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What's gone wrong in the last month?

Personally I think its too early to go into panic mood but its clear things have gone noticeably awry in the last month.

Its just 28 days ago following the Luton draw that at the 10 game point, the members poll showed:

Better than expected - 81%
As expected -19%
Worse than expected - 0%

I know if we repeated it now it would be very very different, but its worth reminding of the contented picture just 5 games, 28 days ago.

Since then there has been 1 win, 1 draw, 3 defeats.

So has it been a tactical change? personnel change? inconsistent team selection? further injury impact? attitude & effort shift? underlying squad issues?

or is it just a bad run, it happens and although hard post-defeat, we shouldn't be so short-termist in trying to analyse ??

what's your thoughts?



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Comments

  • My thoughts are that we are a long way from promotion and there is no obvious reason why that would stop being the case. I'm not panicking, because my expectations are now so low.
  • Yes, it's a mystery really, though it can't be a coincidence that the downturn started with Page going off after 5 minutes of the Scunthorpe game
  • Sorry for the doom and gloom but we are just not that good.

    Look at who we beat in our run.

    Southend 11th, but not convinced they’ll finish there.
    Wycombe 16th and just come up, which we still made hard work of.
    Bradford 24th and cleary thee worst team in the league.
    Plymouth 22nd and on a dog run when we played them.

    And for me we cannot use the injury card, last three games have not been because of a left back. I’ll give you Scunthorpe.
  • J BLOCK said:

    Diamond formation being found out for me, they had all the space in the world on the wings, Tuesday. Again today, they sprayed the ball out wide and had acres of space.

    Shrewsbury found us out with it in the playoffs.

    I think the rotation of the starting XI is also an issue.
  • We had a very strong bench today though. It isn't the strength in depth. I think Bowyer has made some weird decisions of late
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  • We are inconsistent but have talent and spirit still feel we can get promoted even the automatic places are attainable
  • Injuries especially the loss of Bauer and Page. Has also lead to Bowyer being unwilling to risk players when not 100% IE Bielik.

    Inconsistencies ie today was same side that beat Barnsley.

    Lack of goals from anyone but Grant and Taylor.

    Inexperience. Not just some young players like Aribo being up and down but more importantly Bowyer and Jackson coming up against old heads like Keith Hill.




    Yes, this was my biggest concern when Bowyer took over. I felt he should have chosen a more experienced assistant manager, and kept JJ as coach. Although, I do understand that Andy Marshall was goalkeeping coach at Villa for over 3 years, so there is some experience amongst the coaching staff.

    Am I correct in thinking, that the coaching numbers have been reduced? I remember Russell Slade having Kevin Nugent as assistant manager, Simon Clark as first team coach and Lee Turner as GK coach. Similarily, Karl Robinson had Richie Barker as assistant manager, Chris O'Loughlin/Lee Bowyer as first team coach and Lee Turner as GK coach. Now we just have a manager, assistant manager and GK coach.
  • edited October 2018
    It’s absolutely obvious as far as I’m concerned. Firstly the loss of Page means that we have no natural width in the team. Solly is doing ok at left back but he doesn’t have the pace or skill to be a proper wing back and Dijksteel has obviously been told not to cross halfway. As a result the entire defence is unbalanced and our attack is neutered. Page is absolutely critical to the way we play as was Da Silva last season. Secondly, and I’m sorry to state the bleeding obvious, we are simply not as good as we believed/hoped. All this talk of automatic promotion and we are better than this is claptrap. We are a mid table league one side and that’s funnily enough where we are right now. I don’t see that changing anytime soon. I have a humble pie in the freezer just in case I’m wrong but I’ve seen nothing so far to suggest that we are any better. The games that we have won have been largely a struggle. I’m confident that we won’t be anywhere near a relegation struggle but this squad is brittle and, as the loss of Page has proved, full of potential single points of failure. Just wait till Lyle gets injured.
  • Injury to Bauer seems critical. Not sure Bowyer and Jackson aren't still finding their way tactically too.
  • Lack of strength in depth and a tactically inexperienced manager whose only direct management experience comes from working under Karl Robinson.
  • edited October 2018
    What was that Curbs quote about not getting too excited or despondent?
  • As much as I hate Roland, we can’t blame him for everything (although we can blame him for a lot). Our loss today and our draw against Oxford are not his fault. Our squad is stronger than both Oxford and Rochdale so why can’t we beat them? I hate to say it but we have to question Bowyer
  • edited October 2018

    As much as I hate Roland, we can’t blame him for everything (although we can blame him for a lot). Our loss today and our draw against Oxford are not his fault. Our squad is stronger than both Oxford and Rochdale so why can’t we beat them? I hate to say it but we have to question Bowyer

    Lacknof strength in depth, caused by funding cuts... By... ROLAND.
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  • Dazzler21 said:

    As much as I hate Roland, we can’t blame him for everything (although we can blame him for a lot). Our loss today and our draw against Oxford are not his fault. Our squad is stronger than both Oxford and Rochdale so why can’t we beat them? I hate to say it but we have to question Bowyer

    Lacknof strength in depth, caused by funding cuts... By... ROLAND.
    Our only starters who are injured are Page and Bauer. Doesn’t explain why we can’t score goals
  • edited October 2018
    What's so hard to understand about lack of strength in depth... When your first 11 aren't performing you need at least competition for their places...

    We have no strength in our depth... At least not fit, ready to challenge strength in depth.

    Can't score yet scored 22 in 15 league games of which our strike partnership has 15 of those. We've scored 7 in the last 5 of those.

    If we include cup games it's 32 in 17.

    I think the fact is we can't defend. Probably still Naby's fault.
  • Dazzler21 said:

    What's so hard to understand about lack of strength in depth... When your first 11 aren't performing you need at least competition for their places...

    We have no strength in our depth... At least not fit, ready to challenge strength in depth.

    Can't score yet scored 22 in 15 league games of which our strike partnership has 15 of those. We've scored 7 in the last 5 of those.

    If we include cup games it's 32 in 17.

    I think the fact is we can't defend. Probably still Naby's fault.

    Agreed, you don't deserve to win games, even at this level if you are playing Pratley at CB, Dijksteel at RB and Solly at LB.
  • Can't blame our bad results on a couple of injuries. We're in L1 ffs and few of the teams have much squad depth.

    I like LB but he has a lot to learn.
  • Injuries especially the loss of Bauer and Page. Has also lead to Bowyer being unwilling to risk players when not 100% IE Bielik.

    Inconsistencies ie today was same side that beat Barnsley.

    Lack of goals from anyone but Grant and Taylor.

    Inexperience. Not just some young players like Aribo being up and down but more importantly Bowyer and Jackson coming up against old heads like Keith Hill.



    THIS.
  • It’s absolutely obvious as far as I’m concerned. Firstly the loss of Page means that we have no natural width in the team. Solly is doing ok at left back but he doesn’t have the pace or skill to be a proper wing back and Dijksteel has obviously been told not to cross halfway. As a result the entire defence is unbalanced and our attack is neutered. Page is absolutely critical to the way we play as was Da Silva last season. Secondly, and I’m sorry to state the bleeding obvious, we are simply not as good as we believed/hoped. All this talk of automatic promotion and we are better than this is claptrap. We are a mid table league one side and that’s funnily enough where we are right now. I don’t see that changing anytime soon. I have a humble pie in the freezer just in case I’m wrong but I’ve seen nothing so far to suggest that we are any better. The games that we have won have been largely a struggle. I’m confident that we won’t be anywhere near a relegation struggle but this squad is brittle and, as the loss of Page has proved, full of potential single points of failure. Just wait till Lyle gets injured.

    THIS. as well.
  • I think the problem has been too many disruptions at the back. For me a strong back 4 (especially at CB) is the backbone of any team and after the Page injury we have been unbalanced back there.

    Both Pierce and Solly playing out of position was the reason we looked so bad at the back against Scunny and Coventry in my opinion. We looked good going forward but were woeful in defence whenever they threatened.

    Against Bradford we were solid again because we had two CB's in Pierce and Bielik who were comfortable in their positions. Even with Solly on the left we looked solid and Dijksteel had his best game for us on the right. I believe that was because the entire back 4 felt a solid unit.

    And then in both the Oxford game and today we started with Pierce and Pratley at CB even though Bielik was available. And Pratley has never played at CB before! Too much tinkering at the back I feel. Trying to be too clever? Who knows.

    And, more worrying, is that the tinkering seems to be affecting the rest of the team, because today we were woeful all over.

    This strikes me as just inexperience on the part of both LB and Jacko. But, it is also basic football common sense in my opinion, which is a concern. I believe players should always play in their natural positions if at all possible, especially at the back.

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Roland Out Forever!