Sack the lot.

[lenners]

Well, the 'knocker truce' and the feel good factor lasted well didn't it?

Feck me, I wouldn't want to work for any of you miserable twats. First game (awful game) and you're already predicting relegation. What did you all expect? Pretty triangles???? Take a longer perspective and have patience, or we will become a self fulfilling prophesy...

(Duncs prediction: First "Speed out" thread by middle of October... *shakes head*)

Self-fulfilling prophesy? If we get relegated it will because the fans thought we would?
Jeez, it's some planet you live on.
McCabe will get another take on the 'longer perspective' next week when we'll struggle to get above 20,000 and will likely be well below - unless it's a cheapy or we're giving thousands away again (which I think we should).

 

[Worksop II]

Well, the 'knocker truce' and the feel good factor lasted well didn't it?

Feck me, I wouldn't want to work for any of you miserable twats. First game (awful game) and you're already predicting relegation. What did you all expect? Pretty triangles???? Take a longer perspective and have patience, or we will become a self fulfilling prophesy...

(Duncs prediction: First "Speed out" thread by middle of October... *shakes head*)

Dunc, I dont think the moans are about Speed, did you catch Speed Comments before the game, he was asked something like, "no real changes Gary ?" - He Replied "its all we have got", then the brain kicked in and he started waffling.

Its more a moan about what we have available in the Squad, Blacky has gone, but I am no doubt the downtown of this Club is due to McCabe taking every penny at every opportunity to sell.

These moans are aimed at him, not Gary Speed or his Staff, ....... well alright, maybe Ellis can have some

 

[Jon Bon]

Speed Out!

(Duncs prediction: First "Speed out" thread by middle of October... *shakes head*)

Well, way off the mark there then.......


ps. Only having a little josh before someone jumps down my throat.

 

[silverfox]

Dunc, I dont think the moans are about Speed, did you catch Speed Comments before the game, he was asked something like, "no real changes Gary ?" - He Replied "its all we have got", then the brain kicked in and he started waffling.

Its more a moan about what we have available in the Squad, Blacky has gone, but I am no doubt the downtown of this Club is due to McCabe taking every penny at every opportunity to sell.

These moans are aimed at him, not Gary Speed or his Staff, ....... well alright, maybe Ellis can have some

So McCabe tries to change things and after one, yes ONE game he seems to have got it wrong?

Do you really think he's taking every penny? Can you back that up with facts?

I can believe he will not put any more in and want his money back but????

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Early days and some comments made today are outrageous.

 

[Foxy]

Eh??? Did you watch the game? We were abysmal as were injury hit Boro. Neither team strung 2 passes together.

I'd suggest that today saw probably our longest passage of passing play in a number of years, certainly a lot more than 2 passes.

 

[Nick Jansky]

Early days and some comments made today are outrageous.

People like to come out with knee jerk reactions.

 

[blades1889]

agree i nearly fell asleep watching match 2day

 

[Bergen Blade]

There was definitely a difference in playing style. Passing without good movement rarely brings you many chances though, and most of our passing moves was just in front of a comfortable Boro defence.

I don't think this is going to become more effective with more practice on the training pitch. We have to add more creativity in central midfield, more width, movement and pace. If we combine that with an aim to penetrate and counter attack, we should improve a lot.

We need to make several changes to the squad though, I can't see the current personell suddenly becoming effective.

 

[DazBlade88]

There was definitely a difference in playing style. Passing without good movement rarely brings you many chances though, and most of our passing moves was just in front of a comfortable Boro defence.

I don't think this is going to become more effective with more practice on the training pitch. We have to add more creativity in central midfield, more width, movement and pace. If we combine that with an aim to penetrate and counter attack, we should improve a lot.

We need to make several changes to the squad though, I can't see the current personell suddenly becoming effective.

I agree 100%, I said the exact same thing coming out of the ground earlier.

I thought we kept possession quite well (in comparison to the last few years), but we lacked that bit of technical ability in the middle of our '3'. to create a clear chance. I think Britton will be better suited if he's played deeper in this 4-2-3-1 we're trying to adopt after watching him play a few times now. I think Robert Koren was exactly the type of player we needed for that role personally but his wage demands were probably higher than we could afford.

Another problem we have is that along with the lack of real creativity behind the centre forward is that only 1 of the forwards can really hurt defenders with pace. We need some pace on the wings to get in behind the opposition defence and actually get them facing their own goal and force them to panic and maybe make mistakes. Creswell is wasted out on the left hand side in a 4-2-3-1 in my opinion. Kyel Reid might have been a decent outlet for us this season if he'd settled up North.

There's certainly things to improve on and as we stand we can't rule ourselves out of relegation because we don't really look like we have many ideas going forward, but ther's plenty of time. Hopefully Speed can use this week to bring in a couple of players to make us a more dangerous team.

 

[yorkshirecoast]

I'd suggest that today saw probably our longest passage of passing play in a number of years, certainly a lot more than 2 passes.

I accept there was one move with numerous passes but as usual our lack of quality & pace meant it came to nothing. Otherwise it was complete & utter drivel. Boro were shocking yet we only created one chance. Disgraceful really.

 

[Foxy]

I accept there was one move with numerous passes but as usual our lack of quality & pace meant it came to nothing. Otherwise it was complete & utter drivel. Boro were shocking yet we only created one chance. Disgraceful really.

There were more than that one move, but like you said they came to nothing.

Still, I thought people said they'd take losses but passing the ball like Donny?

 

[Micalijo]

There was a few decent passes which led to Noz humiliatingly losing possession in second half when he received ball in a good bit of space. Is that the move in question?

Can you give any other examples Foxy, while memory is fresh?

 

[ThatJa]

When creating this thread, Im not digging Speedo, or any of the coaching staff, to not confuse you Im talking about the 11men on the pitch and the 7 sat on the bench.

I think Speed will be a good manager, when he has the correct players, we need an overhaul. Its going to be hard, we won't get promotion this season (if we do it will be a disaster, probably the worst thing that could happen to the club, were not ready.) as we have ALOT of rebuilding to do. There could/will be a few players in that team today that Speed probably doesn't want or doesn't think are good enough. He needs to get them out and get his own players in.

9 Days time we could be a totally different team. Hopefully we do what Reading did last year but a month sooner

 

[yorkshirecoast]

There were more than that one move, but like you said they came to nothing.

Still, I thought people said they'd take losses but passing the ball like Donny?

We did not pass the ball anything like Donny do. We were really poor. Promotion favourites or not, Boro were shocking today (possibly because they were without 3 1st choice midfielders) yet we only created one decent chance. I noticed very little difference in our style of play - too negative, too slow, terrible set pieces & no quality. It is far too early to judge Speed & I hope he can sort it out but it's going to be difficult because many of the players simply aren't good enough. McCabe has sanctioned the sales of our best players for the last few years and only allowed a fraction of the money to be spent on replacements - and we are paying for it now.

 

[Foxy]

There was a few decent passes which led to Noz humiliatingly losing possession in second half when he received ball in a good bit of space. Is that the move in question?

Can you give any other examples Foxy, while memory is fresh?

We actually spent most of the match possibly over-passing. That wasn't the one I was thinking of, the one I was thinking of resulted in a half chance.

We'd clearly been working on playing in triangles and making space this week, it was evident particularly in the first half.

One of the main problems with this, is that often, Morgan waited until they had pushed on (which I guess does draw the opposition) and therefore kept playing Taylor into trouble. There was one occaision early doors where they started so slowly, Morgs gave the ball to Taylor (who had a man a yard away) who passed it to Monty (who was stuck in a dead end) who then attempted to play it back to Morgs, where it was cut out by the advancing opposition.

Early doors, they played the same passage a number of times... Simmo to Morgs, Morgs to Taylor, Taylor to Monty/Britton, then tried to work it down the line, come back or failing that, switch play.

There were very few, if any, crosses from deep (something that's been evident in most games this season/pre-season), prefering to try and work the ball around the edge of the area and/or back out.

Probably the best spell (in terms of effectiveness, rather than number of passes) was towards the end of the first half where we had a spell of pressurising Boro with increasing pace/urgency. One of these was where Cresswell did his first back heel.

We did not pass the ball anything like Donny do. We were really poor. Promotion favourites or not, Boro were shocking today (possibly because they were without 3 1st choice midfielders) yet we only created one decent chance. I noticed very little difference in our style of play - too negative, too slow, terrible set pieces & no quality. It is far too early to judge Speed & I hope he can sort it out but it's going to be difficult because many of the players simply aren't good enough. McCabe has sanctioned the sales of our best players for the last few years and only allowed a fraction of the money to be spent on replacements - and we are paying for it now.

For me, we noth had spells of playing very much like Donny, slow paced passing amongst the back four, creeping forward and then coming back. That is exactly what Donny do, they aren't the "Arsenal of the championship" that people have them down as.

Out of interest, did you watch on TV or at the game? was it evident our players were moving more off the ball?

 

[SteelCity Blade]

I think we need to remember it was Speed's first game and as mentioned on this thread already, its going to take him longer than a few days to make drastic changes. He has had 4 or 5 days to work with a team that got thumped at home last week. I know most people arent blaming Speed but if you're going to be patient with him, you have to be patient with the team as well as the two go together.

There were a couple of positives today in my opinion, but far more negatives and all I can see at the moment is a massive job for Speedo. We did attempt to pass the ball more than usual in the first half which was pleasing but as I have suspected for a while....our inability to do this effectively is as much down to our playing staff as it was about Blackwell. The core of our team are not technically gifted and that showed today im afraid.

Lets see if the guy can get a few players in, work with our better current ones on a new system....then we'll make a judgment. Admittedly it doesnt look good at the moment but there is a lot of football to play

UTB

 

[yorkshirecoast]

We actually spent most of the match possibly over-passing. That wasn't the one I was thinking of, the one I was thinking of resulted in a half chance.

We'd clearly been working on playing in triangles and making space this week, it was evident particularly in the first half.

One of the main problems with this, is that often, Morgan waited until they had pushed on (which I guess does draw the opposition) and therefore kept playing Taylor into trouble. There was one occaision early doors where they started so slowly, Morgs gave the ball to Taylor (who had a man a yard away) who passed it to Monty (who was stuck in a dead end) who then attempted to play it back to Morgs, where it was cut out by the advancing opposition.

Early doors, they played the same passage a number of times... Simmo to Morgs, Morgs to Taylor, Taylor to Monty/Britton, then tried to work it down the line, come back or failing that, switch play.

There were very few, if any, crosses from deep (something that's been evident in most games this season/pre-season), prefering to try and work the ball around the edge of the area and/or back out.

Probably the best spell (in terms of effectiveness, rather than number of passes) was towards the end of the first half where we had a spell of pressurising Boro with increasing pace/urgency. One of these was where Cresswell did his first back heel.



For me, we noth had spells of playing very much like Donny, slow paced passing amongst the back four, creeping forward and then coming back. That is exactly what Donny do, they aren't the "Arsenal of the championship" that people have them down as.

Out of interest, did you watch on TV or at the game? was it evident our players were moving more off the ball?

I watched it on tv (although would add that I am a ST holder & not just an armchair fan! ). I didn't notice any real change in the amount of movement. Apologies for being negative but the main thing that stood out was the lack of pace and quality. The number of times we passed to the opposition, mis-controlled the ball or hit a woeful corner or free kick was incredibly frustrating. All the Sky pundits commented on how woeful the game was - even the real Deano! - and it was impossible to disagree

 

[Worksop II]

and it was impossible to disagree

It you noticed at the end of the Match, there was one fan trying to get into the Pundit Box, and he WAS trying to disagree, I assume it was Foxy ........

 

[Foxy]

I watched it on tv (although would add that I am a ST holder & not just an armchair fan! ).

I wasn't having a go but I always think it's impossible to really guage what goes on off the ball watching on TV. I'm not suggesting it was fantasic or ground breaking movement, but they did seem to try and find space a little more and at least offer options.

I didn't notice any real change in the amount of movement. Apologies for being negative but the main thing that stood out was the lack of pace and quality. The number of times we passed to the opposition, mis-controlled the ball or hit a woeful corner or free kick was incredibly frustrating. All the Sky pundits commented on how woeful the game was - even the real Deano! - and it was impossible to disagree

I never said we didn't lack pace or quality, I agree, infact that's one of my points about looking a bit like Donny at times.... slow passing between defenders, not really getting anywhere.

I don't think the game was as woeful as people make out though, just two teams in need of a win and some confidence cancelling each other out.

It you noticed at the end of the Match, there was one fan trying to get into the Pundit Box, and he WAS trying to disagree, I assume it was Foxy ........

Certainly wasn't me I was working my way to the concorse for a piss.

Did you see the people behind the fan trying to get in clapping the team off the pitch?

 

[BladeFisher]

The thing that depressed me watching on Sky was we waited till we went 1-0 down before any sense of urgency. Playing for a draw was silly. As they say attack is usually the best form of defence.

I do worry about the appointment of Speed, not for his sake but I can see the club really struggling in the next few months and a new manager in a relegation scrap isn't I suggest a recipe for success. Also with his new assistant having three unsuccessful times at Leeds, Luton and Plymouth hardly fills with you with a great deal of confidence ! I would like to have seen a director of footie with some experience and at the moment someone with experience of fighting relegation. The only guy I can think of that's available is DB, bur would rather have Martin O Neill !

 

[Worksop II]

Did you see the people behind the fan trying to get in clapping the team off the pitch?

Nope, they went straight to the Monster Trucks ...

 

[Eckingtonian]

Apart from both sets of players being fitter,the quality wasnt much better than watching local park football.

 

[gavtheblade]

3 games in,a new manager and there are still moaners moaning about the appointment of speed.martin o neill was never gonna happen.when are people going to realise that we are 3-4 years away from re-building a promotion winning team thats capable of splashing some cash around.the sooner we get investment the better,cos we need to put sum into the squad and offload dead wood-monty,quinn and taylor.we r going nowhere with players of there calibre.Today is the begining of a long road ahead-its a marathon blades fans,not a sprint.

 

[Paulus]

Based on that Speed has a hell of a job to do. Boro were awful and on balance we were worse - I agree with comments above about us trying to pass the ball a bit more but there was really very little pace, penetration or fluency about our play and this is going to be difficult to develop given the current squad. After watching Derby v Coventry on Friday night I thought that Derby, although they had virtually no goal threat played with a pattern and purpose in midfield. This has taken Clough about 18 months to start to develop and they flirted with relegation last season - I suspect a similar length of time and pattern will be needed with us.

 

[lenners]

There were more than that one move, but like you said they came to nothing.

Still, I thought people said they'd take losses but passing the ball like Donny?

That was passing it like Donny?
The one in the Conference a few years back?

 

[gavtheblade]

The marathon has only just got started blades

 

[SheepdipBlade]

Would there really be so much angst on here if we'd come out of yesterday with a point? In reality the game was too close to call with both sides being dire - with the only difference being an individual error from Morgs (which thankfully happens once in a blue moon). The difference between all this soul searching and a happy forum was Morgs getting his feet the wrong way around!

It'll get better - Speed can't make KB's squad world beaters overnight!

One for Pinchy - We did a Montywatch yesterday. One missed pass of note (though nearly disasterous!) with many successful completions, some over quite a distance (usually cross-field) but some incisive forward balls too.

Thought the formation with Ertl and Monty in mid-field was never going to be that creative through the middle - and was disappointed that we stayed with one up front for the last 20 mins. Boggy out wide seemed a missed opportunity to me. Playing him up top would have made more sense.

 

[Darthblade]

Speed was honest all week that he didn't want to rush too many changes. So I never really expected much different, however I thought we held the ball alot better than we have in the past, passed it better (still too many mistakes) but we still haven't addressed how our players move to recieve the ball.
We did play for a point today, but the frustrating thing for me is not one of our players stepped up, and this is where I can't blame any manager, we were one nil down and not one of those players made any attempt to grab our game by the scruff of the neck and push us on, we lack clear leadership on the field (that sounds bizarre saying it with Morg's on the field.) We also lack pace, and decent wide men.

Totally agree - we cant start to have a downer on Speedo at this stage, look at what he had to work with.

We were one error away from a point away at Boro and they were just as bad as us!!
Unfortunately we dont look like we will create many chances playing 4 - 5- 1 and I would like to see us go to 4 - 4 - 2 for all games.

We must replace Taylor, I'm still not sure how effective Britton will be for us and my big worry is there's nothing on the bench to allow Speedo to change things.
I keep saying this but we're too small a side to achieve in the Championship, its too physical to have more than 1 or 2 "small" players. We have Britton, Monty, Ward, Quinn, Yeates all of whom are too easily muscled off the ball.

Nice to see us keep the ball on the pitch a bit though and some spells of good football, but little evidence of the ability to break down a disciplined defence.
Boro didnt deserve a win yesterday, but we certainly didnt take the opportunity to take the game to a poor side.
UTB

 

[Kenilworth]

There was definitely a difference in playing style. Passing without good movement rarely brings you many chances though, and most of our passing moves was just in front of a comfortable Boro defence.

I don't think this is going to become more effective with more practice on the training pitch. We have to add more creativity in central midfield, more width, movement and pace. If we combine that with an aim to penetrate and counter attack, we should improve a lot.

We need to make several changes to the squad though, I can't see the current personell suddenly becoming effective.

There you go. Bergen making complete sense, again.

There has got to be more changes otherwise Speed is going to be on to a hiding to nothing.
We need a McCall type player in midfield (even a Gary Speed) to control the game.
Someone to calm it and control it. Ertl is not the answer even though he was ok yesterday - at least he made an effort.