Jos's cryptic message & the response against Millwall

[Ante's Bubbly]

54 minutes ago, Philb125 said:

In post match interview yesterday Jos is asked ‘is this team selection a message to the squad’ he replies: ‘absolutely! Players are picked purely on merit.’

 

as I’d said in earlier today posts, I think having the kids in there not only helps our pace/energy but also makes players around them stand up and be counted, players like Joey and Palmer looked completely different. They were commanding and confident and it’s great to see. Also, players who in past have been throwing mini hissy fits even as play goes on when passes missed etc yesterday were hugely encouraging, high fiving, thumbs up more than a Rhodes highlight trail! 

 

Great to see!! 

 

Yes this is what I read into it.

 

Jos had also said something along the lines of, the young players are not the problem, when their inclusion was offered as a possible excuse for our sub standard efforts at Brentford. 

 

He has also made a point of the fact that the senior players all need to take on more responsibility and exhibit leadership qualites to help the younger players and to get results. They definitely did that last night. 

 

We can gain pace and enthusiasm by having younger players in the squad, but the levels of effort, encouragement and example set by all the senior players has been poor in the games so far and the younger players need better examples to follow. 

 

Players like Palmer and Matias were like new players last night and this is really just a general criticism, but for me these two stood out last night from their normal effort levels over the 90 minutes. 

 

I also liked the way the players and fans were together last night, instigated by Jos's brave lineup choices and the way the whole team came out of the traps looking lively and up for it.

 

I hate to see players making public displays of how upset and frustrated they are, when with the same amount of effort they could still be doing something positive.

 

I have criticised Fletcher in the past for this but last night he epitomised the team's new approach when he got straight up after being fouled, instead of rolling about , regained possession and we had another chance on their goal.

 

Well done Jos and well done players, that was a massive 3 points last night, but niw it must be built on. No slacking.

 

[matthefish2002]

I wouldn't over analyse last nights game.

To me basically was out best performance of the season and no coincidence this happened when we scored first.

 

 

[HarryJ]

25 minutes ago, Owling Wolfe said:

Not as bad a shteve mclarensh

Well he's obviously speaking Double Dutch based on QPR's performances

[Ante's Bubbly]

2 hours ago, Owly Mowly said:

Noticed before the game lots of the players giving each other hugs and just 1 to 1 encouragement, and I thought at that point - they look determined to right things.

Might be coincidence but they have it all last night 

 

Yes that was a big difference and definitely not a coincidence. The younger players were able to try things and all the players were having a go because they were encouraging each other to do it and the crowd bought into it too.

 

After the game it was nice to see that Reach went straight over to Fraser Preston, when he came back onto the pitch to clap the fans, put his arm around him, spoke to him and patted him on his back for his efforts. Nice touch.

 

I would like to know who Bannan was pointing to when he scored his belter. Was it Nuhiu? Bannan has been much better at shooting this season already, with hardly any going miles over the bar, which in previous seasons, most of them did.

 

It was also good to see FF and Nuhiu chatting while warming down at the end. I think Jos proved last season that he has what it takes to get the players fighting for each other and was a little bit surprised this season that the same battling qualities were so fragile. Hopefully the players can start to believe in themselves and each other now, go with what the manager wants them to do and get a better league position than last season.

[Guest Maxine]

It was also good that Joao Hooper and Winnall were there watching.  

[daleblue]

56 minutes ago, Quist said:

Was not meant to have a go at you I agreed with that comment and marked it so. Just used your quote to get message across to some clots who moan about mascots warm up.

 

You are harsh critic at times but you are consistent and generally can see point in what you say. There are others on here who make absolutely daft statements and have little if any idea about football or how life in general rolls.

Think Jos decent bloke who has rolled his sleeves up and geting on with job. He has landed in the mire (not his making) and is trying everything to get out of it. Different formations all players (well almost) getting a chance and finding out which role suits them best. It is difficult to gauge players in training or U/23games but watching recent games I have much better understanding who is capable of what and so do many of our fans.

Think he has also relaised some players can not play 3 games in a week and have difficulty backing up performances. This usually apply to young players but we have some senior ones who fall into this category. So when changes announced for next match expect some idiots to start moaning.

He certainly got through to players as far more effort put into last nights game by players. For example Forestieri and Nuhiu showed more endeavour and effort in last 20 than they showed in entire game at Brentford.

Never like to single players out but I disagree about Nuhiu, the two fouls he made, one on the half line, and one just outside our 18 yard box was so not needed and was extremely unprofessional. 

[sherlyegg]

Thought we acted like a unit last night, all in it together..anyone in trouble, help was close at hand.

Great team spirit.

 

 

 

And that was just the crowd...

 

Players were ok anall

[Paul..]

2 hours ago, Owly Mowly said:

Noticed before the game lots of the players giving each other hugs and just 1 to 1 encouragement, and I thought at that point - they look determined to right things.

Might be coincidence but they have it all last night 

 

I noticed late on one point where Palmer attempted a cross field ball to Penney which Penney didn't spot/go for so it sailed out of play, Reach was in the middle and watched the pass miss but he took the time to stop, turn to Palmer and give him a thumbs up which I thought was very nice camaraderie.

 

1 hour ago, Sultan_Pepper said:

On field we've been overreacting to losses to Wigan and Brentford who are good sides in good form, morale in the camp seems pretty high actually

 

In fairness we reacted appropriately to Brentford because the performance not the result was the extremely worrying part but last night was at times an incredible performance and everyone should be very happy and very proud of our team.

[Anus]

Never under estimate the power of a strong tache game... 

 

[Ante's Bubbly]

2 hours ago, Pulcinella said:

 

It's all about expectations for me. We're in a transition year and are blooding our development squad. They will make mistakes, but they'll also show promise. So long as we're out of the danger zone it's all fine - we'll have a younger, fresher, more valuable squad.

 

Older players = little or no sell-on value.

Young players = potential sell-on value.

 

As fans, we need to keep an appropriate level of pressure on JL, the players & DC - but not berate them so hard every time they have a poor performance. Bad games will happen when you're building a new team. What I like about JL is that he does seem to learn by his mistakes - which is something I can't hand on hear say for CC.

 

We need to be realistic, pay each and every opposition due respect, encourage great play and enjoy the ups and downs.

 

Good points, well made and that really should be the long and short term plan for us I think, right there in a nutshell.

 

If the club had a strong voice, a committee, or dare I say a shareholding of fans that could influence decisions in any way, then I think there are 3 very general directions that we could encourage our chairman to take, which based on what we have seen at our club and others in the past, could lead to success or to failure. 

 

Stay as we are

We can continue to watch and occasionally applaud DC while he aimlessly gambles more and more of our money on profiteering agencies and older players who are building up their pension pots, while significantly reducing our transfer and wages pot, with little or no return for the club, when the players retire, move on, or get paid off to have their contracts terminated. We have followed that route in the past. It got us relegated from the premiership with unmanageable levels of debt which nearly led the club to the point where it folded. If this happens again, hopefully DC will not then just walk away leaving the club in a mess when the fans really start to turn nasty, but from his recent monologue I suggest that he would do exactly that and use those very reasons. 

 

Go for a sustainable recruitment plan

We can encourage, coax, debate and hopefully persuade DC to leave the player recruitment up to those employees and/or footballing fans of the club that genuinely have the good of the club at heart and really know a good young player when they see one. So that we take on players who are wanting to build their reputations rather than their pension pots. I would suggest a proper SWFC scouting network, maybe using people like Howard Wilkinson, Gary Megson, Chris Waddle and so on initially to get the ball rolling, using their experiences, knowledge and contacts within the game to get things off to a good start. If any of these people became involved it would not have to take up all of their time, but would allow them to do something for the club that they love and would use their skills and expertise at spotting talent. (These people are just examples, but I would suggest that even if paid a consultancy, this kind of help and advice towards player recruitment would cost us far less than the lovely agencies that DC has used so far and that they know more about spotting good footballers that would be beneficial to SWFC than any agency. Let's face it the agencies exist primarily to make as big a profit as they can for themselves and their number one clients, who are the older known players in the last years of contracts, or younger lesser known players poached from clubs like ours and promised much higher wages).

 

However this is done, it should be done and controlled internally, maybe funded or part funded eventually by revenue generated from player improvement within the team or U23 environment, sales, loans and hopefully better performances and success for the first team as a result of signing better long term players.

 

Say thank you to DC as he makes way for the new owners 

There a few rumours around that there are some really big money people wanting to become 'financially involved' with SWFC, that are fans of the club and want to invest some seriously large quantities of money in the club. This is the general method whereby the big money can then buy the best players to get us up, so that new owners, fans and players can then have their time in the premiership spotlight.

 

This could be just silly talk and is not a serious option unless it proves to be true, but this scenario, or something similar would be another option if the situation arose. The new owners do not necessarily have to be big fans of the club, but do have to have the financial clout that would get us up into the prem in one blissful promotion season based on pure domination of just about every team we play.

 

The above scenarios are exaggerated and based on some of the things we have seen happen either to us and/or to other clubs in a march towards success, or failure. There are a few other variations that clubs have followed like more home grown players etc, but generally these 3 ways of carrying on usually these players are shrewd junior or U23 signings that have been spotted by a scouting network, 

Edited August 23, 2018 by Ante's Bubbly

[sweetsheri]

2 hours ago, daleblue said:

Never like to single players out but I disagree about Nuhiu, the two fouls he made, one on the half line, and one just outside our 18 yard box was so not needed and was extremely unprofessional. 

Dave’s push in added time was criminal. Naivety at its worst 

 

Gave me a coronary 

 

 

[FreshOwl]

4 hours ago, RUMBELOWS91 said:

after all the fuss I watched the press conference back. Didn't think there was anything in that statement. Just seemed to be saying he/they know what they need to do better.

 

Team spirit looked fine last night. Plenty of encouragement for the youngsters from the more experienced players.

 

Our confidence is brittle, there's no doubt about that. Only positive results can put that right- that's why it's so important to back last night up with a win on Saturday.

 

I thought this as well. A lot of laughing and joking around pre match, wasn’t any clear signs of unrest.

 

And if he outed players from the team who weren’t giving their all, then Nuhiu wouldn’t have been dropped would he 

[S36 OWL]

4 hours ago, daveyboy66 said:

How's your Dutch?

Ajax pal 

[Tommycraign10others]

One of JLs strengths when he came was said to be a disciplinarian. Well I think he has now shown who is boss and more power to his elbow

[tarn owl]

The meltdown on here yesterday for a press conference?? Some were just desperate for a drama and some don’t like Jos and were just desperate to twist his words. Posts like, he needs to go, he’ll walk away. 1 win later and all that has calmed down and they can’t have a drama anymore. We have issues at this club, Jos is not one of them. Back him and if he can replicate that performance more often than not then we will be fine and probably finish mid table or maybe higher........IJWT WAWAW. 

[airborne_rat_of_s6]

5 hours ago, Owly Mowly said:

Noticed before the game lots of the players giving each other hugs and just 1 to 1 encouragement, and I thought at that point - they look determined to right things.

Might be coincidence but they have it all last night 

Man love breeds teamwork. Worked for the Spartans who liked a bit of Greek so to speak. Also works for  Parachute  Regiment Mortars 

Edited August 23, 2018 by airborne_rat_of_s6

[cookeh]

Well done, Jos. I'm sure that to a man, when we saw the starting lineup our hearts skipped a beat.
But he's seen them in training and decided they were ready.

To me, getting your first against a team like Milwall seems like a hiding to nothing. They're a difficult team to play against. physical and hard working. But everyone did really well.

 

Special mention for Bannan, who was everywhere! Always offering, always making space, shouting, encouraging and taking care of the younger guys when the ball was out of play. Never thought I'd say it having watched Bannan for years and years before he came to us, but he looked like a captain last night.

 

Penney looked great. Very comfortable on the ball (and happy to show it) and a bit of pace meaning he can get up and down. Made a couple of good tackles too which is reassuring. The shirt is his imo.

 

Thorniley and Lees dealt with their forwards really well, while Palmer made a few vital interventions in defense and was always offering an overlap going forwards, even if the rest let him down with poor passes a few times.

 

Pessy and Preston worked really hard. Both contributing defensively and offensively. The two of them with Bannan were probably the main catalyst for the performance.

 

Reach, i thought got a little bit lost. Not quite a wide forward, and not really involved in the midfield as much. He didn't have a bad game, but just seemed a bit in between to me.

 

Matias was awesome. Caused them trouble, won set plays a lot and worked his ass off chasing people back. Praying he stays fit, because he's showing that he's a proper player.

 

Fletch was a rock up top. Took a battering from their defenders, but got up and went again and again, winning his fair share and linking well. Another good game from him, even tho he didnt score. With the two wide forwards, it seems like scoring isn't so much his job, the focus is on holding it up and playing in others.. and he did that really well.

 

Sad to say Nuhiu was a bit of a useless lump when he came on. Gave away silly fouls every time the ball went near him and put us under unnecessary pressure. Maybe trying too hard, having not started?
Nando was lively, and really should have made it 3. Should have cut it back as well.. Sometimes forwards need to be greedy, but when you're on the goal line, with a clear cut back to someone in the middle, its stupid to shoot.

Boyd didn't have long, but was back when needed and made runs beyond and harried their defender on the ball.

 

A really good performance across the board. Well done Jos for making the changes he made. The senior players stepped up and the kids played with no fear. Fantastic.

[darklord]

It felt like that first season with Carlos again

[Ante's Bubbly]

1 hour ago, cookeh said:

Well done, Jos. I'm sure that to a man, when we saw the starting lineup our hearts skipped a beat.
But he's seen them in training and decided they were ready.

To me, getting your first against a team like Milwall seems like a hiding to nothing. They're a difficult team to play against. physical and hard working. But everyone did really well.

 

Special mention for Bannan, who was everywhere! Always offering, always making space, shouting, encouraging and taking care of the younger guys when the ball was out of play. Never thought I'd say it having watched Bannan for years and years before he came to us, but he looked like a captain last night.

 

Penney looked great. Very comfortable on the ball (and happy to show it) and a bit of pace meaning he can get up and down. Made a couple of good tackles too which is reassuring. The shirt is his imo.

 

Thorniley and Lees dealt with their forwards really well, while Palmer made a few vital interventions in defense and was always offering an overlap going forwards, even if the rest let him down with poor passes a few times.

 

Pessy and Preston worked really hard. Both contributing defensively and offensively. The two of them with Bannan were probably the main catalyst for the performance.

 

Reach, i thought got a little bit lost. Not quite a wide forward, and not really involved in the midfield as much. He didn't have a bad game, but just seemed a bit in between to me.

 

Matias was awesome. Caused them trouble, won set plays a lot and worked his ass off chasing people back. Praying he stays fit, because he's showing that he's a proper player.

 

Fletch was a rock up top. Took a battering from their defenders, but got up and went again and again, winning his fair share and linking well. Another good game from him, even tho he didnt score. With the two wide forwards, it seems like scoring isn't so much his job, the focus is on holding it up and playing in others.. and he did that really well.

 

Sad to say Nuhiu was a bit of a useless lump when he came on. Gave away silly fouls every time the ball went near him and put us under unnecessary pressure. Maybe trying too hard, having not started?
Nando was lively, and really should have made it 3. Should have cut it back as well.. Sometimes forwards need to be greedy, but when you're on the goal line, with a clear cut back to someone in the middle, its stupid to shoot.

Boyd didn't have long, but was back when needed and made runs beyond and harried their defender on the ball.

 

A really good performance across the board. Well done Jos for making the changes he made. The senior players stepped up and the kids played with no fear. Fantastic.

 

A good assessment that, but don't you think that Reach was playing the bag-man or facilitator role last night?

 

He seemed to be the one responsible for linking up play further up the field, often setting Matias and Preston off on runs after carrying the ball out from defence and then tidying up by covering runs backwards and forwards in midfield. He settled into the job given to him and had to adjust again late on after the three subs had been introduced, but on the whole I think he did a good job for the team that nobody else in the team could really have done. His box to box work rate allowed Bannan, Matias,Preston and Pelupessy (a couple of times) to get more time on the ball in the final third. We also went forward with fewer passes and I think Reach's runs, along with the other forward players, gave Bannan more options than normal with those pinpoint long passes of his. I do personally prefer to see him on the left wing playing perfect balls into the box and it was one of his crosses that led to the first goal, when the defenders failed to clear it.

[The only way is S6]

2 minutes ago, Ante's Bubbly said:

 

A good assessment that, but don't you think that Reach was playing the bag-man or facilitator role last night?

 

He seemed to be the one responsible for linking up play further up the field, often setting Matias and Preston off on runs after carrying the ball out from defence and then tidying up by covering runs backwards and forwards in midfield. He settled into the job given to him and had to adjust again late on after the three subs had been introduced, but on the whole I think he did a good job for the team that nobody else in the team could really have done. His box to box work rate allowed Bannan, Matias,Preston and Pelupessy (a couple of times) to get more time on the ball in the final third. We also went forward with fewer passes and I think Reach's runs, along with the other forward players, gave Bannan more options than normal with those pinpoint long passes of his. I do personally prefer to see him on the left wing playing perfect balls into the box and it was one of his crosses that led to the first goal, when the defenders failed to clear it.

 

Had to smirk at Reach. First attempt at a proper tackle since we signed him & he got booked!  Played well overall though, and looks fitter than before, same as Fletch.

Has Matias ever started 3 games on the trot before?