eatonparkboy
New Member
Not at all Killie. I want my club to do well and essentially play good football as I'm not one of those that think you have to be in the Prem. But obviously good football will eventually get you promoted. And if AN provides that then all the better. I don't think I could stand another manager failure.
To clarify. Booing is the most immediate and recognised form of showing displeasure. How else do supporters make their feelings known? And I to be honest, I am a bit tired of the feeling abroad that if you show your displeasure you are not a true or genuine supporter as we have to be so careful of criticism in case you might upset a player. At least booing leaves it at the match rather than the tedious tweeting that players have got involved in in reply to taunts for days after the match.
I am tired of balls being kicked out of play because of no better reason than someone goes down with a sore shin, and because the opposition then kick it seventy yards back to our keeper, everybody applauds.
I am tired of pundits saying there was contact so he was entitled to go down.
I am tired of people saying you're a plastic if you have had the temerity to leave Norfolk for other pastures but still naturally want to follow the club you love.
I don't want to bore you any more with the things that tire me but in reply to your thoughts that I may be prejudiced against AN. I think you are probably biased toward him. Yes, you can accuse me of not giving him a chance yet. It might appear that way.
But I judge each match as it is played out. That is the only way. 9 from from the previous three is meaningless if the next is as bad as yesterday's was. Praise for a win, in depth analysis for a defeat and maybe blame attached.
AN was quite happy to accept credit for the last half hour at Bournemouth. A game that saw injuries and confusion in the back four as well as down to ten men. Phelan picked the team and it and the back four was Whittaker, Martin, Turner, Ollson. And a brave rearguard action saw us outclassed, according to those who went, but worthy of a win.
Next match, at home, Whittaker is dropped, Martin put to right back and Cuellar put alongside Turner. And we were awful at the back. All game, not just the second half when they scored.
Pivotal match yesterday, the whole of football knew that. A win is crucial. Problem areas are midfield where injuries and suspensions have left us thin and the back four which is slow and open through the middle. So rather than solidify one area, the back four, by putting Whittaker back to full back, where he had improved recently, and restoring the more mobile Martin to CB, AN weakened both the back four and midfield by naming Whittaker as a defensive CM. And with 12 mins and 31 seconds it was obvious to all of us that the set up was wrong.
Gary Hooper is a player renowned for poaching in the box but is now asked to do a role foreign to his nature. He is a good striker. He took Redmond's long pass in an instant and got a shot on target. That is what he was bought for. Yet with Lafferty restored to the left while the more natural Bennett or Murphy were sat on the bench and Redmond showing good form on the wide right, Hooper is left to handle the advanced CM role.
Whittaker and Johnson had nightmares in the middle. Whittaker, I noted was chasing everything from their left corner to our right defensive corner. He had no idea how to play that role. And it was so obvious.
We have three substitutes and nothing says you can't change it as soon as it is apparently wrong. Whittaker off, Martin to CB, Turner or Cuellar off and Bassong on. Hoolahan on. Hooper pushes alongside the lonely and isolated Jerome who is by now anticipating hoofball from our back four and running offside too many times.
Who says I'm right of course. Maybe not. But neither was AN and to portray an image that he is the tough, granite hewn Scot who takes no prisoners and calls a spade a shovel and tells us he has no fear was dispelled by the farce of yesterday. And to that image he tries to portray should have told the waiting world, not that he hoped to win the next match rather that he was determined to win the next match. And maybe the honest man he says he is would have said that his tactics were experimental if I'm kind and guess work if I'm not.
