Please help me

[silverfox]

It's not about entertaining football, it's about good football.

It's about not choosing a 90 yard punt to the opposition keeper when there are two free team-mates to pass to.

It's about being able to build attacks competently down the left, right or centre.

It's about the midfield being able to hold the ball instead of just laying it back to the left-back only for him to panic and boot it up the pitch.

It's about the full-backs being able to overlap the wingers at the right moments and provide extra strength in attack.

It's about the wingers knowing when to cover their defence.

It's about knowing who should be picking up particular opposition players when we're defending set pieces.

It's about the midfield being able to move into position for a pass to give each other options.

It's about being able to play the ball backwards while building an attack without it resulting in a thump up pitch from defence.

It's about the strikers being able to hold up the ball, knowing which midfielder will be making a run for them.

It's about a million and one other things and Blackwell doesn't have a clue about any of it because he's a goalkeeper, and a fucking dull one at that.

I've not seen that from any other team either.

Which team does all this stuff and entertains their fans too?

Perhaps I lived in an age where football was good?

 

[implied]

Which team does all this stuff and entertains their fans too?

Please, re-read.

 

[Micalijo]

I obviously accept that any manager would want a settled side but I do think there are really strong arguments to suggest KB has no clue how to react to circumstances that haven't gone his way.

My mother could have won games with the squad he inherited and last year was painful for ages before a fabulous effort which ran out of steam, because we were too far behind.

I still think he's had a fabulous set of circumstances money wise but I can see the other side point of view - it aint as easy as looking at wage bill and saying it is asy from there.

I really believe any other manager in CCC would have us in at least 6th and playing the type of football that we can call progressive, entertaining, exciting whatever we want but different to what we watch now.

 

[silverfox]

Please, re-read.

I have.

We are an average team in a crap league.

I think they are all crap.

If you think some of the teams we've played are good.... great.

Fine by me.

I prefer even better football but we can't go back in time.

 

[Pinchy]

I've not seen that from any other team either.

Which team does all this stuff and entertains their fans too?

Perhaps I lived in an age where football was good?

So did I. You are seriously kidding yourself. Almost every team we play outpasses and outclasses us.

We play the worst football I have seen in the Championship. It's aimless, one- dimensional and agricultural. Decent teams run rings round us. Sadly, so do the Watfords, Scunthorpes and Blackpools.

 

[implied]

I have.

We are an average team in a crap league.

I think they are all crap.

If you think some of the teams we've played are good.... great.

Fine by me.

I prefer even better football but we can't go back in time.

I'm not sure what you mean.

If you're suggesting that we play as well as every other team in the league, then I'd question whether your seat was screwed on the right way around.

I don't think many would disagree with me if I suggested teams like Swansea City and Doncaster Rovers play better football than us, and that to me is, quite frankly, embarrassing.

 

[implied]

What Pinchy said.

 

[raul]

Since we've come back down, a steady stream of clubs - Colchester, Scunny and Blackpool amongst them have turned up at the Lane and just once or twice during the game put something togther that has you thinking " I wish we could do that".

Pragmatists ( and I'd put myself in that bracket) may point to the fact that our team usually wins by dint of having better players, but you do wonder how much better we would be if our better players played better and not stronger.

 

[bricktop]

Since we've come back down, a steady stream of clubs - Colchester, Scunny and Blackpool amongst them have turned up at the Lane and just once or twice during the game put something togther that has you thinking " I wish we could do that".

Pragmatists ( and I'd put myself in that bracket) may point to the fact that our team usually wins by dint of having better players, but you do wonder how much better we would be if our better players played better and not stronger.

A lot of the reasons the aforementioned teams get a result is they come with a gameplan of keep it tight and get to half time with the score equal, and heads will drop and we will get something out of them.

Its home games against the likes of Colchester, Scunny and Blackpool that we should really be looking at, and thinking if we go out and at them then we have better players than them, and sooner or later we will batter the door down.

I struggle to recall the last team we really went out for, and gave a good pasting to

 

[JohnDenver]

We are in terms of position. In the play off places.

If people are talking entertainment.... we haven't seen it for years.

Football is crap these days.

Get used to it.

I'm with you on this. The sameness of this league is a real drag.

Every season there only seem to be a couple of teams who come to BDTBL and impress. Of course this might be due to our own grinding style, but have a think - who have you seen recently at BDTBL and thought "wow"?

Cardiff scored a great goal but weren't that superior. Newcastle are just like us but more expensive. Forest were dull as us ditch. West Brom were no better than decent.

Last season, Brum were dire, Wolves' strikers were the only difference when we played them, leaving Burnley as the most impressive visitors by a street.

Every game, just like the last...

 

[Highbury_Blade]

A lot of the reasons the aforementioned teams get a result is they come with a gameplan of keep it tight and get to half time with the score equal, and heads will drop and we will get something out of them.

Its home games against the likes of Colchester, Scunny and Blackpool that we should really be looking at, and thinking if we go out and at them then we have better players than them, and sooner or later we will batter the door down.

I struggle to recall the last team we really went out for, and gave a good pasting to

Charlton away last season?

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

Why do so many posters on here think that Blackwell has been given a poor hand - no money etc?

I raise this time and time again and nobody seems to respond. Fair enough, I aint crying about a lack of response but this is a final attempt to get some comments on it. I swear I won't mention it again.

OK, given that I've said it a few times, here's my view on it. To start with, I've only said he's had a shitty hand this season so I'm starting after the play-offs because although there was the BT sale etc last season, to me, that's when the 're-profiling' really kicked in.

It's a rough time-line, feel free to pull me up

June - 5 loan players return to their clubs, a few players such as Webber released leaving us a squad of around 16 players. Brings Williamson in, decent signing, the kind of player we need, gets injured pre-season, started half a dozen games since. Rumblings of the 3 K's leaving.

July - news of Paddy's failed drug test come out, player suspended, likely to miss the season. Kyle(s) both leave for £8M, Reid, Bromby Taylor, Evans, France signed for an estimated £2M (don't start on the Evans deal !!!). Kyle W returns for season loan (cough) together with Bunn and Treacy. Despite a huge profit, rumours abound that KB needs to offload the likes of Hendrie and Carney before any further funds will be made available.

August - Glen Little in on a free, Jordan Stewart brought in as part of the deal which releases Hendrie.

September - Carney, Bromby, Sharp and Howard leave, Harper comes in and further injuries mean the emergency loans of Davies and Cresswell. Fortune signs a short term contract.

October - Camara finally signs on as a free agent.

November - injury to Bennett means another emergency loan for Ikeme, gets injured in his 2nd game and returns to Wolves. More injuries and Kallio comes in on loan.

January - Killa finally leaves, Siep comes in on loan and gets injured. Yeates and Cresswell sign for an estimated £800K, Cotts ties up permanent deal for around £500K. Walker returns bang on the deadline, Kallio and Nosworthy brought in on loan.

Injuries - you can add these in to the time line to make it look worse but the following have all been injured this season, some for a few games, plenty for longer periods causing the need for more loans and more disruption;

Naysmith, Bennett, Cresswell, Ikeme, Camara, Evans, Monty, Treacy, Davies, Fortune, Hendo, Killa, Little, Siep, Taylor, Ward, Williamson and the latest, Morgs.

All in all, 33 players used so far this season which includes 19 players making their debuts. The squad has had a complete overhaul and whilst you can argue that he has had £3M plus to spend it's been patching up the squad rather than buying the quality needed to improve us as per McCabe's oft quoted comments. This isn't about tactics, this isn't about player selection, it's about our manager's plans being constantly changed by matters out of his control which is why I stand by the comment that he's been unlucky this season

 

[Micalijo]

Fair comments Jim.

We'll see what happens now with the second 'crisis' of the season upon us. Can he stop it turning into a 8 game or longer run of no wins? I would certainly hope so looking at the fixtures. This is when a good manager makes a difference.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

Fair comments Jim.

We'll see what happens now with the second 'crisis' of the season upon us. Can he stop it turning into a 8 game or longer run of no wins? I would certainly hope so looking at the fixtures. This is when a good manager makes a difference.

To be honest, I wish Blackpool had won last night and the season had ended there and then and we can start again for next season. Never thought I'd hear myself saying this but I really hope we don't make the play-offs as we know the likely outcome and it would mean no chance of any changes.

The best for SUFC is for us to limp through the rest of the season, winning a few, losing a few and then changing the manager in the Summer, giving him the chance to mould the team he wants, hopefully with the fresh outlook McCabe wanted when we came down.