Where has it all gone wrong


Perhaps on the players, but so many are so young and when you're young, lack of consistency is a baked in problem.

Mowbray, however, is not and his tactics are now stale with this team. Opposing managers have figured us out. Mowbray has no plan b worth salt. He's had a decent run here but his time should come to an end. We need fresh ideas.
Some of the players are not ready for plan A to be fair
 
I dont think the confidence factor should be ignored.

Since we went down this extreme youth policy they've generally bounced back well from defeats and not got on an extended bad run - until now.

The club need to be really careful. If a team of extreme youth get on a really bad run it might be difficult to turn it around.

They have to fork out for some experience in January.
 
from the summer signings only Bellingham has shown anything near being good to be starting games so far imo.

I think Rusyn and Mayenda have shown promise at points, but our inability to involve strikers consistently in the attack makes the job exceedingly difficult... Plus Rusyn looking like he might be a bit of a sicknote.
 
From a Mowbray standpoint;

Tactics and decisions in game have been quite mental. You want the best out of a striker then you need more dynamism than Roberts fannying about and cutting in. He had Diallo and Hume alongside in attack last season, now he's got neither, because now Hume is Norn Iron's Philly Lahm.

Doesn't know when to make subs and drop players, for the most part. His 3 or 4 subs at a time are fine when 3-0 up, but they very rarely have the desired effect.

Centre midfield you don't have that seasoned CDM we've been crying out for, which is fine but we seem to need one in this team. Considering he's got Ekwah and Neil auditioning for that very role, he must be very frustrated we didn't sign a player along them lines.

Strikers are isolated by lack of early crosses and through balls, we piss about and aren't direct enough from deep, when we find the front we are a tad late to capitalise on the gaps.

From a fans standpoint;

We've endured shit for many years.

This is the total opposite to shit, this is just poor form, it'll get better eventually, but we don't see that because we know this squad is so much better than the last three games.

Even with that said we are big f***ing babies, demanding a solid manager who has been good for us be sacked after 3 defeats in a row, despite winning 3 in a row earlier this season. During that stint we weren't great but we thrashed Southampton, go over the line against QPR and lucked past Blackburn.

The key is though, all season we haven't been great. We've had sensational spells in games, think we were a whirlwind opening day against Ipswich, at times against Birmingham and Southampton and even Leicester we showed we could be top 6 at a canter.

Fans aren't sure of Speakman, he's made some major moves and duffed it with cdm and striker. I believe he made a brilliant decision appointing Mowbray and eventually, he'll find the man we need to take us to the next level. Someone who will really turn Roberts and Ekwah into top Championship players.

In conclusion; Get behind Mowbray till he leaves.
 
What has happened this now not enjoyable to watch. We have known about problems with strikers for months but now the midfield is all lost and hasn't a clue, and the defence is woeful, we are guaranteed to leak a goal every week. Hume needs to be told just to concentrate on being the right back and not centre half and they both need to be told that if they go forward to overlap the wingers as soon as they have lost the ball to get back to there position.we are desperate for a seasoned championship or premier league defender or defensive midfielder to organise the defence and pull them back into position when they stray
It's simple, other teams have sussed out our style of play and we have been unable to change things, also our defence is suspect with players getting out of position.
All down to the management, there's no improvement at all, with set piece defensive or attacking play, midfield seems all over the shop atm, we don't look to feed the striker, It's alright Tony telling players to go out and express themselves, but there needs to be some discipline in their game, some variation would help as well.
Today at least the wingers got some crosses into the box, low crosses, unfortunately there was never anyong there to take advantage. It looked like it was planned, so why nobody lingering around the penelty spot area, ready to pounce.
 
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I can only call it as I see it mate.
Me too marra ! We can't all watch the same game.
I really enjoyed plymouth - thought we played great.
Not sure how many times you think we should be hitting the post (making clear goal scoring opportunities) in a match like !
 
I’m sick of Hume constantly drifting inside. Please just stay at RB. I couldn’t care less if it’s how Man City’s full backs operate, they’re a lot better than us and most teams in the world ffs. :lol:

Not confident at all against West Brom or Leeds like.

Develop the lad at full back before asking him to switch wings and combine roles. Different plan every week for the lad.
 
I dont think the confidence factor should be ignored.

Since we went down this extreme youth policy they've generally bounced back well from defeats and not got on an extended bad run - until now.

The club need to be really careful. If a team of extreme youth get on a really bad run it might be difficult to turn it around.

They have to fork out for some experience in January.
When we were in league one we were getting beat 5-1 , 4-0 6-0 with a team of very experienced players.
Thats all that team was.
This young team, what they've shown in the last season and a half is don't write them off. Before norwich away after our dribbling v stoke I had. Then the pressure they were under when we played saints at home this season.
It's not like we've been playing badly for months. Imo it's 2 games , where TM has chopped and changed the team with no real idea of why.
We could have pritch or dack starting. They're both experienced.
 
I think Rusyn and Mayenda have shown promise at points, but our inability to involve strikers consistently in the attack makes the job exceedingly difficult... Plus Rusyn looking like he might be a bit of a sicknote.

Can't say I've seen anything in Mayenda bar the fact he looks muscular. He's only a bairn mind, no way would I write him off.
 
For me I just think we've become a little over reliant on wingers.

Clarkes excellent form has meant at times it's the Mcgeady tactic of give it to him and hope he does something. Difference being Mcgeady was a seasoned pro with champions league experience. Clarke is still learning.

A lot is made of the striker situation but I don't think we play in a way that suits a traditional striker. A lot of good runs from Rusyn and Mayenda had been going unnoticed and when we do get wingers into the box they tend to cut in to shoot or lay it off when the striker has made a different run.

Definitely think we need an experienced DM who can just recycle play over and over. We can have whirlwind 10 or 15 minutes but often after teams see that off we're not able to sustain pressure high up.
 
Just an observation.
I don’t think many would argue with my view that Bellingham will play almost all of the time. IMO that’s one of the main reasons he’s here, he was likely promised that. Yes I know he didn’t start today.
He won’t have been promised that by TM. If they can dictate to TM something like that, what else are they dictating to TM ?
The players seem to like TM. The recruitment by Speakman leaves a lot to be desired.
TM has to do the best with what he’s given. What he’s been given in the main isn’t good enough, far from it.
Having said that, the appointment of TM was uninspiring and probably initiated to suit Speakman.
What I’m saying is IMO Speakman pulls the strings and the buck stops with him.
If TM manages to get some success for us this season, it will be despite Speakman not because o f him.
FTM.
 
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Teams are giving us a lot more respect than they used to. They sit back and ask us to break them down which we're incapable of doing because we don't get the ball in to dangerous plays often enough.

The strikers feed off scraps and we're a soft-touch at the back.
Simms and Stewart scored enough. Was that due to Mowbray’s tactics or in spite of them?
 
The irony is, that this time last season, after 19 games, we were...lower in the table and had fewer points. So you could argue we're doing better this time. Fair to say we had a slump in November last year too. Maybe its the young lads not coping well with the colder weather or something?

League Championship table after close of play on 06 November 2022​

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
1Burnley20108237231438
2Blackburn Rovers2012082419536
3Sheffield United19105434181635
4Norwich City209562821732
5Queens Park Rangers199462520531
6Preston North End208751616031
7Watford198562622429
8Luton Town197842219329
9Swansea City198562526-129
10Millwall198472220228
11Birmingham City197662016427
12Reading198292127-626
13Sunderland196672422224
14Cardiff City197391521-624
15Coventry City176561718-123
16Bristol City206592729-223
17Rotherham United195772325-222
18Blackpool196492328-522
19Stoke City196492025-522
20Middlesbrough195682425-121
21Hull City1963102135-1421
22West Bromwich Albion194872224-220
23Wigan Athletic195591928-920
24Huddersfield Town1843111725-815
You look at that table and Ipswich arnt even in it so somebody's gettin it right .
 
Firstly, it hasn't all gone wrong. If you compare like-for-like results with last season (substituting Ipswich, Southampton, Plymouth etc with the promoted/relegated teams) we're on exactly the same number of points - 27 from the same set of fixtures. And we have more points after 19 games this season than last season.

The balance doesn't feel quite right though and it's especially frustrating when we haven't addressed the two big weaknesses from last season. The striker situation could be excused to an extent last season when we very unfortunately lost Stewart and Simms in successive games and then lost Stewart altogether a couple of days before the end of the window - although it was a gamble itself only having two strikers in the squad - but to then start the season with only Hemir (2 goals in 21 for Benfica B) and then still not sign a striker with any kind of pedigree is criminal. But to also not strengthen the midfield when we don't have a single defensive midfielder has been almost as costly too. We've had to readjust the team to accommodate and it has a ripple effect - Hume inverts into midfield to cover for Ekwah because we got (and still get) butchered in midfield last season without Evans, but that leaves Roberts isolated, who then has to drop deep to receive the ball which gives their defence time to settle, which makes it even harder to break down those low blocks without a striker pressing and making runs in behind...

I think it's bamboozled Mowbray too, and he is forever tweaking and changing things to compensate but the outcome is probably that he's overcomplicated things and moved away from what worked well in the first place.

Not to say Mowbray is perfect, and I wouldn't be averse to changing.
 

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