So what’s the deal with Sydney?

[BobLoz3 493]

Don't really understand all the "we're going to sell everyone and everything is terrible" vibes.

We've been beaten today by a team who were expected to walk this league, and on the back of a few poor results for them. They just came out and things clicked against us today. It happens. Any other time and people would have been expecting us to lose this one. 

The point is, play offs still very much on and we could yet get out of this league and keep our best players.

[Conrad 171]

4 hours ago, S_81 said:

It certainly further raises the question of disconnect between DoF(s) and Manager. 

Which then suggests that Wagner is unlikely to be here next season, whatever position that we finish in at the end of this one. 

[Conrad 171]

4 hours ago, S_81 said:

I just can’t see them sacking him if he makes the play offs. 

I can. 

[danielsroundabout 9]

I can only think SVH was purchased (loaned) on the back of his father's name, he doesn't shape up as a footballer at all. As stated by all on here, to loan swap him with Idah was a terrible decision and that's not because Idah is anything special but you could always give him a go from the bench.

It is worrying that within the club we have people capable of making such patently bad decisions, just like the string of duds we purchased to keep us in the Premiership last time, players totally out of their depth and impossible to off-load post relegation. 

[makham 81]

I didn't even think of svh as an option to come on today. Forgot he was on the bench tbh. Somehow, Gibbs, Aboh, Welch need some involvement in these next 5-6 games. Still think Gibbs could be crucial at some point. The binners have such depth. Portsmouth should get automatic promotion, and their season will be over end of April. I wonder if we could add Kamara to the play-off squad if we get 6th. I think not. I remember Famewo made a sub appearance in the Covid delayed PL season after his loan ended at Charlton. Think that may have been allowed due to the season playing past the date of his loan. Kamara in the squad for the playoffs. Possible? I doubt. But Would help.

January window was disastrous. Look at the impact of the binners' additions, and they already had a big squad. I would have expected a loan player who would now be a cert to start, not someone making up the numbers.

[mannings bandy legs 391]

5 hours ago, Channon’s Windmill said:

All this talk of protecting Sargent, he could have come off for the second half today and given Sydney a run out. After all there was no intent to win the game today so might as well have tried something different. 

Excactly. Nailed.We deserve a reason why not. Without us they are nothing.

[HazzaJet 256]

Signed on loan with an option to buy. Yet to start as Wagner says he’s not fit enough. All he’s really done so far is provide the assist for Fassnacht’s goal in our 4-1 win against Cardiff, so I can only see him going home at the end of the season

[hogesar 9,705]

Idah was one of the best goalscorers from the bench in the league.

That Knapper swapped him for an unfit, unsuitable punt mid-season during a play-off push is bordering on insanity. I claimed it at the start and there's been nothing to suggest that is changing.

Wagner also clearly doesn't fancy him. If you're going to keep Wagner which Knapper decided to do this season, why sign someone he isn't going to rate?

We hugely lack options from the bench which is mostly down to injury but also down to self inflicting January decisions.

[S_81 816]

3 minutes ago, hogesar said:

Idah was one of the best goalscorers from the bench in the league.

That Knapper swapped him for an unfit, unsuitable punt mid-season during a play-off push is bordering on insanity. I claimed it at the start and there's been nothing to suggest that is changing.

Wagner also clearly doesn't fancy him. If you're going to keep Wagner which Knapper decided to do this season, why sign someone he isn't going to rate?

We hugely lack options from the bench which is mostly down to injury but also down to self inflicting January decisions.

It’s a total madness. As if they signed him off Championship Manager and didn’t even speak to each other about it. From the evidence on the pitch, albeit limited, you’d have to say Wagner is right for not playing him. We’d have been in a far better position to have had Idah as a bench option. I really didn’t understand today why Wagner left Josh on for 90mins with no intention of trying to win the game and a big game this Saturday. Give Aboh a run in that kind of circumstance, surely 

[daly 506]

5 hours ago, Capt. Pants said:

He must be utter sh1te in training and Wagner didn't want him here in the first place.

Speaks highly of Knapper then

[mannings bandy legs 391]

Basically, does anybody else see the resemblance of a doe eyed rabbit with Wagner at most stages of a game. Almost like when we"re in front , he looks surprised,and when we concede,it's like,"well,what the **** do I do now?"....

[Nuff Said 5,149]

6 hours ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

The real question is what does a championship player of the season who's a centreback in Batth think of our defending?

That’s twice today you’ve posted this. Baath was Sunderland player of the season, not Championship player of the season.

[Billyboybunters 26]

If this is our first statistics based signing I feel concerned! Only time will I’ll tell I guess!

[Hairy Canary 705]

6 hours ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

The real question is what does a championship player of the season who's a centreback in Batth think of our defending?

I imagine he’s thinking, if only I could pass the ball I’d be a shoe in

[JonnyJonnyRowe 451]

6 hours ago, Duncan Edwards said:

I’ve seen nothing in his brief cameos to suggest we’re missing anything and I’ve drawn the conclusion (based on diddly) that he is shoite.

As much as I find it difficult to disagree, we have had examples of similar with other players where they've eventually come good, Vrancic the one that sticks out from recent history.

[mannings bandy legs 391]

49 minutes ago, Hairy Canary said:

I imagine he’s thinking, if only I could pass the ball I’d be a shoe in

None of the rest can either. Either way,whatever div we are in next season, the back four needs a full reset.Especially the CB's and LB. Has done for years.

[Gordon Bennett 787]

The only conclusion I can come to us that Idah was very unhappy here and keeping him would have been detrimental to the player and the group.

SvH might end up being suitable for us under a different manager who I'm sure Knapoer has lined up already but in the current system I don't think he is. 

[Capt. Pants 4,262]

Different manager or not I really hope we are not signing SVH.

[Cityfc2 4]

9 hours ago, S_81 said:

Is he not good enough for this level?

Doesn’t fit any of our tactics?

Out of shape?

Fallen out with Wagner?

It’s baffling why Knapper brought him in right now. 

To waste more money  💰 

[BroadstairsR 2,185]

We loan in a player to plug a gap, but that player is just not ready to plug that gap, and how long has he been here?

Perhaps they should just admit he is not or ever will be good enough? As it seems increasingly likely that this is the case.

Complete c-ck up. I was quite pleased to see the back of Adam Idah, and I note his gloss is quickly fading at Celtic, but at least he had something to offer in the now, when it is needed.

What a peculiar affair!

If this was instigated by Ben Knapper, then it augurs badly for the future. If Wagner pushed for the move, then no surprise there. Either way, it was terrible scouting.

My little bubble that we could actually get promoted this season has been severely deflated by yesterday's efforts. I expected nothing of the sort in terms of performance, although the result might well have been on the cards. Neither was it a one-off, as we have seen similar capitulations against 'Boro and so many times earlier in the season. A manager who seemed to have lost the plot and a team of decent performers totally incapable of getting their act together.

In the meantime, those down the road go from strength to strength at this crucial time of the season. Is it a microcosm of management capability, scouting and a gap in the way the clubs are run that whilst they signed Kieffer Moore to plug that gap, we signed SVD?

This is not a knee-jerk reaction to one bad performance, and it truly was that, because we have seen it all before so many times this season, and at the moment there can be no excuses for injury to star players, bar Rowe.

Yesterday's appraisal by Wagner was nonsense. It was desperate stuff from beginning to end, and I cannot see any other club in this league ever putting in such an awful, disorganised performance.

Perhaps the team is not good enough after all, but they are better than yesterday's display

 

[TheBaldOne66 693]

10 hours ago, hogesar said:

Idah was one of the best goalscorers from the bench in the league.

That Knapper swapped him for an unfit, unsuitable punt mid-season during a play-off push is bordering on insanity. I claimed it at the start and there's been nothing to suggest that is changing.

Wagner also clearly doesn't fancy him. If you're going to keep Wagner which Knapper decided to do this season, why sign someone he isn't going to rate?

We hugely lack options from the bench which is mostly down to injury but also down to self inflicting January decisions.

Do you not think Wagner had some say in whether we signed him? 

[BroadstairsR 2,185]

11 hours ago, hogesar said:

Idah was one of the best goalscorers from the bench in the league.

That Knapper swapped him for an unfit, unsuitable punt mid-season during a play-off push is bordering on insanity. I claimed it at the start and there's been nothing to suggest that is changing.

 

What is the point in keeping on about Idah when we are told he asked for some sort of move away? When he has continued to blow hot and cold at City and never really convinced that much when he was given every chance in any case. He just didn't quite live up to what was said on the tin, to the point he had become the boo-boy of that section of the crowd we could do without.

Fair enough complaining about his replacement SVH which has turned out to be inexplicable at the very least, but even then you single out Ben Knapper, when you cannot possibly know the reasons or forces behind that signing at that time. Give the man a chance. If, indeed, that balls -up was his doing then it augers badly for the future, but we still have a scouting team and a manager after all.

Edited April 2 by BroadstairsR

[Capt. Pants 4,262]

53 minutes ago, TheBaldOne66 said:

Do you not think Wagner had some say in whether we signed him? 

It seems to becoming pretty obvious Wagner did have a say and didn’t want SVH in place of Idah. 

Why this all happened anyway and why Knapper pushed it through, who knows.

How else do you explain SVH not getting seconds on the pitch? 

[hogesar 9,705]

1 hour ago, TheBaldOne66 said:

Do you not think Wagner had some say in whether we signed him? 

Wagner spoke quite publicly at the time about not wanting to weaken the squad or lessen it's depth during January. In the end, both happened.

I think it's quite evident SvH isn't anything remotely close to a Wagner style player.

[hogesar 9,705]

11 hours ago, JonnyJonnyRowe said:

As much as I find it difficult to disagree, we have had examples of similar with other players where they've eventually come good, Vrancic the one that sticks out from recent history.

Yeah but in Vrancic's early minutes he still had obvious quality (which I said at the time), but was struggling to match the pace of the game. There was something to work with, less the case with SvH

[Gordon Bennett 787]

4 minutes ago, hogesar said:

Wagner spoke quite publicly at the time about not wanting to weaken the squad or lessen it's depth during January. In the end, both happened.

I think it's quite evident SvH isn't anything remotely close to a Wagner style player.

Same for Batth. All a bit odd really. 

Edited April 2 by Gordon Bennett

[Feedthewolf 4,861]

20 minutes ago, Gordon Bennett said:

Same for Batth. All a bit odd really. 

Batth was signed under Webber, though, alongside Duffy, Forshaw, Barnes, Long and Hwang. At least that was part of a clear strategic decision, i.e. we need more experience and grit in the squad (much as I didn't agree with that course of action at the time, and even less so with hindsight).

The SVH/Idah one is really perplexing. This is pure speculation, but I think it could have been Idah and his agent angling to make it happen. From his POV, he's been given a five-year contract here, been roundly criticised by fans for his performances and is rarely starting matches. An opportunity arises for him to play for Celtic (always a big draw for a young Irish lad), and the promise of starting matches that he's likely to win for a team that's always on the front foot, in front of 60,000-odd fans, and a probable Scottish Cup Final at Hampden at the end of the season... what's not to love?

Maybe the club accepted that in the long-term, with four years still to run on his contract, it might serve his development better to let him go to Celtic, and then try to loan in a decent replacement. Alas, it appears that the 'decent' element of that replacement hasn't quite worked out; whether that's due to attitude, match fitness, adapting to the new environment or a bit of all three, we're now saddled with a lump who's very clearly not in the manager's thoughts.

I'm sure we'll get an explanation about the situation at some point, but only once Idah is back in the building and we've (hopefully!) opted not to pursue Donk on a permanent deal. One can only assume that we've given up on trying to get Aboh to stay beyond the summer; it's a chicken-and-egg thing. If he's said he's leaving, only giving him match time is likely to change that decision; however, why give minutes and development to someone who's not committed to the cause and will be pulling on another shirt come the summer?

Once the season's over, it'll be interesting to see how forthcoming Knapper is with his reasoning, as this is clearly a suboptimal position for us to be in – going into a potential playoff run with only one number 9 who the manager has any faith in, he's managing an injury and the manager doesn't trust anyone to play more than a handful of minutes to ease the burden. It's an odd one, for sure.

[Robert N. LiM 4,427]

Great post, @Feedthewolf - all that needs to be said, really

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,033]

14 minutes ago, Robert N. LiM said:

Great post, @Feedthewolf - all that needs to be said, really

Seconded.........

[Mello Yello 2,297]

SVH is like a YTS trainee and is paid in Haribo and Panda Pops.....