thomas 501 Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Neverbefore said: But havent people been saying all season that it's been woodgates fault and our squad is good enough? 🤔 He is Part of the reason the squad isnt good enough, for not speaking out against Gibson under-spending and getting the wrong players in. The other thing is they seemed to get progressively worse under his management apart from a short spike at xmas where he had to play the kids due to injuries which he then dropped when senior players came back. 3 Link to post Share on other sites
Neverbefore 10,942 Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 Just now, thomas said: Part of the reason the squad isnt good enough, for not speaking out against Gibson under-spending and getting the wrong players in. The other thing is they seemed to get progressively worse under his management apart from a short spike at xmas where he had to play the kids due to injuries which he then dropped when senior players came back. I'm not defending woodgate, he was pretty awful and didnt look like he was improving. But I've said since day one of the season that this squad was going to struggle this season - it's probably the worst balanced squad in the league (particularly before January, but not much better now) and the quality isnt much better. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
scottpilgrim 28 Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 29 minutes ago, DurhamRed said: He tells the truth we litteraly have a team of midfielders and not much else The majority being poor mens versions of Gary ONeill. Jack of all trades master of none Link to post Share on other sites
Neverbefore 10,942 Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 9 minutes ago, scottpilgrim said: The majority being poor mens versions of Gary ONeill. Jack of all trades master of none I have the exact same thoughts when I see us play. Link to post Share on other sites
wilsoncgp 9,283 Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 17 minutes ago, thomas said: He is Part of the reason the squad isnt good enough, for not speaking out against Gibson under-spending and getting the wrong players in. I don't think Woodgate really had much choice in terms of what players he got in. There was absolutely no chance Gibson was going to authorise spending more than we have done when we were trying to cut our cloth. There's no doubt the players brought in have been failures in terms of this season, or perhaps better to say they've not immediately improved our squad, given they've ended up with 20 starts between them. And if Woodgate really was the driving force behind those players coming in then sure, he takes some of the blame there. But I'll also say that I don't think he had a huge freedom of choice, the idea that it's Woodgate's fault that our chairman wouldn't spend more money when that's come from the previous 2-3 years of spending too much money and the two previous managers hunting down much more expensive players who also didn't improve our squad... it's those signings that have killed us. Whatever our squad is this season, it's a long hangover of previous years, which the signings we did make this season didn't really have a hope in hell of solving. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Jamie-H 1,322 Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 I mean Warnock's playing Johnson at left back because he doesn't trust Coulson who's spent his life being a winger up until Woodgate's epiphany last August, he's having to play Friend centrally because we let Ayala's contract run down instead of selling him last summer which belied the delusion that I believe will cost us millions by simply not accepting we needed to cut the nearly out of contract loose because for whatever reason they genuinely thought Woodgate was the second coming and he'd have us near the top of the league. Also our previous manager ditched our only other LB in January back to Blackpool and one of our few actually attacking players he shifted to Oxford because he couldn't get him playing and we needed a space for Lukas Nmecha and a spot on the bench for Ravel Morrison. Woe is Woodgate doesn't work for me these players we have are either supposedly brilliant young players like Coulson/Tav/Spence and proven Championship midfielders who all have track records scoring in this league whether it's Howson/Mcnair/Saville/Wing then we are left with the 2 strikers Fletcher's solid at this level and Britt's had an awful season. Warnock's walked into a mess no doubt if he had Moukoudi fit and could push Friend out to LB maybe the Hull result is different but there is proven players in that squad that should have enough to dig us out of this. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Dynamo Kev 1,558 Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 (edited) i'm thinking this match shotton is back in the team at right back. unless mouk is unfit the howson is right shotts center. either way shotton will start. i'd like to see(sort of expect warnock to go with) 442 this time; ------------------stov shotton---- fry mouk ----friend roberts saville howson coulson --------------fletch britt other variation(no mouk): ------------------stov howson---- fry shotton ----friend or howson fry friend johnson roberts saville mcnair coulson --------------fletch britt what i'd like to see, coulsons end product was shocking but he is better defensively than johnson; ------------------stov shotton---- fry friend----coulson roberts saville howson tav --------------fletch britt Link to post Share on other sites
thatoldchestnut 583 Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 To be fair its whoever decided that the transfer strategy was to be in choosing League 1 players of little experience. This should have only have been done after ensuring that the team had a solid base, which we clearly hadnt, being both ageing and unbalanced. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
thomas 501 Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 37 minutes ago, wilsoncgp said: I don't think Woodgate really had much choice in terms of what players he got in. There was absolutely no chance Gibson was going to authorise spending more than we have done when we were trying to cut our cloth. There's no doubt the players brought in have been failures in terms of this season, or perhaps better to say they've not immediately improved our squad, given they've ended up with 20 starts between them. And if Woodgate really was the driving force behind those players coming in then sure, he takes some of the blame there. But I'll also say that I don't think he had a huge freedom of choice, the idea that it's Woodgate's fault that our chairman wouldn't spend more money when that's come from the previous 2-3 years of spending too much money and the two previous managers hunting down much more expensive players who also didn't improve our squad... it's those signings that have killed us. Whatever our squad is this season, it's a long hangover of previous years, which the signings we did make this season didn't really have a hope in hell of solving. I dont know about all the signings but Woodgate did say he wanted Dijksteel at the club. Link to post Share on other sites
Dynamo Kev 1,558 Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 dijksteel is a good player, under a proper manager and coaches he'll be great for us. Link to post Share on other sites
thatoldchestnut 583 Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 Just now, Dynamo Kev said: dijksteel is a good player, under a proper manager and coaches he'll be great for us. Dijksteel hasnt had much chance. He may flourish next season but who knows it may be in midfield. Link to post Share on other sites
Rioch's Braves 711 Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 6 minutes ago, thatoldchestnut said: Dijksteel hasnt had much chance. He may flourish next season but who knows it may be in midfield. Yes its a bit hard to judge Dijksteel we've not really seen enough of him. Link to post Share on other sites
Rioch's Braves 711 Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 The player who's disappointed me is Dael Fry, yes he's had injuries but for a big lad 6ft 4 he's not very commanding in the box or strong enough for my liking. You hear it Dael Fry's getting fouled in the box, he should be knocking strikers all over the place, wants a boot up the *** in my opinion and start showing some of the potential we thought he had. Link to post Share on other sites
BoroAbroad 321 Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 Looking like we will start the game in the bottom 3. I fail to understand what more insentive they need. Nothing but a win will do. Link to post Share on other sites
Downsouth 6,327 Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 4 minutes ago, BoroAbroad said: Looking like we will start the game in the bottom 3. I fail to understand what more insentive they need. Nothing but a win will do. Indeed and my seldom used phrase is certainly applicable but I will not mention it because Boro never seem to recognise the importance so to me this is just a stroll in the park between two teams who have nothing to fight for. Reverse phsycology being used here! 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites
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