Today

[LoughboroBlade]

Looking at the player ratings I'm surprised to see such high ratings for Maguire and Collins. Overall the back four for me couldn't handle their front two. Maguire made a couple of important challenges but was outpaced and outskilled with trickery and again turned inside out a few times.

I disagree. When Collins & Maguire were tested directly they generally did fine. Grigg's first was a good finish, but our defence was pulled out if shape following McGinn's dreadful error - his second was a tap in after Long put it on a plate for him. Outside of that, Grigg had quite a quiet game. Donaldson got plenty of joy from the defence, but this was generally when drifting wide and being up against Williams in the first half or Westlake in the second. The penalty given against Maguire looked very harsh.

 

[Deadbat]

The only transition we are seeing is the sale of better players and their place in the squad being taken by sub-standard no-marks that nobody has ever heard of. The squad is worsening on a six-monthly basis. This is not a good foundation on which to "rebuild".

Spot on.

Hearing this phrase transition is utter bollox really. I am sure the club will come out with this for few years yet. Sadly we are basically in decline. We have our worst collection of players, probably worst state of finances and no imminent sign of anything turning around; either short or long term. The academy may be pointed to but we sell anyone any good and the money just disappears (squandered on more crap contracts/decisions the board makes).

We are not in transition; we are sadly in decline. That decline will only stop when this board allows whoever the manager time to create something by not selling any decent players we have and giving them chance to build something where we can be stable and then maybe go up. It is ok saying there is nothing we can do, we are in league one but it will soon be there is nothing we can do, we are in league two. There has to be a point where enough is enough.

What if we struggle and Weir walks or they dispose of him early on? Then a new guy comes in and we are back to another transition and start again. How many managers are successful when they have to keep selling their best players/main assets? Cant think of any really.

How far do we slide before the transition stops? When do we move forward. We were 3rd, then 5th and probably will be lower this year. If we fail to go this year we will have been here 4 seasons; that is more than all the other big clubs that were down here recently such as Forest, weds, Leeds. each year we stay down then it becomes harder and harder to get back up. Those that feel a mid table season and a period of developing etc will suddenly see us back in the top few places and competing for promotion are deluded. If we finish middle and lose more players then the likelihood is we will be even lower next season as money further becomes an issue, crowds further reduce etc.

 

[louthblade]

Spot on.

Hearing this phrase transition is utter bollox really. I am sure the club will come out with this for few years yet. Sadly we are basically in decline. We have our worst collection of players, probably worst state of finances and no imminent sign of anything turning around; either short or long term. The academy may be pointed to but we sell anyone any good and the money just disappears (squandered on more crap contracts/decisions the board makes).

We are not in transition; we are sadly in decline. That decline will only stop when this board allows whoever the manager time to create something by not selling any decent players we have and giving them chance to build something where we can be stable and then maybe go up. It is ok saying there is nothing we can do, we are in league one but it will soon be there is nothing we can do, we are in league two. There has to be a point where enough is enough.

What if we struggle and Weir walks or they dispose of him early on? Then a new guy comes in and we are back to another transition and start again. How many managers are successful when they have to keep selling their best players/main assets? Cant think of any really.

How far do we slide before the transition stops? When do we move forward. We were 3rd, then 5th and probably will be lower this year. If we fail to go this year we will have been here 4 seasons; that is more than all the other big clubs that were down here recently such as Forest, weds, Leeds. each year we stay down then it becomes harder and harder to get back up. Those that feel a mid table season and a period of developing etc will suddenly see us back in the top few places and competing for promotion are deluded. If we finish middle and lose more players then the likelihood is we will be even lower next season as money further becomes an issue, crowds further reduce etc.

The longer we are here the more difficult staying up will be when we get back.

Heaven forbid we go down again as there is no Reg Brearley to buy an Edwards, Morris, Waugh, Hatton to bounce back, potentially worrying times ahead.

I'm just glad we have the likes of Shrewsbury et al in this division.

I believe that DW will be a far better manager than Martin Peters ever dreamed of being, but agree in that you can't keep selling your better players and replacing them with poorer and then expecting to be successfull.

Treading water is not an option for us we need to get back to the Champioship as soon as possible

 

[Bergen Blade]

. That decline will only stop when this board allows whoever the manager time to create something by not selling any decent players we have and giving them chance to build something where we can be stable and then maybe go up.

The transition started this summer though, while the clause in McDonald's contract was arranged last summer. Shouldn't we judge the transition process on actions since we started it?

 

[louthblade]

The transition started this summer though, while the clause in McDonald's contract was arranged last summer. Shouldn't we judge the transition process on actions since we started it?

Indeed , I just hope that we are now "sustainable" and there is no further need to sell.

If we still need rather than chose to sell then we are here for a long time.

 

[Patrick Suffaux]

The only supporters who seem to be using the word "transition" are those who are pushing the panic button after two games. So far we've suffered one league defeat and could be losing one of our better players due to a clause in his contract. I realise the supporters don't have many reasons to be high on optimism given events of the last 2-3 years but lets at least give the new regime a chance.

 

[Deadbat]

The transition started this summer though, while the clause in McDonald's contract was arranged last summer. Shouldn't we judge the transition process on actions since we started it?

I have heard it all before. Wasn't the Blackman sale before this supposed to the last time we needed to sell and we could move forward?

Quinn/Lowton before this. The Kyles?

Does anyone think Maguire and Long (although former is a liability at the moment) will be here in a year?

It galls me when people keep saying we need to move forward and stop going on about past bad decisions but we seem to be saying this every single season when the latest sale or latest side that may have a chance is disrupted again by yet another sale?

Bergen,, serious question, what do you define as showing the start of the transition this summer? that is not a flippant question. I am genuinely interested.

We had about 34 job interviews for manger and most seemed to turn us down and then we stumbled on Weir. It was not a plan really and whilst I think it was the right sort of move getting him in; I fail to see anything significant that has happened this summer to suggest the start of a transition other than a load of corporate bollox from Winter. A proper transition would have been clearing out more dead wood by negotiating end of contracts for the likes of Williams, Doyle, Higginbotham etc and showing a real purpose for the future. We started the season with a line up featuring 9 of those that failed to go up the previous season.

 

[Bergen Blade]

Just seen the goals. Never mind their second, what the hell was McGinn doing for the first? He was just jogging casually as Forshaw ran through.

McGinn left it to Doyle to close down Forshaw. Doyle backed off too much, probably because of the overlapping player on the runner's outside. The overlapping player would have been tracked by Brandy if he hadn't collided with the referee. Westlake had gone to ground near their box and struggled to get back in time.

 

[Deadbat]

The only supporters who seem to be using the word "transition" are those who are pushing the panic button after two games. So far we've suffered one league defeat and could be losing one of our better players due to a clause in his contract. I realise the supporters don't have many reasons to be high on optimism given events of the last 2-3 years but lets at least give the new regime a chance.

I agree to an extent but the word transition irritates me. Transition to me says we are basically going to be even worse than we have been. Which is hard to believe!

I just hope if (or when) McDonald goes; Weir gets all of the funds. If he gets the reputed £700,000 and can bring in say 2 players, a striker and a midfielder for this then it won't be a disaster. It is not so much him going as the symbol of what it represents (maybe we could not do anything) but sadly it seems we have an inability to keep our better pplayers (for whatever reason) and if we don't hang on to some of them for any kind of time then we will be in a further period of decline...erm transition for quite a few years.

 

[JohnDenver]

Indeed , I just hope that we are now "sustainable" and there is no further need to sell.

We might be running at cost now - I really wouldn't know until the club announce their numbers.

But there's one thing I can guarantee; if McCabe demands his money back from any surplus we generate in the transfer market then we're stuffed for as long as he's our owner.

 

[sportinguista]

All this talk of "transition" and "new regimes" sounds like, if modern history is anything to go by, it will require lots of patience, compromise, negotiating and maneouvering from all concerned. And if no one can be sure exactly when said "transition" is meant to have actually started, nor it will be any easier to mark when it ends...

The Spanish transition to democracy was the era when Spain moved from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to restoration of the Spanish Monarchy. The transition is usually said to have begun with Franco’s death on 20 November 1975, while its completion has been variously said to be marked by the Spanish Constitution of 1978, the failure of an attempted coup on 23 February 1981, or the electoral victory of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) on 28 October 1982.

 

[Bergen Blade]

I have heard it all before. Wasn't the Blackman sale before this supposed to the last time we needed to sell and we could move forward?

Quinn/Lowton before this. The Kyles?

Does anyone think Maguire and Long (although former is a liability at the moment) will be here in a year?

It galls me when people keep saying we need to move forward and stop going on about past bad decisions but we seem to be saying this every single season when the latest sale or latest side that may have a chance is disrupted again by yet another sale?

Bergen,, serious question, what do you define as showing the start of the transition this summer? that is not a flippant question. I am genuinely interested.

We had about 34 job interviews for manger and most seemed to turn us down and then we stumbled on Weir. It was not a plan really and whilst I think it was the right sort of move getting him in; I fail to see anything significant that has happened this summer to suggest the start of a transition other than a load of corporate bollox from Winter. A proper transition would have been clearing out more dead wood by negotiating end of contracts for the likes of Williams, Doyle, Higginbotham etc and showing a real purpose for the future. We started the season with a line up featuring 9 of those that failed to go up the previous season.

I agree that we've been on the decline for years until this summer. We'll have to see if we've arrested the slide, but we seem to have tried to avoid signing older, expensive players and gone for players we're hoping can realise their potential with us. You mention Higginbotham and Doyle, but their extensions were also given before Julian Winter spoke of our new approach.

I had also hoped we'd do even more (regarding trimming the squad), though I would actually be surprised if Julian Winter hasn't tried. We'll also have to see how successful Weir's signings eventually will be, but unlike most of Robson, Blackwell and Adams' signings they won't be the type that will keep restricting us for ages.

 

[OllyBlade]

Spot on.

Hearing this phrase transition is utter bollox really. I am sure the club will come out with this for few years yet. Sadly we are basically in decline. We have our worst collection of players, probably worst state of finances and no imminent sign of anything turning around; either short or long term. The academy may be pointed to but we sell anyone any good and the money just disappears (squandered on more crap contracts/decisions the board makes).

We are not in transition; we are sadly in decline. That decline will only stop when this board allows whoever the manager time to create something by not selling any decent players we have and giving them chance to build something where we can be stable and then maybe go up. It is ok saying there is nothing we can do, we are in league one but it will soon be there is nothing we can do, we are in league two. There has to be a point where enough is enough.

What if we struggle and Weir walks or they dispose of him early on? Then a new guy comes in and we are back to another transition and start again. How many managers are successful when they have to keep selling their best players/main assets? Cant think of any really.

How far do we slide before the transition stops? When do we move forward. We were 3rd, then 5th and probably will be lower this year. If we fail to go this year we will have been here 4 seasons; that is more than all the other big clubs that were down here recently such as Forest, weds, Leeds. each year we stay down then it becomes harder and harder to get back up. Those that feel a mid table season and a period of developing etc will suddenly see us back in the top few places and competing for promotion are deluded. If we finish middle and lose more players then the likelihood is we will be even lower next season as money further becomes an issue, crowds further reduce etc.

Absolutely bang on. I'm all for giving time to situations which have some promise, but I need to be convinced the promise is there first. The only thing anyone can point to at the moment is Weir, and I really doubt he'll be around for long.

 

[Kenilworth]

Be shit if we lost all our best players each season like Walsall do yet still manage to compete.
Why do we always seem to go backwards in adversity when others pull their fingers out and get ok with it.
We really do have a bunch of slack jawed, nesh pussies in our squad don't we?

 

[Foxy]

Don't forget to get your ratings in people - http://www.s24su.com/forum/index.php?prs/game/48/

 

[Bergen Blade]

Think we missed McDonald's composure, strength and ability to hold the ball up. As we didn't have Porter to hold the ball/win it in the air either, we struggled to establish play in their half. In our insistance on playing neat football, it became a major problem for us that we could only find teammates who had their back to goal as they received the ball. It lead to a number of breaks for Brentford, and it saw us struggling to get out of our own half when we attacked.


I think we should have tried to make use of Taylor down the channels more, and encouraged our attacking midfielders to join up with him and also get beyond him. It would have kept them guessing a bit more about what we were going to do next. As it was they just were aggressive and closed us down high up the pitch and we struggled to find a teammate who was under less pressure than the one on the ball.


It looks to be our biggest challenge to avoid just passing the ball in front of teams with little penetration. It was ineffective against deep defending Burton, as it was against high pressing Brentford.


It didn't work with Coady in McDonald's role, evidenced by him swapping with McGinn towards the end of the first half and us changing to 4-4-2 in the second half. Not too put off by Taylor's performance. The chance he skied high and wide looked promising until he shot, and let's hope there was a little bump that made the shot so miserable. In the second half he could have been clean through if Murphy had chosen to pass to him, rather than Coady. It wasn't easy for him when we took 10 passes to get past the half way line, then lost the ball.


Think Doyle was most to blame for the first, McGinn for the second and the mix up by Westlake and McFadzean for the last, although Long should also have done a bit better. I'd hoped Westlake would claim the right back spot, as he's the right type for us there, but he just seems a bit mardy and careless at times. Loughborough, I don't think his last second challenge was that nasty though.

Porter did a couple of decent things when he came on, and when putting him on Weir showed that he's willing to change the system when things aren't working.

Our best spell was for 10-15 minutes after half time when we showed a bit more urgency and movement.

Ratings:

Long 7

Westlake 4
Maguire 6
Collins 6
Williams 5

McGinn 5
Doyle 5

Brandy 6
Coady 5
Murphy 5

Taylor 5

Conclusion:

We need to come up with something better than sticking Coady in for McDonald. We're not good enough to outpass teams with continual patient (slow) build up, certainly not without McD.

 

[Sirius]

If we can't perform because we might be selling a player then we might as well all pack up now.

UTB

Yep alco, if the team is disrupted in any way, the rest get the sulks on, and do what they did/didn't do when Ched was unavailable.

 

[Sirius]

Think we missed McDonald's composure, strength and ability to hold the ball up. As we didn't have Porter to hold the ball/win it in the air either, we struggled to establish play in their half. In our insistance on playing neat football, it became a major problem for us that we could only find teammates who had their back to goal as they received the ball. It lead to a number of breaks for Brentford, and it saw us struggling to get out of our own half when we attacked.


I think we should have tried to make use of Taylor down the channels more, and encouraged our attacking midfielders to join up with him and also get beyond him. It would have kept them guessing a bit more about what we were going to do next. As it was they just were aggressive and closed us down high up the pitch and we struggled to find a teammate who was under less pressure than the one on the ball.


It looks to be our biggest challenge to avoid just passing the ball in front of teams with little penetration. It was ineffective against deep defending Burton, as it was against high pressing Brentford.


It didn't work with Coady in McDonald's role, evidenced by him swapping with McGinn towards the end of the first half and us changing to 4-4-2 in the second half. Not too put off by Taylor's performance. The chance he skied high and wide looked promising until he shot, and let's hope there was a little bump that made the shot so miserable. In the second half he could have been clean through if Murphy had chosen to pass to him, rather than Coady. It wasn't easy for him when we took 10 passes to get past the half way line, then lost the ball.


Think Doyle was most to blame for the first, McGinn for the second and the mix up by Westlake and McFadzean for the last, although Long should also have done a bit better. I'd hoped Westlake would claim the right back spot, as he's the right type for us there, but he just seems a bit mardy and careless at times. Loughborough, I don't think his last second challenge was that nasty though.

Porter did a couple of decent things when he came on, and when putting him on Weir showed that he's willing to change the system when things aren't working.

Our best spell was for 10-15 minutes after half time when we showed a bit more urgency and movement.

Ratings:

Long 7

Westlake 4
Maguire 6
Collins 6
Williams 5

McGinn 5
Doyle 5

Brandy 6
Coady 5
Murphy 5

Taylor 5

Conclusion:

We need to come up with something better than sticking Coady in for McDonald. We're not good enough to outpass teams with continual patient (slow) build up, certainly not without McD.

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I have not seen us play for a considerable time, except against Snotts County. So forgive me for being selfish. Whilst no o

 

[Sirius]

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I have not seen us play for a considerable time, except against Snotts County. So forgive me for being selfish. Whilst no one enjoys good football, combined with winning more than I do, I have nagging doubts that this may not work for us in this division A part of me couldn't care less if, we, like the pigs were to sign/ borrow gorilla look alikes, so long as the end product was promotion. The other D.W. I understand produced in his first season a footballing side, to no avail.

 

[Bergen Blade]

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I have not seen us play for a considerable time, except against Snotts County. So forgive me for being selfish. Whilst no one enjoys good football, combined with winning more than I do, I have nagging doubts that this may not work for us in this division A part of me couldn't care less if, we, like the pigs were to sign/ borrow gorilla look alikes, so long as the end product was promotion. The other D.W. I understand produced in his first season a footballing side, to no avail.

You can score a lot of goals in football by punishing the opposition for defensive mistakes or momentary poor organisation. But if you don't try and do it quickly, you give the opposition time to reorganise and fix their mistakes, and you basically rely on having far, superior ability to carve through them. It is very difficult to get enough goals in that manner.

 

[super_pig]

Along with the sunshine , theirs got to be a little Rain sometime .

seems to rain 'all' the time.. perhaps they should change the lyrics specially for us