Ouch! Looking serious ...

[ron obvious 1,711]

http://www.pinkun.com/home/paddy_davitt_verdict_alex_neil_faces_a_stark_choice_at_norwich_city_1_4755585

Paddy Davitt:

"For Neil, and more pertinently his captain, Russell Martin, to emerge from the wreckage of the away camp and question the professionalism and the spirit is a shocking indictment on the Scot, his management and what appears a fractured playing squad"

[Indy 3,471]

I''m afraid leadership and example comes from the top, no leadership at board level, no leadership at management and no leadership in the team.

Since last December things have slowly become very comfortable in the club with no demand at any level.

I''ve not seen any comment coming out of the club, like him or not McNally would have said something by now.

[Barry Brockes 157]

Comfortable is exactly how the Stowmarket two want it and anyone within the Club who makes life slightly uncomfortable for them is dispensed with sooner or later.

[BOO 0]

Thoughts of a split in the squad are extremely worrying Ron but having heard the interview it''s hard to draw any other conclusions.

[GJP 79]

Always feared this. Not enough of a shake up after relegation.

It might have been different if we had gone down with a fight but we didn''t. Suggested too many hearts weren''t in it.

[lake district canary 4,830]

[quote user="ron obvious"]http://www.pinkun.com/home/paddy_davitt_verdict_alex_neil_faces_a_stark_choice_at_norwich_city_1_4755585

Paddy Davitt:

"For Neil, and more pertinently his captain, Russell Martin, to emerge from the wreckage of the away camp and question the professionalism and the spirit is a shocking indictment on the Scot, his management and what appears a fractured playing squad"[/quote]

Well, I for one have been a bit confused by the lack of Pritchard, Oliveira and Canos appearances - not enough minutes given to them as simple like for like changes with Wes, Jerome and Jacob.    To me these are simple and obvious changes that would ensure the those three would remain fresh and give the new three plenty of minutes getting involved.    Not every game, maybe, as there are other players who could have been given more time off the bench - Thompson for one.   But what has now happened is that Wes appears to have been overplayed and gone off the boil,  Jerome hasn''t been rested enough and too much has been placed on his shoulder in attack and Jacob has looked tired - maybe mentally more then physically.  Keeping such a large and quality squad  all singing from the same hymn sheet was always going to be difficult and AN will have his work cut out to get things right again - but surely he has to start trusting others more, rather than relying on the same format and players that are now starting to struggle. It could have been avoided imo, but he now has to really show his strength of character to try and get things on a better track by showing more faith in all his players. 

[Move Klose 303]

"Always feared this. Not enough of a shake up after relegation."

Spot on !!!

Too many players who are not interested, have nothing to prove, who are happy to sit on very good wages, who the manager doesn''t really fancy.

This squad needs an overhaul.

There''s some younger hungry players there like Maddison, Thompson, Pritchard, Canos who have hardly featured. Players like Brady who clearly isn''t a left winger or left who''s excelled playing centrally for Ireland.

Why have 5 centre halves and tbh there''s not much difference between them. Shane Duffy had a terrific euros with Ireland cost less than £5m.

[PurpleCanary 6,386]

[quote user="ron obvious"]http://www.pinkun.com/home/paddy_davitt_verdict_alex_neil_faces_a_stark_choice_at_norwich_city_1_4755585

Paddy Davitt:

"For Neil, and more pertinently his captain, Russell Martin, to emerge from the wreckage of the away camp and question the professionalism and the spirit is a shocking indictment on the Scot, his management and what appears a fractured playing squad"[/quote]That Davitt piece is a more savage follow-up to what he wrote this time last week, after Preston, in which he started questioning Neil''s abilities, saying:"Each fresh stumble sharpens the focus on the manager’s judgment."

[The young canary 0]

Thought it was a well reasoned and well written article by Paddy.

He really hit the nail on the head the thing is have the Board understood it?

[AJ 1,359]

On the flip side disasters can often bring squads closer together.

As long as they are rallying together, and come out fighting every blade of grass for the manager and for themselves as a team in the next game, we''ll be okay. If there has every been a must win, Leeds is it!

[Hairy Canary 754]

I think that is exactly it AJ.

Tough ask but AN needs to use Brighton as a way of pulling everyone together to fight for him and the future of our season. That''s what management is all about, with all due respect to the valid points about selection and formation. This will without doubt show if he has the required management skills.

[OldRobert 38]

[quote user="The young canary"]Thought it was a well reasoned and well written article by Paddy.

He really hit the nail on the head the thing is have the Board understood it?[/quote]Nothing must be allowed to rock the boat, so I would imagine that article will be ignored like everything else.  Understood?  Who knows.

[norfolkngood 1,174]

I see it totally the other way though

Alex and RM came out saying players gave up etc

i see it they gave up because they do not believe in the Manager his tactics and maybe training etc they have had enough ,

Once that happens for a Manager to turn in around is very hard

I imagine the CEO will be talking to those players as well and if he hears that the dressing room is unhappy about the manager and coaches and the way it is being run then Moxey has a choice to make

Thats my opinion not fact of course but i have a feeling that AN is the problem and a stronger manager would have stamped this out quicker

I have never heard of a Team that is doing well in the league ( 4th ) being so unhappy they should have confidence happy they are on target what is going so wrong we have a split dressing room ?? must be AN

[morty 0]

Ah this is pretty easy. We sack the manager and buy a load of new players.

Stunned the board haven''t spotted this obvious answer.

[norfolkngood 1,174]

well Morty what do you think the answer is stick with AN ?

[The young canary 0]

[quote user="morty"]Ah this is pretty easy. We sack the manager and buy a load of new players.

Stunned the board haven''t spotted this obvious answer.[/quote]

What the players need is a good man manager in who they believe in who is tactically spot on and knows how to make a substitution

Cometh the hour cometh the man

[KeiranShikari_2 0]

To be fair I think the club did probably want a load of new players. Just happens that nobody would take our current ones to make cash and space.

[Rogue Baboon 0]

[quote user="The young canary"][quote user="morty"]Ah this is pretty easy. We sack the manager and buy a load of new players.

Stunned the board haven''t spotted this obvious answer.[/quote]

What the players need is a good man manager in who they believe in who is tactically spot on and knows how to make a substitution

Cometh the hour cometh the man[/quote]

To be fair, is that not why Lambert failed at Villa?

Its probably a lot easier to pick up a squad thats hit rock bottom as Lambert did with us than try and stop a squad hitting rock bottom when its clearly sliding that way like Villa were

[hogesar 10,766]

I think, having let the dust settle, we need to wait for the Leeds game to decide where we''re at. You have to allow for the chance this was a freak one-off game where everyone is maybe over-reacting a tad.

Obviously, i''m not oblivious to the fact this is probably not a one-off game and RM''s comments after the match both reinforce and cause further concern, but it''s hardly all over now.

[Len 74]

an 11 game winless run last seasona horrid defeat at Birminghama humiliating cup exit to arch rivals Leedsplayers downing tools in a 5-0 thumping by cautious Chris

We''re in a crisis. Sack now.

[Duncan Edwards 2,424]

Oh Leonard.

You were doing so well but just lost it with the words humiliating and "arch rivals" when talking about Leeds.

Too much hyperbole, too quick. To troll effectively you need to remain believable and you blew your stack early like a teenage boy with a copy of Razzle.

A bit like our players, must try harder.

[Feedthewolf 5,885]

[quote user="Duncan Edwards"]Oh Leonard.

You were doing so well but just lost it with the words humiliating and "arch rivals" when talking about Leeds.

Too much hyperbole, too quick. To troll effectively you need to remain believable and you blew your stack early like a teenage boy with a copy of Razzle.

A bit like our players, must try harder.[/quote]Well played [:D]

[Nuff Said 5,965]

I thought Archant were tame puppets of the board?

[Jim Smith 2,610]

Is it any wonder there are some unhappy players in that dressing room when you look at the way some of them have been handled/treated. I''m not saying that justifies the players downing tools or not putting in effort but I find it little wonder that some of them are a bit demotivated.

Lafferty - keeps playing and doing well for his country but not allowed anywhere near the team by our manager, even in the league cup.

Bennett - not looked right at all in his appearances since he was dropped for Martin after the Brum game, unfairly in my book. Seems to have been the straw that broke the camels back after being repeatedly made the fall guy for iffy team performances or indeed just when the manager wants to inexplicably re-install Russell Martin at centre back. is it any wonder if he''s demotivated when he knows he will get dropped for a player who is inept in his position.

Whitaker - dropped from the squad last season, bizarrely brought back in as apparent first choice right back at the start of the season but then dropped again completely from the squad ever since Brum. Not saying he should be anywhere near the team by the way but another example of a player just being jettisoned entirely having been previously given encouragement by the manager.

Naismith - undroppable at the start of the season then suddenly not even making the match day squad.

Pritchard - signed, Not played, left out of the squad completely. Brought back in, plays really well. Immediately dropped.

Canos - signed, looks promising. Given his first start and did ok at Brum. Result - not been seen since and only on the bench for the league cup games.

That''s without even factoring in Bassong and Turner who know full well they ain''t getting on the pitch for the first team unless we have a serious injury crisis.

I would not want most of the above in my starting 11 but that''s not the point. The point is that I would not be surprised at all if some of them are agitating in the dressing room because their treatment by the manager has been very strange at times. I also would not be at all surprised if any dressing room rift (if there is one) has not in part been caused by apparent favouritism towards certain players coupled with the continued exclusion of others.

[morty 0]

If anyone is near Jim can they slap him and give him a shake please?

[Mr Apples 1,407]

I''m not slapping anyone that''s frothing at the mouth...I haven''t had the correct jabs.

Apples

[Duncan Edwards 2,424]

Lafferty is awful. Bennett is no better than when we signed him and inferior to Martin, Klose and Bassong. Pritchard has had a good game, been left out, come back in and been totally anonymous. Canos hasn''t reached the levels that Jacob Murphy has according to AN, seems a reasonable enough reason to leave him out. Whittaker, I reckon he''d have played Saturday had he been fit. That would have facilitated Martin staying at CB and Bennett staying off the pitch. Naismith, well, who knows. He''s the one that really disappoints as he should be walking into this team. However, perhaps his wages are a bit of a stick in the throat for some other players?

Anyway, as I''ve said elsewhere, we can bleat, berate and blame all we like but these are what we''ve got until at least January. The only change we can make is to can the manager, if we lose to Leeds on Saturday, the board might wonder how much longer they can let it slide.

If we lose and the players fight tooth and nail, he''ll survive. If we roll over and the crowd "go", well, he''s in all sorts of trouble.

Expect us to start fast Saturday, he''ll be desperate for an early goal.

[sonyc 6,145]

The facts are folks that we just don''t know the truth and until we hear from people at the club then it is all just conjecture. That leaves big holes for posters to fill ! RM has given a clue plus Ray and other posters seem to know things that they cannot divulge.

[Len 74]

[quote user="Duncan Edwards"]Oh Leonard.

You were doing so well but just lost it with the words humiliating and "arch rivals" when talking about Leeds.

Too much hyperbole, too quick. To troll effectively you need to remain believable and you blew your stack early like a teenage boy with a copy of Razzle.

A bit like our players, must try harder.[/quote]You don''t want him out? Keep clapping but we''re not getting promoted with this berk in charge.

[Jim Smith 2,610]

If Whitaker ever comes back in the team and (more to the point) plays in the same side as Martin then we really will be up sh*t creek.

My point wasn''t really that they should be playing but more that I don''t think the manager has managed the workload of his players that well this season and I think the way he has handled certain others makes it unsurprising if they are demotivated.

Bennett is playing poorly now but he was not playing poorly earlier in the season and he did not deserve to be dropped. he was outperforming Klose who personally i think has been utter sh*t this season. Similarly he did not deserve to be dropped on a couple of occasions in the premier league.

Is it any wonder that a player is demotivated if he knows that every time Captain Marvel is fit he''s going to get dropped so that Martin can come in and show everyone how totally and utterly inept he is as a central defender.