Gary Bowyer - when do we judge?

I think we need to give GB time to make it his team but we can't hide from so many of his baffling/awful managerial decisions/selections, hope I'm wrong but my guess is he's going to fail miserably. Offering contracts to Devine and Anderson when our midfield is the poorest I can remember is just wierd, then paying an awful footballer in Doyle in an attacking midfield role is just inexcusable, Scannell on the bench, the list goes on.

 

Didn't PP get Colchester promoted?

 

Yep, also took Charlton to the league one playoff semi-finals, also managed Hull City in the Championship.

 

The more I've thought about it during the day the more plausible the 'season of consolidation' scenario has become. If it's not the case, then our recruitment and preparation for the season, and subsequent team selections, have simply been incompetent. Last night's team showed a lack of respect for a competition that has been kind to us in recent memory, and total disdain for our fans who paid to watch on the assumption that we were trying to win the game.

 

I don’t get all the noise about league 2 being a shit pool.
I honestly don’t see much difference between the top half of league 2 and the bottom half of league 1.
In fact I’d say the shit pool is anything below championship level.
We might have been poor at Grimsby but they dug in and earned a draw. Make no mistake our team from last season, which was only the beginning of May would have been hammered on Saturday, under that barrage we would have completely folded. Gillingham away springs to mind as a comparison.
So three months down the line GB has added a team ethic and determination that Grayson, Collins and Hopkin couldn’t muster. For sure we have yet to click and it’s frustrating watching them misfire, but we’re two games in!!
Have a little faith and patience for gods sake.
On a side note I wouldn’t put it past GB to have played last nights team to prove a point to our owner......Akpan not good enough as a senior pro, without experience around them the younger players can’t do a job, without a vocal
Partner Alongside screaming at him AO’C switches off, unbelievable he was even considered captain material. However he looks ok with Richards-Everton along side him.

 

Spot on. Glad someone else agrees some of the cup team selections may have been to prove a point. I hope Rhodes and Rupp are listening!

 

After Bowyer's post match comments about challenging the players to put a marker down for Saturday and being disappointed some didn't do that, I'll be judging him alright if the likes of Anderson Akpan and Doyle are anywhere near the starting 11 on Saturday.

 

That was lg1 to champ so doesn't count

 

There are conflicting things with Bowyer with regards to the game. He talked in the press before about our history makers and said he told our current lot to make a bit of history themselves......then he made eight changes.

Compare that to a team like Sunderland who, at Accrington, seemed to go near full strength.

He obviously wasn’t bothered about progressing and used the game as a chance to give the fringe lads a run out. He didn’t expect us to win did he, even though the fans were hoping to see us finally get a win on the board.

The silver cloud to the defeat was that he now goes into a meeting with the board with a stronger negotiating hand. If there was any room for us to bring in a few loans, he can now say we need them even more than before as some of the backups are gash.

If we’d won the game after rotating he would have boosted morale and had the opportunity to progress in the competition....though he (and we) knew early on the chance of success last night was slim.

Im just surprised he took the option he did. Naming our best XI to try get a win on the board would have been my preferred choice!

 

Sounds like conspiracy theories are alive and kicking at VP, i mean, playing poor players out of position to prove a point. Honestly, i’ve read some daft things in my time.

 

I was thinking the same - we will probably see just how 'disappointed' he was this weekend. Problem is there are not really many alternatives who are fit and make the team better! Shows just where we are and the real strength of our squad

 

Drury also needs to take some responsibility for the lacklustre start. Can't see his coaching having much effect so far.

 

When Bowyer got Blackpool promoted, he won just 2 of his first 9 league games (drawing 4 and losing 3).

Seems feasible that after 9 games he could have a similar record here - and that was good enough for them.

Bowyer signed 11 players that Summer -

2 GK
4 DEF
2 MID
3 STR

Come January, he signed 2 more strikers and 1 midfielder.

He used the loan market to bring in FOUR midfielders (3 in January).

He relied heavily on the loanee midfielders, and rarely dropped the two that he signed preseason (Daniel & Jack Payne).

So far, there is a definite parallel between what happened at Blackpool and what is happening here, as well as where he obviously puts his priorities - ie, defence and attack rather than midfield.

I think we can expect him to bring in a loanee midfielder or maybe even buy one if Rupp gives him any money - but that would be above and beyond what he did at Blackpool, which, ultimately, was all he needed to do.

 

Whilst I agree in part, seems to have worked for those down the road in a LS postcode. Sacked manager after manager and have now got one that win get them up this time.

Had Bowyer realised his mistakes and was trying to right the wrongs, then fair enough, give him time. But making the same mistakes week after week is inexcusable

 

After 2 league games into the season and we have a manager still persevering with a formation that isn’t working; playing Doyle as a no10 and picking the worst midfielders we have ever had. Then, on top of that, he re-signed Devine, Anderson and Colville. And to top it all off, on Tuesday night he played a player that Bowyer himself has admitted struggles playing the lone-striker role.

“Ashamed”? Yep, I’m currently ashamed of Bowyer...!

 

TBF, those calling for his head weren’t the ones lapping up any propaganda in pre-season

 

Whilst he may have brought in a number over the season i seem to recall that 5-6 of the starting players winning the play off final were actually at the club when he was appointed. The neucleous were already there when he was put into the role.

 

It’s irrespective. Signing up players we all knew weren’t good enough is unacceptable. Just because 1st choices aren’t available, you don’t go back to options you know aren’t good enough.

Are you seriously saying there are NO midfielders in any league that aren’t better than Akpan, Anderson, Devine et al? And we can’t afford any of them? If this is the case and we aren’t going to strengthen before the end of August, will you still be watching us next season in the Conference?