Deadly_D'Jaffo
Well-Known Member
People tend to overreact after a home defeat, jibes like "couldn't beat in my pub team", "worst players we've ever had" etc. but I can honestly say that in my time as a United fan this is without a doubt the worst state I have ever seen the club in. So as I sat there staring despondently at every punt aimed at Porter, every Gillingham attack born from our embarassing defending, I started to ponder what has contributed to this truly awful mess we are in?
We'll start from the bottom, the level where short term success is the goal, the squad. We've got a disgusting attitude of negativity which was no more apparent then the reaction to Gillinghams second goal. We never even dared troubling a Gillingham side that was the worst I've seen visit Bramall Lane this season. There is a lot of what I think are negative influences in the senior layer of the squad: McMahon, Doyle & King are not fit to compete in the Conference at this moment in time and we look to these players as the ones that will lead us out of this slump but they aren't displaying the character neccesary to do it. The squad is also bloated with a mixture of players that are not good enough nor shall ever be good enough at this level (namely Howard, Westlake, Williams, Flynn, Murphy, Porter {good game today}, Taylor, Ironside as well as the players above). This is a mess that needs cleaning asap. If we are going to build a squad again, it needs to be done around players that are proven at this level and can improve (namely Maguire, McGinn, Cuvelier, Baxter, Diego & Miller). Today I saw Callum McFadzean, after all that has gone off involving him recently, stood outside the Londis shop opposite the Hotel acting like a lairy, loitering chav. An outward sign of how bad the character and professionalism within the squad is. Clough has to bring this to an end asap.
The Management; well you can't really judge Clough as a Manager yet. We don't know what he is seeing in the players on a daily basis and what his plans are but I would like to know why he dropped McGinn after a MOM performance vs. Crewe? I'd also like to know why today we just lumped balls in the box as our Plan A, B & C? Why did we have two fullbacks in midfield? Clough has inherited a crap squad that showed tangible signs of revival under Morgan, so why has he tinkered with tactics to sabotage that? Clough needs 2 seasons at least to fix these problems even if we are relegated because a mentality/culture isn't implemented overnight.
The Board; We're still suffering from the array of terrible decisions made by them since we were relegated from the Premiership. McCabe always talks about how unlucky we have been over the years, but I believe you make your own luck and 5 Managers in 3 years whilst selling star players for peanuts is a huge contributary factor to our current state. The good news is I have genuine faith in what Phipps, Baki and Prince Abdullah are trying to achieve here. They've made all the right decisions they've been faced with so far such as showing faith and providing resources to David Weir, but also making the brave decision to sack him when it was obvious he wasn't up to the job. I just hope any long term ambitions of theirs aren't stretched any longer by relegation this year...
Depressing.
We'll start from the bottom, the level where short term success is the goal, the squad. We've got a disgusting attitude of negativity which was no more apparent then the reaction to Gillinghams second goal. We never even dared troubling a Gillingham side that was the worst I've seen visit Bramall Lane this season. There is a lot of what I think are negative influences in the senior layer of the squad: McMahon, Doyle & King are not fit to compete in the Conference at this moment in time and we look to these players as the ones that will lead us out of this slump but they aren't displaying the character neccesary to do it. The squad is also bloated with a mixture of players that are not good enough nor shall ever be good enough at this level (namely Howard, Westlake, Williams, Flynn, Murphy, Porter {good game today}, Taylor, Ironside as well as the players above). This is a mess that needs cleaning asap. If we are going to build a squad again, it needs to be done around players that are proven at this level and can improve (namely Maguire, McGinn, Cuvelier, Baxter, Diego & Miller). Today I saw Callum McFadzean, after all that has gone off involving him recently, stood outside the Londis shop opposite the Hotel acting like a lairy, loitering chav. An outward sign of how bad the character and professionalism within the squad is. Clough has to bring this to an end asap.
The Management; well you can't really judge Clough as a Manager yet. We don't know what he is seeing in the players on a daily basis and what his plans are but I would like to know why he dropped McGinn after a MOM performance vs. Crewe? I'd also like to know why today we just lumped balls in the box as our Plan A, B & C? Why did we have two fullbacks in midfield? Clough has inherited a crap squad that showed tangible signs of revival under Morgan, so why has he tinkered with tactics to sabotage that? Clough needs 2 seasons at least to fix these problems even if we are relegated because a mentality/culture isn't implemented overnight.
The Board; We're still suffering from the array of terrible decisions made by them since we were relegated from the Premiership. McCabe always talks about how unlucky we have been over the years, but I believe you make your own luck and 5 Managers in 3 years whilst selling star players for peanuts is a huge contributary factor to our current state. The good news is I have genuine faith in what Phipps, Baki and Prince Abdullah are trying to achieve here. They've made all the right decisions they've been faced with so far such as showing faith and providing resources to David Weir, but also making the brave decision to sack him when it was obvious he wasn't up to the job. I just hope any long term ambitions of theirs aren't stretched any longer by relegation this year...
Depressing.
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