Oh dear. Now I feel sorry for Sami.

[symyjym]

I couldn't disagree more with you, where is the talent in the midfield in our squad? What lie up would you choose that hasn't already been tried. Talent shines through whatever system is being played. We could have scored three or four last night, that's down to the players, those who brought those players to the club and not the manager.

Agree, apart from the result we were the better team, but fans have to de-personalise it to see it that way. It’s just unfortunate that when you are struggling with lack of continuity as a squad with all the loans, and unused signings we have, luck does not favour the disadvantaged.

I have said many times on here that failing to back Oscar last January is the reason why we are here today. All our summer target signings used us as pawns to get a better deals elsewhere and they were always going to go to a club who showed more ambition. You just have to look at where Mboro are today and the Clayton signing? I think he made a great decision on who to join. Good players aren't stupid and they won't come to a club based on a three year plan, they will always go to a club that has the most promise of getting to the Prem that season.

 

[spring hall convert]

Agree, apart from the result we were the better team, but fans have to de-personalise it to see it that way. It’s just unfortunate that when you are struggling with lack of continuity as a squad with all the loans, and unused signings we have, luck does not favour the disadvantaged.

I have said many times on here that failing to back Oscar last January is the reason why we are here today. All our summer target signings used us as pawns to get a better deals elsewhere and they were always going to go to a club who showed more ambition. You just have to look at where Mboro are today and the Clayton signing? I think he made a great decision on who to join. Good players aren't stupid and they won't come to a club based on a three year plan, they will always go to a club that has the most promise of getting to the Prem that season.

Do you not see that the way we set up and the personnel we used yesterday totally played into Millwall's hands? Not one of our central midfield could tackle and so we were really open against a side looking to nick one and shut up shop. Once they scored, they showed no further desire to score.

Man for man, even with a few questionable selections we were so much better than Millwall. Hyypia ****ed it up royally last night by putting us in the position where we could get beaten. His decision to send that team out.

 

[symyjym]

Do you not see that the way we set up and the personnel we used yesterday totally played into Millwall's hands? Not one of our central midfield could tackle and so we were really open against a side looking to nick one and shut up shop. Once they scored, they showed no further desire to score.

Man for man, even with a few questionable selections we were so much better than Millwall. Hyypia ****ed it up royally last night by putting us in the position where we could get beaten. His decision to send that team out.

What team would you have sent out?

 

[Seagull on the wing]

Gardner starting is out of the managers hands, that came with loan deal negotiated by Burke. I agree he is very poor and would not warrant a pace in any team I selected, but his selection is not down to Sami. Who are our heavy eight midfielders, we have a squad of lightweight midfielders, who selected them oh that'll be Burke. Inspirational midfield, I think the players in our squad have reached their limit of ability, how many did Sami select when loaning or purchasing them?

We miss Greer at the back, there is no doubt, yes he is in his 30s but he is solid and has been let down by some poor goalkeeping this year.

Can you name a heavy weight midfielder in our squad, can you name an inspirational midfielder in our squad. they have had twenty games to emerge and show themselves and I can't see them. I'm afraid that we have a neutral, ineffective midfield and a loan striker and light weight Colunga as strikers. Is there any wonder we are where we are, don't let Sami take the flack for the disastrous policies followed by the executive, the blame/responsibility for our current performance on the field lies with those who made the decisions off the field. The executive Barber , Burke et al should hang their heads in shame for what they have managed to dismantle this season.

I was Sami out, but him going won't make any difference, the players are not good enough collectively and that's our problem.

Barber cannot be blamed...he has nothing to do with the players and team selection...Barber is very good at his remit of running the club on a sound financial footing.
Your inspirational midfielder is injured at the moment....Crofts.
As usual we seem to have more players injured than most teams...it happened under Gus and Oscar.
You're right that we need heavyweight midfielders....Ince isn't small by any means.
Sami is out of his depth without a good right hand man...so maybe Sami/Jones/Burke should go.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

I agree the club must carry a significant portion of the blame for our predicament but Sammi is the one picking the team right? BHA managers are still allowed to do that without board interference right? He must go, I believe we should be in a better position despite the mess behind the scenes.

Unproven new manager who is clearly not up to the job. Zero improvement. Gamble failed.

Garcia was hampered last season with having to put Lingard in the starting line up and give him at least an hour on the pitch. Not ideal if it uses up one of the substitute options too.

 

[spring hall convert]

What team would you have sent out?

I've already answered that question in this thread. The key mistake for me was not including a presence, in midfield, Ince/ Holla. JFC is not a holding midfielder and as a result we were too open. This played into the hands of a team that had no ambition beyond nicking one and then shutting up shop. We started the game set up like a team that was already 1-0 down.

We might have got away with this if we were full of confidence but Hyypia misjudged that. The first goal was going to be so important last night and we had in our power to nullify Millwall by being just a little more cautious. They got behind us far to easily in the first 20 minutes and we paid the price giving away another soft goal.

 

[spring hall convert]

Garcia was hampered last season with having to put Lingard in the starting line up and give him at least an hour on the pitch. Not ideal if it uses up one of the substitute options too.

Christ almighty. We were a better team with Lingard in it last season, check the results. He'd walk into this year's team. He's a top 6 player in this division.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Christ almighty. We were a better team with Lingard in it last season, check the results. He'd walk into this year's team. He's a top 6 player in this division.

My point was the situation exists with Gardner in the current side , plus with JFC guaranteed a starting place we're effectively down to 9 men from when the ref blows his whistle.

 

[symyjym]

I've already answered that question in this thread. The key mistake for me was not including a presence, in midfield, Ince/ Holla. JFC is not a holding midfielder and as a result we were too open. This played into the hands of a team that had no ambition beyond nicking one and then shutting up shop. We started the game set up like a team that was already 1-0 down.

We might have got away with this if we were full of confidence but Hyypia misjudged that. The first goal was going to be so important last night and we had in our power to nullify Millwall by being just a little more cautious. They got behind us far to easily in the first 20 minutes and we paid the price giving away another soft goal.

I would have liked to have seen Ince start, but I don't think it would have made too much difference because as much as he is good on the eye he isn't beyond making mistakes himself. What we were really missing yesterday was the final ball.

I would have probably played Colunga instead of March, and possibly Ince instead of JFC, but we had plenty of chances to win with the starting 11, we just didn't take them.

 

[spring hall convert]

My point was the situation exists with Gardner in the current side , plus with JFC guaranteed a starting place we're effectively down to 9 men from when the ref blows his whistle.

Apologies, I read it that you were suggesting that we wouldn't have started Lingard.

 

[Silent Bob]

My point was the situation exists with Gardner in the current side , plus with JFC guaranteed a starting place we're effectively down to 9 men from when the ref blows his whistle.

But this is total nonsense, Hyypia has benched Gardner a number of times. He's also talked of wanting to extend his loan.

 

[spring hall convert]

I would have liked to have seen Ince start, but I don't think it would have made too much difference because as much as he is good on the eye he isn't beyond making mistakes himself. What we were really missing yesterday was the final ball.

I would have probably played Colunga instead of March, and possibly Ince instead of JFC, but we had plenty of chances to win with the starting 11, we just didn't take them.

How many of those chances were after we were 1-0 down though? Hyypia totally misread the situation - that was a niggly relegation battle last night between two sides bereft of confidence. He's sent us out set up like we're going to steamroller them. Had we scored early, who knows, we might have gone on to thrash them but conceding that first goal was doubly important last night because of the type of game it was.

It's no good now going on about bad luck and missing chances. We keep being wasteful in front of goal and we keep giving away soft goals. 21 games is long enough to make an assessment and if Wigan get a result today, only the league's joke team Blackpool is behind us. That's scandalous and no way representative of the squad that we have.

I don't think that Hyypia is the only problem we have but he is the biggest one and probably the easiest one to replace. I was pretty patient in the context of this board (Fulham made my mind up) but last night was abysmal result. The second half performance showed very little urgency which in our situation is unforgivable.

 

[Insel affe]

He's also talked of wanting to extend his loan.

He's also talked about not looking at the table or worrying about our position......

 

[symyjym]

How many of those chances were after we were 1-0 down though? Hyypia totally misread the situation - that was a niggly relegation battle last night between two sides bereft of confidence. He's sent us out set up like we're going to steamroller them. Had we scored early, who knows, we might have gone on to thrash them but conceding that first goal was doubly important last night because of the type of game it was.

It's no good now going on about bad luck and missing chances. We keep being wasteful in front of goal and we keep giving away soft goals. 21 games is long enough to make an assessment and if Wigan get a result today, only the league's joke team Blackpool is behind us. That's scandalous and no way representative of the squad that we have.

I don't think that Hyypia is the only problem we have but he is the biggest one and probably the easiest one to replace. I was pretty patient in the context of this board (Fulham made my mind up) but last night was abysmal result. The second half performance showed very little urgency which in our situation is unforgivable.

The only advantage a new manager will have is that is that the fans will not be able to blame him for his first few games. The second half performance was good if you take a neutral view.

Maybe if we set up this season defensively, going for draws and hoping to sneak wins, it may have been a better option, but we have been doing that for years now whilst the fans have been crying out for expansive football.

 

[spring hall convert]

but we have been doing that for years now whilst the fans have been crying out for expansive football.

This one wasn't. It was only a few games under Oscar last year that were a problem that was blown out of all proportion. Oscar did fantastically to get us where he did last year, with a lot of injuries to key personnel. I think he was much underrated on here and I suspect that had he been here this year he would have looked to be more expansive. We'll never know.

Anyhow one thing is for sure, if we continue at our current rate of points accumulation we'll have a great chance to play expansive football next year. The only snag is it'll be in League One.

 

[parks]

The club hasn't screwed him so stop feeling sorry for him. The club gave him a massive chance and he's royally f*cked it up.

This...wise words.

 

[B.W.]

I find myself having similar feelings, despite questioning his emotions in the past. The team was set s good as it could be tonight and played with endeavour and enthusiasm, but simply some of the players are just not good enough and choices and options taken by individuals were poor. On a player level Sami was not responsible for:

Missing two goal scoring opportunities afforded to Bent
A golden opportunity given to March
Four great opportunities to cross to men in the centre in the first half
Tex who couldn't beat the first man with his corner even though we had brought our keeper up
Starting Gardner, because its in his loan deal
Not having the captain available for selection
Having a light weight midfield, in terms of physique
Not having an inspirational midfielder in the squad
Not having one central figure in the team who is a big player (not talking about size)

Sami is the fall guy here, he tried something different tonight and had spotted the Millwall weakness with his tactics and selection, its just that the players were not able to deliver for him, Any dismissals should come further up the structure, i'm not sure a change of manager now will make a huge difference.

There are so many inaccuracies and assumptions in this post it hardly merits comment, but here you are:

(1) The manager should manage the players. He is ultimately responsible for their individual performances. Sami has mismanaged his players to the point that they do not know what they are doing, are totally demotivated, and are consistently making the mistakes you observe.
(2) Please validate your comment re Gardner's loan deal. Sammi actually wants this consistent under-performer after his deal expires, which just about sums up Sammi's lack of managerial nous.
(3) Sammi had options to address the lightweight nature of his midfield. He chose to, for example, leave out Ince.
(4) He could have played Holla, who has inexplicably been dropped against a backdrop of consistently awful performances by JFC and Gardner. Neither of the latter are inspirational, but Sammi's choice.
(5) Big players are at Sammi's disposal, he just doesn't, errr, inspire them. How big a player can EB be, for example? Ans = not big at all under Sammi.
(6) Sammi was outwitted by Hollowhead tactically.
(7) Burke needs to go as well.
(8) Sammi is the one single biggest problem Tony has to address. We will go down if he stays. We have a chance if he receives the chop ASAP.

 

[symyjym]

This one wasn't. It was only a few games under Oscar last year that were a problem that was blown out of all proportion. Oscar did fantastically to get us where he did last year, with a lot of injuries to key personnel. I think he was much underrated on here and I suspect that had he been here this year he would have looked to be more expansive. We'll never know.

Anyhow one thing is for sure, if we continue at our current rate of points accumulation we'll have a great chance to play expansive football next year. The only snag is it'll be in League One.

I know, I was gutted he left, but many others were droaning on about him without even considering the issues with the squad. The vocal minority shouts loudest.

The fact is we were the most ill prepared club at the start of the season barring Blackpool. That alone would have cost us 10 points before we even kicked a ball.

It would have been a difficult season for any manager coming here.

 

[B.W.]

This could be the ultimate nightmare. Yes Sami takes the bullets but are these players actually able to put a decent run of performances together. I bet even Mourhino would struggle with this lot.

We have to find out by sacking Sammi. I wholeheartedly disagree with you. This squad should be easily good enough for mid-table.

 

[B.W.]

Do you not see that the way we set up and the personnel we used yesterday totally played into Millwall's hands? Not one of our central midfield could tackle and so we were really open against a side looking to nick one and shut up shop. Once they scored, they showed no further desire to score.

Man for man, even with a few questionable selections we were so much better than Millwall. Hyypia ****ed it up royally last night by putting us in the position where we could get beaten. His decision to send that team out.

Spot on.