Most liked posts in thread: Graham Alexander during games

We didn't really play shit did we. We just could not score. We went from a back 5 to a back 2 from the 81st minute onwards, and threw on all our attacking players. I honestly do not think GA could have done any more than he did

At some point the players need to just admit they got us into this mess, regardless of who is barking the orders from the touchline

 

If that were to happen, i'd personally prefer Smallwood to be dropped than Gilly. The amount of misplaced passes from the captain is criminal. For a player skippering a championship club before coming to us, he has been one of the most frustrating and biggest letdowns for me out of all our signings. He certainly does not live up to the promise that we all thought we were getting

But that is a different discussion/thread

 

At some point the ones responsible for recruitment need to admit they got us into this mess.

 

On the subject of communication. Anyone else notice this. We sit in E block level with the edge of the penalty area at the kop end. Latish on in the game, one of the FGR subs who was warming up on the touchline ran onto the pitch and gave a note to the full back. He read it and went over to the centre half and showed it to him then during the break in play handed the note back to someone in the FGR dug out. Not sure if it's within the rules but it was something I have never seen before

 

That's

That's probably where it all fell apart. If he's on O2 the coverage is sh#te in the main stand. The orders won't have sent til he left the ground.

 

Smallwood pretty much said this in his post match, without saying it directly.

GA has been in stands for several weeks now. He has various technology options and for me it’s only an alternative vantage point that he believes aid him.

The problem is the players IMO. When Ridealgh cannot complete a simple pass from the back, how does been on the sideline change this?
When Kelly receives the ball at feet and makes his first action to launch it up in the air down the throat of their CB, how does been on the sideline change this?
When we get into the final third and then poor quality or decision making breaks the attack down (per last night), why does been on the sideline change this?

At some stage players have to take responsibility. For me, this is where we need to address for next season.

 

He can't tell them if he is sat up in the stands every home match. The melt needs to get back on the touch line.

 

I think a lot of this is on Alexander. We are so much more composed with Macdonald on the pitch. I’d much rather he started and came off after 55/60 minutes, than not start at all. If it meant dropping Gilliead then fair enough. We’ve seen what this team is capable of, but the manager chops and changes and all the wheels come off.

 

He made the subs alright but had no bloody plan to go with it, it was just a Mish mash of players falling over themselves with no idea who was supposed to be where or what the sodding tactic was.

The majority of his attacking subs are like for like players (bad recruitment) ok he may tweak the odd thing but nothing drastic and then when we get desperate it's just a case of anything goes. For the last ten minutes last night we just played hit and hope with snow white and the seven dwarfs in the box

 

The only part of this that would be technically wrong is the sub entering the pitch, other than that there's nothing wrong with it. There have been a couple of funny moments with notes that went viral like Ross Wallace snatching a note from a Huddersfield player and in the last womens Euro final Toone and Russo tried to read a note despite neither of them reading German. Normally once the note has been read by the last person they put it down their sock rather than returning it to the bench.

 

It was his (GA) only error for me last night. The pitch was hindrance, not an excuse, but the only player I would have bet have the quality we needed to make something happen in the final third, it was Macdonald.

 

don’t they have radio/phones between his seat in the stand and the bench?

 

ah ok I'd never noticed it before. Walker came on at half time and it was later than that so maybe it happened more than once
Or maybe I was enjoying myself so much the time just flew

 

Can't believe people are upset about where the manager sits at home games haha

 

Totally disagree. If he gets a better perspective from the stand then why shouldn't he sit there ? It's easy enough to get a message down. On your other point, I'm damn sure he made it quite clear that he wanted them to stop it.

I applaud him for not singling out players the way that DD did and I'm sure he will get it right next season.

 

Spot on. I've never seen a formation like it, and you can't blame GA for not trying to change the game. This was one of those where if we'd scored halfway through the second half we could have gone on to win 5.1.

My only beef is I would have left Halliday on and taken Smallwood off, leaving Gilly more advanced.