.

 

If "LJ" is taking any notice of what the fans want and not playing his his team to their strengths and attributes then he's a poorer manager than first suspected.

He needs to win, entertainment would be nice, but ultimately win. If he does that he can play one up front, one in defence, two keepers, Mvoto as a nippy winger or whatever and no-one will give a ****.

 

No doubt that if the doom mongers get their wish again they will be on the back of the next manager if success isn't instant. Yet they wonder why things never improve.

 

And puts the clubs top scorer and a midfielder that's been playing well on the bench in the process. He also puts two up top towards the end of games if we're chasing it......and takes off the most creative midfielder.

 

If he won more football games than not, he wouldn't have a problem with our fans at all. But he doesn't.

I don't want the man sacked. I don't even want a discussion about sacking him. He shouldn't be. However, we were told we have one of the largest budgets in the division, we were told we were going for promotion, we were told the players we brought in were the targets of Championship clubs, but the reality is we're way off the promotion hunt and just above relegation. I find it difficult to believe that anyone can fail to understand why people are unhappy. I'm pretty sure Johnson himself will understand it.

 

Ffs
It's not about instant success it's about making progress, seeing signs of progress, and having confidence that we have the right manager finally at the helm.

At the moment things are terrible and those little signs of progress being made are non existent!!!!!!

 

What influence do you think the "doom mongers" have on the results?

 

What support do you offer the team? Same result. Zero.

 

******.

A manager who is fundamentally negative, slow and with no penetration in his approach stops the players playing. I love how the folk saying LJ is clearly out of his depth are doom mongerers, like we aren't entitled to voice an opinion (which is actually more like stating the obvious), that sacking managers doesn't work - as though that in itself is reason enough to keep this eejit in work.

I do not like sacking managers. It doesn't seem to improve the side. But the reason for that is disastrous decision making when appointing them in the first place. Keeping Lee Johnson in the job simply because 'sacking doesn't work' is absolute nonsense.

Then there those who discuss 'luck'. Behave. If 'luck' turns, and we win the next three, will those wins be after decent footballing performances,!or will they be wins by the odd goal after serving up yet more slow paced turgid 'performances'.

At the end of the day, football is a results business, but it is also meant to be an entertainment. We are asked to payout money to watch and support. Losing would be easier to take if we looked like trying to win a game. Our 'luck' might change but under LJ we are never going to be a good side to watch, as he doesn't believe in playing attacking football.

I said this last week or the week before - its not just results, his approach makes the team hard to watch, hard to justify spending money on, and look at our gates as a result. From a business point of view he's a poor bet, it's up to the manager to deliver a product that the support backs - and add to that the fact that we're actually also getting beaten every week and it's a no brainer.

Finally, my last bug bear. Budget. We must have a poor budget as the team is full of kids and loans. See it every week.

Not true. Our budget as a club, as proven by the books released every year, is in the top five or six in the division. The club claimed that the budget was in this area at the start of the season also. Whether or not it's true, I can't say until the books are released, but I'd be amazed if the budget isn't at the very least in the top eight in the division.

I'd bet my house that the summer spending of Walsall, bury, burton and so on was no more than ours, and i would bet my life that their ongoing weekly spend wage wise is no more than ours. A lot less most likely.

The budget has been spent on unproven youngsters and loans, leaving absolutely no experience on the pitch and as importantly in the dressing room and around the club. Our captain is 21. He is obviously a breath of fresh air as a footballer and as a man, a deserving club captain. But we have nobody with any experience around. That was the decision of the manager. He spent how he chose. The club might have a policy of signing youngsters for sell on value, fair enough, but there is no way he would have been blocked from signing at least one experienced old head, something I believe he didn't do as he is frightened to death that a senior player might show him up.

Get him gone, get soundbyte Mansford gone, get someone no nonsense in the boardroom and the dugout.

 

If that is true, and he's done it because the fans demand it, not because he's changed his view and thinks that it is the right time to try something different, then it would scream "desperate" and I would actually lose any respect for him as a manager that I may have. If playing boring football with one up front is what he believes in then he should do that and live or die by it.

 

Went to game yesterday , a fair few boos after game . Our slow play and possession football isn't working in this league . Lj has to adapt and try and win games and win the fans over too

 

This.

We're getting bullied & not causing teams problems. I'm all for a long term plan and a style we want to play but at some point we need to be more practical.

Crowley is the case in point - will be an outstanding player but a waste of a shirt in League One.

Pace and tempo is what we were promised and that's what we need.

 

Most people asked for 2 up front with Sam Winnall in that two. He dropped Winnall yesterday.

I think I'm safe in saying most of us wanted to see Winnall & Smith up top together

 

Some people are saying that he is out of his depth. How can that be? He has managed in this league before, was praised at Oldham for playing fast, high tempo football as he wanted, and left them in 9th position with a lower budget than ours. Similar to Hill, achieving greater things on a lower budget. Neither manager was out of his depth.

I think, like any manager who brings in a load of new players, some have worked quite well, some less so. There's definitely a need for more tinkering, more changes. It's a pity Ryan Williams hasn't been fit, because we definitely need high energy, forward-thinking midfield players in this team.

Lee Johnson is an intelligent bloke and he will see that. With the players we have, there isn't a perfect team in there waiting to be picked if only he would listen to the fans. It will be interesting to see where we are after the January window, and hopefully after the summer, with Johnson in charge. I just hope he isn't the latest erstwhile successful manager to be prematurely hounded out of our club before he has had time to be properly judged. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose as they say in Cudworth.