The Season So Far.

[POGGYWELL]

Well here we are one a point ahead of where we were at this stage last season and closer to the top of the 3rd division.

Considering Duff had better quality players at his disposal, are most of us on here being a little unjust by our criticism of Mr Collins. He’s certainly not my cup of tea as I’m unsure at times with what his actual tactics are and his reasoning behind some of the team selections.

The guys certainly not been dealt a very good hand with the suits in the boardroom has he.

I’ve noticed Coventry City have vastly improved in their last three games with Mark Robins starting Collins, Thomas and Kitchen in a partnership together for the first time this season. Played three won two, drawn one and three clean sheets. If only.

I said after Tuesdays game we are going nowhere soon, am I being a little harsh in my thinking. I’m not too sure but my line of thought now is that by end of the next difficult month it see us either surge, consolidate or decline. The halfway mark will be here and then comes the hopeful / dreaded transfer window.

By that time I’m sure we the jury can really decide or have you already decided. What do you think ?


Next Months Fixtures.
Sat 9th Dec
Reading - Away

Sat 16th Dec
Charlton - Home

Sat 23rd Dec
Stevenage - Home

Tues 26th Dec
Port Vale - Away

Fri 29th Dec
Peterborough - Away

[Shadrack the Red]

I agree with your summary Poggy , a very good assessment & like you the jury is out for me on Mr Collins, I have said before he has been dealt a poor hand & whilst we all give rookie players time we seldom do the same with managers & therefore I have decided to reserve judgement over the season on him & then I will have a clearer picture . Last season we had a lot more quality amongst the ranks & we did not get promoted so based on that in my opinion there is virtually no chance of going up, in fact with our current squad the play offs seem a bit distant , however if we have a good window in january like we did last year then we might make a push for the play offs but knowing our owners I doubt this will happen ,in fact they will once again probably look to put profit before progress & sell who ever they can. My personal wish would be to move on some of the fringe players & McCart going back & at least two or three experienced defenders brought in plus hang on to Cole, Styles , Kane & Connell , we will see , I am not holding my breath .

[animallittle3]

Well we've gone backwards in my opinion as a team and as a club .

If you look at Bolton for instance who we beat in the Play Off semi final last season they have improved and kicked on .

Whether the new Director Of Football can change things will depend on how much clout he's allowed to wield .

Collins doesn't help himself and I'm not a fan by any means but he's been let down by some absolute garbage recruited by the club in the summer .

The problems at the club are way deeper than Collins .

I detect very little ambition at the club and I personally believe it doesn't hurt them to be a league one club , quite cool about it in my opinion .

I'm finding it very difficult even to watch us on ifollow , sat in my front room with the heating on , I tip my hat to the faithful who sat through that at Oakwell on Tuesday night in the freezing cold .

Can't wait for the rugby league to start to be honest , proper owner whose put his money where his mouth is and is extremely ambitious , hired people who know the game inside out and totally re*****ised Wakefield Trinity inside two months .

[Barnsley Chop]

Well we've gone backwards in my opinion as a team and as a club .

If you look at Bolton for instance who we beat in the Play Off semi final last season they have improved and kicked on .

Whether the new Director Of Football can change things will depend on how much clout he's allowed to wield .

Collins doesn't help himself and I'm not a fan by any means but he's been let down by some absolute garbage recruited by the club in the summer .

The problems at the club are way deeper than Collins .

I detect very little ambition at the club and I personally believe it doesn't hurt them to be a league one club , quite cool about it in my opinion .

I'm finding it very difficult even to watch us on ifollow , sat in my front room with the heating on , I tip my hat to the faithful who sat through that at Oakwell on Tuesday night in the freezing cold .

Can't wait for the rugby league to start to be honest , proper owner whose put his money where his mouth is and is extremely ambitious , hired people who know the game inside out and totally re*****ised Wakefield Trinity inside two months .

And he is from Barnsley !!!!

[SBRed48]

Our record after 18 games last season was W9 D3 L6 as opposed to this seasons W9 D4 L5.

It could be argued Duff took over a just relegated club (30 pts all season) and a whole host of newly recruited free agents, mainly from leagues below Barnsley. It did take a while to sort out the mess. Neill and Jon had their defence ripped apart by the owners and I'm not sure they have sorted the damage in defence out yet.

In the remaining 28 games of the season from Match 19 onwards Duff's record was W17 D5 L6 making a season total of 86pts.

I hope Neill and Jon can repeat that giving us 87pts and a Play Off spot.

I am waiting for the Fans Forum next Monday (with no CEO present) when Parekh and JAQ will surprise us all with--
1) The reveal of what Ahmad's "Big News" is.
2) An outline of their vision for the club- slowly creating-a strong Championship club built by gradual investment to build a team by retaining our best players and recruiting one or two players of quality each season. All starting with s strong January transfer window next month to kick start the process

.......and much more !

Go Well all at Grove Street

[Young_Nudger]

Summary so far.
Players are putting some effort in - but they don’t seem to know what their role is.

Compare that with the Ismael team - when everyone at the club was saying the players knew exactly what to do.

Then of course there’s the tactics.
What are they ?
I’d be very surprised to hear that the directors are happy with what they’ve seen so far.
But I’m not expecting them to say anything controversial at Mondays supporters meeting.

I cant see any difference with the technical ability of this new batch of players compared to the other batches of players over these last few years.
They had flack back then - the latest batch are getting flack now.

All these comments about Mads.
Have some of us already forgotten that for the first few months after he arrived it was reported that he was a bag of nerves and finding it difficult to play at Oakwell because of the level of abuse he was getting???

So no change there then - other than these players are playing in a team that compared to other teams is relatively poorly organised.

We don’t need anymore players in January.
These players are good enough to win this league - given the right approach from the right head coach.

I wish Collins well.
I hope he changes tactics - to tactics that actually suits the players.

[pass_and_move]

My take on the season so far is that we are not good enough in terms of defending. Our defensive signings have been recruited from too low down the footballing pyramid. They aren't good enough for this level. I've seen enough to know that they aren't good enough and quite frankly, some of the defensive play has been comical and embarrassing at times, it really has.

The French lad offers hope as he can actually play and tackle but the rest I'm sorry to say are not up to scratch. That is quite clear and needs addressing this January.

I think the points amassed so far don't tell a true story of our season. The goalkeeper won us games in the early part of the season with some quite exceptional performances but now he's out injured, we miss him big time. Also, the opposition managers have seen enough of our defenders to pinpoint their weaknesses which perhaps wasn't the case earlier in the season as nobody knew either who they were, or what they are about.

I feel for Collins if I'm being honest. He's taken some flack but the way I see it is that he's been dealt a very poor hand because the replacement signings are substandard. The positive from Collins is that we try to play good football on the deck. You can see that and given time, it will stand us in good stead should we be promoted back to the 2nd tier. The club from down the road who beat us in the play off final are a great example of how their efficient league one football is just mere cannon fodder for championship teams.

Collins may well be criticised for other things and I get that. However, the bigger picture for this club is to keep playing passing football that Collins has introduced and if the board pull their finger out and bring in better quality players and some experience, we will make a better fist of it should we be promoted in the next couple of seasons.

[Shadrack the Red]

My take on the season so far is that we are not good enough in terms of defending. Our defensive signings have been recruited from too low down the footballing pyramid. They aren't good enough for this level. I've seen enough to know that they aren't good enough and quite frankly, some of the defensive play has been comical and embarrassing at times, it really has.

The French lad offers hope as he can actually play and tackle but the rest I'm sorry to say are not up to scratch. That is quite clear and needs addressing this January.

I think the points amassed so far don't tell a true story of our season. The goalkeeper won us games in the early part of the season with some quite exceptional performances but now he's out injured, we miss him big time. Also, the opposition managers have seen enough of our defenders to pinpoint their weaknesses which perhaps wasn't the case earlier in the season as nobody knew either who they were, or what they are about.

I feel for Collins if I'm being honest. He's taken some flack but the way I see it is that he's been dealt a very poor hand because the replacement signings are substandard. The positive from Collins is that we try to play good football on the deck. You can see that and given time, it will stand us in good stead should we be promoted back to the 2nd tier. The club from down the road who beat us in the play off final are a great example of how their efficient league one football is just mere cannon fodder for championship teams.

Collins may well be criticised for other things and I get that. However, the bigger picture for this club is to keep playing passing football that Collins has introduced and if the board pull their finger out and bring in better quality players and some experience, we will make a better fist of it should we be promoted in the next couple of seasons.

Excellent post Pass , you have summed up perfectly what I have been banging on about for ages , quality has been replaced by raw potential & these lads have had their inexperience exposed, which has resulted in some harsh lessons on the pitch , people can berate Collins until the cows come home but until the defensive problem is addressed then we will continue to have hit and miss results, the better teams & coaches will punish us , hopefully experience will be brought to the club in january , if not we can forget about the play offs , we are simply not good enough.

[EthelRed]

There are undoubtedly defensive frailties, but there are deficiencies elsewhere on the field. We dont retain the ball efficiently and hand over possession far too easily. At times our short passing is woeful, not up to the required standard of this division, never mind the division above. When the ball is pushed forward, we havent got the players to retain it.

All of this results in the ball coming back at us and putting our defenders under the cosh which exposes their weaknesses far more often than is necessary. This in turn probably highlights the frailties we have in that department.

We only have one way of playing and reverting to plan B hardly happens at all. We rely on the full backs pushing forward to give us any threat in the opposition half and when that doesnt work or the opposition start to exploit the inevitable spaces behind the full backs we havent got a clue what to do about it. Again this exposes our defenders.

I have to question the tactical acumen of the manager and coaches who keep repeating Plan A whether its working or not. Predictable substitutions virtually every game dont help, it doesnt pose new questions for the opposition to answer. Approaching half way in the season and we have a decent points haul and that is despite all of the above but I dont see the product improving week on week and Im still far from convinced that Collins knows who his best 11 are yet. When do we ever take to the field with a different approach that gives the impression that we have studied the opposition and adapted our approach to address their style and strengths? Would that be never? Who would be responsible for that? It leaves me questioning the manager and his flexibility and all of that despite the poor hand he has been dealt.

All in all I think their is collective responsibility for the product on the pitch and these weaknesses need to be addressed in January if we have any chance of pushing into the play off picture. The approach of the ownership is largely responsible for the seasonal reset of our playing and management staff and they need to show real intent in the next window. Otherwise sell up and let someone else have a go.

Interesting times ahead but I still retain forlorn hope that we will begin making adjustments and grow into the tasl this season.

[POGGYWELL]

Nailed it Eths