Thanks Kev - but is a new manager needed?

[Magnum PI]

A few points to make having caught up on this thread…

1. I’m convinced Maher would be a successful coach with better players in a higher division
2. I worry about his personal skills sometimes. He needs to do better in not getting upset at comments from the East during games. Our home form has been dreadful and he needs to do better
3. His biggest problem for me is not being able to have a plan B for the fact that the players struggle to play the way he asks them to.
4. Dropping players is fine, even the better ones. It’s a squad game these days and we don’t have reserve games. LCP needed a rest and KAF benefitted from one. I’d like to see us rotate more often next season.
5. Whilst I don’t think we are good enough to go up this season, I do think the Maher approach might make us tough opponents in the playoffs, even if we did meet York
6. Our failings are clear and have been for years. Quality in the final third. Addressing this will get us promoted next season almost certainly.

 

[Avl1983]

I continue to believe this is all quite simple, really.

A disrupted summer in the transfer market and on the training pitch, and an unsettled first third to half of the season whilst the club fished around for signings that wouldn't necessarily have been near the top of their list, has been the club's undoing this season.

Do I think Kevin Maher is perfect? Absolutely not. He has flaws. I'm not going to list them, because I think most of us would agree on what they are.

Do I think we could have avoided dropping as many points as we have to the Bostons, Suttons, Solihulls and Braintrees in recent weeks? Definitely......but literally all of the club's around us in the division, from 4th down to 10th, will be saying the same thing. What makes us so exceptional, or an anomaly, in that respect?

Opposition teams are trying to win matches, too (although you'd think we should just be able to turn up to win, judging by some comments on here), and will set up based on what they perceive to be our weaknesses. That's football. To counteract spoiling tactics, we need more quality.

At the end of the day, though, our form for the past 25 games would have us sitting 3rd.

View attachment 36424

This seems to be forgotten, or not even thought about, but it should be. People moan about "excuses" and how we shouldn't be able to use them anymore. Well, even if you only allowed said "excuses" to be used for the first 20 games......we're 3rd in the form guide since then! I'd say that corroborates the difficult start to the season, and the reasons for it.

Look at the "goals for" column over the past 25 games, too. Not too different to the other teams around us in the form guide......the only big difference is to York and Barnet, the two anomalies and (by far) two of the three biggest spenders this season.

I still think Maher deserves time. I'd like to see what he can do in the transfer market over the summer, and I'd like to see what a full pre-season in decent facilities and on good surfaces will do.

It's not all on him. COSU needs to trust and back him to the extent that they can.

If, off the back of a good and unhindered summer, we're outside/off the pace of the playoffs in December, then questions will probably need to be asked. Until then I'm happy for Maher to get a real crack.

A lot of good points made here and in subsequent posts, not excuses, genuine reasons, I acknowledge that completely. I do still feel however that with a better manager they would have been able to get a better tune out of this group of players.

I agree that if Pepple or Cardwell were still with us we’d be in the playoffs now, I also believe though that if we had a manager that attacked games and went for the win more we’d score more goals and have more points on the board. Maher has had it hard, I don’t think anyone is denying that, but ultimately that’s the deal he signed up for. When he took the job under Ron Martin he can’t have believed it would be easy and since COSU arrived he knows the plan is to buy players to develop and sell on, hopefully for a profit.

I appreciate he was badly hampered in doing so up front this season but we signed Crowther, I thought at the time as a replacement for Kensdale. Having seen him play I don’t think he’s the same sort of defender but Maher doesn’t seem convinced by Gubbins either, choosing to play loanees ahead of him in the team. Strikers come at a premium but centre backs aren’t that difficult to find normally, especially when we’re told what an amazing scoring network we have.

Recruitment, although there’s one or two that could turn out to be good signings hasn’t been good enough. Hopper appearing to be the glaring mistake as far as I can see. On quality and length of contract.

Maher’s tactics seem very rigid and it’s easy to guess what system he’s going to play most weeks.

Genuine question, what games has Maher changed the tactics mid-game to counter what we’re playing against and its worked? I honestly can’t think of any but maybe I’m wrong there? I haven’t seen every game this season.

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

A lot of good points made here and in subsequent posts, not excuses, genuine reasons, I acknowledge that completely. I do still feel however that with a better manager they would have been able to get a better tune out of this group of players.

I agree that if Pepple or Cardwell were still with us we’d be in the playoffs now, I also believe though that if we had a manager that attacked games and went for the win more we’d score more goals and have more points on the board. Maher has had it hard, I don’t think anyone is denying that, but ultimately that’s the deal he signed up for. When he took the job under Ron Martin he can’t have believed it would be easy and since COSU arrived he knows the plan is to buy players to develop and sell on, hopefully for a profit.

I appreciate he was badly hampered in doing so up front this season but we signed Crowther, I thought at the time as a replacement for Kensdale. Having seen him play I don’t think he’s the same sort of defender but Maher doesn’t seem convinced by Gubbins either, choosing to play loanees ahead of him in the team. Strikers come at a premium but centre backs aren’t that difficult to find normally, especially when we’re told what an amazing scoring network we have.

Recruitment, although there’s one or two that could turn out to be good signings hasn’t been good enough. Hopper appearing to be the glaring mistake as far as I can see. On quality and length of contract.

Maher’s tactics seem very rigid and it’s easy to guess what system he’s going to play most weeks.

Genuine question, what games has Maher changed the tactics mid-game to counter what we’re playing against and its worked? I honestly can’t think of any but maybe I’m wrong there? I haven’t seen every game this season.

Our model will be to sign players to sell on but that isn't in full flow yet. That's what the future holds. It's not what was in place previously because we were crippled by an embargo and late ownership transition. You have to be in a position as a club to have replacements lined up to replace the players you've lost. We had players lined up, but couldn't get in the ones we wanted and instead signed other players that were way down the list or on the scrap heap. This summer is totally different.

Also, Crowther wasn't signed to replace Kensdale. We signed him 2 January's ago as a prospect to bed in over time. His best position isn't even in the Kensdale position, which is why he struggled. He had to play there as we had no one else.

I honestly think that people have forgotten what it was like at the start of the season. We were having to play Bridge up front. Does anyone honestly believe that's how Kev envisaged his desired team? We signed who we could get, not what we really wanted. Bonne didn't sign until September and no one had touched him before that. Signing a player in September and expect them to start when they aren't match fit, is not what a promotion team does. That's what a desperate team does and that's where we were at the time. There's absolutely no way that Kev wanted that and it certainly won't be the same this summer.

 

[Jay_SUFC]

And that’s the crux of it, no? For all of Kev’s shortcomings as manager, if he’d had the players at his disposal, this thread wouldn’t exist.

Even without both of those, we still should have cemented our playoff place by now. 2 points from the previous 3 games for example, prior to Monday, is inexcusable.

 

[Barling Magna]

Even without both of those, we still should have cemented our playoff place by now. 2 points from the previous 3 games for example, prior to Monday, is inexcusable.

It wasn't Kev's fault that GSM lost us two points by his unthinking throw in was it?

 

[Kris]

Our model will be to sign players to sell on but that isn't in full flow yet. That's what the future holds. It's not what was in place previously because we were crippled by an embargo and late ownership transition. You have to be in a position as a club to have replacements lined up to replace the players you've lost. We had players lined up, but couldn't get in the ones we wanted and instead signed other players that were way down the list or on the scrap heap. This summer is totally different.

Also, Crowther wasn't signed to replace Kensdale. We signed him 2 January's ago as a prospect to bed in over time. His best position isn't even in the Kensdale position, which is why he struggled. He had to play there as we had no one else.

I honestly think that people have forgotten what it was like at the start of the season. We were having to play Bridge up front. Does anyone honestly believe that's how Kev envisaged his desired team? We signed who we could get, not what we really wanted. Bonne didn't sign until September and no one had touched him before that. Signing a player in September and expect them to start when they aren't match fit, is not what a promotion team does. That's what a desperate team does and that's where we were at the time. There's absolutely no way that Kev wanted that and it certainly won't be the same this summer.

Indeed. That's why I'm very much in the pro-Maher boat as it stands. Originally, this season was the one I had envisoned for judging him authentically but given the horrid mess of the summer and the club nearly going bust I ultimately pushed my expectations back a season. Next season will be different.

 

[It'sGrimUpNorth]

It wasn't Kev's fault that GSM lost us two points by his unthinking throw in was it?

Kind of was his fault. He continues to pick him and position him where he can’t perform to his best. Yes he is our top scorer but he can’t defend for sh@t.

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

Indeed. That's why I'm very much in the pro-Maher boat as it stands. Originally, this season was the one I had envisoned for judging him authentically but given the horrid mess of the summer and the club nearly going bust I ultimately pushed my expectations back a season. Next season will be different.

I agree. When I was stood beside Justin Rees at Kidderminster away two autumns ago, I thought the landscape was going to look very different the following summer. If anything, it was worse rather than better in terms of the unknown. No one predicted that day that it would take as long as it did!

Expectations had to be reigned in for this season as a result of the hardships. It's just simple logic. However, the second half of this season, when everything has started to settle (the squad, the training ground, the finances), denotes a stronger understanding of where Kev and Co are at. It's a bigger indication of where the club is at and where it is going. Off the field, things are so much better, and on the field, they are so much better (in the top 4 for the last 26 games).

I hate all the 'pro' and 'anti' labels being banded about. I'm personally just a realist of what has happened before and what is happening now and in the future. The facts are that Kev got us mathematically into the playoffs last season with unbelievable circumstances and has got us two points off this season with all the restrictions that were in place in the summer. Just think what progress 'could' be made with all of these constraints and shackles removed? He has massively earned that chance in my opinion.

 

[Thundersley Blue]

Kind of was his fault. He continues to pick him and position him where he can’t perform to his best. Yes he is our top scorer but he can’t defend for sh@t.

But GSM would still have taken that throw in.

 

[It'sGrimUpNorth]

But GSM would still have taken that throw in.

Would he? If Wind was playing?

 

[GBJ]

Even without both of those, we still should have cemented our playoff place by now. 2 points from the previous 3 games for example, prior to Monday, is inexcusable.

Oh I agree we created more than enough opportunities to take more than a paltry two points. I don’t think it’s inexcusable though as clearly this isn’t just an issue across the last three games, prior to Monday, this is a season long issue. We don’t/didn’t have the players capable of taking them chances.

But to focus on those three games: We should have been 4-0 up at HT against Sutton. Bonne, Ralph & Leon all missing chances that looked easier to score. Bonne with a free header from 6-yards-out. Ralph with another close range header which was tipped onto the post & of course Leon’s 1-on-1 which was smashed straight at the keeper.

Solihull, again Bonne and Hopper with chances to score. Hopper’s especially should have been buried. Both missed. Leon had a couple of efforts on goal before dragging his best chance wide. Their keeper pulled off a wonder save to deny Taylor. Noor had two good efforts, one parried, one curled just wide of the post.

Braintree, Bonne as usual with the best opportunities. First, a strike from 15-yards-out, which was comfortably saved by the keeper, and secondly a first time pass across the box from Leon which Bonne couldn’t react to quick enough. Couple of efforts in that game from Leon too, as well as a decent penalty shout turned down in the second half.

The key thing here is if we’d had someone like Cards who could convert chances, or someone like Pep who could create his own chances, we’d have likely won all three of those games and I believe we’d have been 3rd or 4th in the division.

 

[GBJ]

Kind of was his fault. He continues to pick him and position him where he can’t perform to his best. Yes he is our top scorer but he can’t defend for sh@t.

It’s true that Gus’ defensive capabilities have flaws, but let’s not pretend he wasn’t part of one of the best defensive teams in the league over the last few years.

Even this term, we have the sixth best defensive record.

It’s not generally been our defence that has let us down. Of the top 14 places in this league, only one team has scored fewer than us.

 

[amsemp]

I continue to believe this is all quite simple, really.

A disrupted summer in the transfer market and on the training pitch, and an unsettled first third to half of the season whilst the club fished around for signings that wouldn't necessarily have been near the top of their list, has been the club's undoing this season.

Do I think Kevin Maher is perfect? Absolutely not. He has flaws. I'm not going to list them, because I think most of us would agree on what they are.

Do I think we could have avoided dropping as many points as we have to the Bostons, Suttons, Solihulls and Braintrees in recent weeks? Definitely......but literally all of the club's around us in the division, from 4th down to 10th, will be saying the same thing. What makes us so exceptional, or an anomaly, in that respect?

Opposition teams are trying to win matches, too (although you'd think we should just be able to turn up to win, judging by some comments on here), and will set up based on what they perceive to be our weaknesses. That's football. To counteract spoiling tactics, we need more quality.

At the end of the day, though, our form for the past 25 games would have us sitting 3rd.

View attachment 36424

This seems to be forgotten, or not even thought about, but it should be. People moan about "excuses" and how we shouldn't be able to use them anymore. Well, even if you only allowed said "excuses" to be used for the first 20 games......we're 3rd in the form guide since then! I'd say that corroborates the difficult start to the season, and the reasons for it.

Look at the "goals for" column over the past 25 games, too. Not too different to the other teams around us in the form guide......the only big difference is to York and Barnet, the two anomalies and (by far) two of the three biggest spenders this season.

I still think Maher deserves time. I'd like to see what he can do in the transfer market over the summer, and I'd like to see what a full pre-season in decent facilities and on good surfaces will do.

It's not all on him. COSU needs to trust and back him to the extent that they can.

If, off the back of a good and unhindered summer, we're outside/off the pace of the playoffs in December, then questions will probably need to be asked. Until then I'm happy for Maher to get a real crack.

We lost cardwell...got his replacement then lost him too. Kev absolutely knows what is needed.
Then found the kensdale replacement in Golding and then lost him too, more evidence of kev knowing where we need quality. Then the cherry on the kev trust cake is Leon.

These two posts are absolutely spot on for me. I’ve had my frustrations with Kev in the past, but you can’t deny it’s not been an incredibly disrupted season. COSU sealing the deal was never going to bring instant success and they’ve focused more on the off the field issues first rather than throwing lumps of cash at the first team - which is absolutely the right thing to do in my opinion.

Kev deserves next season 100%. An unhindered pre-season, an unhindered transfer window, and a settled environment. If we’re 3 or 4 months into the season and we’re well off the pace, there’s a conversation to be had and he can have no excuses.

 

[CanveyCastle]

Let's all just wait and see.

 

[Southend Elvis]

It’s true that Gus’ defensive capabilities have flaws, but let’s not pretend he wasn’t part of one of the best defensive teams in the league over the last few years.

Even this term, we have the sixth best defensive record.

It’s not generally been our defence that has let us down. Of the top 14 places in this league, only one team has scored fewer than us.

I wonder where GSM will play if he moves on at the end of the season, can't see him being anywhere near the defence.

 

[GBJ]

I wonder where GSM will play if he moves on at the end of the season, can't see him being anywhere near the defence.

Yeah you could be right. I don’t see him being as effective given a role further forward, but who knows. Fortunately my job doesn’t hinge on making those kinds of decisions though.

This is probably Gus’ peak season. He’s 28 in a few weeks, so it’s unlikely he’ll get much better than he currently is, ability wise.

Wherever he goes - and I do expect him to go this summer - I feel he’ll struggle to recreate his goals/assists form that he’s had with us over the past few years. I’d like to keep him if we could, but if he does go we have what looks like a readymade and competent replacement waiting in the wings.

 

[PIERS]

in points terms we are worse than last season. its only the comedy performances of a few our our play off rivals the have kept us in the game.

 

[kentblues]

I wonder where GSM will play if he moves on at the end of the season, can't see him being anywhere near the defence.

His position is a RWB- not a RB or anywhere else in MF let alone up front.

 

[Southend Elvis]

His position is a RWB- not a RB or anywhere else in MF let alone up front.

Let's see where another team plays him, I feel he should be a midfielder.