Best gaffer since Wilson

Too early to tell whether he’s best since Wilson. We have problems in scoring at the moment and we need to strengthen when we can. Don’t think we’re in trouble yet, but it will take a couple of seasons.

 

Maybe these last few games have shown that we were a bit flattered, to be in the top 6.
And that mid table or a bit lower (I originally said about 14th) might be our level after all this season.

 

I think you're wrong. We have had a huge loss to the team in Thomas. It will unfortunately take until January grinding away to try and get results until we can inject some pace into the squad. I suspect there will be more odd goal defeats until someone takes a game by the scruff of the neck. That's not down to Duff. It's down to individuals.

 

I am not sure we have been flattered , your league position does not lie although matches played may not always be equal but we have picked up the points because of being tight at the back on our travels & once again having only conceded one goal away we should be picking something up from the game, obviously we are not scoring enough goals & with an obvious shortage of goalscorers on our books then this will continue until the very least january when hopefully we get to strengthen but we have deserved our points tally so far .

 

Well I hope they do prove me wrong, but this sure doesn't look and feel like a top 6 Play off season, at the moment.
And as some others have said, how long are we going to keep using the Thomas injury as an excuse.

 

He's a great public speaker. Without a doubt, he's excellent. Forget everything else that came before (almost all of what he said was good), his after match interview on Saturday after the defeat at Morecambe was first class. We lost, we played terribly, he took responsibility, it was brilliant. But his behaviour at the time wasn't. His tactics weren't. His management of the game wasn't. And that wasn't isolated, it's happening all the time. 2 minutes to go at home to Lincoln, 1-0 down from the first half, and we finally decide to make a positive change. I'm sure his after match interview will be excellent tonight, but that doesn't mean he can manage a team.

I'm not doing this to pick you out, I'm really not, but there are some serious things wrong here and being able to communicate very effectively doesn't mean you're doing a good job. It just means you're a good influencer. But that's the way society is going.

 

I think he comes across as a decent guy, pretty thoughtful and often says the right stuff and all that, and understands the fans to an extent and is bright enough.

I think what's becoming clear is that he's basically a bit of a fanny. Totally passive tactics away from home where we just keep our shape and try and soak up pressure no matter who the opposition are (see Morecambe, Fleetwood) and won't change the shape no matter what comes across. Imagine leaving it till a minute to go to throw on your attacking players. It's just a bit soft.

 

I'd not read Jay's post before I wrote mine and I think I'm trying to say exactly what he said in the post prior to mine, just not as well.

 

I’ve given him a free pass up to now. The issues we have are still in the main little to do with him.

Tonight though was unacceptable. Having a crap squad doesn’t excuse tepid, passive and lazy play. It was so predictable. We are the easiest team to play against in the league. Lincoln won’t need to wash their kit.

I’m not advocating him going, certainly not yet. But we need to see a change; definitely in approach, and probably in shape. It remains to be seen if he’s capable of that, or if he’s too stubborn to try.

 

I was bored today. Bored rigid. We kept turning throw ins or free kicks around their area into pass backs to our keeper within a few seconds. We turned having the ball in the corner with plenty of time to get a cross over into losing the ball and conceding seconds later. We had a striker working his nuts off and getting nowhere, and a striker who only really got animated when he started kicking people at the end of the game. And our good striker finally got a clear chance, right at the end, but the rubbish one went for the ball too and we made a mess of it.

But it was boring. “Is this a library?” sang the Imps (seriously lads, I know that’s the team’s nickname, but referring to yourselves as Imps?). I wish it was a library. I’d have gone to the music section and found something to read. A few weeks ago everything seemed to be slotting into place, we were looking good, with the new players getting up to speed and if I could have been arsed to go to a bookies I would have wasted £20 on a £10 each way on us to win the title. It looked a decent bet. Right now I wouldn’t bet £10 on us staying up. We probably will, but if future opposition have watched our last few matches, it will be touch and go.

In case future opposition can’t be bothered to scout us, here’s all you need to know. 1) mark Cole out of the game. Put 2 on him, as you won’t need to bother marking all of our players. 2 or 3 can safely be left to tackle themselves, 2) our defenders run like their legs are made of lead. Let them push up, lob the ball over the top and fill yer boots, 3) once you’ve taken the lead, sit back and enjoy our display of going round in circles. Just watch the one with the tattoos, cos he’ll start kicking you

So Saturday. My mate’s in France. My son’s at a party. Hicksy and Loko have sodded off to the posh box. Do I really want to go and sit on my own and watch more of that? Is this the best Duff can do with these players? I’d say no, cos I was at Hillsborough a few weeks ago and we were brill. Something needs to change though, cos I’m losing interest and, judging by all the empty seats, I’m not alone.

 

Bonkers stat of the season thus far? If we win our next game then this team will have more points than the 2018/19 team after the same number of games

 

Thanks for bumping. I've certainly had a few chuckles re reading some posts. Some still apply. but some blatantly impatient ones at the time as well.
I've had issues on selection and substitutions at times. But the classic one I screwed up on was the Norwood (sub) one at the sty. Not because I don't like Norwood, It was for tactical reasons. Wtf do I know lol.

 

Hindsight and all that

Or maybe we just need more patience

 

When you think what we had with the two previous head coaches ( were they REALLY coaches?) Duff makes you want to attend Oakwell again. And if we don't go up it won't be for the want of trying. He's like a breath of fresh air.

 

Probably Jim Callaghan or Gordon Brown....

 

Also, Portsmouth were further ahead of the pack than Plymouth are, and they eventually finished 4th. Starting to think that catching Plymouth and Ipswich is nowhere near as outlandish as it seemed a few weeks ago. All the sides above us have to come to Oakwell. I think we're well in the mix.

 

The gap to the top three is definitely closeable. I think we need the addition of a really good striker to make it though.
That said I'd be disappointed if we don't make the play offs with our current squad and that's a big improvement on what I was expecting at the start of the season.
Duff has been an excellent appointment.