Hello all, rather than occasionally commenting in the Ale House I'll contribute properly
After yet another disappointing, limp and fairly embarrassing exit from the FA Cup at home, heads are falling off left, right and centre. You know what, they're allowed to do that, it makes the forum that more entertaining when over reaction, whether positive or negative, always outweighs the moderate opinion.
As someone who merely listened to the Sunderland game at random points on the radio, I thought I'd introduce the rational thread for those to help put a bit of perspective on our situation. I'll start....
Moyes - Moyes has a plan A, and when plan A has worked, it has worked very well. We've got some big wins this season when it has worked. Sadly plan A has only really worked with his favourite 11 and when someone is replaced or plan A isn't working, he won't change anything. 2006-2009 Moyes used have coaches that helped change tactics although now he appears to be surrounded by yes men. We're never getting rid of him though so hopefully he can scrape some points out of the squad before our first 11 are back and fit. It'll be 10th, which is fine, not great but I can live with it.
The squad - Our first 11 is a good team, it's not the fastest but we have enough players who can actually move a ball quickly with their feet. Our squad however is fairly abysmal, but not just in quality, why do we still after all these years buy no one with pace? Baffling! Every other squad may have some naff players but their naff players are twice as fast as ours. Considering the tactics we've tried with the last 3 managers, pace is essential. As a result, the minute a player comes in after barely any minutes, not only is he slow with the ball, he's slow to think about what to do. The one positive after today I suppose is we have genuinely been unlucky with injuries so whilst we have issues now, it's not disastrous like the last 2 or 3 seasons.
Gk - no issues, just maybe don't launch it to Beto and Barry so often.
RB - Why we don't have a new RB is beyond anyone but Patterson hasn't done any worse than JoB so let's keep him there for the time being
LB - not as urgent but I hope the owners and management realise Myko is not a long term solution there, at least we have a LB
CB - bizarrely Tarks has been the weak link here, but hopefully when Branthwaite is back again this won't be a problem area.
CM/AM - for once I'd like us to pass to our CM on the floor, too often in the last 5 years they have just been bypassed with a cross field ball. Again, why we never get anyone with pace in this position baffles me. Bright side, a fully fit squad of KDH, Garner, Gueye and Armstrong is promising if used properly.
Wingers - why can't we find more players like Ndiaye? Just send a scout out to look for similar places at a similar price. Grealish looks less interested now he's realised no one moves off the ball. After that, we desperately need pace, and why hasn't McNeil gone yet? Loan a player in and get Dibling out on loan. Poor Afcon planning has annoyed me a bit. At least we have an Ndiaye to come back.
Strikers - I don't mind Barry as a signing, but not for £25 and not if the striker he is up against is Beto. He won't do it but shirely Moyes realises how crap Beto is? Barry will get some benefit of the doubt due to his age but in an ideal world we'd get a mobile striker in and send him out on loan.
Not seen enough of our youngsters to see how good they are but if they are on the bench, if we're losing badly, or 2 goals up, just bring them on to rest players. Not hard.
Positives for this season though.
1. Whilst we are wildly inconsistent atm, the whole league except arsenal, villa and man city are wildly inconsistent so we're no different on that front
2. We did the double of Dyche
3. We finally broke our duck away at Bournemouth, and beat a Man Utd side away from home against a manager other than Moyes.
4. Whilst we have the usual issues on the pitch, at least no one is talking about how bad we are off it (recruitment aside)
5. At least we have a home where there are no obstructed views.
TL
R our season is 6.5/10, not amazing but mile better than it has been since 2021.
