Everyone wanted Bowyer to stop “tinkering”:as they call it, and start the same 11 that won at Rochdale with a near perfect performance. So that is what he did. And how was he rewarded?
Within * 20 seconds* of k.o. Oshi, who had a cracking game at Rochdale, provides an inch perfect knock down - for Rob Lee’s son in a blue shirt. A mistake that Oshi always looks like he has in him, which is why he is where he is. Then JFC, who had just started to run the game, goes down with the hammy they all knew about, but someone told Bow was ok to risk. Early game hamstrings are a sure sign something isnt right, thats what did for Watson couple of games back. How about all you Championship Managers ask some questions about that side of things, because you know, even Paul Cook can’t heal the sick.
Is any of this Bowyer’s fault? . Is it his fault that we injure both our centre backs who keep 6 consec.clean sheets, in training? And that both of them are out for the top end of original estimates? And just who are the better centre backs we could have brought in for £500 a week, as that was all that was left under the ridiculous salary cap? And what would we have done with them if, as Bow had probably been promised, both Famewo and Inniss were back by today?
But yeah, Paul effing Cook. FFS.
Sorry but that gets a lol. Should Lee's job be under pressure because of today? Absolutely bloody not.
You could even make a good argument that since half time against Rochdale he has been unlucky. You could suggest, and I would probably agree with you, that that run in isolation is more due to the unmanageable, senior pros making "once in career" cock ups.
What about the Gillingham away to Accrington at home run, that was absolutely aweful. No injury, wage cap, previous owners, star signs or other crap justfies that.
Because we would get better after time on the training ground? We got worse, much worse.
It was "that run" that was the blip, you know the 4 games Inniss and Famewo (two center halves that have never managed 33 games between them in a season) played together. Not the rest of the last 14 months.
This season is about building for the future? Fine. 3 players in the 18 today are both under contract for next season and under 30.
I still think ‘life’ is playing a massive part in accentuating the unrest.
We’re all f***ed off having to endure with these living life limitations and the overall depressive backdrop. We’ve all got a lot less to focus on, the fortunes of our football team are being magnified, and our unhappiness with it all is, by default, being escalated. It was additionally escalated because we had a new owner with what we think is a few quid. Yet, in reality, due to the salary cap that has had no impact.
Sandgaard however has been given a massive lesson in just how fickle football fans can be. 2-3 months ago he was constantly bombarded with people ensuring he recognised Bowyer was a Mr Charlton legend that needed protection and preservation. A disappointing two months has been all that’s needed to see that almost completely unwound.
I still think ‘life’ is playing a massive part in accentuating the unrest.
We’re all f***ed off having to endure with these living life limitations and the overall depressive backdrop. We’ve all got a lot less to focus on, the fortunes of our football team are being magnified, and our unhappiness with it all is, by default, being escalated. It was additionally escalated because we had a new owner with what we think is a few quid. Yet, in reality, due to the salary cap that has had no impact.
Sandgaard however has been given a massive lesson in just how fickle football fans can be. 2-3 months ago he was constantly bombarded with people ensuring he recognised Bowyer was a Mr Charlton legend that needed protection and preservation. A disappointing two months has been all that’s needed to see that almost completely unwound.
Completely agree, this team was assembled in 10 days with three of the signings already moved on. Fans are fickle but the results aren’t helping and with added stresses we are becoming even more impatient. This season is a right off, if we can scrape play offs it’ll be a miracle. I’m more interested in what we do in the summer, as it’s another rebuild but this time for the future with stability.
I still think ‘life’ is playing a massive part in accentuating the unrest.
We’re all f***ed off having to endure with these living life limitations and the overall depressive backdrop. We’ve all got a lot less to focus on, the fortunes of our football team are being magnified, and our unhappiness with it all is, by default, being escalated. It was additionally escalated because we had a new owner with what we think is a few quid. Yet, in reality, due to the salary cap that has had no impact.
Sandgaard however has been given a massive lesson in just how fickle football fans can be. 2-3 months ago he was constantly bombarded with people ensuring he recognised Bowyer was a Mr Charlton legend that needed protection and preservation. A disappointing two months has been all that’s needed to see that almost completely unwound.
I'm holding my tongue, just reading people's views. It's clear Bowyer is now starting to fear for his position.
I hope Sandgaard does whatever he feels is right. That's my position for now. My position a couple of games back was 100% Bowyer out.
In 8 games time I will declare whether I am still one of the Bowyer out crowd or not, with a caveat remaining that whatever Sandgaard & his SMT choose is best for his reign. Until then as I say I hold my tongue.
Lee must be feeling the pressure if he's (not for the first time) comparing us with Wigan, a club torn apart by administration, to make our current performance look better
Yes it was massively tough building a squad in such a short time, but we still had some reasonable players at the start of the season for this level, many moved on
I'm holding my tongue, just reading people's views. It's clear Bowyer is now starting to fear for his position.
I hope Sandgaard does whatever he feels is right. That's my position for now. My position a couple of games back was 100% Bowyer out.
In 8 games time I will declare whether I am still one of the Bowyer out crowd or not, with a caveat remaining that whatever Sandgaard & his SMT choose is best for his reign. Until then as I say I hold my tongue.
We are done for the playoffs and will be caught by more teams with games in hand. I must say we have had some brilliant goals scored against us. We also hit the post 3 times today. It’s the old story ‘better to be lucky than good’. Right now we are neither.
I'm not going to swim completely against the tide here, but I am going to cut across the current a little. I don't think the overall performance is quite as bad as some are perceiving it. I am very worried about the defence and have been for a long time. I was surprised at the start of the transfer window when Bows said he was not looking for defenders. I expected that to be because Famewo and Inniss were coming back soon. A fortnight after the window has shut and neither are even back on the bench yet. Not seeking a replacement for either is increasingly looking like an appalling decision. The first and third goals today were entirely preventable. We missed the opportunity in January to get someone in who could have prevented them. We blew it. As individual players, I think that both Oshilaja and Pearce are capable of playing at this level, but I don't think either are consistent enough for them to play as a pair. Both need to play with someone better alongside to minimise the costs of their mistakes.
I thought Chuks and Stockley looked very good up front. And I think that for the vast majority of the game we were the better team in the middle. I'm not saying there's no room for improvement, I'd definitely like to see some more incisive moves, but I don't think we were as bad as many are saying. That game turned on Chuks' sending off. To me, both cards are arguable but looked harsh. To give one would be understandable, to give two looks like malice. With Chuks on the field (or being replaced by Schwartz) we'd have still been in the ascendancy. A man down and our old problem of dropping deep reared its ugly head.
We didn't cover ourselves in glory, but defence aside, we shouldn't be wallowing in shame either.
I appreciate your effort at looking at the positives, it’s the amount of time this type of not playing that bad, but losing and letting in so many goals has gone on for( little run aside). Something obviously isn’t working and definitely not getting improved upon.
Certainly, I don't want to paint a falsely positive picture. There are major problems and I don't want to gloss over them. That said I don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
I think the ten-game form table tells us how it is. It certainly isn't good enough, but neither is it the relegation form that some are claiming. For me the most telling columns on that table are the for and against ones. Eighteen goals against is a shocker. We really need to be doing better, that's why I am incredulous that we didn't strengthen at the back in January. But goals scored, fourteen... oh fuck it, that's not good enough either is it? I've just defeated my own argument. You're right, I'm taking the rose tinted glasses off right now.
I’d agree I don’t think relegation is a reality, we are picking points up to keep us out that sort of trouble. I’m desperately trying to give bowyer the benefit of the doubt, but really finding it difficult as I think he isn’t improving us at all. There seem to be a lot of excuses from him, and being made for him. The lack of new defensive cover is really baffling!!.
Shambolic again. Said on here a couple of weeks ago that we should’ve gone out and signed a defender on the 1st January. It’s simply unbelievable that we’re now into the middle of February, still leaking goals, still making basic defensive mistakes and still dropping points to shit teams. This defensive problem should've been sorted weeks ago!!
I’m not buying the rationale from Bowyer that there was no one out there better than what we have. You can’t tell me there isn’t a single young defender in a premier league reserve side better than the jokers we’ve got.
Sandgaard said recently we have one of the best attacks in league one. Well that’s not much use if we have one of the worst defences.
I dunno, watching us in the 70s and early 80s was fun. When I read the above post I immediately thought of Les Berry and "farmer" Giles.
I didn’t watch it today so can’t comment on the game, but all I can say is we’re 28 games in and the league table doesn’t lie. We’re just about clinging on to 7th place with a few other teams having games in hand. We’re where (or heading) to where we deserve to be.
I do still think Bowyer’s earned a full summer and time to build a squad he thinks his capable. Not taking away from the fact I am a little disappointed at how this season is turning out, but we’re just not good enough.
I think it’s all about getting a lot of the current squad moved on, and that includes the likes of JFC and Pratley. JFC has had better games of late, but I think it speaks volumes that he’s been one of our better players recently.
I would probably say it’s easier to write down who I’d want to keep next season versus how many I want to leave (it’s pretty much the whole of the defence bar Inniss, all the midfield apart from Jayesimi and Morgan, and Aneke & Schwarz up top (Schwarz purely on the basis we’ve only just signed him). I would love Stockley and Millar to stay, but I feel they’ll have better options
Nothing more than a mid table team, we are not getting in the playoffs, start identifying for the rebuild now, thank fuck I only have to watch from the comfort of home rather than dragging myself to the valley
What I'll add is Liam Millar is a class, class player
My MOTM. Great going forward & also some great defending, especially in the last 5 mins when twice he won the ball about 10 yards from our byline & carried it upfield 50 yards beating 2 or 3 of their players.
On par with Song & Gallagher as some of the best loanees we've had in recent times.
OK. Here's how it is going to go. 1: Moans about other fans having a go and being rude. 2: Slightly passive aggressive references to how we aren't allowed to criticise "the manager" these days. 3: A strangely detailed forensic analysis of a single players every move throughout the match which noone can be bothered to read all the way through. 4: Some rage. 5: A small but oddly committed cohort pointing out that we are still building. 6: Piss takers using this as an excuse to get some lols.
Don't think we were awful but we weren't good. We really are just an average mid table league 1 team now
PWR so apologies if this has been mentioned (It probably has )
Ok we are an average mid table league 1 team, but do we have average mid table league1players ? If the answer is no then why are they playing like it ?
A bit like a dog ( or bitch !) with a bone, for some reason, I can't leave this thread alone tonight.
Today's performance, and indeed, result, in full view of the smirking, oily, Fat Controller, has me trying to work out whether we'll be consigned to watching more of the same until the final whistle is blown come May.
Surely, the crux of the matter is that the squad we have at this moment in time, is IT....whether they be players that Bow was desperate to bring onboard the leaking ship, or whether they were mainly filling gaps created via injuries.
Whilst I understand that the summer saw a scramble to sign players & that this of course put us at somewhat of a disadvantage, this wasn't the be all & end all of our ambitions in L1. And we should not forget the manner in which JW, MM & OB were conveniently offloaded in the recent window, hence enabling the gaffer to add to his squad.
A manager & his management team worth their salt should, by the middle of February surely have a decent idea of their best starting line up and the tactics best suited to their strengths. And EVERY team has injuries to deal with...it's part of the job.
Is that honestly expecting too much ? I'd say not taking into consideration the backing/support that's been given by Thomas.
To me, we are taking 1 step forward but 2 steps back, regardless of the matchday squad or the opposition. There's very little evidence of consistency or improvement overall as opposed to stand out performances by any individuals involved.
And individual mistakes are a regular occurrence.....with the finger pointing at different players on a kind of rotation basis !
So, I am forced to ask myself, where or who is the common denominator in our current freefall ?
2 points are uppermost in my simple mind tonight following my soul searching.
The 1st being, does Bow work better with a smaller squad who invariably are a closer knit unit ? ie all for one & one for all . And, as such, does he currently have too many options?
And the 2nd, as has been mooted recently, would additions to his management team be advantageous at this crucial point in the season ? An older, experienced "head" for one, as a sounding board as much as anything, and, in addition, a dedicated defence coach to get the best out of the lads concerned and, hopefully, decrease the errors/poor decisions being made. Are these not options that Thomas might consider if he's prepared to give Bow until the end of the term, before the goal of finishing in the top 6 is abandoned?
Maybe a question of stick or bust OR perhaps think laterally ?
So many people seem to be talking about our chances of making the playoffs as if that will lead to promotion. In the now unlikely event we do scrape in, we have at best a 25% chance of going up. In reality, the way things stand, it's a good bit less than that. Despite the wage cap and hurried squad building, I think we are underperforming in a crap league, and 2nd/3rd with our squad would be an on-par performance. Given there's no opportunity to change the squad now, it makes little sense to change the manager, and I think Lee has earned the right to complete the season. But if things don't pick up on the run in, he's going to be on borrowed time.
I didn’t watch it today so can’t comment on the game, but all I can say is we’re 28 games in and the league table doesn’t lie. We’re just about clinging on to 7th place with a few other teams having games in hand. We’re where (or heading) to where we deserve to be.
I do still think Bowyer’s earned a full summer and time to build a squad he thinks his capable. Not taking away from the fact I am a little disappointed at how this season is turning out, but we’re just not good enough.
I think it’s all about getting a lot of the current squad moved on, and that includes the likes of JFC and Pratley. JFC has had better games of late, but I think it speaks volumes that he’s been one of our better players recently.
I would probably say it’s easier to write down who I’d want to keep next season versus how many I want to leave (it’s pretty much the whole of the defence bar Inniss, all the midfield apart from Jayesimi and Morgan, and Aneke & Schwarz up top (Schwarz purely on the basis we’ve only just signed him). I would love Stockley and Millar to stay, but I feel they’ll have better options
Frustrating times
Add DJ to that and I’m with you. (Scrap that first bit you sold me a dummy by using his full name 🤓).
Comments
Blind loyalty is.
P.s I'm still with my first proper girlfriend (16 years) so don't let these man-slags put you down for it.
starting to get a bit tiresome.
You could even make a good argument that since half time against Rochdale he has been unlucky. You could suggest, and I would probably agree with you, that that run in isolation is more due to the unmanageable, senior pros making "once in career" cock ups.
What about the Gillingham away to Accrington at home run, that was absolutely aweful. No injury, wage cap, previous owners, star signs or other crap justfies that.
Because we would get better after time on the training ground? We got worse, much worse.
It was "that run" that was the blip, you know the 4 games Inniss and Famewo (two center halves that have never managed 33 games between them in a season) played together. Not the rest of the last 14 months.
This season is about building for the future? Fine. 3 players in the 18 today are both under contract for next season and under 30.
None of that is Bowyer's fault?
Well who the %*£'s fault is it then?
We’re all f***ed off having to endure with these living life limitations and the overall depressive backdrop. We’ve all got a lot less to focus on, the fortunes of our football team are being magnified, and our unhappiness with it all is, by default, being escalated. It was additionally escalated because we had a new owner with what we think is a few quid. Yet, in reality, due to the salary cap that has had no impact.
I hope Sandgaard does whatever he feels is right. That's my position for now. My position a couple of games back was 100% Bowyer out.
In 8 games time I will declare whether I am still one of the Bowyer out crowd or not, with a caveat remaining that whatever Sandgaard & his SMT choose is best for his reign. Until then as I say I hold my tongue.
Yes it was massively tough building a squad in such a short time, but we still had some reasonable players at the start of the season for this level, many moved on
Amos, Purrington, Oshilaja, Pearce, Pratley, Morgan, Williams, Lapslie, Oztumer, Doughty, Aneke, Bonne, Davison plus U23s and Barker. *** EDIT + JFC ***
That's not a bad starting point.
When I read the above post I immediately thought of Les Berry and "farmer" Giles.
I think it’s all about getting a lot of the current squad moved on, and that includes the likes of JFC and Pratley. JFC has had better games of late, but I think it speaks volumes that he’s been one of our better players recently.
Frustrating times
thank fuck I only have to watch from the comfort of home rather than dragging myself to the valley
Ok we are an average mid table league 1 team, but do we have average mid table league1players ? If the answer is no then why are they playing like it ?
Today's performance, and indeed, result, in full view of the smirking, oily, Fat Controller, has me trying to work out whether we'll be consigned to watching more of the same until the final whistle is blown come May.
Surely, the crux of the matter is that the squad we have at this moment in time, is IT....whether they be players that Bow was desperate to bring onboard the leaking ship, or whether they were mainly filling gaps created via injuries.
Whilst I understand that the summer saw a scramble to sign players & that this of course put us at somewhat of a disadvantage, this wasn't the be all & end all of our ambitions in L1. And we should not forget the manner in which JW, MM & OB were conveniently offloaded in the recent window, hence enabling the gaffer to add to his squad.
A manager & his management team worth their salt should, by the middle of February surely have a decent idea of their best starting line up and the tactics best suited to their strengths. And EVERY team has injuries to deal with...it's part of the job.
Is that honestly expecting too much ? I'd say not taking into consideration the backing/support that's been given by Thomas.
To me, we are taking 1 step forward but 2 steps back, regardless of the matchday squad or the opposition. There's very little evidence of consistency or improvement overall as opposed to stand out performances by any individuals involved.
And individual mistakes are a regular occurrence.....with the finger pointing at different players on a kind of rotation basis !
So, I am forced to ask myself, where or who is the common denominator in our current freefall ?
2 points are uppermost in my simple mind tonight following my soul searching.
The 1st being, does Bow work better with a smaller squad who invariably are a closer knit unit ? ie all for one & one for all . And, as such, does he currently have too many options?
And the 2nd, as has been mooted recently, would additions to his management team be advantageous at this crucial point in the season ? An older, experienced "head" for one, as a sounding board as much as anything, and, in addition, a dedicated defence coach to get the best out of the lads concerned and, hopefully, decrease the errors/poor decisions being made. Are these not options that Thomas might consider if he's prepared to give Bow until the end of the term, before the goal of finishing in the top 6 is abandoned?
Maybe a question of stick or bust OR perhaps think laterally ?
In the now unlikely event we do scrape in, we have at best a 25% chance of going up. In reality, the way things stand, it's a good bit less than that.
Despite the wage cap and hurried squad building, I think we are underperforming in a crap league, and 2nd/3rd with our squad would be an on-par performance.
Given there's no opportunity to change the squad now, it makes little sense to change the manager, and I think Lee has earned the right to complete the season. But if things don't pick up on the run in, he's going to be on borrowed time.
So so easy to score against us.