Do you think Roland really knows whats going on, or do you think he just takes Katrien & Guys word for stuff, i wonder if he reads fans message boards?
I'd be horrified if i'd put my money into a club and it was performing so badly.
We don't need to buy British, but we need to have a strategy that takes us somewhere. We need to have more than a competitive first XI with kids behind it. We need two Championship-ready and -capable players for every position. What we have is:
GK: Henderson, Pope - check RB: Solly - * no cover LB: Fox, Bergdich - *cover not good enough CB: Diarra, Bauer, Sarr, Lennon - *cover not good enough RM: JBG - *no cover LM: Moussa - *usually injured, cover out on loan CM: Kashi, Cousins, Jackson, Ba - *cover barely good enough FW: Watt, Makienok, Vetokele, Ahearne-Grant, Reza - *cover questionable
You can see this is a flawed strategy, because injuries and suspensions are inevitable in this league. By all means give kids their chance, but recognise that even Fox is still learning the game, let alone kids like Holmes-Dennis and Charles-Cook. They need strong senior players around them, so they can make mistakes and be covered whilst they learn.
Agree though Ceballos was probably seen as cover for JBG and McAleny expected to be an improvement on Harriott.
Individually players like Sarr or Ba may be good enough but as you say they need more strong senior players to play alongside. Not having to be the senior players themselves alongside the likes of THD and KAG.
Do you think Roland really knows whats going on, or do you think he just takes Katrien & Guys word for stuff, i wonder if he reads fans message boards?
I'd be horrified if i'd put my money into a club and it was performing so badly.
Here is an extract from RD's interview with Belgian journalist, De Coninck, published in Trust News. the interview itself took place at SL before he sold it:
We are staring at the T2, the stand of the ultras; of the frightful fans; of the chants. Does that never bother him? He says: “Many of the guests who sit there are unemployed and have nothing else to do all day. They spend all their time on internet fora. Suddenly they know everything about Standard. They have nothing better to do the whole day long. I cannot compete with that.”
Where/ how are we going to find any half-decent players? Links have been severed with SL (mixed bag, I know, but at least a couple worked out - Watt and Bulot). Phil Chapple, who knew the British leagues inside out and backwards by all accounts, has gone to Fulham.
So we are left relying on a couple of guys on laptops playing the professional version of football manager, who keep recommending "rough diamonds" or players who seemingly have potential but for whatever reason have lost their way. To compound matters, we have a CEO who has minimal experience of football negotiations and an absentee owner.
Having counted to 10, we go into tomorrows match without 3 crocked players who were in our early season starting line up plus another banned (and RCC who has featured).
Tuesday these players were out (although the banned player was a different starter). JBG was out but hopefully back, plus 5 who weren't risked for 90. So seven of our best XI out Tuesday plus 3 shoe-ins for bench including a WCup scorer. Five of our best XI have been injured most of the season.
Tomorrow we are still without four of our best XI, but lets hope those thrust in early don't suffer injury setbacks. Annoying that at least three of these long term absenties were kicked by unpunished opponents.
For this I can give the management some leeway, but we have three players starring out on loan with sides only a handful of places below us with seemingly no recall clause, when we all knew the squad was thin. That is unforgivable.
Not sure if this was mentioned specifically, but could a case also be made for Chris Solly?
Imo, one of the reasons he has looked a shade of his former self recently is because, like most of our foreign recruits, he is not accustomed to playing this many games in a short space of time. This could potentially be causing his knee(s) to flare up but with no real cover at RB, he is playing through the flare ups?
Genuinely believe if we had the cover and CS played once a week, he would be 10x more effective.
Not sure if this was mentioned specifically, but could a case also be made for Chris Solly?
Imo, one of the reasons he has looked a shade of his former self recently is because, like most of our foreign recruits, he is not accustomed to playing this many games in a short space of time. This could potentially be causing his knee(s) to flare up but with no real cover at RB, he is playing through the flare ups?
Genuinely believe if we had the cover and CS played once a week, he would be 10x more effective.
Valid point. This time last season Solly didn't pay on any of the midweek games, Gomez always deputised for him. Thought his knee issue was a permanent problem.
Not sure if this was mentioned specifically, but could a case also be made for Chris Solly?
Imo, one of the reasons he has looked a shade of his former self recently is because, like most of our foreign recruits, he is not accustomed to playing this many games in a short space of time. This could potentially be causing his knee(s) to flare up but with no real cover at RB, he is playing through the flare ups?
Genuinely believe if we had the cover and CS played once a week, he would be 10x more effective.
Valid point. This time last season Solly didn't pay on any of the midweek games, Gomez always deputised for him. Thought his knee issue was a permanent problem.
So with most of the injured players back we are still crap
Now that this has become KM and Luzon's main reason for our failings it is worth looking at the nature of our injury problem.
It may be bad luck, or it could be because we have recruited or retained players who are not physically or mentally prepared for the rigours of Championship football.
So taking the main injuries one by one:
Henderson-injury prone and has never played more than 30 games in a season Makionek-already played more games this season than in the whole of last season, so probably not ready for a full Championship season Kashi- only played 15 games last season and new to the Championship Vetokele- not been fit for a year now Jackson- unlikely to play more than a supporting role due to age and injuries Moussa- recovering from a serious injury
Ceballos and Reza are peripheral squad members who fit or not would not be expected to make much of an impact.
It is also worth noting that the uninjured ones (fingers crossed) are the ones who had a full season last year either with us or elsewhere:
Pope, Solly,Bauer, Fox, Gudmundsson,Watt and Cousins
Looked at like this it is not surprising that our injury list is long and that those who have been arguing for more players with Championship experience may have a good case on that basis alone.
As has been mentioned Preston also had 6 first team players injured including Beckford who got the hat trick at Wembley.
Comments
I'd be horrified if i'd put my money into a club and it was performing so badly.
Individually players like Sarr or Ba may be good enough but as you say they need more strong senior players to play alongside. Not having to be the senior players themselves alongside the likes of THD and KAG.
We are staring at the T2, the stand of the ultras; of the frightful fans; of the chants. Does that never bother him? He says: “Many of the guests who sit there are unemployed and have nothing else to do all day. They spend all their time on internet fora. Suddenly they know everything about Standard. They have nothing better to do the whole day long. I cannot compete with that.”
Where/ how are we going to find any half-decent players? Links have been severed with SL (mixed bag, I know, but at least a couple worked out - Watt and Bulot). Phil Chapple, who knew the British leagues inside out and backwards by all accounts, has gone to Fulham.
So we are left relying on a couple of guys on laptops playing the professional version of football manager, who keep recommending "rough diamonds" or players who seemingly have potential but for whatever reason have lost their way. To compound matters, we have a CEO who has minimal experience of football negotiations and an absentee owner.
Tuesday these players were out (although the banned player was a different starter). JBG was out but hopefully back, plus 5 who weren't risked for 90. So seven of our best XI out Tuesday plus 3 shoe-ins for bench including a WCup scorer. Five of our best XI have been injured most of the season.
Tomorrow we are still without four of our best XI, but lets hope those thrust in early don't suffer injury setbacks. Annoying that at least three of these long term absenties were kicked by unpunished opponents.
For this I can give the management some leeway, but we have three players starring out on loan with sides only a handful of places below us with seemingly no recall clause, when we all knew the squad was thin. That is unforgivable.
Reminds me of that "classic" 1995 Hollywood film.....
"Clueless"
Imo, one of the reasons he has looked a shade of his former self recently is because, like most of our foreign recruits, he is not accustomed to playing this many games in a short space of time. This could potentially be causing his knee(s) to flare up but with no real cover at RB, he is playing through the flare ups?
Genuinely believe if we had the cover and CS played once a week, he would be 10x more effective.