derry

I was surprised to see Hockaday back if it was Hockaday, to be truthful I'd like to see a complete clearout and start again. I don't have any time for the sort of stupidity shown on Saturday and the comments in the Echo. I just don't understand how kids who spend many years in the academy, show a complete lack of awareness for general football positioning, tactics and their demands, together with not able to carry out simple tasks such as dead ball kicking and shooting.

You've hit on the real problem. Coaches not managers. Successful managers allow the players to use their abilities freely by having a simple framework. The players are put into their best positions, complement each other and the overall output is greater than the sum of the parts. On the other hand coaches deal in minutiae, detailed instructions and dossiers. The players are often played out of position to maintain a favoured system and have detailed roles that many are unable to fulfill. The team itself underachieves as the players are hamstrung by the system. That is why these teams are mostly unsuccessful.

I'm not looking for success just evidence of drastic change in the pipeline. I will see that in an instant if it is there, that is what I am looking forward to. He strikes me as a man in a hurry, I don't expect a lot of leeway for those that can't cope.

After Saturday especially SH.

What is wrong with our deluded coaches is summed up in the following assessment of Paul Wotton's game on Saturday. "Paul Wotton had a very good first half, both defensively and his simple use of the ball. He did what I asked him to and played his position very well" With coaches like him we don't need opponents. Wotton on Saturday was awful. Most of his 'simple' passes went to the opposition time after time, his marking was non existent, he consistently gave free kicks away, he disrupted his own midfield and got in the way of the centre backs attacking the ball. If he never played for us again it would be too soon. If this is the man running the academy no wonder the players are now struggling. The mere fact Lallana/McGoldrick don't cleanly strike the ball is a massive indictment in itself. It wouldn't surprise me to see him and the other coaches dispensed with as their contracts run out or even earlier.

I'm expecting casualties amongst the coaching staff, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a complete clear out from the academy upwards.

I have been absolutely appalled at the level of knowledge put into practice by the coaches/managers for the last three years. We have been an underachieving team mainly down to a lack of proper tactics and poor direction and motivation. FFS which successful team at any level doesn't use all the width available. After 10 years in the academy not to be able to deliver a dead ball cross is scandalous. Lallana failed to pass the first defender again on Saturday and this happened all last season.

At last, what he is doing is great. Our players knowledge and positional play is abysmal, they have a complete lack of awareness and it is brilliant that he is picking up on this. It is important he rattles them early on and imposes his standards on them. I'm looking forward to Saturday now to see if there is a measureable difference and whether our width, effort, and delivery have been improved. I would like to see what formation he settles on, however it is more important to use the width of the pitch and play at a high tempo with determination and confidence.

If we want to play a front sweeper he has to have a pass completion rate approaching 100% not 10% and be astute enough to not give too many free kicks away. HCDAJFU.

Talk about straying from the topic. Weston publishes a link into a corrected article about Lowe, 19c for some reason hits on McMenemy then we have three pages of free for all with nothing to do with the thread.

When a young player with pace comes on he should be put into his proper position and left to play in the broad framework without detailed instructions. Henderson spent 5 mins telling him how he wanted to play, then put him on the left side out of position to help Mills with the pace of Rommedahl. No wonder the poor lad found it difficult. There are too many coaches like Henderson that couldn't win a raffle if they had the only ticket. They are totally wrapped up in the technicalities, and totally ignore the big picture. They move players around on their chessboard and expect them to play to defined detailed instructions which just reduces the effectiveness of the team. With this attitude except for Kelvin Davis's brilliant shot stopping we could have lost 10-1. Yesterday was an ideal opportunity to take on a big team and give them a scare. What did we do, run up the white flag, play two left backs, Wotton as a front sweeper, every tackle a foul, nobody picked up, disrupted our midfield, stopped the centre backs attacking the ball, and a pass completion about 10%, played the whole game FFS. We then occupied our half and let Ajax have the ball to pick us apart using the full width of the pitch. Nearly every time we won the ball Wotton gave it back. The safety first, one forward approach was a nonsense because it didn't work. We needed to play 4-4-2, every player in his proper position and give it a go. Two banks of four with the two Poles up front occupying the full width would have caused Ajax a lot more problems than we did. Coaches are a commonly a bloody liability and make awful managers in the main, as they have no idea how to pick a balanced team, because they ignore common sense and theorise too much.

Yes, a bunch of blithering idiots who haven't a bloody clue. I'm out of patience with this crap, Pardew better get a grip quickly and start walking the walk, we've had too many plonkers just doing the talk in the last few years. It's now either get results or get out. I wouldn't mind betting a lot feel the same way as I do.

FFS Steve we had a four man midfield completely bypassed, plus a totally inneffective Wotton giving the ball back to the opposition or fouling. He played like an Italian cop on point duty. If Wotton hadn't been there we would have been much better as he stopped the centre backs attacking the ball and disrupted our midfield. Also if we had left out Molyneaux and played a second striker, it would have improved things . A proper wide 4-4-2 would have been much more effective, even with 5 in the middle we were really narrow and allowed Ajax to get down the flanks.

Spot on about the setup, we threw in the towel, raised the white flag and accepted that we weren't going to give them a game, instead of playing 4-4-2 and only one left back and having a right go. The coaching side needs a proper clearout as well. Wotton was awful, yes he made one pass, gave away more than 9 out of 10 of the rest, gave plenty of free kicks away, stopped the centre backs attacking the ball and disrupted the flow of the midfield by gifting the possession to the opposition time after time. Hopefully this is his last game for us.

Where the hell do we get these bloody incompetent clowns of coaches that pick these sides. I shudder to think if this is the sort of thinking from the coach running the academy, no wonder the youngsters have problems understanding how to play. Ajax played with touchline to touchline width instead of copying them our geniuses play any way but. As for Wotton attempting to imitate an Italian traffic cop arm waving, gestures etc whilst giving a totally incompetent display allegedly holding in front of the back four. Apart from his usual high percentage of fouls, all he succeeded in doing, was giving the ball back to Ajax nine times out of ten, wandering about in between the Ajax players picking up nobody. His incompetent display disrupted the midfield and stopped the centre backs coming out and attacking the ball. Mills did well and looked useful at left back, we needed two up front and two banks of four. One up front with everybody funneling back was awful. Gillett was fine but James was poor in midfield but Wotton didn't help matters. If we are going to play a holding player they have to attack the ball and have a nearly 100% passing success rate not 10%. Murty looked useful, I just hope he hasn't done his knee. Pardew has a lot to do yet and a lot of changing of the way we have been playing. Wotton just cannot be played in a five man midfield.

You are not wrong, they say their bit and shout down any other view. Their loudmouth anarchistic behaviour at meetings has made them a very small group.

Charlton have an attendance record at the valley of over 80,000. The South side terraces were enormous, just about the biggest/highest in the country.

His record is: Average points, Reading 1.70, West Ham 1.47, Charlton 1.24, overall average 1.53.

Because Nicola Cortese stated "the club is debt free".

Couldn't you sleep? At least he is traditional, Reading was good, WHU initially but deteriorated at WHU, then Charlton was a disaster. I'm prepared to give him a fair chance. My first reaction was, it was an uninspired middle of the road safe appointment. He will bounce the players up a gear which will be important. I'm not sure he is going to raise the supporters adrenaline levels, or that there will now be a rush to buy season tickets because of his appointment. It may need a run of good results to do that. It will be interesting now to see the comings and goings of the players and what sort of emphasis he puts on new signings. I just hope he plays 4-4-2 with proper width and quickly sorts out the dead ball situations and the poor coaching. Maybe some of the players will learn to kick the ball properly.

Did Henderson play a wide 4-4-2 with two up front or is he another smart ass fiddling coach, playing something he thinks really clever, that nobody understands and doesn't work.

Well said. If anybody needs shooting it's the lying, cheating, money grabbing politicians that sent them without good reason.

Even if they had been superfit the way they played would have done for them. Lets hope the new man brings in some pace and plays 4-4-2 down the touchlines.

Old Bill wasn't wrong, But what the hell do you know about width, most of the games you were dozing, leaning on the upright or winding up the opposition:cool:.

Last year it was p;ss poor tactics, a massive lack of: pace, byeline crosses, poor dead ball execution, penalty taker and a consistent pair of goalscorers.