Yeates In So Who Makes Way?

[Kenilworth]

Yeates is a proper wide midfielder who can operate on either flank so this begs the question as to who he replaces in the team.

Williamson is a central midfielder but keeps getting pushed out wide right, where he is not at his best. Does this mean that:

a) Williamson get dropped in favour of Yeates with Monty and Harper central mid?

b) Squinny will get fewer games sicne Yeates can work the left of midfield (we all know that wont happen since his contract has been extended)

c) Ward is off to WBA - that may be the real reason he is not playing from the start of recent games fuelled by all the rumours about his contract negotiations not progressing as he and his agent would like.

 

[86Blade]

we need to keep Jamie Ward otherwise fans will start to lose some faith in manager and chairman, yes we need to look after books but a once promising team is being ripped apart.

Midfield we could go for is Yeates on left, quinn as attacking midfielder in hole with Harper sitting deep and cresswell on right and throw Ward up front or Evans with Hendo and give it a go, got to be better than recent selections.

 

[DuncDisorderly]

.. otherwise fans will start to lose some faith in manager and chairman

Quite a few seem to have done that from the start...

 

[86Blade]

well we still have the odd chant of "Blackwell Blackwell give us a wave" sounding out every so often, amazing when we play woeful football and have a weakening squad every transfer window.

Yet when we had someone trying to get us to play much better football every fan wanted him out from day one, one day i hope all blades fans can work out what they want and pull together.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

I thought Williamson did well yesterday but the problem with him and Squinny on the left is that they both drift infield and don't actually play as wide players. Apparently Williamson may have done his hamstring as well so the decision might be made for him.

Yeates for Squinny for me, Squinny has done OK recently but when you analyse what he actually adds to the team, it's hard to justify playing him, certainly on the left ahead of a specialist wide player like Yeates for example.

Oh, and I'd still like us to play Harper and Williamson in the middle !

 

[marshy]

It's ok, dilemma over. We'll play him in the middle.

 

[Paddys Cough]

its been reported theyve offered £1.5m for Moses so how much would they offer for Ward? cant see him leaving

 

[alcoblade]

well we still have the odd chant of "Blackwell Blackwell give us a wave" sounding out every so often, amazing when we play woeful football and have a weakening squad every transfer window.
.

I'm not a big fan of Blackwell, but surely he can hardly be blamed for most player sales. It's the board making those decisions, for better or for worse.

Yet when we had someone trying to get us to play much better football every fan wanted him out from day one, one day i hope all blades fans can work out what they want and pull together.

I don't think it happened like that. I think most were surprised we'd taken on such a failure of a manager in the first place, but then managed to convince themselves he wasn't that bad really, as you do. Only when he managed to turn the most expensive squad we've ever assembled into rank relegation fodder did the tide turn.

UTB

 

[JohnDenver]

well we still have the odd chant of "Blackwell Blackwell give us a wave" sounding out every so often, amazing when we play woeful football and have a weakening squad every transfer window.

Yet when we had someone trying to get us to play much better football every fan wanted him out from day one, one day i hope all blades fans can work out what they want and pull together.

I know what you're saying - I agree we need to show patience - but however good Robbo's intentions were, his execution was non-existent. His team played the worst football I've witnessed at United. Shapeless, clueless, embarrassing nonsense.

Blackwell's teams are often ugly, but at least they usually show effort, decent defending, and a method of play - even if it is just hoofball.

 

[Pinchy]

I know what you're saying - I agree we need to show patience - but however good Robbo's intentions were, his execution was non-existent. His team played the worst football I've witnessed at United. Shapeless, clueless, embarrassing nonsense.

Blackwell's teams are often ugly, but at least they usually show effort, decent defending, and a method of play - even if it is just hoofball.

Very true but that shouldn't mean that we give up on attractive passing football for ever. Robson was doomed to fail from the outset.

There are wiser 'footballing' managers out there who could assume legendary status if they rid of us of this turbulent hoofball.

Mr. Coppell, we're over here.... waiting......

 

[LoughboroBlade]

Mr. Coppell, we're over here.... waiting......

"Mr Coppell", whilst having a respectable record at Reading in particular, has a history of bolting from high-pressure environments. He wouldn't last 5 minutes if he was ever appointed at the Lane.

 

[Pinchy]

"Mr Coppell", whilst having a respectable record at Reading in particular, has a history of bolting from high-pressure environments. He wouldn't last 5 minutes if he was ever appointed at the Lane.

He was 6 years at Reading. All managers [with one or two high profile exceptions] have a sell-by date. The rest is ancient history. He would last long enough to establish us in the Premiership. He is a giant to Blackwell's pygmy.

We'll just carry on hoofing then?

 

[Highbury_Blade]

"Mr Coppell", whilst having a respectable record at Reading in particular, has a history of bolting from high-pressure environments. He wouldn't last 5 minutes if he was ever appointed at the Lane.

He's done that just the once i believe.

 

[davidpinder]

Back to the original post. Its called competition for places something we haven't had in a while we have plenty or competition for places up front and now in the middle just to sort back 4 out. We have plenty of left backs but 2 are average and 1 is struggling back to full fitness. With Seip out we have a problem at centre half again that was clear on saturday.

 

[LouTheBlade]

At the moment I would go with this;

Yeates Williamson Harper Ward

(with the wingers switching sides at regular intervals)

Picks itself for me. The rest can provide the competition from the bench.

 

[Revolution]

"Mr Coppell", whilst having a respectable record at Reading in particular, has a history of bolting from high-pressure environments.

This has become conventional wisdom when it simply isn't true. The only time Coppell has behaved like this is when he had his 40 odd day spell at Man City over 10 years ago.

Coppell worked 9 straight years for Ron Noades. If that isn't a high pressure situation I don't know what is.

 

[Santos]

Yeates is a proper wide midfielder who can operate on either flank so this begs the question as to who he replaces in the team.

Williamson is a central midfielder but keeps getting pushed out wide right, where he is not at his best. Does this mean that:

a) Williamson get dropped in favour of Yeates with Monty and Harper central mid?

b) Squinny will get fewer games sicne Yeates can work the left of midfield (we all know that wont happen since his contract has been extended)

c) Ward is off to WBA - that may be the real reason he is not playing from the start of recent games fuelled by all the rumours about his contract negotiations not progressing as he and his agent would like.

I think for the sake of the team and the fans Yeates has to play tomorrow just to give everyone a bit of potential excitement.

Blackwell has to throw caution to the wind and play Ward & Yeates, in the middle I'd play Williamson and Monty. I don't think Harper would be allowed to play but even so I would drop him and have him taking the 'how to take a corner' crash course.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Centre half!!

 

[ghandi]

Williamson is injured according to the Stir and will not be fit for tomorrow.

 

[Bramley]

I know what you're saying - I agree we need to show patience - but however good Robbo's intentions were, his execution was non-existent. His team played the worst football I've witnessed at United. Shapeless, clueless, embarrassing nonsense.

Blackwell's teams are often ugly, but at least they usually show effort, decent defending, and a method of play - even if it is just hoofball.

Robson signed Beattie on £30,000 plus, Ehiogu on £18,000 p/w and Naysmith on something similar. The legacy of that complete and utter twat will last for a long time.

 

[Robbie]

Robson signed Beattie on £30,000 plus, Ehiogu on £18,000 p/w and Naysmith on something similar. The legacy of that complete and utter twat will last for a long time.

Kevin McCabe signed all these players.

Robson can only request they be signed.

 

[LouTheBlade]

Kevin McCabe signed all these players.

Robson can only request they be signed.

If a manager has any intention of developing the team/club long term and has its best interests at heart he should discuss the viability/affordability of these requested signings with the chairman before completing them.

They are as much to blame as each other.

 

[Bramley]

The appointment of Robson was his biggest mistake. Set the club back 5 years. Should've kept faith with NW, look what he's doing at Palace.

 

[Grecian2000]

The appointment of Robson was his biggest mistake. Set the club back 5 years. Should've kept faith with NW, look what he's doing at Palace.

Agree 100% with point one. Don't agree about Warnock.

Thought it was time for him to step down and he was never going to successfully manage in the top flight which is where we wanted to be long term.

That we should end up with a disaster like Robbo was by no means inevitable. It needed one good appointment and we could have been o our way, sadly whoever did the appointing must have been pissed.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

Agree 100% with point one. Don't agree about Warnock.

Thought it was time for him to step down and he was never going to successfully manage in the top flight which is where we wanted to be long term.

That we should end up with a disaster like Robbo was by no means inevitable. It needed one good appointment and we could have been o our way, sadly whoever did the appointing must have been pissed.

I think McCabe wanted a well known 'face' and seemingly put as much emphasis on this as his other requirements of someone who had been promoted from this division. We'll never know whether a different appointment would have worked and the stats are against relegated teams going straight back up but there's no doubt that that one decision has and will have a massive bearing on the club's future.

 

[LouTheBlade]

I think McCabe wanted a well known 'face' and seemingly put as much emphasis on this as his other requirements of someone who had been promoted from this division. We'll never know whether a different appointment would have worked and the stats are against relegated teams going straight back up but there's no doubt that that one decision has and will have a massive bearing on the club's future.

Indeed it will. We have started to see that it was a very costly decision by the fact that we have reduced the size and quality of the squad over the last 12-18 months. Fortunately for us the Championship has reduced in quality as well, now being a division full of ordinary to poor sides.

My opinion is that KM saw the bright lights and prestige of the top flight and decided that we should have a household name at the helm. The appointment was neither well informed or thought out by the chairman and for all the good things he has done that was one of the things he got badly badly wrong.

He was so wrapped up in what we had achieved in the 12 months previous and with the 'Tevez affair' that he lost sight of what our next sensible move should be on the pitch. That decision set us back a year and will probably cost us future progress as well. Dire decision! :thumbdown:

 

[SheepdipBlade]

The appointment of Robson was his biggest mistake. Set the club back 5 years. Should've kept faith with NW, look what he's doing at Palace.

Agree with this.

McC wanted a trophy manager to head up his global company (Warnock mentions this in his autobiography for what it's worth) - but whilst Robson might have done well as Director of Football or some other none team role, he was a nightmare as manager.

Warnock was undoubtedly over-awed by the Premier League - as were we all. I remember the hush around the ground on the opening day when we were beating Liverpool, and remember Warnock trying to get the crowd going when we were beating Arsenal. For the first month it felt like the only people who believed we could compete at that level were the lads on the park.

I feel that given a second opportunity NW would have learnt from his experiences and we would have been better placed to not only bounce straight back - but also to have cemented our place in the top flight (Albeit with ugly Stoke style football)

 

[puppet]

If a manager has any intention of developing the team/club long term and has its best interests at heart he should discuss the viability/affordability of these requested signings with the chairman before completing them.

They are as much to blame as each other.

the ultimate decision to sign players and the financial implications of them rest with the chairman. robson may have been a crap manager and a mistake but the buck stops with mccabe.

 

[Robbie]

If a manager has any intention of developing the team/club long term and has its best interests at heart he should discuss the viability/affordability of these requested signings with the chairman before completing them.

They are as much to blame as each other.

The manager will give a dossier of players he wants. It is up to others to sort out contracts etc. If McCabe thought these players were not in our price range he should have told Robson so, so he could then arrange another dossier of players with more realistic wages/price.....

I'm sure Blackwell would love to sign some quality players, but he has probably been firmly told this is not possible. So he goes back and finds alternatives.

It's not rocket science.