15-02-2015, 11:59
Mike Bassett, Titanic & Einstein!
After over 40 years as a ST holder, I don't want to watch Wednesday any more. It was an effort to make the two & a half hour journey to the ground, sit through 90 minutes of predictable turgid football then spend another two & a half hours getting home. There have been many bad times - the late 70s before Big Jack took over, the decline after the PL with Jewell & Yorath and AI's first season in L1 but this season our home performances have been just so mind numbingly boring that it is just like watching the same terrible show over & over again.
The script was the same - a rigid 442 a la Mike Bassett. SG shuffled the deck chairs on his personal Titanic but the iceberg still prevented anything approaching a quality performance. This time he brought in Palmer, Zayatte, Semedo, Maghoma & Bus for Vermijl, Dielna, Hutchinson, Mattock & May but it made little difference.
As usual, we started without any oomph. We moved the ball nicely down the right flank with Palmer & Lee combining well. We created two chances in the first half, both courtesy of brilliant crosses. First Palmer, set up Bus then Lee set up Keane but both times the keeper saved. At the other end Westwood had to be in the right place to stop Lees putting the ball in his own net.
Semedo was forced off by injury, Hutchinson came on & picked up a quick yellow card although a touch unluckily this time. Keane picked up an injury on the stroke of half time so in search of goals, SG turned to Nuhui.
Helan had a gradually increasing influence after a quiet first half as our main source of threat came from our full backs. As we ran out of ideas, we increasingly used the long ball which created a few chances against a pretty inept Brighton defence.
Lee was put clear in the box but with just the keeper to beat, he inexplicably cut back on to his right foot & the chance was gone. The next chance fell to Lee again. This time his shot was blocked. The best chance of all fell to Nuhui, six yards out and with the net at his mercy, he contrived to blast the ball over an empty net. I know the pitch is bobbly but surely in those circumstances, you just poke the ball in to make sure any bobbles don't affect the outcome.
Westwood - 6 - his only save was from Lees
Palmer - 7 - assured defensively & bright going forward
Lees - 7 - won pretty much everything
Zayatte - 5 - generally assured but a couple of shaky moments
Helan - 6 - poor first half, bright second half with one great run
Lee - 6 - linked play well & combined nicely with Palmer
Semedo - 6 - solid but didn't really look fit to play
McGugan - 6 - some quality passes but ran out of gas
Maghoma - 5 - a couple of good runs but not enough threat
Bus - 5 - ran around a bit but not sharp enough
Keane - 6 - quality hold up play
.......................................................
Hutchinson - 5 - struggled to get any control, one good block
Nuhui - 5 - a couple of fancy turns but ultimately disappointing
May - 5 - hardly had a kick
Then we had the SG interview on RS. I thought they were re-running last week's interview (or almost any previous week) because all the familiar excuses were there - the bobbly pitch, bad luck, couldn't understand why we lacked intensity, we created loads of chances (really?), we are just not getting the breaks, we dominated the match, maybe it's the players etc.
There is one constant in our poor performances - the rigid 442 that SG always uses. He keeps changing the players but until he starts using a more flexible formation then we will continue to play this way.
Einstein said, "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is a sign of insanity." Well SG does the same thing every week & surprise, surprise, we get the same results.
The bottom four sides in this division are hopeless so 50 points will be more than enough for safety so three more wins from 15 matches will do & we still have Millwall & Blackpool to play.
Anyway, there were a few plus points. My bets on Under 2.5 Goals & 0-0 won again so that was the petrol paid for. Finally a Wednesday striker scored from open play. Ok, it was Madine for Blackpool but at least it's a start.
Where next? Sadly, I don't think SG has the wherewithal to drive us forward. He is a nice guy but he lacks the vision & creativity to move us closer to the PL. He has done a good job of keeping us clear of relegation but let's be honest, without Westwood, we would be bottom three now. Fans are voting with their feet. Under 20,000 on a Saturday when fans could get in for £10 & £5 is a disgrace and an indication of where we are going under SG.
There is no point sacking him unless we have somebody lined up but talking with Paul Lambert & Mark Warburton wouldn't do any harm & bringing in a new manager now gives us a far better chance for next season than leaving it until the summer.
Please, somebody change something because I cannot bear to watch this show several more times this season.
After over 40 years as a ST holder, I don't want to watch Wednesday any more. It was an effort to make the two & a half hour journey to the ground, sit through 90 minutes of predictable turgid football then spend another two & a half hours getting home. There have been many bad times - the late 70s before Big Jack took over, the decline after the PL with Jewell & Yorath and AI's first season in L1 but this season our home performances have been just so mind numbingly boring that it is just like watching the same terrible show over & over again.
The script was the same - a rigid 442 a la Mike Bassett. SG shuffled the deck chairs on his personal Titanic but the iceberg still prevented anything approaching a quality performance. This time he brought in Palmer, Zayatte, Semedo, Maghoma & Bus for Vermijl, Dielna, Hutchinson, Mattock & May but it made little difference.
As usual, we started without any oomph. We moved the ball nicely down the right flank with Palmer & Lee combining well. We created two chances in the first half, both courtesy of brilliant crosses. First Palmer, set up Bus then Lee set up Keane but both times the keeper saved. At the other end Westwood had to be in the right place to stop Lees putting the ball in his own net.
Semedo was forced off by injury, Hutchinson came on & picked up a quick yellow card although a touch unluckily this time. Keane picked up an injury on the stroke of half time so in search of goals, SG turned to Nuhui.
Helan had a gradually increasing influence after a quiet first half as our main source of threat came from our full backs. As we ran out of ideas, we increasingly used the long ball which created a few chances against a pretty inept Brighton defence.
Lee was put clear in the box but with just the keeper to beat, he inexplicably cut back on to his right foot & the chance was gone. The next chance fell to Lee again. This time his shot was blocked. The best chance of all fell to Nuhui, six yards out and with the net at his mercy, he contrived to blast the ball over an empty net. I know the pitch is bobbly but surely in those circumstances, you just poke the ball in to make sure any bobbles don't affect the outcome.
Westwood - 6 - his only save was from Lees
Palmer - 7 - assured defensively & bright going forward
Lees - 7 - won pretty much everything
Zayatte - 5 - generally assured but a couple of shaky moments
Helan - 6 - poor first half, bright second half with one great run
Lee - 6 - linked play well & combined nicely with Palmer
Semedo - 6 - solid but didn't really look fit to play
McGugan - 6 - some quality passes but ran out of gas
Maghoma - 5 - a couple of good runs but not enough threat
Bus - 5 - ran around a bit but not sharp enough
Keane - 6 - quality hold up play
.......................................................
Hutchinson - 5 - struggled to get any control, one good block
Nuhui - 5 - a couple of fancy turns but ultimately disappointing
May - 5 - hardly had a kick
Then we had the SG interview on RS. I thought they were re-running last week's interview (or almost any previous week) because all the familiar excuses were there - the bobbly pitch, bad luck, couldn't understand why we lacked intensity, we created loads of chances (really?), we are just not getting the breaks, we dominated the match, maybe it's the players etc.
There is one constant in our poor performances - the rigid 442 that SG always uses. He keeps changing the players but until he starts using a more flexible formation then we will continue to play this way.
Einstein said, "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is a sign of insanity." Well SG does the same thing every week & surprise, surprise, we get the same results.
The bottom four sides in this division are hopeless so 50 points will be more than enough for safety so three more wins from 15 matches will do & we still have Millwall & Blackpool to play.
Anyway, there were a few plus points. My bets on Under 2.5 Goals & 0-0 won again so that was the petrol paid for. Finally a Wednesday striker scored from open play. Ok, it was Madine for Blackpool but at least it's a start.
Where next? Sadly, I don't think SG has the wherewithal to drive us forward. He is a nice guy but he lacks the vision & creativity to move us closer to the PL. He has done a good job of keeping us clear of relegation but let's be honest, without Westwood, we would be bottom three now. Fans are voting with their feet. Under 20,000 on a Saturday when fans could get in for £10 & £5 is a disgrace and an indication of where we are going under SG.
There is no point sacking him unless we have somebody lined up but talking with Paul Lambert & Mark Warburton wouldn't do any harm & bringing in a new manager now gives us a far better chance for next season than leaving it until the summer.
Please, somebody change something because I cannot bear to watch this show several more times this season.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.