Might as well create this now. Today felt like one of those games where the manager knows he’s out the door. Would like to keep Bilic and give him and the team a proper pre-season etc, but there just seems to be a disconnect between him and the board. That only ever ends one way. Lose to Reading and he’s gone, if not sooner. Someone mentioned on Twitter about Adi Hutter coming in if Bilic does go, which on paper makes sense. Just don’t know if he would join a team in the championship.
Looks like he’s trying to send a message but I don’t know why. He knows how this goes at Watford so my only theory is he’s looking for the sack now.
Jumping on this bandwagon early. He was hopeless today and looked totally out of his depth. Our players are not blameless but Bilic had no gameplan today, the lineup was wrong, there were no tactics and Boro' bullied us all game. Him leaving will not change much, but for his own dignity as a football persona, he may be debating it.
Think he's done well up until today with the players he's had available. Even today, would give him a bit of a pass as very hard to make a sensible looking team out of those fit. The blame lies fairly and squarely with Pozzo and whoever else has put together a squad completely unfit for purpose, with no thought as to the blend of characteristics you need to form a winning team.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardo_Rodríguez_(football_manager) This man was at the game, make of that what you will, very Pozzo’y CV though, this years Xisco? https://instagram.com/rrodriguez?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Certainly seems like the name you’d get if you put all previous Pozzo managers into a computer simulation.
Edwards first, and only 10 games are near identical to Bilic’s last, that’s progress for you. The one thing we’ll never know is if given time, Edwards would’ve improved. We do know that given twice the time, Bilic has got worse.
I feel bad commenting on a ‘Bilic Out’ thread with my comments - because I can imagine by extension whatever I say will be construed as me wanting him gone. Right now, I don’t care if he stays or goes. But I just cannot see what he is trying to achieve. There is zero style, zero pattern of play and zero anger about our failure to look good. He has all the hallmarks of someone who is here for a payday. He is clearly clashing with those above him regarding our recruitment - and whilst I don’t disagree with him entirely, I wonder what he expects. He’s been in the game long enough to know you won’t get satisfied 100% - but he acts like nothing else would suffice. I think he’s a drain on morale. His total lack of gameplan, style of pattern of play after a number of months is alarming. And I don’t want to hear excuses of injuries - pure nonsense. A decent coach insists on his style regardless - and if he has poor players, you can see them trying to implement the style badly but you know when good players come, it’ll work. Bilic has clearly had zero plan. There is no style. Never has been. I don’t want us to sack another coach. But I lost all faith when we sacked Edwards. That was the nail in the coffin for me in terms of us changing culture. Bin Bilic, Hire Xisco I say. At least he was likeable, got the best out of our talent and knows the surroundings. It’s genuinely got to that point with me.
Bilic is not the problem. He’s stated what the issues are and the owner has not listened. The midfield is just not strong enough for a promotion chasing side. We cannot put all our eggs in one basket and pin our entire hopes on Louza’s availability. Louza has not been available for most of the season, but he makes a huge difference. You can see how we tick when he’s moving the ball quickly. Pedro is also a huge loss. With what we have left, it’s not good enough. We’re mid-table and our results prove that. Louza and Pedro with a strong additional midfielder changes everything. Bilic’s demeanour looks like he’s given up. He’s making a lot of snipes and statements with his team selections and press interviews. He won’t win that game, we all know that. I’ve heard he doesn’t get on with Manga. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t last too long because we seem to be going in a negative direction.
The problem is we keep changing managers yet have the same old issue. Inconsistent form Injuries Not turning up for a half Doing nothing to look like we might fight back after going goal down away from home (except for Cardiff) Obviously the problems run deeper than the manager. BUT they will look at how Carrick has really improved things at Boro as we saw and the West Brom manager. Both will probably fInish above us.
He’s done alright. Nothing special and nothing to fill me with hope for the rest of the season. It makes no difference who is in charge. Pozzo is dreadful. He cannot leave soon enough but if anything he seems to have had a burst of motivation following the US investment. Reckon he’s here for the long term. Sad times.
I think the club would’ve had better long term prospects with Edwards, but with our financial situation I can see why Gino panicked and went for the short term boost. Unfortunately, our chickens have now come home to roost, and Gino can no longer just roll the dice on a random managerial appointment and produce a 10 game winning streak to fire us to automatic promotion anymore. The problems now run far too deep for that.
What style of football does he want us to play? I still have no idea after a few months of watching his Watford team and it appears very much like the players aren't sure either.
Far preferred watching that team under Taylor than this one so not sure if you are being as clever as you think you are.
But it won’t be - that’s the problem for us all. Supporting a club goes so deep that you can’t just cut or switch off. Sacking Edwards was the ‘final straw’ for me. But here I am. You’ll be here if we sack Bilic and that’s fine. You should be - your support isn’t the problem.
I was thinking that also, then again do you honest feel he would still want to be if say, next season we continued our downward spiral so bad we got relegated to League One? It is certainly not beyond us, and the general attitude of the players with their "couldn't care less" vibe means the only people who would be really hurt by a tumble into England's third tier would be the fans' and the other people at the club who work hard day in day out. I am not suggesting it would take us being a leauge one club for him to sell up and bugger off, but I do think it would be a massive motivator for him to do just that. Despite this Window being better than our previous ones, we are still not playing as a unit and that's not entirely down to the manager. Too many players' have the toxic mindset now. Doesn't matter where we finish to the majority of them - they still get paid. That toxicity has been growing since Gino got way to comfortable thinkling we were good enough to stay in the Premier League with a Championship backline.
That manager Ricardo Rodriguez who was at the game today to watch our embarrassing performance plays a 4-2-3-1. Obviously could just be a coincidence that he was there, but Gino loves a random manager from a random league. Just wouldn’t be surprised if he’s our new man.
The team is not Bilic’s and it shows. It’s on him today that he picked Kamara over Morris and I can see why he would do this, but Kamara is massively out of form and for me Morris has earned his right as first choice left back. Every other position though is a forced hand for Bilic and feel for him. He asked for certain tools and the board have gone for youth with potential resale value and risk of not being what the team requires right now. I like Martins, he is raw and direct which I think will help the team but Kone is stinking the place up and at 20 years old it’s not a surprise. Relying on so much youth is a massive mistake and we could really do with a Ben Watson style signing right now. Sarr is just a waste of space and I think it’s effecting the team as he is picked week in week out regardless of performance. As for Davies I really don’t like him, such a lazy player and not a team player at all. Does nothing to help the team defend on the front foot and is just not as good as he thinks he is. I’m backing Bilic I just hope he gets what he wants to at least have a chance to do the job he was hired to do
If Gino pulls the plug now he must be really worried we won’t make the play offs, which is a concern given that even if we do, the odds are we don’t win them.
No point in sacking Bilic, although questions can be asked of him. We have to give him at least a few weeks with the new signings and returning injured players. If at that point a play-off spot looks in doubt, that's when we could consider a change.
Wouldn’t be surprised to see Bilic go this weekend. Sniping, not getting on with Managa, W2 D1 L4 of his last 7. It’s not looking good.
