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Assuming we go up which players will we keep and who will we need to offload?
I think KWP and Sulemana will be sold and Rothwell and Brooks will go back to Bournemouth.
McCarthy, Che and Stuey will leave at the end of their contracts but only Stuey would be good enough for a PL start.
The players I think could do a job as first teamers are: Harwood-Bellis, Janny B and Downes plus Fraser and Aribo as late subs. The likelihood is though that Man City recall TH-B and WHU recall Downes
Players who could possibly be fringe players are Smallbone, Adam Armstrong, Bazunu, Stephens, Charles, Edozie, Amo-Ameyaw
Bree, Manning, Lumbley and Mara are nowhere near good enough and need to be sold.
I have no idea whether Ross Stewart and Juan Larios will ever be fit so how they'd perform in the PL is another question.
Two of our best performers last season are out on loan ie Perraud and Alcaraz who could be recalled. Mateusz Lis is at the end of his loan at Goztepe and should return
Not looking good is it when SR spent £130m last year on the likes of Sulemana, Onuachu, Mara, Caleta-Car, Orsic, Bree, Maitland-Niles (loan), Lyanco and Larios.
So if we'd beaten Middlesbrough, Hull, Millwall and Rotherham at home and assuming we beat Stoke we'd be going into the Leeds game 7 points ahead of Leeds, probably 3 points behind Leicester and 2 points ahead of Ipswich if neither of them drop a point before the last game
After a string of inconsistent results we found ourselves needing to beat Leicester to stand an outside chance of automatic promotion and we got hammered by one of our promotion rivals. At present it appears that the two top spots will be between Leeds, Leicester and Ipswich with probably Leeds and Leicester going up automatically. That leaves a playoff group of Saints, Ipswich, Norwich and WBA which is just about as bad as it can get. We certainly wouldn't be the team going into this on a high.
But where has it gone wrong. As you will be aware I wasn't the greatest fan of Russell Martin's style of football particularly the pointlessly precarious playing out from the goalkeeper at all costs. Having said that we went on a 26 game unbeaten run when at times we looked far and away the best team in the division.
The main issues as I see it though aren't the style of football but the striker and goalkeeper positions which have been the problem since Ralph was manager if not before.
It might be argued that being the joint top scorers in the division with Adam Armstrong on 20 goals and Che Adams on 18 that scoring isn't the problem but it is. Looking at the chances that particularly Che Adams has spurned this season I think both players could be on 37 to 40 goals.
In addition despite the apparent love for Gavin Bazunu I just don't think he's ready to be number one. Statistically last year he was the 2nd worst goalkeeper in the Premier League and this season he's statistically the worst goalkeeper in the Championship and you can't afford that if you're a promotion contender.
If there is a criticism of Russell Martin it’s his team selections and often puzzling substitutions that are usually reactive rather than proactive. One of the defining points of this season was Russell Martin's baffling decision to swap the defence around to enable the inclusion of Jack Stephens. We were on a 26 game unbeaten run when Martin decided to shoehorn him in. Before Stephens inclusion the defence conceded 7 goals in 12 games. After his inclusion we conceded 22 goals in the following 12 games. I'm not saying that this is entirely due to Stephen’s performances but we had a settled defence and there was absolutely no need to change it.
I've heard people say that we're unlucky that Leicester, Ipswich and Leeds have had such good campaigns but as far as I'm concerned our team and our squad are equal if not better than all of those teams apart possibly from Leicester. If you look at the list of games that we should have won and threw away we could easily have been promoted by now. If you look at the following results where we should have won or drawn we'd have an extra 20 points.
Sunderland (a) 0-5 – should have been at least drawing there (1 pt dropped) Ipswich (home) 0-1 – should at least have drawn – (1pt dropped) Rotherham (h) 1-1 - should have won convincingly (2pts dropped) Huddersfield (a) 1-1 - should have won (2pts dropped) Bristol City (a) 1-3 - should have drawn at least (1pt dropped) Hull City (h) 1-2 - should have won (3pts dropped) Millwall (h) 1-2 - should have won (3pts dropped) Middlesbrough (h) 1-1 - should have won (2 pts dropped) Blackburn (a) 0-0 – should have won (2pts dropped) Cardiff (a) 1-2 - should have won (3pts dropped)
My biggest concern is what happens next. If we fail to get promoted we will lose KWP, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Che, Downes and probably Fraser, Stuart Armstrong, Brooks, Rothwell, Sulemana and Aribo. McCarthy and Lumley are at the end of their contracts. We will need Sports Republic to completely rebuild the squad, which after the previous two transfer windows fills me with dread.
If we go up it will be a similar situation because this team is not good enough to stay up and particularly if we try and play possession football in the PL we’ll get annihilated.
The issue with a major squad rebuild under Martin is that it took 2½ months for the team to get to grips with the system so we’ll always be in catch up mode. I think whatever happens it will be time to look for a new manager.
What does he have to do to get selected He was the one positive out of last season’s debacle. Tim Vickery said he was shocked that Saints managed to procure his signature as he was one of the hottest prospects in Argentinian football yet he’s struggling to get a game under Martin Against Plymouth he gave a man of the match performance, scored a great goal and was subbed off with over a third of the game left and then doesn’t get on until the 90th minute against Norwich in a game that was crying out for his moments of quality that none of the rest of the squad possess I just don’t get it Martin brought on Smallbone and Shea Charles just after they equalised. We should have been pushing for the win but Martin went for the draw. Don’t get me wrong I agree we’re on an excellent unbeaten run but then again with our team and depth of squad we should be. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be out in front with Leicester but we’re too negative Come on Martin, unleash Charly and give him free rein. At the moment he’s playing with shackles on
Almost halfway through the season and what do we think?
Okay we’re unlucky that Leicester and Ipswich have made record breaking starts. Everyone is saying Ipswich will drop away because of their squad but we’re halfway through and there’s no sign of them falling away. If anything they’re getting stronger. It has to be said that they are way out in front because there are a lot of really poor sides in the Championship.
Having said that I think we have the players and the squad to be doing what Leicester and Ipswich are doing.
Are we going to get an automatic spot? I think Leicester and Ipswich are uncatchable. Are we going to pip Leeds for the third spot? I don’t think so.
We’re 13 points behind Leicester and 12 behind Ipswich. We’ve thrown 8 pts away against Coventry, Watford, Huddersfield and Rotherham. We dropped 8 pts at home against Norwich, Leicester and Ipswich and we dropped 6 points away to Sunderland and Middlesborough.
A lot of the goals we conceded were due to the style of football and we were told the players have to get used to a new style of play. Well they’re used to it now and we’re still dropping points we shouldn’t be. I think with the players and squad we have if we should have had 14 more points and that’s allowing for a draw at home to Leicester and Ipswich and Sunderland away. That would put us top on 53 pts with Leicester on 50 and Ipswich on 49.
So is Rustyball working? I’d say no. We are not killing games off and we’re dropping too many easy points. Okay we’re dominating teams on possession but what has that got us. We had more possession at home to Leicester and Ipswich and away at Sunderland but we came away without a point. At Sunderland we had nearly 70% possession and lost 5-0. Teams have worked us out. Sit back with 11 men behind the ball, we won’t find any telling passes and then catch us on the break late on.
Martin has had the squad now for nearly 6 months. They train probably 5-6 hours per day 4 or 5 days a week so really Rustyball should be like a well oiled machine. After all he’s been developing this system of play for over 4 years now. So how come he’s increasingly saying that the players are not doing what he asked them to do?
We’re struggling to beat teams using this style of play. We’re winning by single goal margins. Our promotion rivals are putting teams to the sword. The problem is when we go into added time with a narrow lead there is always a chance we’ll drop points late on. Apart from Leeds at home I don’t think we’ve beaten anyone comfortably.
My worry is that if we go up how will Rustyball fare in the Premier League? We’re dominating possession in a very poor league and just about beating sides. In the PL there is not a cat in hell’s chance we’re going to have anywhere near the same amount of possession so how will we beat teams then? I think if we go up we need to get all Cortese on Russell’s ass and bin him off for a better manager.
He’s had a great week in training and has really enjoyed it. The energy at the club has been great and the players are fully committed to what he’s trying to do. It’s so different to the energy when he came in 12 weeks ago. Excellent, we are going to hammer Leeds then? Apparently you can’t just be outcome based??? I’m assuming wins aren’t as important as % possession. When asked about why Leicester and Leeds aren’t struggling he came out with a load of excuses then said it’s not excuses Talk about Billy Bullsh1tter. He seems an intelligent bloke so I’m sure he doesn’t actually believes the crap he’s spouting and is just trying to con us. The one positive thing is at the moment we’re only 3 points out of the top six
Yet again RM is putting the blame for the last four games diabolical performances on a hangover from last season. How does he explain 10 points from the first 4 games and none from the next 4
Andréas Georgson. Came up through the coaching levels at Malmo, then went to Brentford under Ankersen as assistant manager, then asst manager at Arsenal, back to Malmo as head of first team football then caretaker manager
This has Sports Republic and Ankersen written all over it
It really is time for Dragan Solak and Kat Liebherr to re-evaluate how SR is performing.
SR are always saying they learn from their mistakes and take action where required, well I think they must have learnt more than any other football club ownership.
I've been trying to think of what they have actually got right over the last 21 months and I'm struggling.
In my opinion they should have got Ralph a couple of strikers and a keeper and I think we'd be mid table PL now. I know a lot of people will disagree.
Having decided probably before they bought the club that Ralph was not their man, they should have sacked him when they got there. He was sacked with us 3 points from mid table.
Having sacked him they appointed someone far inferior who was clearly a massive gamble, which immediately got the fans backs up particularly when Jones started to open his mouth. It was clear from early on that the fans didn’t like him, he had massive ego issues and was completely out of his depth.
Having realised their mistake and reacting to fan unrest they sacked Jones. Great we thought, they won’t make the same mistake again, and to be fair to them they didn’t – they made an even bigger mistake and appointed Selles, who not only had no managerial experience, less than 5 years earlier he’d been working as a Chief Data Analyst at Strømsgodset Toppfotball in Norway.
They entrusted him with keeping us in the PL. Again it was clear from the outset that he was massively out of his depth and his team selections, line ups and substitutions made Jones look like Pep. They then kept him in place until he relegated us. There were so many opportunities to sack him and get a Dyche or Allardyce in. I’m not saying they’d have kept us up but they’d have had more chance than Selles.
So finally SR and Selles parted company and we all waited with baited breath to welcome someone of the calibre of Potter or Koeman or the likes, but no we got Guardiola-Lite.
And SR’s disasters aren’t limited to managerial decisions. Their transfer record is truly diabolical. What other club in the history or world football has spent £150m plus, more than any other team in Europe apart from Barcelona and Chelsea and relegated the club in bottom place.
They have brought in 23 players and really only Lavia and Alcaraz are the quality we need
Having said that I think we need to stick with Martin until Christmas. I partly think this because he may get it right but more so that I don't trust SR to pick a better manager
I know RM will quite rightly not criticise players and clearly backs Bazunu but here is an interesting fact
Sheffield Wednesday had 1 shot on target and scored 1 goal Norwich had 8 shots on target and scored 4 Plymouth had 2 shots on target and scored 1 QPR 3 shots on target and scored 1 Sunderland had 10 shots on target and scored 5 Leicester had 8 shots on target and scored 4
So basically teams are scoring with more than 50% of shots on target against us. Whereas I'm not putting the blame entirely at Baz's door as our defence has been poor he must take a lot of the blame
In 6 games we have conceded nearly half as many as the top 6 sides combined. We have conceded more goals than any other team in the football leage apart from Sutton Utd who are rock bottom.
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