oldishowl

I think people will be more patient if he shows he knows what is needed to win football matches. I ain’t a manager but changing to 4 at the back , which I support, but to then make 3 changes , leave Lees out and play the full backs that wide with big gaps is total naivety

I think the problem is that he doesn’t conform to the level of discipline and commitment that Jos requires from all his players. We have all heard rumours, so just what I have heard. I suppose a cynic might argue that Jos likes to go with kids because they are easier to manage. Players like Westwood and Hutch are more difficult and require a more flexible approach.

The manager doesn’t help himself. I think everybody would accept that we don’t have a great squad available but you have to make the most out of what you have. On the pitch you have to make yourselves hard to beat, strong at the back and organised. You cannot possibly be that if you make the number of changes we continually make to the defence. Leaving Lees out tonight was total nonsense and shows how poor and naive the manager is. You also to play a low risk style, not the continual kamikaze square passing in our own half. Off the pitch, discipline is one thing , suicide is another. Leaving so many senior players out is suicide with the shape our squad is in.

Remember last season. Changed to a back four at qpr and we were 3 down before I had finished my pie.

Nonsense dropping Lees

So to summarise. If everybody was fit he wouldn’t get in the team but he is worth 20 million quid.

If Wolves came in for Reach in January then the questions for me are are we going to get promoted if we keep Reach, probably not are we going to get relegated if we sell him, probably not if we brought in a couple of loans to cover If the fee is big enough to solve our FFP problems then we would have to sell in my view

I don't think I agree with you. Taking it to it's extreme Barca always set up the same way and said to the opposition we are going to play this way beat us if you can. Much closer to home Leeds , our neighbours across the city or say Brentford play exactly the same way every game, home or away and let the opposition worry. Of course if too many key players who play regularly are missing you might have to change something. Our problem is we don't have a set way of playing so in reality we don't know whether it would work or not. For example we played a high tempo pressing style in a 433 against Millwall and it was our most exciting display this season. We have now dumped it. I honestly can't think of a team previously who have such a lack of identity and ask so much of certain players to play different roles. I do agree that Jos probably thinks he has not got a good enough team or squad to play a set way and impose ourselves on the opposition but I would disagree with him. Doing it how he is at the moment makes it a lot harder for the players not easier. ..

I have seen absolutely nothing, despite what happened on Friday to suggest we would be a better team without Lees in it.

I think that the job Hector did on Friday was pick up Downing. Downing was given a free role by Pulis roaming between up front and midfield so when he dropped into midfield Hector tended to follow him. So we had Hector following Downing and Reach standing next to Clayton and pointing at everybody else to mark the rest. I find it bizarre that we set up this way.

I would think the difference between Hutch and other players making mistakes is the way they react to the criticism. Rumours were that Hutch had a bust up with Jos at half time at Brentford, clearly Jos ain’t the type of manager to put up someone having an argument with him at half time in front of all the players . Nor to a player who isn’t going to change, when clearly his reckless behaviour needs to change. As for Lees. He made an awful error but it would be awful man management to leave him out because of it. Like it or not he is our captain, working alongside some young players and needs to be played and given the opportunity to make up for it

It is all just too complicated. Pick a formation, stick with it and try and improve it. Play players in the same position week in week out so they know the job expected of them and build partnerships with the players around them. You never know but after a while we might even get to a position where we dominate the odd match instead of surrendering the initiative every game. I was worried when Jos said preseason that we were going to be flexible with our formation. This usually means you are not good enough at any of them. I think I read that we brought a new match analyst in during the summer. Somebody who had worked with Jos before. At the moment it looks to me that he is scouting the opposition which is fair enough, all clubs do this. However what is wrong is that we are flexing out formation and tactics to try and stop them rather than being positive, having our own way of playing and trying to impose it on them. It means we start every game with a negative mindset and drives me daft.

This is the problem playing 3 centre halfs when you don’t really have the players to do it. We are really just saying we will have more people to defend and let the strikers feed on scraps. The best two games where we have actually got forward and looked a team with some attacking tempo were Millwall and Villa. Both these teams played 442 which meant we were not outnumbered and outplayed in midfield . This allowed us to get further up the pitch.

I would start Palmer Lees Hector with either Thornily or Penney depending on the opposition . Last night I would have started Thornily, in less attritional games Penney.

In my eyes Jos is making things far too complicated for the players and sometimes shows a frightening level of naivety which doesn’t help one bit. Onomah is a proper midfielder , does a bit of everything and would have brought something we didn’t have last night. Ball retention. It is obvious our midfield should be Joey, Bannan and Onomah in a three with Reach playing wide. Play 433 every game , let the players do their jobs