As many, many others have said, the first half was an absolute embarrassment. The defending (if you can even call it that) was abhorrently bad and NJ needs immense credit for getting a tune out of some of these players for as long as he did. For a team like Shrewsbury to have the chances that they did against us was shocking, but I suspect that a lot of these players have already been told they do not have a future at the club and played accordingly. Context is huge for games like this at the end of the season, but the lack of concentration or quality laid bare our problems from the entire season. Whilst this unbeaten run has stabilised things, there are cracks in the team that are more like chasms.
There have been small parts of me that have given some of the defensive unit a free pass for next season, but after today, nah - they can all GTFO. If I can see it as a ST holder, someone like NJ who watches and trains them definitely knows that and more. There's no way any of them would realistically push for a place in most of the top 6 teams. They have all been poor, cost us points and are just not up to task. It needs a full change in personnel and then we pray that they can gel in some way and quickly. NJ has shown he can do that on a short timeline during this season, so if business is done early, I am hopeful.
Finally, the whole situation with Dobbo is a complete, embarrassing mess. However you assess that young man's ability, the effort he put in for the shirt every week has been exemplary. I'm going to miss his sliding tackles and willingness to run into the ground if the (very likely) expected does happen and he leaves. The guts and desire he put in was only matched by Alfie this season. Whoever we have to get in needs to be some player at this level. What a dreadful shame his last game had to be this one.
Bring on the summer, bring on the Euros and bring on a summer of signings and a little more hope. Playoffs next year may yet again be the aim, but it's probably going to need a lot of money and magic. Relegation flirtation added a little more spice this season at least - let's hope than we can get through Xmas 2024 without having our season written off again.
OK maybe Jones has saved us from relegation, other than that his management and tactics have been poor, why some of you think it will be better next season I do not know
This is the most ridiculous post on CL for some considerable time. I'm willing to have a bet with you that we finish in a higher league position next season, (at any amount you choose).
OK maybe Jones has saved us from relegation, other than that his management and tactics have been poor, why some of you think it will be better next season I do not know
Yeah! You know apart from taking a club with the longest winless run in the EFL this season and turning it in to a 14 game unbeaten run saving us comfortably from the drop with a group of players that have been dire all season. What has he done?
Clearly there is going to be a mass change in personal this summer, he’s said as much. It will be better
you don't win anything with a succession of draws, just don't get relegated, who is financing this mass change in personal the new owners haven't spent anything yet.
Have you considered who is funding the £9M pa loss?
OK maybe Jones has saved us from relegation, other than that his management and tactics have been poor, why some of you think it will be better next season I do not know
Yeah! You know apart from taking a club with the longest winless run in the EFL this season and turning it in to a 14 game unbeaten run saving us comfortably from the drop with a group of players that have been dire all season. What has he done?
Clearly there is going to be a mass change in personal this summer, he’s said as much. It will be better
you don't win anything with a succession of draws, just don't get relegated, who is financing this mass change in personal the new owners haven't spent anything yet.
Have you considered who is funding the £9M pa loss?
Hmm. It seems that at the very moment Curbs was going on about the value of loans of players from higher level clubs, NJ was telling Cawley that , in terms, he doesn’t like loans, he wants players who have signed up for the Project. On Twitter, most of the comments seemed right behind NJ on that.
I’m not so sure. Curbs was citing Cullen, Bielik, Gallagher, JRS, and he could have added Maatsen to that list. Seems to me that nowadays a loan player with a good professional attitude is no different to a permanent signing over a season. The best example of that is surely Cullen vs. Taylor, both with us for two seasons…
But NJ is a Believer himself, he’s made that clear, and it may be something he brings into his management style. I guess that was a contributor to his success at Luton.
One to watch…
The problem is that for every Josh Cullen we have five terrible loan signings. The reason that you can cite, by name, the handful that have done well over the last several years is because a successful loan spell seems rare.
I think we should only use loans to augment the squad, not as a key part of our recruitment strategy.
Is it that rare? Or is what’s rare, the state of the Charlton they joined? Most people didnt rate Maatsen but he joined a shitshow and look at him now. The others? They were not just good, they were stellar! Without Cullen and Bielik we would not have gone up. Without JRS, a relegation scrap. And don’t get me started again on what happened with Gallagher. Curbs argues that when we are in good shape as a club, the big boys are happy to lend us some of their best upcoming players, especially London clubs. Of course if we can recruit all the right players on perms, thats probably better, but that will be a big ask.
I was at the game up north (Rochdale?) when Mavididi went from our penalty area to theirs but couldn’t quite finish the move off with a goal. He was very raw, but you could see his potential. Then there was Jay Dasilva and of course Conor Gallagher. And Cullen and Bielik. There was also Liam Miller who was quite good.
Apart from them, what have loanees ever done for us?
That was a stream of dismal shit punctuated with a couple of moments Dobbo outshone everyone NJs starting lineup was muddled nonsense Small and Ramsay show promise Anderson shows commitment DK is much less raw than he was a year ago the rest looked like they’d been dragged in off Floyd Road at 2:55
That is an insult to anyone walking down floyd road who has ever kicked a football
OK maybe Jones has saved us from relegation, other than that his management and tactics have been poor, why some of you think it will be better next season I do not know
Yeah! You know apart from taking a club with the longest winless run in the EFL this season and turning it in to a 14 game unbeaten run saving us comfortably from the drop with a group of players that have been dire all season. What has he done?
Clearly there is going to be a mass change in personal this summer, he’s said as much. It will be better
you don't win anything with a succession of draws, just don't get relegated, who is financing this mass change in personal the new owners haven't spent anything yet.
Have you considered who is funding the £9M pa loss?
I was referring to the zero spend on players
I presume you mean no money paid out on transfer fees, which there has been of course, but incoming fees have more than offset them it's been reported
One fee for JCH agreed between the clubs might have changed that had it been paid, but it wasn't because his wage demands were exorbitant and he didn't want to come IIRC, unless you think that was all smoke and mirrors put out to deceive us.
There are amoeba on Saturn who can see that the plan for this season has failed abysmally, and yet you express surprise that 'some' on here think it will change going into next season and are expecting a summer of personnel changes, financed by owners who do have means and are already in place.
I get that they haven't proven their worth or earned our trust based on what's been achieved so far, but their end game can't be to have us treading water in L1 can it, and they can't be asset strippers because we don't have any to sell worth the money it's costing them to run the Club.
Everything is pointing towards changes for the better.
I think Jones seems to understand the issues and the question is whether he will be backed to address them. I'm sure he would have had assurances around this when he took the job so I am optimistic.
It irritates me that Millwall's loans have been brilliant for them whereas ours have been pretty dire. I was hopeful that Camara would shine but he disappeared after injury. Ladapo was a big letdown but I suppose he will end up scoring against us next year.
OK @se9addick , you make a compelling case with that list, although blimey, Maatsen, that’s the same Ian Maatsen who started for Borussia Dortmund yesterday against Leverkusen, which maybe, just maybe demonstrates that he was a much better player than some on here realised, and he played a lot of games for us in a pretty dire season on and off the pitch, in too many different positions.
If NJ is just saying that the priority will be permanents, but loans are not ruled out if they add quality - and have a great attitude, which is true of most of your own success list, I’m OK with that.
But we have to open our eyes and understand that the FAPL clubs have been allowed to stockpile a huge stock of young talent which is in danger of being left to rot. I think it would be a pity if we turn our back on that talent pool in a dogmatic way. Hopefully NJ does not mean to suggest that.
OK @se9addick , you make a compelling case with that list, although blimey, Maatsen, that’s the same Ian Maatsen who started for Borussia Dortmund yesterday against Leverkusen, which maybe, just maybe demonstrates that he was a much better player than some on here realised, and he played a lot of games for us in a pretty dire season on and off the pitch, in too many different positions.
If NJ is just saying that the priority will be permanents, but loans are not ruled out if they add quality - and have a great attitude, which is true of most of your own success list, I’m OK with that.
But we have to open our eyes and understand that the FAPL clubs have been allowed to stockpile a huge stock of young talent which is in danger of being left to rot. I think it would be a pity if we turn our back on that talent pool in a dogmatic way. Hopefully NJ does not mean to suggest that.
I think at least some of our previous dealings with young FAPL loans from very big clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd and City have highlighted that very often this huge stockpile of of young talent isn’t anywhere as good as it’s cracked up to be. These PL clubs see a young kid at an EFL club and as long as he strings five passes together they are prepared to take a money punt on them. It’s obscene that they have so much money to squander and it’s killing the game. It mostly ends up retarding the development of the youngsters and as you say many are left to rot. I’m very happy that Jones has stated that his priority are permanent signings and has effectively ruled out loans of players that there is little known about. Loans only if it clearly improves the squad.
I thought the general consensus was that Maatsen did alright for us, the season after relegation in matches when we had a back four of Gunther, Inniss, Famewo and Maatsen (with Amos in goal), it looked pretty impregnable. As ever, injuries and suspensions got in the way, but it was a lot better than the various iterations we've seen this year.
I tend to agree that we've had some good loans (Cullen, Gallagher etc) but too often it feels like they just grab anybody to boost the squad numbers.
Had a chat with my parents earlier, who are on holiday in Spain at the moment, so apparently ended up watching the game on my Dad's phone. Dad was distinctly unimpressed, and to add insult to injury he'd not made it back from his half-time loo break when Dobbo scored. He was also convinced that the one from Shrewsbury that hit the woodwork had gone in, and having seen the highlights I'm amazed that it somehow stayed out.
Had a chat with my parents earlier, who are on holiday in Spain at the moment, so apparently ended up watching the game on my Dad's phone. Dad was distinctly unimpressed, and to add insult to injury he'd not made it back from his half-time loo break when Dobbo scored. He was also convinced that the one from Shrewsbury that hit the woodwork had gone in, and having seen the highlights I'm amazed that it somehow stayed out.
Their bloke missed it, it hit the post, bounced back onto the side of his face, back onto the post a second time and then out..!
Comments
There have been small parts of me that have given some of the defensive unit a free pass for next season, but after today, nah - they can all GTFO. If I can see it as a ST holder, someone like NJ who watches and trains them definitely knows that and more. There's no way any of them would realistically push for a place in most of the top 6 teams. They have all been poor, cost us points and are just not up to task. It needs a full change in personnel and then we pray that they can gel in some way and quickly. NJ has shown he can do that on a short timeline during this season, so if business is done early, I am hopeful.
Finally, the whole situation with Dobbo is a complete, embarrassing mess. However you assess that young man's ability, the effort he put in for the shirt every week has been exemplary. I'm going to miss his sliding tackles and willingness to run into the ground if the (very likely) expected does happen and he leaves. The guts and desire he put in was only matched by Alfie this season. Whoever we have to get in needs to be some player at this level. What a dreadful shame his last game had to be this one.
Bring on the summer, bring on the Euros and bring on a summer of signings and a little more hope. Playoffs next year may yet again be the aim, but it's probably going to need a lot of money and magic. Relegation flirtation added a little more spice this season at least - let's hope than we can get through Xmas 2024 without having our season written off again.
I'm willing to have a bet with you that we finish in a higher league position next season, (at any amount you choose).
One fee for JCH agreed between the clubs might have changed that had it been paid, but it wasn't because his wage demands were exorbitant and he didn't want to come IIRC, unless you think that was all smoke and mirrors put out to deceive us.
There are amoeba on Saturn who can see that the plan for this season has failed abysmally, and yet you express surprise that 'some' on here think it will change going into next season and are expecting a summer of personnel changes, financed by owners who do have means and are already in place.
I get that they haven't proven their worth or earned our trust based on what's been achieved so far, but their end game can't be to have us treading water in L1 can it, and they can't be asset strippers because we don't have any to sell worth the money it's costing them to run the Club.
Everything is pointing towards changes for the better.
I tend to agree that we've had some good loans (Cullen, Gallagher etc) but too often it feels like they just grab anybody to boost the squad numbers.
Very bored now of watching shit performances from these dick heads.
Roll on the Summer.