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Jim Smith

We are where we are despite the manager not because of him

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Tonight''s massively unconvincing performance yet another example.

Wrong team again yet despite being gifted a two goal lead I do not have a clue what he had instructed them to try and do in that second half other than it was the wrong thing.

We can probably go up under Neil but it will be because we have retained a squad of players that is too good for this league not because we have a good manager.

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It was the wrong move to drop Pritchard and bring back Brady. Poor man management and poor generally because we struggled to retain possession all night.

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So Brady is the reason we lost?

Im not to sure that making 1 change (and a widely predicted one) can be classed as picking the wrong team?

Fwiw, I would have started Brady & Pritchard & rested Murphy.

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So easy, this football management lark.

I don''t recall your tenure as manager of Old Catton U12s...

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I think that is harsh. He has an unbalanced squad strong in the attacking midfield weak in defence and defensive midfield and only one credible striker. He has been let down by scouts/recruitment and the board. He is juggling this group and grinding out results but with a touch of fragility on the way. His substitutions rarely make for the better I accept. Will the board back him in January I suspect not but if he can move on Brady and Naismith for decent money it could be put to good use but only if invested wisely and we have a mixed track record there

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No. it didn''t help though and I think it is another very strange decision.

The reason we lost is that we came out in the second half with no obvious game plan and we sat back and were completely passive. This team cannot sit on a lead and this manager cannot influence a game positively once it is underway.

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[quote user="Yorkshire Canary"]I think that is harsh. He has an unbalanced squad strong in the attacking midfield weak in defence and defensive midfield and only one credible striker. He has been let down by scouts/recruitment and the board. He is juggling this group and grinding out results but with a touch of fragility on the way. His substitutions rarely make for the better I accept. Will the board back him in January I suspect not but if he can move on Brady and Naismith for decent money it could be put to good use but only if invested wisely and we have a mixed track record there[/quote]

He continues to not help himself though by making us fragile by playing Martin at centre back and being completely tactically inept.

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If you take his championship record from the playoffs season and this his win ratio must be right up there with the best. He must be given credit for that. I agree he rarely influences a game for the better once under way. He would be difficult to better in the championship but if we did go up he is out of his depth imo and should be replaced or the inevitable would repeat itself

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Jim - "The reason we lost"? So 2-2 away at a bogey side is a defeat, is it?

In actual fact, leading 2-0 away at h-t often seems to be dangerous, not just for us - a rollicking from the manager (or in this case, a sense of injustice) can galvanise the home side and the crowd, we''ve seen such scorelines overturned at Carrow Road often enough.

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[quote user="Jim Smith"][quote user="Yorkshire Canary"]I think that is harsh. He has an unbalanced squad strong in the attacking midfield weak in defence and defensive midfield and only one credible striker. He has been let down by scouts/recruitment and the board. He is juggling this group and grinding out results but with a touch of fragility on the way. His substitutions rarely make for the better I accept. Will the board back him in January I suspect not but if he can move on Brady and Naismith for decent money it could be put to good use but only if invested wisely and we have a mixed track record there[/quote]

He continues to not help himself though by making us fragile by playing Martin at centre back and being completely tactically inept.[/quote]

From the stand at Craven Cottage RM looked to have a good game.

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RM has been no more to blame for goals we''ve conceded this season than anyone else, some are just so blinkered it is bordering on the insane. This site would have been as quiet as a grave had we won tonight, it really is rather sad.

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And yet in every game our central defence appears all at seas the number of poor headers by our centre backs which fall to opposition players on the edge of our own box is staggering. Klose has regressed this season as well.

My biggest gripe though is the attitude/approach. This team is not good enough defensively to sit off and play deep and invite pressure yet we continue to try and do it when in front in games.

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[quote user="Jim Smith"]It was the wrong move to drop Pritchard and bring back Brady. Poor man management and poor generally because we struggled to retain possession all night.[/quote]

You''re clueless clearly

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I believe that we need to make more use of the squad, time to do the Murphy shuffle and give Pritchard a start ahead of Wes. The Championship is relentless and you don''t win promotion with 11 men.

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Here''s the thing. The binners have dropped 0 points from winning positions. Zero. Zilch. Nada. None. They have no chance of auto promotion. Forest have dropped 15 points from winning positions. They have little chance of the autos but still more than the binners. Why do our dropped points count us out?

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Because we are challenging Nutty.

I''m actually more concerned with the quality of our performances than the fact we have dropped a few points. We are just not playing very well, even if our attacking prowess gets us over the line in most games.

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I''m just concerned that you don''t think Alex''s great record has anything to do with his ability Jim.
I don''t get why people think we have the best squad in the league. They certainly didn''t think so when the transfer window shut. Did we now have the best transfer window of all the clubs in the Champs? Or has a miracle taken place since September 1st? Whichever is the truth, or even something inbetween,  Alex Neil come out of it as an exceptional manager at this level.

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Striker short. Should have broken the bank for Dwight Gayle rather than fiddle while he signed for the Magpies.

It''s Afobe all over again and will cost us promotion this time just like missing out on Afobe cost us survival. Cheap cheap cheep cheep.

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If we are up there by the New Year hopefully the BOD will go all out to bring in another centre back and striker unless they are as hard up as they make out

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[quote user="Jim Smith"]And yet in every game our central defence appears all at seas the number of poor headers by our centre backs which fall to opposition players on the edge of our own box is staggering. Klose has regressed this season as well.

My biggest gripe though is the attitude/approach. This team is not good enough defensively to sit off and play deep and invite pressure yet we continue to try and do it when in front in games.[/quote]A few matches back you were saying (correctly) that the problem is allowing the opposition to get to the second ball. That is most often down to the covering midfielders and creates problems irrespective of who is at CB. Signing a replacement RCB is not going to solve the problem.
No one will disagree about our inability to sit off and protect leads. Ignoring the weakness is not the answer however. A more consistently offensive strategy may get us promoted, but it won''t keep us in the EPL. Unless we (all) learn to value clean sheets more and the momentary highs of goalmouth action a bit less the story will always be the same.

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I don''t agree with the OP but I am still sceptical with regards to AN. This post match quote really bugged me...

Alex Neil: "We got ourselves in a good position, but for whatever reason we couldn''t absorb their pressure." #ncfc

''For whatever reason.'' It''s a pretty regular occurrence for us now and it''s a big concern if he still doesn''t really know why it is happening...

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Interestingly, everything Jim is saying we done wrong (sitting back, playing deeper) is everything AN had told them not to do.

Weird OP.

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AN has a 65% win ratio in the Championship. If we maintain our current points per game return we are on course for around 95 points and automatic promotion. Seems to me he is doing fine whatever our misgivings from time to time.

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The players are not robots, and needed at the very least, one or two, to step up to the ''lead from the front plate'', and address what was going on, because you can bet your bottom dollar, that AN was doing just that from the sidelines.

Are you saying the players are responsible for getting us to the top of the table, but AN was responsible for last night''s second half?

On reflection, an away point is good, BUT.........................

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