snaykz

We’d be swapping Monk - a manager who rarely gets the best out of his players and whose teams usually play crap football, for McCarthy - a manager who often gets the best out of his players and whose teams usually play crap football. So on that score, he would be an improvement. But... I’d have serious doubts about whether McCarthy would be the man to get us promoted. Having said that, McCarthy strikes me as the sort of manager you’d appoint if you’re working with a limited budget and just want to stay in the division. So he might be just what we need for the next year or two.

Barry Bourbon Adam Reach-tea Kieran Leibniz Dominic Ioreo... ...Garry Dunk

I originally thought the same about that goal, but when you see the replay from the opposite angle, it shows that Lee didn't touch the ball and it was the Derby player who passed it into Lawrence's path.

Fed up of seeing Harris receive the ball with his back to goal, dribble it 20 yards towards our own goal, then pass it sideways. If we can't play the ball in behind for him to run onto, there's not much point in playing him at all.

“Alright lads? Any chance of a game?”

Surely there have to be serious doubts over Monk. He’s turned one of the best defences in the division into one of the worst. And despite all the huff and puff in the second half today, we struggle to carve out clear cut chances on a regular basis. These aren’t Monk’s players, but he’s forced into making changes every game due to wrong selections or poor performances. He’s not getting anything close to the best out of this group, other than an occasional 20 or 30 minute spell. Regardless of which division we are in next season, this Summer is one of our most important for some time. Do we really trust Monk to get it right? If he doesn’t, we could suffer the effects for years to come. Oh, and I’m dreading Man City. It could be properly embarrassing.

Bobby Charlton scored England hattricks against USA (won 8-1), Luxemburg (won 9-0), Mexico (won 8-0), Switzerland (won 8-1), etc. Jimmy Greaves scored England hattricks against Luxemburg (won 8-0), Scotland (won 9-3), Northern Ireland (won 8-3), Norway (won 6-1), etc. If anything, there are fewer one-sided matches in the modern era, not more.

I’ve thought this for the last few games; I don’t think lack of effort is the problem. The players look like they haven’t got a clue what their roles are or what is expected of them. And we don’t seem to have any idea how to create chances effectively and consistently. From the outside looking in, it’s as if the players are being told who’s going to be in the starting XI, then just asked to go out and play. We seem completely devoid of any kind of plan or identity.

Honestly, I can’t see where our next goal is coming from, never mind our next point. No team, in any division, should be getting only 5 points from 10 matches. Things should never get this bad. We need fresh ideas.

The players aren’t THIS bad. Monk isn’t even getting 50% of what he should out of them. Ok, it’s not his squad, but a good manager should be able to get the most out of what he has available. I think we all know that Monk is finished here. There’s no point in prolonging it.

I remember when we won games under Megson, the opposition fans regularly used to moan that we didn’t play any better than them, we just bullied them into submission. What we wouldn’t give for a team like that now, rather than the weak-willed, half-hearted performances we’re currently serving up. I’m not suggesting Megson as a realistic candidate, but I do feel we need somebody of that ilk, a big character to instil a winning mentality, to give us a bit of a nasty edge and have opposition fans calling us bullies once again. What we have is a young manager who appears to be out of his depth and who some of the players don’t seem to respect.

The problem is that the way we are going, even a modest points deduction could see us preparing for League 1 next season. You said it yourself - the culture of the club needs changing. Do you really think Monk is the man to do that, based on what you’ve seen so far? For me, it needs a bigger character to turn us around and instill a winning mentality; someone like Bruce or (dare I say it) Megson.

It’s not just about the results, it’s the performances and the standard of the opposition that’s worrying about our recent slump. I don’t believe Monk has the slightest idea how to turn us around. We can’t continue as we are, simply limping towards the end of the season in the hope of offloading a number of out of contract players. Even a modest points deduction could see us starting next season in League 1. Something has to change, and quickly. There often comes a time in a manager’s career where he reaches a point of no return with the fanbase. From that point onwards, it’s usually only a matter of time before the manager is sacked or he resigns. It happened with Carlos and it happened with Jos. For Monk, I believe that he reached that point last night.

Monk's current record: P: 28 W: 11 L: 9 D: 8 Win %: 39.29 Ok, that's still a better win percentage than Bruce. Until tomorrow night at least.

Reach has an injury. So does Odubajo. Westwood, Hutchinson, Winnall and Rhodes are all available but have been left out.