simply put i think ritchie is a good manager

and is doing a fantastic job at oakwell. But today he made a mistake with his team selction imo and i said that as soon as i heard the team.

kay in the middle no just cant hack it.
howard struggles on the wing. so the midfield was lost from there and we then resorted to the long ball.

ritchie will sort it out though i faith in that, he seems like the kind of man to learn from his mistakes

 

didn't have much of a choice in my opinion?

other than williams and heckingbottom on left which would let howard in middle?

 

I suppose he had the choice of keeping the team from last week

Don't change a winning side and all that. But it's dead easy to say that after the event.

 

RE: didn't have much of a choice in my opinion?

williams on the left howard and burns in the middle. seemed to do the trick last week, he says stick by the playes then drops williams i just dont get it. Because kay and burns in the middle was never going to work. he needs someone who can play a bit.
Howard can but on the left was going to do nothing and just look poor

 

RE: I suppose he had the choice of keeping the team from last week

well i honestly did say as soon as i heard the team the middle just wont work. as you say its easy after and for me sat here. i just do not think kay is good enough for the midfield. im sure ritchie will put it right. time to show some character and bounce back. 12 points out of 15 and i cant see why we would complain

 

Well...

I'd have dropped Williams. And so would most people I spoke to.

My complaint was that if McPhail was fit enough to be on the bench, he should have started. Without a doubt in my mind.

 

i said that once he came on

gotta agree. id have played williams though gotta be able to do a better job on left than howard who aint a wide player.

 

I think Kay could be a midfielder

But you can't expect anything from him when he's been played at centre half all season and he's just come back from a lengthy injury. I doubt Carbon or Reid would have performed very well had they been asked to play there. You've got to be very fit to play central midfield and it takes a lot of games in that position to gain that fitness. Kay just hasn't had that. I do think it was a strange one from Ritchie, but I don't think we can blame that performance solely on that one choice and one man.

If we're honest about it, our away form is terrible. Only 4 wins in 15 games is not the form of a team with promotion aspirations. Combine that with the fact that Donny really are our bogey side and I think a loss was definitely on the cards. Doesn't matter who Ritchie picks, we don't win many away games. That's something that definitely needs addressing.

 

Well..

I'd pick a right full-back at left wing over Williams until he gets himself fit. Not blaming Howard or Shuker, they were starved of the ball.

When McPhail came on, he got the ball down. Thats when the problem became evident. He got the ball down, but NOBODY moved to get into space. He had to wriggle away from 3 challenges and hook what seemed an impossible pass to Heckingbottom just so we could keep the ball.

 

very worrying if you think that

if we finish 5th or 6th our second leg semi will be away

 

RE: very worrying if you think that

Let's worry about getting there first!

 

good call

 

The mistake was made when he didnt sign experienced midfield cover in January!

 

RE: simply put i think ritchie ISN'T a good manager

He says on the main site that he doesn't know what happens when we go there. Well imo, by now, he should know what happens because it also happens when they come to us. Five times now over the past two seasons and on two occasions, they haven't had there full side out and they still batter us.
Penney doesn't seem to have any problems in working out how to beat us, even when he has people who are new to the club, let alone the team, playing.
That IMO is the difference. Penney knows what he wants and makes sure that he gets it. Our management team thinks about it and thinks some more and then just once more and by then it's either too late or they just don't bother doing anything. We deserve all we get.
Please don't go down the road of " Look where we are in the league" etc. because as far as I'm concerned, it is despite Ritchie and Shepherd, not because of them and it says volumes for where we might be if our Manager and to some extent our Chairman, were up to their respective jobs.

 

RE: simply put i think ritchie ISN'T a good manager

My thoughts exactly us oldies could be on the same wavelength. Ritchie isn't,never has been and never will be agood manager, and it has to be said again that the teams position is in spite of Ritchie not because of him, any team without any adequate coaching staff will not progress in the long term.

 

what a pile of crap

a chairman that backs the manager,most of the players are Richies signings,so your saying without Richie and Shepard the same group of players would have assembled themselfs at Oakwell and we would be sat at the top of the league with the aid of some miricle worker that you fail to name,as for penny getting what he wants I think he would love to swap places with us don't you?!!!

 

RE: what a pile of crap

Agree 100%

 

RE: what a pile of crap

A managers job isn't just to sign players, he has to get them to play to the best of their ability, week in week out, not just once or twice a season. Or is yours and Ritchie's position the one that says. " I signed all these players, now will somebody else get them to play as well for us as they did when I saw them playing for their last team".
As for Penney, I think he would love to swap places with Andy Ritchie and I wonder what would happen if he did.

 

RE: didn't have much of a choice in my opinion?

Williams was injured.

 

RE: what a pile of crap

Played 31, lost 8 and the best home league form in the division in his first full season as our Manager. YES THAT IS REALLY CRAP. Get real!!!