Sounds crazy but I think this is a make or break week for Alex Neil

[The Dog 35]

Win tomorrow and Sunday and he will silence the doubters of which there are a few despite definitely being a minority and momentum will be well and truly with us.

If we don''t get a win tomorrow night I expect to see/hear a few more boos ringing out and if we do the unthinkable and lose to them lot down the road I fear more will turn against Neil as I don''t think he has a huge amount of credit in the tank after last season.

Regardless of the results the board won''t sack him but I feel they will go a long to influence the fans minds on Alex.

Figures crossed for 6 points and maybe even singing top of the league at Portman Road come early afternoon at the portacabin road.

[Fuzzar 1,861]

You''re absolutely right. It does sound crazy.

[Nuff Said 5,973]

''Regardless of the results the board won''t sack him'' - so not make or break at all then?

[Clint 221]

4 points will be fine IMO.

[GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 2,035]

not sure if this week will be.....but midnight August 31st, i.e transfer deadline might well be??

[nu_matik 184]

So, basically... panic but don''t panic yeah?

This message board is just too much sometimes.

[Angry man 0]

Yeap definitely crazy!!!

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

I fully understand just what the OP is getting at.

If we have a poor week, culminating in a bad result against 1p5wich, then all the doubts about the manager that resulted from a season of indifferent decision making and worries concerning over-much tinkering will surely come back to the surface.

This will be very much compounded by the current striker situation,or lack of it. This has become incomprehensible amongst caring and thing supporters.

Few anticipated that we would be going in to the third game of the campaign so devoid of reasonable striking options and this is causing widespread malcontent and I believe the reason for the chorus (limited) of boos that greeted the goal-attempt barren game last Saturday.

Of course AN is safe in his job, until the turn of the year at least, and of course he is more than capable of producing winners from the next two encounters, but that does not mean that we should not fear the opposite, especially if our lack of striking options continues to cause us to drop valuable points.

[Tumbleweed 106]

AN has said that he will look at his own performance last season. I sincerely hope he looks at the effect all his tinkering had and the knee jerk reactions. He doesn''t need to rip up the team after every game when it doesn''t quite go to plan, I just want to see some stability in there and allow it to gel. If he does so and allows the players to play to their capability the points will follow. I''m not so worried yet about getting 6 or 4 points or whatever, there will still be 42 games to go but I would like to see evidence of a settled team with a settled strategy and way of playing.

[djc 0]

100% crazy!!

the board have had so many off-field items to address, like Ed Balls dancing sequins, getting new kits, and finding a new CE (welcome Jez btw!) that they haven''t prioritised a much needed striker. Alex Neil has so far been backed with money to sign players, the two this summer which we have paid transfer fee for are both yet to play any key part, however the freebie signing put in a good second half in goal on Saturday, so perhaps the Board are deciding if we can sign more freebies as this free option so far has produced better results.

[lake district canary 4,836]

Murmurs and speculation about the manager''s position at this stage of the season is just so wrong on so many levels. The striker question is something else and has nothing to do do with anything other than money and whether players view the club as fashionable enough for them. We  have to stay real and let AN and the club get on with things unemcumbered by non-sensical ideas that a change of manager may be round the corner.  Of course he is under pressure, he always will be, but getting the odd bad result or having a run that isn''t quite as good as we would like does not mean his job should be under threat. The league is a marathon and very competitive, so there will be ups and downs. As  we know from last time, you can have a poor run but still turn the season into a success with the right manager.....and who turned it round last time?  AN.  Make or break week it is not. 

[Guest]

Benitez must be feeling the pressure!

[Mr Apples 1,407]

Neil Warnock is still available...

Apples

[Thecanaryfan 0]

[quote user="Nuff Said"]''Regardless of the results the board won''t sack him'' - so not make or break at all then?[/quote]

The OP is referring to Neil''s reputation and acceptance with the fans. It is a good point.

[Parma Ham's gone mouldy 2,462]

I am a fan of social media, though it would be foolish not to recognise certain patterns that occur, due the psychology of certain profiles and the tendencies that then repeat.

In order to gain attention and attract interest it can be effective to be the first to state something controversial, or something which repeatedly resonates with a certain section of the community or prevailing mindset.

In the case of football and the Pink''Un forum it is the temptation to be the first to use the manager as a lightning rod for any structural club ills. The typically methodology is to refer to ''what if'' negative scenarios and then "pre-book" the negative reaction that might occur, also then claiming authorship of that outcome and a possible online honour in having been the first to ''predict'' it.

Thus approach - bastardised over time - may be observed to conflict with the concept of a ''supporter'', should it lead to repeated scenarios whereby such authors ''will'' their negative outcome above what is best for the club they support.

Parma

[Hoola Han Solo 448]

Any chance of repeating that? What a load of waffle.

[Buh 0]

We need to stop creating "make or break" situations and let him get on with his job

Especially 2 GAMES INTO THE SEASON

I swear to god....

[Thecanaryfan 0]

[quote user="The Dog"]Win tomorrow and Sunday and he will silence the doubters of which there are a few despite definitely being a minority and momentum will be well and truly with us.

If we don''t get a win tomorrow night I expect to see/hear a few more boos ringing out and if we do the unthinkable and lose to them lot down the road I fear more will turn against Neil as I don''t think he has a huge amount of credit in the tank after last season.

Regardless of the results the board won''t sack him but I feel they will go a long to influence the fans minds on Alex.

Figures crossed for 6 points and maybe even singing top of the league at Portman Road come early afternoon at the portacabin road.[/quote]

Good points Dog. 

I was fuming after watching that shambles on Sunday yet most on here brushed it off as a one off. I find it very difficult to stand by Neil after a performance like that, and I certainly expect a much improved performance tonight.

I think you are spot on by stating the next two games are make or break. Neil needs a performance (not necessarily a win) tonight to reassure the crowd. A repeat performance of Sunday tonight and he will find himself facing a must win game at Ipshits. 

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

And I thought the thread was just about the relevance that the outcome of the next two fixtures would have upon the supporter''s confidence in their manager''s ability to repeat past successes this season following a season of disappointment last time around.

Derby games are always much more important for managers in this respect and I note that similar views re: Mick McCarthy are being expressed by Ipswich supporters.

[Jim Smith 2,610]

I just want to see progress and some evidence of cohesive team play. If that comes then we will win far more than we lose as we have very good players at this level. Blackburn looked like progress but the disjointed performance against Sheffield Wednesday coupled with Blackburn also getting stuffed by Wigan has led to doubts over whether we were good or they are just awful.

Tonight I want to see a sensible team selection, Wes in his proper position, some passing through the midfield area and a lot more intensity. If that happens and we still don''t win then so be it. If it doesn''t happen then alarm bells should already be ringing. his is not a new manager with a new squad who need tine to settle down and get used to each other.

I agree with the OP though that if both results go badly this week then Neil will be under pressure. We are obviously due a bad result against the sc*m at some point simply due to the law of averages but this would be a very unfortunate time for it to happen so far as the manager is concerned.

[hogesar 10,772]

[quote user="Thecanaryfan"][quote user="The Dog"]Win tomorrow and Sunday and he will silence the doubters of which there are a few despite definitely being a minority and momentum will be well and truly with us.

If we don''t get a win tomorrow night I expect to see/hear a few more boos ringing out and if we do the unthinkable and lose to them lot down the road I fear more will turn against Neil as I don''t think he has a huge amount of credit in the tank after last season.

Regardless of the results the board won''t sack him but I feel they will go a long to influence the fans minds on Alex.

Figures crossed for 6 points and maybe even singing top of the league at Portman Road come early afternoon at the portacabin road.[/quote]

Good points Dog. 

I was fuming after watching that shambles on Sunday yet most on here brushed it off as a one off. I find it very difficult to stand by Neil after a performance like that, and I certainly expect a much improved performance tonight.

I think you are spot on by stating the next two games are make or break. Neil needs a performance (not necessarily a win) tonight to reassure the crowd. A repeat performance of Sunday tonight and he will find himself facing a must win game at Ipshits. 

[/quote]

To be fair not sure what you were watching on Sunday, but it''s hard to blame AN for it as he wasn''t the manager for any of the fixtures on that day.

[Thecanaryfan 0]

[quote user="hogesar"][quote user="Thecanaryfan"][quote user="The Dog"]Win tomorrow and Sunday and he will silence the doubters of which there are a few despite definitely being a minority and momentum will be well and truly with us.

If we don''t get a win tomorrow night I expect to see/hear a few more boos ringing out and if we do the unthinkable and lose to them lot down the road I fear more will turn against Neil as I don''t think he has a huge amount of credit in the tank after last season.

Regardless of the results the board won''t sack him but I feel they will go a long to influence the fans minds on Alex.

Figures crossed for 6 points and maybe even singing top of the league at Portman Road come early afternoon at the portacabin road.[/quote]

Good points Dog. 

I was fuming after watching that shambles on Sunday yet most on here brushed it off as a one off. I find it very difficult to stand by Neil after a performance like that, and I certainly expect a much improved performance tonight.

I think you are spot on by stating the next two games are make or break. Neil needs a performance (not necessarily a win) tonight to reassure the crowd. A repeat performance of Sunday tonight and he will find himself facing a must win game at Ipshits. 

[/quote]

To be fair not sure what you were watching on Sunday, but it''s hard to blame AN for it as he wasn''t the manager for any of the fixtures on that day.

[/quote]

Saturday. 

[Yorkshire Canary 118]

6 to 8 games into the season will be the test, if we are up and running no problem outside the top 6 and the frustration with manager and board alike will start to surface, the booing on the first game of the season whilst not for me highlights the fragile confidence in both board and manager. With Steve Bruce out there available AN needs to hit the ground running, he used his 9 lives up last season

[Mr Apples 1,407]

So, 2 games (unbeaten) into a 46 game league season and already the usual suspects are starting to bleat and whine with the same old tedious dross.

I swear some of them expect nothing less than for us to have 7 points from the first two games, the Clownshoes.

Apples

[pete 372]

Let him get on with the job because he''s done such a good job for the last 12 months. Unless he starts to get the results and performances expected the pressure from unhappy fans will see him sacked sooner than later as it will take the pressure from the Board.

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

"..... already the usual suspects are starting to bleat and whine with the same old tedious dross."

What usual suspects? What tedious dross?

We are just supporters expressing our concerns, passing or otherwise, about the capability of our manager with regards the job in hand.

I detect no intensive anti-Neil feeling.

There are reasons for these concerns for despite the fact that Alex Neil hit the ground running upon his arrival at Carrow Road he lost his touch once he was faced with the various challenges of Premier League football to the extent that we came back down straight away and with a whimper.

We have questioned his season, as indeed he has himself.

There is every reason to think that we possibly (nb. possibly) would have survived under and Bruce, a Pardew or even a Hughton given the resources he had at his disposal. He most certainly had a stronger squad than the Hoots had in his last season.

Us slight doubters (nb. slight) had every reason to express such reservations before the season even started, let alone two games in.

I didn''t actually think we were too bad on Saturday and were decent against a very well organised defensive team so I have no bitch re: our manager as yet.

You have every right to "suspect" me of not being fully convinced of his credentials just yet though.

It seems that some are including Alex Neil when blaming the Club for the lack of a new striker and this is probably unfair, despite some of his confused comments regarding a signing or some signings.

[Mr Apples 1,407]

BroadstairsR the level of irony in that response is magnificent; you, sir, are a comedy genius and I salute you.

Apples

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

"BroadstairsR the level of irony in that response is magnificent; you, sir, are a comedy genius and I salute you."

That response has got me completely confused.

What exactly do you mean?

Tell me exactly or are you just trying to be clever?

Either way, I think "comedy genius" is rather over-stating things.

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

I don''t quite know what happened there raspberries.

I must have pressed the wrong button. You will not be unfamiliar with that happening I would guess?

Getting things wrong I mean.

[Mr Apples 1,407]

BroadstairsR, if you re-read the thread really, really carefully and slowly you''ll understand (eventually, may take some time).

It''s the only way you''ll learn.

Apples