Millwall @ The Reebok

[plymouth wanderer]

Don't forget the gay accusations. He likes those.

What about "you're" rape ones, you like those

[boltonboris]

Only done one... Anyhow, good night.

[plymouth wanderer]

Only done one... Anyhow, good night.

[Harry Genshaw]

As for Alonso getting MOTM, that's laughable. Embarrassing to watch and have him represent this club.

Give over. Apart from him resembling a frustrated striker when he wanders upfield sometimes, he was the best player on the park a lot of the time today.

If you count giving the ball away when miles out of position and doing nothing to recover the situation other than slowly prance back, plus getting megged and having rings run around him 'being our best player', then I worry what you think about our others!

Think you're on your own there Gail. Even the crowd applauded when it was announced over the tannoy as opposed to the usual "What the feck?" when their decision is announced. Alonso was very good today.

[SmokinFrazier]

And so it begins...

As much as I hate to say it he does have a point. The squad that Freedman inherited is likely to represent the best squad he will have at this club, on paper at least. He's doing scarcely better with them than Coyle did. I know some people here won't entertain criticism of the manager this early on but there are a few warning signs beginning to appear. It's also somewhat disconcerting that the criteria used judge Coyle is not being applied to Freedman at this stage. I do not buy the 'he needs to build his own squad' argument, a good manager should be able to work with what he's got plus one or two others. There's a very real danger that by allowing Freedman to dismantle the team it will be replaced by a posse of low fee, low wage journeymen.

Agreed.

A good manager can turn a team around in literally weeks, just by working on the basics, focusing on the strengths and removing the weaknesses. Look at Ipswich under McCarthy for an example of that.

People saying "Freedman should have time" or "he needs to build his own squad" are missing the point. Freedman's job is to get this team playing far better than they currently are, immediately. It's not a long term job and it doesn't need to be one either. We can, and should, have seen more progress than we have done.

Like you said, Freedman will never have a better squad than the one he's got now, unless he gets us promoted. He needs to get the most out of the team, and that isn't an impossible task like some are making it out to be.

[TKIZ!]

I thought Alonso looked good going forward, sometimes made a few dodgy decisions when defending but agree that he should have been man of the match. Plus agree with Spearing taking corners, looked to get the ball in the mix. I hate it when we do the short corners, always seems a waste to me

[CrazyHorse]

These aren't one offs, the majority of the stadium looks round in bemusement sub after sub he makes.

[Whookam]

And so it begins...

As much as I hate to say it he does have a point. The squad that Freedman inherited is likely to represent the best squad he will have at this club, on paper at least. He's doing scarcely better with them than Coyle did. I know some people here won't entertain criticism of the manager this early on but there are a few warning signs beginning to appear. It's also somewhat disconcerting that the criteria used judge Coyle is not being applied to Freedman at this stage. I do not buy the 'he needs to build his own squad' argument, a good manager should be able to work with what he's got plus one or two others. There's a very real danger that by allowing Freedman to dismantle the team it will be replaced by a posse of low fee, low wage journeymen.

As opposed to what? The expensive overrated overpaid half arsed, soft as shite bottlers we have now?

A manager should be able to work with the squad he's got if he designed it.

But I think it's rare a manager comes into a club doing as badly as we are and turns it around without changing a significant number of the players.

It's not like we've had a bad few games or months. This has stretched back across seasons.

This Bish has your number. Fish out of water don't flip flop as much as you do.

Seriously though you can't blame Coyle one month then the players the next just because the new guy is not Coyle.

[Lord Kangana]

So we're back to having 4 strikers on as a last throw of the dice then....

[boltonboris]

Yeah, but these 4 strikers play in front of a rock solid defence

[Whookam]

And so it begins...

As much as I hate to say it he does have a point. The squad that Freedman inherited is likely to represent the best squad he will have at this club, on paper at least. He's doing scarcely better with them than Coyle did. I know some people here won't entertain criticism of the manager this early on but there are a few warning signs beginning to appear. It's also somewhat disconcerting that the criteria used judge Coyle is not being applied to Freedman at this stage. I do not buy the 'he needs to build his own squad' argument, a good manager should be able to work with what he's got plus one or two others. There's a very real danger that by allowing Freedman to dismantle the team it will be replaced by a posse of low fee, low wage journeymen.

Agreed.

A good manager can turn a team around in literally weeks, just by working on the basics, focusing on the strengths and removing the weaknesses. Look at Ipswich under McCarthy for an example of that.

People saying "Freedman should have time" or "he needs to build his own squad" are missing the point. Freedman's job is to get this team playing far better than they currently are, immediately. It's not a long term job and it doesn't need to be one either. We can, and should, have seen more progress than we have done.

Like you said, Freedman will never have a better squad than the one he's got now, unless he gets us promoted. He needs to get the most out of the team, and that isn't an impossible task like some are making it out to be.

Indeed. I don't want anyone to think I'm calling for Freedman's head at this early stage (BWFCI!) but I'm seeing a lot of excuses being made and a lot of opinions turning 180 degrees. The simple fact is that with this squad what Coyle did was not good enough and what Freedman is doing is not good enough.

[Harry Genshaw]

I think the truth is somewhere between the two.

You should expect to see some improvement when a new manager comes in. Either from the filip a new face and voice around the place gives, or as a direct result of different coaching methods correcting errors.

However BWFCI is right that a manager can only work with what he's got. What DF has got seems to be a squad who have got used to losing over the last few years, made up of a few show ponies, players past their best and one or two without the stomach for a fight.

This might be the best group of individuals Dougie will have at his disposal but I'm betting that it will be the worst team he has during his stay here.

[plymouth wanderer]

I think the truth is somewhere between the two.

You should expect to see some improvement when a new manager comes in. Either from the filip a new face and voice around the place gives, or as a direct result of different coaching methods correcting errors.

However BWFCI is right that a manager can only work with what he's got. What DF has got seems to be a squad who have got used to losing over the last few years, made up of a few show ponies, players past their best and one or two without the stomach for a fight.

This might be the best group of individuals Dougie will have at his disposal but I'm betting that it will be the worst team he has during his stay here.

[Whookam]

I think the truth is somewhere between the two.

You should expect to see some improvement when a new manager comes in. Either from the filip a new face and voice around the place gives, or as a direct result of different coaching methods correcting errors.

However BWFCI is right that a manager can only work with what he's got. What DF has got seems to be a squad who have got used to losing over the last few years, made up of a few show ponies, players past their best and one or two without the stomach for a fight.

This might be the best group of individuals Dougie will have at his disposal but I'm betting that it will be the worst team he has during his stay here.

I'd happily take that bet with you to be honest. I see nothing to suggest that Freedman has the ability or more importantly the finances to build a better team than we already have which is why I said he has to make the most of what he's got now.

Oh well.

[bobo the clown]

Who would people drop eagles for

Petrov .... oooops !!

[jaffka]

feck me that was disappointing

[BL3]

However BWFCI is right that a manager can only work with what he's got.

What he's got is better than what Mick McCarthy inherited. They've both been in charge for 14 games. Ipswich are 5th in the current form table, we're 15th.

[ChrisC]

Can somebody tell me a time when this bunch of players showed anything to suggest they was good enough to walk the championship or even contend at the top end? I just want to know what people are comparing us to when they say we should be doing better.

People keep saying DF should have improved the team much more by now but personally I don't think this team can do any better. We have a sorry bunch of players wearing the badge at the moment that never seem to click in any way and we have never seen this current bunch show anything to suggest they could be a decent team IMO. With additions to the team like Holden and Wheater and a few signing then maybe we might push on but personally I don't even think the master that is Mourinho could get todays available 11 or so doing anything of note in this league.

Bogdan is OK but has a long way to go yet.

Our defence is a joke on so many levels.. you can guarantee a mistake a game. Even with Wheater coming back I don't think any Bolton fan will feel comfortable with our back line at any time this season without further change at the back.

Our midfield has the potential to be our strongest link with Chungy and Eagles in there. We miss Mavies massively IMO and have no ideas when he is out of the team.. the link up with the front line is pretty much none existent without him and none of our other midfielders run at the opponents back line like he does. Holden again has been a huge miss and is miles ahead of anything we currently have in the team.

Front line is meh! A team with a dross backline along with a no goals front line = no chance of consistency. Davo & Ngog do the same job in the team and that is hold the ball up without offering shed loads of goals, so why play them together???? The playoffs are pretty much a distant dream now so give Sordell and run lets see if he is worth keeping or moving on.. Watching him at Watford and England he can score goals and we are going nowhere with todays front two playing together. Time to mix things up.


Yes we have a few quality players but we don't have a team at the moment. Nothing clicks. I was sat there today with my head in my hands at when Millwall scored wondering how in a matter of a few years we have gone from top half of the prem to this.


Oh and someone needs to put 50p in the meter.. was it just me that thought the lights where messed up today? Could hardly see the Millwall fans when the sun went down.

[Bijou Bob]

This debate could rage on for months, so lets have a few home truths here to lay some foundations for future reasoned debate:

We are a small town team with limited support

We have limited finances and a huge amount of debt

For the past ten years we have batted well above our weight

It may suprise some on here to find that the team wasn't formed in the year 2000 so.........

That's ten years out of the last 40+ where we have had a great run

Historically, taken over the past 25 years, we're not in a bad position

We are at about the right level for the club at this moment in time

Transitional periods don't always result in success

That my fellow supporters is the reality of the situation. Let's learn to live with it for a while and see which way the future takes us.

[a1]

What he's got is better than what Mick McCarthy inherited. They've both been in charge for 14 games. Ipswich are 5th in the current form table, we're 15th.

ipswich were spending money like feck before yorkie mick rocked up. for ages. like leicester and cardiff and them, theyve been spending loads on the unnoticed (inc. going bankrupt and starting up again in some cases) and doing nowt. now its coming good for them, maybe coz they dont have knobheads in charge now. maybe cos they spent money they dont have and gained unfair advantage. i dunno.

and re: ipswich , i dunno but i'm thinking paul jewell , roy keane and them were less happy clappy than coyle. so that must make big mick 's job easier; not having someone totally wreck it before the new guy comes in.

this not winning shite makes me hate the dick more and more. #owenfuckoff

more of this makes me think that the duckworth person shouldnt have gone/beenletgo/whatever.