Jim Smith

Just listen to the comments the manager comes out with before games like yesterday and look at his selections and is it any wonder the team think they can coast after a couple of decent results and have turned the corner. Fact is that as soon as we let our standards slip this season we get caught out but instead of sending them out there pumped up he talked about how knackered they were, how we need to get this one out the way do they can have 7 days rest and then rested our best player. He may come out with hollow words about not taking teams lightly but it''s clear to me that he and the players do and it tends to bite us on the backside. Our recent reversion to hoofball also means we are not exerting any degree of control over games, even against poor sides and are thus always liable to ship a goal given our incompetent centre backs who get split open by one long ball down the channels.

We did not need a spending splurge Purple, just either not sending out players on loan who are capable back up or a couple of sensible loans to tide us over. We also did not need to spend so big on Wilschutt

I had the same argument yesterday with someone Hogesar. We are short of quality cover at left back, striker and defensive midfield and he chose not to address it. Cannot now complain about tiredness or injuries.

I can see the point you make Ron but I''m a bit disturbed by this latest rhetoric starting to emerge (including from the manager) that we don''t have the players for the championship or for games against the likes of Burton. We have better players than Burton, they should be able to beat them. Mentally he just never seems to have them right away from home.

I doubt they would sack him. I think we are stuck with him because the deluded idiots don''t realise how bad he is and don''t think the financial outweigh is justified or affordable.

Klose has been awful this season. Seems to have a very blasé attitude to everything and gets done as often as or more than Martin. The fact we have reverted to that partnership to try and solve our defensive problems just shows how clueless Neil is .

I just feel that in all the basics of the game where a manager or good coaching can make a difference we are too often poor. Look st what Warnock has done last season at Rotherham and this season with Cardiff. Ok the way Cardiff play isn''t pretty but he gets the basics absolutely right, they give away very few sloppy goals and they get good crosses in and offer a threat from set pieces. They maximise what they have. Just feels like Neil chucks them out there on the pitch and let''s them get on with it (other than making them play some stupid zonalmarking system). That works when the players are up for it but when they need that bit of extra motivating or we need that little bit more from the manager it''s not there. Lambert was worth points to the team over the season with his reading of games, subs and risk taking. Even Highton was able to get us results sometimes due to the discipline and organisation he brought. I cannot think of a single instance this season where I think the manager has added value to the team.

We have definitely switched to hoofball in recent weeks. I guess you could say it''s playing the percentages and it''s been effective but the football has regressed in terms of ball retention. Even Forest had more possession than us but our wonderstrikes killed that game.

Nope it was having a sh*t manager who the players don''t really rate or particularly want to play for.

We should not be changing how we play for any games like this. We should be going out there and running rings around them and taking the game away from them with our superior quality. Not turning very away game into a matter of fine margins where defensive screw ups (of which we are undoubtedly top of the table candidates) can lose you the game. We bring ourselves down to their level on a regular basis and it p**ses me off.

His entire philosophy is based on "we should win" tactics on the basis we have better players than most teams. There is certainly precious little in the way of tactics or organisation out there, no clever set pieces or training ground moves.

No the transfer policy of the jam window. We are a striker, a left back and a defensive midfielder light really given the manager doesn''t rate Lafferty and we knew Mulumbu was away for a month and injury prone anyway.

For our squad of players to lose to Rotherham and Burton is frankly humiliating, regardless of a few injuries. If you cannot defend then it undermines everything else. Even though the commitment has been much better the defence has continued to look awful and to be honest we played lower league kick and rush stuff against Newcastle. This manager cannot coach or organise a team defensively and has continually failed to strengthen key areas of the team/squad when we''ve needed to and that will be our undoing.

[quote user="Greavsy"]Jim Smith wrote the following post at 15/02/2017 10:04 AM: Just checked its 15 yellow before the end of the season = 3 match ban. Lets hope therefore that Tettey can continue with his recent better discipline. He has played on game, last night, since returning from a 2 match ban for 10 yellows. Yes he didn''t get booked last night, but don''t see that as ''recent better discipline'' personally. I do agree we need him in the team. With the injuries we currently have, we can''t afford to lose players due to bans etc[/quote] His better discipline was a reference to the fact he had managed to go 4 games prior to that on 9 yellows without getting another at a time when we would have been really stuffed because Mulumbu was away as well. All in all therefore he''s not been booked in 5 of his last 6 games which is an improvement compared to his record in the previous run of games!

I think what troubles me a bit with Wildschut is that he doesn''t look particularly quick. Maybe he''s lacking fitness but I was expecting a lot more. With Pinto, even though defensively he was poor you could see straight away that there was a good technical player in there. same with Oliveira although I must admit how much he has improved since notching his first goal has been a surprise. Perhaps Wildschut just needs one big performance to get his confidence up and will then look a different player but at the moment it looks a bit like we''ve overspent on him, even though I do expect him to improve.

Take your point about in our own area but to be honest I thought there was too much hoofing last night as it was. The commitment and effort from our players was top draw, the quality of our football was not. I am hoping that this was a "horses for courses" approach to combat a perceived Newcastle weakness but our ball retention was well below what we are capable of as the players just hoofed it to Jerome at every opportunity. I don''t want to see us playing like that too often for the rest of this season as much as the commitment was highly admirable and the result was a just about deserved point. We are better than that.

Just checked its 15 yellow before the end of the season = 3 match ban. Lets hope therefore that Tettey can continue with his recent better discipline.

As long as he doesn''t get another 5 bookings which presumably brings a long ban! When is the amnesty point after which he can''t be banned again?

Tettey is one of our best and most important players and has been back playing well for a few weeks now after not quite reaching his usual standards earlier in the season. If we do manage to make the playoffs there is no doubt that he will have played an important role. I find the recent attitude of some of our fans towards him baffling but then we also have some fans who think Wes is past it and needs replacing so I have concluded that we all see games differently and there are always going to be viewpoints on some of our players from some fans that I can''t get my head around.

Very impressive. Was worried when he appeared to take a knock late on. We basically have no adequate cover for him or Jerome for the next few weeks so injuries to either could be a real problem.

My first live sighting of him last night and I must say I''m worried we have wasted a huge chunk of money here. Will give him the benefit of the doubt for now on the basis he needs to settle in but he looked unfit, not really actually that quick and was completely ineffective. At present I''m struggling to see a million pound player let alone £7m.

Guess it will depend what style he wants to play Morty and what their weaknesses are at the back. Oliveira brings a bit more finesse and I think is the option if we are looking to play more of a possession game. Jerome is probably the option if we are looking to go a bit more physical and direct.

I think we are in a place where it''s ok for him to make changes where we''ve got players who are much of a muchness or who need resting. I expect Tettey to come in for Mulumbu and maybe Pritchard to be on the bench if he thinks the three we started with yesterday is too attacking/lightweight in which case Wilschut may start. I don''t see why you would play Jacob ahead of Josh after the latter had a good game. His confidence should be high and he''s not played much so won''t be burnt out. Jacob has not done much of late. Jerome for Oliveira tight call as well. I don''t think we should be making/considering more changes than that.

Tettey back for Mulumbu possibly with the latter tired after two games. Jerome or Oliveira up front? Hard to drop either Pritchard or Wes but I suspect he will feel that playing both against Newcastle is risky.

@Parma - I disagree a little with that. I don''t think their goals came due to over attacking, they came during a period after half time where we had dropped our intensity, were not keeping hold of the ball and had dropped off. We actually did very much the same at Cardiff on Saturday but got away with it there. I have no idea if this was due to instructions at half time (i.e. keep it tight, hold what we have) or more down to the players but we are not good enough at defending to let the opposition have the ball and build pressure for long periods. Would prefer to have seen us stay on the front foot and hunt down a second goal. I do agree though with "as if the opposition don''t exist" or in this case more "not being able to read and respond tactically" during the game. Their manager made a proactive sub at half time which changed the momentum and changed the game. By the time we responded to that they had scored two goals at the end of a period of 15-20 minutes of them dominating a game we had completely controlled prior to that.