AsheAshe 55 Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 Interested to see a show of hands! Link to post Share on other sites
wilsoncgp 9,228 Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 Personally I think it's a bit daft to be worried about Woody any more or less than anyone was before his appointment. I don't think there's enough evidence to prove he's going to be a good or bad appointment. I also think there are bigger problems at our club than the head coach and that he's taking far too much flak from the vocal minority for problems that ultimately aren't his fault. Listening to some of that radio phone-in yesterday after the game was dreadful, some of the messages they were getting in were just as bad. You pay your money into the club and you more than earn your opinion, without doubt. But the way some go on, it's like they want him to fail just to be proven right. At the end of the day, we've not been rank bad. We've been average and that's as much as I can personally expect from a rookie coaching staff with big ideas on how to change the philosophy at this club. And Woody doesn't even have the benefit of being in a similar position to Monk, who had some experience as well as £50m invested into a squad he wanted. 8 Link to post Share on other sites
TeaCider24 12,396 Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 Worried, but it's just one of those things. Tweak a few individual decisions on the part of referees and players and we'd be sitting pretty on 12 points even with unconvincing performances. We've not had that sprinkling of luck so far. Link to post Share on other sites
AsheAshe 55 Posted August 25, 2019 Author Share Posted August 25, 2019 I'm in the so-so camp at the moment - I think its too early to be genuinely worried, but at the same time need some positive signs (few wins would help) and I think some of our new signings haven't yet come good - but the ones that people moaned about most of last season (McNair, Fletcher) have shown positive signs themselves - so given time to gel and bed in, hopefully some good progress. Be interesting to see how we do against some of the heavy hitters in the league. Link to post Share on other sites
Denzel Zanzibar 6,931 Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 I voted so-so, it's early days and Woody and the coaching staff are still figuring out what works best. Don't forget we've still got Fry to come back into the squad which should hopefully tighten us up at the back a bit. Link to post Share on other sites
Essuuaitch 330 Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 could really opt for any of the final 3 choices tbh. But as ive said in previous posts . ill judge Gibson on this appointment ,not Woodgate. It worryingly looks like JW is going to prove that he wasnt ready to the what is a big step up to management in this competetive league , which a massive proportion of our fans believed was going to be the case all along. What i saw at Luton actually gave me hope that his philosophy of a more adventurous style of play would win me over but within these subsequent games since then ive lost that hope quite a bit. its going to be a painful.ardous long and testing time keeping faith in things over the next year or so . where i will gave Woody credit IS with identifying the players we needed to move on . sadly though the club has bigger failings above Woodgates station and whether he realises it or not ,he is nothing more than a puppet with Gibbo operating his strings . the bigger question therefore is .....if it goes completely wrong with opting for JW how long will it take for SG to tuck into his humble pie and admit another appointment error. Link to post Share on other sites
Dan1234 1,048 Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 It's not Woodgate I'm worried about and this is coming from someone who didn't want him. Its Gibson and the clowns around him that worry me, they've shafted Woodgate good and proper in the transfer window. 8 Link to post Share on other sites
DurhamRed 2,043 Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 It's hard to judge Woodgate as he's probably working with the weakest squad Boro have had since Mowbray and even then he had a bit more flair with the likes of Ledesma 1 Link to post Share on other sites
jamesp 125 Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 Fine margins in the first few games, threw away 2 points at Luton missing a penalty, 2 goals wrongly disallowed against Brentford, questionable penalty decision at Blackburn, clear penalty turned down against Millwall. We would have easily had 13 points if things had gone our way. Impressed at how much McNair, Fletcher and Johnson have improved under him, they have gone from nothing to key players this season and that is really encouraging to see 3 Link to post Share on other sites
pikerman 1,089 Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 Worried because we have yet to play any of the teams I expect to finish in the top 10. A steep learning curve fo Woodgate, will he climb it, who knows, it is too early to say Link to post Share on other sites
boroie 484 Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 I'm so-so, but I am a little worried also. I want him to succeed, but he really has to make a silk purse out of a sows ear with the squad. We have a reasonable starting 11 when all are fit, but any injuries or suspensions leave us very thin. There are no loans either, which means we need to rely on the academy. This is very much sink or swim time. If he does succeed, it will be in spite of circumstances instead of due to them. With a bit more luck we would have more points on board, that would at least improve morale amongst the fanbase. However when you look at the XG stats (from my favourite footy stats site) you can see we would not be all that better off (1 point and 4 places), albeit XG is a rather simplistic model. The caveat there is that a denied stonewall penalty does not count towards XG, hence our figure would certainly be higher if any of the recent penalties had been given to us. https://experimental361.com/2019/08/24/expected-goals-league-tables-23-25-aug-2019/ Link to post Share on other sites
Rioch's Braves 711 Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 Lets be fair Woodgate's been given a bum hand, and the style of football he's trying to play isn't going to be achieved overnight it most definitely is a work in progress. Instead of some of the idiots calling for his head already ( not talking about fans on here) I wish they'd give the bloody lad a chance, he at least deserves that. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
chickenlunch 315 Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 I'm expecting nothing more than a solid mid-table this season tbh, hopefully by the end of the second half of the season we'll start to see the team consistently performing how Woodgate wants. Build towards a serious promotion challenge next season. As has been said, turning around several seasons of defensive footballing managers on a shoestring budget isn't gonna happen overnight. Link to post Share on other sites
AsheAshe 55 Posted August 25, 2019 Author Share Posted August 25, 2019 I think with what we have spent mid-table would probably be a result. Wonder if that would make it more possible to retain Randolph/ Britt / fry etc or if the result would persuade them to be off Link to post Share on other sites
TeaCider24 12,396 Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 En route the play-off final, we lost 3 games of the first 5 under Karanka. All 3 were bottom half teams. I'm not expecting it, but I'd love something similar to happen this season. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
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