Some thoughts on today

[hogesar 9,618]

Think you must be getting wires crossed somewhere Morty because I''m pretty much agreeing with you and do agree on the two performance differences between last week and this week only with the caveat that Pritchard also struggled when he came on last week.

Not his biggest fan was hardly a criticism of you and it''s not a case that Wes can''t be criticised - however it''s likely he will have more people argue his case as he has done more for us and our club than any of our other current players. Naturally a player that''s been a significant part of our rise from league one to the prem, alongside another prem promotion on top of that, is going to have a lot of support and rightly so.

I fully agree we have been too reliant on him, but is it his fault? No, it''s whoever has been a part of building the squad over the last 5 years or so. We''ve only been too reliant on him because we have had precious little alternative and no one in recent years has shown the same creativity or achieved the same assist count as Wes. As all players he will move on eventually - he may see out his career here. If Pritchard is now ready to take the mantle and be our main number ten then I have no problem with that.

[morty 0]

[quote user="hogesar"]Think you must be getting wires crossed somewhere Morty because I''m pretty much agreeing with you and do agree on the two performance differences between last week and this week only with the caveat that Pritchard also struggled when he came on last week.

Not his biggest fan was hardly a criticism of you and it''s not a case that Wes can''t be criticised - however it''s likely he will have more people argue his case as he has done more for us and our club than any of our other current players. Naturally a player that''s been a significant part of our rise from league one to the prem, alongside another prem promotion on top of that, is going to have a lot of support and rightly so.

I fully agree we have been too reliant on him, but is it his fault? No, it''s whoever has been a part of building the squad over the last 5 years or so. We''ve only been too reliant on him because we have had precious little alternative and no one in recent years has shown the same creativity or achieved the same assist count as Wes. As all players he will move on eventually - he may see out his career here. If Pritchard is now ready to take the mantle and be our main number ten then I have no problem with that.[/quote]Ha it was more of a general point, not necessarily directed at you. And pointing out that it is bordering on a sacrilegious event to discuss Wes in anything other than God like terms. Its hard to describe, its almost like managers have been afraid to not use Wes, in case they incur the wraith of the fans and / or Delia (insert conspiracy theory here). And it is never really a healthy position where a player has no competition whatsoever, and can basically rely on being on the teamsheet every week, good or bad.And I completely take your point about it not being his fault, there has been a lot of mistakes made in the recruitment and shaping of the squad, which in the last few windows we seem to be slowly addressing in the type of player we are after.

[Trevor Hockey's Beard 526]

It was a great and timely result yesterday, but it doesn''t rebuild my faith in AN. It was almost as if he had run out of wrong team selections and had to try the right one.

Yes Brentford made us look good, but it still highlights how wrong our line-up was against Leeds.

Yer, yer , yer we had no Pinto or Howson for that game, but Brady on the right and Pritchard on the left?

[Mason 47 1,373]

Something I think that was quite key in the difference in our attacking potency yesterday is that whilst Jerome gives 110% every single game (and I am a Jerome fan) you could say probably 80% of that is mindless running for lost causes. His movement is usually looking over the shoulders of full-backs, wanting to draw them into a footrace where at this level he tends to win. This unfortunately means that he''s constantly 30 yards ahead of the rest of our players, making him isolated and he doesn''t exactly have a penchant for making goals for himself.

Oliveira seems much more comfortable to play with his back to goal and drop into deeper areas to allow Murphy, Pritchard et al some space further up. I think we did catch Brentford cold a little, but I''d like to think this is a level we can play to regularly.

[Baywing 0]

[quote user="morty"]Thats the spirit, keep desperately snatching those negatives[Y][/quote]

Its not about being negative at all....

Its facing reality and having watched AN sides over the last 2 years I really dont think he is the man for the job !

Yes we had a great day at Wembley....

he then got us relegated following a win at home to Newcastle we really should have stayed up and yet big Sam came and mugged us....

He apologised and promised to learn from the experience, I stuck by him and agreed the club were right to give hom a chance.

However we are where we are and I have seen nothing to convince me AN has learnt a damn thing in the past 2 years...

He occasionally gets lucky with team selection, the ball bounces in his favour and the opposition manager is clueless....

So please I ask again can one of the remainers please give me a valid reason why they think he is the man ?

I love this club and have supported them for 40 years, STH and travel to about 75% of away games.....

Yesterdays win was great.....but I dont honestly believe we will achieve promotion with AN in charge.

[morty 0]

Did you enjoy the game yesterday?

[Baywing 0]

[quote user="Dan Dare"]"and as I say even a broken clock is right twice a day !" Baywing

Something that could not be said of you"The job is clearly to big for the guy.....

""He appears to be guessing at present.....and I am not sure the players are fully behind him !

""Brady is no left back"

[/quote]

and your point is ?

I stand by everyone of those comments

The job is clearly to big for the guy

His recent team selections prove he is nothing but a guesser ? How can Bassong get in the team ahead of Kloser ?

I have seen nothing to prove to me he can galvanize a squad of big ego''s.....

And seriously if anyone thinks Brady is a left back they are equally as short sighted as AN.....doing a job against a piss poor Brentford side proves nothing did you go to Brigthon Brum or QPR ?

[Indy 3,283]

To be fair, I still don''t think AN is the right man for us either.

Yesterday was a very good performance and the players did their job, but remember last time Pritchard started at home, had a blinder he then dropped him the next game.

Also it was apparent City fans weren''t too convinced when they chanted how shit must you be we''re winning 4-0.

Still it was good to go home after seeing a great performance and credit to AN to get the team right and playing yesterday.

[Baywing 0]

[quote user="morty"]Did you enjoy the game yesterday?[/quote]

Yes I did....

however I dont wear yellow tinted specs.....

Brentford sat off us all game. we havent enjoyed that much space in a long time......we played well and moved the ball quickly.

However I can think of at least 3 chances Hogan had, 2 free headers in our box and once a quick ball over the top caught out our defence......

A better side would and will make things tougher.

i know you can only beat whats on front of you and its certainly good to have won again......BUT lets not delude ourselves AN has turned it round.

[morty 0]

There doesn''t need to be a "but" or "however" though.Well done for trotting out every single one you could think of though.You, and a fair few others really are letting all this spoil your football, and it smacks of "I want Alex Neil out, so I''m going to fold my arms, and refuse to be happy about anything".

[Gordon Bennett 780]

If AN is going to get a clattering for picking the ''wrong'' team then equally he must get praise when he picks one which results in a comfortable win. It''s a game of opinions but I think Brady is a perfectly good left back and that his versatility is one of his strengths. Great to see Bassong playing well too, he is an excellent defender at this level when he is on song.

[......and Smith must score. 1,336]

[quote user="morty"]There doesn''t need to be a "but" or "however" though.Well done for trotting out every single one you could think of though.You, and a fair few others really are letting all this spoil your football, and it smacks of "I want Alex Neil out, so I''m going to fold my arms, and refuse to be happy about anything".[/quote]I think most people are pleased about yesterday but there''s an awful of of dross on our CV this year and one resounding win doesn''t wipe the slate clean. We need to maintain something like it for a decent stretch of games.On all known recent form Saturday''s trip to Oakwell is a given - gord, that''s put the mockers on it - but the next two home games are tougher, particularly Villa.If we emerge from those three games with a healthy number of points then maybe we can start thinking we''re on the up. Until then don''t get carried away too much over one welcome result.

[morty 0]

[quote user="......and Smith must score."][quote user="morty"]There doesn''t need to be a "but" or "however" though.Well done for trotting out every single one you could think of though.You, and a fair few others really are letting all this spoil your football, and it smacks of "I want Alex Neil out, so I''m going to fold my arms, and refuse to be happy about anything".[/quote]I think most people are pleased about yesterday but there''s an awful of of dross on our CV this year and one resounding win doesn''t wipe the slate clean. We need to maintain something like it for a decent stretch of games.On all known recent form Saturday''s trip to Oakwell is a given - gord, that''s put the mockers on it - but the next two home games are tougher, particularly Villa.If we emerge from those three games with a healthy number of points then maybe we can start thinking we''re on the up. Until then don''t get carried away too much over one welcome result.

[/quote]You would have thought everyone could just enjoy it, put any agenda to one side and just say "Yeah, that was a good footballing day at the office".But it appears that there are plenty who can''t. No one is saying everything is suddenly rosy, but if you can''t just enjoy days like yesterday for what they are, then you truly are a miserable human being.

[morty 0]

And that wasn''t specifically aimed at you mate, I know theres a happy clapper somewhere inside you, just waiting to come out[;)]

[Bill 1,788]

"Until then don''t get carried away too much"What is too much ?Supporting a club is all about getting carried away. How many fans up and down the country will be getting carried away by their FA Cup draw tomorrow night ?And ours isn''t an unrealistic dream We''ve slowly climbed up the table each time we''ve gone up in recent times. So why not this time ?

[Daz Sparks 1,151]

[quote user="morty"]And that wasn''t specifically aimed at you mate, I know theres a happy clapper somewhere inside you, just waiting to come out[;)][/quote]

Surely Morty, we are all happy clappers with a 5-0? Regardless of the opposition. 

[morty 0]

[quote user="Daz Sparks"][quote user="morty"]And that wasn''t specifically aimed at you mate, I know theres a happy clapper somewhere inside you, just waiting to come out[;)][/quote]

Surely Morty, we are all happy clappers with a 5-0? Regardless of the opposition. 

[/quote]Well you would have thought so....

[hogesar 9,618]

I was gonna say, after our terrible run, winning 5-0 is something i''m going to enjoy.

I was happy clapping all game, heck, might have been a small round of applause from me walking back to the car.

As far as i''m concerned AN is a tactical genius who set the team up perfectly yesterday. Of course, if we lose next week he''s a muppet with no hair. But i''m a football fan, that''s how it is!

JUST ENJOY THE WIN!

[......and Smith must score. 1,336]

[quote user="morty"]And that wasn''t specifically aimed at you mate, I know theres a happy clapper somewhere inside you, just waiting to come out[;)][/quote]Bit long in the tooth for me to come out as a happy clapper or come out as anything else either [:D]