This XI won 0-6 away at Plymouth just 6 months ago. Now tell me 8 of them are not good enough to compete near the top of this league.
Forster-Caskey maybe, but are Amos and Millar missing making that big a difference as well?
Certainly didnt rate Millar as much as the season progressed, felt opponents sussed him out
JFC, you could argue improves us massively, but from bottom four to 7th? Not that much of a difference.
The other two no way, Millar got moaned about on here as did Amos.
The majority view on here about Amos was wrong in my opinion. He was a much much better goalkeeper than a lot felt. Possibly the best in ten division in my opinion. If CM was Portsmouth player of the year then that only reinforces my opinion that Amos was better than most at this level. He was nearly as good a shot stopper but as strong on dealing with crosses and probably better at that than a lot of keepers we had in the Championship and Premier League.
Amos’ command of his area was an underrated factor in why we able to keep a lot of clean sheets last season. Our defending of crosses has definitely suffered as a result of him not being there to come and claim so many. CM has zero presence on defending balls into the box. Even if he’s a better shot stopper, he’s also already made at least as many, if not more, fundamental mistakes than Amos did in the whole of last season.
CBT has largely been fulfilling the Millar role but, again, Millar got criticism for lack of end product but in reality his stats were respectable.
If Amos and Millar were not good enough then so far neither have their replacements been.
Completely agree with you about Amos. I thought he was a massive loss when he left 1st time.
The difference between Millar, and Maatsen, and the wingers we have now is both the ability to track back and work ethic and the fact they, especially Millar, could get the ball deep and drive us up the pitch.
It didn't often result in a quality cross or shot but it often won throw ins, corners or we regained possession 20 yards future up the pitch than we had been a matter of seconds before. No one in the current set up seems willing or able to do that.
And it's interesting isn't it? Because one of the major arguments of those who wanted Bowyer sacked last year was that he supposedly stifled our attacking players by asking them to focus too much on doing the defensive side of the game. Now the problem appears to be the players don;t defend enough. The perfect point is somewhere in the middle, but the reality is if the pendulum swings too far towards defence, you at least remain tough to beat, but when sides are too attacking and open, they will occasionally get spectacular high scoreing wins, but a lot of the time will get turned over by any side that looks slightly organized. We are really struggling to find that balance at the moment.
What he needs is an outrageous out of the blue win. Something that leaves nothing to luck or chance, I’m talking 5-0. Never happening of course, but despite what’s happened so far it would raise an eyebrow.
A decent manager would have this squad in the top half and challenging for the play offs. I accept that with our recruitment strategy we should be about mid table now.
That's the issue isnt if. I honestly dont think many people would say that on paper our current squad is better than last season but for whatever reason they are not playing like it. At the end of the day that's down to the manager but I personally think it goes deeper than that
Maybe he's going to debut his latest single pre-match
"Addicks to Not Lose Too Badly"?
It’s an EP with some classics like “it’s a game of fine margins”, “that goal was offside”, “stone cold pen” with the old favourites “blowing out their arses” and “433 with no plan B”
He's always this chirpy pre-match, he'll be chirpy on the way to the gallows
"Yeah it's a beautiful opportunity isn't it to see what had driven up all the drama about Madame Guillotine. To get to experience it in person is brilliant."
Comments
And it's interesting isn't it? Because one of the major arguments of those who wanted Bowyer sacked last year was that he supposedly stifled our attacking players by asking them to focus too much on doing the defensive side of the game. Now the problem appears to be the players don;t defend enough. The perfect point is somewhere in the middle, but the reality is if the pendulum swings too far towards defence, you at least remain tough to beat, but when sides are too attacking and open, they will occasionally get spectacular high scoreing wins, but a lot of the time will get turned over by any side that looks slightly organized. We are really struggling to find that balance at the moment.
Addicks to.... oh no, fuck me!
To think all that fighting against Roland resulted in this
I accept that with our recruitment strategy we should be about mid table now.
(thunk)
"Brilliant"
TS - "You hum it, I'll play along"