Ego

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Normanak

Well-known member
Is the ego of the main men at our club ensuring our relegation ? MM is fully aware of the players the vast majority of the fans want to see in the team. He has already shattered the confidence of Josh Bowler being critical of him in public and playing him out of position. Now he's had a spat with Poveda who is probably our best attacking player. He wasn't playing him before the fall out. When it's player v Manager I would normally back the Manager but in Poveda's case I can understand his frustration. at being continually overlooked. It's too late now, MM's ruined the team spirit and it wold seem he's ego won't let him change. How on this earth can CJ be a better bet than Poveda ? And Connoly in midfield. A player who can't pass a ball 5 yards to a teammate. Then take SS. As a fan he must be thinking the same as the majority of us. Why can't he hold up his hands and say the MM experiment hasn't worked and put us all out of our misery and let him go. I don't care who would then take over as we simply can't get any worse. Or will his ego not let him admit MM has been a disaster. Of course some might disagree with my views and they are perfectly entitled to their opinion. All I would say on that is that I'm pretty certain they'd be in the minority.
 
Can I just say, Josh Bowler played one game in central midfield, as an experiment because we had previously been atrocious in there.

Since then he's been in his preferred right side role with licence to cut in, and he's been very poor.

Don't blame McCarthy playing him out of position. It's a non issue.
 
Fair comment on Bowler, Wizaard.

But McCarthy is unable to shift from his mindset of hanging in a game and hoping to nick a win.

We can’t draw our way out of this mess from where we are now.

We could get out of it (just maybe) if we picked an attacking team, went for it and won every other game (that has to include Cardiff obviously), losing every other game by whatever. That would leave Cardiff needing 9 points from 9 points to match us.

Its a long shot, but playing the McCarthy way is no shot at all.
 
hampshire_exile said:
Fair comment on Bowler, Wizaard.

But McCarthy is unable to shift from his mindset of hanging in a game and hoping to nick a win.

We can’t draw our way out of this mess from where we are now.

We could get out of it (just maybe) if we picked an attacking team, went for it and won every other game (that has to include Cardiff obviously), losing every other game by whatever. That would leave Cardiff needing 9 points from 9 points to match us.

Its a long shot, but playing the McCarthy way is no shot at all.
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I don't disagree that we need wins, but I don't think we have the players to go all out attack. Yates is utterly devoid of confidence and is our only recognised striker, for instance.

I hate to say it, but our best chance of getting a win is to stay in games and use our pace with Bowler and CJ to counter attack at pace, rather than funneling it back to the centre halves to hoof forward. That in itself would involve a change in attitude.

Far too often we take the easy option of playing it back, but ultimately end up being pressed and lose possession in bad areas for us.
 
Wizaard said:
Can I just say, Josh Bowler played one game in central midfield, as an experiment because we had previously been atrocious in there.

Since then he's been in his preferred right side role with licence to cut in, and he's been very poor.

Don't blame McCarthy playing him out of position. It's a non issue.
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I thought it was 2 and it's harsh criticising any forward whilst MM shitball is in play.

Jerry has suffered also during this time and he looks like a shadow of the player that was the top scorer in the division at one point.
 
I think though Bowlers main problem, is that he tends to get the ball in our half, back to their goal and surrounded, cos teams know that if you shut out bowler, you shut down our entire attacking threat beyond lumping it at Yates and hoping the centrebacks have fallen asleep!

With Poveda and Rogers alongside him, it'd be much harder to do that, which is why everyone is frustrated. I don't like criticising players, but when Hamilton caught the ball while blatantly standing on the pitch this week i was apoplectic! As above, Poveda must offer more than CJ at the moment.
 
Quite simply, our midfield has not been good enough all season, due to injuries and poor recruitement.

Regarding CJ on Saturday, I thought I had accidentally caught my TV remote and channel switched to Test Match Special. I initially leapt out of my chair thinking Archer had taken one on the boundary! 😣
 
Ditch_the_Dino🦖_Simonized said:
I thought it was 2 and it's harsh criticising any forward whilst MM shitball is in play.

Jerry has suffered also during this time and he looks like a shadow of the player that was the top scorer in the division at one point.
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Top scorer in Division 1. Exactly right and that is why Jerry is not Championship material.
His commitment and effort during every game goes without question but that doesn’t make him good of enough for this Division.
 
hills98 said:
I think though Bowlers main problem, is that he tends to get the ball in our half, back to their goal and surrounded, cos teams know that if you shut out bowler, you shut down our entire attacking threat beyond lumping it at Yates and hoping the centrebacks have fallen asleep!

With Poveda and Rogers alongside him, it'd be much harder to do that, which is why everyone is frustrated. I don't like criticising players, but when Hamilton caught the ball while blatantly standing on the pitch this week i was apoplectic! As above, Poveda must offer more than CJ at the moment.
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I was in the ground and the CJ moment just made me laugh, and as @SeasideKurt said at the time, summed up our season.
 
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Wizaard said:
Can I just say, Josh Bowler played one game in central midfield, as an experiment because we had previously been atrocious in there.

Since then he's been in his preferred right side role with licence to cut in, and he's been very poor.

Don't blame McCarthy playing him out of position. It's a non issue.
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Wiz, I'm sure Josh has been instructed to defend - as well as cover midfield & attack. That's part of MM's strategy in trying to keep a clean sheet.
On Saturday Josh was in our box looking totally lost, achieving nothing - as he always does when trying to defend. He cannot defend, so use him where he hurts the opposition - on the wing attacking.
 
Eternaloptimist said:
Top scorer in Division 1. Exactly right and that is why Jerry is not Championship material.
His commitment and effort during every game goes without question but that doesn’t make him good of enough for this Division.
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9 Championship goals for Jerry by the end of October tells you he is plenty good enough if he gets the right service. He was the top goalscorer in the Championship in October. I agree Jerry is a confidence player, most strikers are and he looked crestfallen after he missed that chance at Bristol on Saturday. Under Appleton Jerry scored 10 goals and had 6 assists, under McCarthy Jerry is still to score a goal and has no assists. Jerry and our other more creative players at Blackpool are never going to flourish under McCarthy‘s style of football. When Jerry last played in Div 1 he scored over 20 League goals in that season we were promoted and we will definitely need him next season.
 
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585 = never give up said:
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Wiz, I'm sure Josh has been instructed to defend - as well as cover midfield & attack. That's part of MM's strategy in trying to keep a clean sheet.
On Saturday Josh was in our box looking totally lost, achieving nothing - as he always does when trying to defend. He cannot defend, so use him where he hurts the opposition - on the wing attacking.
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It is not just about playing Bowler on the right hand side of midfield, it is far more about quality possession in the final third and unleashing Bowler to take on the defenders in the penalty area. The quality and accuracy of the passes to Bowler have been very poor and he is then quickly closed down. To get the best out of Bowler he needs the ball to be played to his feet whilst he is running at full pace in the final third and not hit aimlessly in the air towards him when he is facing our own goal and in our own half.
 
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Eternaloptimist said:
Top scorer in Division 1. Exactly right and that is why Jerry is not Championship material.
His commitment and effort during every game goes without question but that doesn’t make him good of enough for this Division.
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I think to be fair he meant Jerry was the top scorer in The Championship at one point this season when he had a purple patch. The fact that he probably is still the top scorer in our team at this stage of the season speaks volumes about where we are today. If only that Colby Bishop guy had been fit................oh, hang on!
 
585 = never give up said:
W

Wiz, I'm sure Josh has been instructed to defend - as well as cover midfield & attack. That's part of MM's strategy in trying to keep a clean sheet.
On Saturday Josh was in our box looking totally lost, achieving nothing - as he always does when trying to defend. He cannot defend, so use him where he hurts the opposition - on the wing attacking.
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And why shouldn't he be told to defend? He's not Messi.

Why should we gift midfield to the opposition on the off chance he'll create something? Since he's returned he's scored one, with no assists, so a bit of defending is the least he should be doing.
 
Wizaard said:
And why shouldn't he be told to defend? He's not Messi.

Why should we gift midfield to the opposition on the off chance he'll create something? Since he's returned he's scored one, with no assists, so a bit of defending is the least he should be doing.
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He shouldn't defend Wiz because he's crap at all aspects of defending. From being a youth, he's been an attacking winger, not a defender.
I'm sure you've played football & must understand this. I played in a good standard as a forward, then I reverted to a midfielder. In a couple of games, due to injuries, I was asked to play in the back 4 and I was like a fish out of water.
Josh's confidence is totally shot & he isn't the player that he was.
I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't want to be here - but I don't know.
 
This is Ska said:
Bowler is suffering from headband preoccupation
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Very true Ska. I noticed on Saturday he spent more time playing with his Alice band than he did on the ball
I think he fancies himself as a Jack Grealish but he has no chance.
Despite people jumping to his defence in all honesty he hasn’t produced very much since he came back and the manager can’t take all the blame for tha.
 
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