| I haven't been annoyed all season 23:34 - Mar 15 with 2598 views | Garv |
Like genuinely annoyed. But I was annoyed today.
No one needs to get uptight about this comment and it's not McKenna out or anything silly, but he's lost the plot in terms of team selection since the end of the window. He's said we've still been believing and will go until the end etc, as he should, but in reality he appears to have treated the last 7 games or so like pre season.
I'm assuming plenty have already made this comment but I'll make it anyway, how Jaden Philogene is starting games for us needs to be investigated. I honestly don't think I've ever been as underwhelmed by a new signing in my 25 years supporting the club, certainly a signing that has been given so much game time and has been signed for so much money and given so much hype - in his defence that isn't his fault, but it's been utterly painful to watch. I wince every time he gets the ball and I don't think I'm being harsh. He shouldn't be in the side.
I'll admit, like everyone I had accepted at half time the game was done, but when you see what happened once the three attacking subs came on it's hard not to be annoyed in hindsight that we didn't try and make a go of it from 55-60 minutes, or even half time. I wouldn't mind us losing 5-0 or 6-0 trying to restore some kind of parity, as it was we tried to keep the score at 3-0 and just give some squad players a run out, and ended up having a mini rally.
We need to find some balls and change our starting CF for a game or two. Hirst would be within his rights to be mildly grumpy at his lack of game time I think. Whenever he plays he shows more intelligence than Delap, and offers something else as clearly demonstrated by a superb header - something Delap couldn't replicate earlier in the game despite it being a relative sitter. Aside from that, could we not benefit sometimes from using Delap against (cliche) tiring defences in the second half of games?
Also, why don't we cross the ball with any regularity? Hirst's goal, while a brilliant header, annoyed me because it just made me curse the fact we hadn't tried to do it more throughout the season.
The selection thing is a real issue for me. It's incredibly hard not to get swept up in the assumption that we are giving players minutes because they cost x amount. We have a pre season to bed those players into the team if we really think they are the future, but they are not worthy of their position currently. We all know who they are.
Like every home game we started well enough and had some good moments, Hutchinson's shot from the edge of the box was a big chance considering his ability. Thought he was good today in general, he's getting better which is a big positive. Cajuste was brilliant, his best game of the season and our MOTM by a mile.
Sigh. Oh well. [Post edited 15 Mar 23:37]
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| I haven't been annoyed all season on 23:39 - Mar 15 with 2495 views | SaffronWaldenBlues |
I agree with pretty much everything you said. To be honest we haven’t been at the races at all since the Fulham game, we were pretty uninspiring against Brighton, pathetic against Southampton, Manchester United and Spurs and easily beaten the last two games in the end.
Equally McKenna isn’t Midas, if we were expecting him to turn a entire squad of Championship standard players into Premier League players in just a season then whoever thought that was possible was either insane or incredibly stupid. |  |
| An East Anglian Town overtaken by Londoners |
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| I haven't been annoyed all season on 23:48 - Mar 15 with 2394 views | pointofblue |
One thing I wonder is why we seem to be more competitive away than at home. The only away match I can recall us completely collapsing was West Ham. Even with Manchester City and Liverpool we managed to put the brakes on to a degree. At Old Trafford we looked clueless but didn't collapse.
Whereas at home against Everton, Newcastle, Brighton, Man City, Spurs, Forest... we just crumbled the moment the first goal in. When it comes to Everton and Newcastle we didn't really turn up at all. Are we set up differently, is it because the players feel more pressure from the stands, do the opposition play into our hands slightly more when they're hosting? Where's the team that started the home season so we'll, with creditable performances against Liverpool, Fulham and Villa? |  |
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| I haven't been annoyed all season on 00:12 - Mar 16 with 2270 views | TheBoyBlue |
You weren't annoyed by the Southampton result? Or Man Utd away? | |
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| I haven't been annoyed all season on 00:21 - Mar 16 with 2235 views | Illinoisblue |
I’m past the point of getting too annoyed. It’s a slow death, not much fun for anyone and rather depressing BUT… can’t disagree with anything you’ve said.
Not to pile on re Philogene as Enciso was even worse today but WTF? We paid 20milliom for this? I get he’s young, playing at this level for first time and settling into a new club. I get all of that. He can’t retain the ball, doesn’t take defenders on, frequently looks lost out there. It’s baffling beyond all reason that he starts every game. Genuinely baffling.
I’m starting to wonder just how good he really was at Hull and also why Villa were so quick to get rid. Let’s hope he can turn it around next season because right now it’s not looking good. |  |
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| I haven't been annoyed all season on 00:51 - Mar 16 with 2146 views | Garv |
| I haven't been annoyed all season on 00:12 - Mar 16 by TheBoyBlue |
You weren't annoyed by the Southampton result? Or Man Utd away? |
United did annoy me, good point, just perhaps not as much as today.
Southampton just depressed me, because I knew what it meant. That was the day we confirmed relegation, realistically. | |
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| I haven't been annoyed all season on 00:56 - Mar 16 with 2113 views | GiveusaWave |
| I haven't been annoyed all season on 00:51 - Mar 16 by Garv |
United did annoy me, good point, just perhaps not as much as today.
Southampton just depressed me, because I knew what it meant. That was the day we confirmed relegation, realistically. |
Still think we need to fight like crazy for 3rd from bottom as have a feeling that'll be significant at the end of the season.... |  |
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| I haven't been annoyed all season on 01:41 - Mar 16 with 2015 views | Kieran_Knows |
I feel for Philogene, personally. You can see in his play that he’s scared to try anything, and is constantly looking to play the easy pass in the hope of not giving it away. I think for him, like many of our ‘Championship’ signings, they’ve struggled with the step up. It’s taken Clarke the best part of 6 months to look like he’s got to grips with the pace of the league/his role in the side. What probably sticks out with Philogene more is the price tag and hype around his signature … and as I mentioned on another thread, he’s struggled since he’s came in at a time when we needed him to hit the ground running.
Appreciate everybody was not at the races yesterday, so don’t really want to single anyone out, but if people are going for JP, then Enciso’s performance was just as bad also. I find him incredibly frustrating, most of the time I’ve watched him. |  |
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| I haven't been annoyed all season on 06:44 - Mar 16 with 1726 views | textbackup |
Yeah sums it up perfect for me.
I thought the signing/retaining of KM when big clubs were apparently rushing for his signature was our signing of the summer. Really felt his excellence would be the difference and we’d get an extra 10/15 points based on his in game decision making and how he’d set us up. But, I really don’t think we’ve seen that.
And for that reason I can’t see anyone taking him from us. Which is obviously very good for us as he’s proven what he can do in the championship.
My biggest fear now is we start next season poorly, first 10 games we site mid table, few wins few draws few losses… PR won’t be a nice place to be. |  |
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| I haven't been annoyed all season on 07:24 - Mar 16 with 1597 views | ArnieM |
| I haven't been annoyed all season on 06:44 - Mar 16 by textbackup |
Yeah sums it up perfect for me.
I thought the signing/retaining of KM when big clubs were apparently rushing for his signature was our signing of the summer. Really felt his excellence would be the difference and we’d get an extra 10/15 points based on his in game decision making and how he’d set us up. But, I really don’t think we’ve seen that.
And for that reason I can’t see anyone taking him from us. Which is obviously very good for us as he’s proven what he can do in the championship.
My biggest fear now is we start next season poorly, first 10 games we site mid table, few wins few draws few losses… PR won’t be a nice place to be. |
If he starts next season with the front line of Hirst, Broadhead, Chaplin and Burns i doubt we will capitulate next season. But that's assing these players want to stay, given the almost complete dismissal by McKenna of them all, together with Szmodics , all in favour of the like of Philogene, Enciso and Delap, who despite his meteoric rise in the first half this season, is frankly a raw, almost one trick pony atm. Which I know sounds harsh, but he's really not leading the line. Hirst needs to start every remaining game THIS season in my opinion. Which is far too little too late. But this is ALL down to McKennas decision making. |  |
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| I haven't been annoyed all season on 07:27 - Mar 16 with 1573 views | Herbivore |
| I haven't been annoyed all season on 07:24 - Mar 16 by ArnieM |
If he starts next season with the front line of Hirst, Broadhead, Chaplin and Burns i doubt we will capitulate next season. But that's assing these players want to stay, given the almost complete dismissal by McKenna of them all, together with Szmodics , all in favour of the like of Philogene, Enciso and Delap, who despite his meteoric rise in the first half this season, is frankly a raw, almost one trick pony atm. Which I know sounds harsh, but he's really not leading the line. Hirst needs to start every remaining game THIS season in my opinion. Which is far too little too late. But this is ALL down to McKennas decision making. |
If we do lose KM, at least we won't be short of suitable candidates given that half our fans seem to think they know more about football than him. |  |
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| I haven't been annoyed all season on 07:28 - Mar 16 with 1548 views | textbackup |
| I haven't been annoyed all season on 07:27 - Mar 16 by Herbivore |
If we do lose KM, at least we won't be short of suitable candidates given that half our fans seem to think they know more about football than him. |
Just a silly comment really. Considering this is a football forum where ITFC fans will have opinions. | |
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| I haven't been annoyed all season on 10:28 - Mar 16 with 1129 views | Garv |
| I haven't been annoyed all season on 00:56 - Mar 16 by GiveusaWave |
Still think we need to fight like crazy for 3rd from bottom as have a feeling that'll be significant at the end of the season.... |
100% - I think I commented similar elsewhere. The challenge is now for McKenna to find a way of making the remaining games mean something.
Leicester and Wolves can still be big games. Imagine talking all season about how Leicester have fallen apart and how many plaudits we've been getting in contrast...for them to finish above us.
And if we somehow found a way to beat Wolves that would at least help bring some respectability to the points gap. | |
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| I haven't been annoyed all season on 10:41 - Mar 16 with 1070 views | BloomBlue |
It's confidence or rather the lack of it which is killing us.
Same with the Spurs home game, overran them for the first 10 mins and could/should have been 2-0 up by that stage, but they score first and suddenly we look shot.
Forest fan on Talksport last night made the point the game was tight and then they scored and Town players acted like the proverbial 'rabbit in headlights'. To be fair he made the comment we kept going but that's the problem, confidence is shot.
Same as Burnley last season, kept playing some nice football, mgmt talked about being competitive, but when you don't win even the occasional game you're confidence goes. Burnley last season played nice football until they conceded a goal. |  | | |
| I haven't been annoyed all season on 10:47 - Mar 16 with 1037 views | Chrisd |
I think some believe we aren’t allowed to question KM because of what he has achieved the previous two seasons with us. However, fans should rightly challenge selection and his game management, I’m not sure if he knows how to organise us defensively either, we’ve always been a side that concedes a fair number of goals under his management. You can’t point the finger at individual mistakes by players, that’s on them but KM has been found wanting this season and if there’s constructive criticism, then that’s fair in my eyes. | |
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| I haven't been annoyed all season on 10:51 - Mar 16 with 1006 views | Chrisd |
| I haven't been annoyed all season on 10:41 - Mar 16 by BloomBlue |
It's confidence or rather the lack of it which is killing us.
Same with the Spurs home game, overran them for the first 10 mins and could/should have been 2-0 up by that stage, but they score first and suddenly we look shot.
Forest fan on Talksport last night made the point the game was tight and then they scored and Town players acted like the proverbial 'rabbit in headlights'. To be fair he made the comment we kept going but that's the problem, confidence is shot.
Same as Burnley last season, kept playing some nice football, mgmt talked about being competitive, but when you don't win even the occasional game you're confidence goes. Burnley last season played nice football until they conceded a goal. |
Why do sides come up to the EPL and believe they can out football sides with lesser players? I do think we should have adapted our own style a little more this season. It’s far too predictable and against better sides they quickly work you out which we have found out to our cost during this campaign. [Post edited 16 Mar 10:52]
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