(admittedly alcohol is involved) , but at the moment wondering what is the fking point? Similar mistakes week after week at the back , poor up front ( how Cole deserves a start week after week is beyond me). To be fair I don’t even wholly blame the payers! What a totally unbalanced squad assembled by the powers above with no real options available! It’s a total shambles.
Id love to know whether the manager made the decision to send everyone out on loan or if it was a board decision because the squad we had pre January was a million times better than the one post January.
The way we’ve fallen off a cliff is worst thing for me. To go into a playoffs in such poor form is a new one to get my head around. I know we’ve not been world beaters all season, and we don’t have many options coming off the bench, but it’s still been a monumental collapse where everything has deserted us. I just want it to be over now.
To be fair it's a bit more nuanced than that. Nobody could have legislated for Pines getting injured, which was a monumental blow. Earl looked like an excellent signing at first, but his confidence now appears shot. However, I think there's a player in there. But statistically, I believe that our best defensive line-up included Shepherd and Lopata, both of whom looked very good, if raw. I can understand the logic of loaning them out in January (ish) although personally I'd have kept Shepherd and sent McCart back. However, people who know far more than me about football decided otherwise. For me it's never been an issue with the quality of the players, more the organisation and balance. A decent coach should surely be able to fashion a solid enough 3rd tier back line for next season out of the players we've already got. As we've seen time and time again, organisation goes a very long way.
I think earl is one of the worst centre backs in many a year. Gives away a goal a game. Pines was a punt and hes looked ok, raw and unready but ok. But I firmly believe the defenders we got rid of are much better than what we kept. Then there's up front, same could be said. Just think the decision to send everyone out was awful with hindsight
Hindsight is a wonderful thing! Pines had never played in this country before and wasn't fully fit. He looked strong and commanding at the back, albeit with the odd howler, and offered a massive threat at attacking set pieces. He was an excellent signing. Earl - has looked awful recently I agree, but I wouldn't be writing him off. Prime Paul Futcher or Chris Morgan would probably look no better than average with our current level of organisation. Shepherd looks like he could be something very special indeed. I'm almost glad he's not been involved in the end of season ****-show as it could have been detrimental to his progress. At least at Cheltenham there was no expectation to contend with. Up front - we've still scored plenty of goals. Just again we've looked unbalanced. Personally, I think most of the time we've looked a much better side with Cosgrove on the field.
Up until 10 games ago we were seriously in the mix for the top two. We then proceded to collapse and look shot to pieces. It's a huge fall off. The only place to look for the reasons for that are the players and the coaching staff. None of us know enough of the inside workings at the club to know exactly how it happened and why it couldn't be corrected but there's players at the club who are quality that have looked shadows of themselves recently. Fingers crossed we get the next coach right.
