by andrew1957 »
20 Sep 2018 09:58
genome I honestly don't think a manager change will help really. He's not beyond reproach by any means, but the problems stem from awful decision-making at the top, and now we're left with a broken squad with some individual talent but who just don't work collectively. Yes, you could argue that's the manager's job to bring them together, but you've seen this on and off since we were relegated in 2013, with several different managers.
The issue lies deeper than just blaming the manager. A big part of me thinks we need to go down before this will get better.
I agree. I am not sure that any manager can improve this situation now. The players are mentally shot and conditioned to lose matches. The same happened to Sunderland the last few seasons where they just got worse and worse and even a manager with a good record like Coleman could not save them. They just needed to go down and regroup. I have the same feeling about the current situation. We have a lot of good players individually but gelling them as a team in the division will be hard. If Clement succeeds he will be a miracle worker in my opinion.
Having said that I saw quite a lot that was better last night. I actually thought Kelly was much better than recently and had a pretty decent game overall. The real problem is that to some extend Swift is a luxury player. When he had Danny Williams in the team to do the dirty work it freed him up to express himself. We have no Williams in the quad now. We have tried Bacuna, Van den Berg and Meyler but none have been as good at the defensive midfield role. I think that we can only afford to have one of Kelly and Swift playing right now.
I have been a Gunter supporter over the years and think he gets far too much stick but he was very poor last night. And Aluko is just very poor all the time. I can only think that he has it written into his contract that he will always play if fit. I feel a tad sorry for Meite. He is still very young and I think fans are expecting too much of him. At least he tries very hard but you have to say that Barrow and Sims were a huge improvement when they came on.
I also think that the increasingly toxic atmosphere at the Madstad cannot be helping the players either. There was so much negativity around me in the East Stand last night. I know it is frustrating when we keep losing but this cannot be helping the already mentally shot players.
Returning to Clement I really think the club should stand by him even if we go down. Then the decision can be made as to whether he is the right man to regroup this sorry squad and motivate them to get going again. Bringing in yet another manager now is very unlikely to improve the situation.