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Reflections on a weird season and hope for a better one to come.


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We let in way too many soft goals .. 

Yes every team has injuries ... But take away Hall and/or Fry and our defence is made up of midfielders  and wingbacks ... and that's without counting Fisher and Dijk who were also out injured the last third of the season or so ...

Our squad was too thin from the start, so injuries affected us more than it should ...  

We haven't been a prolific goal scoring team in decades .. Not under Karanka even 

.. We have been a solid team .. but when you have to play Howson, Spence, McNair and the likes in 3 of 4 spots ... It's impossible to be solid ... 

I am still full of hope for next season ... It's doable to get a better team, even under NW, which I am no fan of, but I am not anti NW as some are. 

Transfers must be done or we are done ... That's my biggest concern, not who's in charge.

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We let in way too many soft goals ..  Yes every team has injuries ... But take away Hall and/or Fry and our defence is made up of midfielders  and wingbacks ... and that's without counting Fisher

I was watching Brighton play the other day and I couldn’t help thinking about the day we beat them to gain promotion and the fortunes of both clubs since.    Brighton have steadily improved the

What a weird ride it has been!  I am still thankful, that NW saved us from relegation previous season and I, probably on my own, am not that dissatisfied with this season, if you look at the thin

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On 5/12/2021 at 8:02 AM, smogsterking the Inspirati said:

As mentioned above I do feel the lack of depth and quality in the first half of the season had an impact with us unable to rotate and rest players in our squad meaning we struggled in the 2nd half of the season. The likes of Mcnair were playing 4 games in 8-9 days with the international breaks but we didn't have any option to rest him given injuries and lack of quality to cover him. I think we were only a point off Watford when we got to January. Unfortunately our 3 loanees came with a lack of match sharpness requiring time to settle and then we lost the likes of Tav Dijksteel and Fry at important parts of the season.

I agree with the second part I do worry with giving Warnock significant money considering he has probably got no more than 12 months left with us. It would be a huge gamble and if it goes wrong it sets us back another few years. However we need a fair few signings to even get on par regarding the standard of our squad for this season. 

 

Has any of our players played more then players in similar positions at other clubs, nope. So management thought NW choice of bringing in unfit players in the second half of the season was a good idea. I am sorry I can’t buy into why people are desperately looking to find none existing excuses for bad management. 

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2 hours ago, sanddancer said:

Has any of our players played more then players in similar positions at other clubs, nope. So management thought NW choice of bringing in unfit players in the second half of the season was a good idea. I am sorry I can’t buy into why people are desperately looking to find none existing excuses for bad management. 

And I can't buy into why people are desperately ignoring lots of info about a thin squad, injuries and really poor player performances, just to keep blaming the manager. 

Not a lot of players were available .. The best ones went to other clubs, cause they could probably offer them more. 

Again, I dont like NW, but I think some of you found a scapegoat. 

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6 minutes ago, SmogDane said:

And I can't buy into why people are desperately ignoring lots of info about a thin squad, injuries and really poor player performances, just to keep blaming the manager. 

Not a lot of players were available .. The best ones went to other clubs, cause they could probably offer them more. 

Again, I dont like NW, but I think some of you found a scapegoat. 

After January we had -

2 goalkeepers (bettinelli, archer)

2 left backs (Bola, coulson)

4 centre backs (fry, McNair, hall, dijksteel)

2 right backs (spence, fisher)

4 centre midfielders (howson, morsy, saville, tav)

4 wingers (Johnson, bolasie, nml, kebano)

3 strikers (Britt, Fletcher, akpom)

Plus the likes of malley, coburn etc who looked capable. Not to mention we sent wing and wood out on loan as well as sent Roberts back to where he came from. All of which when we apparently had a thin squad according to you. 

11 of those players named were signed by Warnock. 

I really don't understand your argument about us having a thin squad. Injuries yes (like every other team in the league) but we had enough cover to not produce some of the embarassing, toothless and quite frankly pathetic team (not individual) performances we put in since January.

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12 minutes ago, Neverbefore said:

After January we had -

2 goalkeepers (bettinelli, archer)

2 left backs (Bola, coulson)

4 centre backs (fry, McNair, hall, dijksteel)

2 right backs (spence, fisher)

4 centre midfielders (howson, morsy, saville, tav)

4 wingers (Johnson, bolasie, nml, kebano)

3 strikers (Britt, Fletcher, akpom)

Plus the likes of malley, coburn etc who looked capable. Not to mention we sent wing and wood out on loan as well as sent Roberts back to where he came from. All of which when we apparently had a thin squad according to you. 

11 of those players named were signed by Warnock. 

I really don't understand your argument about us having a thin squad. Injuries yes (like every other team in the league) but we had enough cover to not produce some of the embarassing, toothless and quite frankly pathetic team (not individual) performances we put in since January.

Out of the 8 defenders you have mentioned, 4 of them have been long term injured and Coulson and spence are not good enough to play as out and out full backs. Furthermore would I not classify McNair as a defender. He can do sort of ok in some games as a square peg in a starshaped hole ...

In midfield we have missed Tav and Morsy. Howson's legs have gone and Saville is clueless, unless he scored the odd goal. 

Don't get me started with our attacking players ...  Fletcher was out injured for a long spell and he NEVER returned to his previous form and dissapeared mentally for the last third of the season .. Akpom did what he could .. But he was bought as a squad player, although NW tried to talk him up via the press, to boos his confidence.

You can blame NW for insisting on using Bettinelli .. He is the worst keeper I ever saw as a pro ... 

Not a lot of players were available in the January window .. We got some "ok" players .. But it took too long for them to get in shape. NML got inured as well, if I remember correctly .. 

Nothing went our way this season, and we did ok, if you look at what we missed for so much of the season .. 

If the injuries to Hall, Fry, Tav, Morsy and Dijksteel instead were injuries to Coulson, Bettinelli, Britt and Spence ... We would have gathered more points, which I have no doubt about. 

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I can't believe we've gone from apparently needing 2 or 3 to needing nearly 9 players. We always seem to be a few steps behind everyone else in recruitment and general approach. Seems like an endless loop of mediocrity 

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1 hour ago, nunthorpered said:

I can't believe we've gone from apparently needing 2 or 3 to needing nearly 9 players. We always seem to be a few steps behind everyone else in recruitment and general approach. Seems like an endless loop of mediocrity 

Frankly I'll be amazed if we manage to make that many signings...even more so if they are first choice targets.

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1 minute ago, AnglianRed said:

Frankly I'll be amazed if we manage to make that many signings...even more so if they are first choice targets.

Its going to be a tough window thats for sure. Teams all after the same players. Prem loans don't get done til the end either 

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23 hours ago, SmogDane said:

Out of the 8 defenders you have mentioned, 4 of them have been long term injured and Coulson and spence are not good enough to play as out and out full backs. Furthermore would I not classify McNair as a defender. He can do sort of ok in some games as a square peg in a starshaped hole ...

In midfield we have missed Tav and Morsy. Howson's legs have gone and Saville is clueless, unless he scored the odd goal. 

Don't get me started with our attacking players ...  Fletcher was out injured for a long spell and he NEVER returned to his previous form and dissapeared mentally for the last third of the season .. Akpom did what he could .. But he was bought as a squad player, although NW tried to talk him up via the press, to boos his confidence.

You can blame NW for insisting on using Bettinelli .. He is the worst keeper I ever saw as a pro ... 

Not a lot of players were available in the January window .. We got some "ok" players .. But it took too long for them to get in shape. NML got inured as well, if I remember correctly .. 

Nothing went our way this season, and we did ok, if you look at what we missed for so much of the season .. 

If the injuries to Hall, Fry, Tav, Morsy and Dijksteel instead were injuries to Coulson, Bettinelli, Britt and Spence ... We would have gathered more points, which I have no doubt about. 

As stated 11 players signed by NW, players allowed out on loan, recovery periods during international breaks etc. The squad size, fitness and playing players in there right positions etc is down to NW. Not many strikers could score many goals with NW tactics anyway. NW is only part of the problem but he has to carry the biggest load. 

Effectively what you imply is needing at least 8 to 10 good players next season all match fit and ready to go. Neither the manger is up for it and neither the money or players  are available. 
 

Some of what you state is questionable but I do admire your explanation and defense of NW. 
 

 

 

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On 5/13/2021 at 2:15 PM, SmogDane said:

We let in way too many soft goals .. 

Yes every team has injuries ... But take away Hall and/or Fry and our defence is made up of midfielders  and wingbacks ... and that's without counting Fisher and Dijk who were also out injured the last third of the season or so ...

Our squad was too thin from the start, so injuries affected us more than it should ...  

We haven't been a prolific goal scoring team in decades .. Not under Karanka even 

.. We have been a solid team .. but when you have to play Howson, Spence, McNair and the likes in 3 of 4 spots ... It's impossible to be solid ... 

I am still full of hope for next season ... It's doable to get a better team, even under NW, which I am no fan of, but I am not anti NW as some are. 

Transfers must be done or we are done ... That's my biggest concern, not who's in charge.

Well Warnock did at least show at Cardiff that if he can bring enough players in, he can create a good team.

Whether he can repeat that trick under much tougher financial conditions remains to be seen.

 

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On 5/13/2021 at 9:13 PM, SmogDane said:

And I can't buy into why people are desperately ignoring lots of info about a thin squad, injuries and really poor player performances, just to keep blaming the manager. 

Not a lot of players were available .. The best ones went to other clubs, cause they could probably offer them more. 

Again, I dont like NW, but I think some of you found a scapegoat. 

I don't blame Warnock so much for the player situation, but I do blame him for some questionable decisions regarding team selections, subs etc. during games when we have looked all at sea. Also not trying harder to make the best use of the players he had, (see his "no decent strikers" comment), or giving younger players more opportunities when the senior players got injured, or were not performing as expected.

I still feel his judgement is suspect in a few areas.

 

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And this is who I fear will be our next manager

 

Season 5 No GIF by The Office No No No GIF by Back to the Future Trilogy oh my god no GIF by ESPN México

Not another "safe pair of hands"...not to mention someone else who must surely be contemplating retirement soon.

Don't want Boro to end up becoming the Brighton of the North East (where old people go to retire).

 

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