S-Clarke

You can - you can tell the wingers to hug the line, stay wide, keep the width. You can play with an extra CM to sit deeper, which allows Azaz/Jander/Bragg or whoever to step up higher. Azaz coming for the ball in the centre circle is all wrong, Azaz passing the ball back to the centre backs is all wrong. He shouldn't even be in that area. Space is created by moving the ball quickly, and also by stretching the game and having your wide players playing wide. We condense it too much through the middle through our safe backwards/sideways passing, you've even got Leo coming inside - and it's Manning who provides the width down the left side. I'm not saying we don't need a physical centre forward, we 100% do, but there's also so much more we need to do to our game to make the opposition sweat and think a bit. We make it so, so easy for everyone we play against. You could coach a non-league team to defend against us without much trouble.

Apologies, I didn't realise we shouldn't be complaining or criticising the club as everything is in fact pretty good right now. It's not like we're sat in the bottom half of the Championship past the mid-way point of the season after spending £55m, with 2 relegations in 4 years including one of the worst ever PL efforts by any team. You're right, we are certainly not made of the right stuff and it's in fact all pretty rosy and going really well, well done Sports Republic. My mistake.

Given that we concede from most set pieces, it doesn't particularly add much - if anything. I've always felt 3 at the back confuses the situation more than aids it. I think too much can be played on the 'target man' line, not all teams play with a target man - the key is to move the ball quickly, stretch the game and open it up and get yourselves in behind. Fellows playing deep does not allow us to do that, especially against teams who press up against him - it means he has to focus on defending, which just nullifies his influence. Stick him wide right, Leo wide left, Azaz in the 10. Play forward quickly through the midfield and stretch the play - not relying on wing backs, but actual wingers, to provide the width. Let Leo and Fellows commit and run at players higher up the pitch, that's where they're dangerous.

Reminds me of the Bournemouth 'bucket rattlers' days.

I don't want to be constantly throwing out depressing posts tbh, I've always been someone who looks at the bigger picture/positive swings of situations - but there's just nothing here, it's all pretty hollow from what I can see. There's no grand plan to get behind, nothing. As fans we're desperate to get behind the club, but we need the club to give us something to cling to - just a chink, anything. But it just feels dead.

Do you know what a revolutionary idea would have been? Appointing an experienced manager in the first place, rather than now scurrying around looking for an 'experienced' number 2. It's so back to front it's frightening. Seeing Ben Reeves giving tactical advice on the bench today, was a really stark picture of how much SR have regressed us.

I genuinely don't think we'll be anywhere near promotion for many years, so them coming down is irrelevant in that sense as they won't be a threat to whatever we're doing.

Not sure it's a case of him being played out of position per-say, it's our general lack of moving the ball with pace. If we move the ball quicker, he can get into space and make things happen. He's one of those 'stand still' number 10's, he's not effective if we're needing him to go after the ball/pressing/chasing - that's not his game, like a duck out of water. Just move the ball quickly, stretch the game, get him in the space in the gap between the midfield and attack and watch things happen. Azaz cannot be the final line of our attack, he needs people ahead of him.

One of the reasons coaches play 3 at the back is to enable more control of the ball from the defensive third, and through the middle thirds of the pitch. Then you have progressive attacking full backs able to stretch the play (go back to Wolves in their pomp - Ait-Nouri and Semedo). But it doesn't work for us because we have a winger at RB and one of the worst LB's (if not the worst) in the entire league. For this tactic to be truly successful you need progressive ball playing CB's like John Stones, who can feed the ball into a Rodri/KDB type - with progressive wing backs pushing high. We have Manning, Nathan Wood and Jack Stephens, with Downes receiving it in CM. It's never going to work. I don't know why we can see it, but the guys paid £100000's more than us can't.

It encourages the backwards passing because the 3 CB's are always free to receive the ball, it's pretty much simple to everyone - right? Why can we all see it yet we keep persisting with it? The oppo are more than happy for us to do what we're doing. Stick an extra CM in midfield, and encourage more progressive passing as we have extra bodies up field. That's where we need them. I'm bored shitless, absolutely tired of watching Wood > Stephens> THB > Bazunu > THB > Wood > Stephens > Manning > Bazunu. Just bored. It's pointless. It's the ultimate propaganda football and it's killing us stone dead. It's a club strategy, clearly, that's why we only get yes men who agree to do it - the U21's and U18's play the same way. At this point it's basically self sabotage.

Oh absolutely, there's nothing in this season for us. It's like I thought it was going to be, similar to our 05/06 season when we came down with Redknapp - and then changed to Burley in mid-season. I can see how it'll play out, we'll get another good run which takes us to a playoff shout after 40 odd games - everyone gets excited (teams as far down as 12th are often in the playoff shout come the end of the season), then when we fail to finish top 6 it will be lauded as ''what an effort, we got so close''. Tonda will be kept on to help shape the next season, then we start the next season stuttering and shit, he gets dumped in November/December, and we've wasted half a season again. So basically, we're never getting promoted with SR in charge. They've fucked us. We're now Stoke/Swansea. Pretty much nailed on now.

The weak wrists to get a touch, but struggle to keep it out were one thing - but the biggest issue with that goal was his lack of commanding of the area. It was bobbling all over the place, the CB's didn't get a touch and the GK didn't take command either. There was nothing. That's yet another weakness in his game, which doesn't really have any strengths. But I'm sure he's 'fine for the Championship'.

He shouldn't have ever been appointed tbf. Everyone knows it. The club would have given it to him whatever the outcome, they were desperate for him to have the job. The club (Ankerson) is desperate to be seen as this revolutionary/outside of the box thinker, and you're not going to stroke his ego by appointing someone like Steve Cooper.

First half was as bad as we've been all season, slow, predictable, sideways, backwards, getting caught etc etc - same script that's been played many a time. We were very lucky to go in 0-0, should have been 1 or 2 down if we're honest. Second half we actually started the same way, and let in a goal that would have not looked out of place in the Sunday league - with 3 CB's on the pitch, not one of them got anywhere near that. The GK didn't command or take control either, just horrendous all round. A non-league standard goal. After that, Birmingham changed it a bit and removed the pace they had - so it removed their threat on the break, which allowed us to move higher up the pitch. The goal came from exactly that, with the right back pushed up high and providing a first time drilled ball into the box. Apart from that though, I thought it was more propaganda football in the main - no one willing to take a risk in those last 10-15mins, safe passes, pointless probing and very, very slow predictable build up. We didn't make Birmingham work at all and it was just a revert to type really. Overall we play too predictably, too slow, too safe. There's no urgency in our game, no movement, no quick passing - it's all very static and slow, which means there's never any space as we give the teams the entire game to block off any channels. The entire setup in the CM area is just wrong for me, Jander is clearly being targeted and closed down heavily by everyone we play now - we need an extra body in there to open up some space. There is no need for us to have 3 CB's, in an attacking sense it brings us nothing and in a defence sense it brings us nothing. It actually causes us to recycle it backwards as our numbers are at CB, so you end up with THB/Stephens/Wood cycling the ball between each other - the oppo are more than happy for those 3 to keep the ball, it offers fuck all. We need extra bodies in CM, and have Leo and Fellows on the flanks - keep them up field and wide where they can hurt opposition, what's the point of spending £10m on a winger in Fellows when his primary job was defending? It's foolish. Just cut the 3 at the back for everyone's sanity.

Keeps the possession stats high and creates the illusion of domination, even though we're not doing anything anywhere that matters.

I thought Birmingham played pretty well at our place, and we were somewhat fortunate to come away with the 3-1 - which probably flattered us a bit I'd have to say, we were just very clinical. I think they're without some players, so we'll see how it goes. They're clearly a club with momentum and some finance behind them, so expect them to go big in January $$ wise - so in that sense we're probably playing them at the right time.

He passes the ball between the CB's very well.

I think the moment he put himself on the board, as chairman of this football club (during last season I think) is the point that he became open to criticism - and what has happened since he's been 'in the seat' has been worse than what went before, we've regressed even further. Tonda happened on his watch, Juric happened on his watch, Rusk happened on his watch, Still happened on his watch. Signing Downs happened on his watch. The guy should now share blame with anyone else involved with Sports Republic, the argument that was put up a year or two ago is that he put his money up - which is fair, he has - but the decision making that has gone along with that has been among the worst in English football, and that's also on him. You can have all the money in the world, but if you don't make the right decisions then it's all irrelevant really. He probably has the right intentions, but he's clearly pretty clueless when it comes to running professional sports outfits and that's why he needs to shift it and go back into media or whatever he did before (god knows how he made money)

I don't really give two hoots about other clubs owners, all I care about is what I see in front of me and what is happening to my club. They took an established PL club and relegated them in their first full season They oversaw one of the - if not the worst - PL side in recent years. They are currently overseeing a £50m spend transpiring to a mid-table Championship finish. We have cycled through 7 managers and 3 Directors of Football in 4 seasons. The 'there are worse' owners argument doesn't really hold up with me, as all I've seen is incompetence and the gradual decline of my club under these charlatans - and that isn't changing. They don't know how to run football clubs, there are some poor guys over in France who are being mismanaged in the same way.

We'll never be ready to go up with these owners in charge. We'll be saying the same in L1 in a few years, whilst the likes of Walsall and Bradford zoom past us and Wrexham are in the PL. That outcome feels much more likely than anything else.

I think after 4 years of incompetence and bad decision after bad decision, the safest assumption to make is the worst one. You'd be foolish to believe there is any sort of good coming out of SR's ownership at any stage. It's inevitable they've ballsed up the manager situation again.

That goal was nothing to do with 'Russball', it was because the opposition stood off and allowed THB and then Armstrong receive the ball in space. That will happen once, maybe twice in a 46 game season. That game does not justify 'Russball' in anyway. What happens when clubs low block and don't leave players in space is what we have now - lots of safe sideways, backwards boring passes because there is no angle to play through. You can't build a philosophy on an approach which may do you well once or twice a season.

Yeah I hated that, I didn't even really take in those puff pieces. It's a shame the media didn't push back and ask why didn't they let me interview you when we were struggling? They used the 5 wins as an opportunity to pat themselves on the back, look at what we've done, hope the fans lap it up nonsense. No, we won't. You've failed. 5 games doesn't change that.

This is just me saying, nothing I know about. But it's fairly obvious in my eyes that they'll be doing this. Jan 10th - 'Stewart back is amazing news, it's like a new signing!!'' - Feb 10th - ''Stewart out for the season''

But that would mean someone calling out their nonsense. It becomes more clear to me by the day that they want someone to control, feed the narrative to and someone who complies with the back 3 nonsense, Bazunu in goal etc. Any experienced/been around the blocks manager will tell them to do one, hence why we've ended up with a kid who is just grateful he has a job.