Alex Neil - Stick or Twist?

[Gaffer]

2. Hes not good at squad managment, he has over used players at his disposal, I dont know if this is a failing or a lack of faith in the rest of the squads ability.  This might improve with more experience.

This is one of his biggest failings. Under Lambert every player was fighting for his position and the whole squad was used, even the likes of Wilbrahamovic. This kept players fresh and on their toes and contributed to a great team spirit in the whole squad. AN is obsessed with his 'best 11', even if it means playing an out of form player likes Josh Murphy. It's not surprising some of them play like they don't give a damn. 

 

[Canaryboy]

This is one of his biggest failings. Under Lambert every player was fighting for his position and the whole squad was used, even the likes of Wilbrahamovic. This kept players fresh and on their toes and contributed to a great team spirit in the whole squad. AN is obsessed with his 'best 11', even if it means playing an out of form player likes Josh Murphy. It's not surprising some of them play like they don't give a damn. 

Yep, and this is where Hughton failed too I think, need to keep giving people little bites of the cherry and foster an ethos where we win as a squad and everybody has somebody snapping at their heels for their place in the side. Lambert did it well here. Not only does it keep everybody motivated but it also keeps opposition managers guessing. 

But Lambert went to Villa and actually did the opposite, where he instantly created a pool of outcasts. That was clearly as a result of Randy Lerner pressure to reduce the wage bill, but Villa had their outcasts like Hutton and Given under Lambert.

 

[Din]

Have to say I've put a lot of faith in Alex Neil during his time here. I said after we were relegated from the Premier League, and I'll stand by it still now, that the relegation was not down to him but more down to the fact that our squad was not of Premier League quality. Of course though part of the reason for that is that we barely spent any money on it in the summer, and what we did spend wasn't spent well enough (out of the 7 signings we made that window, only Brady and maybe Mbokani were actually any good for us). 

This season we can't have the same excuse of 'the team isn't good enough'. With the exception of Newcastle and maybe Villa we have the strongest squad in the division. If they are unmotivated or not playing well enough then that is down to the manager. To be quite honest, and I said it at the time as well, we didn't deserve to be as high up in the table as 1st or 2nd, which we were for a long spell of this season. Apart from our opening day win at Blackburn, we haven't played convincingly well in any game this campaign, and were just fortunate that our superior ability was able to get us results against poor teams such as Rotherham and Wigan. That was all a mask though. Now we're starting to come up against better, more disciplined teams, who aren't far off us at all in terms of technical ability, and our results are starting to reflect our performances. In the next few weeks as well we're going to play the likes of Derby, Villa, Huddersfield, Reading and Brentford. Teams with a lot of quality or are towards the top of the table, if we play as poor as we have been against all of those then we will pick up a very limited number of points.

Neil seems to know what his favoured line-up is, and usually that's a good thing. However players who are not justifying their place in the team, like Brady, Tettey, Martin and even Murphy and McGovern, continue to play. Pritchard has finally managed to get a starting place in the team which he should've got weeks ago, but players like Thompson and Canos aren't getting a look-in. Thompson has been brilliant every time I've seen him play, and was our best player in the cup game last week, so how hasn't he replaced Tettey in the team? Canos was promising at the start of this season but now he can't even get on the bench, when our other attackers; the Murphy's, Brady, Naismith, performances are very average. 

Another thing is as well is that there seems to be no tactical approach to individual games, which there was in the season Neil took us up. He plays the same team with the same style every week. Our performance at Wembley against Middlesbrough was the most perfect example of a tactical team performance that I've ever seen. Do I think we would be capable of doing that now? Not at all. Even Neil's post-match interviews seem to have changed. When he first came here he was very honest and if he didn't think we were good enough then he would say. Nowadays he just seems to say the same things after every match, often deflecting the blame from himself. He'll talk about how we didn't do the basics well enough, how our game management should've been better blah blah blah, but then after saying all that he'll stick with the same team that apparently made those mistakes the next week.

I do love Neil to be honest for giving me genuinely one of the best days of my life at Wembley a couple of years ago. I really want him to succeed here as I'm sure every does, but there does have to be a point where enough is enough. I'm not quite at that stage yet, and I think unless we were to get thrashed at home to Leeds on Saturday I still wouldn't be there after this weekend. If a couple of games after the international break though we were still getting poor results and playing well below our potential then I would be in the 'out camp'.

That said though, I couldn't think of anything worse than sacking Neil and getting someone in like Sherwood or Cotterill in to replace him. I would love to have Lambert back here right now to be honest, I reckon he'd be exactly what we need, but it looks as if it's pretty much nailed on that he'll go to Wolves. For me one of Lambert, Rowett or Warburton and I'd be very happy.

 

[GJP]

When he first came here he was very honest and if he didn't think we were good enough then he would say. Nowadays he just seems to say the same things after every match, often deflecting the blame from himself. He'll talk about how we didn't do the basics well enough, how our game management should've been better blah blah blah, but then after saying all that he'll stick with the same team that apparently made those mistakes the next week.

I think that is quite an interesting point. It's something I've thought for a little while but I haven't been as much of an AN fan as you.

Similarly, following a recent match (possibly PNE) someone else who has been quite an AN fan said to me "Is it ever his fault?". 

 

[bloodwagon]

Stick, thats all I have to say

 

[RhythmicTheory]

I still maintain my previous points but Alex Neil is not affecting games now, he is being massively let down by his players, but when the team is defending so poorly you have to change it. one enforced change and the same formation isnt good enough.  Twist.

Board wont change it though, this will go on till Jan, which is why I want changes at backroom level (not necessarily owners though), Moxley doesnt strike me as someone to rock the boat (didnt like his appointment either, poor track record).

 

[pike_catcher]

There's probably been over 100 sackings in the Championship just the last couple of years.. it's not a very successful recipe... 

 

[ZLF]

yet every promotion followed a sacking within that same period.

Something has to change;  I genuinely think changing just the management wont be enough,  heads have to roll in the playing squad, so much choice would be either squad churn and or sqaud churn and manager change.   Otherwise we will repeat the same cycle of the last 3 managers;  who all started well before the players stopped giving a hoot let alone two   

 

[Keckers]

Definitely twist from me. 

I've said a lot recently about how I feel about AN so won't go over it all again, but it is true that the failings extend beyond him to behind the scenes, and I am far from convinced by his own back room staff. 

It's easy to blame the players, but there is only one person who is responsible.for getting them ready for games , and that's AN. And it is not working. 

I don't agree that his tactical approach is good. From what I see he is severely lacking in this area and has no ability to change the game.  I also agree that our position in the top two was false. I have said repeatedly we were winning despite performances and despite AN, solely due to individual quality. I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees that. 

I absolutely agree about his post match comments. Almost verging on disgraceful the way he continually deflects blame from himself, but the media and the pundits are eating it up. 

I also agree that we need a major player clear out. Martin, Naismith, Brady, Bassong, Mulumbu all need to go ASAP as the wages they eat up is disgraceful. 

We need a CB, RB (cover), DM and striker. we also need to stop farming out quality youngsters and give them a go. 

I disagree with some.comments about Tettey. For me he is one of our most important players and we miss him when he is out. 

As for other options, we've missed out on Lambert and Bruce, both of whom I would have liked. I'm happy to consider people like Robinson if he is still available, or maybe we go after a talented manager elsewhere in the Championship and pay the compensation for someone worth having. 

At the end of the day though, the arrogance of Delia and Michael along with the complete and total lack of direction from the board under Balls, and the business under Moxey, suggests we will continue in with the narrative of sticking with one of  the supposedly brightest young managers out there...

My final point is squad rotation. if AN truly were one of the brightest out there, why oh why do we not see more of KL given the fact that he seems to score almost every time he plays for us these days and the fact that he continues to score with alarming regularity for NI? Surely he would see that and give it a go given our need for a good striker? And to anyone who mentions KL's personality, AN's job is to manage these guys, not shut them out and shoot ourselves in the foot. 

Twist. Please. As soon as we can. Unless we want to spend another decade in the slide, and I do not want that. 

 

[Canaryboy]

I don't understand why Simon Grayson is so under rated.

He has been at 4 clubs, and won promotion from League 1 to the Championship at every single one. 

Deserves a chance at a club which has the potential to go from the Championship to the Premier League. 

 

[Fenway Frank]

Like Leeds ? ?

 

[Canaryboy]

Like Leeds ? ?

Sacked with them a few points off the play offs, just after being forced to sell Johnny Howson.