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Excellent summary.

 

Interesting that you missed out the central CB and a partner for Gregory in your praise for the team. Sadly after 48 matches neither us nor Moore knew our best second striker nor have we had a settled central CB. That’s 2/3 of your spine rotating.

 

 

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Moore has done an outstanding job this season. He made a decision early in the season on his game plan and formation and stuck to it. An incredible home record too which has always been hard to achieve at Hillsborough. 
It could have gone either way last night. Moore picked his strongest side, one or two players didn’t turn up over the two legs, mainly Byers and Luongo.. 
 

Sunderland fans were slating Neil on their forums when they were losing saying he was too negative, no subs etc… they score in last minute and now he’s the messiah……

 

Small margins. 

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33 minutes ago, Mav-erick said:

 

Moore has done an outstanding job this season. He made a decision early in the season on his game plan and formation and stuck to it. An incredible home record too which has always been hard to achieve at Hillsborough. 
It could have gone either way last night. Moore picked his strongest side, one or two players didn’t turn up over the two legs, mainly Byers and Luongo.. 
 

Sunderland fans were slating Neil on their forums when they were losing saying he was too negative, no subs etc… they score in last minute and now he’s the messiah……

 

Small margins. 

An outstanding job is getting us promoted or to the final. 
An outstanding manager doesn’t give you heart attacks by playing out from the back when we aren’t equipped to do it. 

A decent job is moulding a new, expensively put together squad together to challenge. 
 

None of us have a clue what the team will be  from one game to the next other than if someone is MOM they will probably be dropped. 
 

Darren isn’t a crap manager who deserves to be sacked but he certainly isn’t outstanding 

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8 hours ago, Emerson Thome said:

Last season was a grim struggle. Monk and Pulis putting ten men behind the ball. 5 centre-halves at Norwich. 20% possession against Reading. No goalscorer in double figures. Players regularly getting sent off as we chased shadows. By the end, Darren Moore fighting for his life in hospital, and the team grimly staying in the mathematical race for safety despite seemingly losing every week. Not winning a single point after falling behind until the last game of the season. We pretty much hit rock bottom.

 

This close season there were shoots of optimism. A clearout of all the deadwood and high wage earners. A few seasoned pros, unknown foreigners and young players on the way in. A change of style, wanting to play on the front foot, pass the ball - use the talents of Barry Bannan rather than hoof it over his head.

 

It took a while to bed in. Despite a couple of wins over Donny and Rotherham, our team was a bit stodgy. The 4-2-3-1 didn't really work. We had a tendency to over-play at the back and the wide players in the 3 in attacking midfield weren't a goal threat. Plymouth and then Oxford trampled all over us. Then a frustrating run of 4 draws in October put us well off the pace.

 

Slowly but surely we discovered a new team. The 3-0 win against Sunderland was one of the first times we really started to play proper football. We suffered an injury crisis that meant Johnson, Brennan, Paterson, anyone with a pulse, has to fill in at Centre Back. Then Covid struck, just as we had seemingly put the injuries behind us. Flattened by Covid and unable to train we got thrashed 5-0 by Sunderland and lost again at Shrewsbury.

 

But then, suddenly, everything started to gel. With defensive reinforcements and our new signings bedding in we clicked into gear. A decent Plymouth team were hammered 4-2 (a scoreline that flattered them). Ipswich, Wigan, Charlton swept aside. We smashed six past Cambridge, five past Burton.

 

The playing out from the back started to work, mixing it up with more direct play when needed. Liam Palmer and Sam Hutchinson adapted perfectly as a wide centre-halves. Jack Hunt and Marvin Johnson flying down the wings. Luongo, Bannan and Byers formed a midfield with grit, poise and style. And Lee Gregory, chasing everything down and smashing them in up top. Teams began to fear coming to Hillsborough again.

 

The away form that eluded us suddenly clicked, 3-2 wins over MK Dons and Fleetwood. Then in front of a full house, a 4-1 procession against Portsmouth. Suddenly when we go 1-0 down we are not dead and buried. Windass's mis-kick and volley in the last minute against MK. Bannan's 30-yarders against Burton. Gregory's 2 goals in 45 seconds at Fleetwood. Bannan's goal of the season at MK Dons. 85 points, 78 goals.

 

Unfortunately, it ended in disappointment. A muscle injury in the last 10 minutes against Portsmouth. A skidding ball and a slip at the Stadium of Light. And a team running on empty and over-committing in injury time trying to secure a place at Wembley.

 

But we've come a long way. This season has had more ups than downs. It took us two years to get promoted in 2003-05 and 2010-12, and Darren Moore will see that we do the same in 2021-23, only this time as Champions. A few duds will be shipped out, and with a stable environment and minor surgery rather than a radical overhaul, you can be sure that better signings will be on the way in. Keep the faith and Up The Owls.

 

UTO💙

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This waster of a manager took 30% of the season playing not to lose against third tier outfits - instead of going out to win. 

 

We never picked up ANY decent away form 

 

He completely bottled any attacking sense in the playoffs 

 

Progress on last year? Jesus - we went down with a dreadful side and are a big fish in a small pond, that was never going to be difficult - he was handed players which should have strolled through this league, and he couldn't get them going. 

 

Useless 

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Moore contributed to taking us down, his task wasn't hard to get a win against any of Wycombe, Rotherham or Derby and he didn't manage it. Yes the other 2 had spells aswell during that season, but DM failed too. He's also failed this season? So in his year and a bit at Wednesday, he's failed in both seasons. But yeah, progress indeed when our only chance over 180 minutes apart from the goal is a over head kick from the edge of the box. Wright and Batth won't have had an easier two games 

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2 hours ago, @owlstalk said:

 



The fans who are most confused and most angry about not getting promoted are the ones who have been running up to people all season screaming 'If we don't get promoted automatically with this squad then we have failed massively'
 

This^ got up this morning to expect some form of meltdown on here, the usual Moore out/in posts with some posters giving valid points from both camps and the usual looney ones screaming for attention without giving alternative suggestions.

My own opinion on Moore is the guy has made mistakes and definitely didn’t get it right all the time, but I’ve seen enough over the season to say he should definitely be here for next season. Yes we will need new blood and some players will be leaving that’s football, but reading some of the comments today are baffling.

I’ve seen posts all season long that we have the best squad in the league so it’s all Moore’s fault, now I’m seeing posts wanting/claiming just about the entire squad should leave?


 

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3 hours ago, Holmowl said:

Excellent summary.

 

Interesting that you missed out the central CB and a partner for Gregory in your praise for the team. Sadly after 48 matches neither us nor Moore knew our best second striker nor have we had a settled central CB. That’s 2/3 of your spine rotating.

 

 

 

Absolutely. Those positions are key. If (big if) we can keep Windass fit that could be one gap filled. Dean too, if he's happy to sign, but I suspect he'll be Championship bound and this will be a key recruitment position.

 

The other thing we need is to use the loan market properly. BPF and Storey have been qualified successes, but John-Jules, Gibson, Shodipo, Corbeanu, Kamberi - partly through injuries, but they have mainly flopped. When you look at MK Dons with Parrott, Kessler-Hayden, Coventry, etc - all charging forward - this could be a way to get some fresh legs into our squad.

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Strange season, at times we have played some superb football probably the best for a few seasons.

 

Coupled with this we have looked clueless at times particularly when teams have pressed and closed us down.

 

Next season clubs will close us down quickly as they know we don't have a plan B.

 

Unless Moore can come up with some alternative solutions when it's not working I fear the same issues arising. I do think the manager needs to be more pragmatic at times and forgive his footballing style to get results.

They two best footballing teams us and MK have both fallen short where as Rotherham are promoted and Wycombe and Sunderland are in the final all playing a bit more direct with a big target man. ( Not saying dump Gregory but maybe have a unit to supplement or play alongside him)

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Good post.  When you consider the mess we were in at the end of last season and the transfer restrictions - it’s a minor miracle that we challenged at all.

 

Those saying that anyone could get promoted with this squad, need to remember who assembled it.

 

Another transfer window like the last two and we should be a top two team.

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Just now, A E Neuman NYowl said:

Strange season, at times we have played some superb football probably the best for a few seasons.

 

Coupled with this we have looked clueless at times particularly when teams have pressed and closed us down.

 

Next season clubs will close us down quickly as they know we don't have a plan B.

 

Unless Moore can come up with some alternative solutions when it's not working I fear the same issues arising. I do think the manager needs to be more pragmatic at times and forgive his footballing style to get results.

They two best footballing teams us and MK have both fallen short where as Rotherham are promoted and Wycombe and Sunderland are in the final all playing a bit more direct with a big target man. ( Not saying dump Gregory but maybe have a unit to supplement or play alongside him)

 

It is easy to say 'close us down quickly', but most teams have tried this at Hillsborough and only Rotherham and Oxford managed to it and beat us.

 

What we need is smart recruitment, better defenders who are comfortable on the ball, a good number 10 with pace, then we'll be even better at playing through these teams that try and close us down. It is high risk for them. Get it wrong, and suddenly we have 4, 5, 6 players streaming forward from midfield and half their team is out of the game. Also, asking them to play at well above their usual intensity - we will pick them off as the game goes on. The better we get at it, the more we will be able to do it on smaller grounds and away from home.

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3 hours ago, TheOwlsofDodworth said:

 

We'll rise again next season, as Champions.

 

Moore's building his own dream at Wednesday.

 

 

Think Derby, Barnsley, Pompey, Charlton, maybe Sunderland etc will be thinking the same.

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49 minutes ago, Emerson Thome said:

 

It is easy to say 'close us down quickly', but most teams have tried this at Hillsborough and only Rotherham and Oxford managed to it and beat us.

 

What we need is smart recruitment, better defenders who are comfortable on the ball, a good number 10 with pace, then we'll be even better at playing through these teams that try and close us down. It is high risk for them. Get it wrong, and suddenly we have 4, 5, 6 players streaming forward from midfield and half their team is out of the game. Also, asking them to play at well above their usual intensity - we will pick them off as the game goes on. The better we get at it, the more we will be able to do it on smaller grounds and away from home.

Shame we can't play all our games at home then. You have missed out some of our dismal away performances.

 

In theory great we pick up these talented players.

 

In practice we are in league 1 and there are not many of those type of plays available down here.

 

I would argue we probably had the most talented squad in the division and we have come up short.

 

Like I said in my post that you quoted I am not saying we need to abandon our footballing style but we do need to have an alternative when it's not working

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