If you’ve given up what hope is there for the rest of us ?
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Almost willful levels of ignorance being shown here
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Balances out the wilful levels of stubbornness.
The comments have been taken a little out of context in some cases, but from the way I read it (and others have pointed out more eloquently then me) MD is saying that he is committed to getting the players to perform at their best in a system and style he wants to play in.
He believes that in doing so we will consistently win games.
The problem as I see it is that, as GA proved time after time, playing the ‘best’ football in the ‘right’ way is absolutely no guarantee of getting a result and in the real world of League 1 I am not that convinced his philosophy will actually work.
If we do have a way of playing, other managers will find their own way of countering that and will we have the flexibility and adaptability to be able to respond?
(In fairness, Bromley second half was probably the first time this season that I saw hope. I don’t know what the tactical changes actually were at half time, but we completely transformed a game we were being overwhelmed into a game where we were pretty much in full control)
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It’s a worry if our peak so far is a dominant but largely unthreatening second half performance against a League 2 team who, yes are unbeaten in the league, but only have two wins from five.
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We need Fink fit and playing in the system, without him or another the system becomes difficult to work well.
Dodds and the players are still trying to work out the system, as are we.
Our last 15 games have been awful but we need to judge once Fink is fit, it’s also obvious we don’t have a back up if he’s injured.
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Watched Dodds pre match interview. Worried when he says he’s not outcome focussed. Surely football is about getting results. We’re on a journey apparently!!! I wonder if he’s going to be so relaxed if results continue to be poor. Some good news from his interview is that he’s expecting a couple of new players through the door with some going out. Could be an interesting few days and hopefully a win at Stevenage.
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It wasn’t the performance that gave me hope it was more that it appears MD must have changed things at half time to actually recognise and change things to nullify Bromley’s dominance.
I couldn’t actually work out what it was or how it worked but I’m not great at understanding tactical nuances.
Previous to that though I’d seen very little evidence of MD to actually adapt to take account of the opposition not playing the way we wanted them to.
(I think Bradford was more them sitting back and the less said about how long it took to do anything against Stockport the better…)
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What is your take on present results and performances, eric?
It’s not about what my take is, it’s about an inability to understand what he means when he says his analysis of how we’ve performed in games is not results driven. We may play very well and lose a game, and play very poorly and win a game, but neither scenario is sustainable long term (ie if we continue to play well we’ll win more than we lose, and if we continue to play poorly we’ll lose more than we win).
For what it’s worth, I can see what he’s trying to do, I like what he’s trying to do and I think if we stick with it then at some point in the future we’ll look back and be glad we didn’t sack him much like we did with Ainsworth and Bloomfield before him. Moreover, I have an inkling that footballers prefer being asked to play football rather being instructed to hit the big man on the diagonal or knock it into the channel for Alex Samuel to chase and never use the midfield at all ever.
People have legitimate contrary opinions, I’ve got no problem with that. I do find some of the personal stuff a bit muggy though. If you’ve ever supported Gaz and Bayo when they championed our club as somewhere that you can be unapologetically you and be respected and accepted, but then had a go at or laughed at someone for chewing gum or wearing beige trousers then you’re a prick.
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I’m inclined to agree with Eric here.
Watching the interview, from the outside looking in, there could be perceived a touch of arrogance, but from my understanding this is a man confident that he has the right approach and he has the full backing of the OG.
We are playing some absolutely incredible football, but it’s being diluted by mistakes and moments of sloppiness. That’s what Dodds is trying to sort out.
We are now a possession based team who is trying to play attractive football and out smart our opposition. The goals are starting to come and as has been said elsewhere, not having a striker is not on Dodds, he can only deal with the cards he has been dealt.
And on his outcome comment, basically, for me he is saying ‘yeah, we might lose the next few games but we’re sticking with the plan’. Yeah that’s frustrating for us fans who want instant success but we’re going to go on a run soon, we have an abundance of talent and it’s going to click.
I’ve been as frustrated as many here immediately after the games, but if you take a step back and look at the wider picture, the change in football and philosophy is astounding, we just haven’t had the results go our way yet. I have no doubt they will come our way and I’m 100% backing Dodds. Who knows, that ‘The Doddsfather’ banner might even be back flying by Easter.
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Our club culture has been totally redesigned, we have the most expensive squad ever by a huge margin, but we’re in the relegation zone and we’re getting a load of management speak telling us it’s fine and we just don’t understand the process. If people want to take the piss out of some beige trousers to take the edge off then that’s absolutely fine.
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he’ll be switching to brown trousers soon if the results keep going against us
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Please can someone explain why the type of football played under Bloomfield wasn’t acceptable and exactly what Dodds is doing to rectify this?
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I would buy this argument more if Dodds was playing a settled defence and a settled midfield and a consistent system. Instead we’re getting confused formations and random selections and it all gives the impression of a coaching team either winging it or trying to be too clever by half.
Where I fully agree with Eric is on the abuse of Dodds over his clothing, chewing or nervous tics. Someone on the Facebook group put up a fascinating post early in Dodds’s time with the club referencing the similarities to a family member with Asperger’s and while I have absolutely no interest in medically analysing Dodds, I’ve felt quite a sense of distaste ever since when reading people on here attack him over his personal ideosyncracies.
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Even Sam Avery gave Dodds’ slacks a light ribbing on the 3CR commentary. Is he ‘a prick’ now?
At the risk of sounding like Jim Davidson, there won’t be much left to laugh about if you can’t have a laugh about fashion. I still remember my short-lived gilet faux-pas, which ended when people started singing ‘T U R T L E power’ at me. Not enough neck to pull it off.
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To be fair, I thought the gum chewing jokes were all part of looking for a character in an unknown quantity at the beginning, but agree that if anyone has seen themselves on camera they would be shocked at the fidgeting, gurning and twitching they do…not sure it’s any sort of spectrum issue.
I do find some of the interviews odd, but that’s obviously me failing to interpret properly.
I remain concerned that we have better players who are playing better football but have no steel and not much to show for it. I hope we will not be the team everyone says ‘playing like that they will be there or thereabouts’ after they’ve beaten us.
And then we’re not.
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Yeah but presumably those were your mates doing that?
Few people on here seem like they can’t stand Mike Dodds so it doesn’t come across that jovial, just another boot going in!
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was Sam Avery throwing it in with wider overall criticism of his tenure as manager
As I said, the Ainsworth/Bayo era would not have tolerated mocking someone for how they looked, and rightly so
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I realise this is entirely subjective - but I just can’t see it myself.
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Summary of the morning:
- Eric’s best ever post.
- Fashion mockery on the gasroom can be traced back to ‘piss-stained chinos’. Downward slide ever since…
- We are, in fact, playing some really really attractive, slick, incisive passing football at times. Regardless of whether some Gasroom Royalty are able to see it. It’s there, but at the moment, only in patches.
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