Golden Rule

[weggy1976]

Win at Villa in typical GM fashion 1-0, so why did GM change a winning side?

Think he realised his mistake a HT by his substitutions.

[syston_fox]

Because Fryatt and Hume ran themselves into the ground on wednesday night and were probably still tired

Plus Megson knows Stoke as well as anyone after his time their so he put out a team that he thought would handle Stokes physical presence.... he just got it very wrong though

[WetFlannel]

Win at Villa in typical GM fashion 1-0, so why did GM change a winning side?

Think he realised his mistake a HT by his substitutions.

not necessarily, i thought he should of stuck with the same team but look at benitez... i dont care what anyone says about his rotation, hes a brilliant manager (not that ithink megsons in the same league as him). megsons still settling in so he needs to see the players at the moment...

[Micky Ruddle]

not necessarily, i thought he should of stuck with the same team but look at benitez... i dont care what anyone says about his rotation, hes a brilliant manager (not that ithink megsons in the same league as him). megsons still settling in so he needs to see the players at the moment...

Benitez this

Benitez that...

But yeah, i agree with that last part.

[weggy1976]

Because Fryatt and Hume ran themselves into the ground on wednesday night and were probably still tired

Plus Megson knows Stoke as well as anyone after his time their so he put out a team that he thought would handle Stokes physical presence.... he just got it very wrong though

There has to be a degree of concerntrate on OUR team and not too much of the opposition. Sure be aware of their strengths. But we need to establish our team so that the opposition start thinking about the way WE play.

[Smudge]

Because Fryatt and Hume ran themselves into the ground on wednesday night and were probably still tired

Plus Megson knows Stoke as well as anyone after his time their so he put out a team that he thought would handle Stokes physical presence.... he just got it very wrong though

That is what Steve Walsh said during his commentary. He said he could understand Megson's logic and thought he would have wanted to match their bigger defensive players.

[Matt]

Because Fryatt and Hume ran themselves into the ground on wednesday night and were probably still tired

Plus Megson knows Stoke as well as anyone after his time their so he put out a team that he thought would handle Stokes physical presence.... he just got it very wrong though

If that is a genuine excuse i'm worried.

Fryatt is coming back to first team football, fair enough he may not be used to it and just getting back to full fitness, and Hume didn't even play the full 90 minutes on Wednesday, yes they both worked very hard on Wednesday, but there professional footballers, professional athletes, i'm not saying they don't get tired of course they do they have high energy job's but if there genuinely tired this early in the season i'm very very worried.

It's excuse by Megson, why didn't he just come out say - Look I wanted to try other players in the team, it didn't work I realized my mistake changed it at half time.

Besides if Hume and Fryatt were tired the 45 minutes that they had on Saturday they did a good job of hiding the fact they were tired.

[ithuriel]

when it comes down to it he is payed to win matches and move us up the league , cup games are nice but if he can't win a league game sometime soon then i'd start looking at other means of paying my bills if i were him

[Manwell Pablo]

If that is a genuine excuse i'm worried.

Fryatt is coming back to first team football, fair enough he may not be used to it and just getting back to full fitness, and Hume didn't even play the full 90 minutes on Wednesday, yes they both worked very hard on Wednesday, but there professional footballers, professional athletes, i'm not saying they don't get tired of course they do they have high energy job's but if there genuinely tired this early in the season i'm very very worried.

It's excuse by Megson, why didn't he just come out say - Look I wanted to try other players in the team, it didn't work I realized my mistake changed it at half time.

Besides if Hume and Fryatt were tired the 45 minutes that they had on Saturday they did a good job of hiding the fact they were tired.

So what if they proffesional atheletes they aint robots, of course it makes a differnce especially when your oppenents have had the mid week off.

Why do you think European teams have massive squads (although probabley not as big as ours) it's so they can rotate and avoid fatigue, in any case we were playing a team much techincally better than us and alot of extra work was required especially from the two up front. As you say, Fryatt is also on his way back. Hume fair enough may be a bit concerning but then again, he haven't played on a Wednesday for well, seasons and seasons, after putting in such big shift and having a days rest taken away I'd see it's pretty understandable.

[weggy1976]

We are not in the champions league, we are not in the premiership. And for that reason we need to concerntrate on what works well for us. So playing a wiining team wouldn't be a bad start.

If in months to come we have 3 games in a week, and we win the first game, then surely we should field the same 11. A lot can be said for continuity and knowing your strengths and palyers around you. A winning streak comes with players performing well together, not from being chopped and changed depnding on who we are playing. I accept it to get a point away from home at a difficult club. \but never at a home game, and certainly not against an average championship side.

[Bert]

He wanted to try and play like for like as much as he possibly could. But, he realised his mistake and made the correct (ish) changes.

[demon_dog]

It would be nice if we could keep a winning team together.

However on occasions you do have to make changes due to player fitness levels, injuries or suspensions.

Most big clubs can do this, the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Man U, all have large squads.

The difference is that although we have a big squad of players, not many of them are good enough to make the first team.

This is down to buying poor quality players.

Hopefully in the near future, Megson will transfer list our dross and bring in players who are more than capable of doing the business.

Till then I'm afraid we are going to see a very indifferent season yet again.

[Thracian]

So what if they proffesional atheletes they aint robots, of course it makes a differnce especially when your oppenents have had the mid week off.

Why do you think European teams have massive squads (although probabley not as big as ours) it's so they can rotate and avoid fatigue, in any case we were playing a team much techincally better than us and alot of extra work was required especially from the two up front. As you say, Fryatt is also on his way back. Hume fair enough may be a bit concerning but then again, he haven't played on a Wednesday for well, seasons and seasons, after putting in such big shift and having a days rest taken away I'd see it's pretty understandable.

I saw nothing wrong with the principle of leaving Hume/Fryatt on the bench. Fryatt's desperately short of full first team match practice anyway.

But starting two big men only encouraged hoofball - which is what happened first half - and left us hopelessly short of creativity in midfield.

Megson brought Hume/Fryatt on at the right time, won the equaliser, established some momentum and then totally ballsed up by bringing on the basically defensive Kishishev instead of having someone attacking available.

What most worried me was that he did exactly the same sort of thing against QPR and it is he, far more than the players, who stopped us winning even one of those two home games and quite posibly both.

Megson needs to understand there is risk in all football. But we are now 10 points off the pace with only seven games played. Can even he not figure out that we need to win matches and that means a 90-a-minute effort in that direction and not simply adapting our strategy according to which side of a 1-0 we find ourselves.

Four draws so far and loads in previous seasons should have got the message across that we ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH NOT TO MAKE MISTAKES FROM WHICH THE OPPOSITION SCORE.

We have to set out to score at least two goals a game and even more if we can. To have any chance of doing that we have to have players who can pass the ball and make things happen.

I would say we're down to having only four or five good passers in our side and that's not enough. We've become a team full of labourers and it's a trend that's been growing for several seasons.

People with a touch of class sit on the sidelines.

[Manwell Pablo]

I'd just like to add that while Hume and Fryatt could of played, I think Megson thought with the size of squad and all that we had the strength in depth to bring other players in and do the job, saving these two who put in big shifts on Tuesday for the Wolves game. Obviously he was wrong, but with the size of our squad we should be able to rotate like that if everyones kept fit and in the hunt for places and quality of the signings had been slightly better.

In any case it was't long ago alot of you had Mr Fryatt ear marked for a move elsewhere as he wasn't up to it.

[ronnup]

I'd just like to add that while Hume and Fryatt could of played, I think Megson thought with the size of squad and all that we had the strength in depth to bring other players in and do the job, saving these two who put in big shifts on Tuesday for the Wolves game. Obviously he was wrong, but with the size of our squad we should be able to rotate like that if everyones kept fit and in the hunt for places and quality of the signings had been slightly better.

In any case it was't long ago alot of you had Mr Fryatt ear marked for a move elsewhere as he wasn't up to it.

Megson thought that Cort ~Campbell and De Vries wouldn't be shit. He was wrong.

[eaststandtom]

If that is a genuine excuse i'm worried.

Fryatt is coming back to first team football, fair enough he may not be used to it and just getting back to full fitness, and Hume didn't even play the full 90 minutes on Wednesday, yes they both worked very hard on Wednesday, but there professional footballers, professional athletes, i'm not saying they don't get tired of course they do they have high energy job's but if there genuinely tired this early in the season i'm very very worried.

It's excuse by Megson, why didn't he just come out say - Look I wanted to try other players in the team, it didn't work I realized my mistake changed it at half time.

Besides if Hume and Fryatt were tired the 45 minutes that they had on Saturday they did a good job of hiding the fact they were tired.

fair play to megson he tried a different strikeforce and openly has admitted it didnt work.

good to see a bit of transparency from a manager.

it was a surprise selection but why would he lie about fryatt and hume being tired.

megson strikes me as the kind of guy who would be truthful and say ' i fancied seeing how the others look' rather than making some blag up.

besides if this were the case fryatt and hume wouldnt have had the impact they did when they came on.

megson has learnt that fryatt and hume, despite being dropped, are willing put in the effort still and make a difference when they get a chance.

good attitudes!!!!

[Geo V]

Playing 532 may work away and we may well have stumbled across a great formation for away games against the home sides who are expected to attack but playing that system at home for me would be terrible as it isn't attacking enough.

I`d personally play a 442 at home and then try continuing that 532 away from home. What I wouldnt have done was to play 3 upfront against Stoke with two big target men, especially when a day or two later we have let one go out on loan. Bizarre stuff.