[Arcane Astral Aeons]

i`m in no way calling for the manager to go:
but as we all know things have taken a turn for the worst
from being promotion contenders we are now looking over our shoulders at the bottom of the table.

yes the manager will get the brunt of the flak

is he out of his depth?

been supporting this lot since i was 10yrs old
seen good times
and the bad

i am the eternal optimist that we can still salvage something from this season

is our manager skating (already) on thin ice?
maybe he is

if he is dismissed
who will be next?

we have so called strikers that suddenly forget where the goal is
a midfield that have no idea how to pass the ball

as i said i`m optimistic we can salvage this season

we aint going to get promoted
and i sure we wont go down....but as the saying goes...."Football....It`s A Funny Old Game"

[Slick_Footwork]

I think our current predicament is down to a mixture of the squad lacking quality and incorrect selections, negative tactics and a lack of belief.

We should acknowledge that the owners have faced a tough challenge. They have been tasked with balancing the books and reducing the age of the squad simultaneously, it's not an easy task.

We've had to sell some of our best players, while plenty of other senior players have walked away for nothing. They have had to be replaced for a fraction of what has come in.

We've lost legs in midfield. We've lost numerous creative players. We've lost centre backs who can chip in with headed goals, a threat we no longer seem to have at the club.

With that in mind, maybe we should only expect mid table obscurity.

However, it does feel that we've done some decent wheeling and dealing in the transfer market and this current squad is worthy of a better position than we're in.

I've watched everyone in the Championship this year and IMO, it's the worst championship for years. It's full to the brim of mediocre teams. We have already played several teams in the top 6 - Stoke, Boro, Charlton and Preston - and I've not been impressed with any of them. Despite that, we've lost to 2 of them - games we should've at least drawn.

For me, we need a manager who is going to take the hand break off. Play positive football and try to win...

At the moment it feels that Mason goes into every away game looking for a draw and we're not good enough defensively to even get that. At home we're more positive, but we're lacking the creation to break teams down who sit in against us. We have seen that against Derby, Portsmouth and Sheffield Wednesday. Yet, Mason continues to operate cautious tactics with 2 midfielders who never progress past the ball to provide forward passing options.

Given the fact it's Mason's first full-time managerial job, his appointment fell into the "punt" category. One that could go either way.

Despite that, as a young English coach, I think we all had high hopes about it. We thought he could bring some "youthful energy" to the squad. This coupled with an exciting Tottenham loanee or two. And exciting, attacking football.

Sadly, that hasn't been the case...

He didn't attract anyone from Spurs and his entire approach, body language and manner appear lacklustre and lethargic. When I saw his first interview, I thought "he's not the most exciting speaker"m but hoped it was just that he wasn't really a media guy. Unfortunately though, that seems to just be him.

I hope I'm wrong and he turns things around, but I predict Mason will soon be relieved of his duties when things fail to improve. Then we just have to cross everything and hope the next "punt" comes good.

[4evaabaggie]

I was glad we got Mason and I was really optimistic for this season, we got off to a great start, like last year, like last year the wheels have come off. The manager seems to be too greed league entrenched, tippy tappy, sideways, slowly slowly, he also seems to be one dimensional with his tactics, teams have seen that, they just contain our lack of movement and creativity knowing we are like ole Saint Nick, we will give them a gift and they can go home with the spoils.
We have some good players, they just need to be given the chance to shine, it is difficult to create chances from your own half with four / five defensive players behind you and a defensive midfielder next to you. The front players are so spaced out they could be on drugs, they have no support and no outlet, nobody to play off / 1 2 with. Opposing defences lap it up, shut them down and our shots on goal are rushed and hence off target.
Mason needs to change his approach, maybe drop Price to a number eight, Heggebo to number ten off of Maja, Johnston and Junior on the wings, one holding defensive midfielder and a defence which are conceding many goals to stop gifting the few they do.
Not still convinced about Josh, seen some great keepers at Albion but not sure he will join that club.

[BaggieSteve]

i`m in no way calling for the manager to go:
but as we all know things have taken a turn for the worst
from being promotion contenders we are now looking over our shoulders at the bottom of the table.

yes the manager will get the brunt of the flak

is he out of his depth?

been supporting this lot since i was 10yrs old
seen good times
and the bad

i am the eternal optimist that we can still salvage something from this season

is our manager skating (already) on thin ice?
maybe he is

if he is dismissed
who will be next?

we have so called strikers that suddenly forget where the goal is
a midfield that have no idea how to pass the ball

as i said i`m optimistic we can salvage this season

we aint going to get promoted
and i sure we wont go down....but as the saying goes...."Football....It`s A Funny Old Game"

I’ve said in previous posts that my initial enthusiasm for Ryan Mason’s appointment has somewhat waned and I’m not sure he’s the coach for us. Having said that, I would really like to see him succeed and I’m certainly not calling for his head, if only because I fear who we may appoint after him.

As I think Slick has said, I just wish he’d take the handbrake off; I honestly think our fans would be a lot more forgiving of dropped points if, in those games, we had gone for it, if he had fielded a much more attacking line up and ditched the two holding midfielders system, and we’d played for a win, home or away, for the full 90 minutes. I know people criticised CC but, under him if we went a goal up, we usually won

[Blue Baggie]

Hi ya all, I'm still about. Here's my take.
Mason was a gamble and alas it's not worked out. Even the few games we've taken points from we had our fair share of luck.
His failure to motivate his players is nothing short of disgraceful.
Let's not forget he's getting paid a million pounds a year and he looks as though he has run out of ideas.
He obviously has no idea how to change how we play or score a goal. Total failure. We need to terminate his contract now. Waiting wont help him or us. We will probably fret about paying him off. Serves us right for giving a guy who has never been a manager a 3 year contract. This shows our recruitment personnel are still useless and urgently need changing. Could you see JP giving such a generous contract to an untried manager?
We are where we are, I only hope we are already getting a new manager in place before Mason gets his golden handshake. The last thing we need is a 6 week search to begin after he's gone.