Where does the buck stop.

[DTS]

Come on then we have all got a theory. But where does ultimate blame lie if there is any blame at all.

Personally I thnik it stops with Tilson. Love the man and I will never call for his head but I think maybe his faliure to pick up a partner for Freddy has seen us end up in this position now.

I think its a good years learning for him and I hope and pray he will be here next season for out assault on what is looking like Division One.

Thoughts please?

 

[Blues Trader]

Tilly - Sorry but he is the manager and the team are not motivated. Some poor signings and seems out of his depth at this level.

 

[turkishm]

The blame must be tilsons.The defence is a mess,i think we have now conceded more goals than enybody else.We have only scored 40 goals i think thats the least amount off goals in champ. I think clarke was a good signing but the rest of the defence are cack. Eastwood and gower have done there bit on the scoring front foran in my opinion is a waste of money,Bradbury, what does tilson see in him.Sorry if this down beat,but tilson has brought these players to the club,and in my opinion has spent Rons money badly.

 

[Desert Shrimper]

Some of the players going on the **** in recent weeks won't have helped. Col U looked far, far fitter and stronger than us. Foran looked like a Sunday League player who had been smashed the night before.....

 

[sufcintheprem]

The manager is always responsible for success or failure. He picks players, he tells them what to do and he should ultimately be responsible for success or failure.

I do think several players let him down yesterday though.

 

[Groyne Strain]

In every club, in every team ariound the globe, the ultimate responsibility for team selection, tactics and motivation is the manager's. The performance is down to the players. We all become a bit confused when things go wrong and tend to blame all and sundry rather than seeing what needs to be put right mostly.

In the past couple of games, irrespective of selection and tactics, the players have underperformed vastly. They have to carry the can for their own ineptitude as everyone knows they can do better. In the pit of my stomach, though, I get the feeling we have achieved too much too soon. Then again, would we rather be yo-yoing between Championship and League 1 or between League 1 and League 2?

 

[turkishm]

If we go down,andit seems likely now,some people seem to be running away with the idea,that we will be challenging for promotion back to champ. well not with this defence we wont.

 

[A Century United]

Sorry, I can't agree that there is one simple explanation for why we have struggled this season, nor one person or group of people to carry the can - that is just too simplistic. Where is the "Combination of some or all of the Above" choice, and the option for "The Fans Give Up To Easily and Get on the Players Backs"?

 

[andrew_sthnd]

i have said it before and i will say it again: Ricketts!

I think tilly was right in bringing a tall player in who has a lot of presence upfront! Unfortunately it didn't pay off but i think we could have done a lot better with him in the team - he would have been the perfect foil for freddy. Just think about how good he was when he played upfront with the goat! in his fleeting sub appearance i think he showed some class touches and i was very disappointed when we let him go, think he could have been just the player we need at this end of the season!

 

[silentshrimper]

Tilson and the players, to small a squad, although that has helped in the past, lack of experience on all fronts has not helped, but we all knew it was going to be hard, we will come back stronger.

 

[CM2 Blue]

The lack of a strong front player for Freddy to feed off has been an important part in our (apparent) downfall this season. It does n't account for all the goals we have leaked but we have not always defended far enough up the pitch by holding the ball up on the halfway line or beyond. Also, despite all his talent, Freddy has not run the inside forward channels or provided the lateral movement up front that stretches defences and creates openings for others- yesterday against Col U was a prime example.

If we go down (and stranger things have happened in football than us staying up!) I still feel that the club is in a strong position to re-build for the Championship, whether or not we return at the first attempt.

 

[Daddy Fat Sacks]

I would have to say Tilson & Brush, simply because I think tactically they are quite naive. We never seem to adjust our game to counter our opponents strengths or weaknesses, it's usually the same 11 who played last game barring injury or suspension. When you take the example of Sunderland away, who had obviously scouted us out ahead of time, you see the value of such methods. We also seem to struggle every time we play on a wide pitch (roll on Southampton!), another thing that smacks of tactical naivety. As does our complete lack of positional play - when have you ever seen the team move as a unit? JCR gets the ball, runs down the wing - where are the players to cross to? Passing, making space... it just doesn't happen, we don't seem to have footballers with good technical brains (whether that is Tilson's fault I can't say, I'm prepared to give him a break here!).

Also, the decision to leave us with 2 central midfielders has not helped, as for many of the games in February/March we were shoe-horning strikers into wingers and wingers into centre mid which, if it is not their usual position, is not going to get the players concerned playing to the greatest of their ability.

I also feel the whole substitution business has not helped us, both with the timings and who goes on/off (Sheffield Wednesday away when taking off Wilson at half-time really made a difference). A lot of the time, even in October, for instance when were 3-2 down to 10 man Hull at home in an already vital relegation 6 pointer, why not bring on extra forwards and throw everyone forward instead of keeping the original tactics and formation (which clearly aren't working as we wouldn't be losing) and almost accepting the result. It would be nice to see if we are trying to make an effort to get a goal or two!

I have to say though, that I hope Tilson never leaves us (even though it is suprising that someone who is supposed to care as passionately about the club as he is never gets annoyed or frustrated with the crap performances he has seen this season), but rather I wish he'd be able to adjust his managerial defficincies (tactics, tactics, player scouting and tactics) and hone himself as the best manager he could be. I realise some people say "But Tilson saved us from relegation in League 2 and got us back-to-back promotions" but admittedly:
a. Last year we were very lucky to be in the most wide-open League 1 in a long time, whenever we lost everyone else seemed to lose (I've just spent 5 minutes trying to find out the winning points totals for this division over the past years but I cannot find it anywhere, but I am sure that we have one of the, if not the, lowest points total for the Champions)
b. Tactically, the lower leagues are not very demanding - you just need a good keeper, solid defence and midfield and a striker who can bang them in and you'll do fine
c.Saying "Look at the past, ignore the present" is frankly not a good argument! It's the same as Frank Lampard, getting criticised over his World Cup performances last year, saying in his defence "Well, in 2005 I was voted 2nd best player in the world". Unfortunately, you can not just be judged on selected moments in the past. If this was the case, Frank Clark & Brian Little would still be managing in the Premier League.

Unfortunately, I do not think Tilson has been helped by our players attitudes, but hopefully he can take the time to improve as well as the team and we can bounce back a lot stronger for it.

 

[Blues Trader]

The two points we dropped against Leeds could now be vital. Should have shored up the defence instead he throws on another striker. Naivety in the extreme!

 

[Che's Left Foot]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn't the goat say in his autobiography something along the lines of "Steve Tilson's a great motivator, but doesn't really do tactics"...

For me, it's got to be a combination of coming up too quickly and tactical naivety

 

[shrimper dan]

Our problem is that we havent scored enough, we have had so many chances handed to us and we have not taken them. if we scored them we would easily be mid table. i dont think our defence is to blame. on the whole i think they have been quite good. at the start of the season sodje was outstanding, clarke is now. hunt is the only defender i think souldnt play. he makes far to many mistakes and doesnt go forward enough.
Just look at our results and how many times we have lost by 1 goal. Due to us not taking our chances and the other side taking theirs. a few times the other side only get 1 or 2 chances, take em and win. Leeds away was a game like that. we dominated them all match but we didnt score. but they get two chances and take em. yea eastwood was super the last two seasons but now he doesnt care and puts up no effort. no 1 can say that he hasnt been provided with the ball cos he gets it loads of times but just doesnt do anything. if we had the fred from the last two seasons we would stay up comfortably.

 

[Blues Trader]

Our problem is that we havent scored enough, we have had so many chances handed to us and we have not taken them. if we scored them we would easily be mid table. i dont think our defence is to blame. on the whole i think they have been quite good. at the start of the season sodje was outstanding, clarke is now. hunt is the only defender i think souldnt play. he makes far to many mistakes and doesnt go forward enough.
Just look at our results and how many times we have lost by 1 goal. Due to us not taking our chances and the other side taking theirs. a few times the other side only get 1 or 2 chances, take em and win. Leeds away was a game like that. we dominated them all match but we didnt score. but they get two chances and take em. yea eastwood was super the last two seasons but now he doesnt care and puts up no effort. no 1 can say that he hasnt been provided with the ball cos he gets it loads of times but just doesnt do anything. if we had the fred from the last two seasons we would stay up comfortably.

Fred had some support then instead of having to do it all on his own.

 

[Cliff Pavilion]

i have said it before and i will say it again: Ricketts!

I think tilly was right in bringing a tall player in who has a lot of presence upfront! Unfortunately it didn't pay off but i think we could have done a lot better with him in the team - he would have been the perfect foil for freddy. Just think about how good he was when he played upfront with the goat! in his fleeting sub appearance i think he showed some class touches and i was very disappointed when we let him go, think he could have been just the player we need at this end of the season!

I've said before that losing Ricketts was a major turning point for us. I suspect Tilly's Plan A at the start of the season was for him to be Freddy's partner long term. Letting him go, which we were right to do in the circumstances, and not finding a replacement has had a huge effect on Tilly's plans and exposed our lack of quality in reserve.

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

a. Last year we were very lucky to be in the most wide-open League 1 in a long time, whenever we lost everyone else seemed to lose (I've just spent 5 minutes trying to find out the winning points totals for this division over the past years but I cannot find it anywhere, but I am sure that we have one of the, if not the, lowest points total for the Champions)

05/06 Southend 82 (3pts clear)
04/05 Luton 98 (12pts clear)
03/04 Plymouth 90 (7pts clear)
02/03 Wigan 100 (14pts clear)
01/02 Brighton 90 (6pts clear)
00/01 Millwall 93 (2pts clear)

This season Scunny are now already on 82pts with 5 games to play!
So therefore, lowest points total of champions in recent years but not lowest points margin against the runners-up!

Stats from www.soccerbase.com