Alan Biggs latest article

[Jim]

11 hours ago, edwinowl said:

He won’t get more than a season here with this group as managers like to call them. 
Probably as good if not best squad on paper in L1 and needs to step up. 
My fear is he’s not sure how he wants to play style wise and it’s transmitting through to the players. Needs to let them off the leash and go for it in my opinion. 

 

Best squad in the League? Not according to Paul Cook, it isn’t

[CircleSeven]

Play offs and I’ll be happy enough and expect Moore will keep his job. Less than that and it will be a full on meltdown. 

[hasthagotanycheese]

Moore's win % is currently 30.4%

 

Thats frankly not good enough if we are hoping to be anywhere near the top 6.

 

He needs to find a team, formation and way of playing pronto otherwise he will find himself out on his arris pretty quickly.

 

Dropping the wee Jock midget and playing two up top would be a start.

[Lawrie’s Left Peg]

13 hours ago, victorturner said:

When you look at the competition, a top 6 finish is essential given the 14 players brought in, otherwise that’s failure.

We haven’t signed Messi, Ronaldo & M’bappe. We’ve got loans, freebies and other people’s cast-offs. Most people (if they’re honest) wouldn’t have heard of most of our signings without a swift bit of Wiki

Other than Wing and Shodipo who come with a decent reputation I don’t understand the feeling that we have anything more than a competitive squad albeit with potential and a good balance. 
Certainly nothing to suggest we SHOULD win this league. 

[Animis]

3 minutes ago, Lawrie’s Left Peg said:

We haven’t signed Messi, Ronaldo & M’bappe. We’ve got loans, freebies and other people’s cast-offs. Most people (if they’re honest) wouldn’t have heard of most of our signings without a swift bit of Wiki

Other than Wing and Shodipo who come with a decent reputation I don’t understand the feeling that we have anything more than a competitive squad albeit with potential and a good balance. 
Certainly nothing to suggest we SHOULD win this league. 

 

But we've also signed Gregory, a keeper from a ELP team who plays for NI, Johnson and Byers who have solid Championship experience, and a former EPL striker. We also retained Windass and Paterson who have vast Championship experience.

 

Our squad should be more than capable of a top 6 finish, which should be Moore's target.

[Lawrie’s Left Peg]

11 hours ago, Kew Owl said:

Sunderland didn’t get out of League One at the first attempt, so I don’t really see why we should expect to

 

Im happy with a mid table finish this season and consolidation ready for next season

The voice of reason. Some fans literally expect HMSPTL based on nothing more than optimism ambition and our “massive” mentality.

Last season we were a complete and utter shambles. We have been in decline since the Huddersfield semi. We probably need a season of calm, consistent, consolidation before we start the long climb back.

[Jim]

Mr Biggs has been on this patch for what seems like a lifetime. Obviously has his talents or he wouldn’t have had the long career he has had. In many ways his journalistic style mirrors the team’s that he covers, opinions that will never shock, plays things safe and simple, can be a bit sanctimonious, pompous and adverse to criticism? In summary he’s got his view on how football clubs should be run and that view will never change unlike the game he’s made a living from covering?

[Lawrie’s Left Peg]

3 minutes ago, Animis said:

 

But we've also signed Gregory, a keeper from a ELP team who plays for NI, Johnson and Byers who have solid Championship experience, and a former EPL striker. We also retained Windass and Paterson who have vast Championship experience.

 

Our squad should be more than capable of a top 6 finish, which should be Moore's target.

This is where we differ but the game is all about opinion. Gregory has never been prolific. BPF was 3rd (or 4th) choice at Burnley and rejected by Bielsa who knows a bit about football. He started well but we’ve seen a couple of the errors he’s known for. The NI squad includes several lower league players. Byers was a bit part player at Swansea. Harris, Joey P and Izzy Brown all have Championship experience…

It’s all about perspective but I honestly don’t understand the view that our squad SHOULD be one of the best. As previous, I do like the balance and competition for places. 

[fpowl]

We need to be challenging 

play offs is minimum with a decent showing in them 

 

anything else is failure in my opinion 

 

if this squad can’t get a top 6 finish then their needs to be an inquest into why not 

 

it’s a long season we can lose and underperform in the odd game but ultimately we have a squad with depth and quality to perform over the season 

 

Im not a Moore out figure and I’m not suggesting this at all but in his latest interviews he’s still talking about us gelling and some players not up to speed 

 

this can’t be an excuse with nearly 1/4 of the season gone he needs to get that right snd sharpish 

 

this year we did our business relatively early in our standards and I always give it to that first international break for bedding in 

 

we can’t keep going every hand looking to improve if the results are not there because you run out of games 

 

personally what I’ve seen so far is that as we are currently playing we don’t put enough pressure on their goal with all the wealth we have in going forward we don’t challenge the keeper enough 

 

maybe trying two up is a better Gregory as looked islolated in too many games 

 

also we have to get the ball up top quicker 

playing out from the back is ok as long as you actually play out 

 

i also think and I’ve nothing against Palmer at left back but Johnston offered us much more going forward at left back 

[Spondon Owl]

23 hours ago, edwinowl said:

He won’t get more than a season here with this group as managers like to call them. 
Probably as good if not best squad on paper in L1 and needs to step up. 
My fear is he’s not sure how he wants to play style wise and it’s transmitting through to the players. Needs to let them off the leash and go for it in my opinion. 

I think this is true. There's no identity. It's difficult to understand the shape and how Moore expects the team to transition between phases.

 

It's difficult because with bannan you have to have 3 in the middle of the park.

[davetherivelinowl]

For all the optimism about the quality of our squad, I've just looked at the players with the highest average scores on whoscored and we don't have ANYONE in the top 50 in this league. Our highest ranked player is Iorfa at No 52.

 

Players ranked higher include Vadaine Oliver and Jordan Thorniley.

 

Reputations count for nothing. You have to do the business.

 

 

[Owl Be Back]

For me it's how much Ch*nsiri impacts negatively on the running of the club both on and off the field and how damaging that involvement is. Over the past few years, any manager would have failed because of our owner's antics so I think we all need to factor that into any assessment of success or failure.

[Ever the pessimist]

Any Biggs thread is an excuse for digging out this tweet.

[Marro]

I’m never quite sure what Biggs’ opinion is.  I think he has been sitting too long on that barbed wire fence!

 

My own view is that we have to challenge for a playoff spot this season.  Like others have said, if we don’t go up it could take a while to get out of this god forsaken division.  I hope Moore is the man to do it.  

[FreshOwl]

5 minutes ago, Ever the pessimist said:

Any Biggs thread is an excuse for digging out this tweet.

this can’t be real? 

[Ever the pessimist]

5 minutes ago, FreshOwl said:

this can’t be real? 

It was. He soon deleted it, but a mate screenshotted it for posterity.

[airborne_rat_of_s6]

On 24/09/2021 at 10:34, royalowlisback said:

If we don't go up this season, he won't be here the season after.

And rightly so. Been entrusted and supported in the transfer market. Players he has at his disposal would on paper get into any squad in this league. Needs now to covert talk into meaningful performances and results. 

[airborne_rat_of_s6]

1 hour ago, Ever the pessimist said:

Any Biggs thread is an excuse for digging out this tweet.

Comments that could be interpreted as Partridge-esque.

[Beauchief Owl]

16 hours ago, Kew Owl said:

Sunderland didn’t get out of League One at the first attempt, so I don’t really see why we should expect to

 

Im happy with a mid table finish this season and consolidation ready for next season

Sunderland are in their 4th season at this level, and they are by no means certain of promotion this season either though they've had a good start. Sobering fact, in one season I believe they spent more than the other 23 clubs combined on transfers and still failed.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Lawrie’s Left Peg said:

This is where we differ but the game is all about opinion. Gregory has never been prolific. BPF was 3rd (or 4th) choice at Burnley and rejected by Bielsa who knows a bit about football. He started well but we’ve seen a couple of the errors he’s known for. The NI squad includes several lower league players. Byers was a bit part player at Swansea. Harris, Joey P and Izzy Brown all have Championship experience…

It’s all about perspective but I honestly don’t understand the view that our squad SHOULD be one of the best. As previous, I do like the balance and competition for places. 

 

Gregory scored 38 goals in 2 seasons at this level. He may well be past his prime now but should still be capable of scoring a decent amount. 

 

Peacock-Farrell may have been 3rd choice at a PL club but they signed him in the first place, he lost his place at Leeds but they were a promotion chasing Championship team, he should be good enough at this level.

 

Wing should really be playing in the Championship, as should Hunt, most teams at this level would have Bannan in a heart beat, Dunkley has been good at this level and is only a squad player for us. Byers played 35 times in one season for Swansea and is another that is not a guaranteed starter for us. Adeniran is showing his worth. Johnson has played above this level for years, as have Palmer Hutchinson, Paterson and others, none of which are past it. 

 

We have no right to expect to canter to the title or promotion but we should be competitive enough to hope to be top six, rather than just 'steady the ship' this season. Paul Sturrock got a lesser team promoted on the back of the 2nd worst season in our history.