Freedman out!

[Bruce Rioja]

The Bish has nailed it for me there.

You should've sat on the other side of him from LE.

[Harry Genshaw]

The Bish has nailed it for me there.

You should've sat on the other side of him from LE.

That break must have done him good. He's making sense now

[Andy Waller]

I understand we are shopping in the bargain basement, but am frustrated that dougie only seems to see one way to be a manager - he seems to think that the way to be a manager is to define a style of play (however mysterious it might be) and then buy players to match it...

the outcome is that he can't afford the players he wants and so ends up pissing and moaning about not having any cash or about players not buying into what he is trying to do...

all of that would be fine and dandy if we had the luxury - but we don't. I still reckon that the manager's basic job is to take the players he has - whether they are the exact mix/quality that he would like or not - and do one (or preferably both!) of two things with them...

1) set them up so they all know clearly and unmistakeably what they are supposed to be doing - and forge a plan/strategy/shape that exploits their best qualities and makes us hard to beat. in other words - Pulis

2) instill in them through the (surely essential) skills of man-management a do-or-die/give-everything/challenge-for-everything/always-chase-a-lost-cause mentality. in other words - Big Sam

what we need is the bastard son of Pulis and Allardyce. Freedman isn't that

Spot on Bish, it should be obvious really shouldn't it??

[LeverEnd]

I agree with him and everyone wants a piece. Pah!

[Il Pirate]

what we need is the bastard son of Pulis and Allardyce. Freedman isn't that


But I think the guy at MK Dons might be. Looks a right stroppy prima donna, but also looking like a good astute manager who can certainly motivate a side.....................

[Worthy4England]

what we need is the bastard son of Pulis and Allardyce. Freedman isn't that

That's conjoured up a bit of biology, I'd rather wish it hadn't. I'm struggling to work out who's giving and who's taking, which is probably for the best.

I agree with the rest of the sentiment though we should be trying to adapt the formation to what we have, rather than stubbornly playing a formation he wants to, but can't until at least mid January if we luckily get the right combos but are 50 points off a playoff spot.

[coffeymagic]

I think there's a new breed of football managers now. One's who know that unless something drastic happens and they start winning games they're only going to be in a job for 18months before getting the heave-ho.

They then spend a year as a pundit on Sportscene before stumbling into another 18month contract.

The way they get that next job is not to have a high win ratio but a low goals for/against ratio.

They can then turn around to any prospective employer, drunk on the excitement of meeting Owen Coyle that they weren't crap just unlucky. They were always in games at 1-0 down and if the last (few) club(s) had backed him he'd have shown the world just how good a manager he really was.

Freedman isn't thinking matches ahead he's thinking clubs ahead. He's concluded that playing Medo and Spearing together and one up front is the best way to only lose by the odd goal.

Despite evidence to the contrary and some serious beatings changing his formation and style would prove him wrong - just like by playing Muamba Coyle would be admitting he was wrong too and that's the last thing a manager wants to admit.

In his mind getting beat is better than changing his none-up-top formation.

He's prepared to let the club slide further and further down in order to prove himself right.

The players he signs, the players he lets go, the fall outs over Twitter and his total disdain for the reserves would not change even if he was given a blank cheque book.

He's Dougie Freedman and it's his way or nothing.

Good job we have Lennie 'Brain of Football' Lawrence propped up next to him eh?

[TANGODANCER]

“We can’t get too disappointed, you have to keep calm,” he said. “There is a game on Tuesday and another on Saturday – and hopefully after those games we’ll be feeling a little bit better."

Sayeth the man. I think a few fans might disagree about the disappointment bit.

[LeverEnd]

“We can’t get too disappointed, you have to keep calm,” he said. “There is a game on Tuesday and another on Saturday – and hopefully after those games we’ll be feeling a little bit better."

Sayeth the man. I think a few fans might disagree about the disappointment bit.

And what will he say next Sat if we get spanked by Forest? He just sets himself up to look silly, like the 'keeping the ball' comments against Watford.

[bobo the clown]

“We can’t get too disappointed, you have to keep calm,” he said. “There is a game on Tuesday and another on Saturday – and hopefully after those games we’ll be feeling a little bit better."
Sayeth the man. I think a few fans might disagree about the disappointment bit.

And what will he say next Sat if we get spanked by Forest? He just sets himself up to look silly, like the 'keeping the ball' comments against Watford.

He never said that. Show me quotes.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

what we need is the bastard son of Pulis and Allardyce. Freedman isn't thatBut I think the guy at MK Dons might be. Looks a right stroppy prima donna, but also looking like a good astute manager who can certainly motivate a side.....................

Promising chap but imagine the fuss on here if we lose a game and the gaffer's only 33 years old and has never managed at this level before. Oh, and is a Scouser.

Hopefully the Watford result will provoke a reaction in managers and players. We could all name a change or two but let's hope the arrival of Mason gives us the option to play two (split?) forwards; we've already got the option of choosing a better midfield triumvirate than Medo, Spearing and Pratley, a doomed triangle of diligent but uncreative nothing.

I don't wish to point the finger at one man and I'd love Prats to succeed but I've just checked and our loss percentage last season was 24% without him, 43% with him. It's not his fault that Freedman has seen this essentially limited runabout as a No.10, but you can't help feeling the team looks better off when it's not playing through him.

Meanwhile the Medo/Spearing thing failed again, and if DF picks those two in harness at home to f*cking Bury then that might well be his Megsonian Klasnic/McCann moment before the game's even kicked off. I can sympathise with him not having many options up front, but he has plenty in midfield, and at Watford we started with far too many players who'll "put in a shift" as opposed to win the f*cking game. If there's any hope to be got from the Watford game it's that Freedman made three reactive substitutions and presumably would have liked to make more changes to that midfield.

As for the defence... again I'd love Moxey to come good and he'll have had an awful weekend thinking about that debut, but he was merely the standout attraction in a three-ring circus: the goals were uniformly atrocious from a defending viewpoint. For the first, McNaughton was miles off the guy whose simple lobbed through-ball made Mills, Ream & Lonergan look like those apocryphal South Pole penguins who fall over watching planes; for the second - caused when Pratley reacted to a bouncing ball like a mule confused by a cactus – Ream did a very good job of sprinting back to sort the danger, but didn't seem to think his man might turn inside, leading to a dummy-sale so comprehensive that our hero simply carried on running past the photographers, ball-boys, ad-hoardings and the front three rows; and for the third goal through-ball, emergency left-back replacement Dervite waved his (right!) leg at it like the world's shittest can-can act.

Highlights here. If you use your fingers to either cover your eyes or count the mistakes, you may need a friend.

[LeverEnd]

For all the justifiable negativity about our performance, it must be said Watford's 2nd goal was a tremendous team goal, played out from defence and through midfield in a way we can only dream about. Credit where it's due.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

For all the justifiable negativity about our performance, it must be said Watford's 2nd goal was a tremendous team goal, played out from defence and through midfield in a way we can only dream about. Credit where it's due.

You sure you mean the second goal? That's the one where Pratley uses the top of his head to nod it to their right-back, who lays it a yard inside for someone to whack it 70 yards forward to Vydra, who turns Ream and finishes near-post. Efficient, but hardly Argentina vs Serbia & Montenegro...



Watford's first was a six-pass move, of which about half were intelligent first-time diagonals, and the final through-ball was clever if hardly undefendable. They have a forward line for which we'd all kill (or at least commit a minor flesh-wound), and they did a good job of beating us, but we also did a fairly comprehensive demolition job on ourselves.

[BWFC_Insane]

Personally I'd be manly looking towards Tim Ream for goals one and two.

Goal 1 as the ball is played Ream can see Deeney he can see the danger and can see Mills is caught wrong side. But he makes no attempt whatsoever to come across and intercept. It is obvious Mills isn't getting back there but Ream doesn't challenge. Imagine Bergsson there? He'd bust a gut to get his body in front of Deeney.

The second goal needs no explanation. You have him on the byline, keep him there.

[Prufrock]

Ream could have done better for the first but at absolute worst he's only *as* culpable as Mills there for me. It's also a hell of a ball tbf.

[BWFC_Insane]

Ream could have done better for the first but at absolute worst he's only *as* culpable as Mills there for me. It's also a hell of a ball tbf.

Mills isn't great but the ball takes him out and the run is on his blindside. Ream can see the danger as the play develops, I just can't see why he doesn't try and get across Deeney.

One also might question why, Ream stands and watches that Moxey pass in the first minute when it is clear that it needs dealing with but well....

[Andy Waller]

For all the justifiable negativity about our performance, it must be said Watford's 2nd goal was a tremendous team goal, played out from defence and through midfield in a way we can only dream about. Credit where it's due.

All set in motion from a lovely cushioned header from Pratley!

[Bruce Rioja]

And Mr Devite deserves on honorable mention for his 'morphing into a hologram' on the third.

Boy oh boy we were shit.

[HMX]

And Mr Devite deserves on honorable mention for his 'morphing into a hologram' on the third.

Boy oh boy we were shit.

That's all I've got.

[Dr Hotdog]

I know I'm one to pick on goalies, but if the keeper stays rooted on his line Deeney doesn't score the first goal. Lonny Lonners gave him the only option to score with the ball positioned as it was - flick the ball over him. Troy couldn't generate the power in a shot to beat any keeper worth his salt (Lonny Lonners?) from that position and if he'd have waited for it to come down surely one of Mills or Ream could have nudged it away.

Sometimes keepers come out and it really isn't necessary.