Sussex by the sea!

[BWFC_Insane]

It's about putting the fight and spirit back in which I feel is slowly happening.

No it isn't. It's about pushing for promotion. And we're not.

You say you're giving him a year. That's pointless and you're burying your head in the sand.
A year from now we could be in any one of three divisions.
So if it's ok with you, I'm judging him game by game and on todays game I'm judging him as being a dickhead.

Fine if you want to act like a spoiled 13 year old Sunderland/Liverpool/Newcastle etc fan.


Calling a manager a dickhead who has yet to be beaten after 5 games is embarrassing.

I'm embarrassed for you.

[Ianmooreslovechild]

Funnily enough the manager doesn't seem to share the experts assessment of the players on here.

'This is a good group who want to do well'. Unsurprisingly given that they dug him out of a hole today.

'We can't blame the players for the position i put them in'. Never a truer word spoken Dougie.

Yeah what a tosser admitting he got the selection wrong,he should have just blamed the players and threatened to drop them all like a proper manager would. He might not really mean what he says about the players publicly but he's not likely to say, "I've inherited a shower of shite and they arent capable of following simple instructions." Much better to say they're good but need to work on little things like fitness and organisation.

[CrazyHorse]

I must be in a bad way if you're embarrassed for me.

Go on then, feel free to explain to me how that team selection wasn't the work of a dickhead. I'm all ears.

[Nicko58]

Could it not be that today's team selection was, in part, influenced by the fact that we have a game mid-week against our local rivals?

No issues with Dougie and today's team if he got answers to some of the questions that he had about our squad. Should he pick the same eleven on Wednesday, though, and I'd start to worry.

Five games in, we're still unbeaten and have an easier run of fixtures in December where we should be able to pick up some victories. Take into account the teams that we've played this month and I'd say that seven points from the last five games isn't a bad return; and, today's performance aside, gives us a platform to build on.

[Worthy4England]

Coyle's last 5 games - 4 points against teams lying in 2nd, 6th, 16th, 19th and 22nd. Goals For 6, against 8

Freedman's first 5 - 7 points against teams lying in 1st, 3rd, 8th, 14th and 20th. Goals for 6, against 5.

Looks like progress of sorts to me. Hardly huge progress, but progress all the same.

As I said about team selection pre-match - Sweet Baby Jesus.

[plymouth wanderer]

Could it not be that today's team selection was, in part, influenced by the fact that we have a game mid-week against our local rivals?

No issues with Dougie and today's team if he got answers to some of the questions that he had about our squad. Should he pick the same eleven on Wednesday, though, and I'd start to worry.

Five games in, we're still unbeaten and have an easier run of fixtures in December where we should be able to pick up some victories. Take into account the teams that we've played this month and I'd say that seven points from the last five games isn't a bad return; and, today's performance aside, gives us a platform to build on.

That a boy

[bobo the clown]

Could it not be that today's team selection was, in part, influenced by the fact that we have a game mid-week against our local rivals?

Well, 17 games in we should have players capable of putting 2 shifts in in 5 days to be honest. Though we do have fitness issues.

I'm unconvinced that Mears replacing Ricketts can be on that basis.

I'm fckg certain Afiobi being on the coach, let alone the pitch can't be explained.

At least he appears to have realised & sort-of admitted it it, which is an improvement I suppose. The fact that anyone who can spell 'Reebok' already knew it we should let pass maybe.

OK, I'll stop now.

[superjohnmcginlay]

Just got up and seen the score.

So were we shite then?

[Enoch]

Difficult to understand why Davies and Gartside would plump for a dickhead that doesn't own a magic wand!!

I knew it should have been Daniels.

[thead]

The fact Freedman is performing better with the squad The Second Coming put together shows we should be okay in the long run. Four draws aren't the most inspirational set of results on paper but put into context and compared to what Coyle was getting they are, I think, encouraging.

We weren't able to get back into a game or hold onto a game for a point for the last year or so, the defence is still leaky but at least we are looking more likely to get something whether deserved or not.

A manager with a squad he has inherited can be judged game to game but that does seem a little harsh. I think the real result of his appointment can only be really judged from after January at the earliest. It's not a short term view which seems trendy in football these days but is a realistic one I think.

[Jez]

Wheres this assessment that we have a shit squad suddenly come from? We still have one of, if not the strongest squads in this division. Last year there was a lot of moaning about Coyle bringing in championship level players and thats exactly what he did, despite probably still feeling a little bit of a relegation hangover players like Pratley, Andrews e.t.c have all performed very well at this level and with players like chungy, petrov and hopefully in the near future stuey available we still have a few names that wouldnt look out of place in the premier league.

The squad was not the problem today, the selection was. Why play tim ream as a defensive mid when you could have spearing? why play afobe when you could play chungy? I'm just hoping that todays team was picked with the blackburn game in mind because we can hand in a much better team sheet than that.

[officer_dibble]

fecking odd team selection
only explanation i can comw up witg is Douggie.had wrote off points here so was using it as a 'show me what you can do' match. Before fecking off the likes of Ream, Mears in january.

I imagine he's decided Ream isn't a centre half which is more than the bloke who signed him did...

[Dave of Flimwell]

If you weren't one of the 1274 travelling fans you missed the escape of the season. DN equalised in the 96th minute. We could have lost 5/6 nil and deservedly up to half-time but Dougie made some great subs and we kept on going. The Seagulls were gutted because the ref had a poor game and they felt should have sent two of our lads off.I had a great journey home with my Seagull brother-in-law doing the driving and listening to me singing "Dougie Dougie Dougie what would we do without you" It's a great tune too!posting.php?mode=reply&f=4&t=24119#

[Turkish Trotter]

I turned off the radio after the Eagles free kick to watch Q3 in the F1 without Bolton annoying me. Now I find out we scored. Still not bothered though as we didn't deserve a thing and it changes nothing

It changes points from 21 to 22

I was going to type that smart ar@e but i just couldn't be bothered..

Oh WOW!! 22 points. half way to Premier League safety....oh wait...............................bump

No you stated nothing had changed, I stated the points had changed (with a wink) , that's the last 5 games this has happened.
I know the performance was dire but we got lucky, remember the plenty of times we've been unlucky.

[wanderers_on_tour]

How did Ream actually get on then?? Dougie has til January for me to have a good luck at the side, how they gel in practice and game scenarios, and decide a) who his best 11 atm are and b) where they can be improved.

[thebish]

i spent the whole day helping someone move house in just a Luton van in the pouring rain... still sounds like a day better spent than sat in front of this here screen listening to Bolton playing shoite..

(I say that - cos it's what the poster known as Puskas on here says in another place.. he knows what he's talking about and he says we were utter shoite...so we were!)

so... Dougie is learning about the squad??

I'll still buy that - only 5 games in - BUT - it's pretty much exactly what Coyle said as we lost a string of games in the pre-season... Coyle never did actually learn anything.. let's hope Dougie does...

[onlywanderer]

Ream just didn't do a lot. Every now and then he'd go and get the ball and then make a ten yard pass backwards/side ways, but looked nervous on the ball and scared to try anything else. Doesn't tackle a great deal or with much force either.

Really wanted him to be good and there was a chance, i felt, that infront of the back four might have been his position. Not on this performance.

[the-Bowtun-Warrior]

If I where Spearing, I'd walk home to Liverpool tonight.

How he cannot get in that shower of a team, I do not know.
For Ream, Andrews, Pratley and even Mavies to be picked ahead of him is quite ridiculous.
The lad is made for this league. Frigging PLAY the lad!

[newboy]

I reckon Doogie had an eye on the Dingles match the team he puts out then will be a true insight a local derby against our biggest rivals in the promotion stakes (allegedly) Spearing will definitely play as will Chungy and maybe Petrov KD a shoe in I expect a totally different game and response.

[TANGODANCER]

Question for me has to be: If we're concentrating on defense and midfield, why did we get totally overwhelmed by a team less in quality than we're supposed to have? I listened on the radio, but they're professional commentators at the game and it was almost a constant groan at our inability to keep possession and make an impact. The number of shots they had compared to ours was embarrasing. They were the home side and a decent one, but we should at least be on an equal footing. Their defence handled our lot far better than we handled them. Petrov not making the bench and Chungy not making the field looked like a distinct desire to defend and it sounded like we had one shot on goal first half. Both K.D and N'gog headed balls out of our box on occasions and our attack seemed to be odd breaks from Eagles. Wet heavy day we might just as well have gone for a "bang it up to Kev" first half rather than passing stuff that went nowhere. Horses for courses. Ref sounded a right plonker too.

I'll happily be corrected on any of that if it's wrong?