Men against boys today. Hardly surprising after four years of Duchatelet - what do we expect?
I took my Polish neighbours to the match (they've only ever been to four matches between them before). After ten minutes they said, 'you're good, but why are you so small.' Sort of summed up the team and the day really.
Not sure that can be entirely levelled at RD, as that team was basically a Robinson team, and he does seem to like signing a certain type of player.
Plenty of skilful individuals, but a real lack of defensive backbone and power, and leadership
Agreed, except that it’s basically the old team with some Robinson/Gallen additions - acquired with virtually zero money to spend.
His budget may be limited, but I bet it's far higher than Shrewsbury's, whose team seems to be mainly free transfers and loan players. How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
KR did have a choice. He brought in Mavadidi, Kaikai and Zyro, who are all attacking midfielders to go with Fosu, Marshall, Reeves and Aribo who has played the last 2 games "in the 3". Maybe he should have brought in someone for the engine room instead, to stop us being cut open so easily? Is a 2018 Bradley Pritchard, Danny Hollands or Darel Russell that hard to find?
I agree that we badly need an engine room midfielder, but Robinson has stated so himself (at the Bromley Addicks meeting and in a press conference) but wasn't given the money to buy one, and couldn't find an available one at the right price (i.e. almost free) who wanted to join us. That's quite an important point. It's probably Duchatelet you should be complaining to.
Where I don't agree is the argument that his budget is far higher that Shrewsbury's. He's spent less than 100K, so it can't be. Robinson can rightly be criticised for many things, but the narrative that he's build the squad of his dreams and has spent lavishly to do so it's total nonsense. He started with a weird dysfunctional bunch of players, and has at least removed some dead wood and brought in some flair players for peanuts. It's still way short of a being well balanced squad though, even though some of that is down to his not recruiting a second number 9 type striker.
How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
Sorry, but I'm not sure fans of many other top half League One clubs are quaking in their boots when the see the make up of our squad. Holmes, Mavididi and Fosu are the only players who have required double marking.
I know we aren't that aware of the make-up of other teams squads, so it's always a surprise when they look as good as, or better than us. But it's possible that our poor performances are not just down to Robinson, but also at least partly down to the way the club has been run for the last four years?
I want to see different team selections, formations and tactics, and I'll probably criticise Robinson if he doesn't make them. But I won't criticise Robinson about recruitment when he's has virtually nothing to spend..
As all our signings are "undisclosed" we'll never know, but we had to pay a development fee for Fosu & also a fee for Billy Clarke, so I would reckon the figure would be in excess of £250k & nearer to £500k.
As for the "combative midfielder" that we desperately need. Perhaps KR should have been looking at this instead of bringing in Reeves who in the scheme of things has been very disappointing, followed by a short neck (geddit) by Marshall. Looking at his summer dealings, these 2 have left me very underwhelmed & if it wasn't for Fosu (and to some extent BC) I'd had said that KR had a very poor summer in this respect. I wouldn't trust KR to organise the proverbial drink up in a pub.
Men against boys today. Hardly surprising after four years of Duchatelet - what do we expect?
I took my Polish neighbours to the match (they've only ever been to four matches between them before). After ten minutes they said, 'you're good, but why are you so small.' Sort of summed up the team and the day really.
Not sure that can be entirely levelled at RD, as that team was basically a Robinson team, and he does seem to like signing a certain type of player.
Plenty of skilful individuals, but a real lack of defensive backbone and power, and leadership
Agreed, except that it’s basically the old team with some Robinson/Gallen additions - acquired with virtually zero money to spend.
His budget may be limited, but I bet it's far higher than Shrewsbury's, whose team seems to be mainly free transfers and loan players. How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
KR did have a choice. He brought in Mavadidi, Kaikai and Zyro, who are all attacking midfielders to go with Fosu, Marshall, Reeves and Aribo who has played the last 2 games "in the 3". Maybe he should have brought in someone for the engine room instead, to stop us being cut open so easily? Is a 2018 Bradley Pritchard, Danny Hollands or Darel Russell that hard to find?
I agree that we badly need an engine room midfielder, but Robinson has stated so himself (at the Bromley Addicks meeting and in a press conference) but wasn't given the money to buy one, and couldn't find an available one at the right price (i.e. almost free) who wanted to join us. That's quite an important point. It's probably Duchatelet you should be complaining to.
Where I don't agree is the argument that his budget is far higher that Shrewsbury's. He's spent less than 100K, so it can't be. Robinson can rightly be criticised for many things, but the narrative that he's build the squad of his dreams and has spent lavishly to do so it's total nonsense. He started with a weird dysfunctional bunch of players, and has at least removed some dead wood and brought in some flair players for peanuts. It's still way short of a being well balanced squad though, even though some of that is down to his not recruiting a second number 9 type striker.
How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
Sorry, but I'm not sure fans of many other top half League One clubs are quaking in their boots when the see the make up of our squad. Holmes, Mavididi and Fosu are the only players who have required double marking.
I know we aren't that aware of the make-up of other teams squads, so it's always a surprise when they look as good as, or better than us. But it's possible that our poor performances are not just down to Robinson, but also at least partly down to the way the club has been run for the last four years?
I want to see different team selections, formations and tactics, and I'll probably criticise Robinson if he doesn't make them. But I won't criticise Robinson about recruitment when he's has virtually nothing to spend..
It's semantics. Do you think Marshall and Reeves were cheap because they didn't command big transfer fees? Or did they come because Robinson offered them much bigger wages than, say, Shrewsbury? They have been two of the least effective players in the squad, but they were Robinson's big priorities, along with Clarke, and Shrewsbury, like most clubs in L1, could not have paid them what Charlton offered. That's the effect of the budget.
Did anyone manage to snap or know if a picture exists of the teams lined up for the pre match bit...
We're a far smaller side with only Amos, Pearce, Konsa and Magennis close to being the size of the Shrews players.
EVERY match we attend, both home & away without fail, Mr F & I have the same conversation regarding the opposition....
" FFS ! How big/tall/beefy are they ! We could do with a couple like that".
Agreed. KR does seem to like signing small, skilful players, if you keep signing that type of player it's hardly surprising when the opposition has a physical advantage over you. We're playing in League One, not La Liga!
Men against boys today. Hardly surprising after four years of Duchatelet - what do we expect?
I took my Polish neighbours to the match (they've only ever been to four matches between them before). After ten minutes they said, 'you're good, but why are you so small.' Sort of summed up the team and the day really.
Not sure that can be entirely levelled at RD, as that team was basically a Robinson team, and he does seem to like signing a certain type of player.
Plenty of skilful individuals, but a real lack of defensive backbone and power, and leadership
Agreed, except that it’s basically the old team with some Robinson/Gallen additions - acquired with virtually zero money to spend.
His budget may be limited, but I bet it's far higher than Shrewsbury's, whose team seems to be mainly free transfers and loan players. How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
KR did have a choice. He brought in Mavadidi, Kaikai and Zyro, who are all attacking midfielders to go with Fosu, Marshall, Reeves and Aribo who has played the last 2 games "in the 3". Maybe he should have brought in someone for the engine room instead, to stop us being cut open so easily? Is a 2018 Bradley Pritchard, Danny Hollands or Darel Russell that hard to find?
I agree that we badly need an engine room midfielder, but Robinson has stated so himself (at the Bromley Addicks meeting and in a press conference) but wasn't given the money to buy one, and couldn't find an available one at the right price (i.e. almost free) who wanted to join us. That's quite an important point. It's probably Duchatelet you should be complaining to.
Where I don't agree is the argument that his budget is far higher that Shrewsbury's. He's spent less than 100K, so it can't be. Robinson can rightly be criticised for many things, but the narrative that he's build the squad of his dreams and has spent lavishly to do so it's total nonsense. He started with a weird dysfunctional bunch of players, and has at least removed some dead wood and brought in some flair players for peanuts. It's still way short of a being well balanced squad though, even though some of that is down to his not recruiting a second number 9 type striker.
How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
Sorry, but I'm not sure fans of many other top half League One clubs are quaking in their boots when the see the make up of our squad. Holmes, Mavididi and Fosu are the only players who have required double marking.
I know we aren't that aware of the make-up of other teams squads, so it's always a surprise when they look as good as, or better than us. But it's possible that our poor performances are not just down to Robinson, but also at least partly down to the way the club has been run for the last four years?
I want to see different team selections, formations and tactics, and I'll probably criticise Robinson if he doesn't make them. But I won't criticise Robinson about recruitment when he's has virtually nothing to spend..
@JamesSeed as said by others it's not not just the fees paid but the wages. Our wage bill will be much higher than Shrewsbury's albeit that some of ours will be wasted on silly money being paid to the likes of Ajose and Sarr.
However you try and spin it Shewsbury are getting the most out of their smaller budget and we are not.
Big disappointment but we were beaten by a better organised, fitter and more motivated side to be honest we could have lost by a bigger margin. There are still serious underlying problems in my opinion, the first being we have too many similar players and most of them are midgets, the second is that KR doesn't have the wit or indeed the imagination to change things around when needed and lastly the endless buy out story must be affecting the atmosphere around the club.
Looking at this performance I can't believe we will make the pay offs and even if we do does anyone really think we can win a two leg semi final and then win at Wembley with this lot? I am very doubtful. League 1 again next season, hopefully with a new owner and manager but I'm not holding my breath on that either.
I've said the whole season 7th-12th and still stand by that, playoffs are a real outside chance in my view as I don't see us stringing 3-4 wins on the trot.
In my view our main issue is intelligence. The way the team is set up and the personnel we have (i.e. not physical) requires intelligent footballers. Outside of Jackson and maybe one or two others like Dasilva (but still young) and Billy Clarke we don't play with intelligence.
Therefore against very physical sides we struggle and against intelligent sides we struggle as we are unable to adapt to what's happening around us. The manger I sit in that camp as well, his inability to do the obvious is becoming ridiculous. 20 minutes in it was clear of Shrews plan, kick the hell out of us and play very high up the field so there was no gaps for us to play in. We should have been playing it over the top or down the channels, but that would likely require two up front. I admire Josh's work ethic but his football brain is almost non existent, not my favourite but it was crying out for an Ajose type to join him upfront but would still require the midfield to play the right balls forward.
I'm loosing the will to live watching teams stay tight and for JFC and/or Kashi go back beyond the centre halfs to get the ball from Amos.
With 13 games to go, I'll be surprised if we win half, but we might just sneak another 18 points if we are very lucky, 66 points won't be playoffs. I still reckon we'll finish below Southend
Karl has to go as soon as possible in my opinion, he has had several opportunities to do something different, but we are scraping points when we do get them in the same way every time.
We need a change urgently to have any hope of playoffs and to allow the new guy to see what he needs to add to the side and what deadwood can be got rid of.
It's the business end of the season. We have no CEO to sack him, and we don't want Duchatelet to appoint another new manager, do we? It's a pointless argument really. New owner? Then it's a worthwhile debate, right now it's probably a waste of time.
Whilst I partially agree, I have to say we're not going to get any better. Hopefully a new owner, if a deal is as close as promised can get in sooner rather than later to make that change... To get to the playoffs we need either new tactics or a new manager bounce, they in my opinion can and will only come together.
Men against boys today. Hardly surprising after four years of Duchatelet - what do we expect?
I took my Polish neighbours to the match (they've only ever been to four matches between them before). After ten minutes they said, 'you're good, but why are you so small.' Sort of summed up the team and the day really.
Not sure that can be entirely levelled at RD, as that team was basically a Robinson team, and he does seem to like signing a certain type of player.
Plenty of skilful individuals, but a real lack of defensive backbone and power, and leadership
Agreed, except that it’s basically the old team with some Robinson/Gallen additions - acquired with virtually zero money to spend.
His budget may be limited, but I bet it's far higher than Shrewsbury's, whose team seems to be mainly free transfers and loan players. How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
KR did have a choice. He brought in Mavadidi, Kaikai and Zyro, who are all attacking midfielders to go with Fosu, Marshall, Reeves and Aribo who has played the last 2 games "in the 3". Maybe he should have brought in someone for the engine room instead, to stop us being cut open so easily? Is a 2018 Bradley Pritchard, Danny Hollands or Darel Russell that hard to find?
I agree that we badly need an engine room midfielder, but Robinson has stated so himself (at the Bromley Addicks meeting and in a press conference) but wasn't given the money to buy one, and couldn't find an available one at the right price (i.e. almost free) who wanted to join us. That's quite an important point. It's probably Duchatelet you should be complaining to.
Where I don't agree is the argument that his budget is far higher that Shrewsbury's. He's spent less than 100K, so it can't be. Robinson can rightly be criticised for many things, but the narrative that he's build the squad of his dreams and has spent lavishly to do so it's total nonsense. He started with a weird dysfunctional bunch of players, and has at least removed some dead wood and brought in some flair players for peanuts. It's still way short of a being well balanced squad though, even though some of that is down to his not recruiting a second number 9 type striker.
How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
Sorry, but I'm not sure fans of many other top half League One clubs are quaking in their boots when the see the make up of our squad. Holmes, Mavididi and Fosu are the only players who have required double marking.
I know we aren't that aware of the make-up of other teams squads, so it's always a surprise when they look as good as, or better than us. But it's possible that our poor performances are not just down to Robinson, but also at least partly down to the way the club has been run for the last four years?
I want to see different team selections, formations and tactics, and I'll probably criticise Robinson if he doesn't make them. But I won't criticise Robinson about recruitment when he's has virtually nothing to spend..
I agree that KR had virtually nothing to spend, but nonetheless he recruited a squad of small light weight players, mainly wingers. Even in January when we had been crying out for a reasonable forward and a strong midfielder for 5 months, what did he do ? Yep, he recruited another 2 wingers and a winger/forward. It simply has to be down to his choice, in the same way Slade recruited a number of old slow midfielders by choice. (Granted it wasn't easy).
Men against boys today. Hardly surprising after four years of Duchatelet - what do we expect?
I took my Polish neighbours to the match (they've only ever been to four matches between them before). After ten minutes they said, 'you're good, but why are you so small.' Sort of summed up the team and the day really.
Not sure that can be entirely levelled at RD, as that team was basically a Robinson team, and he does seem to like signing a certain type of player.
Plenty of skilful individuals, but a real lack of defensive backbone and power, and leadership
Agreed, except that it’s basically the old team with some Robinson/Gallen additions - acquired with virtually zero money to spend.
His budget may be limited, but I bet it's far higher than Shrewsbury's, whose team seems to be mainly free transfers and loan players. How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
KR did have a choice. He brought in Mavadidi, Kaikai and Zyro, who are all attacking midfielders to go with Fosu, Marshall, Reeves and Aribo who has played the last 2 games "in the 3". Maybe he should have brought in someone for the engine room instead, to stop us being cut open so easily? Is a 2018 Bradley Pritchard, Danny Hollands or Darel Russell that hard to find?
I agree that we badly need an engine room midfielder, but Robinson has stated so himself (at the Bromley Addicks meeting and in a press conference) but wasn't given the money to buy one, and couldn't find an available one at the right price (i.e. almost free) who wanted to join us. That's quite an important point. It's probably Duchatelet you should be complaining to.
Where I don't agree is the argument that his budget is far higher that Shrewsbury's. He's spent less than 100K, so it can't be. Robinson can rightly be criticised for many things, but the narrative that he's build the squad of his dreams and has spent lavishly to do so it's total nonsense. He started with a weird dysfunctional bunch of players, and has at least removed some dead wood and brought in some flair players for peanuts. It's still way short of a being well balanced squad though, even though some of that is down to his not recruiting a second number 9 type striker.
How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
Sorry, but I'm not sure fans of many other top half League One clubs are quaking in their boots when the see the make up of our squad. Holmes, Mavididi and Fosu are the only players who have required double marking.
I know we aren't that aware of the make-up of other teams squads, so it's always a surprise when they look as good as, or better than us. But it's possible that our poor performances are not just down to Robinson, but also at least partly down to the way the club has been run for the last four years?
I want to see different team selections, formations and tactics, and I'll probably criticise Robinson if he doesn't make them. But I won't criticise Robinson about recruitment when he's has virtually nothing to spend..
As all our signings are "undisclosed" we'll never know, but we had to pay a development fee for Fosu & also a fee for Billy Clarke, so I would reckon the figure would be in excess of £250k & nearer to £500k.
As for the "combative midfielder" that we desperately need. Perhaps KR should have been looking at this instead of bringing in Reeves who in the scheme of things has been very disappointing, followed by a short neck (geddit) by Marshall. Looking at his summer dealings, these 2 have left me very underwhelmed & if it wasn't for Fosu (and to some extent BC) I'd had said that KR had a very poor summer in this respect. I wouldn't trust KR to organise the proverbial drink up in a pub.
Sorry, but Billy Clarke and Fosu were the only undiscloseds under Robinson, the rest (including Marshall and Reeves) were loans or frees. Duchatelet would never have let Karl spend £500K on two players, or any any players for that matter!
I believe Robbo when he says it was under £100K.
As I said above, he wanted an athletic midfielder but wasn't given the money to buy one, and he and Gallen couldn't find an available one at the right price (i.e. almost free) who wanted to join us.
It's not as easy as it might appear this management lark you know. It seems easy sitting behind a keyboard. We all think we could do better, me included.
Men against boys today. Hardly surprising after four years of Duchatelet - what do we expect?
I took my Polish neighbours to the match (they've only ever been to four matches between them before). After ten minutes they said, 'you're good, but why are you so small.' Sort of summed up the team and the day really.
Not sure that can be entirely levelled at RD, as that team was basically a Robinson team, and he does seem to like signing a certain type of player.
Plenty of skilful individuals, but a real lack of defensive backbone and power, and leadership
Agreed, except that it’s basically the old team with some Robinson/Gallen additions - acquired with virtually zero money to spend.
His budget may be limited, but I bet it's far higher than Shrewsbury's, whose team seems to be mainly free transfers and loan players. How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
KR did have a choice. He brought in Mavadidi, Kaikai and Zyro, who are all attacking midfielders to go with Fosu, Marshall, Reeves and Aribo who has played the last 2 games "in the 3". Maybe he should have brought in someone for the engine room instead, to stop us being cut open so easily? Is a 2018 Bradley Pritchard, Danny Hollands or Darel Russell that hard to find?
I agree that we badly need an engine room midfielder, but Robinson has stated so himself (at the Bromley Addicks meeting and in a press conference) but wasn't given the money to buy one, and couldn't find an available one at the right price (i.e. almost free) who wanted to join us. That's quite an important point. It's probably Duchatelet you should be complaining to.
Where I don't agree is the argument that his budget is far higher that Shrewsbury's. He's spent less than 100K, so it can't be. Robinson can rightly be criticised for many things, but the narrative that he's build the squad of his dreams and has spent lavishly to do so it's total nonsense. He started with a weird dysfunctional bunch of players, and has at least removed some dead wood and brought in some flair players for peanuts. It's still way short of a being well balanced squad though, even though some of that is down to his not recruiting a second number 9 type striker.
How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
Sorry, but I'm not sure fans of many other top half League One clubs are quaking in their boots when the see the make up of our squad. Holmes, Mavididi and Fosu are the only players who have required double marking.
I know we aren't that aware of the make-up of other teams squads, so it's always a surprise when they look as good as, or better than us. But it's possible that our poor performances are not just down to Robinson, but also at least partly down to the way the club has been run for the last four years?
I want to see different team selections, formations and tactics, and I'll probably criticise Robinson if he doesn't make them. But I won't criticise Robinson about recruitment when he's has virtually nothing to spend..
As all our signings are "undisclosed" we'll never know, but we had to pay a development fee for Fosu & also a fee for Billy Clarke, so I would reckon the figure would be in excess of £250k & nearer to £500k.
As for the "combative midfielder" that we desperately need. Perhaps KR should have been looking at this instead of bringing in Reeves who in the scheme of things has been very disappointing, followed by a short neck (geddit) by Marshall. Looking at his summer dealings, these 2 have left me very underwhelmed & if it wasn't for Fosu (and to some extent BC) I'd had said that KR had a very poor summer in this respect. I wouldn't trust KR to organise the proverbial drink up in a pub.
Sorry, but Billy Clarke and Fosu were the only undiscloseds under Robinson, the rest (including Marshall and Reeves) were loans or frees. Duchatelet would never have let Karl spend £500K on two players, or any any players for that matter!
I believe Robbo when he says it was under £100K.
As I said above, he wanted an athletic midfielder but wasn't given the money to buy one, and he and Gallen couldn't find an available one at the right price (i.e. almost free) who wanted to join us.
It's not as easy as it might appear this management lark you know. It seems easy sitting behind a keyboard. We all think we could do better, me included.
That's what I said - we paid 2 fees in the summer (Fosu & Clarke) but I can't believe that combined they were under £100k. Anyway, that's all in the past & with the squad that he assembled like you I think 7-12th will be where we finished (I think I said 10th a month or so ago)
The fact that Plymouth, newly promoted & bottom for the first half of the season are above us, and Southend & The Gills are not that far behind just shows how crap we are.
Men against boys today. Hardly surprising after four years of Duchatelet - what do we expect?
I took my Polish neighbours to the match (they've only ever been to four matches between them before). After ten minutes they said, 'you're good, but why are you so small.' Sort of summed up the team and the day really.
Not sure that can be entirely levelled at RD, as that team was basically a Robinson team, and he does seem to like signing a certain type of player.
Plenty of skilful individuals, but a real lack of defensive backbone and power, and leadership
Agreed, except that it’s basically the old team with some Robinson/Gallen additions - acquired with virtually zero money to spend.
His budget may be limited, but I bet it's far higher than Shrewsbury's, whose team seems to be mainly free transfers and loan players. How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
KR did have a choice. He brought in Mavadidi, Kaikai and Zyro, who are all attacking midfielders to go with Fosu, Marshall, Reeves and Aribo who has played the last 2 games "in the 3". Maybe he should have brought in someone for the engine room instead, to stop us being cut open so easily? Is a 2018 Bradley Pritchard, Danny Hollands or Darel Russell that hard to find?
I agree that we badly need an engine room midfielder, but Robinson has stated so himself (at the Bromley Addicks meeting and in a press conference) but wasn't given the money to buy one, and couldn't find an available one at the right price (i.e. almost free) who wanted to join us. That's quite an important point. It's probably Duchatelet you should be complaining to.
Where I don't agree is the argument that his budget is far higher that Shrewsbury's. He's spent less than 100K, so it can't be. Robinson can rightly be criticised for many things, but the narrative that he's build the squad of his dreams and has spent lavishly to do so it's total nonsense. He started with a weird dysfunctional bunch of players, and has at least removed some dead wood and brought in some flair players for peanuts. It's still way short of a being well balanced squad though, even though some of that is down to his not recruiting a second number 9 type striker.
How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
Sorry, but I'm not sure fans of many other top half League One clubs are quaking in their boots when the see the make up of our squad. Holmes, Mavididi and Fosu are the only players who have required double marking.
I know we aren't that aware of the make-up of other teams squads, so it's always a surprise when they look as good as, or better than us. But it's possible that our poor performances are not just down to Robinson, but also at least partly down to the way the club has been run for the last four years?
I want to see different team selections, formations and tactics, and I'll probably criticise Robinson if he doesn't make them. But I won't criticise Robinson about recruitment when he's has virtually nothing to spend..
@JamesSeed as said by others it's not not just the fees paid but the wages. Our wage bill will be much higher than Shrewsbury's albeit that some of ours will be wasted on silly money being paid to the likes of Ajose and Sarr.
However you try and spin it Shewsbury are getting the most out of their smaller budget and we are not.
I'm not trying to spin anything. I agree with you that they are getting the best out of their squad, but they have a well balanced squad of grown ups and we haven't.
I also think other managers could and probably would do better than Karl.
But this 'we have one of the top three squads in the league' is the only thing I don't agree with, having been to a lot of matches this season. It's easy to under-rate this league because we think we're too good for it. We certainly should be too good for it, but after four years of Duchatelet, we're not, (although with a bit of luck we might scrape up this season).
Plenty here blame Robinson whereas I think most of the blame falls on the shoulders of the owner. Robinson just happens to be a more easily accessible target. No one's going to sack him before the end of the season anyway, for any number of reasons.
Our problem is very much at home - We need 2 up front at home Karl. The sooner you work that one out, the more chance you will have of keeping your job!
Men against boys today. Hardly surprising after four years of Duchatelet - what do we expect?
I took my Polish neighbours to the match (they've only ever been to four matches between them before). After ten minutes they said, 'you're good, but why are you so small.' Sort of summed up the team and the day really.
Not sure that can be entirely levelled at RD, as that team was basically a Robinson team, and he does seem to like signing a certain type of player.
Plenty of skilful individuals, but a real lack of defensive backbone and power, and leadership
Agreed, except that it’s basically the old team with some Robinson/Gallen additions - acquired with virtually zero money to spend.
His budget may be limited, but I bet it's far higher than Shrewsbury's, whose team seems to be mainly free transfers and loan players. How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
KR did have a choice. He brought in Mavadidi, Kaikai and Zyro, who are all attacking midfielders to go with Fosu, Marshall, Reeves and Aribo who has played the last 2 games "in the 3". Maybe he should have brought in someone for the engine room instead, to stop us being cut open so easily? Is a 2018 Bradley Pritchard, Danny Hollands or Darel Russell that hard to find?
I agree that we badly need an engine room midfielder, but Robinson has stated so himself (at the Bromley Addicks meeting and in a press conference) but wasn't given the money to buy one, and couldn't find an available one at the right price (i.e. almost free) who wanted to join us. That's quite an important point. It's probably Duchatelet you should be complaining to.
Where I don't agree is the argument that his budget is far higher that Shrewsbury's. He's spent less than 100K, so it can't be. Robinson can rightly be criticised for many things, but the narrative that he's build the squad of his dreams and has spent lavishly to do so it's total nonsense. He started with a weird dysfunctional bunch of players, and has at least removed some dead wood and brought in some flair players for peanuts. It's still way short of a being well balanced squad though, even though some of that is down to his not recruiting a second number 9 type striker.
How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
Sorry, but I'm not sure fans of many other top half League One clubs are quaking in their boots when the see the make up of our squad. Holmes, Mavididi and Fosu are the only players who have required double marking.
I know we aren't that aware of the make-up of other teams squads, so it's always a surprise when they look as good as, or better than us. But it's possible that our poor performances are not just down to Robinson, but also at least partly down to the way the club has been run for the last four years?
I want to see different team selections, formations and tactics, and I'll probably criticise Robinson if he doesn't make them. But I won't criticise Robinson about recruitment when he's has virtually nothing to spend..
As all our signings are "undisclosed" we'll never know, but we had to pay a development fee for Fosu & also a fee for Billy Clarke, so I would reckon the figure would be in excess of £250k & nearer to £500k.
As for the "combative midfielder" that we desperately need. Perhaps KR should have been looking at this instead of bringing in Reeves who in the scheme of things has been very disappointing, followed by a short neck (geddit) by Marshall. Looking at his summer dealings, these 2 have left me very underwhelmed & if it wasn't for Fosu (and to some extent BC) I'd had said that KR had a very poor summer in this respect. I wouldn't trust KR to organise the proverbial drink up in a pub.
Sorry, but Billy Clarke and Fosu were the only undiscloseds under Robinson, the rest (including Marshall and Reeves) were loans or frees. Duchatelet would never have let Karl spend £500K on two players, or any any players for that matter!
I believe Robbo when he says it was under £100K.
As I said above, he wanted an athletic midfielder but wasn't given the money to buy one, and he and Gallen couldn't find an available one at the right price (i.e. almost free) who wanted to join us.
It's not as easy as it might appear this management lark you know. It seems easy sitting behind a keyboard. We all think we could do better, me included.
On your reading he wasn’t given the money to acquire Marshall and Reeves either, both of whom will have received a chunky signing-on fee and/or hefty wages. You are right about fees paid to other clubs, but it’s meaningless because Robinson still had choices to make and he has repeatedly prioritised other areas. It is not the case that he couldn’t have made other choices.
Men against boys today. Hardly surprising after four years of Duchatelet - what do we expect?
I took my Polish neighbours to the match (they've only ever been to four matches between them before). After ten minutes they said, 'you're good, but why are you so small.' Sort of summed up the team and the day really.
Not sure that can be entirely levelled at RD, as that team was basically a Robinson team, and he does seem to like signing a certain type of player.
Plenty of skilful individuals, but a real lack of defensive backbone and power, and leadership
Agreed, except that it’s basically the old team with some Robinson/Gallen additions - acquired with virtually zero money to spend.
His budget may be limited, but I bet it's far higher than Shrewsbury's, whose team seems to be mainly free transfers and loan players. How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
KR did have a choice. He brought in Mavadidi, Kaikai and Zyro, who are all attacking midfielders to go with Fosu, Marshall, Reeves and Aribo who has played the last 2 games "in the 3". Maybe he should have brought in someone for the engine room instead, to stop us being cut open so easily? Is a 2018 Bradley Pritchard, Danny Hollands or Darel Russell that hard to find?
I agree that we badly need an engine room midfielder, but Robinson has stated so himself (at the Bromley Addicks meeting and in a press conference) but wasn't given the money to buy one, and couldn't find an available one at the right price (i.e. almost free) who wanted to join us. That's quite an important point. It's probably Duchatelet you should be complaining to.
Where I don't agree is the argument that his budget is far higher that Shrewsbury's. He's spent less than 100K, so it can't be. Robinson can rightly be criticised for many things, but the narrative that he's build the squad of his dreams and has spent lavishly to do so it's total nonsense. He started with a weird dysfunctional bunch of players, and has at least removed some dead wood and brought in some flair players for peanuts. It's still way short of a being well balanced squad though, even though some of that is down to his not recruiting a second number 9 type striker.
How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
Sorry, but I'm not sure fans of many other top half League One clubs are quaking in their boots when the see the make up of our squad. Holmes, Mavididi and Fosu are the only players who have required double marking.
I know we aren't that aware of the make-up of other teams squads, so it's always a surprise when they look as good as, or better than us. But it's possible that our poor performances are not just down to Robinson, but also at least partly down to the way the club has been run for the last four years?
I want to see different team selections, formations and tactics, and I'll probably criticise Robinson if he doesn't make them. But I won't criticise Robinson about recruitment when he's has virtually nothing to spend..
As all our signings are "undisclosed" we'll never know, but we had to pay a development fee for Fosu & also a fee for Billy Clarke, so I would reckon the figure would be in excess of £250k & nearer to £500k.
As for the "combative midfielder" that we desperately need. Perhaps KR should have been looking at this instead of bringing in Reeves who in the scheme of things has been very disappointing, followed by a short neck (geddit) by Marshall. Looking at his summer dealings, these 2 have left me very underwhelmed & if it wasn't for Fosu (and to some extent BC) I'd had said that KR had a very poor summer in this respect. I wouldn't trust KR to organise the proverbial drink up in a pub.
Sorry, but Billy Clarke and Fosu were the only undiscloseds under Robinson, the rest (including Marshall and Reeves) were loans or frees. Duchatelet would never have let Karl spend £500K on two players, or any any players for that matter!
I believe Robbo when he says it was under £100K.
As I said above, he wanted an athletic midfielder but wasn't given the money to buy one, and he and Gallen couldn't find an available one at the right price (i.e. almost free) who wanted to join us.
It's not as easy as it might appear this management lark you know. It seems easy sitting behind a keyboard. We all think we could do better, me included.
Page? Foster-Caskey?
Robinson also said he had a great budget when he was trying to get in Meire and Duchatelet's good books.
Marshall and Reeves were frees @Airman Brown . Not heard that they had chunky signing on fees. Doubt Duchatelet would be desperate to pay those somehow. It may have been the norm in the past, but under Roly when he's decided to sell the club? I could easily be wrong and maybe big fees and wages have been agreed with these players. Perhaps the deal was he could use the money saved from getting rid of the big earners. That would make sense. Shrewsbury also have frees though, and maybe they've had to pay wages and signing on fees as well, I don't know. I hate to say it, but Charlton under Seed were way more Shrewsbury than they were Blackburn (or Arsenal - you get my drift). It was about character, organisation, and team spirit, exactly what we saw from the Shrews, although Charlton were hopefully less 'physically intimidating'. They didn't have a reputation as a dirty side at any rate.
As I've said a couple of times above, Karl wanted a more physical kind of midfielder - yes, the exact kind all the other clubs want. So are they available? Yes, at a price. So would Roly pay that price? No he wouldn't.
Right now it's clear that we need a new right back, but maybe that seemed less of a priority at the beginning of the season. People were talking about Konsa in that role?
Men against boys today. Hardly surprising after four years of Duchatelet - what do we expect?
I took my Polish neighbours to the match (they've only ever been to four matches between them before). After ten minutes they said, 'you're good, but why are you so small.' Sort of summed up the team and the day really.
Not sure that can be entirely levelled at RD, as that team was basically a Robinson team, and he does seem to like signing a certain type of player.
Plenty of skilful individuals, but a real lack of defensive backbone and power, and leadership
Agreed, except that it’s basically the old team with some Robinson/Gallen additions - acquired with virtually zero money to spend.
His budget may be limited, but I bet it's far higher than Shrewsbury's, whose team seems to be mainly free transfers and loan players. How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
KR did have a choice. He brought in Mavadidi, Kaikai and Zyro, who are all attacking midfielders to go with Fosu, Marshall, Reeves and Aribo who has played the last 2 games "in the 3". Maybe he should have brought in someone for the engine room instead, to stop us being cut open so easily? Is a 2018 Bradley Pritchard, Danny Hollands or Darel Russell that hard to find?
I agree that we badly need an engine room midfielder, but Robinson has stated so himself (at the Bromley Addicks meeting and in a press conference) but wasn't given the money to buy one, and couldn't find an available one at the right price (i.e. almost free) who wanted to join us. That's quite an important point. It's probably Duchatelet you should be complaining to.
Where I don't agree is the argument that his budget is far higher that Shrewsbury's. He's spent less than 100K, so it can't be. Robinson can rightly be criticised for many things, but the narrative that he's build the squad of his dreams and has spent lavishly to do so it's total nonsense. He started with a weird dysfunctional bunch of players, and has at least removed some dead wood and brought in some flair players for peanuts. It's still way short of a being well balanced squad though, even though some of that is down to his not recruiting a second number 9 type striker.
How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
Sorry, but I'm not sure fans of many other top half League One clubs are quaking in their boots when the see the make up of our squad. Holmes, Mavididi and Fosu are the only players who have required double marking.
I know we aren't that aware of the make-up of other teams squads, so it's always a surprise when they look as good as, or better than us. But it's possible that our poor performances are not just down to Robinson, but also at least partly down to the way the club has been run for the last four years?
I want to see different team selections, formations and tactics, and I'll probably criticise Robinson if he doesn't make them. But I won't criticise Robinson about recruitment when he's has virtually nothing to spend..
As all our signings are "undisclosed" we'll never know, but we had to pay a development fee for Fosu & also a fee for Billy Clarke, so I would reckon the figure would be in excess of £250k & nearer to £500k.
As for the "combative midfielder" that we desperately need. Perhaps KR should have been looking at this instead of bringing in Reeves who in the scheme of things has been very disappointing, followed by a short neck (geddit) by Marshall. Looking at his summer dealings, these 2 have left me very underwhelmed & if it wasn't for Fosu (and to some extent BC) I'd had said that KR had a very poor summer in this respect. I wouldn't trust KR to organise the proverbial drink up in a pub.
Sorry, but Billy Clarke and Fosu were the only undiscloseds under Robinson, the rest (including Marshall and Reeves) were loans or frees. Duchatelet would never have let Karl spend £500K on two players, or any any players for that matter!
I believe Robbo when he says it was under £100K.
As I said above, he wanted an athletic midfielder but wasn't given the money to buy one, and he and Gallen couldn't find an available one at the right price (i.e. almost free) who wanted to join us.
It's not as easy as it might appear this management lark you know. It seems easy sitting behind a keyboard. We all think we could do better, me included.
Page? Foster-Caskey?
Robinson also said he had a great budget when he was trying to get in Meire and Duchatelet's good books.
Marshall and Reeves were frees @Airman Brown . Not heard that they had chunky signing on fees. Doubt Duchatelet would be desperate to pay those somehow. It may have been the norm in the past, but under Roly when he's decided to sell the club? I could easily be wrong and maybe big fees and wages have been agreed with these players. Perhaps the deal was he could use the money used from getting rid of the big earners. That would make sense. Shrewsbury also have frees though, and maybe they've had to pay wages and signing on fees as well, I don't know. I hate to say it, but Charlton under Seed were way more Shrewsbury than they were Blackburn (or Arsenal - you get my drift). It was about character, organisation, and team spirit, exactly what we saw from the Shrews, although Charlton were hopefully less 'physically intimidating'. They didn't have a reputation as a dirty side at any rate.
As I've said a couple of times above, Karl wanted a more physical kind of midfielder - yes, the exact kind all the other clubs want. So are they available? Yes, at a price. So would Roly pay that price? No he wouldn't.
Right now it's clear that we need a new right back, but maybe that seemed less of a priority at the beginning of the season. People were talking about Konsa in that role?
And yes, we can all see we have too many bloody wingers.
Who's next? lol
We can't compare Seed with Robinson - it is a insult to Seed. Curbs is probably our only manager who has earned that right. But it was different times and a different game so the only comparison can be around achievements.
Marshall and Reeves were frees @Airman Brown . Not heard that they had chunky signing on fees. Doubt Duchatelet would be desperate to pay those somehow. It may have been the norm in the past, but under Roly when he's decided to sell the club? I could easily be wrong and maybe big fees and wages have been agreed with these players. Perhaps the deal was he could use the money used from getting rid of the big earners. That would make sense. Shrewsbury also have frees though, and maybe they've had to pay wages and signing on fees as well, I don't know. I hate to say it, but Charlton under Seed were way more Shrewsbury than they were Blackburn (or Arsenal - you get my drift). It was about character, organisation, and team spirit, exactly what we saw from the Shrews, although Charlton were hopefully less 'physically intimidating'. They didn't have a reputation as a dirty side at any rate.
As I've said a couple of times above, Karl wanted a more physical kind of midfielder - yes, the exact kind all the other clubs want. So are they available? Yes, at a price. So would Roly pay that price? No he wouldn't.
Right now it's clear that we need a new right back, but maybe that seemed less of a priority at the beginning of the season. People were talking about Konsa in that role?
Utter bullshit from the manager. If he wants an imposing midfielder he can play Konsa there. He has only played Djiksteel at RB. Aribo is hardly a pushover but barely plays. JJ is 6'1".
Men against boys today. Hardly surprising after four years of Duchatelet - what do we expect?
I took my Polish neighbours to the match (they've only ever been to four matches between them before). After ten minutes they said, 'you're good, but why are you so small.' Sort of summed up the team and the day really.
Not sure that can be entirely levelled at RD, as that team was basically a Robinson team, and he does seem to like signing a certain type of player.
Plenty of skilful individuals, but a real lack of defensive backbone and power, and leadership
Agreed, except that it’s basically the old team with some Robinson/Gallen additions - acquired with virtually zero money to spend.
His budget may be limited, but I bet it's far higher than Shrewsbury's, whose team seems to be mainly free transfers and loan players. How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
KR did have a choice. He brought in Mavadidi, Kaikai and Zyro, who are all attacking midfielders to go with Fosu, Marshall, Reeves and Aribo who has played the last 2 games "in the 3". Maybe he should have brought in someone for the engine room instead, to stop us being cut open so easily? Is a 2018 Bradley Pritchard, Danny Hollands or Darel Russell that hard to find?
I agree that we badly need an engine room midfielder, but Robinson has stated so himself (at the Bromley Addicks meeting and in a press conference) but wasn't given the money to buy one, and couldn't find an available one at the right price (i.e. almost free) who wanted to join us. That's quite an important point. It's probably Duchatelet you should be complaining to.
Where I don't agree is the argument that his budget is far higher that Shrewsbury's. He's spent less than 100K, so it can't be. Robinson can rightly be criticised for many things, but the narrative that he's build the squad of his dreams and has spent lavishly to do so it's total nonsense. He started with a weird dysfunctional bunch of players, and has at least removed some dead wood and brought in some flair players for peanuts. It's still way short of a being well balanced squad though, even though some of that is down to his not recruiting a second number 9 type striker.
How many Shrewsbury players had anyone heard of before the match?
Sorry, but I'm not sure fans of many other top half League One clubs are quaking in their boots when the see the make up of our squad. Holmes, Mavididi and Fosu are the only players who have required double marking.
I know we aren't that aware of the make-up of other teams squads, so it's always a surprise when they look as good as, or better than us. But it's possible that our poor performances are not just down to Robinson, but also at least partly down to the way the club has been run for the last four years?
I want to see different team selections, formations and tactics, and I'll probably criticise Robinson if he doesn't make them. But I won't criticise Robinson about recruitment when he's has virtually nothing to spend..
I agree that KR had virtually nothing to spend, but nonetheless he recruited a squad of small light weight players, mainly wingers. Even in January when we had been crying out for a reasonable forward and a strong midfielder for 5 months, what did he do ? Yep, he recruited another 2 wingers and a winger/forward. It simply has to be down to his choice, in the same way Slade recruited a number of old slow midfielders by choice. (Granted it wasn't easy).
I agree really. But I've more than once heard him say he was looking for other options, but they either didn't want to join us, of the money wasn't available. Dynamic/aggressive midfielders in particular.
Marshall and Reeves were frees @Airman Brown . Not heard that they had chunky signing on fees. Doubt Duchatelet would be desperate to pay those somehow. It may have been the norm in the past, but under Roly when he's decided to sell the club? I could easily be wrong and maybe big fees and wages have been agreed with these players. Perhaps the deal was he could use the money used from getting rid of the big earners. That would make sense. Shrewsbury also have frees though, and maybe they've had to pay wages and signing on fees as well, I don't know. I hate to say it, but Charlton under Seed were way more Shrewsbury than they were Blackburn (or Arsenal - you get my drift). It was about character, organisation, and team spirit, exactly what we saw from the Shrews, although Charlton were hopefully less 'physically intimidating'. They didn't have a reputation as a dirty side at any rate.
As I've said a couple of times above, Karl wanted a more physical kind of midfielder - yes, the exact kind all the other clubs want. So are they available? Yes, at a price. So would Roly pay that price? No he wouldn't.
Right now it's clear that we need a new right back, but maybe that seemed less of a priority at the beginning of the season. People were talking about Konsa in that role?
And yes, we can all see we have too many bloody wingers.
Who's next? lol
We can't compare Seed with Robinson - it is a insult to Seed. Curbs is probably our only manager who has earned that right. But it was different times and a different game so the only comparison can be around achievements.
I can compare Seed to who I like cheers ;-)
I was only saying that he didn't have cash to splash, and like Shrewsbury went for character, team spirit and grit, as well as a bit of ability thrown in. He was nothing like Robinson and I wasn't comparing them.
Marshall and Reeves were frees @Airman Brown . Not heard that they had chunky signing on fees. Doubt Duchatelet would be desperate to pay those somehow. It may have been the norm in the past, but under Roly when he's decided to sell the club? I could easily be wrong and maybe big fees and wages have been agreed with these players. Perhaps the deal was he could use the money used from getting rid of the big earners. That would make sense. Shrewsbury also have frees though, and maybe they've had to pay wages and signing on fees as well, I don't know. I hate to say it, but Charlton under Seed were way more Shrewsbury than they were Blackburn (or Arsenal - you get my drift). It was about character, organisation, and team spirit, exactly what we saw from the Shrews, although Charlton were hopefully less 'physically intimidating'. They didn't have a reputation as a dirty side at any rate.
As I've said a couple of times above, Karl wanted a more physical kind of midfielder - yes, the exact kind all the other clubs want. So are they available? Yes, at a price. So would Roly pay that price? No he wouldn't.
Right now it's clear that we need a new right back, but maybe that seemed less of a priority at the beginning of the season. People were talking about Konsa in that role?
And yes, we can all see we have too many bloody wingers.
Who's next? lol
Must have been Charlton's appeal as a well-run football club that persuaded them to join then, or do you think it likely they had no other options?
That and the proximity to the luxury developments at the O2 I expect.
Well maybe you're right, but Reeves gets on very well with Robinson, and Marshall's from South East London and said he wanted to move back here, I think. Of course he may well have been bullshitting, hard to know. So if you want to credit RD with splashing the cash to acquire players, that's your prerogative ;-)
But I'm not running Karl's fan club whatever people think. I've criticised his team selections, tactics, formations and substitutions. There are plenty of bigger acolytes for people to bash out there! But I won't have this 'our squad is a top three squad' nonsense. It doesn't have enough battlers, height, or goals in it for that to be the case. We don't even have a midfield general type. Yes I hear you say, 'I blame Robinson!' Well, I maybe do too a little, but all I'm saying is that I blame Duchatelet a great deal more.
Comments
As for the "combative midfielder" that we desperately need. Perhaps KR should have been looking at this instead of bringing in Reeves who in the scheme of things has been very disappointing, followed by a short neck (geddit) by Marshall. Looking at his summer dealings, these 2 have left me very underwhelmed & if it wasn't for Fosu (and to some extent BC) I'd had said that KR had a very poor summer in this respect. I wouldn't trust KR to organise the proverbial drink up in a pub.
However you try and spin it Shewsbury are getting the most out of their smaller budget and we are not.
Amos
Konsa Bauer Sarr
Marshall Kashi Diarra Da Silva
Fosu
Zyro Magennis
Looking at this performance I can't believe we will make the pay offs and even if we do does anyone really think we can win a two leg semi final and then win at Wembley with this lot? I am very doubtful. League 1 again next season, hopefully with a new owner and manager but I'm not holding my breath on that either.
In my view our main issue is intelligence. The way the team is set up and the personnel we have (i.e. not physical) requires intelligent footballers. Outside of Jackson and maybe one or two others like Dasilva (but still young) and Billy Clarke we don't play with intelligence.
Therefore against very physical sides we struggle and against intelligent sides we struggle as we are unable to adapt to what's happening around us. The manger I sit in that camp as well, his inability to do the obvious is becoming ridiculous. 20 minutes in it was clear of Shrews plan, kick the hell out of us and play very high up the field so there was no gaps for us to play in. We should have been playing it over the top or down the channels, but that would likely require two up front. I admire Josh's work ethic but his football brain is almost non existent, not my favourite but it was crying out for an Ajose type to join him upfront but would still require the midfield to play the right balls forward.
I'm loosing the will to live watching teams stay tight and for JFC and/or Kashi go back beyond the centre halfs to get the ball from Amos.
With 13 games to go, I'll be surprised if we win half, but we might just sneak another 18 points if we are very lucky, 66 points won't be playoffs. I still reckon we'll finish below Southend
I believe Robbo when he says it was under £100K.
As I said above, he wanted an athletic midfielder but wasn't given the money to buy one, and he and Gallen couldn't find an available one at the right price (i.e. almost free) who wanted to join us.
It's not as easy as it might appear this management lark you know. It seems easy sitting behind a keyboard. We all think we could do better, me included.
The fact that Plymouth, newly promoted & bottom for the first half of the season are above us, and Southend & The Gills are not that far behind just shows how crap we are.
I also think other managers could and probably would do better than Karl.
But this 'we have one of the top three squads in the league' is the only thing I don't agree with, having been to a lot of matches this season. It's easy to under-rate this league because we think we're too good for it. We certainly should be too good for it, but after four years of Duchatelet, we're not, (although with a bit of luck we might scrape up this season).
Plenty here blame Robinson whereas I think most of the blame falls on the shoulders of the owner. Robinson just happens to be a more easily accessible target. No one's going to sack him before the end of the season anyway, for any number of reasons.
More pelters for poor old JS lol.
Robinson also said he had a great budget when he was trying to get in Meire and Duchatelet's good books.
Shrewsbury also have frees though, and maybe they've had to pay wages and signing on fees as well, I don't know.
I hate to say it, but Charlton under Seed were way more Shrewsbury than they were Blackburn (or Arsenal - you get my drift). It was about character, organisation, and team spirit, exactly what we saw from the Shrews, although Charlton were hopefully less 'physically intimidating'. They didn't have a reputation as a dirty side at any rate.
As I've said a couple of times above, Karl wanted a more physical kind of midfielder - yes, the exact kind all the other clubs want. So are they available? Yes, at a price. So would Roly pay that price? No he wouldn't.
Right now it's clear that we need a new right back, but maybe that seemed less of a priority at the beginning of the season. People were talking about Konsa in that role?
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/charlton-athletic/transfers/verein/358/saison_id/2017
And yes, we can all see we have too many bloody wingers.
Who's next? lol
The problem is 4-2-3-1.
4231
4231
4231
4231
It doesn't work in league one with a team of midgets.
By the time Robinson realises this the season will be over and we will finish around 10th.
I was only saying that he didn't have cash to splash, and like Shrewsbury went for character, team spirit and grit, as well as a bit of ability thrown in.
He was nothing like Robinson and I wasn't comparing them.
Well maybe you're right, but Reeves gets on very well with Robinson, and Marshall's from South East London and said he wanted to move back here, I think. Of course he may well have been bullshitting, hard to know. So if you want to credit RD with splashing the cash to acquire players, that's your prerogative ;-)
But I'm not running Karl's fan club whatever people think. I've criticised his team selections, tactics, formations and substitutions. There are plenty of bigger acolytes for people to bash out there!
But I won't have this 'our squad is a top three squad' nonsense. It doesn't have enough battlers, height, or goals in it for that to be the case. We don't even have a midfield general type. Yes I hear you say, 'I blame Robinson!' Well, I maybe do too a little, but all I'm saying is that I blame Duchatelet a great deal more.