kenfoggo 247 Posted January 1 Why should Wagner stay? Because he is brilliant! I would willingly pay double to witness the exciting spectacle of the constant passing square or backwards for no reason or the steadfast refusal to enter the opposition half with any real intent to score a goal. The constant churn of players and the positions they are asked to play in is a mystery which grips my imagination, I am all a tremble in expectation of the match day team sheet revelation! I want more rather than less of this fantastic entertainment. We need to hang on to Wagners’ immense talents for as long as possible. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim Smith 2,339 Posted January 1 1 minute ago, Feedthewolf said: Yep, I quite agree. Should we come a distant second to Southampton today then you'd expect there to be some form of crisis comms in the coming week, but even if we perform well today I'd hope the club would seek to assuage the fanbase with some concrete idea of what we can expect from our new sporting director. Totally disagree with that. I'd expect any new senior exec to want to experience every aspect of the club with his own eyes, meet the key protagonists and hear what they have to say, then analyse and assess their performance against what they are aiming to deliver. Having come from a footballing powerhouse with a reputation for playing attractive attacking football such as Arsenal, I think he's acutely aware of the limitations of our current manager. It took Webber and Farke over a year to instil their strategy before it started bearing fruit; Knapper deserves the same. If he cannot see that David Wagner is useless and needs replacing based on what he has already seen, or indeed before he even started, then I repeat he does not have the expertise or ruthlessness we need. There is no version of this where we turn it around under Wagner. Knapper may need time for his strategy to bed in but he needs to start it first. He hasn’t taken the first step yet. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Feedthewolf 4,865 Posted January 1 (edited) 3 minutes ago, Jim Smith said: If he cannot see that David Wagner is useless and needs replacing based on what he has already seen, or indeed before he even started, then I repeat he does not have the expertise or ruthlessness we need. There is no version of this where we turn it around under Wagner. Knapper may need time for his strategy to bed in but he needs to start it first. He hasn’t taken the first step yet. How do you know what he thinks, or what he can or can't see? He might have a long list of potential replacements, he might be trying to convince the owners that change is required, he might be in cahoots with Attanasio and waiting for him to sign off on it. It's just facile to say 'if he hasn't sacked the manager yet then he's not good enough'. Edited January 1 by Feedthewolf Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
essex canary 504 Posted January 1 Place a picture of the AGM attendees alongside a picture of the away section at Ipswich. See if you can tell the difference. That demonstrates the real problem. None of that has anything to do with Knapper or Wagner. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim Smith 2,339 Posted January 1 3 minutes ago, Feedthewolf said: How do you know what he thinks, or what he can or can't see? He might have a long list of potential replacements, he might be trying to convince the owners that change is required, he might be in cahoots with Attanasio and waiting for him to sign off on it. It's just facile to say 'if he hasn't sacked the manager yet then he's not good enough'. The damage being done to our club through no action being taken/seen to be taken/communicated is huge. Any new sporting director worth their salt should have seen or should see that. He needs to act. He may have a long term strategy that requires patience but that is a different matter. He has lost the faith of a lot of supporters already. That is not me saying he’s not up to the job, long term but it’s not been a good start. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Raptor 1,231 Posted January 1 25 minutes ago, essex canary said: Place a picture of the AGM attendees alongside a picture of the away section at Ipswich. See if you can tell the difference. That demonstrates the real problem. None of that has anything to do with Knapper or Wagner. I went to the agm but not ipswich. Is it my fault? Why? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Feedthewolf 4,865 Posted January 1 (edited) 20 minutes ago, Jim Smith said: The damage being done to our club through no action being taken/seen to be taken/communicated is huge. Any new sporting director worth their salt should have seen or should see that. He needs to act. He may have a long term strategy that requires patience but that is a different matter. He has lost the faith of a lot of supporters already. That is not me saying he’s not up to the job, long term but it’s not been a good start. We could do with hearing from him, no doubt about that. At the moment we have an average squad of players, an average manager and are in mid-table, which is where we deserve to be. That's not good enough, but 'losing the faith of a lot of supporters' (how many consistutes 'a lot', and who's counting?) is debatable. The longer our results continue to fluctuate so wildly (or get worse overall), the weaker Knapper will look by not acting. For now, though, we're in the process of transitioning to an Attanasio-led operation, and Knapper is clearly a big part of that due to his background in analysis and statistics. Give him time. Edited January 1 by Feedthewolf 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
First Wazzock 904 Posted January 1 None I can think of. If we take another hiding today, I want him gone by teatime Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BigFish 1,988 Posted January 1 6 hours ago, Jim Smith said: If there are many posters on here that think that most of our players are playing to their potential or that the team is performing as a sum of its parts then frankly I’m staggered and to be honest I would credit most posters on here with greater judgment/knowledge of football than that. Yes there are patterns of play but they are not patterns that are going to lead to sustainable and consistent success. It would be staggering if any posters thought that the current squad was up to the job, and I think you would struggle to find support on here for your idea that they are. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim Smith 2,339 Posted January 3 On 01/01/2024 at 19:30, BigFish said: It would be staggering if any posters thought that the current squad was up to the job, and I think you would struggle to find support on here for your idea that they are. I didn’t say they were “up to the job” but they are performing well below the level they are capable of. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
daniel_grieff 16 Posted January 3 There's no way that this squad should be in the position that it's in. I don't buy that, at all. It is missing some key components, like an actual ball winning midfielder, that it's surprising nobody thought of sorting out. But week after week, we come up against bang average teams, with squads of absolute nobodys, and make them look like world beaters. Just because they have a plan, and can so easily see through ours. The idea of playing players out of position might have many reasons behind it, but it has to stop. I don't need more time to see that, and neither should any sporting director. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
