Decent recruitment with a decent squad. One thing that Cowley struggled to do, and was rarely successful at, was getting a good team performance. Will this squad give a good team performance week in week out? Maybe we won't find out until Wimbledon and Bristol City, but is there any speculation?
(11-07-2023, 03:53 PM)TBP Wrote: [ -> ]Decent recruitment with a decent squad. One thing that Cowley struggled to do, and was rarely successful at, was getting a good team performance. Will this squad give a good team performance week in week out? Maybe we won't find out until Wimbledon and Bristol City, but is there any speculation?
Friendlies tell you nothing about how well a team will play .. they are all about getting match fit.
For me Danny's biggest issue was not being able to plan for the long term. He used loans in the most important parts of the pitch. So when we failed to get promoted, he was back to square 1 with squad planning. He tried to do too much and spread himself too thin. I liked how he dreamed big and tried to get the best players he could but he definitely needed to reign it in a bit.
When you have a lot of people calling you a PE teacher, you'd be hard pressed not to have a chip on your shoulder about it. You'd want to out work everyone. But in doing that, he over complicated the message to the team, who at times looked totally bewildered.
Ironically, if the Cowleys took a step back and focused on their core strengths as coaches, they would probably perform a whole lot better.
(11-07-2023, 03:53 PM)TBP Wrote: [ -> ]Decent recruitment with a decent squad. One thing that Cowley struggled to do, and was rarely successful at, was getting a good team performance. Will this squad give a good team performance week in week out? Maybe we won't find out until Wimbledon and Bristol City, but is there any speculation?
Early part of the season, Cowley got some excellent performances out of his team. I dont remember any criticism from anyone.
Always plenty of experts after the event.
The best analysis always happens after the event Cunning!
While it was going well, we were all happy.
When it was going wrong mid season, people could see it unravelling and tbf, so we're the Cowley's.
After the season we could see what had gone wrong.
JM seems to be putting two players in every position. Players that are injury free and 100%ers. Those are definite lessons learned from last season. We have got business done early and not relied heavily on the loan market, indeed at all as yet!
Surely that is learned lessons from last season.
A season of woe gor the Cowleys ultimately.
That’s fair comment, Yak.
Maybe some analysis should have been done about why it went so right, early on. To my eye, it was no fluke, we looked great.
A first team that was more than capable of beating anyone on their day. However, a couple of injuries and suspensions and it went tits up.
I guess it worked because we had a decent first 11. We just didn't supplement that first 11 with capable back up.
Still need that creativity that we had in Jacobs (in flashes mind). I have confidence in JM.
It's got be worth paying a decent fee for that.
A major rod, that Cowley made for his own back, was guaranteeing Scarlett and Dale first team football. There doesn't appear to be any sign of this, at the moment.
Not sure if he guaranteed them but he persevered with them ( especially Dale), for far too long.
(12-07-2023, 08:57 AM)TBP Wrote: [ -> ]A major rod, that Cowley made for his own back, was guaranteeing Scarlett and Dale first team football. There doesn't appear to be any sign of this, at the moment.
I would have said it was having only 2 league wins between September 14th and the day he got the old tin tack in mid January. Admittedly those two were a big part of that but not the only part not that you need telling that
Last season we were let down pretty much by the loan players, all expensive and all except the keepers were poor with little end result on the pitch.
If their wages had been used for good average league one performers we would probably have been in the play offs. For instance, Curtis doing his usual on the left wing all season, until injured would have made the difference to enough draws to turn them into wins. On the right, Dale only made about half a dozen assists which is not enough for a loan player from a higher league.
(11-07-2023, 03:53 PM)TBP Wrote: [ -> ]Decent recruitment with a decent squad. One thing that Cowley struggled to do, and was rarely successful at, was getting a good team performance. Will this squad give a good team performance week in week out? Maybe we won't find out until Wimbledon and Bristol City, but is there any speculation?
I think they'll give us a barometer for the first few games especially Bristol City who are a decent Championship side.
If we can put up a good performace against them it will give us confidence going into the season.