Most liked posts in thread: What Next?

I don't know what they can say anymore tbh.

I'm bored of the we go again, build on the platform type messages.

Regardless of the cheap(er) tickets, there's 15k of us. We should not be in this division. I'm tired of us being the club that cannot get it right. Luton had it far worse than us and are 90 mins from the Prem. Cov, Bolton both bounced back first time from this level. We're into our 5th year, it's not just failure it's embarrassing. I know you are where you deserve to be, but we're quite literally competing with village teams (FGR) in some cases. Appalling.

The club has to come out swinging this next season. And on the pitch that means more pace, more athleticism and more directness. L2 isn't a difficult league to get out of, 2 of the 3 teams already promoted came bottom half last season. And the two play off finalists came 20th and were in the National League. Sort it out City. Less talking, more action.

 

I'd love Hughes to come out and say he got certain tactics wrong throughout the season and acknowledge that he was perhaps too over-cautious at times.

Followed by a promise to have a bit more attacking intent next season and really go for it.

That in my opinion is all we need, because at the moment it sounds like he's doubling down on his tactical thinking by saying it had nothing to do with tactics when he's the only one who can't see it for what it is/was.

 

On a separate note.

Obviously don’t know who’s coming in but peoples thoughts on Smallwood keeping the armband.

Can’t remember a less inspiring captain.
Just doesn’t seem to have the ability to lift those round him and occasionally seemed to sulk when it wasn’t going well.

Personally I’d go for Stubbs.

 

Nah. He's been a massive disappointment. I was expecting either (1) a Gary Jones-style box-to-box leader or (2) a Nathan Doyle enforcer/quarterback or (3) a Josh Cullen type who read the game, broke up play and quickly moved it on to more attacking players.
Unfortunately, he was none of those things. He doesn't have the legs or the leadership for the Jones role; he's not as dominant in the tackle nor has the passing range of Doyle; and he doesn't read the game as well or shift the ball as quickly as Cullen.

All in all, he's been a big letdown.

 

Fair enough. Over the summer, there's always a mental reset and sense of optimism. What I want to see, is what are we going to do differently. Because if Hughes stays and if he remains wedded to this playing style - and both are likely - then its essential that we sign more energetic and proactive midfielders and more mobile, dynamic and frankly talented forwards. Reduce the overall squad size by 3 or 4 and focus more on quality.

Now, if I force myself to be glass-half-full, there's an argument to say he tried to do at least some of that in January. Costello and Nevers are both pacy and direct forward players. They're just sh*t. Similarly, the logic of bringing in an attack minded left back was sound - but he was also sh*t. The strategy and execution of our transfer policy needs to be much, much better in the summer. Hughes and Gent need to up their game because they've fallen short this season. Hughes especially - outperformed and out thought by several less illustrious managers this season

 

The only thing I’m interested in seeing first is the retained list

Then, see who we sign in the summer

Those 2 things alone are the only important things

 

The summer will be the same as it always is. We'll sign 2 or 3 players that convince us all we'll piss tye league but then be surprised when they turn out to be sh*t (Smallwood, Chapman, Walker, Oliver), sign 3 or 4 players who appear to be strange but convince ourselves there's a plan that makes sense (Young, Osadebe, East), go into the first game of the season full of optimism and backed by a bumper home or away following, then draw 0-0 playing drab football that creates nothing and start the process of convincing ourselves the squad just needs time to bond.

 

To repeat several of my posts on this matter throughout this season, Smallwood has been a massive disappointment, and we only saw an improvement when Clayton rocked up at the club to do the bulk of the dirty work

Any criticism levelled at Smallwood has been fully justified IMO

 

We’re all a bit gloomy after Saturday myself included and I agree about a poor January window and a lack of legs in midfield and especially a lack of goals. However despite the many faults in Hughes and our tactics we were 7 points off automatic promotion, a win against hapless Rochdale at home and hang on against Gillingham and or Mansfield Swindon when leading in injury time and we’d all be celebrating. Having said that I’m still grumpy and this defeat is taking some getting over.

 

Not a scapegoat at all. He left us from a Championship club and you expect a better performance.

Not once did I watch him and think he was a standout player. In fact we had to sign Clayton because he wasn’t a leader and also moved him out or position as a result.

He isn’t a scapegoat, he just wasn’t good. If you seriously think his legs haven’t gone and a really is the leader we require then I suggest you watch the season back again. Shite!

 

Where do we go from here? I'd imagine we had one of the most sizeable budgets in the league and the manager was well backed. What will next seasons budget be?

Its highly unlikely we're going to sack a manager who took us to the playoffs and in many respects we shouldn't. Its easy to make the case that stability will pay off and that we just need tweaks to go a step further next season. But is that really so? The playing style really hasn't worked this season. Far too often Cook has been isolated and we create little. We've relied on Cook getting on the end of set pieces and doing things for himself and we won't be able to rely on that next season because he won't be here.

The squad needs work. A lot of work. It's oversized but lacking in quality, pace and energy. The January window was a failure and right up to the end of the season we had common failings and gaps on the team sheet. Far, far too many players have made little to no impact or rarely featured. Perreira, East, Donohoe, Oliver, Young, Harratt, Nevers, Bola, to name a few.

I think next season will be a struggle and a hard decision needs to be made. I know some have an Allergic reaction to this, but I'd take Steve Evans. He plays the sort of direct, aggressive football that our fans want. He'd take us up. And Wellens was making very friendly noises when we played them. If there was any chance of tempting him here, I'd do it in a shot.

I really don't have confidence that Hughes will fare any better next season.

 

Don’t you watch us. He has been a shocking captain for us.

If he is still captain next season then that’s not good.

He tried to be a manager on the pitch but not a leader of men.

Let’s see who we sign but I would be dropping him from being a caption-100% and if he starts more games than not we are in trouble. His legs have gone.

 

I think Smallwood has been made a scapegoat by some. True he hasn’t been amazing but he has had a lot of good games as well as some poor ones. Played as a holding midfielder I think he is decent at this level

 

Evans would drop Stevenage in a breath to come here, regardless of a drop in division. I've absolutely no doubt about that.

 

That's exactly my worry too Park. Going into January, we were set in the playoffs and top 3 was there to go at. Our needs were obvious: A creative midfielder, more pace and creativity out wide, possibly another striker and a backup centre back. We brought in Bola, Stubbs, Clayton, Nevers, Costelloe, Derbyshire, Kelly. Deary me, that's a really poor window.

In fact, if you look at our transfer incomings overall and rate out of 10, I reckon you'd get something like this:

Lewis - 9/10 Excellent buy
Platt - 6/10 steady
Kelly - ? Hardly seen him
Bola - 2/10 See above, but looked awful when we did
Halliday - 7/10 decent, shame he had a shocker when it mattered most
Crichlow - 6/10 mixed
Odusina - 3/10 Who?
Smallwood - 6/10 plodder, who desperately needed someone more mobile and creative next to him
Clayton - 6/10 plodder, who desperately needed someone more mobile and creative next to him
East - 4/10 looked ok but hardly featured, squad player at best
Costelloe - 2/10 good lord
Osadebe - 3/10 Unlucky with an awful injury, but looked like Bambi in ice after coming back
Oliver - 3/10 3 year contract??
Derbyshire - 4/10 every bit the knackers yard washed up pro we expected
Chapman - 6/10 has ability but no end product
Walker - 6/10 has ability but no end product
Perreira - 4/10 forgot he was here
Young - 4/10 started well but obviously ran over Hughes cat or something
Harratt - 2/10 the least said the better
Nevers - 1/10 good lord
Banks - 7/10 decent, will be a player when he learns to make better decisions in the final third
Wright - 8/10 Excellent

Far more misses than hits, and anything close to a hit has generally been a defensive player. Hughes can't spot what it takes to build an effective attacking player or team this season. Cook has done what he's done in spite of Hughes tactics, not because of them.

 

Get the pair of them to play in goal together

 

That's what I could never understand. Hughes wanted to play a particular system but we signed loads of players that didn't fit it.