Be careful what you wish for

[Tyler]

Those who derided the direct style of last season, happy now?

[guest49]

The Brazilian style of this season is much better. 

Maybe we should adopt a style which stops goals going in.

[Tyler]

We did that, and to a f***ing good standard. It was derided as being boring and people wanted value for money in the form of entertaining football. This is the product.

[guest49]

To be fair I don't think that is why we have changed. That was all geared around one man in particular whose name shall not be mentioned.

[everbrite]

To be fair I don't think that is why we have changed. That was all geared around one man in particular whose name shall not be mentioned.

Well your blind most successful Cobbler's side in the past have been strong defensively and very very direct. We have nether been a fancy dan side; not even in Carr's time. To get out of this mess we should revert to type and play the style traditionally associated with this club. I for one think Tyler is totally correct. With or without AB

[Shoemaker]

Bloody hell everbrite....
It's not very often we agree but you are spot on.

[everbrite]

Bloody hell everbrite....
It's not very often we agree but you are spot on.

steady - you'll have Betamax Toploader boyo on to us

ps only joking BT - hastily donning his cap with a bow

[WasRambo]

Unless tonight was a reversion to the more direct style and you've been watching something else this season i wouldn't say we've become less direct. Direct doesn't have to be aimless hoofball. That's doing direct a disservice. Dallas goal was direct. He put his head down, ran like buggery and smashed the ball in. What's that if not direct?

People derided direct last year because it was aimless, directionless direct, ie. bang it on the big man and hope. At Rotherham last year we did it and it looked $hit. However, that was because we had noone running beyond the big man. If I recall, we won more than our fair share in the air that day but because noone got in behind, there was no end product and consequently, looked like aimless hoofball.

I'm really stretching the memory now but my most enduring recollections of THAT side, was Russ regularly lumping it forward and Richard Hill repeatedly striding on to a Morley or Benji knock on and calmly stroking past the keeper.

That said, there were equal portions of Eddie skinning a full back and putting a good cross in for morley or Benji...........

It's all about balance I guess...........

[Shoemaker]

This might seem mad so bear with me but....
This team could easily play a graham Carr style with a few additions.
The defence with langers will be better but maybe one more clogged is needed.
We have enough pace on the wings and players who can put in a cross.
We are short of tall cloggers in midfield who can sit in the middle of the park kick foul and basically occasionally pass to the wingers but more importantly stop opposition attacks and protect the defence.

We only need a goal scoring target man who can hold up play or flick the ball on to ROD who if given a decent forward partner is good enough to play off him.
Bayo did this well but lost interest and gained weight.

We can still survive if we play to our strengths keep it simple and don't try to reinvent the wheel!

[everbrite]

Unless tonight was a reversion to the more direct style and you've been watching something else this season i wouldn't say we've become less direct. It's all about balance I guess...........

"It's all about balance I guess"  - agree with you there. However I do feel at times we are a bit tappy tappy which seems at odds with the team. But as you say "its the balance" which clearly we haven't got.

[pattcobb]

Well your blind most successful Cobbler's side in the past have been strong defensively and very very direct. We have nether been a fancy dan side; not even in Carr's time. To get out of this mess we should revert to type and play the style traditionally associated with this club. I for one think Tyler is totally correct. With or without AB

I couldn't agree more.
How deluded of the Boothroyd followers and the man himself. Get real we may have a decent budget but it is not a Low Smith Jess Richards type budget.
Not sure who is behind this change from hoofball to "football" (losing as its known) is it ADB who wants to prove  to people for furthering his own career. Or worse still is it from DC fed up being labelled a "snow on the ball" club.
Of course one huge point that makes our "style" even more unfathomable, is the fact that CCFC playing on the pitch will make it virtually unplayable in our new Brazilian style from well now until March.

[guest49]

Well your blind most successful Cobbler's side in the past have been strong defensively and very very direct. We have nether been a fancy dan side; not even in Carr's time. To get out of this mess we should revert to type and play the style traditionally associated with this club. I for one think Tyler is totally correct. With or without AB

I think you missed the point or misquoted. It's because someone has replaced players with others who are not as good, or not replaced them at all. The Brazil quip was sarcastic as in I'm sure there is still plenty of hoof ball going on, we just haven't got the players to be effective at either style.

[DrillingCobbler]

Based on the last 6 or so games, collectively the team has played well even though it has only won one of those games.

I've got to say though I'm not entirely sure whether or not reverting back to a longer ball side will work because we simply have no strong players to make it work. I was surprised to see Collins benched last night after his mom performance at Wimbledon. When I looked at the team sheet I did think that it lacked a protector in the midfield, although with Amankwah getting himself injured it probably wouldn't have made
Any difference. But even so.

Saturday is D day for AB and I think we all know it regardless of our thoughts on him. The
Fruit machine has to pay out, there's no more change left. Either way I really hope he turns
It around and that DC holds his nerves but a
Weeks a long time in football.

[1HorshamCobbler]

Drilling

Totally agree, I've seen some good football from us notably on Saturday but we have to be picking up points. I still think AB needs a bit more time but the lack of depth in the team is costing us. If we had more experience on the bench we probably wording have lost last night but bringing Toney on invited pressure on us.

[TbananaG]

OK, so imagine AB loses his job today. There will be people queuing up to say how he saved us from relegation, got us to Wembley just a few months ago and then was only given a dozen league games to get a team firing that was in need of substantial change. People would be saying how mad football is, and they might just have a point. On the theme of "be careful what you wish for", Blackburn and Wolves would almost certainly be better off now if they hadn't sacked Allardyce and McCarthy - sometimes you do have the right man but you need to hold your nerve.

I want to see us:
- get a new, proper striker and forget about relying on Platt
- get some of the injured players back
- have a run of games with a settled, close to first choice team
and if then we are still losing regularly, then perhaps fair enough, but only then.

[SteveRiches]

We did that, and to a ****ing good standard. It was derided as being boring and people wanted value for money in the form of entertaining football. This is the product.

You forget that last season's style brought us the worst away record ever, an embarrassing failure to clinch automatic promotion, and the most appalling display of purposeless football that a Wembley playoff has ever seen. If that's what turns you on then watch it on your own. Reaching Wembley is quoted by some as an achievement but analysis of our results in the lead up to it, other than a spirited semi-final win against Cheltenham, shows we had already lost our way and that we were abjectly inadequate. Boothroyd deserves credit for dragging us away from relegation with the necessity of dour hoofball and chase, but that is no vision for the future. He has begun to instil a more sustainable style of football this season, but he has tried it with an inadequate squad of his own choosing and has woken up to realise we need better players, and quickly. Pre-season was a mess, we built a bottom-placed side on a top-placed budget and he is just now facing the truth about his squad decisions. He still can do the job but he needs to cure the death-wish lurking within the team. Last night was a prime example. It's interesting how the media are all now on a charm offensive with him but the fact - and it is a fact - is that we are still not good enough. Look at the table.
In all this I acknowledge the awful injury list but even that may in part be a sympton of his player choices, his tactics, and his training methods.

[DrillingCobbler]

We also need a 'character' to come into our midfield. Urgently.

I've said after York that we were 4 good experienced 'characters' short of a decent side otherwise it was bottom 6 for us. We've got the 2 cb's we needed, but we are still waiting for a big strong experienced midfielder and of course a similar forward player. For me it was bleeding obvious. What is so annoying is that it took Aidy until after the window had closed to accept that. But my point in sticking with Aidy is two fold. Firstly his record prior to Wembley was very decent and he has earned time and respect. Secondly he clearly knows this now but it's virtually impossible for him to fix it before January.

If a new guy comes in then he will really struggle to pick a side from what we've got fit to play any really obvious 'basic system' to get us results. Plus the players will probably perform worse because quite frankly I think most of them are playing fairly well, it's more of a
Collective issue and a mental one. The latter cannot be solved with the current lot without said additions. I came to that conclusion a while back.

Do those who want a change now believe that a new guy can improve things before January? And if so on what basis?

[phil123]

OK, so imagine AB loses his job today. There will be people queuing up to say how he saved us from relegation, got us to Wembley just a few months ago and then was only given a dozen league games to get a team firing that was in need of substantial change. People would be saying how mad football is, and they might just have a point. On the theme of "be careful what you wish for", Blackburn and Wolves would almost certainly be better off now if they hadn't sacked Allardyce and McCarthy - sometimes you do have the right man but you need to hold your nerve.

I want to see us:
- get a new, proper striker and forget about relying on Platt
- get some of the injured players back
- have a run of games with a settled, close to first choice team
and if then we are still losing regularly, then perhaps fair enough, but only then.

Yes, yes and bloody yes. Frustrating as it is right now, all the foundations are in place for it to come good. Taking short term steps backwards won't help with the long term steps forwards.

[TbananaG]

I think the main reasons to suggest that a new manager wouldn't get better results out of the same players are that: AB still appears to have their respect and loyalty; they all seem to know what their jobs are and to be working hard trying to do them well. It's so different from the obvious chaos, confusion and anger of the end of the Johnson era. Probably some of the signings aren't the best, but I still think it needs time to get some of the injured ones back and we need a run of games with a first choice team to see where we really are.

[Vintage Cobbler]

There is a consistent pattern of us conceding goals late in each half and that is down to incompetence rather than bad luck.  I think supporters have been very patient with AB since Wembley but the poor signings in the close season and the dismal failure to sign a permanent striker is the underlying reason for the worst start to a season since 1981.  If our patience is being tested I wonder how the Chairman is feeling this morning.  

What I find strange is that AB has often talked a la Brian Clough about the vital importance of the spine of the side yet the only issue he addressed in the summer was the 'keeper. He messed around with Tozer, Collins and the unfit Heath in the centre of defence and then belatedly brought in Doumbe and Reid who, of course, were available all through the close season.  Not the work of a manager on top of his job.

It is clear that AB is now fighting to save his job.  Football being what it is this the call from the Chairman may come at any time.  Personally. I think he has another month to improve results but we will see.  Our club has become a graveyard for managers and although many may be crying for a change (1) financial considerations and (2) the absence of any obvious candidates in the jobs market may delay the decision.