A few thoughts after last night..

[dumboldowl]

I welcomed Megson's appointment. As a former Owls player, and son of a former Owls player, I thought that he would inject some drive and enthusiasm into the squad. Instead he has browbeaten the players into an incoherent mass who are terrified of making mistakes. The players are totally bewildered and demoralised.

Megson has said on numerous occasions since his appointment, that it is up to the player in the shirt to keep it, and that while ever they were playing well he would not change the team. Yet following a reasonable away performance where we unfortunate not to win, he not only makes five changes for the next game, but plays players out of position. The players must be as confused as the supporters.

When Wednesday scored the equaliser last night and most of the team were still celebrating upfield, Tommy Spurr ran to the touchline for a drink. All quite innocently.

Megson snatched the bottle from his lips, pushed him back onto the field with a curse, threw the bottle on the ground, and then turned round to the member of staff who had passed Tommy the drink, and gave him a "short burst" for good measure.

What that was all about I don't know, but I do know that it had nothing to do with good man-management, and certainly nothing to do with positive motivation. It did however give a little insight into the possible underlying problems at the moment.

[gurujuan]

Come on, surely if we are relegated his position will become untenable

[Guest PAUL.]

Centre halfs used this season

Purse

Beevers

Buxton

Jones

Baath

Johnson

Reynolds

Morrison

Have I missed anyone?

That alone is testimony to what is massively wrong at the moment. I darent begin to look at central midfield

Spurr.

[Plonk]

Tell you whats really flippingme off and making me want to stop watching football altogether:

1.Players that roll around like they are going to lose a limb, only to get to the touch line and be touched by the hand of Jesus, so incredible is their recovery from this life threatening injury.

2. Referees who cant see what players are doing (and boy was he a classic example last night)

3. Players who obviously dont give a poo poo. Those Brentford players were no better than ours, but Christ they worked their bloody socks (in fact they played like Megson said we were going to!)

I cant wait for the end of this season (again) and just hope and pray we dont go down. Im not sure I can face another season in this league yet alone a few in the fourth. Come on Meggo flippingsort it out!

[the_vinyl_frontier]

I was really...disappointed last night. The first 15-20 minutes I thought we looked alright, passign it around a fair bit, thought Potter & OBrien were doing really well. Was a shame Jones had to go off, as he was dominating their forwards.

Then after their goal, most of the players looked really down. I think one bonus (and I cant believe im saying this), was the defense - they seemed alright (with a couple of exceptions). The issue was the midfield. Both OBrien and Osbourne were sitting really deep, and neither were getting forward. I cant believe Potter went off instead of Osbourne!

I really thought we were going to turn it around before last night, thought it would just click and we would hammer them.

You can tell, as has been said above, that the team just lack confidence - they look scared to make a mistake. The number of 10 yard passes that went wrong was ridiculous.

Buxton, Madine, Batth and Spurr all played like they cared. If the rest of the team put the effort in that they did, then we could have got something.

[Bluesteel]

1) Playing ANYONE out of position is a definite NO

2) The team have gone from playing poorly to playing like they are absolutely terrified

3) Does Megson ever praise anyone/anything ? The players look like they are about as flat/demotivated as they could be

4) There's absolutely ZERO 'togetherness' on the pitch at the moment - the team look like complete strangers and argue amongst themselves too

5) The basics of playing football aren't being seen - and there's no imagination being used in passing the ball (see above for possible reasons)

6) Clinton - I'm sorry but I'm getting more and more annoyed with him doing stuff like running up to the keeper as he's about to boot the ball upfield - then being offside and unable to play a part in the move if we come forward quickly from the keepers kick

7) What's the team ? What's the formation ? We CANNOT keep changing over these next few games. We should play 4-4-2 , with two wingers, two ball winning midfielders who will win the ball back and spray the ball wide for the winger and overlapping right/left back to cross the ball into Madine and have Heffernan feed off anything that drops/doesn't go goalward

8) All it would take to get the crowd right behind the team is to have a couple of really hard tackles in the first 2 minutes - right from kick off just get stuck in and put a few players on their backs through steaming in - the crowd would get on their feet and you'd have a real game

9) If we're getting drubbed at half time through lack of EFFORT then don't let the players in the dressing room - make them stand in the penalty area in front of the kop

10) I genuinely can't see anything to say that we're not going down. This is possibly the worst season of my entire life. Even when we got relegated the team showed more effort, skill and confidence than we do at the moment - and we're shipping goals every game. Can't see anything but relegation on the horizon (sorry folks)

I agree with most of that, although I think we should persist with 4-5-1 now as the defence cannot handle 4-4-2. If we were to draw most of our remaining games and nicking a win or two we'd be ok, it would at least make teams have to break us down, Brentford barely had to try.

Megson bowed to the need to be more attacking at home which is understandable but we looked more difficult to beat away at Dagenham than we did at home last night. We can make 4-5-1 work with Liam Palmer and Daniel Jones in midfield to add the support in the final third.

[Guest Deleted member]

When Wednesday scored the equaliser last night and most of the team were still celebrating upfield, Tommy Spurr ran to the touchline for a drink. All quite innocently.

Megson snatched the bottle from his lips, pushed him back onto the field with a curse, threw the bottle on the ground, and then turned round to the member of staff who had passed Tommy the drink, and gave him a "short burst" for good measure.

What that was all about I don't know, but I do know that it had nothing to do with good man-management, and certainly nothing to do with positive motivation. It did however give a little insight into the possible underlying problems at the moment.

If that is true - its unforgiveable. What a tvvat

[NorthernOwl]

I agree with most of that, although I think we should persist with 4-5-1 now as the defence cannot handle 4-4-2. If we were to draw most of our remaining games and nicking a win or two we'd be ok, it would at least make teams have to break us down, Brentford barely had to try.Megson bowed to the need to be more attacking at home which is understandable but we looked more difficult to beat away at Dagenham than we did at home last night. We can make 4-5-1 work with Liam Palmer and Daniel Jones in midfield to add the support in the final third.

Agreed - we have to do whatever it takes to muster up enough points to stay up. We still have 4 points and a game in hand over 4th bottom so we don't have to go chasing wins every game. Lets stay up, end the season and hope like hell Megson is able to sort us out over summer.

[Guest pops55]

The players weren't 'bad players' when we were 2nd in the League before Christmas.

There has been 10 new players brought in since then - and 2 major departures in Tudgay and Purse.

Blame the players all you like - I blame the 2 managers who have unsettled the team with more and more baffling decisions, negative football (and Irvine was bad enough but the ginger clown is FAR FAR worse) - and when a team is being set up NOT TO LOSE at home instead of going out to WIN AT ALL COSTS - the managers must take their own share of the blame for hammering confidence.

Personally I'd be rid of Megson this morning - and bring Laws back til the end of the season. At least his teams played football - and he could motivate them for a few 'cup finals'. All Megson has done is upset the applecart further that Irvine had started to tip over. Exactly how many players and in how many different positions has Megson played since he came here? He hasn't a clue what his best side is - and thats scandalous after this amount of time in the job.

If Megson stays - we go down. It really is as simple as that.

Spot on Grandad the players looked terified last night and thats got to be down to Megson.

[Mike Hunt]

If that is true - its unforgiveable. What a tvvat

I agree Spurr should not even be on the pitch .........Megson probably forgot he had picked him .

[Lythamowl]

The players weren't 'bad players' when we were 2nd in the League before Christmas.

There has been 10 new players brought in since then - and 2 major departures in Tudgay and Purse.

Blame the players all you like - I blame the 2 managers who have unsettled the team with more and more baffling decisions, negative football (and Irvine was bad enough but the ginger clown is FAR FAR worse) - and when a team is being set up NOT TO LOSE at home instead of going out to WIN AT ALL COSTS - the managers must take their own share of the blame for hammering confidence.

Personally I'd be rid of Megson this morning - and bring Laws back til the end of the season. At least his teams played football - and he could motivate them for a few 'cup finals'. All Megson has done is upset the applecart further that Irvine had started to tip over. Exactly how many players and in how many different positions has Megson played since he came here? He hasn't a clue what his best side is - and thats scandalous after this amount of time in the job.

If Megson stays - we go down. It really is as simple as that.

dear god man you really have lost it...bring laws back ?

Darren Purse was right, we do what we always do, and turn on ourselves blaming the manager....14 flippingmanagers in 13 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE NEED STABILITY

yes this is the worst season I can remember but after they cross the white line its down to the players

were a mediocre third division team that can only attract mercenaries, journeymen, disillushioned players from so called better clubs and absolute tripe. Man up and get used to it

were not famous anymore...the only things 'massive' about wednesday are the dissappointment, support and the moaning

[Guest Deleted member]

dear god man you really have lost it...bring laws back ?

Darren Purse was right, we do what we always do, and turn on ourselves blaming the manager....14 flippingmanagers in 13 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE NEED STABILITY

yes this is the worst season I can remember but after they cross the white line its down to the players

were a mediocre third division team that can only attract mercenaries, journeymen, disillushioned players from so called better clubs and absolute tripe. Man up and get used to it

were not famous anymore...the only things 'massive' about wednesday are the dissappointment, support and the moaning

To be honest I used laws as an example of just how bad things are.

And I'm sick of seeing the 'white line' argument - its not down to the players at all if they are consistently being changed, harangued, bullied and told they are poo poo. Megsons teams so far have shown nothing in terms of idea, strategy, discipline, style. He has set them up to fail in every game by setting out to defend even at home against teams we should be taking apart.

Brentford aren't a good team - they were nothing special last night. We just sat back and let them play.

Megson has regularly kicked off with 4 centre halfs in defence. I don't think we've EVER kicked off since Megson arrived with the same central midfield pairing/3. The only times he hasnt changed the frontline were wehn Madine kicked off games on his own.

Stop looking at the team so totally man.

As I'm (frankly getting sick of) saying "They weren't bad players when they were 2nd in the league"

[bigrbuk]

I think Megson's suffering from the "being a fan" element too much. He's obviously angry with the squad, just like we are, but he needs to remember his job is to get the best out of the players, we can handle the booin' an a hollerin' just fine, if the squad need mollycoddling, then do it, at least until he can bring in some professionals who can take a bit of stick (congrats to Reynolds on this front by the way - took some serious abuse from Megson and came back saying its part of the game and they needed to pick their games up).

I think he's also tried to make himself liked with the fans - re-introducing the 4-4-2 system, when the only time we've had results is with the 4-5-1 approach. He also had to give Heffernen an opportunity when he said that good performers will keep their shirts - the problem with that being, Heffernen is not a lone striker, which means changing the formation to include Heffernen to stick to his words and appease the fans again.

I don't care if it's negative or not, 4-5-1 is a must for the time being. I couldn't face Division 4.

[Lythamowl]

Fair points re the team cosistency there grandad. To be honest, I'm not so hung up on the team (i'll drive them all down to midland station me'sen) but more on the perpetual merry go round of managers and the unbridled vitriol of the supporters.

we are what we are...a mediocre 3rd division team

[daveyboy66]

1) Playing ANYONE out of position is a definite NO

2) The team have gone from playing poorly to playing like they are absolutely terrified

3) Does Megson ever praise anyone/anything ? The players look like they are about as flat/demotivated as they could be

4) There's absolutely ZERO 'togetherness' on the pitch at the moment - the team look like complete strangers and argue amongst themselves too

5) The basics of playing football aren't being seen - and there's no imagination being used in passing the ball (see above for possible reasons)

6) Clinton - I'm sorry but I'm getting more and more annoyed with him doing stuff like running up to the keeper as he's about to boot the ball upfield - then being offside and unable to play a part in the move if we come forward quickly from the keepers kick7) What's the team ? What's the formation ? We CANNOT keep changing over these next few games. We should play 4-4-2 , with two wingers, two ball winning midfielders who will win the ball back and spray the ball wide for the winger and overlapping right/left back to cross the ball into Madine and have Heffernan feed off anything that drops/doesn't go goalward

8) All it would take to get the crowd right behind the team is to have a couple of really hard tackles in the first 2 minutes - right from kick off just get stuck in and put a few players on their backs through steaming in - the crowd would get on their feet and you'd have a real game

9) If we're getting drubbed at half time through lack of EFFORT then don't let the players in the dressing room - make them stand in the penalty area in front of the kop

10) I genuinely can't see anything to say that we're not going down. This is possibly the worst season of my entire life. Even when we got relegated the team showed more effort, skill and confidence than we do at the moment - and we're shipping goals every game. Can't see anything but relegation on the horizon (sorry folks)

Anyone who has played football will tell you there is a word for that...flipping cheating...and I find it impossible to believe that no one in the team hasn't sorted the cheating edit out

[mcmigo]

Megson is turning out to be a disaster of an appointment.

It needs to change now if we are to stay up.

[i used to be sc_owl]

To be honest I used laws as an example of just how bad things are.

And I'm sick of seeing the 'white line' argument - its not down to the players at all if they are consistently being changed, harangued, bullied and told they are poo poo. Megsons teams so far have shown nothing in terms of idea, strategy, discipline, style. He has set them up to fail in every game by setting out to defend even at home against teams we should be taking apart.

Brentford aren't a good team - they were nothing special last night. We just sat back and let them play.

Megson has regularly kicked off with 4 centre halfs in defence. I don't think we've EVER kicked off since Megson arrived with the same central midfield pairing/3. The only times he hasnt changed the frontline were wehn Madine kicked off games on his own.

Stop looking at the team so totally man.

As I'm (frankly getting sick of) saying "They weren't bad players when they were 2nd in the league"

It was a different team back then though, wasn't it?

How many players in last nights team started the season with us...?

[enigmamedusa]

It sounds like Megson needs to calm down and have clear the air talks with the players.

I'm not suggesting that players don't need a kick up the arse every now and again, but they do need to respect the manager if they are going to listen and follow his instructions. If some of the rumours are true then I think he is going too far and it's a double shock for our players as apparently Irvine was apparently too soft

[brian joicey]

there is NOTHING,repeat NOTHING to support/back/enthuse about.

[Guest Deleted member]

It was a different team back then though, wasn't it?

How many players in last nights team started the season with us...?

Thats my point - all but Purse and tudgay are still here