My humble assesment of Mark McGhee

[Lammy]

Given up on the season already then Lammy?

McGhee did go to Arsenal to look at one of their under 21's as a loan player but unfortunately that day the particular player had a nightmare of a game so he said not yet.

He is looking and he will get loans in to help us out.

Of course I haven't given up. The fact remains that if we carry on like we are now we will be down by Xmas.

I'm putting my point of view across that McGhee needs to get the team playing a more passing game whislt we don't have this target man he keeps on about.

How is this giving up on the season? Jesus, I'm not going to voice an opinion on here anymore, it's just shouted down by all the blind faithers! Personally I see football and an interactive hobby. I go to watch the game and then I talk about is with friends and family about how I thought we played well or if not, why amd what I'd do if I were in charge sort of thing.

Did you not so much as even tut last night? Does that mean you've given up? of course not. I'm offering an opinion and I'm interested to hear other peoples. You opinion is that we are suffering with injuries and a lack of a target man. Mine is that I don't think the injuries are a factor and that whilst I agree we need a target man, if we don't have one it is pointless playing asthough we do!

It's like McGhee coming on and saying "Well, if Maradonna* were playing we would have won" We don't have Maradonna playing for us and so you don't write out you tactics around him.











* I'm talking about when he was good and not a fat blimp.

 

[Seagull73]

Get a grip. The level that we are at is only one division below the top in English football, potentially the best domestic league in Europe, if not the world.

For those of you that are criticising at the moment, wakey wakey! It's not good enough, I agree, but it was hardly ever going to be. We couldn't attract anybody to come to us in the summer that has proven experience. Why? Well next time you are at Withdean (hopefully Saturday) take a look around you, it should provide you with some answers, both monetary and for players looking to forward their careers.

There is still money to get some more players in, loans or whatever, but what is the point of 'just getting players in', we've done that this summer and it hasn't worked which is everybodies beef!

I noticed somebody said that we should break up Micky Adams squad, what do you think is happening now? If there was one person that thought the transition would be seemless and instantaneous, you live in a fantasy world.

 

[Yorkie]

Fair comments but when typed can read as whinging rather than discussion.

I get fed up with whingers and groaners.

We can pontificate until the cows come home on here but it won't produce the loan signings we want or help McGhee manage the team.

 

[Lammy]

Get a grip. The level that we are at is only one division below the top in English football, potentially the best domestic league in Europe, if not the world.

For those of you that are criticising at the moment, wakey wakey! It's not good enough, I agree, but it was hardly ever going to be. We couldn't attract anybody to come to us in the summer that has proven experience. Why? Well next time you are at Withdean (hopefully Saturday) take a look around you, it should provide you with some answers, both monetary and for players looking to forward their careers.

There is still money to get some more players in, loans or whatever, but what is the point of 'just getting players in', we've done that this summer and it hasn't worked which is everybodies beef!

I noticed somebody said that we should break up Micky Adams squad, what do you think is happening now? If there was one person that thought the transition would be seemless and instantaneous, you live in a fantasy world.

You are of course right. I apologise. I'll pay my money and shut up from now on...

 

[Lammy]

Fair comments but when typed can read as whinging rather than discussion.

I get fed up with whingers and groaners.

We can pontificate until the cows come home on here but it won't produce the loan signings we want or help McGhee manage the team.

I'm not saying it will. But part of supporting the Albion is talking about them. I'm just interested in other peoples opinion that's all. I thought that is why we were all here?

Whinging and moaning is;

- That was shit!
- Sort it out!

Constructive critism is;

- That was shit! This is what I would have like to seen...
- Sort it out! Try this...

Blind faith is;

- Stop moaning!
- It will all turn out ok, we've got to keep the faith!

Optimism is;

- I believe McGhee will turn it around beacuse....
- The reason we were crap is because of x and it is easily fixed using y


The trouble is there is too much Monaing and Blind faith on this board that often the constructive critisism and optimism gets lost or overlooked or worse still misdiagnosed!

Let's try an avoid one line put downs and actually read peoples posts to see if there is any merit in there rather than "Stop moaning" if often kills a very relivant topic of conversation needlessly. Disagree by all means but do so in a constructive mannor by putting your counter argument across.

Can't we all just get along

 

[London Irish]

"Sage", thanks for the detailed reply to my post. There are a host of mistakes in your post, I'll walk you through them.

YOU SAY "The reason Coventry had so many chances was down to Culip and Butters. Butters is too slow and I wouldn't be surprised if Cullip is carrying an injury"

Only people with a very limited understanding of football think that defence starts with the back 4. Our defence are not doing as well as last season because the midfield guys that protected them are injured.

YOU SAY "Following this on then, Jarrett, Currie and Nicolas are now ranked ahead of the likes of Oatway. Roger play last season? How can you possibly say he is our first choice? I'd put him out to grass and get him off the pay role asap"

NEWSFLASH. Jarrett and Currie do not play in the same positions as Oatway. You might as well rank Ben Roberts ahead of Oatway too with that kind of idiotic logic. Simon Rodger is back in training this week and the latest forecast is that he will be ready for reserve football next month and a place in the full squad a month after. Still, I'm sure he thanks you for your faith and support.

YOU SAY "Hinsh is doing ok there so I don't see that as a problem."

You think Hinshelwood is a solution to our midfield problems rather than a fill-in? And you had the cheek to accuse someone else of being on drugs?

YOU SAY "If he is not a target man and McGhee admits we don't have one, why is he getting the team to play as though we do have one? i.e. lots long balls and crosses"

This is your biggest misconception, Sage. I can't believe you've watched the Albion this season compared to last and haven't noticed a complete difference in our style of play, but your grasp of footballing strategy/tactics is a bit weak, isn't it? Look at how we played in the first 25 minutes last night, all our approach play to the edge of the Bristol box on the floor, totally different to last season when the back 4 and midfield would pump long balls into the forward channels. Don't confuse byline crosses with long balls, that's another beginners' error.

"As do I which is why I suggest he start playing tactics that suit the players he has. Have you been listening?"

Reading your posts, it's impossible to know what positive agenda you are pushing. I'll take a guess. You are advocating a passing game, yes? Even though that's what we're already doing?

 

[rool]

I personally find the happy clappy blind faithers worse than the moaners.

 

[Yorkie]

Whinging and moaning is;

- That was shit!
- Sort it out!

Constructive critism is;

- That was shit! This is what I would have like to seen...
- Sort it out! Try this...

Blind faith is;

- Stop moaning!
- It will all turn out ok, we've got to keep the faith!

Optimism is;

- I believe McGhee will turn it around beacuse....
- The reason we were crap is because of x and it is easily fixed using y


The trouble is there is too much Monaing and Blind faith on this board that often the constructive critisism and optimism gets lost or overlooked or worse still misdiagnosed!

Let's try an avoid one line put downs and actually read peoples posts to see if there is any merit in there rather than "Stop moaning" if often kills a very relivant topic of conversation needlessly. Disagree by all means but do so in a constructive mannor by putting your counter argument across.

Can't we all just get along

Good assessments.

Start a poll

I waver between Blind Faith and Optimism

 

[Lammy]

Good assessments.

Start a poll

I waver between Blind Faith and Optimism

Not a bad place to be

 

[rool]

hmmmmm at the next NSC awards perhaps there could be an option for the most smug and patronising arsehole.

 

[Pavilionaire]

The best players in the side are all Pre-McGhee signings - Roberts, Cullip, Carpenter, Knight.

It is also clear from the first 5 matches that none of his summer signings have looked like CCC quality. He has given all of the youngsters a chance, they did OK in Div 2 but are out of their depth now. Of the current crop, I suspect that only Robinson will ever hack it at this level.

It is clear McGhee needs to do what Coppell did - bring in CCC quality players like Ingimarsson, Rodger, Sidwell. The thing is, Coppell had the contacts to make it happen, has McGhee? You'd have to think not as he had all summer to bring good players in.

I think he will bring in loan signings, and if they are quality like Benjamin I will be happy.

 

[Lammy]

I can see you are trying to degenerate this into a tit for tat debate.

"Sage", thanks for the detailed reply to my post. There are a host of mistakes in your post, I'll walk you through them.

Just clear one thing up. The 'Sage' thing is there as it was used as an insult at me. You constantly using it to address me is quite amuzing. (it's called irony)

YOU SAY "The reason Coventry had so many chances was down to Culip and Butters. Butters is too slow and I wouldn't be surprised if Cullip is carrying an injury"

Only people with a very limited understanding of football think that defence starts with the back 4. Our defence are not doing as well as last season because the midfield guys that protected them are injured.

So if you dissagree with me, your first line of defence is to insult my intelligence? Oh well. Culip and Butters are hoof boys. They constantly give the ball back to the opposition by hoofing the ball up towards Knight and Molango. Neither of which has a hope in hell of winning the ball. Thus Coventry gets position, chances are created, Butters and Cullip are done for skill and pace. goal.

YOU SAY "Following this on then, Jarrett, Currie and Nicolas are now ranked ahead of the likes of Oatway. Roger play last season? How can you possibly say he is our first choice? I'd put him out to grass and get him off the pay role asap"

NEWSFLASH. Jarrett and Currie do not play in the same positions as Oatway. You might as well rank Ben Roberts ahead of Oatway too with that kind of idiotic logic. Simon Rodger is back in training this week and the latest forecast is that he will be ready for reserve football next month and a place in the full squad a month after. Still, I'm sure he thanks you for your faith and support.

Nicolas is ranked above Oatway,
Currie is ranked above Hart,
Jarrett is ranked above Jones. Better?

Simon Roger is not going to save us. He played in the same position as Currie on the right. Are you suggesting that we replace Currie? He's been playing very well. Better than I ever saw Roger play. My OPINION is that I don't think we need Roger anymore. Currie (after a shaky start) has matured into the role well. We already have cover in Hart who is fit. History has shown that MOST, admittedly not all, players are not the same after a serious injury. I didn't think Roger was THAT good in the first place. To say we are not at full strength because he is injured is not a view I share.

YOU SAY "Hinsh is doing ok there so I don't see that as a problem."

You think Hinshelwood is a solution to our midfield problems rather than a fill-in? And you had the cheek to accuse someone else of being on drugs?

I stand by that. Nicolas and Hinsh in midfield will only get better by play together more. They proved that they can play well, they just need to be utilised more by the defence and keep it up for the full 90mins.

YOU SAY "If he is not a target man and McGhee admits we don't have one, why is he getting the team to play as though we do have one? i.e. lots long balls and crosses"

This is your biggest misconception, Sage. I can't believe you've watched the Albion this season compared to last and haven't noticed a complete difference in our style of play, but your grasp of footballing strategy/tactics is a bit weak, isn't it? Look at how we played in the first 25 minutes last night, all our approach play to the edge of the Bristol box on the floor, totally different to last season when the back 4 and midfield would pump long balls into the forward channels. Don't confuse byline crosses with long balls, that's another beginners' error.

I'd agree. Against Coventry and for the first 25 minutes of last night we played exactely the sort of football this team is capable of. What about the rest of the time? HOOF! McGhee didn't say, "Well I would have like to see us pass the ball more, we seemed to be more effective then" he said "We are crying out for a target man" Which suggests he is happy with the long balls and crosses.

"As do I which is why I suggest he start playing tactics that suit the players he has. Have you been listening?"

Reading your posts, it's impossible to know what positive agenda you are pushing. I'll take a guess. You are advocating a passing game, yes? Even though that's what we're already doing?

A game of football last 90 mins not 25.

 

[Josky]

I'm not saying it will. But part of supporting the Albion is talking about them. I'm just interested in other peoples opinion that's all. I thought that is why we were all here?

Whinging and moaning is;

- That was shit!
- Sort it out!

Constructive critism is;

- That was shit! This is what I would have like to seen...
- Sort it out! Try this...

Blind faith is;

- Stop moaning!
- It will all turn out ok, we've got to keep the faith!

Optimism is;

- I believe McGhee will turn it around beacuse....
- The reason we were crap is because of x and it is easily fixed using y


The trouble is there is too much Monaing and Blind faith on this board that often the constructive critisism and optimism gets lost or overlooked or worse still misdiagnosed!

Let's try an avoid one line put downs and actually read peoples posts to see if there is any merit in there rather than "Stop moaning" if often kills a very relivant topic of conversation needlessly. Disagree by all means but do so in a constructive mannor by putting your counter argument across.

Can't we all just get along

Cracking breakdown, Lammy! There certainly seems to be a lot of blind faith on this board - however, I fall in the one category that you didn't mention:

Pessimism
- We're shit and it doesn't matter what you do, we're going down!
- Why bother sorting it out?

Only joking, really. But I agree with you Lammy that we have the players at the moment to stay in the CCC - just McGhee isn't getting out of them the performances he should.

Coppell did it, why can't McGhee?

 

[London Irish]

It is clear McGhee needs to do what Coppell did - bring in CCC quality players like Ingimarsson, Rodger, Sidwell. The thing is, Coppell had the contacts to make it happen, has McGhee? You'd have to think not as he had all summer to bring good players in.

It's an interesting question to ask, but as you say, his record is the great loan signing of Benjamin, and then Big Chris finished the job for us last season.

McGhee is experienced, bright and well-travelled around football. My fear is not to do with his contacts, simply that the guys he locates won't come to our club given its uncertain prospects and lack of financial power. He has done well getting the 4 we have, even though the jury maybe out on 1 or 2 of them.

McGhee has one of the toughest jobs in football keeping us a Championship team when we have the infrastructure of a club like Bristol Rovers, in fact, probably not as good as them!

My ultimate fear is that McGhee will think the job is too difficult, like our last few managers. I think McGhee will stay if people show real understanding of the position he is in. But if the fans start getting on his back about stuff that is totally out of his control, he is a proud man and I wouldn't blame him if he turned round and told everyone to fcuk off. Getting Brighton up in impossible circumstances last year is enough for his CV to find another job quite easily.

 

[Lammy]

It's an interesting question to ask, but as you say, his record is the great loan signing of Benjamin, and then Big Chris finished the job for us last season.

McGhee is experienced, bright and well-travelled around football. My fear is not to do with his contacts, simply that the guys he locates won't come to our club given its uncertain prospects and lack of financial power. He has done well getting the 4 we have, even though the jury maybe out on 1 or 2 of them.

McGhee has one of the toughest jobs in football keeping us a Championship team when we have the infrastructure of a club like Bristol Rovers, in fact, probably not as good as them!

My ultimate fear is that McGhee will think the job is too difficult, like our last few managers. I think McGhee will stay if people show real understanding of the position he is in. But if the fans start getting on his back about stuff that is totally out of his control, he is a proud man and I wouldn't blame him if he turned round and told everyone to fcuk off. Getting Brighton up in impossible circumstances last year is enough for his CV to find another job quite easily.

The situation was no different when Coppell/Taylor was here?

 

[London Irish]

Sage, I don't think this debate is degenerating at all, your second to last post was your best on this thread by a long way, no blatant errors at all, just dubious, arguable opinions.

Your point that injured players not returning as good as previously is a GENERALISATION and therefore irrelevant in Rodger's PARTICULAR situation. Don't write him off FFS, he is one of our few proven performers at this level of football.

You argue that: "To say we are not at full strength because he is injured is not a view I share".

COME ON! It's not just Rodger, it's both last year's first-choice central midfielders! And it's also Reid who is not fully match fit after his injury! That's our 4 main options for our two problem centre midfield spots ruled out! What team wouldn't have problems with that level of injury?

I find your assessment that Nicolas and Hinsh did well yesterday pretty remarkable. I can't fathom why you are so soft on some players yet so ungenerous to others.

We played OK for the first 25 mins because Currie, and also Leon dropping back into midfield, made some fine passes and Jarrett some fine raids down the left. It went to pot after that because of the loss of confidence after sucker punch goals, but also because our back 4 and Hinsh/Nicolas looked incredibly laboured in attempting to play a passing game.

I think with greater protection from our midfield, our back 4 can recover their poise in defense. But they are never going to be the type of players who can carry the ball forward and make penetrating passes into midfield. Neither is Hinsh able of such passing vision. Nicolas SHOULD be that type of player, but last night spent the entire game hitting unadeventurous square, crab-like balls that created nothing. I think I counted 2 or 3 forward passes the entire evening from him, but that was nothing compared to his near non-existant tackling. Did he win ONE ball last night?

You state that the team lapsed back into the long-ball game last night. Absolute crap. In the last quarter of an hour/10 minutes, yes, we did hoof the ball forward from the back with the clock running down. But to pretend that was the approach of the team for most of the second half is disingenuous.

My abiding memory of the second half is watching the likes of Butters and Danny taking the ball up from the back. Laboured passed around the back 4. Pass to Nicolas, sideways or backwards pass back to a defender from him. A few more negative passes to the fullbacks or flank players around the half-way line surrounded by Rovers players. Then the move would usually break down.

There was no penetration in centre midfield. Nicolas and Hinsh were not capable of threading any balls to Knight, Molango or Jake. The only outlet was down the flanks. Jarrett started well but tired so that left flank dried up. Currie was more productive but was forced to make too many speculative crosses because he had no support runners (Hinsh, Nicolas, Virgo??) making themselves available for the pass.

Sage, I'm DELIGHTED that McGhee is banging on about a targetman. Because it shows that he realises that this passing style DOESN'T SUIT OUR PLAYERS - nothing has changed since last season when he made that same correct judgement.

Let's look at that first 25 mins. Although we were all over Rovers and they barely had a touch of the ball, how many gilt-edged scoring chances did we create? Very few! The problem with this passing style is that it looks very pretty and gets us close to their box, but it is easy for solid defending to frustrate the final ball to the striker.

Wasn't this the story of our last season? Hosts of teams came to Withdean and outpassed us in midfield, but although they looked prettier teams, the end product was lacking and our back 4 helped by Charlie and Chippy was able to nullify the danger.

We resembled those weak, pretty teams yesterday. Lots of good build-up work, but the end product was lacking.

McGhee realises that we need an outlet for the direct ball that can create panic in behind defences. We don't have that targetman player but we desperately need one.

At the moment we are a one-dimensional wannabe-passing team. It looks shit.

The only way that will change if we get the targetman who will offer us that other dimension of turning defences with rapid, direct counterattacks.

 

[London Irish]

The situation was no different when Coppell/Taylor was here?

By Jove, you've got it! And what decision did those two managers make about the prospects of success for the Albion in higher divisions?

 

[Tooting Gull]

My ultimate fear is that McGhee will think the job is too difficult

No, I couldn't handle another Radcliffe-stylee quit episode.

 

[Dancin Ninja BHA]

Sage, I don't think this debate is degenerating at all, your second to last post was your best on this thread by a long way, no blatant errors at all, just dubious, arguable opinions.

LI, as you have the cheek to refer to Lammy as "Sage" and belittle his posts in your normal condescending way, I'm going to forever refer to you in the future as PD....the Paddy Dickhead

 

[Lammy]

By Jove, you've got it! And what decision did those two managers make about the prospects of success for the Albion in higher divisions?

Not sure what you're geeting at here. If Coppell had been with us from the start of the season rather than Hinsh we would have stayed up. That is all I'm hoping for. I'm not looking to set the world alight here. Just maybe get it luke warm?