When did it start to go wrong?

[akbuk]

8 hours ago, Owl 44 said:

Forget Wembley,  Carlos or player recruitment. If you could pick one defining moment this season when it all started to go wrong what would it be? 

 

Opening match?

Swapping Winnall for Butterfield? 

Sol Bamba's equaliser for Cardiff in 95th minute?

Duffy's goal for United?

October international break?

Other?

 

When the pigs best us at home and fans couldn't handle it

[Bark1062]

4 minutes ago, roundhayowl said:

 

From what I've seen it's 100% right. He is a zero threat and cannot actually run with any pace at all.

Never going to be a threat warming his arse on the bench.

 

Would always play him before that donkey Nuhiu.

Edited March 4, 2018 by Bark1062

[torres]

1 minute ago, mkowl said:

My answer is below - I blame Middlesbrough. They got promoted with a style that CC then wanted to copy. Instead of thinking we are playing well how do we tweak this an entirely different game plan was adopted. It didn't suit the players ability and importantly the mentality. That was the defining moment

 

I agree to some extent 

 

The first season should have been the hardest - he was allowed money to spend and despite plenty of mistakes (that seem to get forgotten) we got to the play offs. Which in my opinion was par for the course - with the players we had 

 

We then needed 3 good players to build on that first 11. That was all.  With the correct additions we should have been automatically promoted.

 

We Sadly spent a relative fortune on garbage.

 

We relied on the 11 from the previous year and huffed and puffed to January. Then we made the worst purchase in the clubs history 

In the final 12 weeks we got away with absolute murder - we got wins while performing terribly and being very lucky.

We carried the performances on into the play off matches 

 

This year is just a carry on from last year with a crippling injury list 

[Dutch McLovin]

5 minutes ago, Holmowl said:

 

I agree that we have not seen the old Rhodes, and it’s becoming possible we never will.

 

But it’s wrong to say it’s like playing with ten men. Remember last season when we could only score when Jordan was on the pitch. 

 

But it the main point is we simply have no choice. We have 3 fit strikers, two of whom, Joao and Nuhiu, struggle to play lots of minutes. 

 

I agree with last season when we did tend to score when he came on... however I think he has even regressed since then... this season he litterally offers us nothing. No hold up play no movement and when he does get the chances he misses.

 

Again I agree they struggle for minutes Joao and Nuhiu and yes he is our only other option but I would rather have Atty who is better from the bench starting and giving us a good hour than Rhodes. At least he worries defenders.

[East Yorks Owl]

8 hours ago, Holmowl said:

 

That’s frankly rediculous.

 

He was an integral part of us getting back into the top six last year, and right now is one of three fit strikers. Had we not signed him we would be facing the run-in with Nuhiu and Joao as our only available strikers.

 

Irrespective of Rhodes performances on the pitch, his signing never made any sense to me. We weren’t exactly short of strikers at the time he signed and you only have to look at our current year end accounts to see how perilous our finances look.  

 

Rhodes’ signing sums up how crackers our recruitment became in that year after the play off final and I fear our current financial situation could blight us for years to come.

[Bark1062]

2 minutes ago, torres said:

 

I agree to some extent 

 

The first season should have been the hardest - he was allowed money to spend and despite plenty of mistakes (that seem to get forgotten) we got to the play offs. Which in my opinion was par for the course - with the players we had 

 

We then needed 3 good players to build on that first 11. That was all.  With the correct additions we should have been automatically promoted.

 

We Sadly spent a relative fortune on garbage.

 

We relied on the 11 from the previous year and huffed and puffed to January. Then we made the worst purchase in the clubs history 

In the final 12 weeks we got away with absolute murder - we got wins while performing terribly and being very lucky.

We carried the performances on into the play off matches 

 

This year is just a carry on from last year with a crippling injury list 

Some very good points in there.

[roundhayowl]

Just now, Bark1062 said:

Never going to be a threat warming his arse on the bench.

 

Would always play him in before that donkey Nuhiu.

 

How can you say that based on recent performances? Nuhiu is by far more of a threat than Rhodes and actually gets involved in the game. He's been one of the only ones who visibly seems to give a crap recently too. If you remove your bias towards a big fella that isn't the most mobile then you would see that. With Rhodes you have somebody with zero attributes currently bar one tidy lay off a game. Is Nuhiu the long term answer - no (apart from arguably closing out a game from the bench where he seems to perform at his best) but right now Rhodes is is just so far off of the pace it is frightening.

[PeteG_1984]

I would say the summer recruitment (or lack of). This didn’t addresss what we desperately needed even with a full squad, making it even worse with the level of injuries we’ve had this season.

 

The route of the summer inactivity would probably come down to a record signing in January 2017 of a player we didn’t really need.

 

Then everything what could have gone wrong this season has gone wrong.

[scilly owl]

8 hours ago, SupremeOwl said:

Preston first game of the season.

 

Just knew what was coming and wasn't quite sure how to react for the rest of the season. Never thought it was ever going to get this bad though.

The shocking performance against Preston, plus the shocking performance in the game before that... Huddersfield in the playoffs....signaled that all was not well.

[adelphi1867]

With the appointment of Trev Francis and the waste of the Prem cash on the 1st team only.

You sow the wind and reap the whirl wind.

[Tudders]

The biggest turning point was immediately after Fletcher scored against Huddersfield in the play off semi 2nd leg.

CC went ultra defensive and invited Huddersfield on and they got a flukey scrambled goal.

 

Had we held on, we’d have had Reading in the final and every chance of being in the Premier League right now.

 

If that had happened, any issues at the club superseding that, would have been forgotten.

[Tracksuit]

Ross Wallace getting injured against Huddersfield in the play offs.

 

With him on the pitch we would have beaten them.

[gurujuan]

The last two years have been one mistake after another, and ultimately, there’s only one man responsible for that The appointment of Jos is the latest in a long line of gaffs

As an aside, when was the last time a side reaching the play offs, were relegated from the same division the very next season? Has it ever happened?

[e6owl]

Losing Ross Wallace 5 minutes into the match against Huddersfield. That was when it became obvious that he was knackered and wouldn't play well for us again.

 

For the rest of the match we were vulnerable on the left and you could crush diamonds between my cheeks every time they put a ball down there and it was left to Pudil. 

[madfan]

8 hours ago, Owl 44 said:

Forget Wembley,  Carlos or player recruitment. If you could pick one defining moment this season when it all started to go wrong what would it be? 

 

Opening match?

Swapping Winnall for Butterfield? 

Sol Bamba's equaliser for Cardiff in 95th minute?

Duffy's goal for United?

October international break?

Other?

 

When we said Premier League in two years. 

[Ever the pessimist]

The OP asked about this season’s moment, in which case Duffy’s goal was a big one.

 

As others have said though the issues began well before that: Fletcher signing, FF sulking, not addressing weaknesses in the summer of 2016 transfer window, removing the panel of advisors to DC...

[Bark1062]

2 minutes ago, roundhayowl said:

 

How can you say that based on recent performances? Nuhiu is by far more of a threat than Rhodes and actually gets involved in the game. He's been one of the only ones who visibly seems to give a crap recently too. If you remove your bias towards a big fella that isn't the most mobile then you would see that. With Rhodes you have somebody with zero attributes currently bar one tidy lay off a game. Is Nuhiu the long term answer - no (apart from arguably closing out a game from the bench where he seems to perform at his best) but right now Rhodes is is just so far off of the pace it is frightening.

No bias towards Nuhiu just don’t rate him, I agree should be used to see games out.

 

i think there is more to Rhodes game than given credit for a he is a very good link player, which I know is not enough after what we have paid for him but he is more likely to get the goals that would keep us up than Nuhiu in my humble opinion.

[roundhayowl]

Just now, Bark1062 said:

No bias towards Nuhiu just don’t rate him, I agree should be used to see games out.

 

i think there is more to Rhodes game than given credit for a he is a very good link player, which I know is not enough after what we have paid for him but he is more likely to get the goals that would keep us up than Nuhiu in my humble opinion.

 

I like technically good players - that's what I look for and I agree that Jordan has a brain. The issue is his physical ability to impose himself and involve himself where he can showcase this link up play effectively. As I said before, one nice lay off a game is not enough. Nuhiu does this a million times better.

[hawksmore]

8 hours ago, scram said:

Carlos being still in charge for the first game

The problem with this is that he was never going to be sacked after finishing 4th. 

 

Its unrealistic for anyone to think it was a possibility. Even though the football was dour last season and in truth, I still can’t comprehend how we managed to finish 4th, it’s a results business and we somehow under Carlos improved. 

 

For ne it goes back further, from when Carlos refused to change things up until he had no option. His stubbornness very early on was a sure sign he wasn’t good enough long term. 

[BDM4nil]

For me the first real sign of significant trouble / negativity, within the CC reign, was early in his 2nd season when FF refused to travel to Norwich and was reported to have not wanted to have played at home against Villa prior to this and where he had played and scored the winner.

 

I think this episode will have shocked / unsettled greatly the entire squad and staff and most certainly CC significantly. This obviously gave huge concerns to fans also and the subsequent apology from FF largely split the fan base as well. Who actually knows the level of disruption this all caused ? 

 

CC 2nd season subsequently was nowhere near as exciting to watch as his first and we lost our free flowing style and national plaudits also largely, which he had gained for our style. We became often predominately an overly cautious, defensive, pragmatic side thereafter really. Yeah results were still good, but entertainment wasn't and maybe the seeds of subsequent mayhem, had been well and truly sown during the FF scandal, which it was, as his actions were a disgrace.

 

UTO