Did he say that? …….that’s bloody mental if he did.Is this a good time to remind everyone KR said we need to have a 'top-two mentality' this season?
At our level to get quality players for the price we're willing to pay (both in transfer fees and wages) you often need to sign players how have some drawbacks. Sometimes it's an awful personality or that they've failed miserably at a higher level. Sometimes you'll find that they're completely and utterly one-footed. And sometimes players in our recruitment pool are more susceptible to injuries.
Yeah we've made mistakes in our recruitment (where are our FULL BACKS?!) but don't completely bemoan the fact you have to take risks under our constraints to get quality players. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it really doesn't.
Jesus, we are bad if we make Coldplay look good!
Part time supporterDidn’t see last nights game but going on the reaction on here I’d say we are bad touching terrible
Didn’t see last nights game but going on the reaction on here I’d say we are bad touching terrible
I think the real question is do the owners have the balls to do it!,Just caught up with this thread. Not very positive is it. After such a good night 1st seeing London Grammar who I thought were very good, even though I only new 1 song ( you can tell I’m from Pompey lol ) the perennial 1 song wonders, and then Coldplay. Who were amazing by the way, if a tad gimmicky.
I don’t know where we go from here, only a short while back there was so much positivity and optimism, now nothing but dissent and despondency from the masses.
It’s pretty clear something needs to change, question is does KR have the balls to do it?
Strange that we used to be able to sign an even better calibre of player than we do now when we were a division lower, without them being top arseholes or being followed by ambulances.At our level to get quality players for the price we're willing to pay (both in transfer fees and wages) you often need to sign players how have some drawbacks. Sometimes it's an awful personality or that they've failed miserably at a higher level. Sometimes you'll find that they're completely and utterly one-footed. And sometimes players in our recruitment pool are more susceptible to injuries.
Yeah we've made mistakes in our recruitment (where are our FULL BACKS?!) but don't completely bemoan the fact you have to take risks under our constraints to get quality players. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it really doesn't.
XG shows we were comfortably creating more than them.
I dare say you and I might just have the same opinion on which of the scenarios reflects the current regime.Strange that we used to be able to sign an even better calibre of player than we do now when we were a division lower, without them being top arseholes or being followed by ambulances.
When I see players like Twine being signed from L2 for less money than we spend on merely loaning Herbie Kane for one season, and who when he signs for MK is on less than what we’re paying the likes of Wildschut in terms of basic salary, it’s frustrating. Either we aren’t interested in signing the best prospects from clubs around and beneath us or we aren’t capable of obtaining them. It’s one or the other.
I actually turned to my brother at half time and went, “They will sit back and pretty much declare now, we will have at least 60% possession and a lorry load of shots, and then it’ll be held up as a textbook example of us being the better team after we’ve lost, cos the stats say so innit.”Almost as if once you've got yourself two goals ahead away from home - you don't need to create anything.
Just work hard to stop the home side (devoid of ideas and inspiration) creating much themselves.
Yes you really need to witness the way the game unfolds. We did have a handful of good chances and came very close on a few occasions, so you could say we deserved something, but our play was panicky and unstructured - as someone said above, like plucky non-leaguers in the cup.I actually turned to my brother at half time and went, “They will sit back and pretty much declare now, we will have at least 60% possession and a lorry load of shots, and then it’ll be held up as a textbook example of us being the better team after we’ve lost, cos the stats say so innit.”
I love a good stat and data mining really makes my trousers tight on a good day, but the application of such information often leaves much to be desired. Cambridge at home the other week was bad for enabling ‘stattos’ to declare our dominance. 15 shots but about 10 of those were speculative efforts from 20+ yards that were blocked by the first defender before the ball had even entered the penalty area, yet they go on the record regardless.
The thing that I don't get is why we didn't just take "The Model" and juice it up on steroids.Deep breath.
I'll say it again for those at the back - it's the sheer number of risks.
It's also a complete and utter myth that decent players at this level must have obvious drawbacks. Why are players in our 'recruitment pool' more susceptiple to injuries for example? Players are where they are for a variety of reasons - ability is one. You can (hear me out here) get players with decent League One ability who are also (bare with me) fully fit and not injury prone. It's true! I gave you an example earlier - Ryan Williams! We signed him having played plenty of recent football to a high standard at this level and beyond with sides either promoted or challenging for promotion. Lo and behold - he was fit and available for selection for the majority of the season!
You've completely swallowed the KR nonsense (often perpetuated by his strongest supporters here) that our options are binary - either sign decent players with dodgy pasts or else we end up with poor quality sub-standard players.
I absolutely accept that to get players of potentially upper Championship quality (Browne, Murphy) these will often come with risk - but there are also plenty of players available who are good (or even excellent) at this level without any baggage. Particularly now we have an increased budget.
How did Rotherham go up? or Wigan? Did they get lucky that all of their injury-prone players or those plagued by personal issues just happened to be ok last season? What luck for them! Of course not - they signed players like Tom Naylor from Pompey with a cosnsistent track record at this level of both regular game time and playing well. Not a croc, yet still a good footballer capable of winning promotion at this level.
They do exist. At every level. Chris Wilder found plenty of them in the Conference. We need a manager who can find plenty of them in League One.
Would that be the existing Head of Recruitment Mark Thomas?With KR virtually running the entire show at OUFC, who would step up to cover while the recruitment process found a new manager? Would it be even possible that the board, where ever they are, would already have thoughts on a replacement? What infrastructure is in place to set up a recruitment process? There is no DoF to offer direction. Would Mous and/or Shorty be able to run the team in the interim period? Robinson has constructed a very secure position for himself.