Genuine question from a poor tactician

[Sleeping Giants]

I'm not great at reading matches and tactics but could I ask what people think of JM's ability to change tactics during a match either as a response to the other team doing so or to capitalise on weaknesses that become evident during the match???? The reason I ask is that we were all over Scunthorpe for 15 minutes....they apparently made some changes and all of a sudden we weren't in charge any more. Does he change games when needed? For the record, I'm all for giving the guy every chance - I'm genuinely none the wiser!

[ollyhoops]

well,

the most important aspect of a manager, is can he man mange and handle players? that is key, building confidence and coaching them into something special is vital... The best example to that is de canio, the reason why he did better with a poorer squad was down to the fact that he could get the best out of the players and use them to their strengths.... Jim on the other hand like those before him hasn't seemed to have had that effect as yet as many of us have witnessed.
Now tactics and formations is a different issue, you can have the best side available but whether or not they blend and play well together is again very subjective and key, we simply do not know just yet as it is too early to tell, but I suspect that given the next 7 matches we'll have a clearer picture as to what jims strengths are in management and abilitys.
To be fair to him he has had to work with what he's been given and because we lacked a good striker that can score you the goals, he has struggled so far.
The other problem is that the performances of the team is well below par, on paper they look strong, but on the field they have been poor and below standard, Jim cannot seem to get the team to look like a winning side and they do not look up for it in some matches. Also playing players out of position is pointless, good managers use players to their strengths and what their best at.
Overall its far too early to tell, but one thing i guarentee is that it will be an interesting 7-10 games or so.... time will tell.

[Minty]

I am the same as you Sleeping Giant.

However, I will say this.......the lull in the Scunthorpe game seems to happen to us a lot. We get the upper hand, don't get anywhere, and the other team get back into it and score.

We have a habit of:

a) Being slow off the mark (Scunthorpe being the exception).

and

b) Sitting back after a spell of pressure and soaking up pressure from the other team.

The point I wanted to make is that Dowie had the same problem, as did Ainsworth AND Sousa. So whether it is a problem that concerns managerial ability or if it's a mentality issue of the players, I'm not too sure. But, from my experiences of matches, it's not specific to JM.

[NewarkR]

Our lull on Saturday came when we went down to 10 men when Connolly went off to have his head bandaged and Legs went back to cover. Scunny then got a foothold in the game and grew in confidence. We had 4 chances to increase the lead (5 if you include the scandalous non decision at the end) and Cerny was stretched once (by a free kick that was probably going wide).

I know we love to think the worst, but Saturday was more comfortable than many have painted it. Sure we got a bit nervy at the end (crowd and players alike) but we're in a better state than most think.

[Sleeping Giants]

Our lull on Saturday came when we went down to 10 men when Connolly went off to have his head bandaged and Legs went back to cover. Scunny then got a foothold in the game and grew in confidence. We had 4 chances to increase the lead (5 if you include the scandalous non decision at the end) and Cerny was stretched once (by a free kick that was probably going wide).

I know we love to think the worst, but Saturday was more comfortable than many have painted it. Sure we got a bit nervy at the end (crowd and players alike) but we're in a better state than most think.

Thanks for the replies.....I was genuinely inquisitive and not suggesting that JM was at fault.

[qblockpete]

I have been baffled by some of the substitutions to be honest. if everyone is playing well and winning, don't see the need to change it. Players should be 90 minutes fit. If you are behind in a game, you may need to change it, the same goes for when you are 4-0 up

[ollyhoops]

I have been baffled by some of the substitutions to be honest. if everyone is playing well and winning, don't see the need to change it. Players should be 90 minutes fit. If you are behind in a game, you may need to change it, the same goes for when you are 4-0 up

Well,

It could be the case that Jim is still trying to find his best 11 and trying to adapt that best 11 to a system, but, the other side to that point is that he is experimenting too much and by rotating players and changing the side every week can hinder the team.

I think the biggest concern for me, is that the team looks so unsettled and it looks as if it lacks confidence and leadership. Look at Holloway, now his blackpool side plays with confidence, they look sharper, and look like they want to win games, yet the team has far less quality to ours, yet he is doing much better than us... That is the difference. I just hope that Jim can motivate and coach the players more and try to get them into a far more comfortable system where they can play to their strengths.....

The team I would say is running at 65% rather than to their potential...