I stated it after the Bradford FA Cup match & have written it since. We are far too reliant on Freddie Potts and I believe we are a “one man team”. After he got subbed at half time it was like the Zulus at Rourkes Drift for the 2nd half. My big worry is “what happens next season when” when West Ham want to either keep him or send him out on loan to a Championship side?
Yesterday we only looked more of a threat when we went to 4 at the back. What’s the point in loaning Harry Boyes, supposedly having a wand of a left foot & can put in great crosses if he is playing so deep that he can’t get to the goal line to put those balls in.
We did create some chances yesterday but didn’t finish them off thanks to some stout defending. Morecombe did the same as well as Reading, defended deep and hit us on the break. It’s about time that Matty gave up on the three at back, go toa four and play further up the pitch 🤷♂️
If you have any formation with that has a narrow attack it needs graft. Vokes will graft within his capability and fitness, Taylor (L) will not. He’s a sulk, he’s a prima donna, he’s a moaner. He’s playing off a reputation from 2 years ago and that’s not helping our cause. Hopefully he’s gone in January and we can sign a striker who might score.
Is it better to make change now and give the new man a window, or see how things pan out and make a change when we’re deep into a relegation battle? Of course we may be cruising by March, but how likely is that? Certainly the only thing that’s saving Matt at the minute is his legend status. I feel for RC right now, damned if you do, damned if you don’t. As Ivor once said, relegation is not on our radar.
The legendary status is a result of longevity and being “a nice guy” loyal to a single club rather than a reflection of any particular playing or coaching prowess (although, to be fair, we have to evidence, one way or the other, of the latter).
I'd love to have been a fly on the wall when they made the decision to appoint MB - although I suspect it had been decided long in advance and we were never even going to consider other candidates.
Weird thing to be used as such a negative isn't it. We know he's committed, we know he cares, we know he's put the work in as a coach and at Col U, we know he was prepared to dump them for us as soon as we asked, should all be positives really.
He's tried to change the style a bit and always had to rotate the squad due to age, people wanting out, injuries and other factors. It hasn't gone well, that's fair to say but I don't think we will go down with him in charge or necessarily shoot up into the play offs or autos with someone more experienced, if that's the case (and plenty will disagree that it is) why do it now and not let us see if he was getting somewhere before the forwards and our best midfielder got injured. Might be some stability needed through any ownership changes too. There is a risk that if we change quickly we lose goodwill and reputation and if the next person can't turn it round they don't last long either.
Ultimately he needs some wins and better performances soon , can't hang on forever otherwise.
Having attended probably 90% of our home games in the last 40 or so years I have to say, watching Wycombe under Matt has become and always was for the most part boring and depressing
in days, not far gone by ,win or lose there were always talking points about the game and as has often been said even if we were playing poorly and a goal down you always thought we would get something back in the last few minutes
The games had drama, sometimes more drama than we wanted, but I would be literally on the edge of my seat for most of the match. Now only the cold prevents me from sometimes falling asleep. The football now is both boring and ineffective.
looking purely at the bottom line our attendances are going to go off ax cliff edge if we continue in this way, not only with the results but with the absolutely dire performances The atmosphere created by this diet of awful Football is now non-existent. For a lot of the game, you can now hear the players calling to each other on the pitch, never a good sign.for the record, I don’t sit close to the pitch. I’m up in the Frank Adams stand near the commentary position.
my tolerance is probably higher than many others, but with the appalling fare that is on display on the pitch and the limit in many peoples pockets financially, if nothing else, we may have to make the decision to change manager on financial grounds, Of course this decision isn’t helped by Robs rather bizarre decision to extend his contract after a few good results in the late summer.
we’ve had bad runs before with Gareth and his predecessors. Sometimes you can see that we will climb out of the hole we are in and sometimes you can’t. I have to say the current position ,as far as I’m concerned is the latter. A lot of being said about his legend status as a player That should have no bearing on any decision
passing all the coaching courses and being able to quote lots of stats doesn’t make you a good manager I’m afraid it’s all about motivating people The only stats that count, are goals scored goals conceded, and points on the league table
appointing him was either a bold or hasty decision. I saw him as perhaps a continuity candidate but with the slowly team evolving. He took a team and a system on the back of a five match winning run and on the verge of playoff places and immediately started making changes. that was his first of probably several mistakes
You could argue that he is learning on the job. Firstly I would suggest that he’s not learning anything the prime example being the absolute insistence on playing five at the back even though it fails match after match. Secondly, can we afford to have a manager learning on the job if it cost us our place in league one?
I think the appointment has backfired and I feel we need to admit we got it wrong and bite the bullet We need a change before we are going to Adam’s Park on a Saturday with crowds of around 2500 and struggling to avoid the drop
The key thing is the players just don't look like they're buying into his methods. They haven't for a good month or so, and there's no way back from that.
I don't know how anyone thinks they know this, we hear from players pretty regularly now, not that they are likely to sound off in public but it has been known, there haven't been any squabbles and there was no shortage of effort yesterday even if it was all huffing and puffing and no end product. It pretty clearly isn't effective but that isn't the same.
If Couhig really is to sell to the Kazakhstani based Georgian guy, then the latter will decide Matt’s future. We have no idea whether he is a give the manager time or a kneejerker or whether for example he will look to bring in his own manager perhaps from his part of the world.
I think the comments about how boring we've become under Bloomfield are really unfair. In recent weeks, yes that's probably true. You don't have to go back too far however and we were involved in some cracking matches. Even games we lost against Bolton and Charlton, whilst you might be able to pick faults in the performances, there was no doubting the entertainment on view. I don't think it's any coincidence that performance levels, confidence and results have taken a dive since we got hit by a spate on injures to key players. It's also for this reason, I think we should show more patience. Chances are we'd have struggled in recent weeks whoever the manager and whatever the tactics. Let's judge when we can put out a team something close to the side he wants to put out. We did have similar runs with similar levels of dissatisfaction under Ainsworth, but we always came out the other side. Whether we can do the same under Bloomfield will be decisive in his career I suspect. Let's at least give him that chance. If he's not good enough, I suspect we'll find out over the next month or 2.
I don't think they are unfair at all, I think we became pretty boring by the end of last season when Matt decided to do things his own way and rip up how the team were playing. We are slow, giving teams time to organise themselves, playing lots of 10 yard sideways passing is not entertaining to me. The best I've seen us play this season was Fleetwood away, I'm not as convinced about this magical period people keep going on about when we were apparently 70's Brazil reincarnated, I can't remember it, people keep saying Charlton away, first half Charlton away we were terrible ! He's won 10 in 34, that is nowhere near good enough, he's only still here because of who he is. As it happens I wouldn't get rid of him right now, but, I don't think he has many games left if this carries on, any new manager if we get one should get the January window.
Yes I remember how everyone was behind him that first full season and when we lost that penultimate Bristol Rovers game the cheers brought tears to the eyes. Gaz was exceptional...but if we had a pot to piss in he'd have been exceptional elsewhere after Torquay. If we've got money for a youth team,hot water and a new management team, MB might be gone. I suspect we haven't and he is here for the season come what may.
I still think we will be mid-table...as I thought we would at the start of the season.
Great post. Peterborough is a very difficult place to go, and their fans were saying we were the best team they had played. Even Fergie said they were lucky to get a point.
@ReturnToSenda He did, but it still often took us a long time to get us out of the bad spells. @HolmerBlue The end of last season wasn't good, that's a fair comment. But we were very much improved this season and for a while we looked to have the makings of a very exciting team. It's gone badly wrong the last couple of months and I appreciate that can't solely be attributed to injuries, but it's clear they haven't helped. With players returning, Christmas is a crucial period. If we're still losing, still struggling to score into the new year, then sadly the Couhigs may have to say thanks, but goodbye. Every manager (good or bad) will have a bad run, I want to see if Bloomfield can get a response from the side now key player are once again available.
Leaving aside the question whether MB should go or not, the general consensus on this site is that we are too slow coming out from the back and we are unable to create good chances.
We are slow out from the back and this is not helped by Boyes, for example, invariably passing the ball back rather than forward. Only towards the end of the 2nd half did we see him going forwards and crossing the ball.
We need pace on the wings and more than 2 person in the box. If Phillips and Leahy were played in Central midfield and went forward passing between themselves we would be in a position that in the penalty area a ball sidewards to a striker should result in a shot.
Pace and a reliance on our good players should make the difference
I’m not really sure about this style of play MB is supposed to have introduced, only going on games I've watched the Barnsley game saw 180 completed passes from Wycombe at about 56% accuracy - its not as if he's losing games popping it around?
GA had a win record of 14% at QPR this season playing awful football by anyone's standards.
It's ridiculous to talk about changing manager just after a bad run. This season was always going to be transitional. The danger is the chairman takes this rubbish seriously.
A further thought. Teams recently have come to AP knowing we will play out from the back so they can sit back, pack their defence and totally nullify our attack. One breakaway and quickly taken shot and they need only to sit back and play out time. We need to mix up playing out of defence with the occasional long ball down the channels to break the plan down. This is when pace on the wings and using our best midfielders in a positive way will work. It did earlier in the season?
Comments
I stated it after the Bradford FA Cup match & have written it since. We are far too reliant on Freddie Potts and I believe we are a “one man team”. After he got subbed at half time it was like the Zulus at Rourkes Drift for the 2nd half. My big worry is “what happens next season when” when West Ham want to either keep him or send him out on loan to a Championship side?
Yesterday we only looked more of a threat when we went to 4 at the back. What’s the point in loaning Harry Boyes, supposedly having a wand of a left foot & can put in great crosses if he is playing so deep that he can’t get to the goal line to put those balls in.
We did create some chances yesterday but didn’t finish them off thanks to some stout defending. Morecombe did the same as well as Reading, defended deep and hit us on the break. It’s about time that Matty gave up on the three at back, go toa four and play further up the pitch 🤷♂️
I sincerely hope he didn’t whip it out.
I think you can pick 3 random stats to make any team look bad
If you have any formation with that has a narrow attack it needs graft. Vokes will graft within his capability and fitness, Taylor (L) will not. He’s a sulk, he’s a prima donna, he’s a moaner. He’s playing off a reputation from 2 years ago and that’s not helping our cause. Hopefully he’s gone in January and we can sign a striker who might score.
Jasper Pattenden said on commentary that he expects to be out for a few weeks.
Ryan Tafazolli (Taf) was apparently seen driving out of the car park before kickoff.
Yeah, just cherry-picking
Is it better to make change now and give the new man a window, or see how things pan out and make a change when we’re deep into a relegation battle? Of course we may be cruising by March, but how likely is that? Certainly the only thing that’s saving Matt at the minute is his legend status. I feel for RC right now, damned if you do, damned if you don’t. As Ivor once said, relegation is not on our radar.
Change now. His legend status needs to be taken out of the equation.
The legendary status is a result of longevity and being “a nice guy” loyal to a single club rather than a reflection of any particular playing or coaching prowess (although, to be fair, we have to evidence, one way or the other, of the latter).
I'd love to have been a fly on the wall when they made the decision to appoint MB - although I suspect it had been decided long in advance and we were never even going to consider other candidates.
Weird thing to be used as such a negative isn't it. We know he's committed, we know he cares, we know he's put the work in as a coach and at Col U, we know he was prepared to dump them for us as soon as we asked, should all be positives really.
He's tried to change the style a bit and always had to rotate the squad due to age, people wanting out, injuries and other factors. It hasn't gone well, that's fair to say but I don't think we will go down with him in charge or necessarily shoot up into the play offs or autos with someone more experienced, if that's the case (and plenty will disagree that it is) why do it now and not let us see if he was getting somewhere before the forwards and our best midfielder got injured. Might be some stability needed through any ownership changes too. There is a risk that if we change quickly we lose goodwill and reputation and if the next person can't turn it round they don't last long either.
Ultimately he needs some wins and better performances soon , can't hang on forever otherwise.
I'm not sure we have a 'reputation' for giving managers time - Gaz just happened to be exceptional
Having attended probably 90% of our home games in the last 40 or so years I have to say, watching Wycombe under Matt has become and always was for the most part boring and depressing
in days, not far gone by ,win or lose there were always talking points about the game and as has often been said even if we were playing poorly and a goal down you always thought we would get something back in the last few minutes
The games had drama, sometimes more drama than we wanted, but I would be literally on the edge of my seat for most of the match. Now only the cold prevents me from sometimes falling asleep. The football now is both boring and ineffective.
looking purely at the bottom line our attendances are going to go off ax cliff edge if we continue in this way, not only with the results but with the absolutely dire performances The atmosphere created by this diet of awful Football is now non-existent. For a lot of the game, you can now hear the players calling to each other on the pitch, never a good sign.for the record, I don’t sit close to the pitch. I’m up in the Frank Adams stand near the commentary position.
my tolerance is probably higher than many others, but with the appalling fare that is on display on the pitch and the limit in many peoples pockets financially, if nothing else, we may have to make the decision to change manager on financial grounds, Of course this decision isn’t helped by Robs rather bizarre decision to extend his contract after a few good results in the late summer.
we’ve had bad runs before with Gareth and his predecessors. Sometimes you can see that we will climb out of the hole we are in and sometimes you can’t. I have to say the current position ,as far as I’m concerned is the latter. A lot of being said about his legend status as a player That should have no bearing on any decision
passing all the coaching courses and being able to quote lots of stats doesn’t make you a good manager I’m afraid it’s all about motivating people The only stats that count, are goals scored goals conceded, and points on the league table
appointing him was either a bold or hasty decision. I saw him as perhaps a continuity candidate but with the slowly team evolving. He took a team and a system on the back of a five match winning run and on the verge of playoff places and immediately started making changes. that was his first of probably several mistakes
You could argue that he is learning on the job. Firstly I would suggest that he’s not learning anything the prime example being the absolute insistence on playing five at the back even though it fails match after match. Secondly, can we afford to have a manager learning on the job if it cost us our place in league one?
I think the appointment has backfired and I feel we need to admit we got it wrong and bite the bullet We need a change before we are going to Adam’s Park on a Saturday with crowds of around 2500 and struggling to avoid the drop
The key thing is the players just don't look like they're buying into his methods. They haven't for a good month or so, and there's no way back from that.
And lose our only Premier League quality haircut???
I don't know how anyone thinks they know this, we hear from players pretty regularly now, not that they are likely to sound off in public but it has been known, there haven't been any squabbles and there was no shortage of effort yesterday even if it was all huffing and puffing and no end product. It pretty clearly isn't effective but that isn't the same.
I'm excluding Lyle Taylor,who looked twice his age yesterday and can barely walk, no idea how unfit Vokesey must be still to get less time than him.
If Couhig really is to sell to the Kazakhstani based Georgian guy, then the latter will decide Matt’s future. We have no idea whether he is a give the manager time or a kneejerker or whether for example he will look to bring in his own manager perhaps from his part of the world.
I think the comments about how boring we've become under Bloomfield are really unfair. In recent weeks, yes that's probably true. You don't have to go back too far however and we were involved in some cracking matches. Even games we lost against Bolton and Charlton, whilst you might be able to pick faults in the performances, there was no doubting the entertainment on view. I don't think it's any coincidence that performance levels, confidence and results have taken a dive since we got hit by a spate on injures to key players. It's also for this reason, I think we should show more patience. Chances are we'd have struggled in recent weeks whoever the manager and whatever the tactics. Let's judge when we can put out a team something close to the side he wants to put out. We did have similar runs with similar levels of dissatisfaction under Ainsworth, but we always came out the other side. Whether we can do the same under Bloomfield will be decisive in his career I suspect. Let's at least give him that chance. If he's not good enough, I suspect we'll find out over the next month or 2.
But Gaz would often make tactical changes to get us out of those runs
I don't think they are unfair at all, I think we became pretty boring by the end of last season when Matt decided to do things his own way and rip up how the team were playing. We are slow, giving teams time to organise themselves, playing lots of 10 yard sideways passing is not entertaining to me. The best I've seen us play this season was Fleetwood away, I'm not as convinced about this magical period people keep going on about when we were apparently 70's Brazil reincarnated, I can't remember it, people keep saying Charlton away, first half Charlton away we were terrible ! He's won 10 in 34, that is nowhere near good enough, he's only still here because of who he is. As it happens I wouldn't get rid of him right now, but, I don't think he has many games left if this carries on, any new manager if we get one should get the January window.
He'll always be George 'Tesco Express' Stokes to me.
Yes I remember how everyone was behind him that first full season and when we lost that penultimate Bristol Rovers game the cheers brought tears to the eyes. Gaz was exceptional...but if we had a pot to piss in he'd have been exceptional elsewhere after Torquay. If we've got money for a youth team,hot water and a new management team, MB might be gone. I suspect we haven't and he is here for the season come what may.
I still think we will be mid-table...as I thought we would at the start of the season.
Great post. Peterborough is a very difficult place to go, and their fans were saying we were the best team they had played. Even Fergie said they were lucky to get a point.
@ReturnToSenda He did, but it still often took us a long time to get us out of the bad spells. @HolmerBlue The end of last season wasn't good, that's a fair comment. But we were very much improved this season and for a while we looked to have the makings of a very exciting team. It's gone badly wrong the last couple of months and I appreciate that can't solely be attributed to injuries, but it's clear they haven't helped. With players returning, Christmas is a crucial period. If we're still losing, still struggling to score into the new year, then sadly the Couhigs may have to say thanks, but goodbye. Every manager (good or bad) will have a bad run, I want to see if Bloomfield can get a response from the side now key player are once again available.
Leaving aside the question whether MB should go or not, the general consensus on this site is that we are too slow coming out from the back and we are unable to create good chances.
We are slow out from the back and this is not helped by Boyes, for example, invariably passing the ball back rather than forward. Only towards the end of the 2nd half did we see him going forwards and crossing the ball.
We need pace on the wings and more than 2 person in the box. If Phillips and Leahy were played in Central midfield and went forward passing between themselves we would be in a position that in the penalty area a ball sidewards to a striker should result in a shot.
Pace and a reliance on our good players should make the difference
I’m not really sure about this style of play MB is supposed to have introduced, only going on games I've watched the Barnsley game saw 180 completed passes from Wycombe at about 56% accuracy - its not as if he's losing games popping it around?
GA had a win record of 14% at QPR this season playing awful football by anyone's standards.
It's ridiculous to talk about changing manager just after a bad run. This season was always going to be transitional. The danger is the chairman takes this rubbish seriously.
A further thought. Teams recently have come to AP knowing we will play out from the back so they can sit back, pack their defence and totally nullify our attack. One breakaway and quickly taken shot and they need only to sit back and play out time. We need to mix up playing out of defence with the occasional long ball down the channels to break the plan down. This is when pace on the wings and using our best midfielders in a positive way will work. It did earlier in the season?