The difference a manager can make.

[Copamundial]

Stating the obvious I know but all this focus on the players not being good enough is total nonsense in my opinion.

At the end of the window the vast majority of fans were delighted with the recruitment and were understandably optimistic about the season ahead, I’ve seen nothing in any of our opponents so far to suggest that we are that far behind any of them in terms of quality so something is going wrong somewhere.

Lampard took on a Coventry team flirting with relegation and turned them into a top six side, this season he has built on that again that’s what good managers do they get the best out of the players available to them, sadly that isn’t the case with us.

Despite the fact that I felt Sheehan was the wrong appointment from the start I would have been more than happy to admit that I got it wrong but fourteen games in and with no discernible style or tactics I’m afraid it’s not looking good for him…hell I don’t even know what our best side or formation is and that shouldn’t be the case at this stage of the season.

Instead of some on here claiming that the quality of the squad is mediocre at best maybe they should turn their focus elsewhere.

 

[Swans Jack]

Stating the obvious I know but all this focus on the players not being good enough is total nonsense in my opinion.

At the end of the window the vast majority of fans were delighted with the recruitment and were understandably optimistic about the season ahead, I’ve seen nothing in any of our opponents so far to suggest that we are that far behind any of them in terms of quality so something is going wrong somewhere.

Lampard took on a Coventry team flirting with relegation and turned them into a top six side, this season he has built on that again that’s what good managers do they get the best out of the players available to them, sadly that isn’t the case with us.

Despite the fact that I felt Sheehan was the wrong appointment from the start I would have been more than happy to admit that I got it wrong but fourteen games in and with no discernible style or tactics I’m afraid it’s not looking good for him…hell I don’t even know what our best side or formation is and that shouldn’t be the case at this stage of the season.

Instead of some on here claiming that the quality of the squad is mediocre at best maybe they should turn their focus elsewhere.

You won't change many opinions on here. Some will say we have average squad and average manager and others will say we are better team that what ie being presented. Personally this is the most strongest squad we have had in years. And anyone with even little to no knowledge of tactics in football can see the players are being instructed to play backwards and find the perfect pass or goal. It's been clear for a while this team is far better as a quick and attacking team. You can see it sometimes. But never enough.

 

[J_B]

Lampard has certainly turned things around at Coventry (1st) after they were floundering under Mark Robbins.
Robbins has certainly turned things around at Stoke (2nd) after they were floundering under pretty much all their managers since relegation.
There are countless managers who haven't turned clubs around after they were floundering under their predecessor.
It's an expensive business sacking a manager and various coaches and replacing them with a new regime.
I'm convinced that the owners won't sack Sheehan this season unless they fear that we might be relegated.
Then in the summer they'll buy a ticket in the manager appointment lottery again.

 

[Andrew - North Hill]

At the end of the window the vast majority of fans were delighted with the recruitment and were understandably optimistic about the season ahead

If I treated myself to a pair of £150 trainers, but they turned out to have a crap insole that felt like walking on rubble, and they gave me blisters every time I wore them.

Would I put them in the bin and reluctantly accept I'd bought a pair of duds, or would I stubbornly keep wearing them and tell everyone I meet "they're crap and I hate them, but I spent £150 on them so they must still be good, right?".

 

[Smurph]

Bring Russell home!

Edit: clearly this is a joke

 

[sit_down_jack]

If I treated myself to a pair of £150 trainers, but they turned out to have a crap insole that felt like walking on rubble, and they gave me blisters every time I wore them.

Would I put them in the bin and reluctantly accept I'd bought a pair of duds, or would I stubbornly keep wearing them and tell everyone I meet "they're crap and I hate them, but I spent £150 on them so they must still be good, right?".

Surely you can see that these players aren’t that bad? Vigs is very good at this level, Burgess and Cabango are solid enough for the Championship. Tymon is one of the best crossers in the league. We saw Galbraith play better passes than any Preston player last night. Vipotnik has been excellent this season. That spine is more than decent. Add in Widell and Inoussa who have shown quality that needs to be nurtured and we shouldn’t be talking about a lower midtable side here.

I respect that people want to call out the players because it can’t just be all on the manager but to say that some of these players belong where we are in the table, I think just isn’t true.

 

[peter]

I can understand the frustration and perhaps just perhaps with all the new guys coming in including an assistant it is taking more time than it should but for me the last 3 games show what we are capable of and being ultra critical its the final pass and the ball not hitting the back of the net is the problem, Vip needed time in my opinion so does Ideah

 

[cwmdonkinjack]

If I treated myself to a pair of £150 trainers, but they turned out to have a crap insole that felt like walking on rubble, and they gave me blisters every time I wore them.

Would I put them in the bin and reluctantly accept I'd bought a pair of duds, or would I stubbornly keep wearing them and tell everyone I meet "they're crap and I hate them, but I spent £150 on them so they must still be good, right?".

 

[magicdaps10]

If I treated myself to a pair of £150 trainers, but they turned out to have a crap insole that felt like walking on rubble, and they gave me blisters every time I wore them.

Would I put them in the bin and reluctantly accept I'd bought a pair of duds, or would I stubbornly keep wearing them and tell everyone I meet "they're crap and I hate them, but I spent £150 on them so they must still be good, right?".

Not a way I would have put it but it made me laugh and it strikes to the point

Remain stubborn or put your hands up and say you were wrong

 

[swansvalleyjack]

Stating the obvious I know but all this focus on the players not being good enough is total nonsense in my opinion.

At the end of the window the vast majority of fans were delighted with the recruitment

So many windows we've seen that new names mean nothing without quality on the pitch. This season it's similar I think (I'll exclude Galbraith & Burgess) but the arrival of LOTS of new names this time around raised hopes even higher than usual ..and then the disappointment is even greater.

I really hope I'm wrong but Sheehan and most of the players are decent but average for getting out of this Division. But I'm not wrong about tedious football I'm afraid.

 

[jack_lord]

We have got a good squad. Team selection and tactics does raise my eyebrows but some of the subs are barking mad. If it isn't working you don't continue to do it hoping it will work.
We were unlucky last night and done again by the ref. Ronald was pulled over in the area and that was as 100% as you can get a penalty. We should have had at least a point but that just shows that Sheehan is getting some things wrong. I can figure out how he managed to get so many results with a worse squad last season.
I do believe that yalcouhe is a game changer but has he had his chips because of the sending off?

 

[Andrew - North Hill]

Surely you can see that these players aren’t that bad? Vigs is very good at this level, Burgess and Cabango are solid enough for the Championship. Tymon is one of the best crossers in the league. We saw Galbraith play better passes than any Preston player last night. Vipotnik has been excellent this season. That spine is more than decent. Add in Widell and Inoussa who have shown quality that needs to be nurtured and we shouldn’t be talking about a lower midtable side here.

I respect that people want to call out the players because it can’t just be all on the manager but to say that some of these players belong where we are in the table, I think just isn’t true.

Vig, Burgess and Galbraith have been very consistent this season. I like the three of them loads.

Vip had a cracking spell of about 4-5 weeks, I'm still not completely convinced but he's definitely improving.

Everyone else has been flaky. You mention Tymon, but 1 assist in 14 league games this season. Is that good then? He's probably been better defensively, I'll give him that, but he's doing nothing up the other end. Inoussa and Widell - again, they look exciting to the eye, but what tangible outputs have they contributed?

We don't have many outright poor players, but we do have a lot of mediocre ones. Mediocre makes up about 75% of our squad, imo.

Which is why I firmly believe we'll just amble to mid table (regardless of the coach)

 

[tardylum]

If I treated myself to a pair of £150 trainers, but they turned out to have a crap insole that felt like walking on rubble, and they gave me blisters every time I wore them.

Would I put them in the bin and reluctantly accept I'd bought a pair of duds, or would I stubbornly keep wearing them and tell everyone I meet "they're crap and I hate them, but I spent £150 on them so they must still be good, right?".

This is a well made point. I think there is a middle ground that people need to accept. The squad is not as good as some people thought it might be and the coach is also not as good as some people thought he might be. The squad is also not as bad as some people think it might be and neither is the coach. The squad not being good enough is not helping Sheehan but Sheehan not being good enough is not helping the players either.

Inoussa feels like a very good example of this. Some people have gone over the top with praise on performances so far and see him as an elite Championship player already. Some people are now starting to question his quality. I think he has shown promise, but needs a lot of improvement and I do not think Sheehan has a plan to put him in a position to succeed. To be a top winger in this league you need to have more output around the box and he has not really been in positions around the box in space to show whether he can do this or not yet. Often times he getting the ball in very deep areas and if he dribbles by the defenders he is still 40 yards away from goal, until we see him getting these chances against the fullback outside the area it will be hard to know whether he has that next level.

I do not think we have many bad players in the squad and most can play in the Championship in the right team. Unfortunately I think our transfers were too focused on defenders and midfielders and not enough on attacking players. We have ended up with a lot of good but not great players who all do similar things and who all suffer from not having the difference makers around them to make up for their weaknesses. I do not know who is responsible for this, maybe it is Sheehan and how he sees the game. The fans forum showed he is mainly focused on out of possession work but the club trusted him and we ended up with a very Sheehan squad. Maybe they can help him out and get him more attacking players but I do not know if he would play them. Widdel is a good example because he is more attacking than other players we have but does not seem to be a luxury player or even a player hard to fit in a team because he is too attacking but he is no Bruno Fernandes or De Bruyne and he still was not selected much. We spent quite a lot this summer and have a squad to build from but the transfers need to be very effective in January to help the other players out if Sheehan is the manager or if he has gone by that point.

 

[tardylum]

We have got a good squad. Team selection and tactics does raise my eyebrows but some of the subs are barking mad. If it isn't working you don't continue to do it hoping it will work.
We were unlucky last night and done again by the ref. Ronald was pulled over in the area and that was as 100% as you can get a penalty. We should have had at least a point but that just shows that Sheehan is getting some things wrong. I can figure out how he managed to get so many results with a worse squad last season.
I do believe that yalcouhe is a game changer but has he had his chips because of the sending off?

People keep saying this about Yalcouye but he has not shown anything of this so far. Is it just because he came from Brighton because he has not show much in our shirt. He is much more like a hard working out of possession player that Sheehan likes than somebody who will fix our creative problems right now. We were losing last night and he did not even get off the bench because he is not the type of player to help score more goals directly.

 

[jack_lord]

People keep saying this about Yalcouye but he has not shown anything of this so far. Is it just because he came from Brighton because he has not show much in our shirt. He is much more like a hard working out of possession player that Sheehan likes than somebody who will fix our creative problems right now. We were losing last night and he did not even get off the bench because he is not the type of player to help score more goals directly.

We needed someone last night who was working hard off the ball and could get in to good positions to release Idah or Vip. Forget the hype about Brighton, he can play. That lad can turn on a sixpence which I have seen a number of times which is why I would have him in games where we are playing 3 CM's.