Statement Required By The Club

That is not the position though is it.

We made a mess of the summer transfer window, and that was not Johnson's fault. We did not get the players that we wanted, or the older players that we needed. We are waiting for the January transfer window to open so that we can try to put things right. The position has been made clear by BM and LJ. There is no point in restating that position after every home defeat, because that remains the position.

You lot simply want an argument and most common sense posters have withdraw from posting because it is pointless. No one in the anti-Johnson camp is listening any more. The board just consist of the anti-Johnson camp restating, and restating and restating ad infinitum that the club should sack Johnson. I know that you lot want Johnson sacked without having to read it over and over again after every home loss. I know that he will never turn your opinion round. Equally, I have heard nothing from you lot that convinces me that he should be sacked before the January transfer window. I support Johnson, just as I supported every other manager we sacked during the last 14 years.

 

I've been to the majority of games home and away and don't consider myself a knee jerk sack the manager type of person. Putting aside recruitment and retainment for a moment (if we buy into the idea that this is entirely outside the managers remit and responsibilities) I have seen nothing to suggest that Lee Johnson is the man to drive us forwards. I presume we believe that he trains the team, motivates the team, chooses the tactics etc. If so in all these areas we seem to be poor. The players look unmotivated and disinterested. Our young players are ignored and treated pretty averagely whilst we nurture and develop those of other teams. Tactically we appear naive and react to the opposition rather than trying to play the game in any specific way. Substitutions are poor rarely impact positively on the game. Perhaps most worryingly from a managerial point of view other than Hourihane players seem to be going backwards rather than forwards. Mawson, Roberts, Winnall, Scowen, Nyatanga and Davies are getting progressively worse.

Results are of course terrible and show no signs of improvement. Performances have improved slightly but we can still go through an entire 90 minutes without a single shot on target. We are completely reliant on the ability of 2 players if both of those have poor games we lose.

So if we say recruitment is outside the Head coaches remit and evaluate him on all other areas it becomes difficult to see an argument for retaining the status quo. Swindon, for example, have kicked on with the same players under a different manager.

 

You'll never change the mind of the sheep like happy clappers...whatever the club say or do is fine by the happy clappers cos it is the club and what they say is best.

If they put two monkeys in charge the happy clappers would still blindly back em....oh hang on a minute there already is......

hth

 

Hasn't Patrick Cryne contradicted the message from LJ and BM from the night at Athersley?

 

What would you expect a statement to say? Something along the lines of they are as pissed off with things as we are I assume? then the insults would start that the statement wasn't up to scratch etc

Best say nothing seems to be the way they've took. Unless you are invited to meetings in portakabins

 

I'm sorry, but you must be more specific. Let me take your points one by one.

Which of our young players are being ignored and which players who are currently in the team do you believe they should replace and in which positions.

LJ has played 4-4-2 for the last month. Most fans have greeted the return to 4-4-2 enthusiastically. What system do you advocate and how would you modify our tactics within that system.

For me, on Saturday our subs bench was our biggest problem. The squad is very thin and LJ has stopped including those who will be leaving in January. So who should have been on the bench on Saturday, and who could have changed the game on Saturday but was ignored.

I do not consider myself an expert, but I do like to be convinced by logical argument. So convince me. Let us not talk generalities. Let us talk specifics. Let us talk about the changes you would have made to tactics, systems and players for the Wigan game that would have produced a different result.

 

They already have ..............haven't they?
Haven't they already stated we have an unacceptable league position for our budget etc etc.
There will be movement in January that's for sure, just hope we bring in the required players.

 

Look, I was simply pointing out that I already know what our strategy is. I do not need the club to restate it. The strategy is to try to fix the problems that have been caused by our failure in the summer transfer market in the January transfer window. I have read much since Saturday, because I read much more than I post. Most of what I have read has been practically identical. SACK JOHNSON. I do not respond to most of it. I respond to posters that have made what I think are valid and constructive arguments in the past. I respond to those posters whose opinions I respect.

It is not as if Cryne and co have been slow to sack managers in the past is it. They have sacked an awful lot of good men who I believed deserved longer. An awful lot of men who were successful before us, and who have been successful after us. The fact that they are sticking with this one, even though results have not been good, suggests to me that they think that he has a valid excuse. I do not know anything that you do not know, but I think that the directors do.

 

Un

Your right, people have been clamouring for 4 4 2, unfortunately our version of 4 4 2 consists of 9 or 10 of our players blindly following the ball like sheep instead of keeping their shape, resulting in the opposition wide players being granted the freedom of whatever pitch they are playing on.

 

"You lot simply want an argument and most common sense posters have withdraw from posting because it is pointless. No one in the anti-Johnson camp is listening any more. The board just consist of the anti-Johnson camp restating, and restating and restating ad infinitum that the club should sack Johnson. I know that you lot want Johnson sacked without having to read it over and over again after every home loss. I know that he will never turn your opinion round. Equally, I have heard nothing from you lot that convinces me that he should be sacked before the January transfer window. I support Johnson, just as I supported every other manager we sacked during the last 14 years"

We don't want an argument we want action, require action and deserve action!

You say that you have heard nothing from you lot that convinces you he should be sacked. You don't need to hear a whisper from us, look at the table, look at the standard of performances and look at the discord at Oakwell at every home game.

This guy is out of his depth but you support him!!!

Well I as well as many other supporters are the lifeblood of the club with the money we spend and believe you me if we keep this fool in charge then that money will be spent elsewhere.

If the club want to keep fans on board, then ACT and rid us of this pretender

 

If you are referring to Saturday, that is not what I saw. Can you please explain exactly what you mean because I saw something very different.

 

Specifically Bree has been treated poorly. In one game plays well dropped the next for a poor defender who offers little to the team. Davies a promising goal keeper dropped for an erratic error prone one confidence destroyed demonstrably playing worse than last season. Abbott/ Digby ignored for poor loan players. George Smith again in and out of the team.

4-4-2 is a decent system but if you play it you need the correct personal but you need to consider the opposition (we started against Wigan with 2 full backs better suited to the wing back role which is not a sensible decision) . It was never the correct system against a Wigan team playing 3-6-1 we were swamped. You choose your system both to maximise your own players and to work on he strengths/weaknesses of the opposition. You shouldn't be rigid but should always have a game plan that looks to effectively control the game. Your team selection and tactics should look to give you and advantage not a disadvantage. Again against Wigan we did not need Nyatanga and Long two 'old school' centre halves given the way they attack it was a perfect game for Mawson.

This is not an isolated incident. The Altrincham game again demonstrated tactically naïveté as did Rochdale. Home games against poorer teams such as Crewe and Shrewsbury (all perfect teams to play 4-4-2 against with less able full backs we played 1 up front and isolated him against big strong centre halves).

Of the players at the club I think the inclusion of Bree, Simeon Jackson and Ryan Willians would improve the team in terms of terms of fluidity and ability. Also when Scowen returns I would be looking to end the loan of Pearson who offers little. The dropping of the out of form Watkins should be a priority.

Talking of specifics. Which of our players are getting better under the coaching of Johnson? Please name them.

Do you think results have been acceptable?

Which substitutions do you think have changed the game positively For us?

I agree, to an extent, about the poverty of options off the bench but unlike you I don't absolve the manager for this. I think he did have a say in the recruitment of Wilkinson, M Smith, Townsend all poor players who offer little or nothing.

I also agree about sacking too many good men. I just don't see that Johnson at this stage is one of them.

 

No they don't. They are hoping against hope it turns round.

 

I did not go to Wigan, so I have relied on the opinion of others, Whitey in particularly. He talked about a first half that was dominated by the Barnsley midfield that should have been rewarded with more goals. I can only assume that Wigan changed their system after watching us in that game and noting our strengths and weaknesses. However, you can not blame our manager for not changing our system after that game because although we only drew the game, it was by all accounts, a game that we played well in.

Johnson reacted to the 3-6-1 system by drawing in the two full backs in order to cut down the space between our centre backs. That was his only option given the wholesale changes that would have been needed to match their system. How else could he have reacted?

Bree is unfortunate. Wabara is not a better player, but he is taller. The manger must have 4 tall players in the team in order to have enough to defend corners and free kicks. If you count the number of tall players we currently have in the side, especially with Mawson in the back four, you will find that we are potentially 1 short. Now this was NOT how the game panned out on Saturday, and the manager could have picked a different team had he know that Wigan would play on the floor or play 3-6-1. But he did not know that Wigan would play that way, and Wigan had the options in their squad to play any way that they want. Johnson does not have a large squad and does not currently have the options to play in many different ways. That means that we are easy to plan for and easy to predict.

I am not a fan of Watkins, but he does have one thing that Williams does not. Once again, he is tall so once again he offers something defensively that Williams does not. Against Sheffield United, we looked like conceding at every corner or defensive free kick. Anybody watching that game would have concluded that we were vulnerable in the air. Coming to the game on Saturday, I was convinced that Wigan would attack us in the air and was convinced that we needed to plan for that situation. I was caught by surprise by Wigan's tactics, and in the circumstances, we would have been better served with Bree at right back and Williams on the wing. But that is hindsight, because that was not our weakness against Sheffield United. Would we have beaten Wigan if we had started with those two changes, or even with Simeon Jackson up front instead of Ivan Toney. I doubt it. In the end, their 11 were simply better than our 11.

Currently, Johnson finds it very difficult to find a balanced 11 in any formation. I have constantly made the point from the start of the season that we are 4 players short whatever system we chose to play. I would be interested in knowing what players we missed out on in the summer transfer window as that would give me a better idea whether we would have been better balanced if we had been successful in recruiting them. To my eyes, we are weak down the centre of the field. We are missing a big man at the back, a big man up front and an older head in the centre of the field to organise us there. Who can say whether these were the players we missed out on without that knowledge. Just three players would transform that team from losers to winners, in my opinion.

 

And a very happy Christmas to you and yours.

 

Hasnt the January recruitment policy changed again though re the John Stones Trophy?

 

"Currently, Johnson finds it very difficult to find a balanced 11 in any formation"

Because he is out of his depth and has no understanding of what is our best starting 11.

The same can be said about his tactics or lack of them.

That is another reason why Johnson needs removing