Where did it all go wrong



Hongkongphooey said:
Bloody hell, you are really defending the strikers we brought in this season ffs, 3 goals between them isn't bad luck, it's because they aren't very good.Take Clarke out of the team this season and his goals then its relegation. Oh and Roberts has no goals this season, that's another fact.We had more injuries to the strikers last season, Stewart missed half the season and so did Simms when he got recalled, our only other Striker scored 2 goals from the January and they still piss all over the strikers we have now. Again you can call it bad luck, but what it really boils down to is bad recruitment.
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I am not defending our current strikers at all. Please stop twisting my arguments to support your narrative. What I am saying is that at the end of December in both 2022 and in 2023 we had scored 33 goals (doesn't matter who was knocking them in) and had roughly the same amount of points. In the latter part of 2022/23, while playing only slightly better we snuck into the playoffs on goal difference with the second lowest point total in about 20 years mainly because teams around us faltered. That was "good luck". In the latter part of this season, we have lost numerous players due to injuries and suspensions that have resulted in a decline in performance from the first half and we won't be able to make the playoffs. That's "bad luck".
 
Stumbled upon probably one of the only managers capable of getting a tune out of inexperienced kids, while having to invent creative ways to score goals without having a striker in the squad for the best part of a year.

Then sacked him.

Expecting plodders like Beale and Dodds to recreate the success that Mowbray achieved under the same restricted conditions, shows enormous naievety from KLD and co., if we don’t change the model then we’ll be steadily declining and changing managers twice a season for the next half decade at least.
 
Primarily it all went wrong because we have lost so many of our first choice players to injury so early in our return to a higher division. The next level of argument is exactly that.
 
Mackemansj1 said:
That third reading goal was right up there mind, I sometimes hoy it on youtube and can't believe it was scored by my team. They'd be creaming about that one still if man city had scored it.
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Not if Man City scored it against Reading!

If Man City scored it against Liverpool or Real Madrid then maybe.
doodlebugs said:
a very rare animal indeed,might need to gan on safari ti find one
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Take some tranquilliser darts. ;)
 
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PaulG said:
I am not defending our current strikers at all. Please stop twisting my arguments to support your narrative. What I am saying is that at the end of December in both 2022 and in 2023 we had scored 33 goals (doesn't matter who was knocking them in) and had roughly the same amount of points. In the latter part of 2022/23, while playing only slightly better we snuck into the playoffs on goal difference with the second lowest point total in about 20 years mainly because teams around us faltered. That was "good luck". In the latter part of this season, we have lost numerous players due to injuries and suspensions that have resulted in a decline in performance from the first half and we won't be able to make the playoffs. That's "bad luck".
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Dear me, how can you continually say the last three transfer windows and the players that have been brought in is down to bad luck. We had injuries to key players last year ffs but the squad had experience and a head coach who had the players respect. If you reckon that this seasons shambles is down to bad luck then you need your head examined.
 
PaulG said:
Interesting.

Simms scored 7 goals for us prior to going back to Everton and Stewart scored 8 in the same period. In total, that's just under half of the 33 goals we scored in those 24 games last season. This year, we scored 33 goals in the same number of games without either of them (and without Amad) and we were higher in the league with slightly more points after 24 games. Is that "bad" recruitment? Or good recruitment/coaching?

And the "bad luck" this year, as you aren't following my argument, is having so many players injured or suspended at the same time since that point. There is no way a recruitment team at this level could have had that much depth available to cover the loss of Clarke, Roberts, and the others. If we had stayed relatively healthy, we would likely have finished around the same number of points as last year without Simms, Stewart and Amad. Not great, but not the decline many perceive.
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The goals we scored in the first half of this season were unsustainable as proved by how many we're scoring now.
I pointed this out at the time (when we were actually scoring goals) and was shot down in flames by the usual suspects.
It's all there if anyone can be arsed and find the threads.
 
SydneyFan said:
That is heartbreaking to watch how vibrant a side we were.
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Exactly - just look at the joy on the players' faces! Even the supposedly-miserable Pritchard was excited and smiling, and the likes of Michut was right into it when celebrating team goals. Now we're just slow and ponderous in our play, and even in our goal celebrations because the "feel-good" factor has been taken away.
 
Binxy said:
The goals we scored in the first half of this season were unsustainable as proved by how many we're scoring now.
I pointed this out at the time (when we were actually scoring goals) and was shot down in flames by the usual suspects.
It's all there if anyone can be arsed and find the threads.
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Of course they're unsustainable if the blokes that were scoring them weren't playing anymore.
 
SydneyFan said:
Of course they're unsustainable if the blokes that were scoring them weren't playing anymore.
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Jobe, Hume, Neil, Ba, Ballard are all still playing Clarke who was scoring the majority as only been missing a handful of games.
At the time when I pointed this out their scoring rates at that time would have seen them score
Jobe - 15-20 a season 😂
Hume - 5 😂
Neil- 8-10 😂
Ba - 8-10😂
Ballard - 5 😂
Clarke - 35-40 😂

It was totally unsustainable as we're finding out now.
 
Binxy said:
Jobe, Hume, Neil, Ba, Ballard are all still playing Clarke who was scoring the majority as only been missing a handful of games.
At the time when I pointed this out their scoring rates at that time would have seen them score
Jobe - 15-20 a season 😂
Hume - 5 😂
Neil- 8-10 😂
Ba - 8-10😂
Ballard - 5 😂
Clarke - 35-40 😂

It was totally unsustainable as we're finding out now.
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Sorry, as you replied to a post about last season I thought you were quoting that one. I was thinking of course, Stewart got injured and Simms was recalled.:lol:

When you said this season I read it as this particular season 22/23.
 
chriswallace85 said:
I think it's a little overstated, but we had good players and goals are never really bad anyway.

Interesting how many Embo was involved in early doors...

Impossible to replace at this level to be fair.
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Ugh, just watched the first 7 minutes and had to switch it off. Incredibly depressing how far we've fallen in quality in a season.
 

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