Alex Neil in a wig ?

[john in exile in leeds 4]

Did Alex Neil really get the sack ?

Or did the board save money by asking him to wear a wig and call himself Irvine ?

Looking at the team, and listening to the manager''s comments, I am not convinced that AN has really gone !

[lake district canary 4,531]

It is not a good idea for Irvine to change anything much. He will want to keep players on side and if he starts making wholesale changes, the risk would be a complete meltdown in morale - and it must be pretty low at the moment anyway.   The risk of making things worse is too great and the best we can hope for is that the players sort themselves out and get some inspiration - or a bit of luck to change our fortunes towards the end of the season.  It is still not impossible to get 6th place and if by some miracle we beat Huddersfield and other midweek results go for us, it will be definitely on again.  Slim chance, but stranger things have happened in football.   We are not the only club where players bottle it or lose their confidence - all players in all clubs are susceptible and Sheff wed, Fulham and Preston will start to feel the heat as the pressure mounts. Having said all that, I hope Maddison and Godfrey get some minutes in and stake a strong claim to be included, at least from the bench.

[Rogue Baboon 0]

On the flip side LDC, i think because we are in a bizarre situation where Irvine is going from week to week not knowing what is going on, he doesn''t feel comfortable making wholesale changes.

I think that if he had been given until the end of the season, he may have made more changes, changed tactics/team shape etc & then the playoffs would have been more realistic.

As it is, he is keeping things the same as what is the point of changing the way we play if its just going to be changed the week after when a new man comes in

[GPs Beard 0]

lake district canary wrote the following post at 04/04/2017 12:37 PM:

It is not a good idea for Irvine to change anything much. He will want to keep players on side and if he starts making wholesale changes, the risk would be a complete meltdown in morale - and it must be pretty low at the moment anyway. The risk of making things worse is too great and the best we can hope for is that the players sort themselves out and get some inspiration - or a bit of luck to change our fortunes towards the end of the season. It is still not impossible to get 6th place and if by some miracle we beat Huddersfield and other midweek results go for us, it will be definitely on again. Slim chance, but stranger things have happened in football. We are not the only club where players bottle it or lose their confidence - all players in all clubs are susceptible and Sheff wed, Fulham and Preston will start to feel the heat as the pressure mounts.

Sorry but this doesn''t make any sense. Any sort of dead cat bounce needs some sort of change to give it momentum.

scenario a) we leave everything the same following the departure of the manager. No surprise that the form that sees the manager sacked continues.

scenario b) . Irvine rolls his sleeves up , goes public with his desire to stay at the club, sits the players down and yells "Who''s with me boys? ". A few players jump into the trenches with him, he makes a couple of strategic changes, and we see a different system in a shit or bust end to the season.

[KeiranShikari_2 0]

He said in a presser that this set of players were brought in to play a certain style/formation. So that''s why he hasn''t changed much.

[Rogue Baboon 0]

Well they certainly can''t play it...

[The Great Mass Debater 1,076]

I''ve checked, and Irvine isnt an anagram of Guy Incognito...

[Graham Paddons Beard 2,423]

[quote user="KeiranShikari"]He said in a presser that this set of players were brought in to play a certain style/formation. So that''s why he hasn''t changed much.


[/quote]

 

I see. Footballers that can''t play in any other formation. A weird season just got weirder.

[Mark Fotheringham City Legend 0]

you do realise alan irvine was our head coach under AN? what possibly is gonna be any different?

[7rew 0]

We can''t play any other formation because only our attacking midfielders are playing even vaguely well.

[Gordon Bennett 780]

I think people read far too much into pre match comments.

[0ridgemanddMMyyyy0Falseen-USTrue 0]

Reading back to Irvine''s time at WBA some reports say supporters were fed up at his tippy tappy football. Other reports state that when Pulis took over from Irvine he had to sort out their shambles of a defence.

Our defence is now a shambles perhaps there is a common factor.

[Iwans Big Toe 312]

Dissapointed to say the least. I read the title of the post and opened it hoping to see a photo of Alex Neil looking like Donald Trump.The OP is decieving click bait and I''m not happy.

[john in exile in leeds 4]

Sorry Big Toe ! Didn''t mean to deceive you !

But if Alan Irvine had anything about him, and any desire at all to stay in a job here, he would be changing things to try and get something more out of our squad of players - whether he was in charge for one game, or until the end of the season. Certainly as far as away games are concerned, there is nothing to lose.

It might be playing with two up front, it might be three centre halves at the back, it might be bringing in some youngsters, it might be telling Lafferty to prove that he has a future here if he can show some interest........ anything different !

And you have to say that play-offs became mathematically impossible as soon as there weren''t enough home games left to pick up the points needed - no point pretending that this team will pick up the points away from home !

Irvine''s behaviour looks like someone just waiting to be sacked and pick up his cheque.

And I''m sorry my computer skills don''t extend to photo-shopping a Donald Trump wig onto a photo of Alex Neil !

[Webbo118 0]

[quote user="lake district canary"]It is not a good idea for Irvine to change anything much. He will want to keep players on side and if he starts making wholesale changes, the risk would be a complete meltdown in morale - and it must be pretty low at the moment anyway.   The risk of making things worse is too great and the best we can hope for is that the players sort themselves out and get some inspiration - or a bit of luck to change our fortunes towards the end of the season.  It is still not impossible to get 6th place and if by some miracle we beat Huddersfield and other midweek results go for us, it will be definitely on again.  Slim chance, but stranger things have happened in football.   We are not the only club where players bottle it or lose their confidence - all players in all clubs are susceptible and Sheff wed, Fulham and Preston will start to feel the heat as the pressure mounts. Having said all that, I hope Maddison and Godfrey get some minutes in and stake a strong claim to be included, at least from the bench.

[/quote]

Keeping the players on side!!!! ?? The risk of making things worse!!!! ?? I really wonder what planet you''re living on.