Thankyou for the explanation. I think your paragraph about looking at it both ways and the top teams potentially being poorer which makes the bottom look better when they aren't is pretty much exactly the point I've been getting at and why the two of us won't really ever agree on how well he's doing because we are both looking at the same statistics but interpreting them differently and there's not really any definitive way to prove one right or wrong, it's just opinions. Enjoy your night. I'm gonna stick a film on.
I’ve been today and it was ****. But I’m not sure the response on here/social media is fair. The manager has us in the playoffs (currently) with a far worse team than last year. So for me anyone arguing the division is worse, which I don’t necessarily agree with, is overlooking the fact that man for man we are significantly worse also, so surely that evens out! people are posting polls on Twitter and making bonkers posts on here saying we should sack the manager. I’m not sure what people expect? in terms of today. He can’t legislate for the first or even second goal. Or the chances missed by players. If his football is ****. Which I do agree sometimes it is. It still created enough chances (on a bad day) to win the game. I thought his substitutions were right too. He can’t legislate for the mistakes today and then they stick every man behind the ball and got away with it. but of course sack the manager, that always works out best. and for the people on Twitter abusing JAQ. Get real.
What surprised me today was my own reaction, I thought I was past feeling annoyed and let down by football. The thing that got me today was, even after the ludicrous own goal , I wasn’t that perturbed, I just assumed that as the match progressed, if we hadn’t scored we would up our game and the tempo and ‘go for it’ with players driving for the area. But nope it was pedestrian pas, pass and even when we got past an opponent it took us that long to go forward any beaten players had recovered!
Completely agree on your last point. Tag her in with a post telling her WHY you think we need to change the manager if that's what you think but there's absolutely no need to abuse her. The other week she tweeted about fans booing and in my opinion she was stupid to do so as it causes division for no reason and fans had every right to tell her that abd why they feel that but all those idiotic fans who tweeted her back with abuse not only lost the opportunity to tell her what they thought but also lost any credibility they had and only served to further the division. Helps nobody.
I appreciate fans are disappointed, but there really are some stupid comments on here. At the start of the season we were without our back three and centre forward. Arguably our four best players from the previous season, seeing as two went to the Prem and two to the championship. Most fans, last August, would have taken 5th with seven games left. Today Collins put out his strongest team. We gave away a daft own goal. They put eleven men behind the ball and didn’t press beyond 35 yards. Numpties moaned if we played long into a packed box and moaned if we tried to be patient and pass. Today’s loss was down to the players not Collins. Calling for Collins head is ignorance and stupidity on an industrial scale.
Agree. I just think abusing someone who is part of the gang paying the bills is not a great idea and to some extent disrespectful.
Feel for Collins, should never have even been given the job, he's tried his best but he isn't good enough unfortunately. The main issue still remains those above him, amateurs playing 'football manager'. Recruitment abysmal, that is where the blame lies for me.
The biggest entitlement I see is posts like this assuming your view is superior to everyone else’s. I hope he does walk away tomorrow and blame the ‘childish’ fan base. It’ll chalk **** on any other club taking him on. And who are you to decide folk are childish? He’s worked wonders? Has he? Really? How so? Or is he actually bang average? Is he actually underachieving with the squad of players he’s got when compared to the rest of the division this season? Has he coached the life out of the better players so that they play metronomically, one paced and with no guile? Does he not get found out whenever we play at home and have to get on the front foot - but has achieved a lot of points away from home mainly through having good individual players producing good moments in tight games? It’s certainly arguable. But I will credit him with the away record. Have the ‘worse’ defenders in the squad than last season got any better in his tenure? Do they at least look coached and more organised as the season progresses? Or have they all actually got worse under him? Josh Earl looked great in his first couple of games - not so much since. Jordan Williams has been solid at right centre back in previous seasons. Dog **** this season. Has he got a change up for when it goes wrong? A plan b? Has he even got a plan A? How many minutes, let alone games or even halves, have we played this season without rigidly having three centre backs? We’ve won from behind a couple of times I’ll grant you - but when has he tried something different to get back in a game? Or to try and break a deadlock? Why do his team continuously play side to side and backwards passes, at no pace and with no authority? Does he lambast them from the side of the pitch for doing so? Has he coached it out of them as the season goes on? (or has he actually coached it into them?…) Discuss. I’m pretty sure of what your conclusion is and I’m not so sure I’d agree. We have failed to win 12 of 21 games at home - in league one. A league one I maintain is palpably weaker than any I’ve seen in recent years and I’d wager last season’s team would have walked the league this year. We don’t have last years team. That much is true. But we should still have managed to win more than 42% of our home games and managed to pick up more than 50.7% of the available points at home against what we’ve faced. We have lost 7 of those home games, including against sides that will not as much as make the playoffs and in todays case may even be relegated - and have failed to score in the last two home games against two such sides battling relegation, allegedly managing as many as seven shots on target over those two games - though from memory barely working the opposition goalkeepers at all. So has he worked wonders? Or has he got a fair number of individuals in his squad that are better than most of the opposition can put out that have got us through some games? I can honestly say I can’t remember one game where we’ve played well for the whole game, though that might be harsh. Performances are certainly getting flatter as time under him progresses. From a purely statistical point of view, to have 71 points and sit fifth in the division isn’t disastrous, though I’d argue is below par (which sides below us have better squads? Are Peterborough, Bolton, Derby equipped with that much better than us?) But to watch the performances, the shackles on the players. The fear they are playing with. It is draining. If he remains in charge it will cost the club money in season ticket and match ticket revenue. It really will. There are many people sitting in and around me questioning whether they will renew. Some saying they won’t - and they’ve not been coming to every game recently so I’ve no reason to suspect them to be exaggerating. Many, like me, will renew anyway. Engrained. Don’t know better and would miss it. But many won’t. That might end up being what drives the board to make a decision. Because many people will not pay hard earned and in many cases scarcely spare cash out to watch this every other week. He didn’t have quite as good a squad as Duff from the outset. I’ll grant that. Though he had a lot of positive momentum and didn’t have to deal with the fallout of a hugely negative and draining relegation to get over. And I’d argue Bolton are no better than last season really, Derby and Portsmouth marginally so maybe - the bottom half are absolute dross, everything below the top ten is in reality. He had an absolute free hit, to be fair he hasn’t completely failed - but he isn’t far off, and the last few performances, including winning but trying their best not to at Carlisle, spell out to me that he isn’t right to take us forward. Was he given a fair crack from the outset? Maybe not. Would a semi competent coach have got a better tune out of the hand he was dealt though? I’d argue that’s a resounding yes.
I just can’t see a better formation with the players he’s got. the 3-5-2 is to make the most of what we have, it’s not because we need to play it.
Surely your not expecting everyone to be jumping up and down all happy and joyful after our recent run are you? Your almost advocating that we're bad fans because we don't have a positive spin on things like perhaps you have? Who can blame folk after watching us at home this season. Relegation form at home no masking that
Absolute tripe. If it was a one off, under par performance where players were clearly not doing the job they were sent out to do and that they do most other weeks, you’d have a point. That is how his sides play week in week out. It sometimes gets results, but is always dreary and uninspiring, lacking in guile and completely risk averse. Everything is too slow, too careful. There is no freedom. That is 100% on Collins. Another condescending assertion assuming superiority in your view, just like Fonzie. It is perfectly reasonable to argue we would be much better served with a head coach who was more motivational, inspiring, and less risk averse and boring. This squad needs a Kevin Keegan type character - maybe lacking in tactical nous, but motivational and attacking and able to get a tune out of a bunch that have enough attacking talent. We’ve got the exact opposite. It isn’t his fault he’s got a dour approach and his team bore you to tears - it isn’t his fault he was appointed. But it needs to be addressed.
I agree with your point that the players haven't downed tools but I would guess that the players that have a choice where they can play next season won't choose to be here. I haven't seen much evidence that he's a coach that develops and improves players for theirs and the clubs benefit.
Just wondering how Cole has scored so many goals if he scores another goal this season I'll throw me cap in the air and shout Alilluya!
No I certainly wasn't cheering today but I did clap away during timerider and jump up and encourage when we were attacking and did a good tacke or pass but I certainly didn't shout abuse or boo. I was disappointed though and felt it was a poor performance. I've been to many away grounds and mot very often thought it was football in a library even when we have won.
Retention also abysmal. Why don't players want to stay at Oakwell and are only too happy to leave when the opportunity arises?