Positive Mental Attitude. We’re gonna piss the league, you heard it here first.
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And possibly last!
Zero comparison. Last season’s collapse was due to Casey and then Halgelskjaer getting injured,the the former players injury resulting in a psycholocial scar that we failed to come back from against Bolton.
Any manager would have struggled with that and Dodds wouldn’t have even got us to the point that we could have been so damaged from such an important game and the loss of our best defenders.
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Spot on, James.
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I’m afraid I don’t think it’s as unarguable as you. If you’re really blaming our poor form on the psychological impact of the Bolton match then that is 100% on the head coach. He’s paid the big bucks to motivate the team and to get them past that point. Failure to do that reflects badly on his leadership style. Arteta managed to do that with Arsenal, there’s no reason Duff shouldn’t be able to do that with Wycombe.
As for defender injuries, I think there’s some revisionism going on here. Sure, Hagelskajer and Casey had formed a decent partnership but it wasn’t infallible (hence why the discussion this summer has been which one Cook partners). Earlier in the season both were labelled as donkeys on here with people hoping they’d never pull the shirt on again. When they were injured Duff had at this disposal Allen and Taylor (two of probably our three most expensive central defender signings ever), Jack Grimmer if he had chosen to play Huggins, and Skura once Duff realised the mistake he made and recalled him.
Once again for the benefit of those who don’t understand nuance. I didn’t say Duff was worse than Dodds. I said he wasn’t much of an improvement. You may disagree, fine, but it sure as hell isn’t a cut and dried case.
Wrong I’m afraid.
The saying was first coined around 1440 (give or take, as Philomena Cunk might have said) by the English poet, John Lydgate in his work titled The Debate between The Horse, Goose and Sheep.
It remains a common enough expression protecting folk from malevolent or demoralising comment or judgement, whether intended or not. I don’t think we’re likely on here to enter that territory - hence my reference to irrelevance.
I humbly concede to the Susie Dent of the gasroom.
Roll on the first proper game…
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You won’t be saying that when we get tonked 5-0!
You’re the Arthur Dent
Killed by the Vogons mate!
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If we lose 5 nil to the 'Nage next Friday I will personally arrange your choice of gasroomer to be your butler for a week
We will have to agree to disagree there but thats ok. That game was a double blow, Casey coming off after partnering one of the statistically best centre back pairings in the division over the previous 8-10 games , and it resulting in a mind blowing surrender in the space of about 7 mims.
With Anders getting injured just a few games later and a distict lack of quality in the squad to replace them ,accompanied by some choice Norris performances, not sure any manager would have done much better.
It’s fine we disagree but had it not been for those injuries ( and particularily the one to Casey) we would have probably beaten Bolton and momentum would have been with us.
Bolton turned when Casey went off, literally like someone flicking a switch.We all saw it.
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For the sake of revisionism, I only remember Casey getting pelters post the Stockport debacle, but even then most seemed to agree that he was played horribly out of position. Once he established himself there was almost universal praise. Anders was the redemption story of last season, and whilst I don’t think he’s Hadrian’s Wall, his budding partnership with Casey was promising.
I don’t think Duff is here for a long time, but I still hope he’s here for a good time! This is his full season now though and it looks like he’s got ‘his’ team and he’s had the pre-season he wanted. What might wear thin quickly is talk about poor mentality if we have a bad start.
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I would say it certainly is a cut and dried case. There was probably one decent performance under Dodds in the 30+ games he managed us for (Bolton away), I could give you at least 15 very decent performances we’ve put in under Duff in his 40+ games
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I would require good references before selection!
559 years before Belgian techno pioneers Technotronic released Pump Up The Jam.
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Yes, but @aloysius thinks Dodds played sexy football.
Yes, I know…
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I know you’re only looking for a bite but I’ll indulge you. I like the idea of playing through the thirds. I don’t like long ball. I appreciate that puts me in a small minority here. Dodds took patient play to an extreme and made it almost unwatchable at times and was deservedly fired. But I could see the thought process behind what he was doing and he was unlucky with squad depth on his awful run last season (no Morley, Henderson, Scowen or recognised striker until Woodrow and Bell arrived just before he was sacked). He was right to play van Sas ahead of Norris.
Duff likes to play a back five, he likes to play safety first football, he makes negative substitutions, has a bizarre way of criticising his players and not taking any blame himself.
As I’ve said consistently for almost a year, he’s a better head coach than Dodds. But I don’t believe he’ll get us promoted and I don’t think he’ll be in charge past Christmas.
In fact, I’m wondering whether the lack of any signings for big money might be because Dan Rice is also thinking that way and doesn’t want to waste $$$s on signings for a man who might not be sticking around for long.
Out of curiosity why don’t you think he’ll be in charge past Christmas?
Because we’ve underperformed and he’s been sacked?
Because we’ve over performed and he’s been poached?
Or because he just fancies a change?
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