WHAT THE F**K IS GOING ON - Mr McGhee, are you there???

[Stumpy Tim]

Great debate - McGhee loses a few matches in the Championship, so Adams, Taylor et al must all be better managers. I'm not terribly impressed with how Micky is doing at the mo (but I'll give him a cheer next week, for old times sake). Taylor was too scared to manage us at this level, went to Hull, and has done OK - but now he's finding that even with resources far in excess of ours, it's bloody tough in this league.

McGhee has been fairly astute at making the least likely changes in games which "don't matter" (Turienzo at Luton, Chaigneau today). If it hadn't been for the Millwall game (which, to be honest, was much more the players' fault than MM's), then we'd have been more than happy with our Christmas/New Year haul - which should be rights have been 9 points from 5 games.

It's about time a few folk realised that to be where we are now is a BLOODY MIRACLE.....it may be painful at times, but I'd much rather be going to Southampton and losing 2-1 than getting a hard-earned point from MK Dons, or some crappy League One outfit.

Some excellent points there. I personally don't want to see MM leave - I think he's done an excellent job. What I would say is that he is not immune from criticism for decision that have gone wrong. For example, we were on a high after two successive wins, and I personally think playing around with the team to the extent he did at Luton is what has set us back. The defeat at Luton appears to have affected confidence and possibly cost us points against Millwall.

And however well we played today, we lost. And again it appears some decisions were slightly baffling. Leaving Leon out the squad altogether seems absurd to me, & playing the Frenchie in goal after he stormed off in a huff last week seems extremely harsh on Kuipers. Some of his subs seemed to have backfired too.

But we're still in with a shout of staying up, and if we finish 4th bottom again then everyone will be happy

 

[London Irish]

How many loans do Brighton have left this season?

Apologies for bringing my usual biases to the table, from an unseeing outsider's point of view, but been struck by Mark Yeates' spate of goals over the festive period - in a similar, yet more prolific-at-reserve-level vein, Lee Barnard's a striker of ours who seems bound for glory (hopefully) yet with no realistic glimpse of our first team for the forseeable...

Then again, it seems McGhee has indulged heavily in loans already this season, some canny, some seemingly-slapdash...

Plenty of time, though, to recover - season's barely halfway done, and can't see a worthwhile alternative becoming available...

I still think we have good leeway on loans. I wonder what you count as slapdash loans, though McShane, Henderson and Blayney have all excelled for us this year, and even the seeming misfit Chaigneau showed he had something to offer today. Our unsettled keeper situation has taken up some of our loan resources but hopefully that will be addressed by a permanent transfer soon.

I think McGhee took a long look at Yeates but in some remarks he made at some forum or other said he was unhappy at his ability to be enough of a team player for a club that's always going to be battling for its life in the botton third of this league.

 

[fatboy]

Do foreign loans count?

 

[London Irish]

When he left him out of the Hull game.

If he was, he'd have put Martin or Sullivan on the bench.

But that wasn't a comment on Chaigneau's playing ability, it was a discipline measure.

McGhee had, the previous week in the Argus, made it clear that Kuipers and Chaigneau were neck and neck in the race for the shirt.

You can see why today, there was some brilliant reaction saves in the second half that very nearly earnt us a point, and his distribution work looks a little sharper than Kuipers. It was a good decision to play him today.

 

[London Irish]

Yet

Indeed so Mr Loyalty, so here's your great opportunity to get behind McGhee to keep up this impressive record.

 

[fatboy]

But that wasn't a comment on Chaigneau's playing ability, it was a discipline measure.

McGhee had, the previous week in the Argus, made it clear that Kuipers and Chaigneau were neck and neck in the race for the shirt.

You can see why today, there was some brilliant reaction saves in the second half that very nearly earnt us a point, and his distribution work looks a little sharper than Kuipers. It was a good decision to play him today.

McGhee was not going to come out in the press and say one was ahead of the other in the race for the Hull spot.

Chaigneau was not picked for that game, Kuipers was. Then the toys came out of the pram or whatever actually did happen.

Seemed a strange decision that McGhee has suddenly found confidence in someone he had said he didn't have enough in to play against Hull and that he said should consider going home.

But maybe it was the kick up the arse he needed.

 

[London Irish]

McGhee was not going to come out in the press and say one was ahead of the other in the race for the Hull spot.

Why not? He told the press exactly that with Blayney and Henderson, with Blayney having to defer. Why not believe what he actually says?

If you watched Flo perform today, I'm surprised you thought it strange that McGhee picked him, it was a decent display and it's clear he has talent. I would pick him for the cup game and see if he can show some consistency.

 

[fatboy]

Yes but McGhee didn't know he was going to have a good game. The only game he had played he looked very bad and if he had been looking good in training he would have chosen him for Hull instead of Kuipers.

I'm not saying it was necessarily the wrong decision - just it was a bit strange when Kuipers seemed to have not done a lot wrong.

It was different with Blayney and Henderson - it was more keep the shirt rather than a head to head.

It is all healthy competition having decent goalkeepers and maybe it will mean the Henderson money (?) can be spent on a forward.

 

[London Irish]

I'm not saying it was necessarily the wrong decision - just it was a bit strange when Kuipers seemed to have not done a lot wrong.

Well, nothing terribly wrong but I don't think Kuipers exactly shone either in our past two defeats. If the two keepers are close in McGhee's estimation, then it seems fair enough to see if Flo can do better.

Probably still not a lot in between the two, but Flo repaid McGhee's faith today.

 

[enigma]

At the end of the day, whatever was said, if he suceeds in getting good performances out of whichever keeper is going to play, does it really matter what McGhee said?

 

[BensGrandad]

I am not Kuipers no1 fan but would think that he certainly looks to be a safer keeper than Chaigneau in general terms of handling the ball. At least MK didnt drop or fumble 3 shots and nearly concede a goal each time. Chaigneau's distribution of the ball is far better than MK as he releases it quicker and further up the field. This was a point MM made in his post match interview and the reasoning behind his decision to play Chaigneau plus to quote MM ' we have to make some goalkeeper decisions very soon and it isnt fair to make them without having given him the chance to show us what he can do'.

Much as I really do not believe that there is any point in sacking MM, as I do not believe the board really care whether we stay up or not they are just making noises to keep 'peasants happy', I am becoming increasingly miffed by his use or rather lack of use of substitutes.

What was the logic Jarret for Robinson?

4 mins to go they score why not bring on Gatting immediately before the restart as they had nothing to use as the 11 on the field wouldnt have scored another goal if we were still playing now.

 

[Yorkie]

quote- Originally posted by Jim in the West
Great debate - McGhee loses a few matches in the Championship, so Adams, Taylor et al must all be better managers. I'm not terribly impressed with how Micky is doing at the mo (but I'll give him a cheer next week, for old times sake). Taylor was too scared to manage us at this level, went to Hull, and has done OK - but now he's finding that even with resources far in excess of ours, it's bloody tough in this league.

McGhee has been fairly astute at making the least likely changes in games which "don't matter" (Turienzo at Luton, Chaigneau today). If it hadn't been for the Millwall game (which, to be honest, was much more the players' fault than MM's), then we'd have been more than happy with our Christmas/New Year haul - which should be rights have been 9 points from 5 games.

It's about time a few folk realised that to be where we are now is a BLOODY MIRACLE.....it may be painful at times, but I'd much rather be going to Southampton and losing 2-1 than getting a hard-earned point from MK Dons, or some crappy League One outfit.

Some excellent points there. I personally don't want to see MM leave - I think he's done an excellent job. What I would say is that he is not immune from criticism for decision that have gone wrong. For example, we were on a high after two successive wins, and I personally think playing around with the team to the extent he did at Luton is what has set us back. The defeat at Luton appears to have affected confidence and possibly cost us points against Millwall.

And however well we played today, we lost. And again it appears some decisions were slightly baffling. Leaving Leon out the squad altogether seems absurd to me, & playing the Frenchie in goal after he stormed off in a huff last week seems extremely harsh on Kuipers. Some of his subs seemed to have backfired too.

But we're still in with a shout of staying up, and if we finish 4th bottom again then everyone will be happy

Well balanced views both with very good points made.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Why not? He told the press exactly that with Blayney and Henderson, with Blayney having to defer. Why not believe what he actually says?

If you watched Flo perform today, I'm surprised you thought it strange that McGhee picked him, it was a decent display and it's clear he has talent. I would pick him for the cup game and see if he can show some consistency.

Id go along with that, if Kuipers had pulled off that save near the end people would be creaming over it.

 

[dougdeep]

I wasn't impressed with the French Keeper. The sooner FDM is back the better.

 

[Gwylan]

I have respect for people criticising McGhee, believe it or not, I do it myself - no, really - but insisting on his removal from the club? No. Any money the club would have to pay in compensation I would rather see go on strengthening the squad.

Absolutely. No-one else has mentioned this yet but it's clear that there's little money around and I certainly wouldn't what that spent on paying McGhee off.

And TLO's right: there's a big difference in criticising McGhee for individual decisions and wanting him out. In two years at Brighton, McGhee has performed superbly and I see no-one available who could be any better. It's easy to say "McGhee out" but I haven't seen a single post yet that suggests anyone better.

 

[Bwian]

In two years at Brighton, McGhee has performed superbly and I see no-one available who could be any better. It's easy to say "McGhee out" but I haven't seen a single post yet that suggests anyone better.

I'd like to see how the likes of Mourhino and Ferguson would do given the resources available at the Albion? When we have a couple of injuries it is a real crisis-when they have their 'injury crises' it means they only have 25 internationals left to select from.

 

[Gwylan]

I'd like to see how the likes of Mourhino and Ferguson would do given the resources available at the Albion? When we have a couple of injuries it is a real crisis-when they have their 'injury crises' it means they only have 25 internationals left to select from.

Exactly. Burley was griping about injuries but still had a million pound player sitting on the bench (and one of the hottest prospects in English football sitting beside him).

And Southampton aren't even in the top half of the table. That really shows what we're up against.

 

[Dave the OAP]

I am sick to death of theis treachery and disloyalty.


Some people on here should be f***ing ASHAMED of themselves.

You really dont like it when people express a different opinion to the "acceptable" do you?

On balance, MM's selection policy is at best bizarre at worst down right foolhardy.

Yesterday, Lynch was a succes as was Flo, however we still lost and as the game went on, it was almost inevitable that they were going to score...we were not!.

McCammon looked crocked with 20 minutes to go and should have been replaced then. These are decisions down to the manager and his assistants. If we win they take the plaudits, if we lose or play crap they must take the critisism also.

I am not suggesting he should go, however I really do think that critisism is warranted in certain circumstances...Millwall being one of them

 

[The Large One]

I am not suggesting he should go, however I really do think that critisism is warranted in certain circumstances...Millwall being one of them

That was what I was on about - I don't want him to go, and am fed up of people insisting he should.

 

[Dave the OAP]

That was what I was on about - I don't want him to go, and am fed up of people insisting he should.

well for a normally articulate man you did not make that clear. Shame on you.