Rob Edwards Sacked

What style? I wouldn't mind backing him if I had any evidence to go on that he even has a style of play.

So far it's boring, uninspiring and predictable

 

Go

 

The style he played at FGR, with two dynamic wing backs on either side, a target man and a poacher as a pair up top with progressive, ball playing defenders on either side a commanding, aerial centre half etc etc. The issue is, our current squad doesn't really seem to suit a back 5, due to being too negative, anti-risk, and the fact that we lack any real technical players in midfield or in defence, or a back 4, due to the lack of defensive ability.

 

It's a no from me.

 

Let’s give him a chance surely? I mean he’s won League Two so will be useful when we get there in 4/5 years time.

 

I saw Forest Green last season and it was just lower division clogging fodder. Big centre halves, hit the channels, win it back, reset and go again. I think it’s a stretch to imagine there was some kind of deep philosophy.

 

That's a very good description of everything we don't have, unfortunately.

 

I sort of agreed with you during the summer (prob just hopeful) but now I truly feel we have not got players good enough to make a fist of this season.
Or maybe truth is we do have a few players that can sparkle but that's dragged down by the poorer players, so net/net "very ordinary team".
The championship has changed.... Still full of hard working, huffing & puffing players, but lots of good players now sprinkled amongst them.
Plus as people say, we've now got half the players mentally scarred and unable to loosen their shackles, so that's not a good place to be...
9th

 

Because we’ve been sold short by Gino and his shocking recruitment.

 

I genuinely think it’s how he *thinks* you have to play at this level but he doesn’t really know what he’s trying to achieve so it ends up being a watered down version of the sort of football you see on telly. I’d have more belief in him if he just tried to hit the channels and played the way he wants to play because surely no one wants this.

 

Saw some promising signs today for the first time in a while. Davis being a large part of that I think. Hause also. Louza will help also.

 

This is a good assessment of him. He does stuff because it's what he thinks teams need to do. The passing out from the back thing is absolutely laughable, and makes no sense with the players we have.

Everything is watered down because he's so incredibly indecisive

 

I noticed today that when we were building up in defence that the CBs would split and Choudhury would drop in between them to help give us *some* quality at the back on the ball. Although the downside of that is then that's one less midfielder who can receive the ball in midfield..

 

For the record, I haven't seen the game today, but genuinely, what can you do when you have cloggers at the back and in midfield, but good forwards? Opposition teams know this and set up for exactly this eventuality, we're just so easy to play against, and I feel regardless of the manager, it will continue to be this way until there's a change in playing personnel (hopefully that comes with the return of Louza after the international break)

 

He can't be that thick

 

What I will say, despite not having watched the match, is why was Kabasele subbed on? Where was Sierralta? He does clearly seem to be behind Cathcart and Kabasele in the pecking order now, and I can't quite put my finger on why

PS, when I looked up the teamsheet online, it had Cathcart at LCB, and Hause in the middle of the three, was this how we lined up? As the only left-footer, surely he'd look much more comfortable on the left side than any of the other alternatives?

 

We lined up with a back 4 - Kamara LB, Hause CB, WTE CB, Cathcart RB.

Cathcart got injured in the second half, and Kabs came on for him at RB. It could be because maybe Sierralta doesn't have the pace for RB? Though Kabs was terrible for the brief time he was on and partly at fault for their equaliser.

 

Awful manager.

Should leave the club at the same time as the owners.

 

I’m finding it hard to back Edwards at the moment when I don’t think we are playing our best 11 or formation. The funny thing is, that under Xisco 2 seasons ago we have a mostly same if not improved starting 11. This is the starting 11 from our 2-0 win at Reading in April 21.

4-3-3
Bachmann
Femenia
WTE
Sierralta
Masina

Chalobah
Hughes
Zinckernagel

Sarr
Pedro
Sema

Our squad is still set up to suit this formation. So if Rob was to use this lineup as a foundation and take reference of that promotion winning season, we should be able to kick on.

4-3-3
Bachmann

Gaspar - fine at RB at this level, but not RWB
WTE - very good playing with Sierralta
Sierralta - ditto with WTE
Kamara - a massive upgrade on Masina

Choudhury - my pick over Kayembe. Playing them both is pointless, they are the same type of player
Louza - An upgrade on Chalobah IMO
Many people will pick Asprilla in midfield, but for me has to be one of Cleverley or Gosling. Need that tenacity and experience in a midfield 3.

Sarr
Pedro - could push into midfield and play Davies
Sema - swap for Hungbo who looks dynamic and ready to go

If anything, I think Edwards has more options than Xiaco had, so he needs to start making it work. However the fact we still have the same squad from 2 years ago is testament of the crap recruitment we have grown to expect from Team Gino & Duxbury.

 

That's football though, what manager/coach gets the exact players they want?

I don't doubt he's a nice bloke, but ultimately that only works with the players in the short term if you get results (like Xisco).

I've seen absolutely nothing new. No fresh ideas, no creative play that makes me think he's anything other than a bog standard manager rather than this promising young coach

 

So we have a Head Coach who is incapable of adapting to a different system?

 

Who are these players? As I see it we have Pedro and an emerging Asprilla as the main ones. Sarr is for the majority of games anonymous (but yes can turn up) and Davies looks promising. We have a shambles of a defence that always look like they have a mistake in them even if under no pressure, and we have zero creativity from midfield (I'm not a stats guy but I'm sure someone on here could support this).
We've are on our 8th coach since the start of the 2019/2020 season, yet have a vast majoity of players (particularly in defense and midfield) who have been here during that time. They weren't great then and they're progressively getting worse with age, I don't blame them for playing and taking the money - I know I would if I could get away with it at work - but coach after coach have failed with these players.

So, we get rid of RE, add his payout to the £millions we've already done in severance pays and then what? We bring In another person who also can't get a tune out of this unit?

This is all on the owners, full stop - we've absolutely blown £millions on dross and agent fees, I know it's football and money is spent like anything but it's sickening.

Getting rid of Rob resolves nothing, we end up in a rancid cycle of rinse and repeat.

Rant over!

 

Thank you!

Best 11? Who else has a case to have started today? Our squad is so **** that our first 11 picks itself by default and the bench every week is filled with whomever is available.

Rob is not doing great but is it our position as a club and as fans now, that the job of our coach is to mould the random schyte assembled by the owner into a workable squad? We therefor accept that the owner has no responsibility to have a viable recruitment strategy or to buy players according to our needs and his chosen manager's widely known preferred system?

No RWB, no midfield creativity, centre backs who can't pass water let alone a football etc.

We can just allow our owners to sign Bayo and Manaj and Gaspar and Kayembe and Kalu and Okoye because there MUST be some way these random parts can be arranged into a working football machine? Surely?

We also therefore will accept that the exact issues that have plagued us for 3-4 years must remain, because the only sweeping change made after our record low points season WAS EDWARDS.

EVERYTHING else is exactly the same. We sack Edwards, revert to our 3 random managers a season carousel, rinse and repeat.

I for one would rather stay down than see us try to get up with a couple of new manager bounces. Let's see if lessons can actually be learned and if the owners will start to actually stray from their stubbornly disgraceful transfer strategy and actually start to prioritise the team. Not holding my breath, but does anyone REALLY feel that sacking Edwards would bring optimism or hope, rather than a dull, empty feeling once again that history is repeating itself.

 

Obviously I would hope so, time will tell, think we should give him time. Did also say in the post you quoted that I don’t really think that our squad suits a back 4 or 5 worryingly, once again, due to constant neglect and overall dreadful recruitment.

 

If we could get away with playing nobody in defence, I think we should. They are that bad.

I wonder if they have less confidence in Flapmann, than they did in the YouTuber?

 

Building ‘up’ is a generous analysis I think. Most of the time we were building backwards, or down, or no where. Awful.

 

It feels like Edwards knew what he wanted to do in the summer, however the club left him a squad with no right wing back, no centre backs that can pass and midfielders that hide from the ball. So now he's trying to find a way of playing as the season is going on which is far from ideal. A fit Davis, Louza and TDB will massively help.

Played well in spells today but the calamitous defending struck again. Edwards needs to find a way of winning games in spite of the defence before the club revert to type and sack the head coach for their failings.

 

Definitely wouldn't have Sierralta at RB, but why not have WTE there and bring Sierralta to CB? WTE at least is that bit pacier, I believe he's played RCB before (which isn't overly different from RB), and he's played cameo roles for us before at RB

 

Lots of shaky passing across the back line, followed by an aimless hoof upfield. What's not to get?

 

There is a lot of justification that Edwards has been sold short in terms of recruitment, but it’s all relative. We’re playing teams in the Championship, not the Premier anymore.

I do not think he’s getting the most out of what he’s got. After 10 games we’ve not yet produced a good performance. The signs are worrying.

But it’s not worth over-analysing. He’ll be gone by the World Cup break, I’ve always felt that would be the case. Deadman walking.

 

The irony is that a pure Aidy approach would suit this side. No messing about, just get it long and try and knock the ball down.

Instead Edwards is too fearful of not towing the line of the modern approach of passing the ball about, so just does it while adding the pageantry of farkin' about with the ball for a few minutes.

It's all very confused. He doesn't know what to do, and is quite clearly out of his depth with the players at his disposal