Gerhard Struber

Can’t agree...... covid happened at right time for us because we were going down we were that bad, and then we got lucky with what happened to Wigan

 

It's a shame we came back for the Swansea game.

 

You mebe right mate

 

Strange RB Salzburg are top of the table

 

When Struber took over, we had won one game out of 16 and had just 9 points, at an average of 0.56 points per match. Under Struber in that season, we took 40 points from 30 games, an average of 1.33 points per match. I would suggest that indicates that he did a good job for us.

 

we actually got an experienced defender in which helped! Also there was a difference in results pre lockdown and after. As I've said before, those last 2 games we were actually at Oakwell were dire!

 

Which two were they? It all seems so long ago now.

 

We lost to Cardiff just b4 lockdown and we were dire…..lockdown saved us far more than Struber, he got lucky bcos he was taking us down

 

We were certainly favourites for relegation before Struber arrived, with only 1 win in our opening 16 games. Why should lockdown benefit us more than other clubs? I don't understand the logic.

 

Lock down helped us doing Ismael.
Effective game plan (until the end), highly motivated team, but painful to watch for the most part.

 

What Struber did with that set of players was amazing. Of course he was fortunate and used the Covid breaks to his advantage but I don't think he gets the credit he deserves especially as I feel he laid the foundations for Big Val to build on the following season.

 

Because our young team had less distractions and were faster and fitter than the older ones who had family life to contend with?

 

Because it delayed the end of the season so that it meant Wigan’s points deduction was applicable to that season, whereas any other year it would have been applied to the new season starting on -10.

 

Yet we were struggling big time before Val came in!

 

I can see the logic in this statement. You are obviously suggesting that fans would have voiced disgruntlement at the "style" of play, which may have affected a decision to continue to play like that. You are right to add "at the end". Our way of playing under Ismael had been astonishingly effective until other teams decided to give us a dose of our own medicine. I particularly remember the 0-0 draw with Derby at Oakwell, when Rooney's team abandoned their usual style and simply whacked the ball back, after we'd whacked it up into their half. Rotherham were even more effective when they played us at Oakwell, apart from missing about half a dozen sitters, even though we won that game 1-0 via Morris's header, which should have been disallowed for a foul on the keeper. We did play some really good football on the odd occasion though, notably in the 3-2 win at Bournemouth and 2-0 win at Brentford. By the end of the season, our usual way of playing was becoming increasingly ineffective, as we saw in the 2-1 home defeat by Wednesday. I was hoping Ismael would change tactics in the play-offs against Swansea, as it had been clear in the two league games against them that Steve Cooper knew how to render our tactics ineffective. Ismael had some good players and should have allowed them to express their talents, rather than employing long ball tactics which had not brought us a goal in our two previous games with Swansea. We might have beaten them and made it to the Premier League then. Who knows?

 

We weren't awarded points for being in lockdown, we earned them.

Struber didn't have a preseason. He was appointed part way through with the team in disarray. Lockdown gave him breathing space, some time to instill his ideas and his tactics into the team. He did an amazing job of that.

Every other team had lockdown too, but only Barnsley had Struber coaching their team. He saved us, as did the players who responded to his instruction.

And I say all that as someone who doesn't like the man, the way he engineered his exit was appalling imho, but he deserves a whole heap of credit for keeping us up that season.

 

I'll admit we didn't start the following season well. I think part of that was a hangover from the previous season and but also he changed the system and we struggled to adapt to that (especially in creating chances). Also, I think he had one foot out the door which is unexcusable but I'll judge him on the season before. Finally, I shudder to think what he could have done with Carlton and Daryl up front.

 

If I remember rightly, Struber was in charge for only 5 games or so, before leaving. Then Adam Murray took over for a few games, before Val arrived.

 

True,but we didn't get off to the best start!

 

Worked well.