One thing I find strange is that we’ve been on this run despite me thinking he’s got his starting line up/shape wrong each time.
What he’s been brilliant at, is recognising that, putting it right and generally putting in superb second half performances.
But he still starts each game with a bit of a strange line up / formation ??
He’s slowly getting there. We’re not playing May up front on his own anymore. I think Tuesday will surely see Campbell start on the right and then we are pretty much there
Our bench has got to be up there as one of the strongest in the league so I think we will keep on finishing games strong with players like Asiimwe, Fraser, Camara, Tedic and Aneke to bring on
I do wonder how much of it is about managing a 100 minute game and the numbers of players that he is happy/confident in playing the full game with minimal risk.
Campbell and Asiimwe are both very young still and have both had injuries already this season. As is/has Leaburn.
L Watson has never played regular men's football before and is still struggling to play more than 70 minutes.
You have to get the balance between starting your best team, maximising when you use your players most effectively, planning for "what ifs", and protecting your younger players from burn out.
Maybe if Aneke isn't avaliable Chem can come on to the bench and allow Tupac to start?
We didn't really. We only won 4 of those games and we were god awful to watch a lot of the time. It was clear early on that we were totally reliant on Vetokele scoring and when he got injured we had nothing else. We relied on a fair few late goals and a nicking of such an undeserved win against Norwich that I honestly still feel a bit guilty about to this day. I think by the time Peeters was sacked he'd only lost 6 games but he'd also only won 2 more after our first loss and started to alienate a lot of the players because he was an absolute shit. It always felt like it wasn't going to work out with him as the season went on
That Norwich game sticks in my mind: We were under pressure for the whole game and we mugged then late on with a Jackson grass cutter that Ruddy or Rudd ? Got all wrong and the ball ended up in the back of the net.
We were the last team to lose a game in the division as we were quite rigid as a team and Rhoys Wiggins was told to only attack when or if we were well ahead ! IF Igor hadn't got injured at Rotherham which led to major problems then who knows but not for the first time an inform striker gets injured and we fall away.
As I mentioned on the post match thread think he got the selection wrong today. After winning 4-0 against Reading probably thought he could change the personnel and keep the same style and go and dominate Lincoln.
For me I think Appleton needs to bring in an additional midfielder (Camera but not fit enough to start) and drop one of the front 4 to make us harder to play against. In almost every game we have seen teams make 1 or 2 passes between them and they are running at our back 4.
Appleton said the difference between Bolton and Charlton is that the Bolton manager has had 4 years to implement his style. And yet he never stays anywhere that long. So I’m confused as to what he means or wants.
The cracks are beginning to show, it was inevitable I suppose. Maybe we will go to Wigan on Tuesday and win convincingly we haven’t got long to wait. Right now the direction of travel is not promotion, but how our raft of so called billionaire owners/investors can minimise their losses.
The cracks are beginning to show, it was inevitable I suppose. Maybe we will go to Wigan on Tuesday and win convincingly we haven’t got long to wait. Right now the direction of travel is not promotion, but how our raft of so called billionaire owners/investors can minimise their losses.
The majority of our players are shit you can’t polish a turd
Agreed. But you could at least set them up to give them a chance.
Playing May up front on his own yesterday against 3 big defenders, one of whom is possibly the best in the league, was just completely and utterly stupid.
The majority of our players are shit you can’t polish a turd
Agreed. But you could at least set them up to give them a chance.
Playing May up front on his own yesterday against 3 big defenders, one of whom is possibly the best in the league, was just completely and utterly stupid.
I don’t think it was stupid at all, and I would have started the same 11. Moving back to 3-5-2 was second best option. Leaburn was very poor against Lincoln, and Camera needed to come back into the starting 11. For Leaburn to start we either go with a front 4 which doesn't work defensively, or drop Campbell and move May to the wing.
The issue is that our squad is very unbalanced for any formation. That is on Andy Scott and Holden.
The cracks are beginning to show, it was inevitable I suppose. Maybe we will go to Wigan on Tuesday and win convincingly we haven’t got long to wait. Right now the direction of travel is not promotion, but how our raft of so called billionaire owners/investors can minimise their losses.
Playing a big man up front would’ve played right into Santos and co’s hands. We’ve tried it with Stockley and others in recent years, with very little success.
Aneke, if fit, might have been worth a go but Leaburn and Tedic have done nothing in their previous couple of starts to suggest they would’ve fared any better than Charlton strikers of past seasons.
Thought we could've changed to 3-5-2 soon after going two down, just to try something different, give Bolton something to think about. Feels like we're prepared to just keep doing what we're doing sometimes.
Got lols on the post match thread for my appraisal of Appleton yesterday, but maintain after a long old sleep that yesterday’s result was pretty much down to him. Bolton’s formation overran us and we played into their strengths, while being at home. As others have said May (no matter how much we love the guy) versus a 3 including Santos! You don’t need a UEFA pro licence to know that trying this let alone sticking with it for so long in the game was fcuking stupid.
Yesterday was crying out for a lump at top, probably Tedic to ruffle Santos’ feathers.
We made it way too easy for them and the score line flattered us, we were second best all over the pitch. Don’t read too much into the possession stats nowadays when it contains passing across your back line one way and then going back the other 20+ times in a game.
So frustrated we have not been able to capitalise on what was an encouraging run.
Finally, Appleton cannot rate our crop of loan players other than perhaps Pan and Watson. C Campbell, Abankwah and Tedic are all allegedly higher level players and yet we are not seeing it or getting a tune out of them.
I wasn't sold from the beginning and mainly put it down to the squad and my stance hasn't really changed. Most of our results have come from having Aneke available and now he's injured we lose back to back. Feel like Chuks gave a few of our managers better results than they probably could have achieved without him.
Got to say I don't like him mentioning xG, it's a nonsense stat unless it's significantly high or higher than the other team. Also not a fan of him saying Bolton is a product of 4 years implying he may need that much time here to get out of this league? They were inherited as a League 2 side for a start.
Anyway nothing has really changed, until we gey better players nothing will. A better manager would probably scrape play offs with this squad at best, that's the squads limit.
Playing a big man up front would’ve played right into Santos and co’s hands. We’ve tried it with Stockley and others in recent years, with very little success.
Aneke, if fit, might have been worth a go but Leaburn and Tedic have done nothing in their previous couple of starts to suggest they would’ve fared any better than Charlton strikers of past seasons.
And playing just May up front didn't play right into Santos and co's hands?
Interesting that when Leaburn did eventually come on , he and May actually started giving the Bolton defence some problems.
W5 D3 L2 GF20 GA14 - 1.8 points per game - 2.0 goals scored per game, 1.4 goals conceded per game - 50% win ratio
Apologies this was incorrect. I miscounted one of the draws as a win.
W4 D4 L2 GF20 GA14 - 1.6 points per game - 40% win ratio
Wins vs Wycombe, Exeter, Reading and Wigan Draws vs Stevenage, Shrewsbury, Blackpool and Portsmouth Losses vs Lincoln and Bolton
That's still pretty respectable given the string of results before he came in. As I said on the post match thread you can certainly question some of his tactical choices but there's no denying that he's got the players up for a fight and putting actual effort in.
The cup game being such a damp squib is obviously an outlier there but that was 11 players pretty much chucked in to make do and mend - we've been much more impressive in the league.
Got it spot on with his changes yesterday. I was one of those groans when he moved May out to the right to get an extra midfielder on, but it worked perfectly. We gained a bit more control in the middle and May was more involved from the right than he had been all game. Think we will see that set up more often in trickier away games
May works so hard he can play in different forward positions and his instinct gets him in goal scoring positions. I am liking Appleton more and more. We really do need to back the manager and give him the time he needs. I get the feeling he knows the direction of travel required.
Got it spot on with his changes yesterday. I was one of those groans when he moved May out to the right to get an extra midfielder on, but it worked perfectly. We gained a bit more control in the middle and May was more involved from the right than he had been all game. Think we will see that set up more often in trickier away games
Spot on mate but it also makes the option easier when you have a player out wide on the right that plays the ball off and then somehow pops up in the middle of the box just a few seconds later. Fitness and mindset is just ridiculous
What’s the Appleton consensus now, do we think he’s doing a good job.
I keep thinking of the memes that often got posted before he became our manager, mostly from a derogatory perspective, have we grown to like him?
I think he comes across well in interviews but that in itself is no measure of the man, they’re all well versed with the media and know what to say.
As others have said, he does appear to have instilled some bottle and fight into the players.
I think he is. Obviously he was helped with player availability but there’s definitely been an improvement which has stuck around while Aneke and Camara have been out. Think he’s still finding the right balance in the team but everyone seems more confident and comfortable which can’t be a bad thing
Comments
Campbell and Asiimwe are both very young still and have both had injuries already this season. As is/has Leaburn.
L Watson has never played regular men's football before and is still struggling to play more than 70 minutes.
You have to get the balance between starting your best team, maximising when you use your players most effectively, planning for "what ifs", and protecting your younger players from burn out.
Maybe if Aneke isn't avaliable Chem can come on to the bench and allow Tupac to start?
That Norwich game sticks in my mind:
We were under pressure for the whole game and we mugged then late on with a Jackson grass cutter that Ruddy or Rudd ? Got all wrong and the ball ended up in the back of the net.
We were the last team to lose a game in the division as we were quite rigid as a team and Rhoys Wiggins was told to only attack when or if we were well ahead !
IF Igor hadn't got injured at Rotherham which led to major problems then who knows but not for the first time an inform striker gets injured and we fall away.
For me I think Appleton needs to bring in an additional midfielder (Camera but not fit enough to start) and drop one of the front 4 to make us harder to play against. In almost every game we have seen teams make 1 or 2 passes between them and they are running at our back 4.
Maybe we will go to Wigan on Tuesday and win convincingly we haven’t got long to wait.
Right now the direction of travel is not promotion, but how our raft of so called billionaire owners/investors can minimise their losses.
you can’t polish a turd
Playing May up front on his own yesterday against 3 big defenders, one of whom is possibly the best in the league, was just completely and utterly stupid.
The issue is that our squad is very unbalanced for any formation. That is on Andy Scott and Holden.
Aneke, if fit, might have been worth a go but Leaburn and Tedic have done nothing in their previous couple of starts to suggest they would’ve fared any better than Charlton strikers of past seasons.
We made it way too easy for them and the score line flattered us, we were second best all over the pitch. Don’t read too much into the possession stats nowadays when it contains passing across your back line one way and then going back the other 20+ times in a game.
So frustrated we have not been able to capitalise on what was an encouraging run.
Got to say I don't like him mentioning xG, it's a nonsense stat unless it's significantly high or higher than the other team. Also not a fan of him saying Bolton is a product of 4 years implying he may need that much time here to get out of this league? They were inherited as a League 2 side for a start.
Anyway nothing has really changed, until we gey better players nothing will. A better manager would probably scrape play offs with this squad at best, that's the squads limit.
Interesting that when Leaburn did eventually come on , he and May actually started giving the Bolton defence some problems.
If only we had tried that earlier.
W5 D3 L2 GF20 GA14
- 1.8 points per game
- 2.0 goals scored per game, 1.4 goals conceded per game
- 50% win ratio
W4 D4 L2 GF20 GA14
- 1.6 points per game
- 40% win ratio
Wins vs Wycombe, Exeter, Reading and Wigan
Draws vs Stevenage, Shrewsbury, Blackpool and Portsmouth
Losses vs Lincoln and Bolton
The cup game being such a damp squib is obviously an outlier there but that was 11 players pretty much chucked in to make do and mend - we've been much more impressive in the league.
Of course the squad is paper thin and we need some quality recruitment if we are to keep chugging along towards a play off spot.
The jury is still out on the owners however - If their entire plan is based upon selling players and youth then no manager will make us succeed
”X club want £1m for player X, it’s ridiculous” (we then discuss how many multi milllions Leaburn is worth)
What’s the Appleton consensus now, do we think he’s doing a good job.
I keep thinking of the memes that often got posted before he became our manager, mostly from a derogatory perspective, have we grown to like him?
I think he comes across well in interviews but that in itself is no measure of the man, they’re all well versed with the media and know what to say.
As others have said, he does appear to have instilled some bottle and fight into the players.