AN Interview

[mrs miggins 0]

Best interview I''ve heard from a manager (except from Keagan''s "I would love it...'').

Admitted that he made big mistakes this season, pointing out the main one at Newcastle. Glad he recognised this because I still couldn''t believe he made that mistake. Proud to have him as our manager, hope he stays.

[AmericanNorwichFan 0]

He said all the right things for me. He seems like the kind of guy to try like hell to right his wrongs. For him, that would be getting us back up and keeping us there.

[AJ 1,358]

Sounded defeated and unsure of his future. I hope the club back him and let him rebuild for next year. He''s a clever man and still young and learning. I think we''d be silly boy to give him a chance

[K Lo 246]

[quote user="mrs miggins"]Best interview I''ve heard from a manager (except from Keagan''s "I would love it...'').

Admitted that he made big mistakes this season, pointing out the main one at Newcastle. Glad he recognised this because I still couldn''t believe he made that mistake. Proud to have him as our manager, hope he stays.[/quote]Oh, come on, what about Gordon Strachan ??Interviewer "Where do you think you lost the match today?"Strachan "Out there, on the pitch."

[? 0]

"Gordan, can I haveba quick word?"

"Velocity"!

[K Lo 246]

Reporter: "So Gordon, any changes then?"

Strachan: "Naw, still 5ft 6", ginger and a big nose."Reporter: "What is your impression of Jermaine Pennant?"

Strachan: "I don''t do impressions”

The exact words of my earlier quote:Reporter: "So, Gordon, in what areas do you think Middlesbrough were better than you today?"

Strachan: "What areas? Mainly that big green one out there…"

[Drazen Muzinic 1,502]

Russell Martin was quite frank too.

Without pointing the finger directly at failure to recruit decent strikers, that''s exactly what he meant.

[? 0]

[quote user="Drazen Muzinic"]Russell Martin was quite frank too.

Without pointing the finger directly at failure to recruit decent strikers, that''s exactly what he meant.[/quote]

Well a defender will always say that!😂

[Drazen Muzinic 1,502]

[quote user="Ron Manager"][quote user="Drazen Muzinic"]Russell Martin was quite frank too.

Without pointing the finger directly at failure to recruit decent strikers, that''s exactly what he meant.[/quote]

Well a defender will always say that!😂[/quote]

Good point Ron! On a similar note, there don''t seem to be any defensive scapegoats on here tonight even though we allowed Watford to walk in a couple.

[65Vintage 7]

His obvious and honest disappointment at failing to deliver a second year of Premiership Football for our Club, and Supporters made me think he might (mistakenly) resign.

His reasons for this seasons failure were also honest, and you know Alex Neil is unlikely to make the same mistakes again. Neither is he a "yes" man, and will be asking others to improve (i.e. recruitment) etc as well as himself!

I hope he continues with us, and am sure he is capable of getting us another promotion from the Championship!

[Crabbycanary3 994]

To be fair to Russell Martin, he said it was about both boxes, although he did say about Watford''s two strikers scoring 70% of their goals.

[ZLF 334]

Searing honesty from AN and that burning passion and record in the championship is why we should ensure we give him enough to want to stay next season.

While finishing has clearly been a problem for me the issues solely come from the failure to land Koulibaly or alternative CBs. Sign them in teh summer and as with klose we become a far more effective unit. The manager is then able to continue with his 4141 preferred style that, until the newcastle game, had allowed us to score on a regular basis as we created more chances that hid the attackers lack of finishing quality.

His mistakes came from being too gung ho and then over reacting to try and solve the impossible conundrum, stop the poor team defending and defensive mistakes. He tried every possible combination - silk purse pigs ear demonstrated in front of our eyes.

Trying to do this while still posing a threat at the other end proved impossible - it blunted our threat and threw an increasing spotlight on the poor finishing from the far fewer chances, exponentially increasing the pressure on the strikers who simply became more ineffective as the season went on.

Any review of last nights game highlights that - chances and goals yet two very poor goals conceded from a defensive point of view summed the back 5 up perfectly; a keeping howler and then martin losing out too weakly to Deeney while Bennett once again fell asleep and lost his man. Good championship defenders but simply not up to the premier - which we knew from the last relegated season. Which is where this post started.

[Hairy Canary 752]

Quality post Zipper.

We keep hearing how the lack of goals have ultimately relegated us but the defense has been more responsible for our downfall in my opinion. The change that Kloser made when he got up to speed was huge and loosing him was clearly a body blow.

It''s so much easier and less expensive to improve the defense than bring in a 15 goal a season striker which I think most of us accept is probably beyond our means.

[ca 1]

Loved Alex''s interview, thought his total honesty in that interview was a credit to him. He''s the man to lead us back into the Premier, there''s no doubt in my mind

[El Convento 14]

I''d like to see him stay, but I can understand the viewpoint of many fans who feel that his tactics were (amongst other factors) responsible for our relegation this season.  So, for me, the interview was concerning: although he was characteristically frank, his body language and repeated mention of ''the club'' rather than ''we'' made me feel he will be off.  I hope not.