Manager? Questions need to be asked

[Gin&Juice]

Get Blackie back and hit it long to McBurnie.

It's the only way now.

Agreed. Players with names like Iliman, Sander and Jayden need to replaced with lads named Ian, Dave and Jason.

 

[Davalon]

Agreed. Players with names like Iliman, Sander and Jayden need to replaced with lads named Ian, Dave and Jason.

And be working class....and be from Youerksha

 

[ancientblade]

Hi Stegosaurus here

We'll never get promoted under Slav. I said we should have got either Big Sam or Little Sam to take the reigns. Or both together.

good point at cambridge

 

[Stu_Blade]

Its weird that he keeps selecting the failures and is ignoring Brewster, McBurnie and Mousse. Didz and Sharp shouldn't be kept on longer than the end of the season. We need about 10 new players in to this squad and to bin off about 15. As a comparison we managed to get 3/4 new players in the last window and only managed to get one out, we now have a bloated squad with big money players not even in the matchday squad.
SJ reign feels a bit like positive Nigels and hopefully he can do a similar sort of job this season of getting rid of some of the deadwood and then we can sack him and appoint someone who can build us back up again with promising permanent transfers, like Wilder did.
It needs at least 3 windows or a much bigger throughput of players. Not sure I trust SJ to do that level of squad building.

Agreed several transfer windows needed and a big change in playing staff. Who are the 10 you bin? Out of the squad size we have that will leave us with a couple of U23s. I can see the ageing players leaving at the end of the season and the loanees moving on to pastures new. But the big earners are still tied into contracts that will be difficult to shift on and definitely can't be thinking for a profit.

 

[SU93]

So we sack Slav and then what? Hire who? Wilder? The man who tried to leave three times before the agreement was made to part ways.

This season was never going to be easy. We got destroyed last season and people blamed it on Covid because that was the easy thing to do. Some of these players aren't good enough. It's as simple as that. We've hired Slav who primary plays with pace and wingers. We haven't got that. So why are people shocked we aren't doing well?

 

[true99blade]

Could always ask the question why were the changes made in the first place? Ndiaye belongs on the pitch, and Hourihane has, as predicted, been very passive when he’s played. When does this ‘slow start’ end I wonder…

 

[DeanLearner'sCat]

I'm not really buying this stuff about the squad not being good enough. We've got the same number of points as Blackpool (and they have a game in hand). Is our squad only equal to Blackpool's? Look at the teams above us. Our squad is worse than Coventry's? Millwall's? Luton's? Their managers wouldn't swap our squad for theirs? Did Slav really inherit a situation so much worse than the one Ismael found at WBA? Or Cooper just walked into at Forest (with Max Lowe, a footballer supposedly not good enough for us, seemingly playing quite well)? I don't think anybody wants him sacked or anything, but I think you can argue he/the players are underachieving at the moment.

The majority of our players wouldnt be anywhere near Slav’s starting 11 at Fulham.

Is this actually true, though? They had Tim Ream and Dennis Odoi has starting CBs. Egan/Davies is considerably worse? Is Ryan Fredericks so much better than Baldock? Olsen has been unimpressive so far, but would we prefer Marcus Bettinelli? We don't have anybody of Mitrovic's calibre clearly, but Sander Berge couldn't get near a first 11 with Kevin McDonald and Stefan Johansen often starting? Is Sheyi Ojo so much better than Morgan Gibbs-White?

 

[Lane Ender]

The squad is mainly still Wilders. It is not technically good enough to play the way the manager wants and not athletic enough. The legacy of Wilder's poor signings will restrict us for the next two windows. Messrs Brewster,McBurnie,Burke,Berge.Mousett,Robinson,Freeman and Lowe have been expensive mistakes and it will probably need two windows to resolve. On top of that, Fleck,Egan, Sharp,McGoldrick,Basham, Stevens and Norwood need to be moved on within the same period. I hope i am wrong but i can't see JOC coming back as the player he was, if at all.
The manager has been left with a shit show from last season. It needs time and patience to complete the overhaul that is required.

Agree with that but we could get relegated if we don’t get some energy instilled
So let’s slowly introduce Slater, Gordon and Brunt as first team starters Ndaiya hasn’t done bad up to now

 

[Carlton Blade]

Id be directing questions at the board for not sanctioning signings we so desparately need.

The majority of our players wouldnt be anywhere near Slav’s starting 11 at Fulham. Which tells a story itself.

Here's how it would go

"Why didn't you sign better players?"

"We can't afford it"

"But what about the parachute money?"

"Wage bill is at least £42m which is the parachute money gone. We took out a loan to buy Brewster and we used the Ramsdale money to pay it back. We hoped to sell Berge but he's a toxic asset as it stands. We have no spare capital as it's all tied up in mortgage, loan and transfer fee payments. We don't have any other saleable assets and there's nothing left to borrow against. Also I own other clubs that also need propping up. Basically, I'm way out of my depth financially and I've done a piss poor job of maximising the resources I do have"

"Ah, can we at least sign players a bit earlier next time?"

"Probably not because planning isn't something we do. Our recruitment is painfully predictable and if MGW hadn't randomly shook loose late on we'd be looking even worse. If we do sign anyone in January or next summer it will be on deadline day again"

 

[Carlton Blade]

I'm not really buying this stuff about the squad not being good enough. We've got the same number of points as Blackpool (and they have a game in hand). Is our squad only equal to Blackpool's? Look at the teams above us. Our squad is worse than Coventry's? Millwall's? Luton's? Their managers wouldn't swap our squad for theirs? Did Slav really inherit a situation so much worse than the one Ismael found at WBA? Or Cooper just walked into at Forest (with Max Lowe, a footballer supposedly not good enough for us, seemingly playing quite well)? I don't think anybody wants him sacked or anything, but I think you can argue he/the players are underachieving at the moment.



Is this actually true, though? They had Tim Ream and Dennis Odoi has starting CBs. Egan/Davies is considerably worse? Is Ryan Fredericks so much better than Baldock? Olsen has been unimpressive so far, but would we prefer Marcus Bettinelli? We don't have anybody of Mitrovic's calibre clearly, but Sander Berge couldn't get near a first 11 with Kevin McDonald and Stefan Johansen often starting? Is Sheyi Ojo so much better than Morgan Gibbs-White?

I'd prefer Gino Ginelli to Olsen

 

[BettingBlade]

I'm not really buying this stuff about the squad not being good enough. We've got the same number of points as Blackpool (and they have a game in hand). Is our squad only equal to Blackpool's? Look at the teams above us. Our squad is worse than Coventry's? Millwall's? Luton's? Their managers wouldn't swap our squad for theirs? Did Slav really inherit a situation so much worse than the one Ismael found at WBA? Or Cooper just walked into at Forest (with Max Lowe, a footballer supposedly not good enough for us, seemingly playing quite well)? I don't think anybody wants him sacked or anything, but I think you can argue he/the players are underachieving at the moment.



Is this actually true, though? They had Tim Ream and Dennis Odoi has starting CBs. Egan/Davies is considerably worse? Is Ryan Fredericks so much better than Baldock? Olsen has been unimpressive so far, but would we prefer Marcus Bettinelli? We don't have anybody of Mitrovic's calibre clearly, but Sander Berge couldn't get near a first 11 with Kevin McDonald and Stefan Johansen often starting? Is Sheyi Ojo so much better than Morgan Gibbs-White?

Thats why I said the majority of players. Youve also conveniently missed out Tom Cairney, Ryan Sessignion and Neeskens Kebano who would still walk straight into our team.

 

[FriethBlade]

Shit pool of players he inherited, and yeh, shit thread

Agree re the pool of players....but questions can be asked about his signings as 3 of the 4 players hes brought in have, so far, added nothing to the team.

Accepting this could change but Olsen has looked anything but an international keeper and Hourihane and Guedioura cant get on the pitch and when they do look no better than what we already have.

MGW was an inspired signing but we need Slav to up his game in the January window and bring in players who are better than the existing ones or not bother wasting the money.

 

[Carlton Blade]

Agree re the pool of players....but questions can be asked about his signings as 3 of the 4 players hes brought in have, so far, added nothing to the team.

Accepting this could change but Olsen has looked anything but an international keeper and Hourihane and Guedioura cant get on the pitch and when they do look no better than what we already have.

MGW was an inspired signing but we need Slav to up his game in the January window and bring in players who are better than the existing ones or not bother wasting the money.

Slav had zero to do with those loan signings. There's no way he'd watched Olsen, Hourihane or Gibbs White play last season

 

[BettingBlade]

Agree re the pool of players....but questions can be asked about his signings as 3 of the 4 players hes brought in have, so far, added nothing to the team.

Accepting this could change but Olsen has looked anything but an international keeper and Hourihane and Guedioura cant get on the pitch and when they do look no better than what we already have.

MGW was an inspired signing but we need Slav to up his game in the January window and bring in players who are better than the existing ones or not bother wasting the money.

Be handy if he could have some money to spend first.

 

[Millhousesblade1889]

So we sack Slav and then what? Hire who? Wilder? The man who tried to leave three times before the agreement was made to part ways.

This season was never going to be easy. We got destroyed last season and people blamed it on Covid because that was the easy thing to do. Some of these players aren't good enough. It's as simple as that. We've hired Slav who primary plays with pace and wingers. We haven't got that. So why are people shocked we aren't doing well?

This is a completely worthy argument, I don’t feel Slav is doing well but there’s probably no one available that would do any better.

Maybe Wilder would as it’s his players as we all keep saying but that’s one hell of a risk and the Prince would need much deeper pockets than he has and that relationship would need be plastered back together. Basically there’s no chance

 

[SU93]

This is a completely worthy argument, I don’t feel Slav is doing well but there’s probably no one available that would do any better.

Maybe Wilder would as it’s his players as we all keep saying but that’s one hell of a risk and the Prince would need much deeper pockets than he has and that relationship would need be plastered back together. Basically there’s no chance

Exactly my point. From what I've been seeing. The People wanting Slav out, only want him out to get Wilder back. Wilder wanted to push the club forward which lets be Frank we would all love that. The reality is we don't have the financial backing to push as much as Wilder wanted.

I'm not happy with what's going on at the minute like everybody else. I just think it's not as simple just sacking someone we haven't backed and thinking Wilder would come back in a heartbeat and everything will be good again.

 

[Zipwire]

Or maybe the managerial mastermind could realise he has got a squad that is perfectly suited to 3-5-2 and use that formation instead of shoehorning players in to positions they aren’t suited to, and I’m a formation they aren’t suited to.

Heckingbottom got 3 wins in 10 in the Premier League with pretty much this same squad of players, Jokanovic has got 4 in 13 in the Championship

 

[Badger Blade]

There are various factors that have led us down this path to where we are now.

Wilder's awful, expensive signings and existing players rewarded with long extended contracts off the back of one good season who are now laughing all the way to the bank while sacking it off on the field. We can't afford to pay them off and release them, nobody's banging our door down to sign them and because of that, we can't afford to get any replacements. John Fleck's race is run based on last night and the same can be said for most of the others - they probably need a change as much as Sheffield United need to change them. There's barely anybody who will leave this club and be picked up by a Premier League team, they'll all be heading to an equal or lower level.

These lads will have been mentally ground down from last season's horror show and you can see it, from the results and Chris Wilder telling them every week they weren't good enough. I'd have taken 1-1 last night with us being down to 10 men, keeps the points tally ticking over but as we've seen on more than a few occasions, we manage to shoot ourselves in the foot. Even now, they panic when we score a goal or look like we're going to get a half decent result. We've thrown points away against Huddersfield, Preston and Millwall (hardly world beating teams) in stoppage time because this lot don't have the wherewithal to concentrate until the final whistle and like being in an abusive relationship, they simply become used to feeling downtrodden and in footballing terms, used to losing or simply "being in the game" but just coming out on the wrong side. We've got just enough quality in this squad to come out the right side of enough results to not be looking too far over our shoulders.

The owners don't seem to have a clue about football - they seem to think that a relegated team has a divine right to go straight back up again without any investment in the squad. The reality check is that the Championship is full of teams like Millwall, lacking in any great quality but work hard, drag you to their level but have just enough about them to be able to step it on 10% and beat us while we're still meandering along in cloud cuckoo land wondering what's happened.

Slav's stuck with what he's got. The owners aren't awash with money. Neither was the last one. Based on how far off the pace this team was last season, a mid table Championship finish might well be as good as we get based on having a squad of aging Championship level footballers on their last pay day.

 

[Revolution]

Or maybe the managerial mastermind could realise he has got a squad that is perfectly suited to 3-5-2 and use that formation instead of shoehorning players in to positions they aren’t suited to, and I’m a formation they aren’t suited to.

Heckingbottom got 3 wins in 10 in the Premier League with pretty much this same squad of players, Jokanovic has got 4 in 13 in the Championship

I know what you mean, but they lost 32 of 41 games playing that formation.

 

[Big Hitter]

Be handy if he could have some money to spend first.

Must cut our losses and get the failures sold or out on loan and reduce wages bill. which must be staggering now.

 

[Willglynning]

Or maybe the managerial mastermind could realise he has got a squad that is perfectly suited to 3-5-2 and use that formation instead of shoehorning players in to positions they aren’t suited to, and I’m a formation they aren’t suited to.

Heckingbottom got 3 wins in 10 in the Premier League with pretty much this same squad of players, Jokanovic has got 4 in 13 in the Championship

3 tight 1-0 wins against Brighton, Everton and Burnley; if memory serves we were under a lot of pressure throughout those games, though I suppose we did manage to hang on. It's worth caveating that not a single one of those teams had anything at all to play for at the time we played them, so it's a pretty redundant point.

Even more redundant when factoring in how completely abject the squad 'perfectly suited to 3-5-2' played in that formation over the rest of the season- and the players 'perfectly suited to 3-5-2' have continued to be the main underperformers of this season so far. I don't think returning to a formation that hasn't consistently worked in around a season and a half is the answer at all. I don't know what the answer is, but reverting back to the style and formation that got us in this rut to begin with is not the solution.

 

[Snowflake]

one question that can be asked is could any manager have done better with a thoroughly deflated confidence void squad
hes now aware of what they are capable of and I expect January to be a very busy month of ins and outs

We are in rebuild mode switching from Wilder ball and the fluid system to more conventionl tactics amd a few just dont fit

I don’t think January will see much movement in. The summer is more likely

 

[Millhousesblade1889]

Or maybe the managerial mastermind could realise he has got a squad that is perfectly suited to 3-5-2 and use that formation instead of shoehorning players in to positions they aren’t suited to, and I’m a formation they aren’t suited to.

Heckingbottom got 3 wins in 10 in the Premier League with pretty much this same squad of players, Jokanovic has got 4 in 13 in the Championship

Would you change back to 3? I’m not so sure now myself. Bash looked rusty last night & I’m not sure Davies offers that overlapping option we built the system on. Also who would be our 3, NDiaye in the Duffy role could work but where does MGW fit in?

Or would it be MGW in the hole & Ndiaye/ Sharp up top. When MGW went off last night we lost all width and lost the ability to switch play. Baldock can’t cross & Stevens isn’t much better although they both have good engines.

I’m not sure how we get out of this rut but 3 losses from 4 is worrying

 

[ATL Recs]

Shit response

I'm not really buying this stuff about the squad not being good enough. We've got the same number of points as Blackpool (and they have a game in hand). Is our squad only equal to Blackpool's? Look at the teams above us. Our squad is worse than Coventry's? Millwall's? Luton's? Their managers wouldn't swap our squad for theirs? Did Slav really inherit a situation so much worse than the one Ismael found at WBA? Or Cooper just walked into at Forest (with Max Lowe, a footballer supposedly not good enough for us, seemingly playing quite well)? I don't think anybody wants him sacked or anything, but I think you can argue he/the players are underachieving at the moment.



Is this actually true, though? They had Tim Ream and Dennis Odoi has starting CBs. Egan/Davies is considerably worse? Is Ryan Fredericks so much better than Baldock? Olsen has been unimpressive so far, but would we prefer Marcus Bettinelli? We don't have anybody of Mitrovic's calibre clearly, but Sander Berge couldn't get near a first 11 with Kevin McDonald and Stefan Johansen often starting? Is Sheyi Ojo so much better than Morgan Gibbs-White?

And if Derby got their twelve point deduction reversed they would be above us an all

 

[blade too long]

And if Derby got their twelve point deduction reversed they would be above us an all

more likely to receive more deducted points

 

[Jimmy Fleck]

We either get rid of Slav now and try and find a manager that is more suited to the players we have (I’d be unhappy with this) or we keep Slav and give him a couple more transfer windows to shape a squad that HE wants, we would be more likely to challenge for top 6 then.

 

[Badger Blade]

Would you change back to 3? I’m not so sure now myself. Bash looked rusty last night & I’m not sure Davies offers that overlapping option we built the system on. Also who would be our 3, NDiaye in the Duffy role could work but where does MGW fit in?

Or would it be MGW in the hole & Ndiaye/ Sharp up top. When MGW went off last night we lost all width and lost the ability to switch play. Baldock can’t cross & Stevens isn’t much better although they both have good engines.

I’m not sure how we get out of this rut but 3 losses from 4 is worrying

The bottom line is that the midfield issues still haven't been fixed, certainly not from a defensive point of view at least and we can't keep a clean sheet for love nor money, probably because the defence and the goalkeeper are left completely exposed by the likes of Fleck and Norwood who at some point are going to have to be put out to pasture, god knows when. The old back 3, overlapping system papered over the cracks in midfield where the wing backs and centre backs were doing things that in a typical midfield, the midfielders would be doing.

Its been the usual thing where we've created decent chances and not converted them. McGoldrick butchered two good chances that any other half decent striker would have buried then we switched off at the end, not for the first time.

Its a sign generally of this squad that they just can't maintain their performances over any sort of sustained period and haven't been able to since we beat Wolves during lockdown then went off the rails ever since. It was a good result against Stoke that showed some character and made us look like we could be contenders but you wouldn't have known they'd have done that on last nights performance which was OK but nothing more. A lot of them gave up the ghost long ago and are now just going through the motions at a level they're more comfortable playing at where they can still pick up the odd result against teams like Peterborough and Hull but once it gets difficult again, they revert to last season's type of giving up even against teams like Millwall who we'd be disappointed at not taking any points from.

We've got a storm to ride out until we can start waving goodbye to the various underperforming members of the squad unfortunately so we just need to keep our heads above water for the next couple of seasons until contracts start expiring. We can forget about promotion, we look like becoming what we used to be, floating around the Championship for the foreseeable until things inevitably go sour again....

 

[BobblesBlade]

Shit thread

I think I met this person at Wembley once. Well didn’t speak to him but he was with his group of ultra Blades mates basically telling Blades fans that they were wankers for coming to Wembley with the shitty “ bet weren’t at the Lane on Tuesday night”.
I’m so glad I just support Sheff Utd for the football and not for the let’s get pissed and cause a scene bullshit that ruins the atmosphere

 

[Darthblade]

Did you miss Fleck diving to block Cooper’s shot then?

He didn't do a very good job of the dive I'm afraid, too slow to close down ...... half asleep most of the game and caught in possession numerous times.
UTB & FTP

 

[stringer]

He didn't do a very good job of the dive I'm afraid, too slow to close down ...... half asleep most of the game and caught in possession numerous times.
UTB & FTP

It obviously wasn't as effective as any of us would have liked but to say it didn't happen just isn't true, is it?