FatMan Fat

We won which is brilliant but you can''t be serious, DD, that Worthington''s tactics were effective? Once again the midfield played too close to the defence.  Once agian we lacked balance with Jonsson on the left and Bentley should have been taken off much earlier as he was very ineffective today. Like you, I will be at St Mary''s next week, and like you I will be praying for a result. However, I am not a fan of Worthington and until such time as he sorts the tactics out and selects a team with balance I doubt I ever will be.  

I am posting this before the Charlton match. For me, the whole question of whether Worthington is the right manager for our Club comes down to the next two matches. Has he got the skills necessary to get the team to perform in two vital matches, or hasn''t he? If he has, he should stay, if he hasn''t he should go. In my opinion Worthington is not a good "man manager", there are far too many instances of him falling down in this particular area.  Neither, in my opinion is he a particularly good coach. The team continues to defend too deeply, the midfield sits too close to the defence, the side has very little "balance", we can''t even sort out what to do at throw-ins!!  All of these are things that should be sorted out on the training ground, but they fail to get sorted. However, these are just my personal opinions. In the cold light of day every good manager, no matter what walk of life they manage in, end up with the team that they deserve...the team that reflects their values, beliefs and standards.  If their teams do not end up with the manager''s values, beliefs and standards then by definition the manager is ineffectual as he/she is unable to influence the people he/she is responsible for. Worthington''s team have to show the necessary commitment and fight over the next two matches to give us a chance of staying up. They have to show the necessary tactical skill to control a match at certain crucial times. If they are able to do that then Worthington has done his job, which after all is what he is paid for. Should we fail to show the necessary fight and commitment, or produce tactical naivety, then he should pay the ultimate price and lose his job.  

I cant speak for what other people wanted but this season I wanted to see some progression in the quality of the team.  That just hasn''t happened.  Match after match Worthington trots out the same excuses and the same drivel. Match after match we perform the same way.  Match after match the team selections, tactics and substitutions (or lack of) leave me, and many others, bemused. Match after match we fail to select players that have been signed, presumably because they are/were better than the incumbents. A lot of what has happened this season just doesn''t make a lot of sense and I don''t want a continuation of that next year. Worthington is a terrible "man manager" as many people close to the ground know and he is not respected by many of the players - it''s time for him to go!!

It hurts to say it, but after our naivety on Saturday we don''t deserve to stay up Once again, Worthington failed to deliver the right tactics after we had a 2 goal advantage and once again we failed to defend with the quality required No doubt the flamers will be out in force, but the fact is it is pointless saying we would have been happy with 4 points from Man U and The Palace games - we went into the Palace game with 3 points under our belt and squandered a 2 goal advantage. Without doubt it is time for Worthington to go and time to restructure our defence and midfield coz what we have got ain''t good enough - and that is also down to Worthington I truly, truly, hope that we get enough points from our remaining games to stay up but I think we all know it isn''t going to happen. And who to replace Worthington......George Burley! He KNOWS how to build a team and how to coach a team, unlike Worthington.

Of course it was a great result and one that got the adrenilin flowing For me Shackle was by far and away our best player and showed the sort of leadership and commitment that we have been lacking at the back all season, they should make him Captain next season!! - even Flem (god bless him) was beginning to call the defence up towards the end of the match Given any sort of choice (injuries etc) we must start next week with Bentley on the right, rather than Stuart, as the balance was just soooo much better - let''s see what happens

Well said, KnowwhatI mean!!

An excellent first post on the thread that takes the emotion out of how many of us feel and put a constructive measure on what has, or what has not, been achieved this season - well done, Morph. We are bottom of the leagure; we have the worst defence record by far; we have one of the worst attacking records; "ipso facto" we are the worst team in the league; we have not grown in tactical awareness through the season and apart from a few early games when "enthusiasm" carried us through we have looked out of our depth. The only conclusion can be that this seasaon has been an abject failure.

Footballs a funny old game isn''t it? There are those supporters who question whether Mr W can do any more for the Club given his seeming lack of tactical awareness; the lack of progess this year;the questionability of some of his signings;the lack of games given to some of his signings;the lack of balance in the side and the not very good return on points - we are bottom for goodness sake!! Then there are those who say that Mr W is good for the Club; that he is "learning" his trade; that we are getting no more than we should have expected; that there is no other Managers out there. Ho hum      

Mook - I am surprised at you You forgot to mention our other two "wingers" - Jarvis and Henderson. Or are they strikers?  I can''t remember as it some time since they played in that position The fact is, Mook is correct in that it is going to take time to get the balance of the team correct again. And who is the man who will have to do it - Mr W -the very same who has caused the problems

I dont agree that Worthy is the man to bring us back up again. He was responsible for the players that we signed, some of whom were simply not good enough He is responsible for the lack of tactics and strategies that have caused to have one of the worst results ever recorded for a season in the top flight Why on earth would you want to risk him repeating the debacle again in a year''s time - assuming of course that we managed to get promoted again. And before anyone asks who to replace him with, I would seriously suggest - George Burley This is a manager who has proven that he understands how to coach and how to improve a team. He would be the man for me  

I would agree with the vast majority of your post (apart from helvig being quality) Mr W should be given a maximumof half a season next year and if we are not in at least a play-off place he should go. My biggest disappointment this year has been that we simply have not developed as a team and for that Mr W has to take responsibility.  

Simple answer.....going down IS a bad thing

I have had my doubts about part of the overall package that is Worthy...several of his purchases have been big question marks with me...some of his tactics confusing...some of his management decisions dubious. However, he did get us promoted and he has brought 2 or 3 good players to the Club (Huckerby, Francis, Ashton), so on balance he is on the plus side. We are almost certain to go down now.  Worthy should be given at least to the halfway point next season.  If we are challenging for promotion then he should stay.  If we lose our way in the Championship then he should be dispensed with quickly. Personally, I think we will get straight back up......then the BIG question is how well he strengthens the squad for another attempt at establishing ourselves in the Premiership -  he would need to do better than he did this time around.

I have to agree that we miss a player in the Malky mould. Since he went we have had no one taking command of the defence on the field.  For me this is one of the big minuses of the season...no natural leader at the back.

I did a search on Bearshare for "Samba De Janeiro" by Bellini...dowloaded it in 38 secs flat

I have it on good authority that the developers of the "new" Wembley were so impressed by Delia''s impassioned plea that they are going to call the replacement Wembley Way...... "Letsbe Avenue" 

Who is, was, this 1st Wizard guy

I think the term is "QED"

I am a big fan of Fleming both on and off the pitch....however, for much of the season he has simply not been good enough.  My own thoughts are that we miss a true leader at the back (in the Malky mould) as Flem does not fill this role.  Even last night it was Shackell calling the back line up rather than Flem. Flem has done a great job for us over the years but its a case of one season too many I fear. So, we need to reorganize at the back.  Who have we got?  Charlton, Helveg, Eddy - whoops, all are approaching their mid 30''s, along with Flem - a crisis methinks And who got us into this situation?  Mmmmm...........

I am afraid Delia got it wrong last night.  Despite the fact that our expectations this year have not been met (only 3 home wins and no away wins - worst defence in the league - worst goal difference etc etc) the fans have been magnificent both home and away. The only possible criticism being when some people left early during the Middlesborough match, but even then I CAN understand why they did leave.  We have bought our seasons for next year in our tens of thousands to further show our support. The team then proceed to squander a 2 goal advantage in what was a CRUCIAL match and Delia chose to criticise us publicly, on television? Sorry, girl, wrong timing A case of taking "celebrity" a step too far I think.

Okey dokey - here is my three pennyworth Fact - we won -hurrahFact - we played crap, probably the worst all seasonFact - we haven''t had an organised defence since the departure of Malkay - I am NOT saying he should still be with us - indeed Fleming was dire on Saturday and it ended with him having a public spat with Docherty as to who should be marking who, not very professionalFact - we have the worst defence in the Premiership - therefore something needs to be done about itOpinion - some of our tactics were damning on Saturday - no balance in the first half, Hucks withdrawn to deep left in the second half etc etcOpinion - I don''t really give a rats arse if we play badly as long as we pick up points and stay up. However, in the longer term we really do need to do some work on some football basics otherwisw we will suffer whichever League we are in.

Our defence is going to be a problem, period When you look at the ages of Eddy; Helveg; Flem and Charlton we have a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. Furthermore, we did not replace Malkay''s leadership and organisational abilities.  There were times on Saturday when Flem was only marking space and Doc didn''t know who to pick up. It was only only in the dieing minutes that Flem imposed his authority on Doc and "told" him who to mark. So, no matter what league we are in next year a big rebuild of the defence will be required. Oh, and if we stay up, at least another forward. Much as I admire Leon''s enthusiasm and work rate he just doesn''t have sufficient skill (first touch in particular) for the Premiership.

Yesterday''s match gave the opportunity to evaluate who is the best forward to have moved up from the Championship to the Premiership this year - I am discounting RObbie Blake On the one hand we have Ashton who looks more of an "old fashioned" Centre Forward and on the other we have Earnshaw who looks to be a more mobile, roving, striker. So, who has the most impact on games? Who has more of the ball during games?  Who has the better strike rate?  Who contributes more in terms of assists and bringing other layers into the game? Indeed, given the choice, which one of the two would you rather have playing in the green and yellow?  

Off course we can become an established Premiership side. It might take a couple of attempts but we have the nucleus of a side that with some additional quality will be good enough.  We have a good enough ground and we have good enough training facilities.  We have a good enough main shareholder and we have good enough fans. We even have a manager who could well prove good enough - it might not be this year bit it will come

Indeed a very strange quote from Mr W Only 13 matches left, only 2 wins, only 6 goals away from home, the worst goals against record in the league - but never mind we are learning!!