This might be unfair but I think the main reason we didn’t sack Bloomfield is that he’d just been offered a new contract and Rob doesn’t like to admit he has made a bad decision.
I disagree, I don't think Couhig was ever going to sack Bloomfield. He was his appointment and he had full confidence in him.
We held our nerve very impressively I think. What on earth would have been the point of giving Matt Bloomfield all that tough learning experience and adversity to come through and not reaping the benefits of it?
Just a bit sad that so many supporters who had literally seen that happen under Ainsworth and what a manager he had became having come through those rough times were so willing to chuck it all away.
You'd like to think we'd have fewer bedwetters when the situation arises next but I wouldn't hold my breath
I don’t think you offer someone a new contract with the thought “this is such a good deal for him that I/the club are screwed if it all goes wrong and I have to sack him”.
I would hope at least an iota of contingency planning is/was put in place even if he publicly was backing MB to the hilt.
It was a disappointing run at the time, but it's the players who win or lose, but they are not easily sacked. If in discussions RC could see the plan MB had to bring the club on and also could see signs of progress then why sack the manager?
It's funny how opinions change too, as some thought Phillips especially was a player of immense quality, solidified by his exceptional pashun. But he was quite hard to define a position for.
Boyes started off ok as well, but drifted.
But this year's signings and loanees do make you wonder just how brilliant our stats based analysis is!
I agree about the Peterborough final. Strange that a team which outplayed the opposition for the whole game needed a fluke goal in the dying moments to win.
Half of them think we’re crap because we’ve only played crap teams, half of them think were crap but are slightly nicer about it. None of them actually think we’re good. Also their forum is riddled with ads, praise be to the gasroom
I agree that Peterborough were the better team but I don’t remember thinking on the day that we had been outplayed. The stats from our play off semi at MK Dons a couple of years ago were even more overwhelming against us but didn’t reflect our heroic defending.
My memory of the Peterborough Wembley game was that first half our game plan worked really well and that we looked the more dangerous side. Second half we lost momentum and it definitely felt that Peterborough were on top.
But we weren’t embarrassed and we were a lot more competitive than the Sunderland game for example.
last year i was an advocate of giving blooms time, im practicing that again this year we cant get too far ahead of ourselves alot of the games in L1 are close games. I will be waiting till mid feb/early march to start to believe we might do something special. Things can change very quick just going to sit back and relax and enjoy the brand of football we are playing.
Not sure how accurate Wikipedia is (actually I do know: not very), but they have Blooms going from one of the worst win percentages in the league era to 2nd at 45.6%, barely behind MON. That must surely include our Pizza Cup run, though.
I came away from the game thinking Peterborough were deserved winners. That I couldn’t be upset that we didn’t turn up, or sad that we lost. It was one of the very few times I walked away from a loss and thought “They were too good for us today”.
I count that as them out playing us in every aspect bar one set piece, where we threw the ball long, one a header and a long shot that literally could have gone anywhere. Much like there winner, it just happened to go in when it easily could have gone high, wide, blocked or saved.
While they did win by a freak goal, I wouldn't say they “needed” a fluke goal. That’s just what ended up happening.
My memory of the first half was that they gave us space and respect in the first half but as soon as it got anywhere near the last 1/3 they could stop us, almost at will.
As the game wore on, Sads tired and Gmac wasn’t able to do what he usually does (he was an injury doubt before hand) and we had no direct replacements off the bench (cup tied) - they begun to push us further and further back and the pace they had, which we lacked, started to tell - despite excellent defensive performance from Forino and Nigel. They kept us in it.
They had us covered for most of the game and slowly turned the screw at their leisure.
Have to admire your determination, @TheDancingYak, to draw our attention to the only match that I can recall when we have been outplayed by Peterborough.
Cue a long list of matches where they’ve done just that!
But that, as they say, is history and has no relevance to our glorious present (and, hopefully, our immediate future).
It was mere the first and most obvious example to me where I had detail to recall of an example we where outplayed in the better half of last season, but have addressed those deficiencies to really reap the benefits this season.
That really was the main point of the post In the first place - to congratulate the management team from learning from that loss/time we were second best and signing players in the midfield/wide forward area to address the times we were short of bodies. Long may that learning continue. And FWIW, I am more confident today that MB and his team can learn from those times, than I was this time last year. More power to them.
So actually, I’d say you can draw a direct line from it - and I am sure there are others - to the present day and our current good form. I would be really worried if we couldn’t - because that would suggest the good form is blind luck. It 100% isn’t.
Comments
This might be unfair but I think the main reason we didn’t sack Bloomfield is that he’d just been offered a new contract and Rob doesn’t like to admit he has made a bad decision.
Although it turns out it wasn’t a bad decision.
I disagree, I don't think Couhig was ever going to sack Bloomfield. He was his appointment and he had full confidence in him.
We held our nerve very impressively I think. What on earth would have been the point of giving Matt Bloomfield all that tough learning experience and adversity to come through and not reaping the benefits of it?
Just a bit sad that so many supporters who had literally seen that happen under Ainsworth and what a manager he had became having come through those rough times were so willing to chuck it all away.
You'd like to think we'd have fewer bedwetters when the situation arises next but I wouldn't hold my breath
For a long time I thought all Gasroomers had their memories wiped at the end of every season. 😊
Fleetwood of course, not Morecambe. Bloody small north-west coastal towns all the look the same...
I don’t think you offer someone a new contract with the thought “this is such a good deal for him that I/the club are screwed if it all goes wrong and I have to sack him”.
I would hope at least an iota of contingency planning is/was put in place even if he publicly was backing MB to the hilt.
It was a disappointing run at the time, but it's the players who win or lose, but they are not easily sacked. If in discussions RC could see the plan MB had to bring the club on and also could see signs of progress then why sack the manager?
All credit to RC for seeing Tye bigger picture.
One thing I love about loanees or players who arrive in January is that they sum up a half season so perfectly.
For instance, if I say:
Boyes, Keogh, Phillips
Butcher, Lonwijk, Kone
Taylor, Humphreys, Morley
...it brings that half season to mind in a millisecond. Hopefully the last three end up summing up a whole season, not just half!
It's funny how opinions change too, as some thought Phillips especially was a player of immense quality, solidified by his exceptional pashun. But he was quite hard to define a position for.
Boyes started off ok as well, but drifted.
But this year's signings and loanees do make you wonder just how brilliant our stats based analysis is!
First photo of Bloomfield and Dan Rice in Moneyball 2 (filmed on location at Adams Park)
"Bloody Hell Dan, lay off the cakes and get back to trawling Division Nine"
Wonder who would play the other key characters in our recent past.
Dave Grohl as Gaz
Larry David as Robby C
I agree about the Peterborough final. Strange that a team which outplayed the opposition for the whole game needed a fluke goal in the dying moments to win.
Bloomfield 2024 has led to a poster on Small Heath Alliance to open up a thread about us this morning.
On closer inspection it was yesterday
Half of them think we’re crap because we’ve only played crap teams, half of them think were crap but are slightly nicer about it. None of them actually think we’re good. Also their forum is riddled with ads, praise be to the gasroom
It's a funny one looking back on games after the event especially as some will argue that stats aren't everything.
But Peterborough had 70.6% of the ball to our 29.4%, and 18 shots to our 12 with 15 corners to our 2.
So we could argue about being "outplayed", but Peterborough were certainly on top.
Yes but we did get awarded 3.7 points* against them during the promotion season…something like that, anyway.
* source: Peterborough Telegraph
I agree that Peterborough were the better team but I don’t remember thinking on the day that we had been outplayed. The stats from our play off semi at MK Dons a couple of years ago were even more overwhelming against us but didn’t reflect our heroic defending.
Yes, few games will match that one for backs against the walls hang on jobs!
My memory of the Peterborough Wembley game was that first half our game plan worked really well and that we looked the more dangerous side. Second half we lost momentum and it definitely felt that Peterborough were on top.
But we weren’t embarrassed and we were a lot more competitive than the Sunderland game for example.
last year i was an advocate of giving blooms time, im practicing that again this year we cant get too far ahead of ourselves alot of the games in L1 are close games. I will be waiting till mid feb/early march to start to believe we might do something special. Things can change very quick just going to sit back and relax and enjoy the brand of football we are playing.
Never too high, never too low
Not sure how accurate Wikipedia is (actually I do know: not very), but they have Blooms going from one of the worst win percentages in the league era to 2nd at 45.6%, barely behind MON. That must surely include our Pizza Cup run, though.
It’s a matter of opinion isn’t it?
I came away from the game thinking Peterborough were deserved winners. That I couldn’t be upset that we didn’t turn up, or sad that we lost. It was one of the very few times I walked away from a loss and thought “They were too good for us today”.
I count that as them out playing us in every aspect bar one set piece, where we threw the ball long, one a header and a long shot that literally could have gone anywhere. Much like there winner, it just happened to go in when it easily could have gone high, wide, blocked or saved.
While they did win by a freak goal, I wouldn't say they “needed” a fluke goal. That’s just what ended up happening.
My memory of the first half was that they gave us space and respect in the first half but as soon as it got anywhere near the last 1/3 they could stop us, almost at will.
As the game wore on, Sads tired and Gmac wasn’t able to do what he usually does (he was an injury doubt before hand) and we had no direct replacements off the bench (cup tied) - they begun to push us further and further back and the pace they had, which we lacked, started to tell - despite excellent defensive performance from Forino and Nigel. They kept us in it.
They had us covered for most of the game and slowly turned the screw at their leisure.
Think our equaliser was a bigger surprise than their winner tbh - the timing not not the manner of it.
Have to admire your determination, @TheDancingYak, to draw our attention to the only match that I can recall when we have been outplayed by Peterborough.
Cue a long list of matches where they’ve done just that!
But that, as they say, is history and has no relevance to our glorious present (and, hopefully, our immediate future).
For anybody who was at the match at London Road on 21/01/20, look away now.
@micra: https://www.wwfc.com/news/2020/january/match-report-for-peterborough-united-vs-wycombe-wanderers-on-21-jan-20/
It was mere the first and most obvious example to me where I had detail to recall of an example we where outplayed in the better half of last season, but have addressed those deficiencies to really reap the benefits this season.
That really was the main point of the post In the first place - to congratulate the management team from learning from that loss/time we were second best and signing players in the midfield/wide forward area to address the times we were short of bodies. Long may that learning continue. And FWIW, I am more confident today that MB and his team can learn from those times, than I was this time last year. More power to them.
So actually, I’d say you can draw a direct line from it - and I am sure there are others - to the present day and our current good form. I would be really worried if we couldn’t - because that would suggest the good form is blind luck. It 100% isn’t.
This analysis of us is worth waching...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMLS5ibEBuo
Definitely done his homework and a good watch.