I think there is an important point we should not forget around our sudden upturn in form. And that is, that most of us were crying out for strengthening all season as we could see we were not far off being a decent team. Now the network has to take credit of the strength of the current team, but also blame for not addressing this issue earlier which could have cost us promotion. We are now in a situation where we are well poised for a push next season. But a lot of Roland’s decisions have been head scrtachers and I am not as confident as I would like to be that we haven’t got some more in store for us in the coming months. What we need now is a bit of stability as we have not been in such a strong position for a while.
I tend to agree but in retrospect two things are becoming clear. This season was never about pushing for the top eight. And the board must have had doubts about Peeters since they didn't back him with a decent reserve keeper etc. The difference going forwards is that Luzon is tried and tested having been top of the Jupiler league this time last year. Not only has he received reinforcements for the bench but he has straightened out the front six getting the best out of Bulot and Cousins in their correct positions. Nothing concrete to base it on but one would hope this summer that the board do whatever it takes to kick on with the squad and turn us into a top eight club. I would venture that we already have 15 players good enough to become a top club in this division. That's between 8 and 10 more than this time last year! Given that many of our top players are aged 20-24 with Gomez just 1, I really think we can step up next season.
Further adding to my point regarding Antonio. Once we showed him down the line his left foot was so bad I was embarassed for him. If you watch solly he always shows the winger on the outside its not hard to do. Gomez did exactly that and Antonio didn't show any threat.
Wilson was standing off way too much allowing Antonio time to get the ball and cut inside. Gomez was much tighter making Antonio to stay on the outside where he is much more ineffective. Well done Joe.
Also have to laugh at Luzon being 'head and shoulders' above Powell at Charlton after a handful of games.
This. especially with the squad that he is blessed with. Many suggested that they thought the team line up last night wouldnt be good enough to win, yet when did Powell ever have the quality that last night's line up possessed?
Also have to laugh at Luzon being 'head and shoulders' above Powell at Charlton after a handful of games.
This. especially with the squad that he is blessed with. Many suggested that they thought the team line up last night wouldnt be good enough to win, yet when did Powell ever have the quality that last night's line up possessed?
When you are not that tactically astute and brave enough to make substations to change/win the game, it doesn't matter how good the squad is, it matters how good the manager is, thats what they are paid for. Powell was a good man manager and new how to put his arm around a player. Luzon knows as well, but Luzon is tactically superior and braver than Powell, we saw that on Saturday and we saw it last night. No question.
Also have to laugh at Luzon being 'head and shoulders' above Powell at Charlton after a handful of games.
Agreed, load of nonsense. Unfortunately Powell didn't have the benefit of an influx of new players to work with like we do right now.
Powell got an influx of players 18 in fact after he failed miserably in taking over from PP. Powell went on to have the best season a CAFC side has had once he had his new players. (even if it was League 1)
Once in the championship, those players finished 9th...... when he wasn't given money to spend he very quickly became an average Joe again.
Either way at this moment it is completely irrelevant of a point to make by either party.
Powell has been gone nearly a year!
It's pathetic people are still giving the man his love in or giving him stick.
Even Powell said he was embarrassed by the minutes applause on his return.
Luzon is here, in a tough league, doing a tougher job, for a tougher owner and an even tougher crowd RIGHT NOW.
I think Powell also said he would treasure it. It isn't a competition between Powell and Luzon. We will probably never love Luzon the way we loved Powell. It was a lot about the way he loved us back rather than his achievements - that were still notable. But Luzon competes against the division and has won the respect of many of us for what he has done so far. Using one to score points over the other is petty and pointless.
Powell was always going to be loved, because of what he did as a player.
Chris is also enough of a showman to milk that affection. He is the inventor of the tunnel jump. And there was the MASSIVE crossbar swing. Not a criticism at all. It's part of his endearing charm.
Luzon is not looking to be anyone's hero. He is here to do a job. What did he say quite earlyin his tenure? Something like: "I will change the fans view of me"?
Let's not use our form to dismiss any criticism of the Duchatelet era so far. Roland still has a lot to prove. That still stands. Now, onto the match….
I would be interested in why? For me he has now delivered, so many were totally wrong about the way he goes about things. I had lost faith due to his reluctance in the transfer window, but he rectified that with some astute signings. We are playing some great football we are scoring goals, we have an excellent manager, head and shoulders above the last 3 (with the possible exception of Riga). We had a sold out Valley last Saturday. What is there not to like? And what the hell more can he do? Let us know.
Sure. For a start he could get the squad right at the start of the season, not two thirds of the way through. Up until Watt arrived we had one decent half fit forward for most of the season. Up until recently we had no experienced cover in virtually every position, so that injuries and suspensions meant that we went on a 14 match run of no wins.
Somebody, maybe Roland, realised in the end that the small squad strategy had not worked and they have pulled us out of the fire.
So, let us see in the run up to August whether lessons have really been learned. We now have the basis for a promotion push next season with the current squad. If it is kept intact, or even strengthened, then I will be the first to welcome our owner's conversion. But if Watt, Bulot, Gomez and JBG are sold off or shipped out then I reckon we will still have cause for concern.
Season manager marks - Peeters 4/10; Luzon 8/10 + improving. We got the result tonight primarily because of Guy. Team selection very good with an injury list that's grown. I think he was right to start with Harriott but made decisive move to double sub. Wilson just faced a nightmare scenario. Guy is getting the majority to improve and playing them in the right positions. Well done the crouching tiger!
Oh come on, Peeters did give us the longest unbeaten run in the league!!!
Indeed. How much of our decline was down to Peeters and how much to the threadbare squad?
Am I the only one who thought Forest should not have felt obliged to give the ball back when Vetokele was injured (or in truth 'fatigued')? I couldn't understand why they kicked it out in the first place.
Is the bear a Catholic? Does the Pope shit in the woods? Or something like that.
And would have been in vain were it not for a good take by the keeper 30 seconds later. Was fab to watch but I'd prefer it if players keep the big crowd acknowledgements to the end just in case....
I went and was in a box with some 'premier league' fans. Aka Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool etc. It was interesting to hear their comments and reactions on our players and stadium and general style of play.
They loved the stadium and the pitch. Said it had a nice homely feel to it.
I intentionally did not talk about any of our players so that they could form their own opinions. It seems that they were all really impressed with Cousins and Gomez. They were surprised with some of the 'names' we had now. Such as DIARRA, TBH, Bikey, Johnson and Eagles. They loved Tony Watt. Least impressive was Wilson, Harriott and surprisingly Hendo and Vetokele. Apparently Fox is a tidy little player and Buyens appears as a water carrier player, whatever that means.
Was a funny moment when someone asked who is this winger, where is he from (Antonio) with most expecting like Brazil or Spain or something only for someone to Wikipedia it and state 'Wandsworth'.
General consensus was that if we could keep this set of players together and keep playing that style of football. Few improvements we should be at least battling the play offs.
My opinion was that Watt was excellent once again. Cousins absolutely outstanding and Gomez is superb for a 17 year old, he will be a star. I enjoyed box. Was a good experience and would recommend it.
Antonio dumped him into those hoardings to undermine him further as he could see he was struggling against him. Ref was weak not booking him which invited Lansbury to do the same on Diarra. It is shameful to play in this way and the ref has a duty of care that he failed to show.
Just on this apart from Antonio's snide challenge and on a very serious note, did anyone else see how close Wilson's head came to the metal handrail of the steps down to the pitch? His head missed there handrail by inches and the club H & S should have a serious look at how that area could be better screened off for player protection, that incident last night could've been far worse than it actually ended up
I spotted that and made the same comment as you. Those rails need covering with foam or suchlike.
Also have to laugh at Luzon being 'head and shoulders' above Powell at Charlton after a handful of games.
Agreed, load of nonsense. Unfortunately Powell didn't have the benefit of an influx of new players to work with like we do right now.
Of course it's far too early to say Luzon is better than Powell.
In our L1 title season, Powell WAS able to being in lots of new players, indeed virtually a whole new team, cherry picking many of the best players from other teams in L1. I bet Phil Parkinson would have loved that opportunity!
Of course its too early to say definitively that Luzon is better than Powell (he is )
However, I don't think its fair to compare Luzon with Powell as the circumstances are so different. Powell had the money cut under Slater and wasn't trusted under Guy so never really stood a chance. However the main reason its unfair to compare is that Powell was/is still relatively new to management. I for one was happy to see him grow into the role over a couple more years, alas it wasn't to be, so we 'move on', and I have COYR.
Most has been said , saw our line up and thought that defence will leak goals and thankfully the half time shuffle worked, well done Luzon for shuffling like he did
Great night and atmosphere and the result was perfect with the magic man Watt doing things with a football we can only dream about and a special mention to Cousins who on the left looks like he doesn't know what a football is and in the middle has the ability of a top top player
Now for a boring Curbs style reality check without doubt Luzon deserves praise because he has produced brilliant results and performances beyond our wildest dreams but as with BP too many were quick to make out he was the greatest thing since sliced bread and Roland had got a play off chasing squad together etc etc when it was only for a short period of time that that may have been possible and we didn't push on and it was all a bluff in the end Don't get too high with the wins or too low with the losses or something like that was what the great man said With safety assured , let's enjoy the pain of millwall and not stress about us too much !
The real test will be what sort of a squad we have come next September and Come December where Luzon has got them , then and only then can the adulation of Roly and Guy have some weight to it
55% 7th-12th amazing ..... 45% 13th-21st safety is assured boooom!
SIt in the north-west and to see Tony Watt clearly enjoying our support and his play was superb it is nice to have a showman on board when was our last of those?
We've had showmen before (Jerome Thomas / Lloyd Sam etc...) but they werent as effective as Tony Watt has been, when he gets the ball it just sticks to him
Thomas, particularly, showboated which is not the same as being a showman.
I think Powell also said he would treasure it. It isn't a competition between Powell and Luzon. We will probably never love Luzon the way we loved Powell. It was a lot about the way he loved us back rather than his achievements - that were still notable. But Luzon competes against the division and has won the respect of many of us for what he has done so far. Using one to score points over the other is petty and pointless.
Further adding to my point regarding Antonio. Once we showed him down the line his left foot was so bad I was embarassed for him. If you watch solly he always shows the winger on the outside its not hard to do. Gomez did exactly that and Antonio didn't show any threat.
Wilson was standing off way too much allowing Antonio time to get the ball and cut inside. Gomez was much tighter making Antonio to stay on the outside where he is much more ineffective. Well done Joe.
Whilst agreeing about Wilson, he was also hampered by Harriot offering no defensive support, he must have been so pleased to see Harriot hobbling off at half time only to spit his halftime cuppa out when finding out he was off as well.
Most has been said , saw our line up and thought that defence will leak goals and thankfully the half time shuffle worked, well done Luzon for shuffling like he did
Great night and atmosphere and the result was perfect with the magic man Watt doing things with a football we can only dream about and a special mention to Cousins who on the left looks like he doesn't know what a football is and in the middle has the ability of a top top player
Now for a boring Curbs style reality check without doubt Luzon deserves praise because he has produced brilliant results and performances beyond our wildest dreams but as with BP too many were quick to make out he was the greatest thing since sliced bread and Roland had got a play off chasing squad together etc etc when it was only for a short period of time that that may have been possible and we didn't push on and it was all a bluff in the end Don't get too high with the wins or too low with the losses or something like that was what the great man said With safety assured , let's enjoy the pain of millwall and not stress about us too much !
The real test will be what sort of a squad we have come next September and Come December where Luzon has got them , then and only then can the adulation of Roly and Guy have some weight to it
55% 7th-12th amazing ..... 45% 13th-21st safety is assured boooom!
Take your point about the initial playing squad but surely any squad at any club is built around, a) players who you think will do the required job and b) players who are available at that particular time.
Add this formula to playing style and formation (4-4-2 as opposed to 4-5-1 or 4-1-4-1 etc) and you have a completely different outcome which we're now seeing.
Peeters & RD likely believed that Tucudean would be the man and on occasion he almost showed that he was but if, for example, Tony Watt had been available to Peeters, It's likely he'd still be in a job and playing much more positive football.
It's time and place syndrome.
So, it's normal to look back and say what might or should have been but much of what was is down to the playing squad available plus right or wrong player choices and who was available at the time.
Defensively we were spot on - what we lacked was Tony Watt and the ability to play Cousins in the middle of the park.
Further adding to my point regarding Antonio. Once we showed him down the line his left foot was so bad I was embarassed for him. If you watch solly he always shows the winger on the outside its not hard to do. Gomez did exactly that and Antonio didn't show any threat.
Wilson was standing off way too much allowing Antonio time to get the ball and cut inside. Gomez was much tighter making Antonio to stay on the outside where he is much more ineffective. Well done Joe.
Whilst agreeing about Wilson, he was also hampered by Harriot offering no defensive support, he must have been so pleased to see Harriot hobbling off at half time only to spit his halftime cuppa out when finding out he was off as well.
I do agree with that to some extent. Harriott offered Wilson no protection at all but Wilson kept drifting inside with the centre halves, leaving Antonio in acres of space. I like Wilson but if he plays it has to be in midfield.
Further adding to my point regarding Antonio. Once we showed him down the line his left foot was so bad I was embarassed for him. If you watch solly he always shows the winger on the outside its not hard to do. Gomez did exactly that and Antonio didn't show any threat.
Wilson was standing off way too much allowing Antonio time to get the ball and cut inside. Gomez was much tighter making Antonio to stay on the outside where he is much more ineffective. Well done Joe.
Whilst agreeing about Wilson, he was also hampered by Harriot offering no defensive support, he must have been so pleased to see Harriot hobbling off at half time only to spit his halftime cuppa out when finding out he was off as well.
surely if you know you are up against a very very rapid winger like Antonio who is going to do you for pace you intentionally don't get too close otherwise he'll skin you and he's gone, better you stand off a bit close down the angle and show him down the line especially when you know he has no left foot
From Antonio's goal - In my opinion, It is not Wilson's fault. Harriott should one be MUCH stronger and two closer to Wilson/ deeper. Wilson is trying to show Antonio the line and is relying on Harriott to do his job. Antonio cuts across Harriott onto his right foot. Also, which I understand happened in the 2nd half, our CM (Cousins) should also be closer minimising the gap that Antonio can run into. If any doubt take him down, as I used too, lol. By the way, I used to play RB and it was always the RM fault if someone cut in like that and scored
Most has been said , saw our line up and thought that defence will leak goals and thankfully the half time shuffle worked, well done Luzon for shuffling like he did
Great night and atmosphere and the result was perfect with the magic man Watt doing things with a football we can only dream about and a special mention to Cousins who on the left looks like he doesn't know what a football is and in the middle has the ability of a top top player
Now for a boring Curbs style reality check without doubt Luzon deserves praise because he has produced brilliant results and performances beyond our wildest dreams but as with BP too many were quick to make out he was the greatest thing since sliced bread and Roland had got a play off chasing squad together etc etc when it was only for a short period of time that that may have been possible and we didn't push on and it was all a bluff in the end Don't get too high with the wins or too low with the losses or something like that was what the great man said With safety assured , let's enjoy the pain of millwall and not stress about us too much !
The real test will be what sort of a squad we have come next September and Come December where Luzon has got them , then and only then can the adulation of Roly and Guy have some weight to it
55% 7th-12th amazing ..... 45% 13th-21st safety is assured boooom!
Take your point about the initial playing squad but surely any squad at any club is built around, a) players who you think will do the required job and b) players who are available at that particular time.
Add this formula to playing style and formation (4-4-2 as opposed to 4-5-1 or 4-1-4-1 etc) and you have a completely different outcome which we're now seeing.
Peeters & RD likely believed that Tucudean would be the man and on occasion he almost showed that he was but if, for example, Tony Watt had been available to Peeters, It's likely he'd still be in a job and playing much more positive football.
It's time and place syndrome.
So, it's normal to look back and say what might or should have been but much of what was is down to the playing squad available plus right or wrong player choices and who was available at the time.
Defensively we were spot on - what we lacked was Tony Watt and the ability to play Cousins in the middle of the park.
its my opinion that Bob Peeters started off to a great start UNTIL other managers saw through his tactics and he was unable to adapt or change tactics leading to the poor performances and like a poor workman, blamed his tools (the players). Guy Luzon seems to be a master technician and I hope that he'd keep other managers guessing and exploiting their weaknesses. That's the key difference, no matter who's in the team as shown by the second string back four selection vs Forest!
Most has been said , saw our line up and thought that defence will leak goals and thankfully the half time shuffle worked, well done Luzon for shuffling like he did
Great night and atmosphere and the result was perfect with the magic man Watt doing things with a football we can only dream about and a special mention to Cousins who on the left looks like he doesn't know what a football is and in the middle has the ability of a top top player
Now for a boring Curbs style reality check without doubt Luzon deserves praise because he has produced brilliant results and performances beyond our wildest dreams but as with BP too many were quick to make out he was the greatest thing since sliced bread and Roland had got a play off chasing squad together etc etc when it was only for a short period of time that that may have been possible and we didn't push on and it was all a bluff in the end Don't get too high with the wins or too low with the losses or something like that was what the great man said With safety assured , let's enjoy the pain of millwall and not stress about us too much !
The real test will be what sort of a squad we have come next September and Come December where Luzon has got them , then and only then can the adulation of Roly and Guy have some weight to it
55% 7th-12th amazing ..... 45% 13th-21st safety is assured boooom!
Take your point about the initial playing squad but surely any squad at any club is built around, a) players who you think will do the required job and b) players who are available at that particular time.
Add this formula to playing style and formation (4-4-2 as opposed to 4-5-1 or 4-1-4-1 etc) and you have a completely different outcome which we're now seeing.
Peeters & RD likely believed that Tucudean would be the man and on occasion he almost showed that he was but if, for example, Tony Watt had been available to Peeters, It's likely he'd still be in a job and playing much more positive football.
It's time and place syndrome.
So, it's normal to look back and say what might or should have been but much of what was is down to the playing squad available plus right or wrong player choices and who was available at the time.
Defensively we were spot on - what we lacked was Tony Watt and the ability to play Cousins in the middle of the park.
its my opinion that Bob Peeters started off to a great start UNTIL other managers saw through his tactics and he was unable to adapt or change tactics leading to the poor performances and like a poor workman, blamed his tools (the players). Guy Luzon seems to be a master technician and I hope that he'd keep other managers guessing and exploiting their weaknesses. That's the key difference, no matter who's in the team as shown by the second string back four selection vs Forest!
Most has been said , saw our line up and thought that defence will leak goals and thankfully the half time shuffle worked, well done Luzon for shuffling like he did
Great night and atmosphere and the result was perfect with the magic man Watt doing things with a football we can only dream about and a special mention to Cousins who on the left looks like he doesn't know what a football is and in the middle has the ability of a top top player
Now for a boring Curbs style reality check without doubt Luzon deserves praise because he has produced brilliant results and performances beyond our wildest dreams but as with BP too many were quick to make out he was the greatest thing since sliced bread and Roland had got a play off chasing squad together etc etc when it was only for a short period of time that that may have been possible and we didn't push on and it was all a bluff in the end Don't get too high with the wins or too low with the losses or something like that was what the great man said With safety assured , let's enjoy the pain of millwall and not stress about us too much !
The real test will be what sort of a squad we have come next September and Come December where Luzon has got them , then and only then can the adulation of Roly and Guy have some weight to it
55% 7th-12th amazing ..... 45% 13th-21st safety is assured boooom!
Take your point about the initial playing squad but surely any squad at any club is built around, a) players who you think will do the required job and b) players who are available at that particular time.
Add this formula to playing style and formation (4-4-2 as opposed to 4-5-1 or 4-1-4-1 etc) and you have a completely different outcome which we're now seeing.
Peeters & RD likely believed that Tucudean would be the man and on occasion he almost showed that he was but if, for example, Tony Watt had been available to Peeters, It's likely he'd still be in a job and playing much more positive football.
It's time and place syndrome.
So, it's normal to look back and say what might or should have been but much of what was is down to the playing squad available plus right or wrong player choices and who was available at the time.
Defensively we were spot on - what we lacked was Tony Watt and the ability to play Cousins in the middle of the park.
its my opinion that Bob Peeters started off to a great start UNTIL other managers saw through his tactics and he was unable to adapt or change tactics leading to the poor performances and like a poor workman, blamed his tools (the players). Guy Luzon seems to be a master technician and I hope that he'd keep other managers guessing and exploiting their weaknesses. That's the key difference, no matter who's in the team as shown by the second string back four selection vs Forest!
Fair comment and agree that there are clear differences in the management styles. However, Tony Watt has added a dimension we didn't have before and Peeters would have been much more confident at finishing teams off and going for it had Watt been on his teamsheet. Luzon certainly appears to be more positive in his approach to games but how much of that is because he can be and how much is by his pure nature we can only speculate. Who's to say that teams won't learn how to play us with our new formation?
I did say that "I hope he'd keep other managers guessing and exploit their weaknesses".
I believe that Guy harks from the same school of thought as Jose Mourinho (not just including the crouching style!!!) in that he sets up his teams to best counter the other team's strengths and exploit their weaknesses... Only time will tell...
Comments
The difference going forwards is that Luzon is tried and tested having been top of the Jupiler league this time last year. Not only has he received reinforcements for the bench but he has straightened out the front six getting the best out of Bulot and Cousins in their correct positions.
Nothing concrete to base it on but one would hope this summer that the board do whatever it takes to kick on with the squad and turn us into a top eight club. I would venture that we already have 15 players good enough to become a top club in this division. That's between 8 and 10 more than this time last year!
Given that many of our top players are aged 20-24 with Gomez just 1, I really think we can step up next season.
Powell was a good man manager and new how to put his arm around a player. Luzon knows as well, but Luzon is tactically superior and braver than Powell, we saw that on Saturday and we saw it last night. No question.
Once in the championship, those players finished 9th...... when he wasn't given money to spend he very quickly became an average Joe again.
Either way at this moment it is completely irrelevant of a point to make by either party.
Powell has been gone nearly a year!
It's pathetic people are still giving the man his love in or giving him stick.
Even Powell said he was embarrassed by the minutes applause on his return.
Luzon is here, in a tough league, doing a tougher job, for a tougher owner and an even tougher crowd RIGHT NOW.
Chris is also enough of a showman to milk that affection. He is the inventor of the tunnel jump. And there was the MASSIVE crossbar swing. Not a criticism at all. It's part of his endearing charm.
Luzon is not looking to be anyone's hero. He is here to do a job. What did he say quite earlyin his tenure? Something like: "I will change the fans view of me"?
He has made a good start...
Has he really, about time the club updated its Web Site.
http://www.cafc.co.uk/club/club_contacts/
Somebody, maybe Roland, realised in the end that the small squad strategy had not worked and they have pulled us out of the fire.
So, let us see in the run up to August whether lessons have really been learned. We now have the basis for a promotion push next season with the current squad. If it is kept intact, or even strengthened, then I will be the first to welcome our owner's conversion. But if Watt, Bulot, Gomez and JBG are sold off or shipped out then I reckon we will still have cause for concern.
They loved the stadium and the pitch. Said it had a nice homely feel to it.
I intentionally did not talk about any of our players so that they could form their own opinions. It seems that they were all really impressed with Cousins and Gomez. They were surprised with some of the 'names' we had now. Such as DIARRA, TBH, Bikey, Johnson and Eagles. They loved Tony Watt. Least impressive was Wilson, Harriott and surprisingly Hendo and Vetokele. Apparently Fox is a tidy little player and Buyens appears as a water carrier player, whatever that means.
Was a funny moment when someone asked who is this winger, where is he from (Antonio) with most expecting like Brazil or Spain or something only for someone to Wikipedia it and state 'Wandsworth'.
General consensus was that if we could keep this set of players together and keep playing that style of football. Few improvements we should be at least battling the play offs.
My opinion was that Watt was excellent once again. Cousins absolutely outstanding and Gomez is superb for a 17 year old, he will be a star. I enjoyed box. Was a good experience and would recommend it.
COYR
However, I don't think its fair to compare Luzon with Powell as the circumstances are so different. Powell had the money cut under Slater and wasn't trusted under Guy so never really stood a chance. However the main reason its unfair to compare is that Powell was/is still relatively new to management. I for one was happy to see him grow into the role over a couple more years, alas it wasn't to be, so we 'move on', and I have COYR.
Guy Luzon's red and White Army......
Most has been said , saw our line up and thought that defence will leak goals and thankfully the half time shuffle worked, well done Luzon for shuffling like he did
Great night and atmosphere and the result was perfect with the magic man Watt doing things with a football we can only dream about and a special mention to Cousins who on the left looks like he doesn't know what a football is and in the middle has the ability of a top top player
Now for a boring Curbs style reality check
without doubt Luzon deserves praise because he has produced brilliant results and performances beyond our wildest dreams but as with BP too many were quick to make out he was the greatest thing since sliced bread and Roland had got a play off chasing squad together etc etc when it was only for a short period of time that that may have been possible and we didn't push on and it was all a bluff in the end
Don't get too high with the wins or too low with the losses or something like that was what the great man said
With safety assured , let's enjoy the pain of millwall and not stress about us too much !
The real test will be what sort of a squad we have come next September and Come December where Luzon has got them , then and only then can the adulation of Roly and Guy have some weight to it
55% 7th-12th amazing ..... 45% 13th-21st safety is assured boooom!
Add this formula to playing style and formation (4-4-2 as opposed to 4-5-1 or 4-1-4-1 etc) and you have a completely different outcome which we're now seeing.
Peeters & RD likely believed that Tucudean would be the man and on occasion he almost showed that he was but if, for example, Tony Watt had been available to Peeters, It's likely he'd still be in a job and playing much more positive football.
It's time and place syndrome.
So, it's normal to look back and say what might or should have been but much of what was is down to the playing squad available plus right or wrong player choices and who was available at the time.
Defensively we were spot on - what we lacked was Tony Watt and the ability to play Cousins in the middle of the park.
However, Tony Watt has added a dimension we didn't have before and Peeters would have been much more confident at finishing teams off and going for it had Watt been on his teamsheet.
Luzon certainly appears to be more positive in his approach to games but how much of that is because he can be and how much is by his pure nature we can only speculate.
Who's to say that teams won't learn how to play us with our new formation?
I believe that Guy harks from the same school of thought as Jose Mourinho (not just including the crouching style!!!) in that he sets up his teams to best counter the other team's strengths and exploit their weaknesses... Only time will tell...