This season - who's at fault?

[Old Programme seller]

wizadry when the rumblings of discontent was happening (was it in November?) you’d have thought testing the water with who may have been available

 

[DaleHillBlade]

You’ve lost me HB?

Im
Not saying the board at fault, but apparently Wilder wanted out a while, the board should have acted.. Christ, even Big Sams West Brom going down fighting.

 

[wizadry]

wizadry when the rumblings of discontent was happening (was it in November?) you’d have thought testing the water with who may have been available

I don’t doubt that but who’s to say they didn’t?

 

[DaleHillBlade]

You’ve lost me HB?

Im
Not saying the board at fault, but apparently Wilder wanted out a while, the board should have acted.. Christ, even Big Sams West Brom going down fighting

 

[wizadry]

Im
Not saying the board at fault, but apparently Wilder wanted out a while, the board should have acted.. Christ, even Big Sams West Brom going down fighting.

I’m not disagreeing with that, no one knows, all I’m saying is it ain’t the boards fault why we’ve been so wank this season, if it is then it’s their fault we’ve been brilliant the seasons before, which I also don’t believe.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

Most of the blame is on the players.

The drop off in form from last season has been frightening.

 

[Old Programme seller]

wizadry nobody will know but they‘ve made a bad fist of things whether they did or didn’t have a name in place as there’s been no fight put up against relegation, do nowt get nowt

 

[wizadry]

wizadry nobody will know but they‘ve made a bad fist of things whether they did or didn’t have a name in place as there’s been no fight put up against relegation, do nowt get nowt

Yes but it isn’t the boards fault that the players and manger haven’t put up a better fight.

 

[bertieblade]

People talk of the fact that we should have had a replacement lined up when Wilder first tended his resignation. They then go in to say that at least West Brom are going down with a fight having appointed big Sam.

imagine the uproar if we had accepted wilders resignation without a fight?

how much money has big Sam cost West Brom in salary and signings and they still look like going down?

 

[wizadry]

People talk of the fact that we should have had a replacement lined up when Wilder first tended his resignation. They then go in to say that at least West Brom are going down with a fight having appointed big Sam.

imagine the uproar if we had accepted wilders resignation without a fight?

how much money has big Sam cost West Brom in salary and signings and they still look like going down?

It’s amazing what perspective brings.

 

[Aycliffe Blade]

Partly Wilder for assembling a squad of slow cloggers with no pace, technical ability or skill, and partly a lack of fans.

The ones who finished 9th last season ?

 

[CaptainMorgans]

Wilder didn't change shape once. He just closed his eyes, crossed his fingers & hoped for the best.
Injuries have been a major problem also, but to not show any tactical innovation was really poor.

On top of this, not one of his Summer signings improved us despite a chunky outlay.
I strongly believe he got carried away with the success of last season. He overestimated where we were as a club. He believed the likes of Baldock, Stevens, Norwood, Fleck etc. could all go again & that could simply make supplementary youth signings to safeguard our future.
Unfortunately, the foundations weren't solid & our present situation wasn't half as strong as our 9th place finish suggeste.
The aforementioned players have all had terrible seasons & have mostly looked like Championship players. I blame those guys far more than any of our young signings.

You've also had the likes of McBurnie & Mousset continuing to clearly not put in the right effort off the field in order to improve on it.
McBurnie plays exceptionally well once every handful of games & we all know what Mousset is capable of from last season's purple patch. That neither of them can string together a run of consistently high performances tells you everything you need to know about their mentality. These two, brought in for significant fees & paid very decent wages, have really let Wilder down. We needed them to provide something at the top of the pitch. They've given nothing.

 

[Old Programme seller]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but we needed to change the shape or tactics to evolve this meant changing personnel which would have cost far more money than what we could afford. midfielders and Forwards are a expensive commodity, the more I think about it the more I think about how Covid and loss of revenue scuppered us as we couldn’t invest because of finance I’m more settled in thinking that the clubs coffers have been thought of for long term benefits we couldn’t gamble with another £20 or 30 million it could have set us back decades.

 

[bakeblade]

Miserable season, but it'll be interesting to see what people believe the blame is/was.

Wilder 100

Wilder didn't change shape once. He just closed his eyes, crossed his fingers & hoped for the best.
Injuries have been a major problem also, but to not show any tactical innovation was really poor.

On top of this, not one of his Summer signings improved us despite a chunky outlay.
I strongly believe he got carried away with the success of last season. He overestimated where we were as a club. He believed the likes of Baldock, Stevens, Norwood, Fleck etc. could all go again & that could simply make supplementary youth signings to safeguard our future.
Unfortunately, the foundations weren't solid & our present situation wasn't half as strong as our 9th place finish suggeste.
The aforementioned players have all had terrible seasons & have mostly looked like Championship players. I blame those guys far more than any of our young signings.

You've also had the likes of McBurnie & Mousset continuing to clearly not put in the right effort off the field in order to improve on it.
McBurnie plays exceptionally well once every handful of games & we all know what Mousset is capable of from last season's purple patch. That neither of them can string together a run of consistently high performances tells you everything you need to know about their mentality. These two, brought in for significant fees & paid very decent wages, have really let Wilder down. We needed them to provide something at the top of the pitch. They've given nothing.

The fact is that all his premier league signings have been either poor or disasters. Maybe Ramsdale has been decent, however don't forget he had a terrible start and therefore contributed to our terrible season.

 

[Jan Age]

without a decent midfield your defence will look weak and your attack will look clueless.

 

[CPB]

Without the pandemic we wouldn't have been as poor. It's not just the support aspect of it, this team this squad also was close nit and fit and fresh up until then.
We may well still have gone down, but we probably would have picked up more points, not had as many injuries as the pandemic and lack of pre-season has shown for us but some other clubs too.
Don't like to see the criticism of Wilder, I'm still in the boat that I'd have rather him be still here trying to work out how to get us back up as I think he'd still be the man.

But my criticism would be that we didn't plan for more different gameplans. However the current squad doesn't have the players to play with wingers. So it's a wingback system instead. 3-5-2, 433, 4321, 4312. But invariably it was 3-5-2 or 433 if losing.
My other criticism which really it's not one is that his head dropped. I've rewatched interviews even from after the 1st Fulham game or bit after and he's that bit more bubbly. The season took it's toll on him as well as the players mentally.

 

[Edgar Allan Poo]

Without the pandemic we wouldn't have been as poor. It's not just the support aspect of it, this team this squad also was close nit and fit and fresh up until then.
We may well still have gone down, but we probably would have picked up more points, not had as many injuries as the pandemic and lack of pre-season has shown for us but some other clubs too.
Don't like to see the criticism of Wilder, I'm still in the boat that I'd have rather him be still here trying to work out how to get us back up as I think he'd still be the man.

But my criticism would be that we didn't plan for more different gameplans. However the current squad doesn't have the players to play with wingers. So it's a wingback system instead. 3-5-2, 433, 4321, 4312. But invariably it was 3-5-2 or 433 if losing.
My other criticism which really it's not one is that his head dropped. I've rewatched interviews even from after the 1st Fulham game or bit after and he's that bit more bubbly. The season took it's toll on him as well as the players mentally.

Have to admit whilst all the contributing factors to our demise this season are already well documented the one that sits least easy is the Covid card as it's one that every other club could play.

 

[CPB]

Have to admit whilst all the contributing factors to our demise this season are already well documented the one that sits least easy is the Covid card as it's one that every other club could play.

This is true, but one of the edges we had last season and before then was how fit and energetic we were and not getting the injuries too. This is what took the team up and getting right at top end of the division. I do believe we have some good players of course but even last season not many at all of our squad would be entertained by any of the top 6 clubs in the PL.
We never had big depth in the squad so missing key players is always tough.

The way we played relied on fitness and energy as much as the system and I think the pandemic hits that across the board for all teams.
So whilst it is true it's the same for all teams, it also negated one of our positives along with the injury run that has been poor and that the fans make for intimidating atmosphere at times at the lane.

 

[Edgar Allan Poo]

This is true, but one of the edges we had last season and before then was how fit and energetic we were and not getting the injuries too. This is what took the team up and getting right at top end of the division. I do believe we have some good players of course but even last season not many at all of our squad would be entertained by any of the top 6 clubs in the PL.
We never had big depth in the squad so missing key players is always tough.

The way we played relied on fitness and energy as much as the system and I think the pandemic hits that across the board for all teams.
So whilst it is true it's the same for all teams, it also negated one of our positives along with the injury run that has been poor and that the fans make for intimidating atmosphere at times at the lane.

I accept that injuries (compared to our first season) were a major contributing factor just can't agree on the Covid factor!

 

[Swinton Blade]

The ones who finished 9th last season ?

Last season was a one off, wilder failed to build on last season success by signing dross like Lowe, Burke and Brewster.

 

[ormester]

It's the fans fault.

Specifically these so called "fans"

View attachment 111985

Now all of you go and take a long hard look at yourselves. Bastards.

Denial then by you lol

 

[DaleHillBlade]

This is true, but one of the edges we had last season and before then was how fit and energetic we were and not getting the injuries too. This is what took the team up and getting right at top end of the division. I do believe we have some good players of course but even last season not many at all of our squad would be entertained by any of the top 6 clubs in the PL.
We never had big depth in the squad so missing key players is always tough.

The way we played relied on fitness and energy as much as the system and I think the pandemic hits that across the board for all teams.
So whilst it is true it's the same for all teams, it also negated one of our positives along with the injury run that has been poor and that the fans make for intimidating atmosphere at times at the lane.

In our first game back our players looked flat and lethargic, though we looked forward to have them being refreshed.