If you keep doing the same thing.....

[SussexYellow]

So as anticipated no immediate change of manager following Friday. So he gets a couple and possibly more games to try to turn it round. So what does he need to do to have a chance.

To me the old adage applies - If you keep doing the same thing, then you should not be surprised if you get the same result.

Simply changing a few of the players is not doing something different, its doing the same thing with a different cast. The manual has been written now on how to beat us and the rest of the division have taken up a subscription. So, for me, it has to be a change of system. 

Surely getting close to last chance saloon for AN, so little to lose by taking a gamble on something new.

 

[Canaryboy]

I just feel like we are watching the Titanic heading towards an iceberg in slow motion, and the point at which we could have changed course has just been missed. 

You'd be surprised how quickly we can go from here to writing off our chances of a top 6 finish this season.

And how quickly we will see the likes of Howson and Pinto submit transfer requests. 

 

[SussexYellow]

Getting in the top 6 given our current form would now be a bonus. I have come to terms with that.

But we need to get back on track at some point. On track at the moment would be being competitive in games.

AN will be in charge for the next game and who knows how many after that. So that is our first opportunity to try to right the ship. So either we can continue our course for your iceberg - or maybe, just maybe he could try something different. 

If not as my post implies we will just continue on our current course - downwards - until somebody wakes up to the fact that something does need to be done.

 

[rbf]

I realise that substituting Oliveira on Friday and replacing him with Jerome caused the most amount of chagrin on the terraces, but I´m a bit surprised not a few more could see the logic behind it. Oliveira had only minutes before missed an absolute sitter, when he failed to lob the keeper into an empty net, the sort of chance strikers can normally only dream about, not his first failed attempt of the evening either, and it seemed pretty clear that he wasn´t going to hit a barn door all night, so he may as well bring him off. That he then stuck with only one striker also makes sense to me, we were getting overrun in the 1st half when it was 3 against 3 in the midfield, if we had gone to 2 against 3, which he would have had to have done to accomodate a second striker, it would have been suicide. Had Huddersfield gone 3 - 1 up with say, 20 minutes left, it would have been game over, as it was, he at least gave us a chance to get something out of it, and the fact that he did stick Bassong up front at the end, was because it was kitchen sink time. That also failed as we know, but imo we didn´t lose that game because of wrong decision-making from Neil, we lost because Huddersfield were very good and we were nowhere near good enough, and didn´t take the chances we did make.

 

[Canaryboy]

We get the same amount of points for losing 2-1 as we do losing 4-1, so we'd have lost nothing by taking a risk and going with 2 up front, Lambert would do it frequently when chasing an equaliser or winner. We were the home team remember.

 

[rbf]

We get the same amount of points for losing 2-1 as we do losing 4-1, so we'd have lost nothing by taking a risk and going with 2 up front, Lambert would do it frequently when chasing an equaliser or winner. We were the home team remember.

I think you know yourself Canaryboy, what the reaction around the ground would have been, if he had done that, and within 10 or 15 minutes we had found ourselves 4 - 1 down. Fact is, he´s on a very slippery slope at the moment, and pretty much whatever he tries, has to work or he´s for it, again. I personally think he made the right decisions, in THIS game anyway.

 

[Keckers]

I disagree. Two up front and cut out the midfield if we're getting over run there. Sometimes the long ball game can work and two big players up front who can knock the ball down / hold it up while others join can work. We seem to be stuck with this pedestrian nonsense. Chuck a couple of big lads forward, lump it up there and have two from midfield joining them leaving six at the back. I know its not sexy football but it can be very effective, and is definitely different to what we were doing. 

Ideally I want to see us go down the channels with pace without checking back and hit defences before they get two lines of four in front of us as happens currently in every game, but I'd be happy with drawing them forward and them going over the top as it would create more chances. 

Now, which two strikers would you have on is a different question. Personally I thought Nelson's work rate was good and we just don't know how he and Jerome would have worked together in that scenario. Nothing else was working so why not? And I reckon the fans would have got behind the team as they would have seen the one thing we all want to see and feel is lacking - having a go. It might not have worked but I'd rather go down fighting than with a whimper. 

 

[SussexYellow]

Kickers - I would be happy with that as a do something different option.

I would be even happier if we tried two different tactics in one game, and that would be a relatively straightforward alternative.