It’s funny, all this chat about developing young players and all Apples did was moan there was too much young blood and we had to get a load of experience players in
If Apples has gone then I would be very happy to see Andy Scott join him out the door. Has bought in two poor managers and a whole tonne of crap players (this windows players currently exempt given they have not settled yet). Having to sack both managers mid transfer window is really dreadful performance by him. He threw Holden right under the bus I thought when he left with his comments, I wonder if he does the same with Apples.
Just taken a job at Sheffield Wednesday. Would he leave already for these owners?
I never thought he'd leave cushy jobs at Spurs and England to come back, but now it could be Assistant at a League One-bound club v Manager at a League One club, feels more possible.
How you develop young players is bring them in in twos max. You can bring others in from the bench where the pressure is off. You bring them in and they may do well but you have to be ready to rest them. It is a strategic thing whereas we flood the team with them which is unfair. You see the best young players Premier League teams have lose to League One and League Two crap in the Mickey Mouse Cup because experience has a premium. That doesn't mean they aren't better, it is just they need a bit of time and experience.
As for JJ, and I don't think he will come/be on their list, but I think I need to defend him from a bollocks narrative some have adopted. We looked like we were going to struggle to stay up and he turned that round. Stockley getting injured meant we stumbled to the end of the season but without any threat of relegation. JJ wanted to bring in better players for the system, Sandgaard decided he wanted to change to a new system but didn't want to pay the premium for it which was incredibly stupid and some fell for it. It wasn't that the system under JJ was found out but that we needed better players to play it and it would have been sensible to evolve from it rather than try to be Man City with League Two players. If we had kept JJ I am confident we would be in a better position today than we are.
Just taken a job at Sheffield Wednesday. Would he leave already for these owners?
I never thought he'd leave cushy jobs at Spurs and England to come back, but now it could be Assistant at a League One-bound club v Manager at a League One club, feels more possible.
Powell left England at the end of his placement. Leaving Spurs was a stranger one though.
Powell would put a smile back into the club without doubt but I’m really not overly convinced he’s the man we need.
For the rest of this season though? We are deep in the shit. I think he would be great. Seems weird to say I know, but a manager that's got great form at this level might not be enough at this moment in time.
We are heading in to Sam Allardyce/ Warnock territory here. Whoever it is will have to work with what he's got. They will have to bring this club and it's fans back together very quickly
We’ve got Apples, super Micky Apples, I just don’t think you understand, he never gets cold hands, gets booed by all our fans, I just don’t think you understand
Powell would put a smile back into the club without doubt but I’m really not overly convinced he’s the man we need.
For the rest of this season though? We are deep in the shit. I think he would be great. Seems weird to say I know, but a manager that's got great form at this level might not be enough at this moment in time.
Thats my point. Some of the names that are mentioned are all a step into the unknown….. we can’t afford any risk of cock ups.
We need our Charlton back for 5 months. Chris Powell making an emotional comeback out the tunnel would be the equivalent of a jump start. We can fix the problems in the summer (not to say it can’t be him long term - stay up and you get the job Chris).
Having reshaped the squad to play 352, you watch we'll get a manager in who wants to play 433. Or 4231. Maybe even 442.
And you think I'm joking! 🤔
Isn’t that the point though. The Club sets the formation we want to play and then if you replace the Manager you get a new one in who normally plays that system or is happy to, otherwise you get a constant churn of players.
It’s lucky that Duff is suited to 3-5-2.
The Club setting the formation is probably 80% of the problem! It’s like saying I only want a car that goes in straight lines.
Picking a style and formation and then recruiting players and managers for it is just the kind of sensible planning and thinking that has been missing from this club and why we are such a mess. We’ve gone from manager to manager, never consistent formation or style and therefore ended up with a mish-mash mess of a squad that doesn’t fit together
Right and I don't want to get into some sort of meta conversation about "what is a formation?" but formations are usually more maleable than styles of play for a manager.
But still, there has been no continuity in either. Adkins was 4-2-3-1 and possession based then basically route one toward the end, Jacko was 3-5-2 and more direct and pressing based, Garner was all possession and winger-based 4-3-3/3-4-3, Holden was direct and 3-5-2 but basically had to play 4-3-3, and then we recruited for 3-5-2 in the summer then immediately switched to 4-3-3 once the season started.
Then Apples comes in and is 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 and wants to play with more possession than Holden but the Frankenstein's monster nature of the squad and his own shortcomings are his undoing once we get a couple of injuries. So ONCE AGAIN in January we recruit for 3-5-2 and whether Apples is gone today or Wednesday we will be looking for yet another manager who now has lots of CBs and CMs but one winger and three WBs who all gave shortcomings.
On the bright side we do finally have the foundations for 3-5-2. On the down side, we AT LEAST lack depth at wingback, and at worst need upgrades (I think Edun will be fine there, Asiimwe isn't ready, TW has been poor the last few weeks but did play there for MK Dons).
Only hope they're looking around for a replacement in the background before sacking Appleton, so they dont look stupid and take ages to get this next one too
Comments
Has bought in two poor managers and a whole tonne of crap players (this windows players currently exempt given they have not settled yet).
Having to sack both managers mid transfer window is really dreadful performance by him.
He threw Holden right under the bus I thought when he left with his comments, I wonder if he does the same with Apples.
As for JJ, and I don't think he will come/be on their list, but I think I need to defend him from a bollocks narrative some have adopted. We looked like we were going to struggle to stay up and he turned that round. Stockley getting injured meant we stumbled to the end of the season but without any threat of relegation. JJ wanted to bring in better players for the system, Sandgaard decided he wanted to change to a new system but didn't want to pay the premium for it which was incredibly stupid and some fell for it. It wasn't that the system under JJ was found out but that we needed better players to play it and it would have been sensible to evolve from it rather than try to be Man City with League Two players. If we had kept JJ I am confident we would be in a better position today than we are.
Stay up. Stabilise. We need the 2024 equivalent of Jose Riga and then we can go again.
Players should be more than good enough. Get some feel good emotion and ride it. Doesn’t need to be more complicated than that.
Booooooooooo
But they should!
We are deep in the shit. I think he would be great.
Seems weird to say I know, but a manager that's got great form at this level might not be enough at this moment in time.
We are heading in to Sam Allardyce/ Warnock territory here. Whoever it is will have to work with what he's got. They will have to bring this club and it's fans back together very quickly
We need our Charlton back for 5 months. Chris Powell making an emotional comeback out the tunnel would be the equivalent of a jump start. We can fix the problems in the summer (not to say it can’t be him long term - stay up and you get the job Chris).
But still, there has been no continuity in either. Adkins was 4-2-3-1 and possession based then basically route one toward the end, Jacko was 3-5-2 and more direct and pressing based, Garner was all possession and winger-based 4-3-3/3-4-3, Holden was direct and 3-5-2 but basically had to play 4-3-3, and then we recruited for 3-5-2 in the summer then immediately switched to 4-3-3 once the season started.
Then Apples comes in and is 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 and wants to play with more possession than Holden but the Frankenstein's monster nature of the squad and his own shortcomings are his undoing once we get a couple of injuries. So ONCE AGAIN in January we recruit for 3-5-2 and whether Apples is gone today or Wednesday we will be looking for yet another manager who now has lots of CBs and CMs but one winger and three WBs who all gave shortcomings.
On the bright side we do finally have the foundations for 3-5-2. On the down side, we AT LEAST lack depth at wingback, and at worst need upgrades (I think Edun will be fine there, Asiimwe isn't ready, TW has been poor the last few weeks but did play there for MK Dons).
It's such a mess.