Heckingbottom Out

[Bashamed]

Not sure why anyone expects the players to give a fuck now

 

[Gaini Blade]

I’d have got away with it, if it wasn’t for you meddling fans!

Yikes!!! It was Chris Wilder all along. Who would have thought it Scoob....Scoob what are you doing to Prince Abdullah's leg...?

 

[CarlMcBlade]

He just a puppet brought in to see 12 games out .If you want to blame and rant at a temporary puppet then feel free !

The sad thing is, if Hecky had managed to get the slightest of sparks out of this bunch of deadbeats...He may have actually got himself onto the big list.

 

[AWetFlannel]

Love that people have turned on Hecky now as well, proved it was never as simple as people made out.

This would be complete if he changed formation and threw a couple of kids in that aren't ready for League 2 yet and we still got battered, but I'd rather not put them through that.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Poor man's Wilder.

Could hardly get more embarrassing than that.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

I get why Heckingbottom was given the caretaker role, made sense, as a stop gap. What I'm struggling with is Tindall. What is his role? What has he added? How much are we paying him? To my mind was absolutely pointless bringing the guy in. We were down when he came in, what was the point? A total waste of money. Unless...he's a part of the future, which I sincerely hope is not the case.

I've just had a nightmare.. And I'm awake.. Well sort of.. That last sentence...

 

[broomhillblade]

This club,my club has massive history,do any of these players understand who they are playing for,get a book from the club shop and ready about the history of our club,then go out and die for this famous club of ours,just like players of the past,players that stuck by us through thick and thin and didn't play for us just for the pay packet

I'll try and break it to you gently.
It is not your club.

 

[SouthportBlade]

Rancid and thankless task for PH literally inherited a sinking ship, but that being said hasn't made any positive impact and just appears to be going through the motions.

Said in his presser just focusing on Wolves, rather than next season. This is absolutely unacceptable.

The only slight / vague positive of this dirty season is we were dead a buried in January, allowing the chance to focus on next year in plenty of time.

Just carrying on with the same inept team and tactics is a shambles. Granted we are hampered by a ludicrously shallow squad and plagued by injury, but surely we could

Give some of the kids some pitch time
Start Brewster, Lowe and Bogle
Feed Lundstram to the Tigers

The only positive i can glean, is that I'm sure things are going on behind the scenes (they have to be right!?), and any prospective manager will be seeing this dross and surely be supportive of a clearing of the deadwood

 

[PokerBlade]

I can't have a go at him and I can't defend him either. The injuries and the squad set up really don't allow him to change much aside from maybe blooding a youth or two, but by the same token he knows the u23's better than anyone and if he doesn't think they're ready then I'm willing to believe they're not ready.

The defence is picked from who's still standing, we don't have a recognised winger at the club to change formation, morale is through the floor, and he's obviously taken a position as a youth manager because he's not up to managing a first team, let alone a Premier League one.

I think there's a good argument to be made that we should hold off on appointing the new manager as long as possible (not picking one, get an agreement in place with someone decent asap) because the last thing the new guy will need is to start his tenure with a string of defeats and a relegation. I don't think there's enough scope to change this mess right now and all PH is doing is showing us that, yes, things can always get worse.

 

[Pedro Verde]

To be honest I think we had no plan B when wilder left which is unforgivable from Prince and Bettis. They should have had his succession planned at all times like many other clubs do but I think we still have league one mentality in terms of how club is run

Unless you know exactly when your manager is going to leave / be sacked planning a succession is almost impossible to do, unless that successor is already at the club
Your preferred choice of a replacement for your manager may not be available at the point your mananger leaves the club. He may have been available in December but no longer available in March due to a number of reasons and he may not be available in March but would be available in June
It not as though Wilder was sacked. United wanted him here next season. How do you plan the succession in that kind of scenario ?
Who are the clubs that have this planned succession ?

 

[Snowflake]

I don't care if we have to replace the caretaker with a caretaker, if we're just going to play with no invention and same shit we've put out for whole of season might as well have no manager at all and just let lads run around as if another training night.

Pointless, pointless and more pointless. Grow some balls Heckingbottom

What is it that means there has to be always someone to blame other than the person making the comment ?
He is a caretaker manager who has not indicated that he wants the job. He appears to be doing a good job with the U23s.
Apart from Ramsdale and Egan we can all criticise whoever he chooses for each position so he cannot ever win (just like the players !)
Those on the pitch are letting him down so I suggest we leave him to finish the season.

 

[Booker4]

It seems that despite the board letting Wilder go that they want to continue with his imprint in terms of the 3-5-2 formation. That's been reported in the media also. We know that the Academy also plays the same way and presumably that the board feel that the best way to have imediate success is to have a manager who's willing to work with the players and formation we and last season. So I would imagine that Hecky also has his hands tied because he's quite possibly under instruction to maintain the 3-5-2 formation. There is certainly no better time to adjust it given that both flying centre halfs are injured.

In defence of the 3-5-2 formation: we have had arguably the best football we've seen at the Lane since the Currie days and we were praised for how inventive we were last season. This season it's all gone to crap becaue of injuries, poor form of the cente mids and a lack of recruitment in the midfield this summer. We're still awaiting answers on why we didn't sign any centre mids this season given that Wilder wanted Swift, where was the player B, C or D option or was it a case that the Prince wanted Wilder to sign his options for midfield and Wilder objected. Either way this will hopefully be sorted this summer.

 

[BushBlade]

It seems that despite the board letting Wilder go that they want to continue with his imprint in terms of the 3-5-2 formation. That's been reported in the media also. We know that the Academy also plays the same way and presumably that the board feel that the best way to have imediate success is to have a manager who's willing to work with the players and formation we and last season. So I would imagine that Hecky also has his hands tied because he's quite possibly under instruction to maintain the 3-5-2 formation. There is certainly no better time to adjust it given that both flying centre halfs are injured.

In defence of the 3-5-2 formation: we have had arguably the best football we've seen at the Lane since the Currie days and we were praised for how inventive we were last season. This season it's all gone to crap becaue of injuries, poor form of the cente mids and a lack of recruitment in the midfield this summer. We're still awaiting answers on why we didn't sign any centre mids this season given that Wilder wanted Swift, where was the player B, C or D option or was it a case that the Prince wanted Wilder to sign his options for midfield and Wilder objected. Either way this will hopefully be sorted this summer.

If that’s the case, I have to point out that there isn’t anyone on the board who understands how to run a club. It’s one thing saying ‘we want a manager who plays attractive football’ but you don’t start dictating formations. What happens if they could get the next Klopp but he likes 433? Are they going to tell him “either start playing 352 or you don’t get the job”? It’s fucking nonsense.

 

[A Storm of Blades]

I’ve said the same a few times, and still think it. I can barely raise the enthusiasm to post about this season......BUT;

It’s surprising that we haven’t taken the opportunity to try anything new. No formational change, no youngsters. We are already fucking shite, already relegated in all but maths, already losing every week.

It’s quite surprising that there’s not a single thing that they want to try. Even the 21 year old old the bench didn’t get chance to replace the woeful, wantaway Lundstram.

100% agree, and paradoxically, the worse we’ve become, the more some have used that as a reason NOT to change anything. Like playing the same losing team in a losing formation is marginally better than practically anything else, because we’d definitely lose by more. Definitely.

 

[Pedro Verde]

100% agree, and paradoxically, the worse we’ve become, the more some have used that as a reason NOT to change anything. Like playing the same losing team in a losing formation is marginally better than practically anything else, because we’d definitely lose by more. Definitely.

Ampadu in a four at the back is going to be no worse than in a three at the back, likewise Stevens
Lundstram is just going to bad anyway no matter what formation we play

 

[A Storm of Blades]

If that’s the case, I have to point out that there isn’t anyone on the board who understands how to run a club. It’s one thing saying ‘we want a manager who plays attractive football’ but you don’t start dictating formations. What happens if they could get the next Klopp but he likes 433? Are they going to tell him “either start playing 352 or you don’t get the job”? It’s fucking nonsense.

Absolute madness. I’ve said it before but it’s all well and good saying our squad it’s built for 3-5-2, but it’s not like Bogle will fucking short circuit if someone tried him at RCM. This weeping shit dribble should be a blank canvas, you literally cannot do any worse. Stick McBurnie and Evan at centre half, play the rapid one-man game of Twister and Brewster on the wings, make Didsy and Bogle our central midfield pairing. Something. ANYTHING!

 

[stringer]

You have to wonder if he is the right man to manage the U23's

Aye he’s having a stinker there leading them to the top of their table

 

[Booker4]

If that’s the case, I have to point out that there isn’t anyone on the board who understands how to run a club. It’s one thing saying ‘we want a manager who plays attractive football’ but you don’t start dictating formations. What happens if they could get the next Klopp but he likes 433? Are they going to tell him “either start playing 352 or you don’t get the job”? It’s fucking nonsense.

I agree. I recall that the Star and/or Yorkshire Live said that they are open to a new manager who plays with a different formatio but their preference is for a manager to retain the 3-5-2 system as that is what the squad is used to and the roster of the squad is suited to the formation also - i.e we only have one winger and he was brought in as a striker. Of course there other formations that don't use wingers. We could go with a 4-2-3-1 formation and the three behind the top striker could contain McGoldrick in the middle, Fleck on the left and Burke on the right and have Brewster or McBurnie up top as an example. I can't see why we can't try that from the off, not just as an alternative when we're losing.

Wilder actually played with the 4-2-3-1 formation at Northampton I think. It definitly wasn't 3-5-2 and when Wilder first came in we didn't play 3-5-2 of course.

I think woehver the new manager is will be given much greater freedom than what Hecky is essentially. I feel for Hecky, because he's inherited a mess but you can also say there's little pressure. What I really disagree with Hecky on is the lack of picking Brewster. We desperately need to get Brewster playing well for next season; what better time to give him some games under his belt when we're down anyway and can play with little pressure, less pressure than earlier in the season anyway when there was more of a chance of staying up by the numbers of games we had left.

 

[Hague Blade]

Hard one this - I want to sympathise as he’s obviously done a reasonable job with the youth and he pretty clearly doesn’t want the gig, because as PokerBlade rightly says, he’s not up to being a first team manager, let alone a Premier League one. But at the same time, he could do a few simple things that would at least earn him a bit of goodwill - play Brewster, don’t pick Lundstram and don’t come out in the post match interview and pretend shit was sugar. So why doesn’t he do those simple things? That’s the part I hold again him, as it just feels like a retread of Wilder’s stubbornness.

And as if Hecky wasn’t bad enough, who knows what the point of Tindall is - roll on the end of the season, and this utter shit show.

 

[BushBlade]

I agree. I recall that the Star and/or Yorkshire Live said that they are open to a new manager who plays with a different formatio but their preference is for a manager to retain the 3-5-2 system as that is what the squad is used to and the roster of the squad is suited to the formation also - i.e we only have one winger and he was brought in as a striker. Of course there other formations that don't use wingers. We could go with a 4-2-3-1 formation and the three behind the top striker could contain McGoldrick in the middle, Fleck on the left and Burke on the right and have Brewster or McBurnie up top as an example. I can't see why we can't try that from the off, not just as an alternative when we're losing.

Wilder actually played with the 4-2-3-1 formation at Northampton I think. It definitly wasn't 3-5-2 and when Wilder first came in we didn't play 3-5-2 of course.

I think woehver the new manager is will be given much greater freedom than what Hecky is essentially. I feel for Hecky, because he's inherited a mess but you can also say there's little pressure. What I really disagree with Hecky on is the lack of picking Brewster. We desperately need to get Brewster playing well for next season; what better time to give him some games under his belt when we're down anyway and can play with little pressure, less pressure than earlier in the season anyway when there was more of a chance of staying up by the numbers of games we had left.

I agree about Brewster but that’s not my biggest beef. It’s what the fuck were we trying to do last night? For a start, you’ve got Didsy, who’s actually fairly good with his back to the goal and playing as a target man, and Burke, who has nothing but pace. Surely that screams “pacy, direct counter attack” but no, we try to play it out from the back, through a midfield that is devoid of confidence, against a side with midfielders who’d cost you £50m+. The commentator summed it up when he said that it looked like we were trying to outplay Arsenal.

And to cap that, they had Shakiri at left back. Did it not occur to anyone to put Bogle on and say “run at him, take him on, he’ll foul you”?

I try to be optimistic most of the time and I can be quite forgiving but last night was genuinely appalling, we appeared to have no game plan, no tactics other than play it out from the back and see what happens. I expected to lose but that performance was probably the most inept I’ve seen since Burnley in the POF. Arteta is a crap manager who’ll be sacked in the next few months but we made him look like the bastard son of Pep and Bielsa.

 

[alcoblade]

100% agree, and paradoxically, the worse we’ve become, the more some have used that as a reason NOT to change anything. Like playing the same losing team in a losing formation is marginally better than practically anything else, because we’d definitely lose by more. Definitely.

The thing is, we go one down and are prepared to change shape on that signal. Yet the signal that we’re one of the worst teams in premier league history isn’t enough to justify it, between games.

Baffling.

 

[Ginger Gnome]

If he just tried to use the same tactics as the U23s it'd be something, it's still a form of 3-5-2, but more positive, he'd need to use some U23 players rather than the current shit midfield, but they couldn't be any worse than the current shit midfield.

Just doing exactly what Wilder would have done instead of even trying his own tactics is madness. All Tindall appears to have added is the pissing about in our own penalty area which got Bournemouth relegated

 

[Gannon's perm]

I agree about Brewster but that’s not my biggest beef. It’s what the fuck were we trying to do last night? For a start, you’ve got Didsy, who’s actually fairly good with his back to the goal and playing as a target man, and Burke, who has nothing but pace. Surely that screams “pacy, direct counter attack” but no, we try to play it out from the back, through a midfield that is devoid of confidence, against a side with midfielders who’d cost you £50m+. The commentator summed it up when he said that it looked like we were trying to outplay Arsenal.

And to cap that, they had Shakiri at left back. Did it not occur to anyone to put Bogle on and say “run at him, take him on, he’ll foul you”?

I try to be optimistic most of the time and I can be quite forgiving but last night was genuinely appalling, we appeared to have no game plan, no tactics other than play it out from the back and see what happens. I expected to lose but that performance was probably the most inept I’ve seen since Burnley in the POF. Arteta is a crap manager who’ll be sacked in the next few months but we made him look like the bastard son of Pep and Bielsa.

99.9% spot on. Believe it was Xhaka at left back though, rather than Shakiri. Unless watching United really has fried my brain

 

[BushBlade]

99.9% spot on. Believe it was Xhaka at left back though, rather than Shakiri. Unless watching United really has fried my brain

Yeah, that’s what I meant. Xhaka. Fucking Shakiri.

 

[Gannon's perm]

Both Swiss Kosovan I believe, so not that far off.

 

[Sean Thornton]

I agree about Brewster but that’s not my biggest beef. It’s what the fuck were we trying to do last night? For a start, you’ve got Didsy, who’s actually fairly good with his back to the goal and playing as a target man, and Burke, who has nothing but pace. Surely that screams “pacy, direct counter attack” but no, we try to play it out from the back, through a midfield that is devoid of confidence, against a side with midfielders who’d cost you £50m+. The commentator summed it up when he said that it looked like we were trying to outplay Arsenal.

And to cap that, they had Shakiri at left back. Did it not occur to anyone to put Bogle on and say “run at him, take him on, he’ll foul you”?

I try to be optimistic most of the time and I can be quite forgiving but last night was genuinely appalling, we appeared to have no game plan, no tactics other than play it out from the back and see what happens. I expected to lose but that performance was probably the most inept I’ve seen since Burnley in the POF. Arteta is a crap manager who’ll be sacked in the next few months but we made him look like the bastard son of Pep and Bielsa.

“through a midfield that is devoid of confidence”

That’s one way of describing them BB.

 

[PokerBlade]

Hard one this - I want to sympathise as he’s obviously done a reasonable job with the youth and he pretty clearly doesn’t want the gig, because as PokerBlade rightly says, he’s not up to being a first team manager, let alone a Premier League one. But at the same time, he could do a few simple things that would at least earn him a bit of goodwill - play Brewster, don’t pick Lundstram and don’t come out in the post match interview and pretend shit was sugar. So why doesn’t he do those simple things? That’s the part I hold again him, as it just feels like a retread of Wilder’s stubbornness.

And as if Hecky wasn’t bad enough, who knows what the point of Tindall is - roll on the end of the season, and this utter shit show.

I don't know about Brewster earning him any good will. It's not like Brewster's been popular with the fans and maybe he's one of the players who needs a bit of protection right now. I can't see Brewster scoring while we make so few chances, maybe it's best to use him sparingly and have him lined up for next season?

I'm all for dropping Lundstram but that feels like another case of where injuries prevent it. The obvious swaps are moving Ampadu into midfield or playing Osborne there but we've barely got enough to field a defence right now. I know people will say play a youngster but personally I don't like putting them out there to get bullied and humiliated.

 

[Nosworthys Throw]

What is the point slagging a Man that's only here for 12 odd matches , who has just been brought in to see the season out , its not his fault ffs , yes he needs to change the start up but TBH , he hasn't got an awful lot to choose from , we have to grip our teeth and wait for next season .

Ive got a good grip on the bastards. Twist or pull?

 

[Hockey'sBeard]

Unless you know exactly when your manager is going to leave / be sacked planning a succession is almost impossible to do, unless that successor is already at the club
Your preferred choice of a replacement for your manager may not be available at the point your mananger leaves the club. He may have been available in December but no longer available in March due to a number of reasons and he may not be available in March but would be available in June
It not as though Wilder was sacked. United wanted him here next season. How do you plan the succession in that kind of scenario ?
Who are the clubs that have this planned succession

Unless you know exactly when your manager is going to leave / be sacked planning a succession is almost impossible to do, unless that successor is already at the club
Your preferred choice of a replacement for your manager may not be available at the point your mananger leaves the club. He may have been available in December but no longer available in March due to a number of reasons and he may not be available in March but would be available in June
It not as though Wilder was sacked. United wanted him here next season. How do you plan the succession in that kind of scenario ?
Who are the clubs that have this planned succession ?

Fair point and know not easy but we were happy (including me) to have all our eggs in one basket with Chris running the show - you just hope that club already had a list of potential successors in the same way Chris would have in terms of players he wanted to bring in. Most businesses have a succession plan for their senior leaders. If Chris did indeed offer to resign twice before it happened you’d also hope the club had started thinking about a successor previously- it can’t have been clear he was unhappy, regardless of the club saying we want you to stay, there was a risk he’d walk. I still suspect they thought as a Blade he’d never walk - I guess though to be fair we will never know because club won’t go public and we ll only know when appointment is made of any possible circumstances preventing it being made earlier. I think though Hecky is not the answer and hopefully club can see that now.

 

[JayGreen17]

Bumping this, message to the prince, hire him if you want to see your money drain away....he’s never done anything at any club and he’s proving inept with us...