Post by Creepy Crawley on Oct 30, 2019 20:04:06 GMT
As a famous football pundit once said.
In my opinion, at the moment we are not doing well because there are not enough senior role models in the team to inspire, encourage and gee up the rest of the squad. We have a couple in Morris and Bulman, apart from that I don't see any Mr Motivator types to get the team going.
This is a job Jimmy Smith used to do so well. Morais would do this by example, Payne would also do this by example. But without them and i can't see where that spark of experience is going to come from.
After the recent poor run, we need a cool head to say, we can do this, we can battle back, we've done it before. But it seems when we go down a goal, the heads drop and they give up.
In the words of Delia Smith ... Come on let's be having you !
Get the senior players back from loans and get some guts and spine in this team.
You have a point, as there was a definite visible lack of leadership on Saturday.
But I wonder if there is a far simpler explanation... exhaustion...?
The likes of Ferguson & Bez were outstanding early season, over achieving & desperate to make an impression.
November is almost here, they have played a lot of games and they have lost that sharp edge.
The usual response is to give them a break, let them get those physical & mental mojos working... which just moves the question to be: whether their replacements are ready to offer something better...?
Definitely hoping to see Jimmy back in January. I can see why he went out on loan and hopefully we will see him fully fit and confident when he returns. Could be like a new signing!
Personally I think Thad is on the money. A dose of realism is needed here.
Nathan Ferguson was playing for Dulwich Hamlet last season. He made a great start at Crawley but it was always a big ask to sustain it. Before joining us Bez Lubala had made 3 sub appearances in the league (totalling 5 minutes) and played once in the league cup. Great start with us, by mid September people were talking about him leaving in January for big fees and he hasn't scored since.
In the summer most people on here wanted Ollie Palmer gone, now we are desperate to get him fit.
Let's face it our signings over the last few seasons have mainly been hopeless. Verheydt, Sanoh, Randall, German, Meite and so on. Our star signings last summer - Vincelot and Morais, both gone. The others we signed this summer, Powell, Boadu, Van Velzen, Bloomfield, Forrest, Nadesan.....in some cases unlucky with injuries but you can't be forever signing players who are not ready to play at our level..
I still think this season has been a slight improvement on last season, with some good cup wins and with only one to go down we should be OK in the league. Personally I wouldn't show Cioffi the door at this stage, you can only work with what you have available, the off-field set up just isn't what is needed at this level I'm afraid starting from the absentee owner and working downwards.
Last Edit: Oct 31, 2019 11:25:28 GMT by Simon: spelling
The problem is the defence, if Jimmy Smith can play full back, fine. Think Cioffi was unlucky with the Dacres-Cogley injury and we need to do business in January
On a note of objectivity, that team of "kids" who went on to win the double featured: Schmeichel, Irwin, Bruce, Pallister, Cole, Parker, Keane & Cantona... hardly spring chickens.. which tends to support the view of the OP...
...they featured strongly and the "kids" were kept fresh by being frequently rested as part of squad rotation system... which fits in with my theory of burn out.
Which all seems to suggests it is a question of balance, but SAF had far more options to mix & match than Gabi could ever dream of...!
On a note of objectivity, that team of "kids" who went on to win the double featured: Schmeichel, Irwin, Bruce, Pallister, Cole, Parker, Keane & Cantona... hardly spring chickens.. which tends to support the view of the OP...
...they featured strongly and the "kids" were kept fresh by being frequently rested as part of squad rotation system... which fits in with my theory of burn out.
Which all seems to suggests it is a question of balance, but SAF had far more options to mix & match than Gabi could ever dream of...!
Gabi has had pic n mix though...is it an assortment to everyones liking....clearly not.