Mauled by Wolves
Watching Wednesday is just so predictable.
We play a rigid 442, we start sluggishly, we miss chances, we give away stupid free kicks or penalties, we concede, we continue doing what we have been doing & the manager seems surprised it doesn't work.
This game summed us up and sadly, it pushes SG to the tipping point. For the first time this season, the away fans didn't sing Stuart Gray's Barmy Army. The atmosphere started subdued and got worse as Wolves fans taunted us for our lack of singing. We gave little response.
When the away fans have given up on a manager then the end is not far away as DJ found out.
There was plenty of possession throughout but it was almost all in our own half. Hutchinson threw himself around like a lunatic and it was a wonder he never got a card.
Wolves took the lead through a debatable penalty with the referee adjudging Dielna to have fouled Sako.
Our only effort of note in a poor first half was a great header by Maghoma that the keeper bundled round the post.
Westwood kept us in the game with three brilliant saves.
We looked a bit livelier at the start of the second half with Maghoma carrying the main threat. He got in a couple of shots that went close. We should have been level when Nuhui missed a simple header from a Maguire cross. Maguire was shooting from everywhere. He probably had eight or nine shots but none went anywhere near the goal.
Inevitably, Afobe scored. One chance, one goal. Neatly taken as our defence went awol.
SG decided that Lavery for May was the substitution to change things. Within minutes it was 3-0 as our CM went missing and our CBs kept retreating allowing Henry to score spectacularly.
We weren't help by McGugan having an off day. His radar was off.
Our final throw of the dice was to replace Hutchinson with Melo. He had some neat touches but nowhere near the Wolves goal.
It summed it up in two incidents at the death. Lees had a header that appeared to be going in but Lavery blocked it & deflected it wide the Helan just retrieved a wayward McGugan pass then fell over, knocking the ball out of play.
SG cut a sad figure in the technical area in the second half. He looked lost as everything fell apart at the seams on the pitch and he had no Plan B to change things. Two like for like substitutions was like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Westwood - 7 - great saves kept score down, appears to have lost patience with defence now
Vermijl - 6 - bright, breaks well, one near miss
Lees - 4 - confidence gone, two terrible back passes nearly cost goals
Dielna - 5 - unlucky with penalty
Helan - 4 - no effort to push forward, looked uninterested
Maguire - 4 - selfish, one good cross
Hutchinson - 4 - ineffective & reckless
McGugan - 5 - off day
Maghoma - 6 - our main threat
May - 3 - not involved
Nuhui - 3 - spurned easy chance
.................................................
Lavery - 4 - tried but way off the pace
Melo - 6 - looked the part but no threat
SG looked like a man who knows that the axe is coming and I think the players know it too. Last night was the worst outcome for SG. Afobe, the man he didn't want on a free scored while May, the man he spent our entire budget on was totally ineffective. I couldn't help thinking that we could have had Afobe & Antonio but SG preferred May. May has scored just seven goals while Antonio has ten goals & nine assists and Afobe has 26 goals and four assists.
It wouldn't be so bad if Wolves were a decent side. They weren't. They repeatedly gave us the ball but we just squandered it.
Our record over our last 30 matches has been:
P30 W8 D11 L11 F23 A36 Pts35 - Win Percentage - 26.7%
If we repeat that next season then we will be close to relegation. Thankfully a combination of good results in our first eight matches and three hopeless sides has meant that we are safe for this season.
What I find frustrating is that I believe many of our players are capable of a promotion push but they are being constrained by SG's tactics. SG made a big point of saying that he believed in competition for places but then says that Nuhui is the first name on the team sheet. No wonder that May's confidence is shot.
Nuhui is one player who won't feature if we are to get promoted but he persists with him even when we have nothing left to play for. His grudge against Madine means that Nuhui gets a starting role every week while Madine is in exile, pending departure.
We need a new manager now so that he has a few matches to see what he has got before the players disappear for the summer.
Beyond Nuhui, I think that all the other players that featured last night could flourish with a new manager and more inventive tactics. Two or three new additions and we are ready for our promotion assault. It will be like 1983/84 again - new manager, promotion first time!
One more thing.
As the goals went in, there wasn't a feeling of anger, it was more a numbness. It is as though fans are now fully anesthetised against the pain and just accept that this is how it will be.
DC will not accept this mentality. He hasn't bought us to accept second best. He will bring a new manager in & we will start moving us forward.
Watching Wednesday is just so predictable.
We play a rigid 442, we start sluggishly, we miss chances, we give away stupid free kicks or penalties, we concede, we continue doing what we have been doing & the manager seems surprised it doesn't work.
This game summed us up and sadly, it pushes SG to the tipping point. For the first time this season, the away fans didn't sing Stuart Gray's Barmy Army. The atmosphere started subdued and got worse as Wolves fans taunted us for our lack of singing. We gave little response.
When the away fans have given up on a manager then the end is not far away as DJ found out.
There was plenty of possession throughout but it was almost all in our own half. Hutchinson threw himself around like a lunatic and it was a wonder he never got a card.
Wolves took the lead through a debatable penalty with the referee adjudging Dielna to have fouled Sako.
Our only effort of note in a poor first half was a great header by Maghoma that the keeper bundled round the post.
Westwood kept us in the game with three brilliant saves.
We looked a bit livelier at the start of the second half with Maghoma carrying the main threat. He got in a couple of shots that went close. We should have been level when Nuhui missed a simple header from a Maguire cross. Maguire was shooting from everywhere. He probably had eight or nine shots but none went anywhere near the goal.
Inevitably, Afobe scored. One chance, one goal. Neatly taken as our defence went awol.
SG decided that Lavery for May was the substitution to change things. Within minutes it was 3-0 as our CM went missing and our CBs kept retreating allowing Henry to score spectacularly.
We weren't help by McGugan having an off day. His radar was off.
Our final throw of the dice was to replace Hutchinson with Melo. He had some neat touches but nowhere near the Wolves goal.
It summed it up in two incidents at the death. Lees had a header that appeared to be going in but Lavery blocked it & deflected it wide the Helan just retrieved a wayward McGugan pass then fell over, knocking the ball out of play.
SG cut a sad figure in the technical area in the second half. He looked lost as everything fell apart at the seams on the pitch and he had no Plan B to change things. Two like for like substitutions was like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Westwood - 7 - great saves kept score down, appears to have lost patience with defence now
Vermijl - 6 - bright, breaks well, one near miss
Lees - 4 - confidence gone, two terrible back passes nearly cost goals
Dielna - 5 - unlucky with penalty
Helan - 4 - no effort to push forward, looked uninterested
Maguire - 4 - selfish, one good cross
Hutchinson - 4 - ineffective & reckless
McGugan - 5 - off day
Maghoma - 6 - our main threat
May - 3 - not involved
Nuhui - 3 - spurned easy chance
.................................................
Lavery - 4 - tried but way off the pace
Melo - 6 - looked the part but no threat
SG looked like a man who knows that the axe is coming and I think the players know it too. Last night was the worst outcome for SG. Afobe, the man he didn't want on a free scored while May, the man he spent our entire budget on was totally ineffective. I couldn't help thinking that we could have had Afobe & Antonio but SG preferred May. May has scored just seven goals while Antonio has ten goals & nine assists and Afobe has 26 goals and four assists.
It wouldn't be so bad if Wolves were a decent side. They weren't. They repeatedly gave us the ball but we just squandered it.
Our record over our last 30 matches has been:
P30 W8 D11 L11 F23 A36 Pts35 - Win Percentage - 26.7%
If we repeat that next season then we will be close to relegation. Thankfully a combination of good results in our first eight matches and three hopeless sides has meant that we are safe for this season.
What I find frustrating is that I believe many of our players are capable of a promotion push but they are being constrained by SG's tactics. SG made a big point of saying that he believed in competition for places but then says that Nuhui is the first name on the team sheet. No wonder that May's confidence is shot.
Nuhui is one player who won't feature if we are to get promoted but he persists with him even when we have nothing left to play for. His grudge against Madine means that Nuhui gets a starting role every week while Madine is in exile, pending departure.
We need a new manager now so that he has a few matches to see what he has got before the players disappear for the summer.
Beyond Nuhui, I think that all the other players that featured last night could flourish with a new manager and more inventive tactics. Two or three new additions and we are ready for our promotion assault. It will be like 1983/84 again - new manager, promotion first time!
One more thing.
As the goals went in, there wasn't a feeling of anger, it was more a numbness. It is as though fans are now fully anesthetised against the pain and just accept that this is how it will be.
DC will not accept this mentality. He hasn't bought us to accept second best. He will bring a new manager in & we will start moving us forward.
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.