Freedman out!

[BWFC_Insane]

He isn't picking them is he? And funnily enough we are winning. When he was picking them because we had no other senior options we were losing.

I'm sure the correlation is not that hard to understand.....

I can't believe I've been sucked into your forked tongued, circular argument, move the goalposts to suit nonsense again.
Which is it; we've won a few games because The Greatest Football Manager Ever has signed Duke & Mason or because he's dropped Eagles & Chungy?
Or is it cos Danns is the saviour? Or cos Craig Davies is the saviour? Or Beckford? Or Trotter? Or Dawson?

Make your mind up.

Well why are we winning? Is it cos the new players have made us better than the players we had before? Because that would seem like the obvious, staring you in the face, unarguable reason.

But if you think it is down to something else then do say so.....

[SmokinFrazier]

I posted this in the match thread but rather than bring the mood down, I'll repost it here instead:

Could've won relegation but for signing Jutkirwicz and Mason.

Yes, what a masterplan this season's been?!

Ermm yeah nobody is saying that. Clearly several of the players we started the season with weren't and aren't good enough. Otherwise they'd have been the ones tonking teams 4-0 and 5-1.

Which is why everyone was waxing lyrical about Mason's performances in his first period with us...right? Or why Juke was so effective in his first few games for us?

The players are doing their job but it's the system which works. Play four different midfielders, two different strikers and this system would still be successful. Play a lone striker, boot up the ball 300 times per match, sit back meekly like we're playing Bayern and, yeah, we'll look garbage again. Show a bit of arrogance, go at teams and try to win, and it'll work. It's almost like Freedman was on the verge of the sack, thought "f*ck it, I may as well go down swinging" and he's stumbled upon the realisation that going at teams works.

To put it down to Mason and Jutkiewicz is laughable. I like them and their partnership but come on...

Were you praising this system when we played it at home and lost to QPR?

Is a loss to QPR embarrassing or something? They won 8 of their first 10 matches this season, one of them being against us. It's hardly the worst thing in the world to lose 1-0 to a team like QPR when they were in great form.

Picking the right formation isn't ever guaranteed to get you the right result. We couldn't go into a game with Barcelona, pick 4-4-2 and beat them 5-0. It doesn't work that way. Just because you lose individual matches when playing in a certain way, it doesn't mean it's the wrong thing to do and over the course of a season, you know what works and what doesn't. 4-4-2 was better last year and it has been this year, regardless of individual results such as shamefully losing 1-0 to QPR.

I wouldn't have been praising the system, no, but I know it would have been the right choice regardless of the loss.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

The reason we're doing better is mainly down to Dougie not trying to only draw 0-0 and back as if we're playing Barcelona every week.

[CrazyHorse]

He isn't picking them is he? And funnily enough we are winning. When he was picking them because we had no other senior options we were losing.

I'm sure the correlation is not that hard to understand.....

I can't believe I've been sucked into your forked tongued, circular argument, move the goalposts to suit nonsense again.
Which is it; we've won a few games because The Greatest Football Manager Ever has signed Duke & Mason or because he's dropped Eagles & Chungy?
Or is it cos Danns is the saviour? Or cos Craig Davies is the saviour? Or Beckford? Or Trotter? Or Dawson?

Make your mind up.

Well why are we winning? Is it cos the new players have made us better than the players we had before? Because that would seem like the obvious, staring you in the face, unarguable reason.

But if you think it is down to something else then do say so.....

I think we're winning for the exact reason you say: because the new players have made us better than the players we had before.
The fact the Freedman stumbled upon this is purely down to good luck and not because of any managerial genius he has.
One day the penny will drop for you about this and when it does it isn't going to be pretty.

[Annoyed Grunt]

If it's all down to Juke and Mason, we're fecked when the loan deals expire.....

[BWFC_Insane]

He isn't picking them is he? And funnily enough we are winning. When he was picking them because we had no other senior options we were losing.

I'm sure the correlation is not that hard to understand.....

I can't believe I've been sucked into your forked tongued, circular argument, move the goalposts to suit nonsense again.
Which is it; we've won a few games because The Greatest Football Manager Ever has signed Duke & Mason or because he's dropped Eagles & Chungy?
Or is it cos Danns is the saviour? Or cos Craig Davies is the saviour? Or Beckford? Or Trotter? Or Dawson?

Make your mind up.

Well why are we winning? Is it cos the new players have made us better than the players we had before? Because that would seem like the obvious, staring you in the face, unarguable reason.

But if you think it is down to something else then do say so.....

I think we're winning for the exact reason you say: because the new players have made us better than the players we had before.
The fact the Freedman stumbled upon this is purely down to good luck and not because of any managerial genius he has.
One day the penny will drop for you about this and when it does it isn't going to be pretty.

Which is an entirely different argument.

What this has done is highlight some of our overpaid, overrated and ineffective players even more.

[SmokinFrazier]

The reason we're doing better is mainly down to Dougie not trying to only draw 0-0 and back as if we're playing Barcelona every week.

Yeah, exactly.

We've shown teams far too much respect this year given the players we've got. Eagles, Chungy, Hall, Moritz, Davies and others should be terrorising opposition defences, not being forced into an ultra-negative system which strives for a 1-0 win every week. There's nothing wrong with that but any formation should suit the players and our players are far more suited to going at teams. Play with swagger and confidence, and aim to win each game 4-0. It won't always happen, of course, but we'll do a lot better doing that than being negative and hoping to scrape a win.

[BWFC_Insane]

The reason we're doing better is mainly down to Dougie not trying to only draw 0-0 and back as if we're playing Barcelona every week.

I think this is nonsense frankly. We aren't doing anything drastically different. In many ways we are stuffing more defensive midfield players in than we were with Spearing and Medo in there and no wingers.

The players are just doing their jobs and performing. It leads to an overall better performance.

But the players themselves have said having Juke up front with Mason running off him gives them targets to hit. Willing runners, grafters, it isn't rocket science.

It just shows up all our so called top players like Eagles and Lee etc. They could have done this if they really are so good and wanted to. But they haven't and it really is that simple.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

The reason we're doing better is mainly down to Dougie not trying to only draw 0-0 and back as if we're playing Barcelona every week.

I think this is nonsense frankly. We aren't doing anything drastically different. In many ways we are stuffing more defensive midfield players in than we were with Spearing and Medo in there and no wingers.

The players are just doing their jobs and performing. It leads to an overall better performance.

But the players themselves have said having Juke up front with Mason running off him gives them targets to hit. Willing runners, grafters, it isn't rocket science.

It just shows up all our so called top players like Eagles and Lee etc. They could have done this if they really are so good and wanted to. But they haven't and it really is that simple.

Good job you don't teach history, otherwise each year would get a different version

[Enoch]

Of the 92 league clubs, Freedman is currently the 31st longest serving manager.

He's the 6th longest serving in the Championship.

Surely this thread must come of age soon!

[jaffka]

as long as we keep winning and getting good results, this thread will be redundant

pretty sure that's what we all want

[BWFC_Insane]

Brian McDermott has been sacked by Leeds and he'd be another vast improvement on Freedman. There's a few decent options now, like Mackay and Clarke, and it's disappointing Freedman wasn't sacked before the end of the transfer window when someone more capable could have been brought in and had a chance to adjust the squad themselves.

Lolzzzzz.....

[TKIZ!]

as long as we keep winning and getting good results, this thread will be redundant

pretty sure that's what we all want

This. With a Chocolate sundae and cherry on top

[Tombwfc]

Always felt DF was a good manager. The players felt so, his managerial peers also felt so. I also thought we had a number of "weak-hearted" players in our squad who had to be relplaced. Now we are seeing that having players with "heart" makes some difference.

Eagles, CYL may be good players, and even technically better than Danns, Mason or Juke, but when the tackles come flying in, and we go one down, seek to find somewhere to hide. Not sure what a manager is expected to do to make the team win games when that happens.

DF's true mantle is now coming through with some better material at his disposal and some players back fit (Wheats and Mavies). It should be an interesting summer when we clear the deck.

You could have posted that at around this point a year ago.

[SmokinFrazier]

Brian McDermott has been sacked by Leeds and he'd be another vast improvement on Freedman. There's a few decent options now, like Mackay and Clarke, and it's disappointing Freedman wasn't sacked before the end of the transfer window when someone more capable could have been brought in and had a chance to adjust the squad themselves.

Lolzzzzz.....

McDermott is a much better manager than Freedman is and yesterday's result doesn't prove me wrong. Even at a mess of a club off the field which lacks the talent on it, they're still 5 places above us with a game in hand. What would a manager like McDermott do with the quality we have? I doubt we'd be in 17th after 34 games.

[Relentless09]

as long as we keep winning and getting good results, this thread will be redundant

pretty sure that's what we all want

+1

Dougie certainly isn't off the hook and for good reasons but if results and performances keep getting better I'll be happy.

[irie Cee Bee]

Always felt DF was a good manager. The players felt so, his managerial peers also felt so. I also thought we had a number of "weak-hearted" players in our squad who had to be relplaced. Now we are seeing that having players with "heart" makes some difference.

Eagles, CYL may be good players, and even technically better than Danns, Mason or Juke, but when the tackles come flying in, and we go one down, seek to find somewhere to hide. Not sure what a manager is expected to do to make the team win games when that happens.

DF's true mantle is now coming through with some better material at his disposal and some players back fit (Wheats and Mavies). It should be an interesting summer when we clear the deck.

You could have posted that at around this point a year ago.

Well, he did get rid of KD, Andrews and Sordell (Loan) and Ricketts. Nobody wanted the others. Now contract expiration will force others out.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

as long as we keep winning and getting good results, this thread will be redundant

pretty sure that's what we all want

One would hope so.

[Bruce Rioja]

I think this is nonsense frankly. We aren't doing anything drastically different.

Are you sure about this? Us no longer simply twatting it aimlessly and purposely up to to a lightweight in a lone role isn't drastically changing anything? Seriously?

[BWFC_Insane]

I think this is nonsense frankly. We aren't doing anything drastically different.

Are you sure about this? Us no longer simply twatting it aimlessly and purposely up to to a lightweight in a lone role isn't drastically changing anything? Seriously?

Isn't that the same point? We had no target man before Jutkiewicz to make those balls stick, now we do....

We had NGog and Beckford up front for some of the league games earlier in the season and we weren't seeing hold up play or huge workrate from the front two. So the change is in the players available in the main.

We punt balls upfield because many of our players aren't good enough to do anything else with it. Having a target up there has absolutely helped in making that less futile. And being able to play a simple game has massively helped our back four out as they are very limited in possession aside from Ream.

Were one to say that Freedman ballsed up massively in the summer in not signing Jutkiewicz instead of Beckford then absolutely.

But the argument that we could have been doing this all along if only we'd put two up front earlier, just falls down. Because we did, and it didn't work. It isn't about tactics in this case it is about the players we had available.