O/T:- Swansea

[durhampie]

So he doesn't get any credit for the good things but takes the blame for the negatives? Sound logic.

I didnt say that. Thats your take on it. I merely stated that his job was made much easier with the players at hand. How do you think he would have faired if he had Burchnalls team ???

[Old_pie]

I dont blame him for going, I would if in the same position.. I just dont think that he was as good as many seem to think. His away record was shocking and the performances were equal to relegation form, His substitutions never achieved anything, and he had no idea how to resolve our defensive problems..

You will mostly be right being critical as we are after all in the basement, after being even lower than that for 4 seasons which any idiot it seems should have got us out of earlier eliminating the need for LW.

Likely you'll only stop being critical if we go up the leagues into the Premiership and by god, then you'll really have something to complain about.

Meanwhile enjoy the weather. A touch of frost around.

[durhampie]

Most of the posters on here probably do not go to the away games. This season i have seen 2 games where we have played well. The rest of the games we have been diabolical, and nothing was changed to sort it... Thats the basis of my criticism.. I just wished that for once he would try something different, but it was the same old thing every week.. As a person he comes across as a really nice guy, and i really hope he succeeds in wherever he goes..

[BigFatPie]

It's easy to let that last part take root, become the accepted wisdom, but I don't think it's fair. He was an attacking coach with an attacking philosophy - In just 16 months in the job, he took us from perennial NL play-off failures and left us in the L2 play-off positions. What more do people want? The rest is on recruitment. He was forced to try his cavalier methods in a higher league with Slocs, Brinds, Rawlo, Stone etc as all he had for a safety net.

I think accusations about his defence are pretty fair, I would have thought the whole point of the head coach model is that he either improves the players he’s been given or deploys methods that amplify their strengths and nullify their weaknesses, as much as possible.

There’s no getting away from the fact that our defensive performances were getting worse rather than better. I think he was given a bit of a bum hand with those players you mention, though he did choose to drop Stone and bring in Slocombe before the first Mansfield game, for whatever reason.

[OP67]

There’s no getting away from the fact that our defensive performances were getting worse rather than better

That's because L2 managers/coaches started to work out how to break it down which was quite easy when you play one dimentional.

Our defence was falsely praised in the NL when you consider the % of possession we had compaired to other teams. I wonder what the goals against would be based on the limited time the opposition had the ball was that season.

[tommopie8]

I didnt say that. Thats your take on it. I merely stated that his job was made much easier with the players at hand. How do you think he would have faired if he had Burchnalls team ???

I agree he has better players at his disposal. Do you think IB manages to get the squad last season to go toe to toe with Wrexham for most of the season or tick along like Chesterfield did? I know ultimately it resulted in us both being at Wembley but he was a vast improvement on IB in almost every measurable aspect.

[durhampie]

I agree he has better players at his disposal. Do you think IB manages to get the squad last season to go toe to toe with Wrexham for most of the season or tick along like Chesterfield did? I know ultimately it resulted in us both being at Wembley but he was a vast improvement on IB in almost every measurable aspect.

You cant make comparison's, because IBs team were not as good as LWs. We didnt have Macca, Scott, Jones or Bostock for starters..

[wiseoldmagpie]

Most of the posters on here probably do not go to the away games. This season i have seen 2 games where we have played well. The rest of the games we have been diabolical, and nothing was changed to sort it... Thats the basis of my criticism.. I just wished that for once he would try something different, but it was the same old thing every week.. As a person he comes across as a really nice guy, and i really hope he succeeds in wherever he goes..

Durham you make a fair point as far as I am concerned. Overall under Luke we became a home team monster with lots of joyful, exciting, winning football for which I give Luke lots of credit. Our away form was not as good, and we were seemingly unable to tighten up to build the platform from which we could nick results in close games. It often felt like we could generate periods of dominance in away games but also go to pieces for periods meaning that the result could be a lottery. We had flair but lacked the game control element needed to up the away PPG.

[LaxtonLad]

You will mostly be right being critical as we are after all in the basement, after being even lower than that for 4 seasons which any idiot it seems should have got us out of earlier eliminating the need for LW.

Likely you'll only stop being critical if we go up the leagues into the Premiership and by god, then you'll really have something to complain about.

Meanwhile enjoy the weather. A touch of frost around.

Mustn't grumble.

[queenslandpie]

This thread is starting to become like the old Ardley ones. He did a good job for Notts and that's all that matters. He will always be welcome back at the club, and conducted himself with dignity and a certain humility lacking in a lot of managers. Let's just remember him for what he is rather than arguing about mute points.