Considering they are playing in the championship, to say they dont have the characteristics to be successful footballers is something of a stretch in all fairness. This whole mentality thing is a symptom of what you've highlighted - we're a group of individuals patched up with loans and not an integrated team. Its down to the rampant short term-ism of our recruitment and managerial approaches. Get some stability here and the mentality will improve
Don't forget Zola ("the nicest guy in football"). I don't think it's possible to bully these wealthy young men into playing well. They need someone who makes going into work every day enjoyable. I'd also suggest we need someone capable of actually improving the ability of the players individually. I can't actually think of any player that's got better at what he does under our various Pozzo-era managers - in fact, most have probably got worse
Without a doubt the most uninspiring promotion we've seen, for various reasons. Blackburn scored more than we did that season and they finished 15th
Christ! How mental do you have to be to do this??!! I managed to watch for about 50 seconds. I defy anyone to last longer
I just remembered, we had two weeks to prepare for yesterday. Two weeks and they looked gassed after 20 minutes. We’ve got two games in three days next weekend. LOL.
I doubt they did any training at all in that time as if you’re not fit in July you can’t get fit until the following July. Remember when Ivic got the sack because it wasn’t fun enough for the players and he worked them too hard LOL.
Not saying everything is thinking like this, but it's funny that a season where we went from something like 10 points behind Brentford to pipping them to automatic promotion with something to spare while breaking several records in the process (like 19 home wins) to bounce back up to the top flight at the first attempt (the only time we've achieved that) is commonly regarded as our "worst" promotion, whereas the 1997/98 season, during which we only scored 4 more goals, picked up fewer points and had a worse goal difference in a lower division, is regarded as one of our best. Perhaps that's influenced by the fact we won a rare trophy in that season?
I don't want to be too down on the promotion season of two years ago, after all, we have to take any happiness we can get, but, apart from the obvious point that we largely couldn't go to the games, we were in second gear for much of that season. Almost every time a team gets relegated, they'll be favourites to bounce back, but (and I can't speak about the 97/98 as it was before my time) 2 seasons ago kind of felt inevitable
I was coming round to Chumlax's way of thinking some time last season that Xisco isn't really manager material after all, but still it's a shame how his career has worked out since being sacked from us. Maybe our purple patch in 2020/21 was more down to him stumbling on a winning formula after Deeney's injury rather than any real tactical insight, but still it was enough to make him noticed by some clubs and for Huesca to appoint him the following season. I think the problem is he just started too late in management - some professions you really have to start ahead of the game to be successful assuming you have the innate talent - being a professional classical player or acting are other good examples.
Of course, our players trained like hell whilst Luton’s sat on their arses. Relative fitness levels clearly an irrelevant concept. What I’m finding bemusing is the suggestion that Edwards showed little to suggest he was going to be a success is being treated as some sort of defence of the club’s hierarchy. I realise how upset many people are; I am also totally p155ed with what’s happened since the cup SF; but the level of cyclopia at times is beyond ridiculous.
It was utterly pathetic, couple of spotty teenagers trying to look the part in their fake CP coats. Honestly not intimidating at all. Scum are over rated, have been to much more intimidating places. Shame we were forced to go by coach as have no issue making our own way.
Sadly it seems to be becoming an article of faith that Call Me Rob must be put on a pedestal if you’re to be accepted as a true believer in the Gino out stuff. Even to the extent of sneering at what are at least arguable points about the fitness of the squad coming out of pre-season and accusing longstanding posters of making up people they say they’ve got some insight from. Bemusing sums it up!
They were mostly either youngsters with the CP/Stone Island clobber trying to look ‘ard or older has-beens desperately trying to re-live the 1980s. It was embarrassing and I was expecting things to be thrown at coaches etc but nothing happened at all Having said that, had the result been the other way round im sure a lot of our fans would have done the same thing
I thought we had a fair discussion yesterday on this topic. I think it’s reasonable to be furious with Pozzo and his henchmen but also no t to have rated Edwards. I personally don’t think Edwards was given enough time. I liked him. One thing I think is absurd is to be blaming Edwards for the lethargy shown by the squad 2 managers and World Cup break later. The fact is this is a rotten club with a rotten culture driven from the top. The players simply don’t care as it’s a circus.
Much like the Lacoste and Tommy Hilfiger of the past, CP is just another brand that people with little brain cells wear. Stands for “Chester Perry”. A little cringey imo
Fair points, but I am still of the opinion that poor conditioning before the season starts is very difficult to rectify, no matter what in-season breaks there may be. Sometimes maybe the shortfall can be made up during the season, but more often than not it won’t be. The attempt itself often leads to under-fit players suffering injury. That sounds familiar.
CP was started by the guy to started Stone Island, Massimo Osti. CP came first but Stone Island came to prominence as a casual brand first gaining wide popularity. CP is notable for its iconic Goggle branding on the hood of many pieces or the lense price on the sleeve. I think now Mike Ashley owns a good portion of the company and it can be found in sports direct! Would steer clear of it as descended into the ultimate chav terrace wear.
Yeah of course Bilic holds significant responsibility too - fark knows what he did with the WC break, which seemed like a golden opportunity to reset fitness levels. We arguably looked worse afterwards and injuries piled up in quick succession. Ruinous stuff. Around the time the sack drumbeat started for him there were things on Twitter suggesting he was notorious at previous clubs for not training his players well enough. If true he's another pisspoor Pozzo appointment. Not sure I'd give Wilder any chance of having any impact on fitness levels at this late stage of the season though, when presumably the focus is mainly on managing conditioning and injuries to see out 46 games over core fitness work. That said, I suspect a sports science student could write a dissertation setting out evidence about the long term effects of an inadequate pre-season and the ability to recover any lost ground once the playing season begins, especially with the frequency of games in the Championship. It can't be black and white. So I do find it a little odd when some are so quick to dismiss the idea that Edwards bears a lot of or even most responsibility. The evidence of my own eyes in those first few games is we weren't up to the level needed. Even the wins against Sheff Utd, Burnley etc had a backs to the wall, hanging on aspect to them (the latter even before Kamara's brainless tackle). And we huffed and puffed and wilted against teams like Rotherham that plainly had more in the tank than us.
Funny how the injuries piled up during and after the WC break; a result of overdoing it with players already suffering from a lot of games played whilst insufficiently conditioned?
What is your opinion on the Ivic sacking? Apparently the players don’t like him and thought he was too tough on them in training.
Rumours and stories change constantly over the years, but wasn’t one of the big positives about our original promotion season the fact that player fitness was monitored by a team in Italy? I can’t recall the exact story but I seem to remember it being a thing to use to fan Gino on his throne. The team monitored the training intensity etc and was a big factor in our scouting as we had baselines and stats and all those cool things.
Excellent point. I'm sure that ran for some time didn't it ? I think both Zola and QSF received some stick from above for not hitting squad targets. Maybe once we got to the "large Deeney" & Rose eras they decided it was futile ?
What is your opinion on the Ivic sacking? Apparently the players didn’t like him and thought he was too tough on them in training. I appreciate that’s aimed at me, I’m a long standing poster and I’ve heard from several sources that Rob Edwards pre-season was absolutely fine, does me saying that make it anymore true?
Has there been any suggestion there was any issue with Edwards and his training? We have had fitness issues for some time no matter who the manager has been.
