Robinson is a clown

Well, for me he has certainly earned himself some extra time. But we (and he) are nowhere near out of the woods yet. We are still in the relegation spots, and our (lack of) striker options and failure to create that many decent chances still worries me greatly. BUT putting Mousinho in front of the defence (which as CV says was being talked about on here weeks and weeks ago, and was where I thought he was signed to play) and Robinson toning down his touchline 'antics' have both been very welcome, as of course have the undeniably better results. But the jury is (for me) very much still out - let's see how things lie at the turn of the year.
 
Myself and my Son were calling for Mous to play as a DM just in front of the back four. Ask the two guys that sit in front of us, it must have sounded like a broken record!!
It has always been his best position and I'm really surprised it took KR so long to realise it.
It started with the clean sheet at Southend and Mitchell was still in goal! He didn't play against Northampton and we looked very vulnerable again. A lot of what he does goes unnoticed but I've kept an eye on him and he really does put a big shift in.
 
Having met the man and sat through some analysis that the players were given ahead of Walsall - which included tactics and team selection that were all totally wrong, so let’s not get sucked in by the impressive ‘fourth best header of the ball’ soundbites too much - I’m not going to start eating any humble pie after two wins in five games. It’s a very welcome upturn in form and hopefully it will continue, but nothing more right now. We are now getting a pretty decent run going after a start that was worse than abysmal.

If anything, that he has changed his tactics, personnel and formations etc, and just shut up and stopped acting and speaking like a lunatic, has vindicated every last person who criticised and wanted him gone. He’s had to change what he was doing - if this was all happening ‘his way’ with the same things suddenly turning maybe there could be some dick swinging. Alas, it has only proven that everything he refused to budge on was in fact wrong, as so many could see and correctly stated.

Still think the guy is a bit of a clown and that if he was chocolate he would eat himself, but I’ll take any results that benefit the club I support whether I like the manager, certain players or anything else.
 
Having met the man and sat through some analysis that the players were given ahead of Walsall - which included tactics and team selection that were all totally wrong, so let’s not get sucked in by the impressive ‘fourth best header of the ball’ soundbites too much - I’m not going to start eating any humble pie after two wins in five games. It’s a very welcome upturn in form and hopefully it will continue, but nothing more right now. We are now getting a pretty decent run going after a start that was worse than abysmal.

If anything, that he has changed his tactics, personnel and formations etc, and just shut up and stopped acting and speaking like a lunatic, has vindicated every last person who criticised and wanted him gone. He’s had to change what he was doing - if this was all happening ‘his way’ with the same things suddenly turning maybe there could be some dick swinging. Alas, it has only proven that everything he refused to budge on was in fact wrong, as so many could see and correctly stated.

Still think the guy is a bit of a clown and that if he was chocolate he would eat himself, but I’ll take any results that benefit the club I support whether I like the manager, certain players or anything else.

So, you're a big fan of his then?!
 
To be fair to Ryanio, Robinson is always going to be a character that polarises opinion. I have to say I find him rather irksome as well, which was compounded when I was feeling miserable after every defeat. He does have an arrogance that people will find annoying but if he proves he has ability in his time here to back it up, nobody will give a toss. Brian Clough wasn’t the most stable and reserved of characters but he won lots of football matches and so it was more than tolerated. I think it’s the results changing rather than his persona that is softening people’s opinion of him. How much that is down to his tactical ability, rather than changes to personnel that were forced on him (Mousinho), luck, or the players just knuckling down and trying more remains to be seen. He did keep saying that he should be judged when all his players are fit - a luxury that I’m sure all managers would love, it has to be said! Having said all that, there’s no doubting his passion, he definitely appears to care about what happens to this club, and he’s dealt with the, at times very personal, criticism with dignity
 
At the end of the day, football cliche time, it is a results business .
So OUFC supporters slating MAPP taking the Mick out of his tatoos and suggesting that he had no passion as he stood impassively in the touchline with yet another defeat changed when we started winning with some flair.
Regarding KR I totally get why some dislike him but he has a reasonable record and whatever people suggest the last five results especially baring in mind what has gone before is a big change round (some on here were suggesting that we were just about down).
I am hardly taken in by Ruffels being the fourth marked man, but credit where it us due. We were good on set pieces and defended them well.
Totally agree that we are nowhere near there yet and need more decent results with the fixtures coming up.
 
Oh and the other thing that I have noticed is how hard the players are working. They are running themselves into the ground.
Which kind of looks to be at odds with whoever was suggesting that many players want to leave and the club is a disaster.
 
He did keep saying that he should be judged when all his players are fit - a luxury that I’m sure all managers would love, it has to be said!
Yes. I did notice that even after Saturday's win, he was very careful to mention that his still didn't have all his players fit, name checking Hall, Obika and Baptiste. Given that at least one of them isn't going to play all season, then I think he is going to have to accept that isn't going to be a ready made excuse he can trot out until May! :)
 
Id still rather see him gone and dont feel he will bring success to the club. Hes a tactically naive gobshite.

But its not going to happen, and so the fact that we are picking up steady results has to be welcomed.

But lets not forget how unbelievably bad we have been this season. For that alone, for me, Robbos credit is still very low indeed. Lets see in a month.
 
Id still rather see him gone and dont feel he will bring success to the club. Hes a tactically naive gobshite.

But its not going to happen, and so the fact that we are picking up steady results has to be welcomed.

But lets not forget how unbelievably bad we have been this season. For that alone, for me, Robbos credit is still very low indeed. Lets see in a month.

This is a good point. I don’t think it would take much now for the pressure on him to crank back up. Even if this current revival proves to be prolonged and significant, it’ll be interesting to see what happens if and when there’s another blip - meaning two or three defeats on the spin - this season.
 
And Nelson

Yes and Nelson.

Noticeable how we started picking points when Robinson picked (more or less) his most experienced XI.

I don’t particularly buy this ‘judge me when all my payers are fit’ stuff.
All managers have to deal with injuries and suspensions, Robinson is no different, and I suspect as a club this season we’ve not been particularly unlucky with injuries compared to other teams.

If you sign players who are not going to be match fit until several games into the season, and also players who are currently injured or have ongoing injury issues then don’t be surprised if supporters are questioning those decisions.
 
This is a good point. I don’t think it would take much now for the pressure on him to crank back up. Even if this current revival proves to be prolonged and significant, it’ll be interesting to see what happens if and when there’s another blip - meaning two or three defeats on the spin - this season.

Let’s not contemplate that sinario. We are unbeaten in our last 5 games let’s build on that.
 
To be fair to Ryanio, Robinson is always going to be a character that polarises opinion. I have to say I find him rather irksome as well, which was compounded when I was feeling miserable after every defeat. He does have an arrogance that people will find annoying but if he proves he has ability in his time here to back it up, nobody will give a toss. Brian Clough wasn’t the most stable and reserved of characters but he won lots of football matches and so it was more than tolerated. I think it’s the results changing rather than his persona that is softening people’s opinion of him. How much that is down to his tactical ability, rather than changes to personnel that were forced on him (Mousinho), luck, or the players just knuckling down and trying more remains to be seen. He did keep saying that he should be judged when all his players are fit - a luxury that I’m sure all managers would love, it has to be said! Having said all that, there’s no doubting his passion, he definitely appears to care about what happens to this club, and he’s dealt with the, at times very personal, criticism with dignity

I find KR alright as I don't listen to his interviews anymore.
 
Having met the man and sat through some analysis that the players were given ahead of Walsall - which included tactics and team selection that were all totally wrong, so let’s not get sucked in by the impressive ‘fourth best header of the ball’ soundbites too much - I’m not going to start eating any humble pie after two wins in five games. It’s a very welcome upturn in form and hopefully it will continue, but nothing more right now. We are now getting a pretty decent run going after a start that was worse than abysmal.

If anything, that he has changed his tactics, personnel and formations etc, and just shut up and stopped acting and speaking like a lunatic, has vindicated every last person who criticised and wanted him gone. He’s had to change what he was doing - if this was all happening ‘his way’ with the same things suddenly turning maybe there could be some dick swinging. Alas, it has only proven that everything he refused to budge on was in fact wrong, as so many could see and correctly stated.

Still think the guy is a bit of a clown and that if he was chocolate he would eat himself, but I’ll take any results that benefit the club I support whether I like the manager, certain players or anything else.


The comment about "fourth best header" is a pretty reasonable assessment. We've not got a huge side, so Nelson, Dickie and Mous will get all the attention. If we can identify the likes of Ruffels, Whyte or Browne to get on the end of set pieces then we know that we are likely to avoid the best defenders. Bit it's one thing identifying it and another executing it. When our luck was out, we couldn't pick out anyone in the box and when we did, some missed free headers. You can't blame the manager for that.

We saw lots of basic errors from players, and you can understand KR getting frustrated. Maybe not to the extent that he was going mental on the touchline, but he would have been equally crucified if he was emotionless like MApp in his early days. It's a bit chicken and egg, but KR is calmer now that the players are doing as asked, and they are playing better without the touchline distractions.

So whilst KR might not be a footballing genius, I fail to see that he is the mug that you describe.
 
The comment about "fourth best header" is a pretty reasonable assessment. We've not got a huge side, so Nelson, Dickie and Mous will get all the attention. If we can identify the likes of Ruffels, Whyte or Browne to get on the end of set pieces then we know that we are likely to avoid the best defenders. Bit it's one thing identifying it and another executing it. When our luck was out, we couldn't pick out anyone in the box and when we did, some missed free headers. You can't blame the manager for that.

We saw lots of basic errors from players, and you can understand KR getting frustrated. Maybe not to the extent that he was going mental on the touchline, but he would have been equally crucified if he was emotionless like MApp in his early days. It's a bit chicken and egg, but KR is calmer now that the players are doing as asked, and they are playing better without the touchline distractions.

So whilst KR might not be a footballing genius, I fail to see that he is the mug that you describe.
Never called him a mug. I said he got the tactics being relayed to the team wrong for Walsall, which I know because he played me them. I said he got a lot of things wrong which he has now backed down on because ‘his way’ was on a hiding to nothing, which is true. I said I think he’s a bit full of himself, and that’s my opinion which I have formed from meeting him, dealing with him years ago when I was a football journalist and speaking to plenty of people who spent a lot of time with him, and that’s my right as someone with direct experience with him and some form of genuine insight into his methods. And I also think he’s a loose cannon who spouts off in a manner that borders on hysteria at times, which I don’t think I’ve heard even his staunchest supporters argue.

But I didn’t call him a mug. You said I did.
 
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Never called him a mug. I said he got the tactics being relayed to the team wrong for Walsall, which I know because he played me them. I said he got a lot of things wrong which he has now backed down on because ‘his way’ was on a hiding to nothing, which is true. I said I think he’s a bit full of himself, and that’s my opinion which I have formed from meeting him, dealing with him years ago when I was a football journalist and speaking to plenty of people who spent a lot of time with him, and that’s my right as someone with direct experience with him and some form of genuine insight into his methods. And I also think he’s a loose cannon who spouts off in a manner that borders on hysteria at times, which I don’t think I’ve heard even his staunchest supporters argue.

But I didn’t call him a mug. You said I did.

What would you say he got wrong?
 
What would you say he got wrong?
Most of it. From ‘guaranteed’ starters for them, to ‘guaranteed’ patterns of play we had set up for, all of which seemed to be based on one video of them playing as the home team rather than the away team. A fact I quieried without reply, I might add. As a result I could see within five minutes that we had lost that game based on what he himself had set up for, and at no point in the 90 minutes did anything change. Shape, personnel - nothing. Not even after half time. We just charged headfirst and blindly into what he had decided must be the way, even when absolutely none of it had come to fruition. The same man who, do not forget, came in last season and immediately attacked the 442 diamond we had spent weeks trying to adjust to, saying it was rubbish. Remind me again what formation we went on our run to safety using? Ah, yes, the diamond. Because actually, for what we had in terms of personnel it was the best option. And now we’ve finally switched to a formation that isn’t the one he refused to budge from in the first ten games, when we were getting beaten every damn week, and what’s happening? Yep, you guessed it, we are going on another run because now we are playing to what best suits the players we have. And that is why I am not going to lavish the man with praise, because he only puts the fire out after he’s done a bloody good job of letting it burn. And then as soon as he puts it out he goes back for another go. That 4231 is coming back before the end of the season - mark my words. He isn’t finished with that by a long shot, even though it does NOT suit this squad. He has an ‘ideal lineup’ complete with bench and reserves on the board in his office. I’ll let you decide what formation it is that he’s got it rigidly set up in, and what in turn he describes as “my formation” and “the most fluid formation in the game”. Good managers are flexible and play the cards they’ve got, not the cards they wish they had. So far he’s binned realism off for his own fantasy before reverting, then binned it off again over the summer before changing to something else which is working... we only seem to actually take positive steps when he DOESN’T do what he wants to do. He’s like someone who refuses to read the instructions on flatpack furniture, bangs around for ages making a mess, then agrees to read them in a huff and puts it together in five minutes. I’m not going to praise him for that or have people smugly declaring he knew what he was doing all along.

Oh, and as for these comments of “I always said I wanted to be judged when I had my best team fit and available”, he can do one. I’ve seen what he claims is his best team, and who he deems a bench warmer, and who he thinks is no more than squad fodder, and it ain’t matching up to the side that’s getting results now. Sometimes it really is okay to quietly be grateful for good fortune, and to acknowledge you perhaps misjudged something. When I hear this crap about it finally being close to ‘his team’ having seen what that actually looked like barely six weeks ago, it only succeeds in making me feel his ego is insatiable. It isn’t truthful.

Anyway, I’ve explained why I feel the way I do. I hope the good results continue and that we stay a L1 side beyond this season, and maybe the next couple of transfer windows won’t be absolute turd. If KR weathers it and we go on to achieve with him in the future, excellent. My priority is this club doing well. But I don’t have to enjoy the waffle and the “I’m a brilliant coach” bullshit in between it all. A little more humility and a little less gum flapping would be lovely.
 
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