Myth-busting, and where we go from here...

[Chris_B_SWFC]

5 hours ago, Emerson Thome said:

Losing last night to Bolton hurt. It was a poor performance, particularly after raised expectations from the Leeds game. But I think people need a reality check:

 

It is a competitive league

Bolton aren't a complete shower. Yes, they are in a relegation battle but they got automatic promotion last year with a similar record to the year we went up. They had recent games against the likes of Villa, Derby, United, and lost by a single goal when the balance of chances suggest a draw would have been a fair result. The same time we were losing to Bolton, Crystal Palace, another team bottom of their league and with no points and no goals were beating Chelsea. These things happen.

 

Why don't we see 'attacking football'?

This concept of attacking football is a baffling one. Attacking football, you would think, means scoring more goals. Under Carlos we are scoring more goals than under any manager since the days of Big Ron and Trevor Francis. We've scored 60 or more goals last year, and the year before. We are on course to do so again. Since our best team in recent memory (1990-94), and before Carlos took over, so a period of over 20 years, we only scored 60+ goals four times. This includes two promotion seasons against inferior teams in League One. A rather freakish season under Brian Laws when we finished 9th. And one season under Stuart Gray when we also conceded 65 goals.

 

You can't score goals without the ball. Under Carlos we've looked to control games, dominated possession and dictated the match in a way not seen since that 1990-94 period. So what do people mean by attacking football? I think they often mean direct football. Which brings us on to...

 

Why don't we play with wingers?

This has been an English obsession for over 50 years. Alf Ramsey was vehemently criticised for not picking wingers in 1966. In the 80s, the likes of Wimbledon and Watford were briefly successful playing a very direct style of football, with wingers and by playing long balls from defence. But they never won the league, and the teams like Liverpool, Forest and Everton won more games playing much more sophisticated football. That direct style of football now is rarely successful, teams that give the ball away cheaply rarely get it back. And while direct football might keep you in the league (e.g. West Brom) it won't win you enough games. Watch the best teams in England today and none of them play the traditional, paint-from-the-touchline wingers. They will either play with inside forwards (Hazard, De Bruyne, Rashford, Coutinho, Alli etc) or 'wrong-footed' players cutting inside (Sterling, Martial). Although the players aren't as good in the Championship the principles are the same. And you're not going to find better types of these players in the Champ than Forestieri, Wallace, Boyd and Hooper. Signing some modern day Peter Beagrie or Andy Sinton isn't going to help.

 

If anything, these days the wingers are the full backs. These are the guys who bomb down the touchline and put most crosses in. Hunt and Reach do this better than most, as evidenced by that table the other day showing Wednesday make the 2nd most crosses in the league. Crossing is still a horribly inefficient way to score goals. Man Utd under Moyes made over 80 crosses in one match without scoring from any of them recently. 

 

But what about all the money we have now?

Despite no longer being in debt, we are far from the richest club in the league. Villa, Sunderland, Hull, Middlesboro and others have come down with hefty parachute payments and have certain players on £60-£70k a week. Wolves just spent £16m on Neves and another £14m on Costa. Leeds get bigger crowds than us and have just received £15m for Wood. Again, compare this to the 20 years before Carlos. There were times we were in the Championship on a smaller budget, but never on the smallest budget. We generally under-performed. We had money the last 5 years we were in the Premier League. We wasted it. There were seasons in League One where we were pretty much the richest club in terms of wages and that didn't guarantee success (two lower-half finishes)

 

Where we stand

We are one quarter in to the season. It has been disappointing and there have been setbacks: one of our star players (Foresteri) is injured, our main new signing (Boyd), our captain and even yesterday our goalie, with our reserve goalie making the error that led to the second goal. We've suffered from a few bad decisions, a bad offside call at Burton, a marginally offside goal by Cardiff given against us, what looked (and I've only seen it once) like a clear penalty yesterday at Bolton denied. Despite all that, we are only 8 points off automatic promotion. There is 75% of the season to go. And the players and manager have a track record of improving as the season goes on. There is plenty to play for.

 

The new manager trap

Sacking a manager mid-season rarely works. The new manager who comes in can't bring in his own players and doesn't have any time on the training ground to implement new tactics. You rarely get the first-choice manager you want. It is expensive. For much of the last 20 years we've been through this poisonous cycle of hiring third-rate managers and sacking them within two seasons.

 

And some of the names we've been linked with - Pardew, Allardyce, etc. dinosaurs who can't find a club and are at the ***-end of their career. Look how Redknapp worked out for Birmingham. Someone like Redknapp could set the club back 10 years with the dross they would inevitably insist on signing. When the time comes to hire a new manager we should look for someone young, hungry and who is building their reputation up, rather than dropping down. Those kinds of managers would need persuading and careful selection.

 

My suggestion

It seems clear to me that Carlos will leave, of his own choice, if we don't get promotion this season. The players are still playing for him, by and large, the team is playing better football than at any time over the past 20 years. Sacking the manager would be expensive, destabilising and the new guy would have limited funds in January anyway. Our chance of getting promoted with a different manager this season is close to zero. We should get behind the team, the current managerial staff and show some character. Players are often accused of lacking passion. But now we need to see some passion from the fans. Lets not get back to the Chris Turner era when the atmosphere in Hillsborough was poisonous and certain players were being singled out. I think we're better than at least half the teams above us, and we still have a decent chance of promotion. Who's with me?

 

In other words:

 

 

[striker]

Carlos is done, end of story. No point defending the indefensible and I think deep down Carlos knows it. The only person who needs to wake up and sort this out  is DC.

 

Telling point for me is when the media,  local and Sky become so open in their criticism and acknowledgement of pressure on his position. Fans turning and being vocal on the terraces usually only ends with one outcome.

[horny owl]

You're right

 

Carlos should have been sacked after the Huddersfield embarrassment to give the new manager more time.

 

But we are where we are so its time for action

 

Get rid of calamity Carlos now before it's really too late to save yet another season.

[Chris_B_SWFC]

4 hours ago, Emerson Thome said:

A team we should hope to beat, but we won't be the last team to get turned over there this season.

 

We might. 

 

If their form continues they’ll win 4 games all season. 

[Ronseal]

Not reading the op..looks like poo tbh

[Tyto Alba]

I like the OP despite the fact that it is total nonsense.

[supersiggi]

OP is very well written. It's b0110cks. But it's well written.

[pussface]

5 hours ago, McRightSide said:

You lost me at Bolton aren't a complete shower.

 

Yes they are. A complete and utter shower

 

as much of a shower as has been in this league for the last 3 years

 

 

 

Yes and nothing like our 2011 team.

 

The same Bolton who have only scored 6 goals this season (five against us) and only two wins (both against us).

 

Im sorry but when fans have to resort to rewriting both reality and history in effort to defend Carlos then the game really is up.

 

Desperate stuff from the OP

[pussface]

6 hours ago, Emerson Thome said:

Losing last night to Bolton hurt. It was a poor performance, particularly after raised expectations from the Leeds game. But I think people need a reality check:

 

It is a competitive league

Bolton aren't a complete shower. Yes, they are in a relegation battle but they got automatic promotion last year with a similar record to the year we went up. They had recent games against the likes of Villa, Derby, United, and lost by a single goal when the balance of chances suggest a draw would have been a fair result. The same time we were losing to Bolton, Crystal Palace, another team bottom of their league and with no points and no goals were beating Chelsea. These things happen.

 

Why don't we see 'attacking football'?

This concept of attacking football is a baffling one. Attacking football, you would think, means scoring more goals. Under Carlos we are scoring more goals than under any manager since the days of Big Ron and Trevor Francis. We've scored 60 or more goals last year, and the year before. We are on course to do so again. Since our best team in recent memory (1990-94), and before Carlos took over, so a period of over 20 years, we only scored 60+ goals four times. This includes two promotion seasons against inferior teams in League One. A rather freakish season under Brian Laws when we finished 9th. And one season under Stuart Gray when we also conceded 65 goals.

 

You can't score goals without the ball. Under Carlos we've looked to control games, dominated possession and dictated the match in a way not seen since that 1990-94 period. So what do people mean by attacking football? I think they often mean direct football. Which brings us on to...

 

Why don't we play with wingers?

This has been an English obsession for over 50 years. Alf Ramsey was vehemently criticised for not picking wingers in 1966. In the 80s, the likes of Wimbledon and Watford were briefly successful playing a very direct style of football, with wingers and by playing long balls from defence. But they never won the league, and the teams like Liverpool, Forest and Everton won more games playing much more sophisticated football. That direct style of football now is rarely successful, teams that give the ball away cheaply rarely get it back. And while direct football might keep you in the league (e.g. West Brom) it won't win you enough games. Watch the best teams in England today and none of them play the traditional, paint-from-the-touchline wingers. They will either play with inside forwards (Hazard, De Bruyne, Rashford, Coutinho, Alli etc) or 'wrong-footed' players cutting inside (Sterling, Martial). Although the players aren't as good in the Championship the principles are the same. And you're not going to find better types of these players in the Champ than Forestieri, Wallace, Boyd and Hooper. Signing some modern day Peter Beagrie or Andy Sinton isn't going to help.

 

If anything, these days the wingers are the full backs. These are the guys who bomb down the touchline and put most crosses in. Hunt and Reach do this better than most, as evidenced by that table the other day showing Wednesday make the 2nd most crosses in the league. Crossing is still a horribly inefficient way to score goals. Man Utd under Moyes made over 80 crosses in one match without scoring from any of them recently. 

 

But what about all the money we have now?

Despite no longer being in debt, we are far from the richest club in the league. Villa, Sunderland, Hull, Middlesboro and others have come down with hefty parachute payments and have certain players on £60-£70k a week. Wolves just spent £16m on Neves and another £14m on Costa. Leeds get bigger crowds than us and have just received £15m for Wood. Again, compare this to the 20 years before Carlos. There were times we were in the Championship on a smaller budget, but never on the smallest budget. We generally under-performed. We had money the last 5 years we were in the Premier League. We wasted it. There were seasons in League One where we were pretty much the richest club in terms of wages and that didn't guarantee success (two lower-half finishes)

 

Where we stand

We are one quarter in to the season. It has been disappointing and there have been setbacks: one of our star players (Foresteri) is injured, our main new signing (Boyd), our captain and even yesterday our goalie, with our reserve goalie making the error that led to the second goal. We've suffered from a few bad decisions, a bad offside call at Burton, a marginally offside goal by Cardiff given against us, what looked (and I've only seen it once) like a clear penalty yesterday at Bolton denied. Despite all that, we are only 8 points off automatic promotion. There is 75% of the season to go. And the players and manager have a track record of improving as the season goes on. There is plenty to play for.

 

The new manager trap

Sacking a manager mid-season rarely works. The new manager who comes in can't bring in his own players and doesn't have any time on the training ground to implement new tactics. You rarely get the first-choice manager you want. It is expensive. For much of the last 20 years we've been through this poisonous cycle of hiring third-rate managers and sacking them within two seasons.

 

And some of the names we've been linked with - Pardew, Allardyce, etc. dinosaurs who can't find a club and are at the ***-end of their career. Look how Redknapp worked out for Birmingham. Someone like Redknapp could set the club back 10 years with the dross they would inevitably insist on signing. When the time comes to hire a new manager we should look for someone young, hungry and who is building their reputation up, rather than dropping down. Those kinds of managers would need persuading and careful selection.

 

My suggestion

It seems clear to me that Carlos will leave, of his own choice, if we don't get promotion this season. The players are still playing for him, by and large, the team is playing better football than at any time over the past 20 years. Sacking the manager would be expensive, destabilising and the new guy would have limited funds in January anyway. Our chance of getting promoted with a different manager this season is close to zero. We should get behind the team, the current managerial staff and show some character. Players are often accused of lacking passion. But now we need to see some passion from the fans. Lets not get back to the Chris Turner era when the atmosphere in Hillsborough was poisonous and certain players were being singled out. I think we're better than at least half the teams above us, and we still have a decent chance of promotion. Who's with me?

 

We've conceded 5 goals and 6 points to the team bottom of the league who can't win or score against anyone one else bar one goal against Derby..

 

....

 

Try again 

Edited October 15, 2017 by pussface

[hasthagotanycheese]

Stop making excuses for Carlos. Its time he jumped on his Besiktas Morphocycle and did one.

[Two-touch Owl]

Like the OP nice to see some constructive opinion - agree with some aspects... however...

 

Regarding ‘attacking football’ / goals scored - I don’t think 60 plus is enough, if anything this point underlines one of our primary issues? Over 46 games it’s not good enough. Look at the championship table over the last 3 years and look at how many the top 2 (and that should be our benchmark with the squad we have) have scored... bar M’boro (who only conceded 30 odd so all relative) its 70’s 80’s 90’s.

 

Huddersfield were there for the taking but we don’t have the tactics to offensively unleash and blow teams out of the water - you’re always liable to concede 1 even with a good defence. It’s all a little too measured and lacking fluidity (for me).

 

Possession is fine but how much is in the opposition final third? As it’s meanlingless if you’re not creating the chances. I think want people want to see is a little more ‘cut and thrust’. It’s too easy to sit off us and allow the possession. We need to move the ball quicker to pull the opposition players out of position.

 

The modern school of thinking with crossing is it’s just another way of giving the ball away due to its statistical success rate, so I agree with this to an extent. But I feel it’s still an effective way of creating chances once in behind, not just lumped in when out of ideas.

 

OP aside, I was in favour of sticking with Carlos and found it refreshing to be a club that stood by a manager. But I think it’s clear to see now over the course of time he can’t take us to the next level, the team is stagnating and bottle it in games that matter. So unfortunately it’s tine to move on.

[StudentOwl]

9 hours ago, Emerson Thome said:

Losing last night to Bolton hurt. It was a poor performance, particularly after raised expectations from the Leeds game. But I think people need a reality check:

 

It is a competitive league

Bolton aren't a complete shower.

One of the worst teams to be in this league since we got promoted back into the Championship. Even at this early stage they look like relegation fodder. They're naff

 

Why don't we see 'attacking football'?

This concept of attacking football is a baffling one. Attacking football, you would think, means scoring more goals. Under Carlos we are scoring more goals than under any manager since the days of Big Ron and Trevor Francis. We've scored 60 or more goals last year, and the year before. We are on course to do so again.

Haven't the last 17 years largely been awful for Wednesday fans? Saying that we're scoring more goals than the majority of seasons over the last two decades of durge is like saying "Well at least you only broke your arm this time, normally it's both your legs". Comparatively it's great, realistically it's crap. 

 

 

Why don't we play with wingers?

 Watch the best teams in England today and none of them play the traditional, paint-from-the-touchline wingers. They will either play with inside forwards (Hazard, De Bruyne, Rashford, Coutinho, Alli etc) or 'wrong-footed' players cutting inside (Sterling, Martial). Although the players aren't as good in the Championship the principles are the same. And you're not going to find better types of these players in the Champ than Forestieri, Wallace, Boyd and Hooper.

OK, this point is valid. Yet what do all the teams that play with these wrong-footed wingers cutting inside have in common? Oh, yes... they don't play 4-4-2. Because 4-4-2 is pretty much only going to work if you have pace and traditional wingers, with two physical CM's to allow you to get a foothold in the game. Every team and example you've mentioned play these type of wingers with a midfield that allows them to drop another man into the centre to control possession and allow these wrong footed players to get further up the pitch and attack the box. 4-4-2 with wrong-footed wingers is just... not good

 

But what about all the money we have now?

Doesn't matter, what matters is how you spend it. Look at Huddersfield. Just because we may not have the "most" money doesn't mean we can't be angry at how wasteful we've been with our existing resources. "Well you can't be too upset you got robbed of £25k John, that may be your yearly wage, but think about poor Michael, he had his yearly wage of £50k stolen, that's much worse". No, it isn't... don't use that logic. It's dumb. We did all the hard work after Stuart Gray left by turning our squad that had a 7/10 defense and a 3/10 defense into an 8/10 on both counts. Great use of existing resources. Then what we did was sign loads of players for a fair whack of money that left our squad as an 8/10... not because these new players weren't good, but because they weren't the sort of players that ticked the boxes that addressed our weaknesses... lack of physicality, height, pace etc. It's infuriating that we could see such an improvement in season 1 and then have two subsequent summer transfer windows where we run in place while spending millions. 

 

Where we stand

There is plenty to play for.

There is. Maybe if we act now we can take advantage of this fact. Two seasons of failure and 14 months of non-improvement is enough to tell me that CC has taken us as far as he can.

 

The new manager trap

Sacking a manager mid-season rarely works.

Is that your opinion or a fact? I'd like to see the figures, but as you don't provide them I'm assuming it's your opinion... and opinions are worth nothing in the world of facts.

 

My suggestion

The players are still playing for him, by and large, the team is playing better football than at any time over the past 20 years.

This is a lie. They played better two years ago than they are currently. 

 

Sacking the manager would be expensive

In the grand scheme of what our turnover is, no it wouldn't

 

the new guy would have limited funds in January anyway.

So will CC... so where am I meant to be seeing that keeping him will still be a step up from a replacement? You've just confessed he's got little in the way of resources to turn things around

 

Our chance of getting promoted with a different manager this season is close to zero.

In your opinion. In my opinion with CC it's even closer to zero. In fact it's just that... zero

 

We should get behind the team, the current managerial staff and show some character.

We should. So should the players. They managed it against Leeds... perhaps the only time in many months. Also, why is it in this context, the fans "showing character" actually means "support unconditionally". Because that's what you actually mean isn't it

 

But now we need to see some passion from the fans.

Ditto above... "passion" translates to "unconditional support"

 

I think we're better than at least half the teams above us, and we still have a decent chance of promotion.

I think as things currently stand, I agree with half of that sentence. 

A comprehensive foolish post requires a comprehensive response

Edited October 15, 2017 by StudentOwl

[@owlstalk]

9 hours ago, Emerson Thome said:

Losing last night to Bolton hurt. It was a poor performance, particularly after raised expectations from the Leeds game. But I think people need a reality check:

 

It is a competitive league

Bolton aren't a complete shower. Yes, they are in a relegation battle but they got automatic promotion last year with a similar record to the year we went up. They had recent games against the likes of Villa, Derby, United, and lost by a single goal when the balance of chances suggest a draw would have been a fair result. The same time we were losing to Bolton, Crystal Palace, another team bottom of their league and with no points and no goals were beating Chelsea. These things happen.

 

Why don't we see 'attacking football'?

This concept of attacking football is a baffling one. Attacking football, you would think, means scoring more goals. Under Carlos we are scoring more goals than under any manager since the days of Big Ron and Trevor Francis. We've scored 60 or more goals last year, and the year before. We are on course to do so again. Since our best team in recent memory (1990-94), and before Carlos took over, so a period of over 20 years, we only scored 60+ goals four times. This includes two promotion seasons against inferior teams in League One. A rather freakish season under Brian Laws when we finished 9th. And one season under Stuart Gray when we also conceded 65 goals.

 

You can't score goals without the ball. Under Carlos we've looked to control games, dominated possession and dictated the match in a way not seen since that 1990-94 period. So what do people mean by attacking football? I think they often mean direct football. Which brings us on to...

 

Why don't we play with wingers?

This has been an English obsession for over 50 years. Alf Ramsey was vehemently criticised for not picking wingers in 1966. In the 80s, the likes of Wimbledon and Watford were briefly successful playing a very direct style of football, with wingers and by playing long balls from defence. But they never won the league, and the teams like Liverpool, Forest and Everton won more games playing much more sophisticated football. That direct style of football now is rarely successful, teams that give the ball away cheaply rarely get it back. And while direct football might keep you in the league (e.g. West Brom) it won't win you enough games. Watch the best teams in England today and none of them play the traditional, paint-from-the-touchline wingers. They will either play with inside forwards (Hazard, De Bruyne, Rashford, Coutinho, Alli etc) or 'wrong-footed' players cutting inside (Sterling, Martial). Although the players aren't as good in the Championship the principles are the same. And you're not going to find better types of these players in the Champ than Forestieri, Wallace, Boyd and Hooper. Signing some modern day Peter Beagrie or Andy Sinton isn't going to help.

 

If anything, these days the wingers are the full backs. These are the guys who bomb down the touchline and put most crosses in. Hunt and Reach do this better than most, as evidenced by that table the other day showing Wednesday make the 2nd most crosses in the league. Crossing is still a horribly inefficient way to score goals. Man Utd under Moyes made over 80 crosses in one match without scoring from any of them recently. 

 

But what about all the money we have now?

Despite no longer being in debt, we are far from the richest club in the league. Villa, Sunderland, Hull, Middlesboro and others have come down with hefty parachute payments and have certain players on £60-£70k a week. Wolves just spent £16m on Neves and another £14m on Costa. Leeds get bigger crowds than us and have just received £15m for Wood. Again, compare this to the 20 years before Carlos. There were times we were in the Championship on a smaller budget, but never on the smallest budget. We generally under-performed. We had money the last 5 years we were in the Premier League. We wasted it. There were seasons in League One where we were pretty much the richest club in terms of wages and that didn't guarantee success (two lower-half finishes)

 

Where we stand

We are one quarter in to the season. It has been disappointing and there have been setbacks: one of our star players (Foresteri) is injured, our main new signing (Boyd), our captain and even yesterday our goalie, with our reserve goalie making the error that led to the second goal. We've suffered from a few bad decisions, a bad offside call at Burton, a marginally offside goal by Cardiff given against us, what looked (and I've only seen it once) like a clear penalty yesterday at Bolton denied. Despite all that, we are only 8 points off automatic promotion. There is 75% of the season to go. And the players and manager have a track record of improving as the season goes on. There is plenty to play for.

 

The new manager trap

Sacking a manager mid-season rarely works. The new manager who comes in can't bring in his own players and doesn't have any time on the training ground to implement new tactics. You rarely get the first-choice manager you want. It is expensive. For much of the last 20 years we've been through this poisonous cycle of hiring third-rate managers and sacking them within two seasons.

 

And some of the names we've been linked with - Pardew, Allardyce, etc. dinosaurs who can't find a club and are at the ***-end of their career. Look how Redknapp worked out for Birmingham. Someone like Redknapp could set the club back 10 years with the dross they would inevitably insist on signing. When the time comes to hire a new manager we should look for someone young, hungry and who is building their reputation up, rather than dropping down. Those kinds of managers would need persuading and careful selection.

 

My suggestion

It seems clear to me that Carlos will leave, of his own choice, if we don't get promotion this season. The players are still playing for him, by and large, the team is playing better football than at any time over the past 20 years. Sacking the manager would be expensive, destabilising and the new guy would have limited funds in January anyway. Our chance of getting promoted with a different manager this season is close to zero. We should get behind the team, the current managerial staff and show some character. Players are often accused of lacking passion. But now we need to see some passion from the fans. Lets not get back to the Chris Turner era when the atmosphere in Hillsborough was poisonous and certain players were being singled out. I think we're better than at least half the teams above us, and we still have a decent chance of promotion. Who's with me?

 

 

 

Who the heck negged this post?

 

It's just pure fact

[Emerson Thome]

5 hours ago, Two-touch Owl said:

Like the OP nice to see some constructive opinion - agree with some aspects... however...

 

Regarding ‘attacking football’ / goals scored - I don’t think 60 plus is enough, if anything this point underlines one of our primary issues? Over 46 games it’s not good enough. Look at the championship table over the last 3 years and look at how many the top 2 (and that should be our benchmark with the squad we have) have scored... bar M’boro (who only conceded 30 odd so all relative) its 70’s 80’s 90’s.

 

Huddersfield were there for the taking but we don’t have the tactics to offensively unleash and blow teams out of the water - you’re always liable to concede 1 even with a good defence. It’s all a little too measured and lacking fluidity (for me).

 

Possession is fine but how much is in the opposition final third? As it’s meanlingless if you’re not creating the chances. I think want people want to see is a little more ‘cut and thrust’. It’s too easy to sit off us and allow the possession. We need to move the ball quicker to pull the opposition players out of position.

 

The modern school of thinking with crossing is it’s just another way of giving the ball away due to its statistical success rate, so I agree with this to an extent. But I feel it’s still an effective way of creating chances once in behind, not just lumped in when out of ideas.

 

OP aside, I was in favour of sticking with Carlos and found it refreshing to be a club that stood by a manager. But I think it’s clear to see now over the course of time he can’t take us to the next level, the team is stagnating and bottle it in games that matter. So unfortunately it’s tine to move on.

Fair enough, some good points here. I agree the approach against Huddersfield was overly negative, particularly away from home. The home leg was a little unfortunate in that Wallace and Fletcher both got injured, and Hooper was already out - but that's football sometimes.

 

We do need more cut and thrust and seem to struggle with breaking through massed defences. It was only 1 game ago that we tore a decent Leeds team to shreds, but yes, they need to do it consistently.

 

It's okay saying the Top 2 should be our benchmark, but realistically teams like Brighton and Newcastle had stronger squads than us. Knockaert, for example, is better than any player we've had at Hillsboro since we were in the Prem. Newcastle had a lot of cash and Rafa Benitez. I was trying to make the point that we're up against 6+ parachute payment clubs and Wolves who spent more on two players this summer than pretty much we have in our entire history.

 

The problem, if anything, is that Carlos yesterday did what half of Owlstalk has been asking for. He gave Rhodes more time and we were a lot more direct and with a lot more crossing than usual. When we play at our best we control the game and don't give the other side chances. 18 chances for Bolton tells a story that we didn't do that yesterday, they could easily have scored more as Madine missed a sitter and there were a couple of last ditch clearances. I think it was because the team panicked when Bolton took the lead rather than sticking to their principles.