A distant drum...V Plymouth Argyle Sat 27th Aug. 3-o'clock.

[BWFC_Insane]

Some, yes. And some, no. If the only time you can win, is when you have clear superiority, then managers are superfluous, so save your money.

Na.

We've not added enough quality and we've not put enough pressure on the players who were already here.

Entirely foreseeable and we are where we are.

Next two games are vital if there's a genuine aspiration to go up automatically, rather than just talk a good game.

We’ve got a much better squad relative to the rest of the league than the last two promotions I’ve seen us have. The manager needs to step up to this level and get the best out of the players he has. So far he’s failed to do that for too long.

[Worthy4England]

It's a fecked up narrative. It suggests the manager can't make a difference from sub-optimal

It would be a fecked up narrative if that was what was being said. It's not, though. So it isn't.

So stop whining we missed our targets and are 4 short, time for IE to earn his corn. I suspect no one really understands why he's starting Kacha nor why he sat out MJ...

[GhostoftheBok]

We’ve got a much better squad relative to the rest of the league than the last two promotions I’ve seen us have. The manager needs to step up to this level and get the best out of the players he has. So far he’s failed to do that for too long.

For too long? You said we were one of the top sides in the division in the second half of last season and that's why we should be doing better this season.

Is "for too long" the 6 games of this season?

[LeverEnd]

I was critical of MJ when he first joined, but he proved me wrong and is now surely a guaranteed starter in every important game, fitness permitting.

Up front, if we’re playing with two strikers, then our starting rotation is Dapo, Charles and JDB. Baka is a different look off the bench if things are going wrong and Kachunga can play in the cups or as a last resort.

Barring Man City, virtually every top club plays the same side in their most important games, and we should be no different.

This I totally agree with this. Evatt is trying to be too clever. He needs to start being more realistic or we may end up too far behind. I just can't fathom starting Kachunga again today. Pick a best 11 and stick to it.
Evatt has done well for us but neither he nor the players are as good as he thinks.

[GhostoftheBok]

So stop whining we missed our targets and are 4 short, time for IE to earn his corn. I suspect no one really understands why he's starting Kacha nor why he sat out MJ...

Whining?

The stated aim from inside the club is to go up automatically. If that's more than talk we need better players in.

It's not whining, it's just a fact.

If in reality we are aiming to be in the play off hunt then having been away to Ipswich and Plymouth, and played Sheff Wednesday and Wycombe, we're about where you'd expect - bar that early red card against Vale probably costing us 2 points.

The players are far more to blame than Evatt for the Plymouth result.

Evatt's big error this season was Ipswich and we somehow escaped that with a point.

I don't think either the players or the manager are pulling up trees this season and if we don't get a bit more done in the window they're both going to need to do a lot better.

[BWFC_Insane]

We’ve got a much better squad relative to the rest of the league than the last two promotions I’ve seen us have. The manager needs to step up to this level and get the best out of the players he has. So far he’s failed to do that for too long.

For too long? You said we were one of the top sides in the division in the second half of last season and that's why we should be doing better this season.

Is "for too long" the 6 games of this season?

The pattern of being rubbish for the first half of the season signing a load of players better than everyone else has then being the great surprise package second half of the season is not about good management. It reflects the other way.

And this season is where the excuses run out. This is a very good group of players. Being misused thus far. Of course there are areas we could strengthen. But then some of that is self inflicted. If Iredale for example was signed as a wing back then I’ve spent all summer explaining that wasn’t a good idea.

Evatt needs to step up and stop thinking he’s clever and get a well drilled and organised team onto the pitch week in week out. We showed against port vale and Morecambe that if you don’t play well you can still reap rewards with organisation and discipline and much of this league and escaping it demands that ruthless consistency. Then we get it wrong against Wednesday and wrong against Plymouth in team selections and structures.

I’ve still not seen a situation where Evatt as a manager is our asset and the reason we are winning games. Allardyce, Parky going back Rioch they all were central to us winning games and moulded teams out of what we had. Whereas Evatt seems to need the best 11 in a division. So as worthy says what is he or the coaching adding to what is a very good group already?

[Worthy4England]

So stop whining we missed our targets and are 4 short, time for IE to earn his corn. I suspect no one really understands why he's starting Kacha nor why he sat out MJ...

Whining?

The stated aim from inside the club is to go up automatically. If that's more than talk we need better players in.

It's not whining, it's just a fact.

If in reality we are aiming to be in the play off hunt then having been away to Ipswich and Plymouth, and played Sheff Wednesday and Wycombe, we're about where you'd expect - bar that early red card against Vale probably costing us 2 points.

The players are far more to blame than Evatt for the Plymouth result.

Evatt's big error this season was Ipswich and we somehow escaped that with a point.

I don't think either the players or the manager are pulling up trees this season and if we don't get a bit more done in the window they're both going to need to do a lot better.

Maybe inside the Club, think they've given Evatt broadly enough cash to go up automatically...maybe he has some cash and has held onto it. Who knows.

Sorta doesn't matter, we've got what we've got. I don't think early doors we've look great and some picks have been strange and some aren't playing to the level they're capable of imo. If they were performing to the level they're capable of I'd be OK with it, but not convinced they are yet.

I'd love to be able to say to my gaffer. I haven't managed to do my target, because I only had 7 in the team that were good enough for the opposition, 4 weren't quite up to it.

[officer_dibble]

Santos needs a kick up the arse! Not doing a captains job - we still don’t look like getting anything from a game once we go behind. Have we strong enough leaders on the field?

[GhostoftheBok]

Is this "very good group of players" the same one that you said wouldn't be able to do much of anything without Fossey in it?

the same one Evatt and Markham drew together mostly from cast-offs that you turned your nose up at?

It seems like when we're signing players you think Evatt deserves stick for his signings. Then when we play the squad is so good he shouldn't be losing games.

When he does lose games he's a manager who adds nothing. When we win a few and look good you've never doubted his ability and don't understand why people think you want him out, you only ever wanted minor tweaks and he's made those and shown his ability.

I'm left somewhat bemused, Insane. Is Evatt's transfer history good or bad? If it's good, why have you given him so much stick over it? If it's bad, how is our squad a "very good group of players"?

In terms of the "very good group of players" - who is that? You've variously said Santos is non-league, you don't understand what Dempsey adds, Johnston is no good, Morley can't compete in midfield, Charles won't score enough to cut it, Kachunga isn't good enough, Iredale isn't a wing back, John isn't good enough, Baka is crap, Thomason isn't ready, Aimson isn't the required level...I could go on.

Again. How does all that add up to a group of players that should be winning all these games?

[BWFC_Insane]

Santos needs a kick up the arse! Not doing a captains job - we still don’t look like getting anything from a game once we go behind. Have we strong enough leaders on the field?

Forget a captain he’s not doing a basic league one centre halves job. Doesn’t score goals - which you absolutely should expect of a centre half that size. Is a liability at the back.

Evatt won’t but I’d be looking to move him on and find a solid type to replace him who you can get a 7 or 8 out of ten performance from every week. That will be the difference. However, we seem obsessed with the fact he can run. Running is good but if you do great recovery work but then are a liability at other times it all becomes a bit silly.

[The_Gun]

It’s worth remembering that we absolutely do not have the budget to match the expectation of automatic promotion.

Marc Iles reckons we’re spending just shy of £8m per annum on wages, whilst Ipswich are on £12m and Sheff Weds £14m.

[GhostoftheBok]

Sorta doesn't matter, we've got what we've got. I don't think early doors we've look great and some picks have been strange and some aren't playing to the level they're capable of imo. If they were performing to the level they're capable of I'd be OK with it, but not convinced they are yet.

Yeah, fine with all that. It'll pick up. We've made our start to the season harder by not freshening things up enough. Evatt just has to deal with it, but we also need to do business.

[BWFC_Insane]

It’s worth remembering that we absolutely do not have the budget to match the expectation of automatic promotion.

Marc Iles reckons we’re spending just shy of £8m per annum on wages, whilst Ipswich are on £12m and Sheff Weds £14m.

I don’t think for many of our promotions we’ve had the highest or second highest wage bill or even one of the highest. Certainly not under Allardyce. The point is we are competitive and we need to be doing better than we are. I guarantee our wage bill is higher than Plymouths or Wycombes.

[TANGODANCER]

Santos needs a kick up the arse! Not doing a captains job - we still don’t look like getting anything from a game once we go behind. Have we strong enough leaders on the field?

Forget a captain he’s not doing a basic league one centre halves job. Doesn’t score goals - which you absolutely should expect of a centre half that size. Is a liability at the back.

Evatt won’t but I’d be looking to move him on and find a solid type to replace him who you can get a 7 or 8 out of ten performance from every week. That will be the difference. However, we seem obsessed with the fact he can run. Running is good but if you do great recovery work but then are a liability at other times it all becomes a bit silly.

WE'VE ONLY PLAYED SIX GAMES.....These sort of comments are probably better reserved if we're doing badly after playing sixteen. Personal dislikes are not mandatory rules of engagement.

[BWFC_Insane]

Santos needs a kick up the arse! Not doing a captains job - we still don’t look like getting anything from a game once we go behind. Have we strong enough leaders on the field?

Forget a captain he’s not doing a basic league one centre halves job. Doesn’t score goals - which you absolutely should expect of a centre half that size. Is a liability at the back.

Evatt won’t but I’d be looking to move him on and find a solid type to replace him who you can get a 7 or 8 out of ten performance from every week. That will be the difference. However, we seem obsessed with the fact he can run. Running is good but if you do great recovery work but then are a liability at other times it all becomes a bit silly.

WE'VE ONLY PLAYED SIX GAMES.....These sort of comments are probably better reserved if we're doing badly after playing sixteen. Personal dislikes are not mandatory rules of engagement.

He’s been here three seasons. Not 6 games.

[officer_dibble]

It’s worth remembering that we absolutely do not have the budget to match the expectation of automatic promotion.

Marc Iles reckons we’re spending just shy of £8m per annum on wages, whilst Ipswich are on £12m and Sheff Weds £14m.

Agreed
It’s Plymouth, MK dons and Wycombe we need to be looking at. To better last season we need to finish above them. Derby I don’t have a clue about.

[LeverEnd]

One thing we do have is options with this squad. Not perfect ones, but he can change people and formations if he wants to. When we were really struggling last autumn, I looked at players available and couldn't see how it could improve until the January window. This time there are far better players, but he needs to do something soon. He's shown he can do it in the past.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Didn’t see it. Didn’t even really keep up from afar. Pearl-clutching aside, it sounds like a decent first half that would have been a decent springboard had we not - at the risk of repeating myself - conceded a daft goal to a promotion rival.

But we did, and then didn’t score, and conceded another, and now we’ve lost two on the bounce to promotion rivals by two clear goals without scoring, and it looks like we can’t smash through that ceiling.

Am interested to see people consider switching to a back four - a thought that crossed my mind last night and a switch has been used as Evatt’s emergency button for three consecutive seasons (including switching Barrow to a back three). I’m never against tactical flexibility and it would certainly suit some of our players - Dapo and Sads could be the wide men - but I’m not sure about others. Where does Bradley play? Do we drop Jones? Who’s left-back? Are any of our centre-backs really good enough to play in a two for a top-two third-tier side?

[BWFC_Insane]

Didn’t see it. Didn’t even really keep up from afar. Pearl-clutching aside, it sounds like a decent first half that would have been a decent springboard had we not - at the risk of repeating myself - conceded a daft goal to a promotion rival.

But we did, and then didn’t score, and conceded another, and now we’ve lost two on the bounce to promotion rivals by two clear goals without scoring, and it looks like we can’t smash through that ceiling.

Am interested to see people consider switching to a back four - a thought that crossed my mind last night and a switch has been used as Evatt’s emergency button for three consecutive seasons (including switching Barrow to a back three). I’m never against tactical flexibility and it would certainly suit some of our players - Dapo and Sads could be the wide men - but I’m not sure about others. Where does Bradley play? Do we drop Jones? Who’s left-back? Are any of our centre-backs really good enough to play in a two for a top-two third-tier side?

I think there is a fair argument for it. We aren’t scoring. We need to get Sadlier and Dapo on the pitch at the same time to up our chance of scoring and I can’t see that in this system. Iredale looks like a left back to me. A good one at that. Could play left side CB in a three too but I’d say naturally he’s a good LB.

The points you raise re back two and where Bradley plays are pertinent though. I’m not sure who our back two pairing would be. Bradley is not in my view good enough for a front three place yet he’s obviously a superb player but he’s an attacking right back unlike say Fossey who was billed as a right back but obviously never was. It then leaves the issue of Jones who is a 7 out of ten man every game and a player we always seem to do worse when he’s not picked. He’s not a CB in that system.

I wonder whether we can go to a 343 then. Get Dapo and Sadlier either side of a striker. Bradley on the right of a four. Who plays the left I’m not sure on but you could hybrid that system with either Dempsey there who tucks into midfield more with Iredale in behind or Iredale there who drops into a more left back role at times to switch between a 3 and a 4. MJ and Morley to sit.

It’s the best I can come up with to try and change our inability to get our most likely scorers and creators on the pitch.

It could be a flex between a 343/433 and even a 442 diamond.

It’s no magic potion though. The bottom line is whatever system we play the results hang on the two final thirds. And we are failing in both and until that stops you can imagine up any crazy system it’s unlikely to help.

[Worthy4England]

It’s worth remembering that we absolutely do not have the budget to match the expectation of automatic promotion.

Marc Iles reckons we’re spending just shy of £8m per annum on wages, whilst Ipswich are on £12m and Sheff Weds £14m.

Plymouth's wage bill was £4m, when ours was £5m one division lower, so swings and roundabouts...