| How much accountability is there in the club at the moment? 08:51 - Oct 22 with 1114 views | Steve_M |
After last night there are a lot of people who need to step up, we're in danger of throwing away the enormous advantage we have this season through our own errors. Not so much running towards adversity as ambling towards it and shrugging our shoulders.
Firstly, last night rests on the players on the pitch. The reaction to going behind was dreadful, just panicky incoherent stuff. That free kick Young just looped aimlessly into their box before they broke for the second, giving up two free headers in the area. Where was the leadership, the regouping? Had we kept it 0-1 then there was every chance we would have got something out of it given the chances we created.
We were a lot better in the first half but lacked the intensity to really take the game away from Charlton, too many players - Cajuste, Akpom, Nunez, had off bits of good player before easing off again. We should still have been ahead well before conceding.
But then we are unable to control matches at the moment, all of our good spells under McKenna have involved us being able to mainly control the pace of the game. At the moment there's none of that, two matches in a row we've conceded and looked incredibly open to really simple attacks, but it's hardly just those two: Derby was quite similar to last night in terms of the goals we gave up.
We looked in a better position as a team in the Premier League in January than we do at the moment, certainly we had more control of our set up away from home against better opposition than we are showing at the moment. Are we trying to be too clever, to trust the skills of our players without doing the basics? I'm not sure that's quite the intention but it's definitely the outcome.
That's very much on McKenna, the team set up and transfer policy. That we have no effective cover for Matusiwa is as obvious as Cajuste's lack of robustness this season so playing him and Nunez together last night was an odd choice when Taylor's energy would have provided a bit more balance.
We're intentionally playing very openly at home and pushing our central defenders forward but that does mean they have to be able to respond to fairly basic attacking moves, watching O'Shea back off last night was like 2002-era Venus and McGreal and just as effective. I thought at the time it was just him there, but given where Greaves was, then there is no way we should have conceded that goal. Basics.
As to why we don't have cover for defensive midfield, or enough depth up front or why neither of the two preferred options for the 10 look quite right, well that probably goes back to our last three transfer windows. Last Summer there looked to be a plan to set us up for the Championship were we to get relegated but it needed a lot of players to come good quickly to prosper in the Premier League.
Given that didn't work, we knew we needed to get two positions right above all: striker and central midfield and it looks like we failed at both to some extent. Matusiwa is an excellent signing and Cajuste, Nunez and Azon all look good enough as is Hirst (despite him being the scapegoat de jour) but two of those incoming players came very late in the window and Cajuste not much earlier.
The scale of change, both in Summer 2024 and this Summer has been too high and left too much to do, there wasn't much we could do about Delap or Omari but I think we've been a bit generous to Morsy and Chaplin who wanted to leave if they weren't going to start regularly at the cost of continuity within the squad.
It's also difficult to know from the outside how much of our transfer policy comes from McKenna and how much from Ashton liking trading players. Together it all feels incoherent; we should have an advantage this season but are yet to really show it.
Despite all that, I don't think McKenna's position should be in question at this point. He's got far more right than wrong whilst he's been here and I don't think any player is a write off, but we are going to have to be better than last night to have any chance of promotion.
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| How much accountability is there in the club at the moment? on 08:59 - Oct 22 with 1040 views | IH_KGF |
For me, this all comes down to a really poor transfer window in the summer.
We knew for so long that we were going down yet done so much of our transfer dealing in the final few weeks of the window. That's poor from those at the very top, yes Mr CEO/Chairmen I'm looking at you.
If it was a case that we were holding out for an exceptional player or two that would have made the difference then great, but its the likes of McAteer and Furlong that came in, people we could have picked up in June.
From the outside looking in, its a mess, total mess.
We purchase good championship players to try and stay in the PL with, those same players now seem unable to compete in the championship in this disjoint team that isn't functioning |  | | |
| How much accountability is there in the club at the moment? on 09:07 - Oct 22 with 989 views | TownieRob |
| How much accountability is there in the club at the moment? on 08:59 - Oct 22 by IH_KGF |
For me, this all comes down to a really poor transfer window in the summer.
We knew for so long that we were going down yet done so much of our transfer dealing in the final few weeks of the window. That's poor from those at the very top, yes Mr CEO/Chairmen I'm looking at you.
If it was a case that we were holding out for an exceptional player or two that would have made the difference then great, but its the likes of McAteer and Furlong that came in, people we could have picked up in June.
From the outside looking in, its a mess, total mess.
We purchase good championship players to try and stay in the PL with, those same players now seem unable to compete in the championship in this disjoint team that isn't functioning |
I agree, but will go one step further. The transfer business going up to the PL is still causing us issues.
We got a couple of good ones in Delap and Hutch but who else have we brought in thats really improved that position or developed as players..? |  | | |
| How much accountability is there in the club at the moment? on 09:12 - Oct 22 with 951 views | cbower |
Great Post. As always Steve, rational, coherent and analytical. The Hackney shaped hole in our summer recruitment and this squad is massive. Nunez and Cajuste in a two was a quite bizarre choice. Greaves and O'Shea quite shambolic at times.
Maybe McKenna's post match comments are a realisation he needs to change the system as it doesn't suit our squad. That's evidence of a failure in recruitment.
More posts from you are needed! |  |
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| How much accountability is there in the club at the moment? on 09:15 - Oct 22 with 914 views | ITFCSG |
100% - questions must be asked on how after spending close to £150 million, maybe more, on the squad, we lost at home 0-3 to a team we trashed 6-0 not too long ago using supposedly "inferior" players which we then replaced at a great cost | | | |
| How much accountability is there in the club at the moment? on 09:25 - Oct 22 with 836 views | IH_KGF |
| How much accountability is there in the club at the moment? on 09:07 - Oct 22 by TownieRob |
I agree, but will go one step further. The transfer business going up to the PL is still causing us issues.
We got a couple of good ones in Delap and Hutch but who else have we brought in thats really improved that position or developed as players..? |
Bringing in the likes of Greaves, on paper, probably looked a no brainer. But no throught seemed to be applied around "well these guys got us here, we could really upset the apple cart"
And exactly that has happened.
We've spent £29m on our right midfield this season... its not my money, but hurts like it is! | | | |
| How much accountability is there in the club at the moment? on 09:31 - Oct 22 with 798 views | tractorboy1978 |
Letting Morsy go was a monumentally bad decision. Was obvious at the time and even more obvious now.
I've not liked the look of us all season and last night was the crescendo for me. McKenna obviously has loads of credit in the bank and I am not for a minute suggesting he is in trouble but this is his first real pinch point since that Bristol Rovers game back in Feb 2023.
It should be a concern that we look vulnerable every time a team puts us under a bit of pressure. Not exclusive to last night but has been the case all season. O'Shea somehow looks a totally different player to the one we saw in the PL. Captaincy affecting his own performances? Maybe. But either way he is far from the Rolls Royce I was expecting this season. I know saying 'he's not a leader' etc etc is an easy throwaway comment but feels true to me.
Possibly harsh I am singling out O'Shea as Greaves is equally underperforming for me given his price tag and reputation at this level.
The midfield - we have 3 terrific players in there. But for all the qualities Nunez/Cajuste bring, they both have a questionable defensive football IQ for me. It is not a partnership that is going to work. Matusiwa was a big miss last night, we better hope he stays fit.
Akpom had his best game last night but not sure either him or Szmodics really suit that 10 role like Chaplin. On the right, we've spent £40m on Ogbene, McAteer and Egeli and we are hoping £50k Wes Burns is fit soon. | | | |
| How much accountability is there in the club at the moment? on 09:40 - Oct 22 with 734 views | BseaBlue |
| How much accountability is there in the club at the moment? on 09:31 - Oct 22 by tractorboy1978 |
Letting Morsy go was a monumentally bad decision. Was obvious at the time and even more obvious now.
I've not liked the look of us all season and last night was the crescendo for me. McKenna obviously has loads of credit in the bank and I am not for a minute suggesting he is in trouble but this is his first real pinch point since that Bristol Rovers game back in Feb 2023.
It should be a concern that we look vulnerable every time a team puts us under a bit of pressure. Not exclusive to last night but has been the case all season. O'Shea somehow looks a totally different player to the one we saw in the PL. Captaincy affecting his own performances? Maybe. But either way he is far from the Rolls Royce I was expecting this season. I know saying 'he's not a leader' etc etc is an easy throwaway comment but feels true to me.
Possibly harsh I am singling out O'Shea as Greaves is equally underperforming for me given his price tag and reputation at this level.
The midfield - we have 3 terrific players in there. But for all the qualities Nunez/Cajuste bring, they both have a questionable defensive football IQ for me. It is not a partnership that is going to work. Matusiwa was a big miss last night, we better hope he stays fit.
Akpom had his best game last night but not sure either him or Szmodics really suit that 10 role like Chaplin. On the right, we've spent £40m on Ogbene, McAteer and Egeli and we are hoping £50k Wes Burns is fit soon. |
When Greaves came in I thought we had the next England centre back on our hands. Then he got injured and has never looked the same player since.
O'Shea works very hard but you can see why he has been a player at relegation fodder clubs. His decision making isn't great and I definitely think the captaincy has affected his performances.
I also think Leif has struggled defensively this season. I am not sure that is all his fault because he doesn't get a massive amount of help on the left and maybe Burgess was good before at covering for him but we seem to have an issue down that left had side when it comes to defending.
People shot down the idea of Downes coming in but he would have given us a lot more stability in midfield. |  | | |
| How much accountability is there in the club at the moment? on 11:02 - Oct 22 with 574 views | Steve_M |
| How much accountability is there in the club at the moment? on 08:59 - Oct 22 by IH_KGF |
For me, this all comes down to a really poor transfer window in the summer.
We knew for so long that we were going down yet done so much of our transfer dealing in the final few weeks of the window. That's poor from those at the very top, yes Mr CEO/Chairmen I'm looking at you.
If it was a case that we were holding out for an exceptional player or two that would have made the difference then great, but its the likes of McAteer and Furlong that came in, people we could have picked up in June.
From the outside looking in, its a mess, total mess.
We purchase good championship players to try and stay in the PL with, those same players now seem unable to compete in the championship in this disjoint team that isn't functioning |
Yes, I was going to elaborate on that point but had had to finish my post before a meeting.
It's been a consistent failing under Gamechanger that we've set our sights too high and then been left scrambling around later. No harm in being ambitious but not sure we've known when to move on at times. I don't think Hackney was unrealistic for us though, that was a bit unfortunate. | |
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| How much accountability is there in the club at the moment? on 11:06 - Oct 22 with 560 views | LankHenners |
"Are we trying to be too clever, to trust the skills of our players without doing the basics? I'm not sure that's quite the intention but it's definitely the outcome."
Yes can't imagine someone as thorough and detail-orientated as McKenna is going for the 'rely on getting the ball to the best players and see what happens' tactic, but the manner of the 2nd and 3rd goals in particular showed a real lack of desire in the team to do the basics. Weak attempts at putting pressure on the ball and no-one close enough to the players that ended up with free headers and the whole goal to aim at.
Do disagree with McKenna a bit when he said that before Boro there weren't any signs of what happened happening because, as you point out, at least one of the Derby goals came from failing to deal with a routine and fairly speculative knock towards our box, and the penalty at Preston came from a failure to put pressure on a ball coming in followed by making a meal out of it when it arrived. If you grouped defending set-pieces as part of the same thing then there's a couple more goals that get filed in that bracket.
Replied to a post of yours the other day about recruitment so no need to repeat everything but needless to say every passing game seems to ask more questions about it. Bit of a joke really that a team with serious promotion ambitions has ended up with four right backs and no proper cover at defensive midfield.
Don't want to lean into the thoughts of nutcase Bristol City fans too much but one thing that often came up, from more sensible sources as well it has to be said, was that Ashton gets a bit too giddy in transfer windows and doesn't know when to stop gilding the lily. Perhaps we've seen a bit of that now and despite the resources we've made McKenna's job harder than necessary.
Still plenty of time and the division still looks very tight with only really Coventry (and perhaps Boro to a slightly lesser degree) properly taking it by the scruff of the neck so if we can give ourselves a kick up the arse we've got the time and room to make things right. Not easy to see that happening though in the wake of last night. |  |
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| How much accountability is there in the club at the moment? on 12:25 - Oct 22 with 443 views | chicoazul |
Don’t smack talk John McGreal around me Steve.
Apart from that good post. But how can we expect accountability from the top when the chairman and chief executive are the same person? |  |
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| How much accountability is there in the club at the moment? on 12:31 - Oct 22 with 399 views | mellowblue |
| How much accountability is there in the club at the moment? on 12:25 - Oct 22 by chicoazul |
Don’t smack talk John McGreal around me Steve.
Apart from that good post. But how can we expect accountability from the top when the chairman and chief executive are the same person? |
Having distant owners is fine when it is going well, but not so good when the going is tough. And these are owners with near zero football knowledge. Who is evaluating Ashton? I don't even know who Ashton even reports to now. | | | |
| How much accountability is there in the club at the moment? on 13:02 - Oct 22 with 277 views | Steve_M |
| How much accountability is there in the club at the moment? on 12:25 - Oct 22 by chicoazul |
Don’t smack talk John McGreal around me Steve.
Apart from that good post. But how can we expect accountability from the top when the chairman and chief executive are the same person? |
Well, quite. It's an utter failure of governance to allow that to persist.
Ashton ahs a done a good job overall but has something of an ego that definitely needs challenging. | |
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