We’re doing worse but how?

I’ve heard all season off many that Heckingbottom was doing a bad job with us. I disagreed, I thought he’d been dealt a bad hand & that we should’ve been bottom & that he’d done a great job to leave us outside the bottom 3 with the team he had August - January.

Anyway, a new manager comes in, he’s got virtually a full strength squad to pick from, lads like Gardner, Cavare, Isgrove & Jackson who were barely available to Hecky are fit, we’ve got McBurnie, Moore, Pinillos, Knasmullner & Mills in during January.

Players like McCarthy, Pearson, Hammill & Bradshaw who were key players before can’t get near a start.

McBurnie’s scoring for fun yet we’ve got worse.

We’ve picked up 4 points from 5 games yet in the reverse fixtures with a much weaker team we picked up 7 points.

I’m not convinced at all by Jose so far, his decisions don’t make sense. Yesterday we came up against the most in form winger in the league who’s like lightning so for me 1st choice is Yiadom, he’s proven time & time again he can do a job on quality wingers at this level at either right or left back yet he doesn’t make the team, option 2 is Fryers who’s quicker than Pinillos but he goes for Pinillos who gets ripped apart. Why are we rotating full backs? Why does Yiadom need resting? He’s been playing in the football league for years, he’s our best player, he’s one of the few with a seasons worth of experience at this level yet he’s been rested, I can’t get my head around it.

He’s tried to come in & send a message by sticking two fan favourites in the reserves but I think he’s soon finding out that the squad isn’t up to it & he’s already had to bring Isgrove back into the fold. He seems to be going down the ‘shock tactics’ route with kicking players into the reserves & then recalling them out of the blue & I don’t think it’s the right idea with a young squad, they need confidence & an arm round them.

The tactics at Hull baffled me, going all out defensive & giving them license to attack cost us two points but it also gave them some confidence & they’ve gone & picked up a crucial win yesterday. I think it sends out a bad sigh to the starting 11 that he didn’t trust them to defend a lead in that system.

I don’t like what I’ve heard about ‘getting to know the players’, we shouldn’t have been appointing a manager who didn’t know a fair bit about most of our squad. Fair enough if it’s June & he’s got 2 months before the season starts but not in the middle of a relegation battle.

I just don’t get how you can strengthen the squad so much, have the most in form striker in the league & go backwards & start leaking goals. Conceding after 51 seconds is shambolic, I’d be embarrassed doing it playing 5 a side never mind championship football.

Jury’s definitely out for me, we’ve got to start picking up points, if the team we had August - January could stay out of the bottom 3 then surely this one with McBurnie & Moore in it has to?

 

He isn't really doing worse though is he he has had 5 games but you can't really include Burton. He still doesn't know his best 11 and I never expected a win from 2 tough away games to top 6 sides. At least we are scoring goals from open play again which can only be a positive thing. Obviously the jury is still out he has had 4 games really, I knew it wouldn't take long before the hecky lovers were on but he isn't doing too well either with a squad worth tens of millions one win so far is it.

 

Agree, makes no sense whatsoever.

 

The bloke has just taken over an awful squad and had four away games on the trot. Give him a bit of slack.

 

Barring the obvious improvement of McBurnie, have we actually strengthened the squad that much?

 

I’d agree under normal circumstances but we’re in a relegation scrap & don’t have the time to give managers a bit of slack, that the point about recruiting a manager who already knows a fair bit about the squad.

I think since we got back into the championship we’ve a better record away from home, that’s probably been a advantage if anything, time away with the players & he’s had the chance to chop & change without the home crowd questioning him

 

It's getting desperate but with the squad, the fixtures and the timing of the appointment you can't expect the bloke to hit the ground running. No one could with these diabolical players.

 

I’d say so, we’ve not a good team by championship standards but for example McCarthy was 1st choice right back for 3 months of the season he now can’t get near a squad & is 3rd choice right back.

Bradshaw gone from 1st choice to 4th choice striker.

We spent 2 months with Pearson as first choice left back whilst Yiadom & Fryers were injured.

I think in all 3 cases we’ve got far better players in them positions.

Even McBurnie alone should be enough for a side like ours to start picking up more points with the goals he’s got but we’ve gone the other way & started leaking them whilst coaches & players are sat in press conferences saying that we don’t need to work on defence

 

We have been in a relegation scrap for a while now the 1 win in 12 or 13 was it?and against the bottom side under paul helped put us there.

 

I don’t think they are that diabolical, it’s a better squad than we had in the first half of the season & many of the young players now have 20+ games at this level & should be getting better.

He got a good set of fixtures to start with as well. 3 teams in the scrap with us who’d all had worse January transfer windows than us. Great chance to get some momentum going & I can’t help but think he killed it at Hull with that second half

 

Whilst I agree with a lot of what you say, I don't think using the reverse fixtures as a gauge is entirely reliable. We lost at home to Hull, but drew away, so that's an improvement. Drew with Boro at home, and lost away, but they are now on a charge and we were hanging on a bit in the home game. Other teams don't stay exactly the same form or personnel wise.

Jose would have to be winless up to the end of the season to be worse than Hecky, who left with a record of 1 win in 16.

 

I'd also say the formation and tactics have changed so this is why players have dropped down the rankings we have played 433 for the past 4 games instead of 451 with Bradshaw up top alone.

 

1. I must have missed the point in our season when Pearson was a key player. McCarthy was dropped by Hecky months ago.
2. Aside from Burton where he didn’t change anything, we’ve picked up as many points as I’d realisticly hoped for. Nothing at Cardiff and Boro, 1 at Hull and 3 at Birmingham. Easy to say that we did better in the reverse fixtures which were all at home.
3. We shouldn’t be appointing someone who doesn’t know about about our squad? Who exactly has in indepth knowledge of our squad aside from Hecky?
4. Just because it’s early in the game it doesn’t mean it’s suddenly easier to defend against quality opposition. I don’t see how conceding in any minute is any more shambolic than any other.
5. Hammill is experienced enough to deal with a few games out the side. And should we have continued playing Isgrove who has been poor lately, especially against Burton, just because he’s young and might need an arm round him? Some of the other lads deserved a chance (these new players, that you’ve happened to decide are better than we’ve got).

We’ve not quite managed to put a good performance in for a full 90 minutes yet, but there’s been positives to take from every game. Don’t judge him on away games at Cardiff or Boro, it’s home games against Norwich, Millwall, Bolton, Brentford etc that are going to define our season.

 

But look at the squad, it’s far better now.

In that 1 win in however many it was for most of it Bradshaw & Thiam were our only two strikers, Barnes & Ugbo were recalled, Hedges & Isgrove were injured for most of it.

We had a small squad with lots of injuries, likes of Brown & Mottley-Henry on the bench, we should be competing better now.

If someone would’ve said to me in August that come March Bradshaw, Hammill & McCarthy will be deemed not good enough to make the squad I’d be thinking ‘bloody hell we must have a good team then’.

 

I think this is abit of a I told you so post on your part, I think your jumping the gun tbh. I'm not convinced a hecky team would have done any better look at his record so far at Leeds with a squad worth tens of millions 1 win so far and Leeds fans far from impressed.

 

I must admit I'm beginning to wonder whether he was appointed on the fact that he has worked with "The Special One" over his own record
Plus the fact that he didn't really know the division or the squad is making him look like a gamble of the highest order!

 

1. You’re welcome to go back & look at team selections, McCarthy & Pearson were key players for a couple of months because of injuries to Yiadom, Cavare & Fryers. This place & Twitter was full of people slating Pearson for not been good enough for a long time.

2. We’re a better side away from home, have been for a long time. Is ours or any home ground intimidating enough to be a 12th man these days? How many teams genuinely have a home advantage?

3. Just generally managers who’ve been in the English game the past few years, they’ll have come up against most of our side, possibly scouted some of them & made plans to combat them when they’ve come up against them

4. In the first minute you should have your shape & have the managers instructions fresh in your mind. It’s twice in 5 games, it’s worrying. In my opinion it’s a lot more forgivable if you concede when for example it’s 80 mins in & a knackered defender is marking a fresh off the bench striker / winger & makes a mistake.

5. I’m not making a judgement on how good these players are apart from saying we’ve got a far better squad which we surely must have if Hammill can’t get in it & Isgrove can’t get a start.

I’m not sure about the positives, teams going 2 up against us & going into taking it easy mode ready for the next game so we get more of the ball isn’t doing anything for me. The games gone. We’d probably be better off just saying move on to the next one & rest up so we’re actually ready for the next game & not 2 down after half hour.

I think we should stay up given the improvements we’ve made but I’ve just not been convinced so far.

 

It’s more of a ‘I’m worried’ post. The last thing I want is to lose games so I can say ‘I told you so’, I think our January business should’ve been enough to keep us up but I’m worried, 4 points from 9 against relegation rivals is average at best & bern completely out of the last two games after 30 minutes isn’t good.

I’ve no interest in Leeds, they’re a joke club ran by idiots where no manager does well. I’ve no doubt Hecky will get his pay off in the next couple of months & everyone will move on & the next guy will come in & get his pay off in a few months.

 

I agree with you it’s not the best gauge but it’s certainly worrying.

It’s me thinking we’ve picked up more points from the reverse fixtures with McCarthy, Pearson, Hammill, Bradshaw etc starting & we’re getting less points now with none of these deemed good enough & the most in form striker in the league playing for us so what’s going wrong?

 

We played McCarthy through choice because we thought he was our best right back. Hecky changed his mind and didn’t play him as he’s entitled to do. Doesn’t mean we had a poorer team during the time McCarthy was playing.

No one will have come up against ‘most of our side’. Which of Cavare, Pinnock, Thiam, McBurnie, Moore, Williams, Knas have been playing regular football in the football league? I’ll give you Hammill, Bradshaw, Davies, Yiadom but given we’d have been recruiting managers from lower leagues they won’t have scouted them for transfers or come up against them. I 100% disagree that recruiting a manager who might have once scouted a couple of players should be in any way a significant factor on deciding who we should appoint. It would take every single manager a period of time to get to know the squad.

You should have you shape at all times unless you’re being hit on the counter. Nor will you all of a sudden forget the managers instructions because you’ve played half an hour of football.

We may have a better squad but other than McBurnie I don’t think anyone’s really improved us that much based on what I’ve seen so far. Ignoring Burton which I think is a reasonable thing to do, do you really think we’d have been on with a chance of picking up points against Cardiff and Boro?

It’s far too early to judge him.