god knows, but look at the signings in the window, Page,Da Silva, Forster Caskey, Bryne, the amount of time they have spent on the pitch so far is shockin.
True.
Page injured or suspended but was a available last night.
JFC wasn't match fit then got injured in training after good performances
Byrne suspended after scoring the winner at Bolton
Mavididi one start and one sub
Dasilva subbed on and subbed off, not played since despite side needing goals.
He talks about the youngsters learning etc, might have been an idea to bring in some more experienced quality midfielders to help us make a bid for promotion. After all he had the full backing of the hard working liar & the owner but chose not to bring anyone else in ...... or so he said. The young arsenal boy, he's also learning. Why did we sign him them ? Why not spend some of the Lookman/Fox money on a decent striker when he obviously didn't rate Ajose ?
Roland has said in the past that any manager that comes in needs to have a track record of working with young players. This suggests to me that he expects our youngsters to play regularly. It's obvious that his reasons are financial. I don't think he cares about much else other than when the next Gomez or Lookman will come along so he can sell them and pay off some of the debt the club owes him.
Reading the match thread it looked like we battered them, missed loads of good chances, keeper had a stormer, stonewall penalty denied. We've clearly played much worse this season and drawn 1-1.
A fully firing Magennis and we win that one without much difficulty imo - we've just been very unlucky and Robinson hasn't had the chance to build the squad he wants. It's important he's given the summer to do so.
Short-termist 'THE CLUB IS DEAD', 'KR IS TOAST' bulls**t is not helping anyone. The club is being ineptly run, sure, but given our squad, resources etc I think we've hit our floor. The only way really is up.
FFS, Robinson hasn't had the chance to build the squad, he won't in the summer and nor will anyone else. A couple of signings here and there prior to season ticket deadlines and the rest of the Lookman money 'invested' elsewhere.
Unless the madman sells, all we will see in the summer is a further decline in season ticket sales and an ever growing disillusionment amongst people like me, as the club they knew and loved drifts ever further away.
I wonder, will he be the first one to walk away from the madhouse before he's pushed? If he lasts until the end of the season I can see him having a meeting with RD to say back me, back who I want to buy or I'm off, and he'll be off!
I agree with you on these points and would certainly like him to give RD an ultimatum.
But I disagree about Watts attitude. I honestly think it's been a lot better since he's returned this time. He came on and seemed like he wanted to be involved in everything tonight and he made a big effort to give a proper thanks to the fans at the end of the game, more so than anyone else.
Agreed 100%.
Obvious, but he should try 442 with Watt and a.n. other (Magennis who I'm not totally convinced by?) up front, just to make us less predictable.
What I would do is play 4-4-2 as well. You have to take a punt that Watt will get up to speed because at his best he is better than the league. So you start with Magennis and Watt playing off him. Not seperate to him, but off him - you need to build a partnership and hope it comes off. Then you have to start Holmes because he knows where the goal is. You need Bauer and Tex as your centre backs because they can score too. It is asking a lot for full backs to chip in but Solly and Chicksen should be fine and Rudd is a decent keeper - so you start with those names on a blank sheet. That is three places to fill and at least 2 of them have to give more of a goal threat!
But you also have to remember that a slow midfield is a disaster - so you have to balance that too. Whilst this energy in midfield has been addressed, the solution has to come a bit from midfield and a bit from praying Watt gets into a groove. Jackson is a player who knows where the goal is, but unfortuantely doesn't give much else these days. Aribo is looking dangerous and playing well but hasn't scored yet - ditto Konsa. Crofts is not a goal scorer and has been doing fine. But goals have to be brought into teh team somehow.
What I would do is play 4-4-2 as well. You have to take a punt that Watt will get up to speed because at his best he is better than the league. So you start with Magennis and Watt playing off him. Not seperate to him, but off him - you need to build a partnership and hope it comes off. Then you have to start Holmes because he knows where the goal is. You need Bauer and Tex as your centre backs because they can score too. It is asking a lot for full backs to chip in but Solly and Chicksen should be fine and Rudd is a decent keeper - so you start with those names on a blank sheet. That is three places to fill and at least 2 of them have to give more of a goal threat!
But you also have to remember that a slow midfield is a disaster - so you have to balance that too. Whilst this energy in midfield has been addressed, the solution has to come a bit from midfield and a bit from praying Watt gets into a groove. Jackson is a player who knows where the goal is, but unfortuantely doesn't give much else these days. Aribo is looking dangerous and playing well but hasn't scored yet - ditto Konsa. Crofts is not a goal scorer and has been doing fine. But goals have to be brought into teh team somehow.
We saw how bad Crofts was in a 4 man midfield. It's only since he has a couple of players around him that his performances have improved. If we went back to a 4-4-2 I'm pretty sure we'd see the old Crofts back. Aribo and Konsa could do a job in there, but their inexperience may come back to bite us at times.
Well I can only think that KM and RD must be really wondering if they have in fact learned from their mistakes, because we are not really that promotion challenging/ top 6 budgeted for team they said we would be. We seem to be mid table, inconsistent, and rather unlikely to be top 6 at this rate. Maybe they just learned from the wrong mistakes? Or shock horror maybe it was just all a load of old bollocks. Whatever, by their own expressed ambition this is failure, pure and simple. And I didn't think they did that....
What I would do is play 4-4-2 as well. You have to take a punt that Watt will get up to speed because at his best he is better than the league. So you start with Magennis and Watt playing off him. Not seperate to him, but off him - you need to build a partnership and hope it comes off. Then you have to start Holmes because he knows where the goal is. You need Bauer and Tex as your centre backs because they can score too. It is asking a lot for full backs to chip in but Solly and Chicksen should be fine and Rudd is a decent keeper - so you start with those names on a blank sheet. That is three places to fill and at least 2 of them have to give more of a goal threat!
But you also have to remember that a slow midfield is a disaster - so you have to balance that too. Whilst this energy in midfield has been addressed, the solution has to come a bit from midfield and a bit from praying Watt gets into a groove. Jackson is a player who knows where the goal is, but unfortuantely doesn't give much else these days. Aribo is looking dangerous and playing well but hasn't scored yet - ditto Konsa. Crofts is not a goal scorer and has been doing fine. But goals have to be brought into teh team somehow.
We saw how bad Crofts was in a 4 man midfield. It's only since he has a couple of players around him that his performances have improved. If we went back to a 4-4-2 I'm pretty sure we'd see the old Crofts back. Aribo and Konsa could do a job in there, but their inexperience may come back to bite us at times.
Well I can only think that KM and RD must be really wondering if they have in fact learned from their mistakes, because we are not really that promotion challenging/ top 6 budgeted for team they said we would be. We seem to be mid table, inconsistent, and rather unlikely to be top 6 at this rate. Maybe they just learned from the wrong mistakes? Or shock horror maybe it was just all a load of old bollocks. Whatever, by their own expressed ambition this is failure, pure and simple. And I didn't think they did that....
They have learned from one aspect of their mistakes, but not from the squad balance one. Maybe learned itself is too strong a word, as they have sort of identified the mistake without understanding the subtlety. I hve said this from the beginning. Bringing in English managers and players is not the answer it itself, although managers and players that know the league is an improvement. But Meire has only openly given us this change of approach - Yes the first thing you have to do is get the right manager - then you build a balanced squad with the quality you need. They originally brought in a manager (admittedly with some qulaities) but one who had never won a promotion FFS!!!!!
They have a young lad in Belgiulm playing a realtime FIFA - analysing stats and missing the basic stats like goals! Get rid of him. Robinson knows the problem - I can tell from his interviews - let him address it. I have never had an issue with the money spent on players overall, but the crass stupid way it has been spent. Although in the last window, the money we got in gave us a get out of jail free card in terms of a relatively small amount of money we needed to address squad balance issues. We didn't take it. They are incompetent and incompetent people are never succesful!
Is KR doing it on purpose knowing more people will go to Belgium rather than Northampton, as by then even the most loyal and optimistic would have thrown in the towel.
Strange interview. It's not the first time he's trotted out the line I've told the players if they're not happy with what's gone on in the past, or what's happening now, they can come and see me in my office and be completely honest
As @Athletico Charlton pointed out, it ws barely a month ago he was saying we didn't need more new players because Aribo & Konsa were good enough to play in a promotion chasing side: now they're still young and need another season...
And I wish he'd stop boring on about his days at MK Franchise every time he opens his mouth. It's over Karl - you don't work there anymore: forget it and move on! And we've still got to play them again next month...
It's hard to fathom out what's wrong in the sense that we've got a team which, on paper at least, should outplay most sides in this sub-standard league; we've gone nearly 2 months undefeated with a squad depleted by injuries and suspensions; and there are glimmers of hope, like the win at Bolton. And we've got a couple of useful signings (like JFC) in amongst the usual chaff. But, as many have pointed out, we just seem to be constantly out-played or out-thought by poorer yet much better organised sides.
OK Karl - if they're such an honest, hard working group of players, like you keep telling us - why are we languishing in 13th place? I guess, in isolation, a 1-0 defeat to Oldham isn't the end of the world, but in the context of Roland's general lack of ambition and under-investment, it's a sad indictment of this regime: hard to see, come the end of the season, how Latrien can justify staying in her job after yet another year of failure. Either way, it's beginning to look like KR won't be around too much longer - and maybe that's not such a bad thing
i dont blame kr but his constant waffle after every game is starting to wear thin.
I agree with you. I admired his enthusiasm when he took over, and deep down I think he's desperate to build what he had at MK Dons and give us back success, but I follow @ValleyGary on twitter and he pointed out a sobering fact, 3 wins from 15.
This is just a continuation of what we've had previously under Slade, Riga, Frayere, Luzon & Peeters. There are moments when green shoots are interpreted, but we really are going nowhere slowly.
The difference here is that we are drawing a lot of games in between the odd win and defeat. Ultimately it's the same painting, we're just looking at it from another point in the room.
Unfortunately KR, even Alex Ferguson aren't capable of steering this club to success under its current set up.
If we don't go up this season, next season will be very painful because I guarantee RD will not give KR anywhere near the money we spent on Ajose, Pearce etc. You'll get more David Brentesque moments from KR, and we probably won't see him after September as RD and KM make yet the same mistake of sacking another manager without looking at the root cause of why we are so shit, which is ultimately down to their incompetence
Robinson is to blame for the display at Oldham. His selection was rubbish. Konsa is promising and should be playing in midfield. Tex was fit and on the bench, why was he not on from the start against a team who were obviously going to play long balls in the air and to put pressure on our central defenders? . Bauer spent the entire game covering for Konsa's inadequacies in the air.
We were back to midfield chaos, who does what. Is F-Caskey the 'playmaker' or is it down to Crofts, what is Aribo's role ?. No momentum, no ideas, no obvious tactics or organisation.
Up front, no Watt or Holmes, Botaka and Mavididi started and might as well not have bothered turning up, neither seemed to have a clue what their role was, what they were supposed to be doing. Magennis is looking increasingly frustrated at battling away up front with minimal support.
All very well to blame it all on lack of investment in the team. That is part of the problem. However the main problem is that once again we have a manager who is just not getting the best from the talent at his disposal, is too keen to 'tinker' and experiment, who seems to be clueless when it comes to selection, organisation, tactics and substitutions. Last night Robinson spent all game on the touchline acting as an auxiliary ball boy. He should sit down and cold bloodedly watch his players, see what's going on, learn from his glaring mistakes. Problem is he, like so many other 'managers' can talk a good game but lack credibility when it comes to actually putting out a team to perform and get results
What I would do is play 4-4-2 as well. You have to take a punt that Watt will get up to speed because at his best he is better than the league. So you start with Magennis and Watt playing off him. Not seperate to him, but off him - you need to build a partnership and hope it comes off. Then you have to start Holmes because he knows where the goal is. You need Bauer and Tex as your centre backs because they can score too. It is asking a lot for full backs to chip in but Solly and Chicksen should be fine and Rudd is a decent keeper - so you start with those names on a blank sheet. That is three places to fill and at least 2 of them have to give more of a goal threat!
But you also have to remember that a slow midfield is a disaster - so you have to balance that too. Whilst this energy in midfield has been addressed, the solution has to come a bit from midfield and a bit from praying Watt gets into a groove. Jackson is a player who knows where the goal is, but unfortuantely doesn't give much else these days. Aribo is looking dangerous and playing well but hasn't scored yet - ditto Konsa. Crofts is not a goal scorer and has been doing fine. But goals have to be brought into teh team somehow.
We saw how bad Crofts was in a 4 man midfield. It's only since he has a couple of players around him that his performances have improved. If we went back to a 4-4-2 I'm pretty sure we'd see the old Crofts back. Aribo and Konsa could do a job in there, but their inexperience may come back to bite us at times.
I like Crofts but would much rather adjust our formation to accommodate the likes of Watt and Magennis and leave him on the bench. Do we know if Robinson ever had a plan B at MK? One up top without exception is going to start to grate if the goals don't come soon.
Robinson is to blame for the display at Oldham. His selection was rubbish. Konsa is promising and should be playing in midfield. Tex was fit and on the bench, why was he not on from the start against a team who were obviously going to play long balls in the air and to put pressure on our central defenders? . Bauer spent the entire game covering for Konsa's inadequacies in the air.
We were back to midfield chaos, who does what. Is F-Caskey the 'playmaker' or is it down to Crofts, what is Aribo's role ?. No momentum, no ideas, no obvious tactics or organisation.
Up front, no Watt or Holmes, Botaka and Mavididi started and might as well not have bothered turning up, neither seemed to have a clue what their role was, what they were supposed to be doing. Magennis is looking increasingly frustrated at battling away up front with minimal support.
All very well to blame it all on lack of investment in the team. That is part of the problem. However the main problem is that once again we have a manager who is just not getting the best from the talent at his disposal, is too keen to 'tinker' and experiment, who seems to be clueless when it comes to selection, organisation, tactics and substitutions. Last night Robinson spent all game on the touchline acting as an auxiliary ball boy. He should sit down and cold bloodedly watch his players, see what's going on, learn from his glaring mistakes. Problem is he, like so many other 'managers' can talk a good game but lack credibility when it comes to actually putting out a team to perform and get results
If this is true, and I suspect it is, then the correct course of action is to replace the manager. Just because we've had too many managers doesn't mean we should stick with the wrong one to save face.
I'm more concerned with the way he seems to be unaware of what to do next. He openly admitted that he's tried shouting at the players and that didn't work so he's trying to go soft on them. Maybe he just shouldn't share these things but he certainly doesn't sound like he is going to find the right formula anytime soon.
Struggle to see why some people are going for Robinson. His main error has been to back a regime who might say the right things to him but don't follow up with actions. He is no more than the latest face and he seems to have more idea than most of the other post Powell ... behind the scenes it appears it's the same old shambles, with Roland trying to prove he can break the mold and Meire using Robinson as a human shield.
I can't see how anyone can think that mid-table in League One after last season's relegation represents a new beginning. It's simply the Duchatalet masterplan finding it's natural level.
it could be worse well only just! we could be leyton orient fans looks like they will fall ungracefully out of the league their owner makes roland look good i remember a few seasons ago we played them 1st game of the season on a fri seemed a good stable club with a good fan base its about time the fa stepped in and stopped theseunfit foreign owners buying english clubs this could be us it looks to similar kr has just about stopped the rot this season with his waffle but the future doesnt look rosey
i dont blame kr but his constant waffle after every game is starting to wear thin.
This is just a continuation of what we've had previously under Slade, Riga, Frayere, Luzon & Peeters. There are moments when green shoots are interpreted, but we really are going nowhere slowly.
I was just thinking that Riga could probably do just as well as Robinson, if not better... not that I'm advocating he comes back or anything.
All that because I thought to myself 'who, aside from Powell, has been the best manager under this regime?', and I can't honestly say I think it's Robinson: Riga had some rubbish players forced on him, kept us up first time round and, at least, left with a bit of dignity at the end.
KR's obviously bought into Roland's player farm (quite literally, I suspect, if the transfer bonuses start to fall his way); he's a useful foil for Katie and takes up the PR role that she's proved so incapable of fulfilling but, in the end, like you say, he's just another in the chain of mediocrity, and has to work with what he's been given or told to accept.
Comments
Page injured or suspended but was a available last night.
JFC wasn't match fit then got injured in training after good performances
Byrne suspended after scoring the winner at Bolton
Mavididi one start and one sub
Dasilva subbed on and subbed off, not played since despite side needing goals.
Obvious, but he should try 442 with Watt and a.n. other (Magennis who I'm not totally convinced by?) up front, just to make us less predictable.
This month it is all "they are young players learning the game...and next season....."
But you also have to remember that a slow midfield is a disaster - so you have to balance that too. Whilst this energy in midfield has been addressed, the solution has to come a bit from midfield and a bit from praying Watt gets into a groove. Jackson is a player who knows where the goal is, but unfortuantely doesn't give much else these days. Aribo is looking dangerous and playing well but hasn't scored yet - ditto Konsa. Crofts is not a goal scorer and has been doing fine. But goals have to be brought into teh team somehow.
We seem to be mid table, inconsistent, and rather unlikely to be top 6 at this rate.
Maybe they just learned from the wrong mistakes?
Or shock horror maybe it was just all a load of old bollocks.
Whatever, by their own expressed ambition this is failure, pure and simple.
And I didn't think they did that....
They have a young lad in Belgiulm playing a realtime FIFA - analysing stats and missing the basic stats like goals! Get rid of him. Robinson knows the problem - I can tell from his interviews - let him address it. I have never had an issue with the money spent on players overall, but the crass stupid way it has been spent. Although in the last window, the money we got in gave us a get out of jail free card in terms of a relatively small amount of money we needed to address squad balance issues. We didn't take it. They are incompetent and incompetent people are never succesful!
Well done agent Robinson.
The main problem isn't the manager.
To me 'Charlton is just a day out on the beers now, the 90 minutes is an inconvenience!
As @Athletico Charlton pointed out, it ws barely a month ago he was saying we didn't need more new players because Aribo & Konsa were good enough to play in a promotion chasing side: now they're still young and need another season...
And I wish he'd stop boring on about his days at MK Franchise every time he opens his mouth. It's over Karl - you don't work there anymore: forget it and move on! And we've still got to play them again next month...
It's hard to fathom out what's wrong in the sense that we've got a team which, on paper at least, should outplay most sides in this sub-standard league; we've gone nearly 2 months undefeated with a squad depleted by injuries and suspensions; and there are glimmers of hope, like the win at Bolton. And we've got a couple of useful signings (like JFC) in amongst the usual chaff. But, as many have pointed out, we just seem to be constantly out-played or out-thought by poorer yet much better organised sides.
OK Karl - if they're such an honest, hard working group of players, like you keep telling us - why are we languishing in 13th place? I guess, in isolation, a 1-0 defeat to Oldham isn't the end of the world, but in the context of Roland's general lack of ambition and under-investment, it's a sad indictment of this regime: hard to see, come the end of the season, how Latrien can justify staying in her job after yet another year of failure. Either way, it's beginning to look like KR won't be around too much longer - and maybe that's not such a bad thing
This is just a continuation of what we've had previously under Slade, Riga, Frayere, Luzon & Peeters. There are moments when green shoots are interpreted, but we really are going nowhere slowly.
The difference here is that we are drawing a lot of games in between the odd win and defeat. Ultimately it's the same painting, we're just looking at it from another point in the room.
Unfortunately KR, even Alex Ferguson aren't capable of steering this club to success under its current set up.
If we don't go up this season, next season will be very painful because I guarantee RD will not give KR anywhere near the money we spent on Ajose, Pearce etc. You'll get more David Brentesque moments from KR, and we probably won't see him after September as RD and KM make yet the same mistake of sacking another manager without looking at the root cause of why we are so shit, which is ultimately down to their incompetence
Konsa is promising and should be playing in midfield. Tex was fit and on the bench, why was he not on from the start against a team who were obviously going to play long balls in the air and to put pressure on our central defenders? . Bauer spent the entire game covering for Konsa's inadequacies in the air.
We were back to midfield chaos, who does what. Is F-Caskey the 'playmaker' or is it down to Crofts, what is Aribo's role ?. No momentum, no ideas, no obvious tactics or organisation.
Up front, no Watt or Holmes, Botaka and Mavididi started and might as well not have bothered turning up, neither seemed to have a clue what their role was, what they were supposed to be doing. Magennis is looking increasingly frustrated at battling away up front with minimal support.
All very well to blame it all on lack of investment in the team. That is part of the problem. However the main problem is that once again we have a manager who is just not getting the best from the talent at his disposal, is too keen to 'tinker' and experiment, who seems to be clueless when it comes to selection, organisation, tactics and substitutions.
Last night Robinson spent all game on the touchline acting as an auxiliary ball boy. He should sit down and cold bloodedly watch his players, see what's going on, learn from his glaring mistakes. Problem is he, like so many other 'managers' can talk a good game but lack credibility when it comes to actually putting out a team to perform and get results
I'm more concerned with the way he seems to be unaware of what to do next. He openly admitted that he's tried shouting at the players and that didn't work so he's trying to go soft on them. Maybe he just shouldn't share these things but he certainly doesn't sound like he is going to find the right formula anytime soon.
I can't see how anyone can think that mid-table in League One after last season's relegation represents a new beginning. It's simply the Duchatalet masterplan finding it's natural level.
well only just! we could be leyton orient fans
looks like they will fall ungracefully out of the league their owner makes roland look good
i remember a few seasons ago we played them 1st game of the season on a fri seemed a good stable club with a good fan base
its about time the fa stepped in and stopped theseunfit foreign owners buying english clubs
this could be us
it looks to similar
kr has just about stopped the rot this season with his waffle
but the future doesnt look rosey
All that because I thought to myself 'who, aside from Powell, has been the best manager under this regime?', and I can't honestly say I think it's Robinson: Riga had some rubbish players forced on him, kept us up first time round and, at least, left with a bit of dignity at the end.
KR's obviously bought into Roland's player farm (quite literally, I suspect, if the transfer bonuses start to fall his way); he's a useful foil for Katie and takes up the PR role that she's proved so incapable of fulfilling but, in the end, like you say, he's just another in the chain of mediocrity, and has to work with what he's been given or told to accept.