This board wouldn’t know a contingency plan if it hit them in the face! Unless we have a huge upturn in form & performances, which I doubt, Collins will be sacked within the next 4 weeks, and I can guarantee the board will take another 4 weeks to announce his successor.
Think last night gave a bit of prospective as in how soft an under belly we've got. He's clearly doing the best he can with what he's got not one stood up last night and said pick me other than Connell and we all know good he is. Could someone do a better job of course that's possible but Luca is back and hopefully Robert's is not too far behind them two would improve most championship teams let alone us. I agree the next 4 are important but we all know if he gets everyone back you go on a run in this league and go from zero to hero only time will tell
If your pinning your hopes on one player coming back your going to be disappointed it will still be the sideways backwards football implemented
We were playing this sort of stuff at first under Duff; then the crowd started getting vociferous about it and things changed to the more direct style. The rest is history...
Love to know the list of teams you think they will improve? Capable of playing there defo. Capable of getting into most 1st teams not so sure. Have no doubt Connell will over time but Roberts been great for us but don’t see him walking into most teams in Championship.
It is clear that Collins had a tough job from the outset. However, if the back three was Bobby Thomas, Mads and Kitching, would his style be any different? I don’t think so. His team would still reflect his personality. Which comes across as quite dour. Slow, ineffective, overly pragmatic. In terms of points achieved it’s far from a disaster, I accept that. But the football is getting worse if anything, not better. The team does not look like it is getting more solid or hard to beat, it also doesn’t look likelier to click into gear. Nothing seems to be working at the moment. I doubt they’ll pull the trigger yet or even all that soon. But I can’t see him turning it around, I can’t see us being successful under him. I hope I’m wrong.
If he's sacked in the next 4 weeks there only one Xmas present for the reds and that is WARNOCK he has said he wants to manage a team at the top end of the league instead of at the bottom end.
Forget pressing football this season, you can’t play it with the players we’ve got. If you sack Collins tomorrow you still can’t play it (and have any success). We haven’t got the pace or height to play it. I’d love to watch us play pressing football, my favourite team to watch is Klopp’s Liverpool but you can only do it if you’ve got the players to do it. There’s no combination of centre backs that you can put out that can cope with playing high up the pitch & dealing with balls behind them & aerial battles. There just isn’t. It’s clear he’s trying to play a style of football that covers up our weaknesses but they are going to get exposed on occasions. The lack of height was obvious at Derby with the goals conceded.
Top scorers in the division. 9 points off the top of the league. Games in hand on a fair number of teams both above or below us. A defence that has been decimated from last season. Number one keeper recently injured. Connell missed all of the season so far. New to English football. A CEO that's not fit to run a bath. Aye, sack him. Edit: I appreciate last night wasn't great, and that we've lost some home games against the bigger sides. But judge him in the spring imo.
Counter argument to that is all our wins have come from 12th place and below having taken just 1pt vs top half, Pompey, Oxford, Posh, Derby all put 3 past us. The worry is the current form continues and we continue losing against the top half, I take your point in terms of the stats but the reality is we've shown nothing to suggest we are genuine top 6 material results wise. Defensively we are appalling and only an injury away to Cole from going not being able to keep clean sheets or score. I think it would be too soon to sack Collins but the formation and current tactics aren't working consistently, the wing backs are poor providing little service from wide areas.
In our next fixtures we face: Lincoln - 9th (1 point behind us) Wycombe - 12th Reading - 24th Charlton - 11th Stevenage - 4th There are some winnable games there for us in-between lincoln and stevenage, I think by the end of that run on boxing day we'll have a clear idea if sticking with Collins is the right idea, because after that we've got 4 of the top 6.
In my opinion Connell is pivotal he was last season,seen enough of Russell to know he's twice the he is. The range is passing he processes is way above Russell which will get us on the front foot much quicker.
That will only work if the other two midfielders are allowed to attack more. Connells range of passing only becomes relevant if there are bodies for him to hit in advanced positions.
That's what I'm saying though - it's too early to judge. You can't make decisions on sacking a bloke when we've played about a quarter of the season and we're 6th. It's too early to judge both from a positive or negative point of view. It would be the same if I was saying he's brilliant and that because we smashed Port Vale he should get a 10 year deal. He needs time. If we're 10th in late February, then it's time to make the decision.
I dont know how many returning from international duty. Will be available saturday. But 1 possibly 2 (connell) will start. It was time for players to show why they should be considered. They invariably let themselves down although against a supposedly strong Bradford side. Most fans accept the efl trophy is the time to give those on the sidelines their chance to shine. Saturday will be a difficult game. Time for the strikers (other than Cole) to step up their game. As none imo have shown any signs of being an automatic choice. Jalo and Marsh may get more opportunities.
Don't think attacking is a problem.. we can't defend We are a side that can easily score 3time but let 5 in
No not yet.. give him the season. You can see why MLH fecked off.. or any other coach worth their salt. Coaches even medical staff who's been here 25 years..And take Khalid there's problems at oakwell still.. and higher up than the coach Can't keep sacking the manager.. we'll end up dropping down another league. Change is not always for the better..