Having had time to reflect on Saturday I'm still stunned at how inept we were. We were effectively in the game for ten minutes and after that were comprehensively outplayed.
We're in League One and to see us come up so far short against promotion rivals is beyond disappointing. Those who say it was just a bad day at the office or a one-off don't seem to be facing up to how poor we've been at times in a lot of recent games.
Having had time to reflect on Saturday I'm still stunned at how inept we were. We were effectively in the game for ten minutes and after that were comprehensively outplayed.
We're in League One and to see us come up so far short against promotion rivals is beyond disappointing. Those who say it was just a bad day at the office or a one-off don't seem to be facing up to how poor we've been at times in a lot of recent games.
Agreed. We haven't been very good for ages. Even during our decent run in January we were struggling.
Look at our top scorers and you see a symptom of the problem. I know we can't bring anybody in now, but there are some things we can try - especially at the Valley where we struggle against most sides to differing degrees. Why doesn't Robinson try something new at home? He bemoaned a type of player we haven't got after Saturday - his job is the get the best out of the players we have got, and we do have some decent players. Magennis is one of them and he is crying out for a striker playing with him at home! We have a couple of options we can try - Ajose or Zyro. They may not be the answer, but Robinson is showing himself to be a manager who doesn't ask the questions of himself and is lacking flexibility! I feel we should give him a chance, but he has to start trying something different at home!
Marshall and Reeves were frees @Airman Brown . Not heard that they had chunky signing on fees. Doubt Duchatelet would be desperate to pay those somehow. It may have been the norm in the past, but under Roly when he's decided to sell the club? I could easily be wrong and maybe big fees and wages have been agreed with these players. Perhaps the deal was he could use the money used from getting rid of the big earners. That would make sense. Shrewsbury also have frees though, and maybe they've had to pay wages and signing on fees as well, I don't know. I hate to say it, but Charlton under Seed were way more Shrewsbury than they were Blackburn (or Arsenal - you get my drift). It was about character, organisation, and team spirit, exactly what we saw from the Shrews, although Charlton were hopefully less 'physically intimidating'. They didn't have a reputation as a dirty side at any rate.
As I've said a couple of times above, Karl wanted a more physical kind of midfielder - yes, the exact kind all the other clubs want. So are they available? Yes, at a price. So would Roly pay that price? No he wouldn't.
Right now it's clear that we need a new right back, but maybe that seemed less of a priority at the beginning of the season. People were talking about Konsa in that role?
And yes, we can all see we have too many bloody wingers.
Who's next? lol
Must have been Charlton's appeal as a well-run football club that persuaded them to join then, or do you think it likely they had no other options?
But I'm not running Karl's fan club whatever people think. I've criticised his team selections, tactics, formations and substitutions. There are plenty of bigger acolytes for people to bash out there! But I won't have this 'our squad is a top three squad' nonsense. It doesn't have enough battlers, height, or goals in it for that to be the case. We don't even have a midfield general type. Yes I hear you say, 'I blame Robinson!' Well, I maybe do too a little, but all I'm saying is that I blame Duchatelet a great deal more.
I think this is a fair assessment, but I do blame KR more than a little. However, he has improved the squad, whilst not spending much at all. There is no question that RD is 100% to blame.
He could play it away and at home change it subtly to 4-3-3 with attacking wing backs. Against the weaker teams he could play Marshall as a right back - he surely wouldn't defend worse than Solly has been doing for most of the season and Da Silva is an attacking left back.
Clearly the lack of transfer budget has prevented the acquisition of the 25 goal striker we would need to challenge for automatic. On this Robinson is blameless (though in retrospect you do wonder about the Grigg pursuit which at the time looked unlikely to come off, and now after that goal against Man City even more odd)
However, one thing English football isn't short of is experienced midfield enforcers, the sort who give 100%, do lot of running, make tackles and kick the opposition. The sort of player who gets MOTM when you play badly but grind out 1-0 wins at horrible Northern grounds in February. Maybe such lower division players wouldn't be able to step up to the Championship, but frankly I'd love to have that problem!
That we didn't sign such a player last summer is down to KR's football ethos, he likes to play football a certain way, when sometimes you have to be more pragmatic.
Clearly the lack of transfer budget has prevented the acquisition of the 25 goal striker we would need to challenge for automatic. On this Robinson is blameless (though in retrospect you do wonder about the Grigg pursuit which at the time looked unlikely to come off, and now after that goal against Man City even more odd)
However, one thing English football isn't short of is experienced midfield enforcers, the sort who give 100%, do lot of running, make tackles and kick the opposition. The sort of player who gets MOTM when you play badly but grind out 1-0 wins at horrible Northern grounds in February. Maybe such lower division players wouldn't be able to step up to the Championship, but frankly I'd love to have that problem!
That we didn't sign such a player last summer is down to KR's football ethos, he likes to play football a certain way, when sometimes you have to be more pragmatic.
Not really though. If he thought in July that he couldn't bring in a decent back up striker / replacement for Magennis when injured / anyone who could score then why let Vetokele, Ajose, Watt & Novak all leave ??? They last 2 may not be very good, but they are a damn sight better than nothing or (as it has be shown) a knackered & out of form Magennis. Oh, then he did the same thing in January by letting KAG go out & brought in 2 useless numpties who have yet to score.
His hands may have been massively tied behind his back but he has done himself no favours by shipping out players who were already here & were ours, and then bringing in loan players who have proved to be worse.
As Alan Sugar would say............you're fired !!
Having had time to reflect on Saturday I'm still stunned at how inept we were. We were effectively in the game for ten minutes and after that were comprehensively outplayed.
We're in League One and to see us come up so far short against promotion rivals is beyond disappointing. Those who say it was just a bad day at the office or a one-off don't seem to be facing up to how poor we've been at times in a lot of recent games.
After the disappointing 1st half against the Gills we had played ok before Saturday.
But looking back for whatever reason we just never really got to grips with Shrews gameplan. I reckon they will learn positively and constructively.
Men against boys today. Hardly surprising after four years of Duchatelet - what do we expect?
I took my Polish neighbours to the match (they've only ever been to four matches between them before). After ten minutes they said, 'you're good, but why are you so small.' Sort of summed up the team and the day really.
Not sure that can be entirely levelled at RD, as that team was basically a Robinson team, and he does seem to like signing a certain type of player.
Plenty of skilful individuals, but a real lack of defensive backbone and power, and leadership
Agreed, except that it’s basically the old team with some Robinson/Gallen additions - acquired with virtually zero money to spend.
His budget may be limited, but I bet it's far higher than Shrewsbury's, whose team seems to be mainly free transfers and loan players. How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
KR did have a choice. He brought in Mavadidi, Kaikai and Zyro, who are all attacking midfielders to go with Fosu, Marshall, Reeves and Aribo who has played the last 2 games "in the 3". Maybe he should have brought in someone for the engine room instead, to stop us being cut open so easily? Is a 2018 Bradley Pritchard, Danny Hollands or Darel Russell that hard to find?
I agree that we badly need an engine room midfielder, but Robinson has stated so himself (at the Bromley Addicks meeting and in a press conference) but wasn't given the money to buy one, and couldn't find an available one at the right price (i.e. almost free) who wanted to join us. That's quite an important point. It's probably Duchatelet you should be complaining to.
Where I don't agree is the argument that his budget is far higher that Shrewsbury's. He's spent less than 100K, so it can't be. Robinson can rightly be criticised for many things, but the narrative that he's build the squad of his dreams and has spent lavishly to do so it's total nonsense. He started with a weird dysfunctional bunch of players, and has at least removed some dead wood and brought in some flair players for peanuts. It's still way short of a being well balanced squad though, even though some of that is down to his not recruiting a second number 9 type striker.
How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
Sorry, but I'm not sure fans of many other top half League One clubs are quaking in their boots when the see the make up of our squad. Holmes, Mavididi and Fosu are the only players who have required double marking.
I know we aren't that aware of the make-up of other teams squads, so it's always a surprise when they look as good as, or better than us. But it's possible that our poor performances are not just down to Robinson, but also at least partly down to the way the club has been run for the last four years?
I want to see different team selections, formations and tactics, and I'll probably criticise Robinson if he doesn't make them. But I won't criticise Robinson about recruitment when he's has virtually nothing to spend..
As all our signings are "undisclosed" we'll never know, but we had to pay a development fee for Fosu & also a fee for Billy Clarke, so I would reckon the figure would be in excess of £250k & nearer to £500k.
As for the "combative midfielder" that we desperately need. Perhaps KR should have been looking at this instead of bringing in Reeves who in the scheme of things has been very disappointing, followed by a short neck (geddit) by Marshall. Looking at his summer dealings, these 2 have left me very underwhelmed & if it wasn't for Fosu (and to some extent BC) I'd had said that KR had a very poor summer in this respect. I wouldn't trust KR to organise the proverbial drink up in a pub.
Sorry, but Billy Clarke and Fosu were the only undiscloseds under Robinson, the rest (including Marshall and Reeves) were loans or frees. Duchatelet would never have let Karl spend £500K on two players, or any any players for that matter!
I believe Robbo when he says it was under £100K.
As I said above, he wanted an athletic midfielder but wasn't given the money to buy one, and he and Gallen couldn't find an available one at the right price (i.e. almost free) who wanted to join us.
It's not as easy as it might appear this management lark you know. It seems easy sitting behind a keyboard. We all think we could do better, me included.
Having had time to reflect on Saturday I'm still stunned at how inept we were. We were effectively in the game for ten minutes and after that were comprehensively outplayed.
We're in League One and to see us come up so far short against promotion rivals is beyond disappointing. Those who say it was just a bad day at the office or a one-off don't seem to be facing up to how poor we've been at times in a lot of recent games.
After the disappointing 1st half against the Gills we had played ok before Saturday.
But looking back for whatever reason we just never really got to grips with Shrews gameplan. I reckon they will learn positively and constructively.
I can tell you the reason - we are a team of individuals (some of them decent admittedly) with mediocre fitness levels.
Having had time to reflect on Saturday I'm still stunned at how inept we were. We were effectively in the game for ten minutes and after that were comprehensively outplayed.
We're in League One and to see us come up so far short against promotion rivals is beyond disappointing. Those who say it was just a bad day at the office or a one-off don't seem to be facing up to how poor we've been at times in a lot of recent games.
After the disappointing 1st half against the Gills we had played ok before Saturday.
But looking back for whatever reason we just never really got to grips with Shrews gameplan. I reckon they will learn positively and constructively.
I can tell you the reason - we are a team of individuals (some of them decent admittedly) with mediocre fitness levels.
It’s more complex than that I fear. I agree about the individuals not blending together as a team, but fitness I don't think is a massive part of the problem.
Having had time to reflect on Saturday I'm still stunned at how inept we were. We were effectively in the game for ten minutes and after that were comprehensively outplayed.
We're in League One and to see us come up so far short against promotion rivals is beyond disappointing. Those who say it was just a bad day at the office or a one-off don't seem to be facing up to how poor we've been at times in a lot of recent games.
After the disappointing 1st half against the Gills we had played ok before Saturday.
But looking back for whatever reason we just never really got to grips with Shrews gameplan. I reckon they will learn positively and constructively.
I'm sorry you really are not facing up to our recent form - capitulated against Oxford to lose 3-2, failed to close out game against Doncaster, didn't turn up for second half against Bradford.
Having had time to reflect on Saturday I'm still stunned at how inept we were. We were effectively in the game for ten minutes and after that were comprehensively outplayed.
We're in League One and to see us come up so far short against promotion rivals is beyond disappointing. Those who say it was just a bad day at the office or a one-off don't seem to be facing up to how poor we've been at times in a lot of recent games.
After the disappointing 1st half against the Gills we had played ok before Saturday.
But looking back for whatever reason we just never really got to grips with Shrews gameplan. I reckon they will learn positively and constructively.
I'm sorry you really are not facing up to our recent form - capitulated against Oxford to lose 3-2, failed to close out game against Doncaster, didn't turn up for second half against Bradford.
Even in those games for all our faults we played ok for good parts. But not against Shrews as it was the first time we were really out of a game for 85 minutes for several weeks. This mornings news about Jay and Kash is a blow though.
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We're in League One and to see us come up so far short against promotion rivals is beyond disappointing. Those who say it was just a bad day at the office or a one-off don't seem to be facing up to how poor we've been at times in a lot of recent games.
However, he has improved the squad, whilst not spending much at all.
There is no question that RD is 100% to blame.
However, one thing English football isn't short of is experienced midfield enforcers, the sort who give 100%, do lot of running, make tackles and kick the opposition. The sort of player who gets MOTM when you play badly but grind out 1-0 wins at horrible Northern grounds in February. Maybe such lower division players wouldn't be able to step up to the Championship, but frankly I'd love to have that problem!
That we didn't sign such a player last summer is down to KR's football ethos, he likes to play football a certain way, when sometimes you have to be more pragmatic.
His hands may have been massively tied behind his back but he has done himself no favours by shipping out players who were already here & were ours, and then bringing in loan players who have proved to be worse.
As Alan Sugar would say............you're fired !!
But looking back for whatever reason we just never really got to grips with Shrews gameplan. I reckon they will learn positively and constructively.