Jack Ross, the good ...

Stick or twist? **** or bust? some interesting and valid arguments put forward on the thread, all worthy of discussion. FWIW, my two pennorth is that whatever the likely outcome is post takeover, I very much doubt we'll be bulleting Jack before then. The consortium don't have their feet under the table, but may well have ideas of what they want to do when they do have, and SD won't want to be the man who shot Bambi's mum, especially if it could create tension or turmoil before they step in. In the short term all I want to see if for whatever 11 JR puts out to be brave and carry the game to the opposition and see where it takes us.

As to the quality we supposedly have, I'm not convinced we should be mullering teams in this division. We've stocked the squad with Championship cast-offs and freebies, and that is a salient point imo. They're players no-one else wanted or needed. We overpaid on Grigg, but no-one thought it was a bad move at the time. However, we don't play to his strengths, a blind man on a galloping horse can see that. We have the likes of O9, McGeough, Embleton, Robson and Gooch in midfield, and tbh none of them could easily make the step up to Championship, they're willing enough but not game turners. McGeady is a tricky player but we have become too dependent on him, we actually played better without him against MKD imo. Maguire is a canny ****house-type player, he needs more freedom to operate as he sees fit. Power and Dobson I'm still unclear as to their purpose tbh. Up front we have in Wyke hat should be an ideal L1 c/f, a mobile lump who should be used more effectively in bringing midfielders into the game and giving the ammunition to Grigg. But it's just not happening. whether that is a direct result of tactics, mis-communication, or lack of confidence we can only guess at, but it needs to be remedied and soon.

It doesn't help that the g/k is turning in comedy performances every week either. Allied to the uncertainty about what is our best back 4, we always look uneasy when defending.

As far a replacement for JR is concerned we need someone with a clear vision of how he wants his team/squad to operate and and grow. Personally I'd be dead set against the usual suspects being mentioned here (Pulis/Hughton/Allardyce etc.) Either let the Americans pay top whack for a top coach or go continental for someone who thinks about the game beyond the upcoming 90 minutes alone.

At the minute we're hamstrung by the takeover, and the sooner it's resolved one way or the other the better.

 

He does.

And we're back to the conversation I had with @Guinness Guzzler yesterday - the way we play is not only obvious to others and obvious where the gaps are (pace and presence in midfield being another), it's totally at odds with everything he's ever said or done in football management prior to coming here. It's the polar opposite of a fast team pressing the opposition and hitting them with pace and a deep lying playmaker pulling the strings, and he won't change a losing formula that he doesn't believe in even though we're clearly deteriorating as a team no matter what.

There must be more to this than we're aware of because the absence of his playing style and the players to implement it on the pitch after 3 transfer windows when everyone including the opposition managers know our weaknesses is unfathomable?

 

Well said. Ross is guilty of the players not being fit enough and not getting them to play a high energy game, the players are guilty of not being very good barring a couple of exceptions, but Ross is getting all the blame.

I know the buck stops with the manager but it's a very black and white way to look at it if you'll excuse the expression. Especially if recruitment was largely out of his hands.

I do think a change of manager might be needed now but my concern is that we don't get the right guy and the weakness of the squad is further revealed.

 

There are much worse squads playing much better than us ...

... I blame Ross.

 

How long this takeover is taking is going to be very significant of how good a season we have as surely we won't get rid of JR until the new owners are in and how long is that going to take ?
Its ****ing embarrassing getting beat 2-0 by bloody Lincoln.

 

There can't be that many, there's only five clubs ahead of us.

If you did an analysis of each of those sides and compared them to ours player for player I don't think we'd come out on top very often.

 

.

 

League position wise is only half the story.

Bolton outplayed us ...

.... how?

 

Even when we've won we have been complete and utter pants. Performance wise we are in a false position.

 

Same way we outplayed two premier league sides, better on the day.

 

Good point, well made.

 

We didn't deliberately throw the games we've lost ...

... not so sure about Burnley and Sheff Utd.

We didn't make 10 changes on Saturday.

Promotion is absolutely vital to us ...

... a minor cup run doesn't come close.

There's absolutely no comparison.

 

Maybe Bolton have better players than us

 

You don't believe that any more than I do.

They didn't have any players a month before we played them.

 

This is an interesting statement. They always say that being able to win when you're not playing well is key to doing well.

It's also interesting what's been said about out playing teams or being out played by others. That's an attitude thing. And while it's part of Ross' job to motivate the players, it's their responsibility to respond to that. A manager can't physically force a player to run his guts out.

 

Even the majority of last season we didnt play well but somehow picked up points. I was happy with that but with the understanding that we would improve this season. Results are slightly worse of and the performances have getting worse.

 

Not playing well and winning is promotion form...so hopefully we will play well and win easily..
That's the theory, but our performances have been dire for a while now...we do not score lots of goals...and rarely keep a clean sheet

 

yeah, but it's Qatar. **** that

 

Our league position is false.

We’ve been outplayed by more teams this season than there are above us, and the results are starting to wobble now as well.

You can’t draw at Bolton, you can’t lose 3-0 to anyone in this league, and you can’t get absolutely bossed by Lincoln and say it’s acceptable.

We can’t change all 20 players in the squad, so we need to be maxing the **** shower we have.

We are not doing this. Fact, end of, cannot be argued.

 

Not sure about the league position being false because we've had a couple of dodgy results. We've won the games we've won fair and square and besides don't people usually trot out the cliche about sides playing badly and winning being good sides.

I don't think many people if any have said we're getting the most out of the squad, Ross needs to get them fired up and grafting and I'm not sure he's capable as it's not really happened the whole time he's been here.

My main issue with this debate is that I believe our players are good enough with a competent manager to be roughly around where we are in the league right now albeit with slightly more convincing performances. People who think they're top two quality are imo deluded and setting themselves up for disappointment.