I really want Matt to succeed. It's clear he wants to do well, is working extremely hard and is a thoroughly decent bloke.
Some players go on to have great managerial careers, some go on to be coaches, academy managers etc, etc. What we've seen over the last few seasons is that the best current new managers are pretty good from the word go. This is really what concerns me at the minute!
John Mousinho was appointed four weeks before Matt, with very little coaching experience. He's got 81 points from 42 matches. Matt has 38. Portsmouth didn't need a huge adjustment from how they had been playing to how they are now but even still, it's a vastly different record.
Stephen Schumacher inherited a very good side at Plymouth but he made them better and is currently doing a good job in the Championship. McKenna made an immediate impact at Ipswich and now look at them. Rob Edwards was brilliant at Forest Green before a dip at basket case Watford and then great success at Luton. I'm not saying we have the resources and expectations of some of these clubs but equally I was hoping we'd be pushing Top 10 in the league and not looking downwards.
I really hope he can find a way forwards, I think he's trying too hard. He seems frenetic and I feel this is reflected in how his team is currently playing. Hopefully, he can take a step back, be a little less frenetic and get a couple of wins under his belt over the Xmas period. He reminds of someone walking out to bat in their first test match and just needing to get the first ten balls out the way to then be successful.
If we can just get through this season, in League One, then hopefully he can kick on. I think to get to the end of the season he really needs to get a 8-10 points out of the next 6 league games. If we only get 3 or 4 then I'm not sure he'll make it.
The praise of Matt's recruitment might be misplaced. We have a head of recruitment. I would also say that we have our share of misses in the recruitment so far. Leahy, Phillips, Potts and Low in the positive column (even if Low is now out of favour or form) but KVY, Breckin, Taylor and Taylor have yet to set the world alight. And recruitment of players that don't seem right for the formation or tactics is also an odd one to me.
The reality is that fans of West Ham, Forest and Palace were all surprised about their talented assets going to Wycombe instead of higher up the leagues. To me that shows serious recruitment acumen.
I'm really not sure what more people are expecting to come from Blooms. I think he's had long enough to show us he's not a great coach, and I think what we see is what we get.
Just a point ofinterest regarding when Rob will be back. On Saturday, I was chatting with him about how the fixture list was put together. One of the things we were talking about was our lack of a fairly local away game on boxing day.
Rob was asking how long it would take to get to Exeter if he touched down at Heathrow on Boxing day (naturally he’s not going to be completely knowledgeable of the distances of every UK town or city from Wycombe)he was astonished when we told him it would probably be around a five hour journey which was making the point about boxing day fixtures. However, it also indicates that he may be back earlier than for the New Year’s Day game which naturally he would attend with fireworks planned.Of course he may have only been looking at options as I would imagine ,like most of us,he would want to spend Christmas Day with his family. Not a privilege that will be accorded to the Wycombe team and management but that’s another discussion.
I still think he can turn it around and as long as we stay in this league, he will have a chance to build on that learning for next season. I think Matt will eventually be a real good manager.
I say give him a little more time as there are plenty of games left yet.
For me, it is not a given, but you can break down his term with us into the following:
Last season: Transition pains
Start of this season: Gelling issues
Good run: Good football
Current bad run: Injuries and foot shooting
I am not convinced he is the future, just that there are mitigating circumstances (arguably) and that we had a decent phase of performances and results that took us to the edges of the playoffs.
However much I love Blooms, I think that if we continue to sink over the next several games (I think we'll lose easily at Derby, but the three after that are key) we would have to make a change. Half a season would be plenty of time to save ourselves if we are only relegation threatened because of Blooms.
No idea what sort of standard he will reach, I don't think anyone is claiming he is the next big thing, but we were playing okay at the start of the season IMO and he is not stupid...so in theory he will improve and the way to improve is to overcome problems. Are you maintaining after nine odd months that he will never be a good manager?
My point was that we don't know how recruitment works. Is the head of recruitment autonomous in his identification of talent and then offers Matt a list of available talent or does Matt say 'I need a box to box midfielder' and we go shopping for one. Our recruitment on paper was excellent as you say fans of parent clubs were quite taken aback by their destination but we haven't recruited a team in my eyes, we've recruited excellent players.
As someone pointed out above Taylor good player when played through to him on the deck.... which we don't do. So wrong tactic or wrong player? Boyes excellent crosser of the ball from the left but rarely able to get down the wing to deliver. Wrong player or wrong tactic? Breckin looks decent when in space with time but that doesn't work when he is overloaded in a 2. Wrong player or wrong tactic? Four months into the season we don't seem to know where our best players can play and how and some of this is down to recruitment. Square pegs
MB was well considered as a coach here before he took the Colchester gig, where he had reasonable success in turning them around (look how they faltered after he left), so he most certainly has something,
He perhaps should not have tried to change anything when he first took over here and stuck with the GA tactics for the end of last season, but then why appoint someone if you are not prepared for them to change stuff to their style/methods etc.
He clearly had a good summer of recruitment but perhaps not so successful a one at instilling his vision into the players as seen by our first 2 results, but then it seemed to click & we started to play some half decent football that also got results. Sadly a slowly growing injury list meant too many enforced changes coupled with an insistence on sticking to plan A has lead to the current slump.
The one thing I do think it is reasonable to accuse him of, is being stubborn, given his persistence with a tactical set-up that at the moment he definitely doesn't have the players for, once he gets everyone out of the treatment room then perhaps it will work, but at what cost in terms of player morale in the meantime?
He has the potential to be a good coach. But it is potential. He’s a mile off at the moment. Take the back 5 we play. When we go a goal down the back 5 remains. The point of a back 3 (we play 5) is to draw the opponents out and create space for our attackers. The opposition simply say ‘keep it mate’ we don’t need it. Which leads to us passing around the back before lumping it into an overcrowded striker. How come 4000 people can see that? I’m not a coach but I have eyes. The back 3 formation is also supposed to encourage wing attack. How many crosses has Boyes got in from an advanced position over the past few weeks? Hardly any as he is so deep. These are all coaching issues.
The highly congested, virtually impenetrable opposition penalty areas we keep encountering lately are the main reason we are scoring so few goals and therefore generally losing by very narrow margins. We push far too many players forward. If we could do that more quickly, either by snappier and/or fewer passes or (heaven forfend) a more direct approach, our attack-minded players (and we have plenty) would get a much clearer sight of goal.
Derby County are going to come at us (and with a vengeance !) from the start. I doubt whether they’ll be parking the bus. That will make for a much more open game than the depressing spectacle that resulted (mainly) from Shrewsbury’s boringly negative approach.
I'd have a lot more sympathy if we'd stuck to the script and kept playing to a strategy that was winning games last season. We had a good shot at the play offs but decided to change strategy and the season ended with a whimper.
Whatever the eventual outcome, it would have made it far easier to tolerate this season as a 'transition' (or whatever name you want to give it) in which we experiment a bit, evolve the squad and make a few mistakes along the way.
Not me @micra ! Ive been caught to many times to do it now. Once you get on just past Maidenhead it's all motorway. Must admit those 3 hours would be me on my own. Probably over 4 hours if I was with the good Mrs Holmer and the dog, as she would want to stop every hour for a wee and walk break !
Comments
I really want Matt to succeed. It's clear he wants to do well, is working extremely hard and is a thoroughly decent bloke.
Some players go on to have great managerial careers, some go on to be coaches, academy managers etc, etc. What we've seen over the last few seasons is that the best current new managers are pretty good from the word go. This is really what concerns me at the minute!
John Mousinho was appointed four weeks before Matt, with very little coaching experience. He's got 81 points from 42 matches. Matt has 38. Portsmouth didn't need a huge adjustment from how they had been playing to how they are now but even still, it's a vastly different record.
Stephen Schumacher inherited a very good side at Plymouth but he made them better and is currently doing a good job in the Championship. McKenna made an immediate impact at Ipswich and now look at them. Rob Edwards was brilliant at Forest Green before a dip at basket case Watford and then great success at Luton. I'm not saying we have the resources and expectations of some of these clubs but equally I was hoping we'd be pushing Top 10 in the league and not looking downwards.
I really hope he can find a way forwards, I think he's trying too hard. He seems frenetic and I feel this is reflected in how his team is currently playing. Hopefully, he can take a step back, be a little less frenetic and get a couple of wins under his belt over the Xmas period. He reminds of someone walking out to bat in their first test match and just needing to get the first ten balls out the way to then be successful.
If we can just get through this season, in League One, then hopefully he can kick on. I think to get to the end of the season he really needs to get a 8-10 points out of the next 6 league games. If we only get 3 or 4 then I'm not sure he'll make it.
His yellow card on Saturday seemed very out of character and an obvious sign that he is feeling the pressure
He also got one earlier in the season, didn't he?
The praise of Matt's recruitment might be misplaced. We have a head of recruitment. I would also say that we have our share of misses in the recruitment so far. Leahy, Phillips, Potts and Low in the positive column (even if Low is now out of favour or form) but KVY, Breckin, Taylor and Taylor have yet to set the world alight. And recruitment of players that don't seem right for the formation or tactics is also an odd one to me.
Hang on @TheAndyGrahamFanClub that reads like good players = head of recruitment
Crap players and recruitment of players not right for formation = Matt B
For the record I think Dale Taylor is a good player who shines when he is up top and we pass it on the deck...
Which of course, we often don't and he has to drop back and try and get the ball...
The reality is that fans of West Ham, Forest and Palace were all surprised about their talented assets going to Wycombe instead of higher up the leagues. To me that shows serious recruitment acumen.
I'm really not sure what more people are expecting to come from Blooms. I think he's had long enough to show us he's not a great coach, and I think what we see is what we get.
Just a point ofinterest regarding when Rob will be back. On Saturday, I was chatting with him about how the fixture list was put together. One of the things we were talking about was our lack of a fairly local away game on boxing day.
Rob was asking how long it would take to get to Exeter if he touched down at Heathrow on Boxing day (naturally he’s not going to be completely knowledgeable of the distances of every UK town or city from Wycombe)he was astonished when we told him it would probably be around a five hour journey which was making the point about boxing day fixtures. However, it also indicates that he may be back earlier than for the New Year’s Day game which naturally he would attend with fireworks planned.Of course he may have only been looking at options as I would imagine ,like most of us,he would want to spend Christmas Day with his family. Not a privilege that will be accorded to the Wycombe team and management but that’s another discussion.
No chance of play-offs then?
I still think he can turn it around and as long as we stay in this league, he will have a chance to build on that learning for next season. I think Matt will eventually be a real good manager.
I say give him a little more time as there are plenty of games left yet.
Out of interest, what makes people think he'll be a good manager?
For me, it is not a given, but you can break down his term with us into the following:
Last season: Transition pains
Start of this season: Gelling issues
Good run: Good football
Current bad run: Injuries and foot shooting
I am not convinced he is the future, just that there are mitigating circumstances (arguably) and that we had a decent phase of performances and results that took us to the edges of the playoffs.
However much I love Blooms, I think that if we continue to sink over the next several games (I think we'll lose easily at Derby, but the three after that are key) we would have to make a change. Half a season would be plenty of time to save ourselves if we are only relegation threatened because of Blooms.
No idea what sort of standard he will reach, I don't think anyone is claiming he is the next big thing, but we were playing okay at the start of the season IMO and he is not stupid...so in theory he will improve and the way to improve is to overcome problems. Are you maintaining after nine odd months that he will never be a good manager?
Not never (although I don't think he'll ever be great), but I don't think he's good enough for what we need at the moment
to be fair...most managers are often only great for a certain period...and probably still get stick when they are being great.
My point was that we don't know how recruitment works. Is the head of recruitment autonomous in his identification of talent and then offers Matt a list of available talent or does Matt say 'I need a box to box midfielder' and we go shopping for one. Our recruitment on paper was excellent as you say fans of parent clubs were quite taken aback by their destination but we haven't recruited a team in my eyes, we've recruited excellent players.
As someone pointed out above Taylor good player when played through to him on the deck.... which we don't do. So wrong tactic or wrong player? Boyes excellent crosser of the ball from the left but rarely able to get down the wing to deliver. Wrong player or wrong tactic? Breckin looks decent when in space with time but that doesn't work when he is overloaded in a 2. Wrong player or wrong tactic? Four months into the season we don't seem to know where our best players can play and how and some of this is down to recruitment. Square pegs
5 hours ! I can get to Exeter in 3.
MB was well considered as a coach here before he took the Colchester gig, where he had reasonable success in turning them around (look how they faltered after he left), so he most certainly has something,
He perhaps should not have tried to change anything when he first took over here and stuck with the GA tactics for the end of last season, but then why appoint someone if you are not prepared for them to change stuff to their style/methods etc.
He clearly had a good summer of recruitment but perhaps not so successful a one at instilling his vision into the players as seen by our first 2 results, but then it seemed to click & we started to play some half decent football that also got results. Sadly a slowly growing injury list meant too many enforced changes coupled with an insistence on sticking to plan A has lead to the current slump.
The one thing I do think it is reasonable to accuse him of, is being stubborn, given his persistence with a tactical set-up that at the moment he definitely doesn't have the players for, once he gets everyone out of the treatment room then perhaps it will work, but at what cost in terms of player morale in the meantime?
It's three and a half hours max.
I’m not sure believing Wycombe Wanderers could be one of the four worst teams in League One after 46 matches this season equates to bedwetting.
still a stupid fixture for boxing day, whether you race down there (traffic permitting) in 3 1/2 hours or actually dare to maybe make a stop
It’s crazy. They’ve got us on Boxing Day and Pompey on 29th, then Reading away on New Year’s Day.
why they have not got Rovers or Cheltenham is beyond me.
He has the potential to be a good coach. But it is potential. He’s a mile off at the moment. Take the back 5 we play. When we go a goal down the back 5 remains. The point of a back 3 (we play 5) is to draw the opponents out and create space for our attackers. The opposition simply say ‘keep it mate’ we don’t need it. Which leads to us passing around the back before lumping it into an overcrowded striker. How come 4000 people can see that? I’m not a coach but I have eyes. The back 3 formation is also supposed to encourage wing attack. How many crosses has Boyes got in from an advanced position over the past few weeks? Hardly any as he is so deep. These are all coaching issues.
The highly congested, virtually impenetrable opposition penalty areas we keep encountering lately are the main reason we are scoring so few goals and therefore generally losing by very narrow margins. We push far too many players forward. If we could do that more quickly, either by snappier and/or fewer passes or (heaven forfend) a more direct approach, our attack-minded players (and we have plenty) would get a much clearer sight of goal.
Derby County are going to come at us (and with a vengeance !) from the start. I doubt whether they’ll be parking the bus. That will make for a much more open game than the depressing spectacle that resulted (mainly) from Shrewsbury’s boringly negative approach.
Who’s a naughty boy?!
I'd have a lot more sympathy if we'd stuck to the script and kept playing to a strategy that was winning games last season. We had a good shot at the play offs but decided to change strategy and the season ended with a whimper.
Whatever the eventual outcome, it would have made it far easier to tolerate this season as a 'transition' (or whatever name you want to give it) in which we experiment a bit, evolve the squad and make a few mistakes along the way.
Not me @micra ! Ive been caught to many times to do it now. Once you get on just past Maidenhead it's all motorway. Must admit those 3 hours would be me on my own. Probably over 4 hours if I was with the good Mrs Holmer and the dog, as she would want to stop every hour for a wee and walk break !
We lost Mawson and Mehmeti, two of our best ever players, and Ainsworth, our best ever manager, within weeks of one another.
The season was done at that point, no club on earth copes with that. It certainly wasn't Matt Bloomfield's fault
IIRC the run of 5 wins was post Anis leaving.