Awful Game

Hurst failed 5 years straight and didn't get sacked. To then ask to Bignot after a few months after okay results under difficult circumstances is mental

Just realised that barely makes sense. It's true, men certainly can't multi-task

Quoted from Mariner_501

Hurst failed 5 years straight and didn't get sacked. To then ask to Bignot after a few months after okay results under difficult circumstances is mental

Agree, but apart from having to replace Omar which we all pretty much knew was coming why are the circumstances difficult?

Quoted from HertsGTFC

Agree, but apart from having to replace Omar which we all pretty much knew was coming why are the circumstances difficult?

I can certainly see why it could be considered difficult circumstances. As you've mentioned, he's lost Omar who was carrying the team under Hurst. Other than about three or four games we played no better under Hurst than we are now but in Omar we had a player who was winning us matches so to lose that is a big blow and almost impossible to replace mid-season, that will be his biggest test in the summer window.

But he also came in to a team where the fans had been used to winning the majority of games for a number of years and had (despite the team being no better than midtable) just sneaked in to a play off position. Perhaps expectations had been raised too high for our first season back and I think there is a definite number of our fans who had forgotten that you can't just steamroller teams in L2, we're no longer playing clubs who bring seven fans. I don't think MB helped himself with his promise of attacking football and he has made a rod for his own back really because he hasn't delivered on that or even got close at any point.

Furthermore, I also think he was short sighted in the way he went about changing the squad in January. I actually agree that using this season as a time to bed in new players ready for next season is a good idea but leaving yourself a squad with one recognised winger who had only ever played a handful of FL games is just ridiculous. Others have disagreed with me on this before but if he'd kept Chambers he would have at least had the option to change the system in some games when it's been crying out for it. Previously someone has said that there was no point keeping Chambers because he wasn't a "game changer" but how many squad players or even first eleven players at our level are genuine "game changers"? He was a good honest player who put in a shift and a good manager with a tactical brain can use a player like that to change tactics or the balance of a team. The player coming on doesn't have to be a game changer if the change in formation/tactics that his introduction brings works. Equally, if we are getting ready for next season then are we to assume that we won't be playing with any width or attacking wide players? Even if the actual personnel out wide aren't the men you want there, you can get the rest of the team used to the system you want to employ. It's easier to introduce a new player into a system than have to get the rest of the line up changing the way they play. All of this adds up to making me think that MB doesn't really think about tactics in any great detail and instead focuses on the players he wants to bring in then tries to fit the tactics around them.

However, there are causes for optimism. Jones and Osborne look like a couple of good signings. Pearson is a rock and will be here forever if we want him. Danny Andrew, if we can keep him, is as good as any left back at this level. We have some good quality and players with potential so there is room for manoeuvre. MB hasn't had long (although I would argue that four months should be enough time for us to have some idea of how he wants us to play) and deserves more time. The summer will be crucial for him. He needs some good recruitment and to get the team playing with a game plan and cohesion. He needs to hit the ground running because if we start next season like we're playing now, people won't have much patience.

One important thing hasn't been mentioned. That is the surprise factor in many of the transfers. From what I've read the bogle sale happened at the very last moment, even up until a day or two before it looked like he may well stay until the summer. That meant mb had to grab whoever he could to play up front, so dyson comes in at 22.30 on deadline day.it also meant he could unexpectedly sign jones after that had looked dead in the water. Plus he was able to unexpectedly sign yusuf  and gunning who both were only targets for the summer. Therefore his initial plans probably went up in smoke, but for ultimately positive reasons ( plenty of cash to splash and players he wanted coming 6 months earlier than envisaged). Therefore the posters who view the  rest of 16-17 as an extended pre season may well have it spot on

Quoted from forza ivano

One important thing hasn't been mentioned. That is the surprise factor in many of the transfers. From what I've read the bogle sale happened at the very last moment, even up until a day or two before it looked like he may well stay until the summer. That meant mb had to grab whoever he could to play up front, so dyson comes in at 22.30 on deadline day.it also meant he could unexpectedly sign jones after that had looked dead in the water. Plus he was able to unexpectedly sign yusuf  and gunning who both were only targets for the summer. Therefore his initial plans probably went up in smoke, but for ultimately positive reasons ( plenty of cash to splash and players he wanted coming 6 months earlier than envisaged). Therefore the posters who view the  rest of 16-17 as an extended pre season may well have it spot on

I think there was possibly not as much surprise as you may think with the Omar deal. At the end of this season he would have had a year on his deal so the optimum time to sell would have been the window just gone or the Summer. We did knock back previous offers from Wigan and leaving t really late often means the buyer pays more especially when they are desperate to stay up. To be fair to Marcus I think he brought in Asante and Youssef as cover just in case it happened but surely he cannot be surprised it did..

I think the circumstances that Marcus has faced could have been worse as on the back of some good pre Christmas home gates he had some money in the window and inherited a functional squad that had already begun to establish itself as a mid table outfit during the first 3 months of the season even if a lot of that was on the back of Omar's goals. Some of the "challenges" appear self inflicted with odd selections, too large a squad, gaffs in the media (Macca after Stevenage) and an inexplicable shape and style of play.  

However all that said personally I'll make my judgement in late October/Nov as he deserves a year in the job before anyone can say what his level actually is.

Quoted from forza ivano

One important thing hasn't been mentioned. That is the surprise factor in many of the transfers. From what I've read the bogle sale happened at the very last moment, even up until a day or two before it looked like he may well stay until the summer. That meant mb had to grab whoever he could to play up front, so dyson comes in at 22.30 on deadline day.it also meant he could unexpectedly sign jones after that had looked dead in the water. Plus he was able to unexpectedly sign yusuf  and gunning who both were only targets for the summer. Therefore his initial plans probably went up in smoke, but for ultimately positive reasons ( plenty of cash to splash and players he wanted coming 6 months earlier than envisaged). Therefore the posters who view the  rest of 16-17 as an extended pre season may well have it spot on

Never had you down  as the gullible type Forza!

Quoted from Cloudy

Never had you down  as the gullible type Forza!

Interesting fact here.  If you type the word gullible into google it does not recognise it.