I actually feel sorry for Appleton and the current squad of players

Philbfctrois

Philbfctrois

Well-known member
Another patched up side giving their all, week in week out we are fielding a team with players either carrying knocks or players having to play when not match fit

We have gaping holes in the squad that have been shown this week with two 1.0 defeats, both close games where we have just been out muscled

Did anybody bring Bullshit to task today at the meeting?

I very much doubt it, from the bit of the Charles video I saw today it all looked a bit sicky friendly, like it was under the BSA days

Make no mistake the head coach has been badly let down this season during the transfer window and is having to make do every game

More injuries today and a lack of proper replacements

We really are shopping at bargain basements, Bridcutt and Ward really?
 
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I know we’ve got a lot of injuries, illness, whatever…

But, that team that started the 2nd half, 10 of the 11 were the League 1 team, which was 2 seasons ago. There’s no way that’s ever going to be enough in this League. Oh and the 11th player is playing right back which isn’t his preferred position.

We’re relying on Gary Madine far too much, his injury record has never been the best, which every fucker knew including us, but we couldn’t get another striker for whatever. Too many sick notes, signing too many as well.

That said, I thought we flapped it last 10, we had a perfect out ball in Theo who had their full back on toast, but we decided to pump long balls to Madine. Can we please keep Theo off free-kicks too.
 
The big one for me is Madine, his type of player has been crucial to the way we set up. He's been fantastic, holding the ball up, linking play and helping out defensively at set pieces.
Did we honestly think that, with a winter World Cup, two games a week every week, until mid November, we could get by with just Madine to play that role.
Beggars belief to me, but some people at the club are beyond criticism it seems.
 
Pretty fair assessment Pip. It’s a lack of basic depth and an inability to sign accessible players in key positions- a big and strong CB and alternative to Gazzo who is obviously playing with a knock. Limping along to the WC but the likes of Williams and Poveda are clearly not what we need.

Let’s be frank, when you let Grant Ward go and then re-sign him it’s not a good thing.
 
It’s tough for MA and the squad, but today I thought he left Theo on the bench far too long. We are desperately short of threat down the right, particularly as Connolly is a much more defensive full back. For me I’d have taken Gaz off early 2nd half and put Jerry up front with Theo wide right. As short as we are, we’ve got to start taking it to teams at home. Gaz has been fitter & better this season, but he’s looking very tired. Use him sparingly and he’ll be more effective.

Unlucky again to some extent, but we didn’t take our chances and they did. Keshi, great tackle and perhaps saved a goal, but did the hammy again. Wright should have made the tackle or foul on the halfway line, but too slow to get there.

Thought the atmosphere from pre kick-off was dead. The players need us when it’s tough, we can’t just turn the volume up for Preston.
 
rememberlesshannon said:
The big one for me is Madine, his type of player has been crucial to the way we set up. He's been fantastic, holding the ball up, linking play and helping out defensively at set pieces.
Did we honestly think that, with a winter World Cup, two games a week every week, until mid November, we could get by with just Madine to play that role.
Beggars belief to me, but some people at the club are beyond criticism it seems.
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Utter rubbish it beggars belief what some people decipher what their eyes see .Madine very rarely dominates and week in week out he is dire and misses easy chances .Every now and then and mainly against smaller players like Coventry he wins lots of ball and people cream themselves over it and this orgasm lasts for 5 or 6 games .He is simply not good enough or essential to the way we play how can he be when he rarely wins the ball except against migits
 
Philbfctrois said:
Another patched up side giving their all, week in week out we are fielding a team with players either carrying knocks or players having to play when not match fit

We have gaping holes in the squad that have been shown this week with two 1.0 defeats

Did anybody bring Bullshit to task today at the meeting?

I very much doubt it, from the bit of the Charles video I saw today it all looked a bit sicky friendly, like it was under the BSA days

Make no mistake the head coach has been badly let down this season during the transfer window and is having to make do every game

More injuries today and a lack of proper replacements

We really are shopping at bargain basements, Bridcutt and Ward really?
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Yep you're never getting very far when you're making up to 4-5 changes to your midfield every game and during a game, having to sub off subs and things like that.

Was quite philosophical coming away from the game because it was clear who the more settled and capable team were, and I'm sure Luton have their own injuries and problems to contend with too.

Not much in the game but there was only one winner once they got that goal.
 
phill said:
Utter rubbish it beggars belief what some people decipher what their eyes see .Madine very rarely dominates and week in week out he is dire and misses easy chances .Every now and then and mainly against smaller players like Coventry he wins lots of ball and people cream themselves over it and this orgasm lasts for 5 or 6 games .He is simply not good enough or essential to the way we play how can he be when he rarely wins the ball except against migits
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That is utter bollocks I'm afraid
 
Philbfctrois said:
Another patched up side giving their all, week in week out we are fielding a team with players either carrying knocks or players having to play when not match fit

We have gaping holes in the squad that have been shown this week with two 1.0 defeats

Did anybody bring Bullshit to task today at the meeting?

I very much doubt it, from the bit of the Charles video I saw today it all looked a bit sicky friendly, like it was under the BSA days

Make no mistake the head coach has been badly let down this season during the transfer window and is having to make do every game

More injuries today and a lack of proper replacements

We really are shopping at bargain basements, Bridcutt and Ward really?
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Becareful. @Keep the faith will be along in a minute to tell you to shut up 😴
 
I think our recruitment has been poor, whether Apples was involved aswell in that who knows but he's certainly been hung out to dry a little bit it seems. CB, CM, STR, Winger needed for me. I'd chuck a couple of our loans back too, Poveda and Williams if they ain't playing.
 
Every team has injuries not just us, Hull had them but beat us even with no strikers playing, Sheff Utd had loads of injuries when we played them, Today Luton had several key players out but still manage to beat us so let’s stop using injuries as an excuse.
The difference is we don’t have the players of the same quality to step in their shoes as was blatantly obvious today.
Wright really? Anderson clearly he wasn’t fit to play, Thompson does a lot of running but little else, Cornabeau being a slight exception as he did get stuck in pity the other 10 didn’t.
So 4 very weak substitutions.
 
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Philbfctrois said:
Another patched up side giving their all, week in week out we are fielding a team with players either carrying knocks or players having to play when not match fit

We have gaping holes in the squad that have been shown this week with two 1.0 defeats

Did anybody bring Bullshit to task today at the meeting?

I very much doubt it, from the bit of the Charles video I saw today it all looked a bit sicky friendly, like it was under the BSA days

Make no mistake the head coach has been badly let down this season during the transfer window and is having to make do every game

More injuries today and a lack of proper replacements

We really are shopping at bargain basements, Bridcutt and Ward really?
Click to expand...
Agree with a lot but Bridcutt was Appleton's choice, Ward is a, short term sticking plaster.
Injuries are killing us, but we need to not take risks on sicknotes in future.
Not sure we will see many changes in Jan other than hopefully a change in luck.
Still believe in Appleton, but we need to recruit better players next summer in all areas. Attitude is good but no substitute for skill.
 
Some glaring holes in recruitment, shocking injuries again, but despite that still far too weak at times and inconsistent.

We go from amazing in the odd performance to absolute shite the next.

Recruitment or not we should be dealing with simple balls in, cost us last 2 games.
 
The recruitment hasn't been great but it doesnt give the manager a free pass every week.
The O/P's mind was made up before a ball was kicked due to his criticism of the previous manager. So it's over egg the new manager and blame the recruitment and in particular Mansford.
 
TimperleyTangerine said:
It’s tough for MA and the squad, but today I thought he left Theo on the bench far too long. We are desperately short of threat down the right, particularly as Connolly is a much more defensive full back. For me I’d have taken Gaz off early 2nd half and put Jerry up front with Theo wide right. As short as we are, we’ve got to start taking it to teams at home. Gaz has been fitter & better this season, but he’s looking very tired. Use him sparingly and he’ll be more effective.

Unlucky again to some extent, but we didn’t take our chances and they did. Keshi, great tackle and perhaps saved a goal, but did the hammy again. Wright should have made the tackle or foul on the halfway line, but too slow to get there.

Thought the atmosphere from pre kick-off was dead. The players need us when it’s tough, we can’t just turn the volume up for Preston.
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Great post
 
With regard to recruitment, the biggest question for me is, who decided sign Callum Wright for a fee? In no aspect of the game has he made an impact. Slow, defensively and offensively poor. You’d hope he could make a difference today, but did nothing and missed the tackle that led to Keshi getting injured. His shot when it sat up nice, oh dear. Leicester had our pants down.
 
Philbfctrois said:
Another patched up side giving their all, week in week out we are fielding a team with players either carrying knocks or players having to play when not match fit

We have gaping holes in the squad that have been shown this week with two 1.0 defeats

Did anybody bring Bullshit to task today at the meeting?

I very much doubt it, from the bit of the Charles video I saw today it all looked a bit sicky friendly, like it was under the BSA days

Make no mistake the head coach has been badly let down this season during the transfer window and is having to make do every game

More injuries today and a lack of proper replacements

We really are shopping at bargain basements, Bridcutt and Ward really?
Click to expand...
Bang on
 
TimperleyTangerine said:
With regard to recruitment, the biggest question for me is, who decided sign Callum Wright for a fee? In no aspect of the game has he made an impact. Slow, defensively and offensively poor. You’d hope he could make a difference today, but did nothing and missed the tackle that led to Keshi getting injured. His shot when it sat up nice, oh dear. Leicester had our pants down.
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My initial thought with it being so late in the window is he was offered to the club because Leicester wanted a fee before his contract finished up. Just with the way Appleton was talking about knowing about him from their youth set up and did a wonderful job of selling it to us by talking about him needing to bulk up physically.

Not seen too much of him but what I have he looks like he's got no experience of playing in a midfield three and certainly not in the championship.

We've sort of ended up with a squad that you'd send out on loan to league one to see how they got on if we actually had a full squad for the championship. Or at least one where half of it isn't permanently injured and can't take a knock.
 
tangysider said:
Agree with a lot but Bridcutt was Appleton's choice, Ward is a, short term sticking plaster.
Injuries are killing us, but we need to not take risks on sicknotes in future.
Not sure we will see many changes in Jan other than hopefully a change in luck.
Still believe in Appleton, but we need to recruit better players next summer in all areas. Attitude is good but no substitute for skill.
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Of course he was but he didn't have much choice given the window was closed

So an injury prone player who hadn't played for a year was the height of the clubs ambitions

A full fit Bridcutt would have been a great signing 3 years ago
 
poolfc said:
My initial thought with it being so late in the window is he was offered to the club because Leicester wanted a fee before his contract finished up. Just with the way Appleton was talking about knowing about him from their youth set up and did a wonderful job of selling it to us by talking about him needing to bulk up physically.

Not seen too much of him but what I have he looks like he's got no experience of playing in a midfield three and certainly not in the championship.

We've sort of ended up with a squad that you'd send out on loan to league one to see how they got on if we actually had a full squad for the championship. Or at least one where half of it isn't permanently injured and can't take a knock.
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I actually think he will be decent, but currently looks a bit lightweight
 
Adams Kebab said:
I know we’ve got a lot of injuries, illness, whatever…

But, that team that started the 2nd half, 10 of the 11 were the League 1 team, which was 2 seasons ago. There’s no way that’s ever going to be enough in this League. Oh and the 11th player is playing right back which isn’t his preferred position.

We’re relying on Gary Madine far too much, his injury record has never been the best, which every fucker knew including us, but we couldn’t get another striker for whatever. Too many sick notes, signing too many as well.

That said, I thought we flapped it last 10, we had a perfect out ball in Theo who had their full back on toast, but we decided to pump long balls to Madine. Can we please keep Theo off free-kicks too.
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Madine is coming up to 500 games in all competitions...
 
Philbfctrois said:
I actually think he will be decent, but currently looks a bit lightweight
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You can’t coach speed Phil, he’s way too slow to make an impact at this level, because he’s always just getting there when the ball has moved on. Matty Virtue had the same limitation, but at least he was physical and could add something offensively.
 
td53 said:
Madine is coming up to 500 games in all competitions...
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He might be, but he’s 32 & since he’s been here he’s had quite a lot of injuries. He’s never going to be able to play full games Saturday -,Tuesday- Saturday at this stage.

I’m not slagging him off there just being honest. He’d probably tell you that himself.
 
Insider said:
Very surprised you didn't take the opportunity to confront Ben today face to face.
I'm sure he would have welcomed the opportunity to answer your questions.
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I'm on holiday but thanks for the sly comment anyway

I will make sure I petition the Welsh Government and local council to change the October half term week so it doesn't coincide with the BST agm again
 
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Jaffa_The_Hut said:
Every team has injuries not just us, Hull had them but beat us even with no strikers playing, Sheff Utd had loads of injuries when we played them, Today Luton had several key players out but still manage to beat us so let’s stop using injuries as an excuse.
The difference is we don’t have the players of the same quality to step in their shoes as was blatantly obvious today.
Wright really? Anderson clearly he wasn’t fit to play, Thompson does a lot of running but little else, Cornabeau being a slight exception as he did get stuck in pity the other 10 didn’t.
So 4 very weak substitutions.
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Thompson played well when he came on.
 
phill said:
Utter rubbish it beggars belief what some people decipher what their eyes see .Madine very rarely dominates and week in week out he is dire and misses easy chances .Every now and then and mainly against smaller players like Coventry he wins lots of ball and people cream themselves over it and this orgasm lasts for 5 or 6 games .He is simply not good enough or essential to the way we play how can he be when he rarely wins the ball except against migits
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Have you been smoking spice ?
 
Adams Kebab said:
He might be, but he’s 32 & since he’s been here he’s had quite a lot of injuries. He’s never going to be able to play full games Saturday -,Tuesday- Saturday at this stage.

I’m not slagging him off there just being honest. He’d probably tell you that himself.
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I agree. It's just you said he's 'always' been injury prone and I'm legally obliged to correct even the smallest potential misconception about Gaz.

Lad is a patched up warrior. He really should be a game changing impact player and occasional starter when circumstances mean he can bully a backline.

I said at beginning of season that if Gaz is still plan A we've got an issue.
 
Adams Kebab said:
I know we’ve got a lot of injuries, illness, whatever…

But, that team that started the 2nd half, 10 of the 11 were the League 1 team, which was 2 seasons ago. There’s no way that’s ever going to be enough in this League. Oh and the 11th player is playing right back which isn’t his preferred position.

We’re relying on Gary Madine far too much, his injury record has never been the best, which every fucker knew including us, but we couldn’t get another striker for whatever. Too many sick notes, signing too many as well.

That said, I thought we flapped it last 10, we had a perfect out ball in Theo who had their full back on toast, but we decided to pump long balls to Madine. Can we please keep Theo off free-kicks too.
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There’s being injured and there’s being unable to play. I believe our players are too soft and some could probably play with their knocks but are choosing not to.
 
phill said:
Utter rubbish it beggars belief what some people decipher what their eyes see .Madine very rarely dominates and week in week out he is dire and misses easy chances .Every now and then and mainly against smaller players like Coventry he wins lots of ball and people cream themselves over it and this orgasm lasts for 5 or 6 games .He is simply not good enough or essential to the way we play how can he be when he rarely wins the ball except against migits
Click to expand...

Plays well and it's cos the other team are shit. What a miserable way of looking at your own players you have.
 
straightatthewall said:
Pretty fair assessment Pip. It’s a lack of basic depth and an inability to sign accessible players in key positions- a big and strong CB and alternative to Gazzo who is obviously playing with a knock. Limping along to the WC but the likes of Williams and Poveda are clearly not what we need.

Let’s be frank, when you let Grant Ward go and then re-sign him it’s not a good thing.
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When your centre half goes off and you put your left back in that place and put another full back on, it's pretty damning of the faith we have in Williams.

The loss of Thorniley and the shuffling cost us the goal. We switched off.
 
Wizaard said:
When your centre half goes off and you put your left back in that place and put another full back on, it's pretty damning of the faith we have in Williams.

The loss of Thorniley and the shuffling cost us the goal. We switched off.
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I think Williams was ill, he didn't come out after half time. But...... I think he will go back to Liverpool in January and Poveda to Leeds. That will free up a loan spot for Josh and one other 🙃
 
td53 said:
I agree. It's just you said he's 'always' been injury prone and I'm legally obliged to correct even the smallest potential misconception about Gaz.

Lad is a patched up warrior. He really should be a game changing impact player and occasional starter when circumstances mean he can bully a backline.

I said at beginning of season that if Gaz is still plan A we've got an issue.
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Yep agree with that, when I said always I meant for us, fook everyone else 😂

I think the fact he’s essential for how we play and when he’s not there we look so ineffective sums up where we are at.
 
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