Will Still

[saintant]

23 minutes ago, Mixedkebab said:

Keeper position- crap

RB- Jelert and Roerslev should be good at this level

LB- Wellington and Manning as above

CB- on paper very good for this league but one too many in the squad

Centre mid- 3 strong players for 2 positions

AM/ wingers Azaz, Robinson, Fellows, Scienza all more than good enough

Strikers- Disaster 

But the biggest frustration of all is the mentality, how weak and fragile we are- same for years mostly. 
I just can’t pinpoint why it is, it seemed to start with the 0-9 and it’s hung around like a bad smell since.

 

Now go through our squad and list the big, powerful athletes that every decent side must have in abundance from Brentford to Liverpool. Look through their squads and then compare them to our physically weak players. We are still getting outfought all over the pitch and not winning our individual duels or battles. Last night was a classic example - Brentford totally overpowered West Ham and our two ex players were withdrawn at half time because they simply could not cope. We play some nice football but over 90 minutes we'll often get bullied out of games because we do not have anything like enough of the big strong players who make sure they win their individual battles.

[CSA96]

I don't want to lose too much time to tonight's game but going to share some thoughts I expressed on X and slam them together here...

Have to say that we are quickly arriving at sacking territory for Will Still, unfortunately. I say unfortunately because he has been left high and dry by continuous stupidity from players and yet another fluffed transfer window by Sport Republic. He's not been great but I really do sympathise with the conditions

There's no way of dressing it up, two wins from 11 games when you're managing a relegated PL side that just spent £50m on new players in the window is nowhere near good enough. But the sheer amount of maddening individual mistakes has been staggering

And then you have the summer window. We are 4yrs into Sport Republic's ownership and still rolling out Bazunu and McCarthy as GK options. Needed a proper centre forward for years, yet punted £7m on Damion Downs - who looks dreadful - and Ross Stewart who can't stay fit

4 wins in 49 league games over 17 months. Presided over two relegations - one a huge, season-long humiliation - and continuously failed in windows despite committing funds. Only one decent managerial hire to their name (Martin in 2023) - SR have surely run out of road once and for all?

There is now a run of four games: Blackburn away, Preston home, QPR away, Sheff Wed away before another international break from Nov 9. If he can't win 2/3 of those games and oversee an upturn in performances AND results (wins, not draws) then he will need to go

I put a large share of what's happening on the players but players and squads are not sacked mid-season (nice thought...), but coaches are. Who they'd go for next I have absolutely no idea and I almost don't want to think what sort of hire they might make next, should it come to that

[RedArmy]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

£60m worth of players on the bench tonight, £60m not starting and we’re 17th in the league. It’s insane

Struggling for goals and a player that got 12 goals in this league from midfield last season rotting on the bench and people think it’s not the manager that’s to blame. 

[James]

3 minutes ago, Pamplemousse said:

Unless we're in a relegation battle, there's no point in sacking him. Nobody could get this lot up to the play off places.

I think this lets the board off too lightly. We might be missing a striker but of course there is a manager that could get this squad into the playoffs. There are managers who would kill for some of the players we’ve got.

[saintant]

19 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I think the squad is a mess. Quality, yes, not denying that - but it's totally unbalanced and bloated.

We've got Edozie and Aribo not even making the squads, we've got 5 Centre backs, 3 horrific goal keepers and no centre forward.

We have a good 10, and some good wingers for this level - but we already had Edozie and Aribo, so you've got to think if it was more prudent to spend that Fellows/Azaz money on a GK and a ST, and give Edozie and Aribo the game time.

Agree entirely.

[Fabrice29]

3 minutes ago, saintant said:

Are you serious?

Yes. Appreciate it's not the most popular shout and I understand why because he's looked naff but Archer just had two starts in a row and not overly delivered so why not give Downs that opportunity now? I'm much more keen on seeing Robinson and Azaz start again though.

6 minutes ago, Lallana's Left Peg said:

 

There is some sense in this but you are asking us to place our faith in a Manager that SR have appointed which is already an unavoidable red flag, and whilst the need for stability and consistency is hugely important for the players they are currently letting the manager down and I am not sure why we think it will change when they have often let us down more than they have simply met their end of the bargain of effort and concentration.

Still seems to be able to identify the issues but not correct them.  That's a huge concern.  It is not his fault when players miss sitters and it is not his fault when defenders make mistakes.  But he is responsible for the mentality, and he is responsible for finding a way to win games with a squad that is comfortably Top 2 on paper.  The clock is ticking for progress.

Really think the casual comments of "squad that is comfortably top 2 on paper" only set us up for failure tbh. There's no evidence of that. We finished bottom by miles last season and 4th the season prior. Ipswich and Leicester have every right to say their squads are better than ours firstly and thats even before we get onto the reality that nothing is played on paper except for narrative building. That said, I totally agree our squad is better than it's performing now and the manager/club should be doing better with it.

[Osvaldorama]

4 minutes ago, Pamplemousse said:

Unless we're in a relegation battle, there's no point in sacking him. Nobody could get this lot up to the play off places.

Seems unthinkable based on the quality in the squad on paper, but we are completely broken from top to bottom. 

4 wins in 17 months is the sort of long term form that can be hard to turn around once the rot sets in. 
 

It’s very difficult to see how we will score enough goals until we can sign a striker in January.

[James]

Just now, Osvaldorama said:

Seems unthinkable based on the quality in the squad on paper, but we are completely broken from top to bottom. 

4 wins in 17 months is the sort of long term form that can be hard to turn around once the rot sets in. 
 

It’s very difficult to see how we will score enough goals until we can sign a striker in January.

And let’s be honest, given SR record, we can hardly look forward to the potential January striker signing with any degree of confidence…

[Badger]

4 minutes ago, CSA96 said:

There is now a run of four games: Blackburn away, Preston home, QPR away, Sheff Wed away before another international break from Nov 9. If he can't win 2/3 of those games and oversee an upturn in performances AND results (wins, not draws) then he will need to go

I put a large share of what's happening on the players but players and squads are not sacked mid-season (nice thought...), but coaches are. Who they'd go for next I have absolutely no idea and I almost don't want to think what sort of hire they might make next, should it come to that

You make some good points, but think it’s a bit weak to continually come up with the ‘if he doesn’t do it in the next four games…’ line. We had this last season. 

He’s had long enough. Should have gone after Derby. 
 

Agree that no confidence in our lot to get the appointment right. 
 

[CSA96]

1 minute ago, Badger said:

You make some good points, but think it’s a bit weak to continually come up with the ‘if he doesn’t do it in the next four games…’ line. We had this last season. 

He’s had long enough. Should have gone after Derby. 
 

Agree that no confidence in our lot to get the appointment right. 
 

I just despise the hire and fire culture of modern football. Ange getting 39 days was just mental too. What was the point in hiring him, for example?

Derby was what, game 8? Still too soon to sack a manager when we were 4pts off the playoff spots at that stage. But know what you mean

[Mboto Gorge]

Unfortunately there’s no chance they’ll admit Still was the wrong man at the wrong time for the job - I fully expect them to wait until the season is well and truly killed off for us as far as promotion goes, until they make a change. They’ll cling onto every possible olive branch and extended timescale in the hope that their appointment becomes vindicated. That’s the sort of owners we are dealing with. Sickening that we’ve got such ineptitude running our club. It’s making me unhealthily angry when you think of all the incompetent shit they’ve done 

Edited 9 hours ago by Mboto Gorge

[Mboto Gorge]

15 minutes ago, saintant said:

Now go through our squad and list the big, powerful athletes that every decent side must have in abundance from Brentford to Liverpool. Look through their squads and then compare them to our physically weak players. We are still getting outfought all over the pitch and not winning our individual duels or battles. Last night was a classic example - Brentford totally overpowered West Ham and our two ex players were withdrawn at half time because they simply could not cope. We play some nice football but over 90 minutes we'll often get bullied out of games because we do not have anything like enough of the big strong players who make sure they win their individual battles.

Spot on and I’ve been saying for years that this has been a huge problem particularly under the geniuses who signed us Larios, Edozie, et all. They just don’t get it. They never will. 
Didn’t our new recruitment guru make a point of identifying pace and power as what we needed in abundance to succeed this season? What happened to that? He’s failed miserably on that front. Should be fired for the Downs signing alone, which is one of the worst in football history for the money we paid at the level we are playing at. 

[Badger]

5 minutes ago, CSA96 said:

I just despise the hire and fire culture of modern football. Ange getting 39 days was just mental too. What was the point in hiring him, for example?

Derby was what, game 8? Still too soon to sack a manager when we were 4pts off the playoff spots at that stage. But know what you mean

I don’t like many things in the modern game, and constant manager churn is part of that. Game 8 should be too early, but in the past you’ve been able to pinpoint a managers record elsewhere to see what they might create here ( even Nathan Jones ‘success’ at Luton).  None of that optimism here I’m afraid. Poor appointment, let down by signings I know, but can’t see him turning it round. Derby in fact was a stay of execution even as far as I was concerned (could have gone after Hull even). 
 

 

[benali-shorts]

6 minutes ago, Mboto Gorge said:

Unfortunately there’s no chance they’ll admit Still was the wrong man at the wrong time for the job - I fully expect them to wait until the season is well and truly killed off for us as far as promotion goes, until they make a change. They’ll cling onto every possible olive branch and extended timescale in the hope that their appointment becomes vindicated. That’s the sort of owners we are dealing with. Sickening that we’ve got such ineptitude running our club. It’s making me unhealthily angry when you think of all the incompetent shit they’ve done 

Yes, they'll hang it out until they can put Lallana in as interim boss in the vague hope he'll finish the season well so they can reward him with a permanent deal for 26/27. 

[Fabrice29]

22 minutes ago, CSA96 said:

I don't want to lose too much time to tonight's game but going to share some thoughts I expressed on X and slam them together here...

Have to say that we are quickly arriving at sacking territory for Will Still, unfortunately. I say unfortunately because he has been left high and dry by continuous stupidity from players and yet another fluffed transfer window by Sport Republic. He's not been great but I really do sympathise with the conditions

There's no way of dressing it up, two wins from 11 games when you're managing a relegated PL side that just spent £50m on new players in the window is nowhere near good enough. But the sheer amount of maddening individual mistakes has been staggering

And then you have the summer window. We are 4yrs into Sport Republic's ownership and still rolling out Bazunu and McCarthy as GK options. Needed a proper centre forward for years, yet punted £7m on Damion Downs - who looks dreadful - and Ross Stewart who can't stay fit

4 wins in 49 league games over 17 months. Presided over two relegations - one a huge, season-long humiliation - and continuously failed in windows despite committing funds. Only one decent managerial hire to their name (Martin in 2023) - SR have surely run out of road once and for all?

There is now a run of four games: Blackburn away, Preston home, QPR away, Sheff Wed away before another international break from Nov 9. If he can't win 2/3 of those games and oversee an upturn in performances AND results (wins, not draws) then he will need to go

I put a large share of what's happening on the players but players and squads are not sacked mid-season (nice thought...), but coaches are. Who they'd go for next I have absolutely no idea and I almost don't want to think what sort of hire they might make next, should it come to that

Saying you sympathise with him and also worry who we’d appoint after sacking him is exactly why you wouldn’t sack him surely? No point making a decision like that for the sake of it.

[Mboto Gorge]

2 minutes ago, benali-shorts said:

Yes, they'll hang it out until they can put Lallana in as interim boss in the vague hope he'll finish the season well so they can reward him with a permanent deal for 26/27. 

They need to leave our club asap before they do irreparable damage. 

[you muppets]

surely time to go

[benali-shorts]

1 minute ago, Mboto Gorge said:

They need to leave our club asap before they do irreparable damage. 

fear that ship has already sailed alas....

[Andy Hill]

He should be gone - continually playing 5 at the back is enough reason alone. 

[Suhari]

10 minutes ago, Andy Hill said:

He should be gone - continually playing 5 at the back is enough reason alone. 

Yeah. I don't get the 3 CB now. He waffled on about not having the wide players for a back 4, then we signed Fellows and Scienza, and we're still with 3 CBs.

I'm pretty patient, but he's not all that. Surely we can do better.

[Give it to Ron]

32 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

Yes. Appreciate it's not the most popular shout and I understand why because he's looked naff but Archer just had two starts in a row and not overly delivered so why not give Downs that opportunity now? I'm much more keen on seeing Robinson and Azaz start again though.

Really think the casual comments of "squad that is comfortably top 2 on paper" only set us up for failure tbh. There's no evidence of that. We finished bottom by miles last season and 4th the season prior. Ipswich and Leicester have every right to say their squads are better than ours firstly and thats even before we get onto the reality that nothing is played on paper except for narrative building. That said, I totally agree our squad is better than it's performing now and the manager/club should be doing better with it.

Your last sentence says it all and why he lost me tonight. He does nothing to affect a game - no shape change - 60m sat on bench.

How does he manage to make players worse? My mate Brentford ST holder rated Mads solid 7/10 every game he played - looked ok first 2 games then shocking why when he performs well in Prem at Brentford? Azaz looks lost, Fellowes scapegoat hoiked off then just impact sub in same shape not working next game!

I don’t want him to fail, I want a manager not scared to alter tactics- he got away with it against Pompey when was his first sub 80+?

Still needs to win me back -not sure he can tbh

[Osvaldorama]

One thing I will say, his post match comments are actually aligned with reality in a way that some of the other lunatics in charge haven’t been:
 

“We seem to have to climb a mountain every time to score a goal, and the opposition, we just gift it to them.
 

Will Still asked if he thinks his players are questioning themselves enough: "I hope they are. I really hope they are. But when you hear them, when you listen to them, when you hear comments, I'm not sure that that's the case for the moment.”

Edited 9 hours ago by Osvaldorama

[CSA96]

21 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

Saying you sympathise with him and also worry who we’d appoint after sacking him is exactly why you wouldn’t sack him surely? No point making a decision like that for the sake of it.

Yeah I'm not sure I would yet but it's rapidly heading there. Which is what was said at the top end of the post

[leeham_69]

45 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

Really think the casual comments of "squad that is comfortably top 2 on paper" only set us up for failure tbh. There's no evidence of that. We finished bottom by miles last season and 4th the season prior. Ipswich and Leicester have every right to say their squads are better than ours firstly and thats even before we get onto the reality that nothing is played on paper except for narrative building. That said, I totally agree our squad is better than it's performing now and the manager/club should be doing better with it.

I agree with this. I think of it a similar way: last season we were the 2nd worst team ever in the premier league. Ever! So the question is, how many championship teams would have done a better job than us? There must surely be at least a handful - teams who just missed out, teams with less mental managers etc. So I really don't see "played in the prem last season" = "really good in the championship".

I don't deny the money spent, but it's clearly been spent in the wrong areas... and we're left with a squad that is one half a record breakingly shit team, and the other half brand new and still figuring out how to an impact. and neither half with a good keeper or striker...... obviously.

[danjosaint]

6 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

 

 

Will Still asked if he thinks his players are questioning themselves enough: "I hope they are. I really hope they are. But when you hear them, when you listen to them, when you hear comments, I'm not sure that that's the case for the moment.”

That's really worrying if true

[Southner]

16 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

One thing I will say, his post match comments are actually aligned with reality in a way that some of the other lunatics in charge haven’t been:
 

“We seem to have to climb a mountain every time to score a goal, and the opposition, we just gift it to them.
 

Will Still asked if he thinks his players are questioning themselves enough: "I hope they are. I really hope they are. But when you hear them, when you listen to them, when you hear comments, I'm not sure that that's the case for the moment.”

So has he 'lost the dressing room'? Is he unable to fire them up?

[Fabrice29]

6 minutes ago, Southner said:

So has he 'lost the dressing room'? Is he unable to fire them up?

Suspect it’s a dressing room that is used to losing and naturally fractured because of that. And that’s before you even remember that since Ralph gutted the squad of anyone being able to think for themselves that almost every manager since has bemoaned the lack of leadership and personality within the dressing room and ends up having to bring Jack Stephen’s back into the side.

[HKsaint]

Time to go. I don’t want Will Still Will Still be here next week. 

[die Mannyschaft]

41 minutes ago, HKsaint said:

Time to go. I don’t want Will Still Will Still be here next week. 

Same here, the football is boring negative stupid PowerPoint stuff. If we got all the players for £4m tops then the players don't need to question themselves as that's what fans would expect for a leaque 1 outfit. Apart from one player we have paid for gold and got plastic.

[Saint_clark]

3 hours ago, Badger said:

You make some good points, but think it’s a bit weak to continually come up with the ‘if he doesn’t do it in the next four games…’ line. We had this last season. 

He’s had long enough. Should have gone after Derby. 
 

Agree that no confidence in our lot to get the appointment right. 
 

Christ almighty 🤦🏼‍♂️ I long for the days where managers were given half a season before they were judged. 

[AlexLaw76]

2 hours ago, Saint_clark said:

Christ almighty 🤦🏼‍♂️ I long for the days where managers were given half a season before they were judged. 

Is this where you excitedly tell us it is getting better and hotter?

[Sheaf Saint]

5 hours ago, Southner said:

So has he 'lost the dressing room'? Is he unable to fire them up?

Sounds like it. Publicly commenting on poor attitude from the players isn't a good look, whichever way you dress it up. He doesn't have any air of authority about him to rein that stuff in.

I can't see how he turns this round. I wish him well, but he's the wrong man at the wrong time for us and we need to cut out losses and act now if we're going to salvage this season.

[AlexLaw76]

Read from his post match comments that he is really happy with how we are playing.

Christ almighty 

[AlexLaw76]

1 minute ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Sounds like it. Publicly commenting on poor attitude from the players isn't a good look, whichever way you dress it up. He doesn't have any air of authority about him to rein that stuff in.

I can't see how he turns this round. I wish him well, but he's the wrong man at the wrong time for us and we need to cut out losses and act now if we're going to salvage this season.

He has now gone full Harry Redknapp and using ‘they, them and they are”

separating himself now.

[Sheaf Saint]

There was lots about that game last night to unpick, but for me the most worrying thing he did was swapping out Jander for Downs.

We're already light in midfield because of the 3 CBs, and we're chasing the game at 3-1 down, so he decides to give us even less presence in midfield and bring on a 'striker' who is afraid to even challenge for the ball.

Absolutely batshit mental decision making, that is. 

[bangkoksaint]

From his comments I think he’s lost the dressing room. If the players want him gone then he’s effectively toast and it’s a matter of when not if. I’m pretty much expecting another lacklustre display on Saturday to seal his fate. 

[pimpin4rizeal]

Think we have created enough good chances the last two games to win both games comfortably so it’s not that we are playing particularly bad .. also don’t agree with the argument that fellows should be starting Armstrong provides goal threat from wide and scienza alsio looks dangerous .we are definitely underachieving but I think it will click soon 

[benjii]

7 hours ago, danjosaint said:

That's really worrying if true

It's also on him. If he thinks our "old guard" have bad attitudes, play new signings.

Play Roerslev, play Azaz, play Fellows. Scienza has been good. He obviously likes Welly. Armstrong is doing well and always busts a gut. Charles has been very good. Jander is new and has been good. So, who is he talking about..  ? Stephens, THB, Downes? Leave them out. Use new signings and U21s.

At the end of the day, I simply don't believe we have a huge group of bad eggs, so he needs to earn his corn and manage anyone who is dragging us down.

 

Edit: I should also add that, if this is a difficult bunch to manage, the appointment of Still obviously reflects badly on SR. If true, even more reason to go for an experienced manager with gravitas, not a nipper.

Edited 1 hour ago by benjii

[IFHP]

I don’t like Still, he shouldn’t been appointed in the 1st place and should be sacked. Personally I think a different manager would get more from this squad of players.

the problem is Dragan and the loons will just appoint another dud, to go with the long list of duds they’ve appointed in the past. 
 

Until Dragan and co fuck off nothing will change. 
 

 

[Football Special]

8 hours ago, Turkish said:

Where are the people who told that experience of the championship was absolutely not important when it came to being a manager?

That one made me laugh , also the many arrogant posts about how poor the championship was so even our players would dominated it. Week in week out we're being shown what a well organised group of hard working players can achieve compared to our bunch of jokers. 

Had an in depth debate on way home last night and conclusion was there probably is little point in sacking Still. Club is such a mess, recruitment is a disaster we spent a fortune and failed to address key areas. No confidence in Spors or any of the key decision makers. Season is a write off. 

[Mr X]

8 hours ago, Mboto Gorge said:

Unfortunately there’s no chance they’ll admit Still was the wrong man at the wrong time for the job - I fully expect them to wait until the season is well and truly killed off for us as far as promotion goes, until they make a change. They’ll cling onto every possible olive branch and extended timescale in the hope that their appointment becomes vindicated. That’s the sort of owners we are dealing with. Sickening that we’ve got such ineptitude running our club. It’s making me unhealthily angry when you think of all the incompetent shit they’ve done 

They are so bad they are making the days of Lowe & co and gao seem like golden years! 

Edited 1 hour ago by Mr X

[Mr X]

Just now, Mr X said:

They are so bad they are making the days of Lowe & co and gao seem like golden years! 

 

[Turkish]

9 minutes ago, Football Special said:

That one made me laugh , also the many arrogant posts about how poor the championship was so even our players would dominated it. Week in week out we're being shown what a well organised group of hard working players can achieve compared to our bunch of jokers. 

Had an in depth debate on way home last night and conclusion was there probably is little point in sacking Still. Club is such a mess, recruitment is a disaster we spent a fortune and failed to address key areas. No confidence in Spors or any of the key decision makers. Season is a write off. 

I thought we played alright up until their second goal, which was an absolutely freak but even then we looked so vulnerable and disorganised in defence. They, like most teams, look so much quicker and stronger than us. All they really did was get it forward quickly and stretch our 3 centre backs. The happy clappers will probably say it was 2 individual errors, a freak goal and poor finishing but yet again we look so exposed against any sort of pace or power. After dominating the first 20 mins or so when they adapted we couldn’t deal with it. 
 

Sack Still and bring in who? Some other out of the box, data driven appointment with another different style of play. The club really is an joke from top to bottom 

Edited 1 hour ago by Turkish

[Football Special]

1 hour ago, bangkoksaint said:

From his comments I think he’s lost the dressing room. If the players want him gone then he’s effectively toast and it’s a matter of when not if. I’m pretty much expecting another lacklustre display on Saturday to seal his fate. 

I don't know if it's his body language, press conferences or what but Still has just never seemed that bothered about being here. He spoke about wanting to move back to UK to be with his Mrs who had a serious illness , not sure working for Saints was his primary motivation 

[stknowle]

6 hours ago, HKsaint said:

Time to go. I don’t want Will Still Will Still be here next week. 

I don’t either HK my old pal but who will still be here next week? Will Still still will.

[Football Special]

First time really noticed fans starting to turn on him with boos and singing don't know what you are doing , that seemed mostly around Downs coming on , bit harsh , those boos should be passed on by both Downs and Still to land on Spors desk for signing him in the first place 

[Osvaldorama]

We are all basically saying that we really have 2 choices:

 

1) accept that Still was a terrible appointment and change the manager.

2) accept that the player recruitment was terrible and keep the manager on, hoping things improve. 
 

And this is why Still was such a bad appointment for me, and why I was desperate for someone with more experience. 
We needed a strong, experienced manager so we could say “for sure it’s the players, we have to stick with him and back the manager for now”. 

Instead we are up shit creek without a paddle.  He has nothing on his CV to suggest he can fix this. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Osvaldorama

[benali-shorts]

9 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

We are all basically saying that we really have 2 choices:

 

1) accept that Still was a terrible appointment and change the manager.

2) accept that the player recruitment was terrible and keep the manager on, hoping things improve. 
 

And this is why Still was such a bad appointment for me, and why I was desperate for someone with more experience. 
We needed a strong, experienced manager so we could say “for sure it’s the players, we have to stick with him and back the manager for now”. 

Instead we are up shit creek without a paddle.  He has nothing on his CV to suggest he can fix this. 

Yes, naive to think a young manager without his own coaching team around him would be able to manage the huge squad overhaul that was inevitable this summer. He sounded bitter in the post match Blackmore interview - he won't have faced anything like this level of expectation before in his career, which makes the appointment all the harder to understand. 

[benjii]

32 minutes ago, Turkish said:

I thought we played alright up until their second goal, which was an absolutely freak but even then we looked so vulnerable and disorganised in defence. They, like most teams, look so much quicker and stronger than us. All they really did was get it forward quickly and stretch our 3 centre backs. The happy clappers will probably say it was 2 individual errors, a freak goal and poor finishing but yet again we look so exposed against any sort of pace or power. After dominating the first 20 mins or so when they adapted we couldn’t deal with it. 
 

Sack Still and bring in who? Some other out of the box, data driven appointment with another different style of play. The club really is an joke from top to bottom 

It's the adaptation point that annoys me.

Still has been unlucky with things out of his control in the last two games. Like you say, that second goal required two perfect deflections to fall to their forward, Archer missed a chance, Charles had a golden chance with a header... and we all know about the Swansea chances.

But in both games, which are really starting to approach "must wins" if we're serious about getting into the top 2, the other teams made changes which helped them, and all our coaches and manager could do was swap the wing backs, or make like for like subs. Finishing last night with 3 CBs and one CM was retarded.

[benjii]

Just now, benali-shorts said:

Yes, naive to think a young manager without his own coaching team around him would be able to manage the huge squad overhaul that was inevitable this summer. He sounded bitter in the post match Blackmore interview - he won't have faced anything like this level of expectation before in his career, which makes the appointment all the harder to understand. 

And why didn't we let him bring his coaches? It's not like ours have been doing brilliantly.