Five and a half years exactly

[BaaLocks]

After last night I was left reminded of how we destroyed Forest 5-0 and it made me wonder how the journey from now to then had evolved. I went into the line up for that match and then looked at a line up from a match this season. I picked Brentford at home because, being fair to all, last night we were missing some key players and I wanted to have as fair a reflection as possible. I've then looked at, in my opinion and totally aware that some will not agree on every point, each player and compared who I think was the better (even considering whether the same players have gone forward or backward in that time) with a little blue dot against who I think was the stronger player on that day. Rather than bore you with pages of 1:1 analysis the key highlights for me are:

- It's obvious where we have gone backwards, even with Mount and Wilson our midfield is inferior

- Our squad is deeper, the bench shows that clearly

- As a side we have traded some weaknesses but are probably the same standard of team we were 66 months ago

 

Which brings me to my key points and takeaways

- We have not progressed as a football club in that time

- Changing managers frequently cannot have helped us progress, constant launching of a new three year plan, new style, new evaluations

- We have put faith in some managers along the way but, sadly, we gambled big on the wrong ones. We did, it's done and over but still

- Our academy should be doing better, much chewed point but the evidence is there

- Our scouting system also, has been consistently poor. Of all our recent purchases only Marriott is - imho - an improvement. Waghorn, for example, is just Jamie Ward with muscles, Duane Homes is no better than Teale, Fagan or many other of the enigmatic wide players we have had down the years (I know, he's out of position and I'm not even saying I dislike him, just that he isn't any better)

 

My conclusion is that we must stick with Lampard and the crew, give them the time. But, unless we are willing to improve the side then it is sheer logic that we will stay where we have stayed, no matter who is at the helm. I get that we gambled badly and now need to shift out some of the problems but recent evidence is showing that Frank needs to learn quickly that a snappy YouTube video does not a good footballer make (re: Josefzoon). Does this mean money and investment? Yes, but not necessarily in the big bucks from Mel type of funding. When was the last time we bought a player from outside the UK (Ashley Cole aside)? We need a point of competitive advantage (look at Wolves, focused on Portugal, same with Arsenal and France) in our scouting system otherwise we are going to be squabbling with the same clubs for the same names and only getting them if we are prepared to pay more. Get me a Stimac, Van Der Laan, Willems, Asanaovic, Wanchope. And before you remind me of Fielhaber, Zadkovic, Blatsis or Grenet then yes, I know, it's a gamble but isn't life.

[Sexydadbod]

I cri everytime. Shows how good that team was in comparison to this one that we could afford to leave Hughes on the bench in a big game. Our midfield is so crap in comparison to that one.