Stephan out

[topperharley]

JS is nnot a bad coach, but he's not right for us unless we are firing on all cylinders with a full, deep squad.

For a good while we looked good but injuries have ravaged the sqaud, particularly moving up the pitch.

He can't get a tune out of the second fiddle midfield and attack, he can't either adapt the plan to suit or motivate them, probably a bit of one leading to the other.

Perhaps in time he'll figure that out, he seems like a man manager that will put his arm round players and offer them to a cafe from an espresso and croissant to discuss their feelings over shouting at them.

I don't see us going down, i don't know if it's worth firing him, because who is coming in? same olf merry go round discussion.

I wouldn't dire him, i don't really see the point. But, i don't think he's the right guy long term as we'll always face these challenges as a small, financially burdened club.

[SheepRanger]

In the post match interview he looked completely exasperated that the players aren't, or can't, follow his instruction.

[topperharley]

In the post match interview he looked completely exasperated that the players aren't, or can't, follow his instruction.

Agreed.

I guess the question is can they follow his instruction, are his instructions suited to the players available?

I don't think 'lost the dressing room' is a thing to say here.

[SheepRanger]

Agreed.

I guess the question is can they follow his instruction, are his instructions suited to the players available?

I don't think 'lost the dressing room' is a thing to say here.

Before the game I dont think he had lost the dressing room, but when the players watch that interview they may be equally as disappointed as him.

Its very easy to develop players that have the ability to become world class. But getting players who have been rejected from premiership academies and stepping up from L1 is a completely different matter.

[ragr]

Its very easy to develop players that have the ability to become world class. But getting players who have been rejected from premiership academies and stepping up from L1 is a completely different matter.

This.

The plan/project is a good idea for a club in our financial position but we just haven't got that plan right and the finger of blame has to point towards those in charge of targeting and recruiting those players. Of this year's crop only Rumarn and Nicolas have improved and show any sign of being saleable assets - even with that, I'm not sure Madsen has necessarily increased his value from what we paid. Several players have very notably gone backwards - Saito being one. Most have either stagnated or hit their ceiling - which, in my view, would be the rest. Some of the latter may come good in their second season, as with Madsen; too many of those, however, and the club is staring down the barrel of relegation, which helps no-one and is why players like Cook are essential as they're proven at this level - in my view, we need more of these players to avoid the youthful eggs in one basket folly. Oh, there is a fourth category - why would you keep Rayan Kolli and then not play him so you have no idea which category he's in?

The there's my oft repeated bugbears - why the ####ity #### have we gone into a season again with no recognised RBs and only one LB? This grinds my gears so much it's unreal.

The there's the injury crisis - again?

As for JS. I've said it before and I'll say it again - Sybil Fawlty, specialist subject stating the bleedin' obvious - he's not a manager. His game plan skills are weak, his selections are bizarre, he's completely out of his depth in The Championship. He's a development coach. A square peg in a round hole. But........there's no point getting rid of him unless there's a plan to not replace him with someone the same but different. And the plan/project won't stand anything other than a clone.

If only there was such a thing as a manager who could bring players on. Unheard of.

[SheepRanger]

Ragr, I don't think Kolli has any future at the club. If he did he would have played a bigger role since the start of the year.

Its absolutely mindblowing that the club burnt through £20m last season and have used up the Eze windfall, but we're struggling to look at the team and find players of value.

I think we paid £4m for Madsen, and as you say, its hard to think another championship club would take him off us for much more. Perhsps if there's £4m om the table in the sumner we'll take to churn thst money on another signing.

Theres hope that St Etiene will come back with some sort of offer for Varanne. What they see in him I dont know. Msybe promise based on his age, so he needs to go before that becomes a player at peak age doing F all.

When you consider we got £5m for Kelman, there has to be some value in Burrell and Kone. But that to get £15m for the pair we might have to wait another year.

That FFP/PSR thing must be coming to knock before very long.

[topperharley]

We've not really developed players well because we've not really developed them.

It's hard to develop players when you're consisitently patching over injuries and lack a playing style, and then lack a cohesive player acquistion plan that plays to the strength of that playing style.

To me it feels like a work in progress.

But what we really really need, is a figurehead back at the club the players and staff can rally around. We need an enigmatic leader.

I still like JS, he's decent but i've not seen those leadership qualities.

We have had such managers over recent years, Warbs, Warnock are both recent enough to be relevant and they exist or have existed at our level.

Feek like we need to pull out the stops to find this person, even if we're not offering a job now, we're making a shortlist.

What we do in the meantime is stay in the league and bumble along. We would be further up the table had we not been struck with so many injuries.

[Abseits]

Too much overthinking going on... JS will never take us up, he hasn't got what it takes, he clearly can't even get the squad motivated to put in a single 90 minute shift at the moment so hoping he will suddenly steer a squad though 4000 mins of a league season is utterly dumb and naive.

It's simply a case of if he goes this month, over the summer or in the October killing season.

And YES.... we CAN keep sacking managers if they are failing to deliver. It doesn't matter if we have sacked a dozen managers in a dozen years, that has no bearing whatsoever on how JS's performance is assessed.

[daveshads]

I think keeping JS does not mean that we will suddenly (or ever) snap out of this bad run. Cannot see the point of keeping him for even one more game. I would ask Cook to take over as caretaker. Could he honestly be any less effective?
I would have liked to have seen JS succeed but it’s impossible I think, for a whole variety of reasons.

[Stanfan]

No need to rush. Interesting comment by jimmy in post match that some players didn’t understand their role well enough in first half. I suspect that was positioning of varane/ ronnie/mbengue as we were wide open down that side for quite a while. Doesn’t mean others weren’t performing as well!