Vs PNE (football league cup)

All part of Edin's clear out of those that failed in the 6 games up to Stuart's sacking. C u next tuesday

 

It’s nothing to do with formations the players are crap

 

Very poor defending. After the first goal the defender just cowers away after they score. As for OConner, babber wooooOOOOO

 

To the point but having observed some of our current players over a period of time I think we do have some VERY average footballers on our books. Just listened to Trevor Sinclair chatting about the drive and determination from within for young players to succeed in the modern game (and in this media savvy modern world for many 'fame' comes before it is earned) which is obviously essential - but it has to be married to ability and too many of our team seem to be lacking these fundamental attributes.

As a coach I know the value of motivation - both team and individual, systems of play that the players can understand and buy into, fitness and wellbeing - both physical and mental etc etc . But without individual drive and ability from your players there is a real limit to what you can achieve - you can become tougher to beat, you can maintain a shape but can you go on to win a match against the odds, to find that essential spark that can be the deciding factor. All the coaching in the world doesnt deliver that, it comes from within the players and their will to succeed and their ability that lifts them above what is going on around them.

Despite all the talk from GB about 'clean starts' and 'no baggage' I honestly think many of the players who have been with us for the past 18 months are still carrying the mental scars of what happened. And with so many of them still being at the club it would be impossible for it not to have some impact on the guys coming into the club this summer. We do look like we have recruited some good (and strong) characters (Paudie, Vaughan) but whatever Bowyer says about only having players who have the right mental strength to cope with the challenges ahead, from a psychological viewpoint I think we have too many who are 'shot' from last season. They are either struggling to release their ability as footballers or perhaps as Lord stated, some of them are just not very good and dont have it in them to make a difference. I think this is highlighted by the amount of times we pass sideways, take the easy option, run forward and then turn back when we get so far etc.

I am very frustrated by the way the season has started (as most of us are), I thought we were coming into it with some momentum, but I dont think it is time to start talking about replacing GB. We are a league 2 club and we have to accept that, and we also have to accept that turning things round is probably going to take a little longer than we would ideally like. As a league 2 club who would we attract who is better than GB and I honestly believe all the points I have made above wont go away whoever is our manager. Bowyer has made some strange decisions I admit and has so far talked the talk better than he has walked the walk, but it is obvious to me now that things will not change overnight - I just hope GB is strong enough to make some difficult calls in accepting some of the decisions he has made re players who are not quite up to it for a whole range of reasons.
Sorry this is a bit longer than intended and a bit of a waffle but hope I the points I was trying to make come through

 

I think its the players that need to look at their attitude. They're the ones who were allegedly playing for a start in the first team but completely blew it. Too many reverting to type.....no, playing to the best of their ability. Need to clear the decks at the earliest opportunity. As for Bowyer, he was clearly as unhappy as you at what he saw. The bad negative, defeatist mentality from last season is still ingrained in some unfortunately.

 

I thought we were all giving O'Connor a fresh start?

no. he's still a waste of space and stealing a living? good. just so I know where we're at.

get rid of the gutless cretin. he should have been first out of the door in May.

 

I think he has the football potential to do a good job (although last nights 3rd goal was just a joke) but sadly there are some bad character traits that keep appearing

 

Just compared the Preston starting line up to the one which started Saturday against Wigan and there wasn’t a single player who started Saturday who started last night.
So did we really get hammered by a Championship team? I’d say no we got hammered by a Championship reserve team.
If only we’d have played our strongest team, we had an opportunity to proceed.

 

How was Longridge last night? Worth a start ahead of Henley?

 

I thought he was one of the few that did himself justice last night. Definitely worth a start ahead of Henley in my view.

 

Good in my opinion. Got forward when he could and looked generally solid. He had a very tough night against barkhuizen but he did well despite him scoring twice. His two goals came from others mistakes.

He’s worth a start on Saturday

 

Not in Bowyers world. He'll play him at right back and then we'll all hammer him when he inevitably struggles.

 

Yet he offered contracts to three midfielders who were part of last year's squad when he could have got rid of them. And they're not very good as we knew.

 

What a damn good and sensible post !
It's a relief to know that others share my understanding and values.

 

Agree it is now looking a very strange decision, I think at the time we all thought they would be mainly as back up and reasonably cheap options with the 'main man' yet to arrive at the club - of course that might still happen

 

Yeah

 

Favours his left foot so already at an advantage. Just need a left winger/ midfielder to tie him with now.

 

My beef with him was that he must have seen us struggling to form partnerships in the middle of the pitch and up front. So why the chuff not use the game to try to tweak us so we were ready for the weekend.

If he’s going to persevere with his preferred formation, against all odds, why not use this bonus game to try to get Vaughan, Donaldson and another player to link up better?

It was pointless of him to throw Doyle up front on his own. Did he not see it failing last season? Why not just tweak his side and try to get some performances and consistency going?

 

So we’ll have to make 8 changes again next Tuesday??

 

Preston were the away team, and evens to win the match. Bookies obviously knew they were much better than us, that we're on a poor run, and that it could be a potential cricket score. I thought 7.6 wasn't bad at all.