Players = scapegoats

[Mr Hooper]

Football fans are strange, and you make some good points OP.

 

Obviously the players are to blame to a certain extent, but our fans have really blown up at the wrong ones.

 

Bannan - He's getting so much stick right now, people seem to forget he's playing CDM and hasn't really had anyone to link up with lately. Good players play well with good players. Imagine looking up for a pass or a one two and seeing Winnall/Nuhiu. His performance picking up when Nando came on against Millwall.

 

It's a shame that Monk then decided to play Nando at LWB.

 

I'm giving the manager 90% of the blame for what's currently happening on the pitch. OF COURSE, we can blame the chairman for his decisions and some of the players below par performances.

 

But let's not look past the stupid decisions Monk is making.

 

- Playing players in the wrong positions.

- Messing around with formations

- Dropping and falling out with our best players

- Calling the players out for being 'embarrassing' but then not changing the 11

- Telling the media the play offs were never a possibility 

 

All this could be managed ALOT better.

 

If a manager picks and sticks with a gameplan, picks the best players, try's the play attacking football, has some charisma and engages with the club and crowd, WE WOULD BACK THEM!

 

If you turn up to a match and agree with the starting 11 and can see we have a clear style of player and plan, even if we lose, it's hard to knock the manager. Monk is really messing it up here, and he's also doing a great job at turning the fans on our better players. 

[SupremeOwl]

When you put more effort in as fans to get to and from games than the players do on the pitch then they get everything they deserve. Players at any level should be able to string two passes together, cross, shoot, do the basics, even just run around for **** sake. 

 

Why do we keep doing this? Trying to put everything into a perspective that just doesn't exist when things get like this. We've been doing it for years and the reality is that we are an absolute mess. 

 

The problems run deeper, I agree, but nothing has been scapegoated. Everything the club gets at the minute is warranted from top to bottom until everything is stripped out and fundamentally changed for the better. 

 

[shezzas left peg]

There's something for me wrong with the whole team cohesion and as a squad as a whole. 

 

There's no communication out on the pitch. It's like 10 lost kids and a terrier running around barking at anything that moves. Is everyone else afraid to say anything to bazza?? or Westwood before he got dropped?. 

 

The TWO most fundamental foundations of a team sport at ANY level is teamwork and communication and we don't seem to have any. 

You watch Sunday league and you see it people will point out runners to teammates. Tell people there's someone that needs picking up in the box. 

Give a teammate a shout if he loses his man. We just don't seem to be doing that. 

[Dutch McLovin]

2 hours ago, crookesowl said:

Well, mostly anyway.
 

From what I’ve seen the players are putting a shift in. Yes they are making mistakes but these players have always done that. Lees has a history of it. As does Bannan. The new 2019 lads do as well. 
 

The current crisis goes deeper than simply “the players doesn’t give a throw”

 

The manager should be taking most of the slack IMO. The set up, formation, tactics and style of football is woeful. It’s dire - even when we were winning. 
 

We need to quickly go back to something recognisable in football. 4-4-2 with FF and Wickham up top. That’s the recipe for slightly better results, at home at least. 

Agree.

 

While the players are absolute a*sewipes for not pulling there weight for various managers the above post is spot on. Sack Monk now. We need a style.

[RichSheffWeds]

52 minutes ago, LittleG said:

So they're not responsible for the dire performances for the last couple of months. 

So you don’t think the culture at the club is influenced at all by 2 senior pro’s ?

 

Especially these two individuals who are hardly shrinking violets? 

The overall mindset and attitude of players is bound to be affected. 
 

Roll on the summer. 

 

[NeonLeon]

Upto now the only person that is coming out week after week and accepting  responsibility for his part in the mess we’re in is Monk. 
 

Not heard or seen one player in the press saying they need to do better. 

[OwlofOliveGrove]

2 hours ago, crookesowl said:

From what I’ve seen the players are putting a shift in.

 

 

 

[should know better]

31 minutes ago, RichSheffWeds said:

So you don’t think the culture at the club is influenced at all by 2 senior pro’s ?

 

Especially these two individuals who are hardly shrinking violets? 

The overall mindset and attitude of players is bound to be affected. 
 

Roll on the summer. 

 

I'm more worried about the senior pro's who have played recently, Bannan, Lees and Palmer. May be though that they are under orders from Westwood and Hutchinson to retreat as far back as possible and pull out of tackles.  

[thewookieisdown]

Overall the squad obviously isn't as good as it needs to be.

 

Some players are way out of their depth (Rhodes, Winnall).

 

Some are past it (Lee, I'm afraid).

 

Some are never-quite-were (Moses).

 

Some definitely have looked good enough this season but have recently gone off the boil (Harris, Iorfa, Borner - three months ago I'd have said that was a top six CB partnership).

 

Some are flawed assets we find hard to use, notably Bannan,

 

It's a mix.

 

It's also a mixed pedigree. Some people talk about us having had the same team for years, but while it's true that we don't turnover players quickly enough and have stagnated, there has been new blood. Three of the eleven on Weds alone were starters.

 

It remains the case that this squad is not notably weaker than the one we had second half of last season, and in principle should be a bit stronger.

 

Meanwhile, we have a manager who came here with a decidedly uninspiring track record, fans of previous clubs (not least Swansea) chortling over the appointment; and who is not the most stellar operator. There is not the slightest scintilla of evidence that he can cope with this task

[FreshOwl]

Forget the blooming tactics, I’m sick of people using that as an excuse. Football is a simple game. You kick a ball around to each other and score. The players can’t even pass to each other. Tactics don’t make you go from 100 to 0 in a simple sport like this as you should ALWAYS have the ability to pick a pass and run up and down a bloody field 

[keepitsteel89]

2 hours ago, A E Neuman NYowl said:

Are you sure Monk took Swansea into the premiership ?

 

I thought Brendan Rodgers was in charge when they were promoted Followed by Brian Laudrup then Garry Monk.

He's been around them all thats the point, his philosophies come from Laudrup, Rodges etc the guy has the know how I'm tellin ya I think hes been forced to play a slightly different way with this team but I hope he gets the summer to go bring in his own players start playing some proper football

[A E Neuman NYowl]

2 minutes ago, keepitsteel89 said:

He's been around them all thats the point, his philosophies come from Laudrup, Rodges etc the guy has the know how I'm tellin ya I think hes been forced to play a slightly different way with this team but I hope he gets the summer to go bring in his own players start playing some proper football

You could be right.

 

Brian Kidd was around Alex Ferguson for years but looking at his managerial record I don't think he picked much up.

[AwokenGiant]

Problems with leadership throughout the club - to try and make a case for the players' being victims within this is ludicrous. 

[Guest LittleG]

51 minutes ago, RichSheffWeds said:

So you don’t think the culture at the club is influenced at all by 2 senior pro’s ?

 

Especially these two individuals who are hardly shrinking violets? 

The overall mindset and attitude of players is bound to be affected. 
 

Roll on the summer. 

 

To be honest I don't. If these two players can influence all the remaining members of the squad to such an extent, then it doesn't say a lot about the character and personality of the other players. 

[mrrodge]

I don't agree with Monk's tactics some of the time but the least of whats expected of the players is to put a shift in and they aren't doing that.

 

Wednesday night was a horrible, cold evening against awful opposition who were willing to battle for every ball and fight to get 3 points. Our players were not interested as soon as we went a goal down.

[cookeh]

We all know the players are so much better than they are playing right now, and that's why the situation is so frustrating.
The players aren't doing all they can, but isn't that 100% the managers job? To take the players you have and help them to perform at their best?

Not a single one of us (not even the true crazies!) would ever in any 'line-up for the next match' have put Nando as at left wing back.

That's just plain stupid.

 

Meanwhile you have Monk in the press blaming the players.. then today he's saying:

"It's my responsibility, I'm not here to pin anything on anyone, the buck stops with the manager.

The solution is to work hard. I work very hard and I try to work the players very hard."

He's not blaming anyone, but they blames everyone else in the next sentence!

The solutions to work hard and he works very hard.. but the players.. not blaming anyone tho!
The man's a joke.

 

Whatever you think of the players, Monk's lost them, with idiocy like this. If you lose the players, you've got to go, because you won't ever get them back, and trying to get rid of them all and start again is suicide for any club. It one of those things fans say in frustration "get rid and play the kids" but in reality that's just a doorway to relegation upon relegation.

 

We have a core of players who are very much good enough and we have some who aren't. For two months now Monk has been getting the worst from all of them, and that's no one's fault but his own. He's a manager, he needs to manage people. A drill sergeant isn't a manager. Like it or not, football has changed in the last 30 years. Monk's job nowadays is to put an arm round Nando and make him feel like he's a million bucks, because that's when Nando plays his best. His job is to make the want to play for him, and that's maybe even more important than how he wants them to play. If you've got 11 talented players (and we do) then if they're committed they will get some results. Add a system that suits them well, decent set-pieces, knowledge of the opponent and sensible game management, and you're looking at the playoffs or better.

 

Monk is failing to even get the players to play for him. His system is erratic and, as we saw the other night, sometimes make no sense. His game management is poor, we've shipped so many late goals this season. He's just not he man. We need to lose some players, for sure. But we also need a real manager in place as well.

[Guest The Claw]

2 hours ago, LittleG said:

So they're not responsible for the dire performances for the last couple of months. 

ERM!

[Outrageousowl]

3 hours ago, crookesowl said:

Form the games I’ve watched (all home games and Wigan away) I would say they are working hard but struggling with woeful tactics. It’s easy to criticise players but when they are running round in circles and chasing long balls it’s difficult for them. 
 

Not saying they are completely innocent at all, but it starts with the manager, his selection and his tactics. 
 

We were warned about this by fans of other clubs. Monk is regularly criticising the players and whilst some is fair criticism the fan base have lapped it up and are now all over our players.

I actually think criticising the manager is much easier, as we human beings love to distill wildly complex situations into a singular issue.

That said, everyone needs to improve including Monk.  But with his contract set to expire this year, to sack him now is lunacy.

Im afraid we have no choice but to back the lads and hope for the best.

[Outrageousowl]

1 hour ago, FreshOwl said:

Forget the blooming tactics, I’m sick of people using that as an excuse. Football is a simple game. You kick a ball around to each other and score. The players can’t even pass to each other. Tactics don’t make you go from 100 to 0 in a simple sport like this as you should ALWAYS have the ability to pick a pass and run up and down a bloody field 

I totally agree with this.

Tactics are nearly always the last 5%.

Hard work and decent football win most games.

 

[crookesowl]

3 hours ago, Mr Farrell said:

 

Hi Hutch.

Mate. I wish I was Hutch!