When do we start to question Hopkin?

You might be right. 11 v 11, we had a far superior team and the stats would suggest that the tactics were right, which leaves only one answer to why did we lose today? Remember the last time we left this division. Late on it looked to between us and Orient but we had the better team on paper and we had to play them at home. We outplayed them but lost. They went on to stay up and a lot of our players simply couldn't give a toss.

 

Clearly written while you are still in a rage and I don't think many will argue against it. However, Julian was the one to get rid of Colin Todd and I would be surprised if he was ready to press the same button now

 

And in a roundabout way DH was saying the same after the match about our current players, its pretty damning when a manager has to say about professional players "they owe me and my management team for the work we put in and all the fans" - in my interpretation this is saying they haven't got the heart for the fight, or at least are not showing it

 

Couldn't care less m8, i've had it with Hopkin. He couldn't win a game when it was literally handed to him on a plate. Hell, if it wasn't for that last gasp winner against the Shrews then we'd be further behind. I was prepared to back him but today has really pissed me off.

 

Where's this far superior team? It's a fallacy. We have a couple of decent enough individuals but team? We need to get away from this myth, this lot are so far away from being a decent team its unreal.

 

I wasn’t there today thankfully, but I listened to it. I can barely think about what happened. If we can’t beat 10 men, plus the fact they couldn’t buy a win before today says everything tbh. Whether it is the players who DH can’t motivate or the players themselves that are completely unable to be motivated who knows; but I cannot see us climbing out of this. I am not sure that replacing him tomorrow would achieve what we want.

The situation is dire for the club, and it will take some sorting out.

 

Hopkin states he will ring the changes next week but how do we really change it from today?

We have no other options unless he goes back to wingers and plays wood and Mellor out wide until Scannell is back

Aside from that I don’t know how we change it

 

But Rhodes was right to get rid of Todd. His mistake was giving the job to Wetherall.

Hell, I’d rather we gave Evans the job until the end of the season than keep giving Hopkin another chance. If he manages to keep this shower up, he gets a longer contract. Keep with Hopkin and we’ll be a L2 club in a few months.

 

That's the problem. Everyone we signed in January was like for like, nothing different.

 

I've just listened to his interview and how he will change things with players coming in. Whats he gonna change? Januarys bewildering transfer dealings have, if anything, left us with less options than before. Hard to believe eh? Letting strikers Bruenker and Jones go and releasing McGowan has left us with no players in those positions to come in, regardless of how good they were we were under the impression that they would have been replaced with better versions. Instead we recruited players in positions we were already covered for. This season cannot end quick enough for me, been an absolute shambles.

 

Only change I can think of is to go 3 at the back. We have no width anyway so may as well give it a go. Ball up front with Doyle, Payne behind, Caddis on the right and Wood on the left. Mellor in at the back.

 

I have no idea what he is going to do, clearly the players are not playing for him. Also it seemed we didn’t have a plan when we were faced with 10 men. It should have flattened them, but it inspired then with a back to the wall type mentality. I have actually seen previous City teams react similarly.

The lack of direction and plans from DH, is worrying. We don’t have any effective leaders on that pitch apart from Caddis. That would be my first change, take The captaincy off O’Connell. Put two up front, Ball and Doyle. He needs to find players who can play on the wing, and we are knee deep in midfielders, so pick a couple. I have no idea about the back four apart from Caddis.

FFS predictive txt, sorry I have edited it.

 

And the New signings for me have been a disappointment so no help there.

 

The inevitable is staring us in the face now. Fundamental squad problems will be the reason we go down and we did nothing in January to address it despite being told to the contrary. There problems are so glaringly obvious they slap you in the face every game. Arguably the worst centre back pairing i've seen at the club. A problematic left back spot. No pace throughout the entire team especially upfront. A pathetically weak side physically, possibly the smallest side i've seen at Valley Parade in my time watching the club. No wide players/wingers to stretch teams. Worst set of strikers i've seen at the club for many a year.

A few decent results against piss poor struggling sides in December glossed over the fact that as a team we are actually completely crap. Its now at the stage where we forget this season and worry about how the hell we are gonna stop this ship sinking further in league 2. Once the loan players have departed look at the shite we are left with and an ever growing deficit to contend with.

 

The problem we have is that even if DH walked out, I don’t think any manager can fashion a winning team out of them. I really fear for the club. I think it is time for honesty with the fans. Normally I would say the end of the season, but we are trying to sell season tickets in the midst of this realisation we are going down. It is time for a Rupp to say what his intentions are exactly.

 

Coming up to January 1st, we knew where our critical weaknesses were. Hopkin is adamant he wants new recruits in at the beginning of January, presumably to help the good work done in December. Come the end of January we are no better off and weaker in key positions. Because of this we are effectively doomed despite what happy clappers like Park Bantam think. We can't just pretend this problems have gone away, January was for me the final nail in the coffin, it was our last chance to salvage our league one status.

 

I don’t disagree, I was just as dissapointed. I want to know what happened, because DH comes across as honest so something has happened. Pointless to speculate, we need answers.

 

He was hoping Wright and Riley packed their bags on January 1st but it didn't happen. We have no money, and the begging bowl didn't have enough copper coins in for players we were after hence ringing Clarke on the last day. In truth Hopkin isn't to blame for the situation we find ourselves in. Its like building a wall on dodgy ground then painting over the cracks and wondering why they keep appearing. The fundamental problems at this club are too deep seated to sort in January. It would have been advantageous to bring in a striker and a centre back to at least give us a fighting chance of beating the drop, but even that was beyond us.
Next season brings a new start and a fresh challenge for whoever is at the helm of the ship. We'll have to wait and see just how bad the damage to the ship is when the summer clean up is done, another brand new squad beckons, the third in as many years.