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It's time for Mel to act

Half fan

By Half fan
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Half fan

Half fan

Posted
Posted

Uncle Mel has been superb recently! Yes, really!

He has mended a broken bridge, let Schteve back in, and not stormed into the dressing room again when he and many of us must have felt like doing so. Nor has he made one of those infamous Chairman comments about 'supporting the manager' even though his current manager's recent record is as bad as that of Mr Pearson's.

So to give our Chairman his due, has has learnt well from his relatively short experience of owning a football club.

As he reviews this experience, might he be forming some conclusions about how to achieve his passionate aim to return our club to the Premier League? The conclusions could be these!

  • When Schteve first came and got us to Wembley, Schteve said he was amazed how well the players had performed to get that far. This suggests what we all know, which is that for many reasons, that squad and the current one is not up to Premier League standard. So the recruitment policy has been inadequate irrespective of the Manager or the Recruiter or the money spent.
  • After Schteve's successful runs, opposing team's have worked us out and we have had no reply. (I recall Wigan unexpectedly beating us at home when Johnny Russell hauled Uwe Rosler back to his feet, as being the only happy part of that match.) So the tactics and formation flexibility have simply been inadequate.
  • Schteve is one of the best coaches around. Too many people have said so for this to be wrong, and we have seen some wonderful football played by DCFC as a result. But those results have simply been inadequate.
  • Coaching is an important element, but its impact is surely determined by the quality of the players (note Mr Clement's transfers and results at Swansea) and the appropriateness of the tactics and formation being coached week by week to beat the changing nature of the opposition. So Schteve's greatest success has been when guided by a superb leader - Jim Smith here and Sir Alex at MU. (Note that MU did not replace Sir Alex with Schteve.)

These four lessons have appeared and repeated themselves so often under Mel's ownership, that the task facing him is how to learn from them. I hope he does not get dragged into the wood and fooled by the trees of poor referees' decisions, bad luck, injuries, a curse on DCFC or any of the other distractions which fool we mere fans. So how is he to stand back from the trees?

I suggest that one appointment would learn all the four lessons; and that given the relationship between Mel, Sam and Schteve it is achievable. Namely that Schteve works under a wise old head who can see the four lessons and ensure we do not keep repeating the mistakes. We can all have fun suggesting who this reincarnation of Jim Smith might be. But surely Clough Senior's success with Peter Taylor proves the power of the right partnership. Schteve is great, Mel is great, Sam is great, the facilities are great, and the attendance home and away is great. So is this forum, thanks David. All are of Premier League standard. There is just one missing ingredient - a wise leader for Schteve who can spot the players, the tactics, the formation and the weekly flexibility needed so that Schteve's coaching gets us to the Premier League.

Who might it be? And will Mel appoint him?

 

 

 

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Ellafella

Ellafella

Posted
Posted

A well reasoned account. That said, I cannot see SMcC countenance such a move. It would be under-mining and divisive. I do think we need to let SMcC blend his own selections in; I too am not convinced of his/Evans's track record to date on recruitment BUT the ones he got on loan {Wisdom, Ibe, Thorne, Bamford} to name 4 were good. 

Let's just keep calm and keep our heads. This season was knackered at the start; there's not a lot wrong. A couple of players in of the right CHARACTER and ability, a few out, blood a couple of youngsters (Lowe has been the find this season!) and we go again. 

We have a great Club. Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. :mellow:

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BobbyD

BobbyD

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There is a very confusing set of signals coming out of DCFC , it has been this way for some time.

Do we want to create a production line of talent from our academy ?

Or do we want to just open the cheque book every six months to fill the perceived gaps in our makeup ? 

In my humble opinion, these are mutually exclusive ideals. The club needs to decide which route they prefer to follow. 

It is obvious to date that they prefer the latter. Why not just be honest about it ?

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sage

sage

Posted
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2 hours ago, Half fan said:

Uncle Mel has been superb recently! Yes, really!

He has mended a broken bridge, let Schteve back in, and not stormed into the dressing room again when he and many of us must have felt like doing so. Nor has he made one of those infamous Chairman comments about 'supporting the manager' even though his current manager's recent record is as bad as that of Mr Pearson's.

So to give our Chairman his due, has has learnt well from his relatively short experience of owning a football club.

As he reviews this experience, might he be forming some conclusions about how to achieve his passionate aim to return our club to the Premier League? The conclusions could be these!

  • When Schteve first came and got us to Wembley, Schteve said he was amazed how well the players had performed to get that far. This suggests what we all know, which is that for many reasons, that squad and the current one is not up to Premier League standard. So the recruitment policy has been inadequate irrespective of the Manager or the Recruiter or the money spent.
  • After Schteve's successful runs, opposing team's have worked us out and we have had no reply. (I recall Wigan unexpectedly beating us at home when Johnny Russell hauled Uwe Rosler back to his feet, as being the only happy part of that match.) So the tactics and formation flexibility have simply been inadequate.
  • Schteve is one of the best coaches around. Too many people have said so for this to be wrong, and we have seen some wonderful football played by DCFC as a result. But those results have simply been inadequate.
  • Coaching is an important element, but its impact is surely determined by the quality of the players (note Mr Clement's transfers and results at Swansea) and the appropriateness of the tactics and formation being coached week by week to beat the changing nature of the opposition. So Schteve's greatest success has been when guided by a superb leader - Jim Smith here and Sir Alex at MU. (Note that MU did not replace Sir Alex with Schteve.)

These four lessons have appeared and repeated themselves so often under Mel's ownership, that the task facing him is how to learn from them. I hope he does not get dragged into the wood and fooled by the trees of poor referees' decisions, bad luck, injuries, a curse on DCFC or any of the other distractions which fool we mere fans. So how is he to stand back from the trees?

I suggest that one appointment would learn all the four lessons; and that given the relationship between Mel, Sam and Schteve it is achievable. Namely that Schteve works under a wise old head who can see the four lessons and ensure we do not keep repeating the mistakes. We can all have fun suggesting who this reincarnation of Jim Smith might be. But surely Clough Senior's success with Peter Taylor proves the power of the right partnership. Schteve is great, Mel is great, Sam is great, the facilities are great, and the attendance home and away is great. So is this forum, thanks David. All are of Premier League standard. There is just one missing ingredient - a wise leader for Schteve who can spot the players, the tactics, the formation and the weekly flexibility needed so that Schteve's coaching gets us to the Premier League.

Who might it be? And will Mel appoint him?

 

 

 

The missing ingredient is recruitment. I know it's been said a 1000 times on here but it's true. 

In Mac's first season we were superb but lost a one off game unluckily. In his sesond season we were superb until we lost Martin and Eustace. He didn't bring in cover/replacements and tailed off. Recruitment has been even worse since. 

Look at our squad? How many do you want here next season? We have an unbalanced squad with at least 7 passengers/over paid flops. 

Unfortunately I can't see us solving this in 1 transfer window, so next season will be a transition season. I hope we and Mel have the patience.  

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RoyMac5

RoyMac5

Posted
Posted
50 minutes ago, BobbyD said:

There is a very confusing set of signals coming out of DCFC , it has been this way for some time.

Do we want to create a production line of talent from our academy ?

Or do we want to just open the cheque book every six months to fill the perceived gaps in our makeup ? 

In my humble opinion, these are mutually exclusive ideals.

Why are they - seems obvious to me that if the Academy can produce them we use them, if it can't we buy them.

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jagerbob

jagerbob

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Posted

id like to know how another job being created for a guy upstairs is going to make the difference.

Its all about recruitment, and the squad.

Its all about the players.

Get just a bit more physicality and height in the team. Become better at set pieces in both boxes and then we can compete. Sometimes... just sometimes you cant cut through teams with pretty passing.

So for those close competitive games lets get a teams thats the right side of being competitive at the physical game, particulalrly at defending and and attacking corners.

No derby fan is ever heard talking about this subject on here, but macca hit the nail on the head when he said if Bradley is missing, we have keogh and pearce, and thats it.

It needs addressing.

Let Schteve, and Evans sort it out. I just cant entertain the reasoning for Mel interfering with football matters and undermining the manager, because then the manager will walk. Instead ask him what he needs to do the job, and then get those tools in to support him.

 

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