brief comparison to last year

[JoeyB]

This morning i sat sit thinking about the contrast from this year to last year, thinking about it our starting line up from last night to the one from the back end of last season there's hardly any difference, maybe 1 or 2 players.

End of last Season:

Weale

morrison hobbs brown berner

Oakley wellens king dyer

Waghorn howard

Last night:

Logan

neilson vitor morrison berner

abe oakley king

dyer ------------------------- waghorn

howard

now when you look at the team there are 2 new players in the squad Vitor and Abe with 3 new players on the bench, the rest of the squad have all played together alot last season and they were all used to how each other played.

from last nights squad 7 of the players were first team regulars so its not the issue that the squad has changed drastically, the main difference i have noticed is that the players do not look as fit as they do, so when sousa says the players were looking leggy that says to me that they are not match fit.

we can keep saying that were not getting luck from the refs but last year we were getting some of the decisions given against us.

Also last season we had a solid defence, hobbs, morrison, berner never put a foot wrong and this season between them they have made quiet a few mistakes is it because there just not being given the training, or they have lost their confidence? or they've been taken out there comfort zone by being encouraged to run and pass the ball alot more? last season they did pass it but we were used to a few more long balls.

fair enough last season we weren't playing pretty football, but we were winning games, and scoring goals, personally i'd rather win games with mixed football and score goals, than play pretty football and loose.

so whats gone wrong?

• is it a lack of confidence?
  
• lack of match fitness?
  
• poor management?
  
• or is it just a mixture of them all?
  

[Guest BlueBrett]

Bring back Wayne Brown! It's the only logical solution

[Walkers Wench]

whats gone wrong is....sousa.

[Fox92]

We wouldn't have been up there this season if Pearson was still here. We overachieved last season with the help of several fantastic loan players. Those players have now left.

Therefore, Sousa has had a lot to do and change, where as he didn't really at Swansea as Martinez already played football there. I don't understand though, why our best player was on the bench last night? (Wellens).

We need a goalscorer really bad, something which (in my opinion) we haven't had since Dickov.

Whats gone wrong, to many change of players? In a way, I'm not to sure, but thats what I put it down to (at the minute!)

Overall, I have belief in Paulo Sousa. I don't think we will win at Norwich though. If thats the case, we need to really hammer S****horpe to pick up confidence - something else that could be the comparison. Confidence was high last season, having won League 1 we took the confidence into the Championship and overachieved. Having lost in the play offs, who knows how that penalty defeat has affected the players from last season.

[Webbo]

We wouldn't have been up there this season if Pearson was still here.

We wouldn't be where we are now either.

[Fox92]

We wouldn't be where we are now either.

Maybe so.

[z-layrex]

Why bother talking about it? Let's just watch Sousa ruin everything and send us back to Div 1 shitness.

[Babylon]

This morning i sat sit thinking about the contrast from this year to last year, thinking about it our starting line up from last night to the one from the back end of last season there's hardly any difference, maybe 1 or 2 players.

now when you look at the team there are 2 new players in the squad Vitor and Abe with 3 new players on the bench, the rest of the squad have all played together alot last season and they were all used to how each other played.

from last nights squad 7 of the players were first team regulars so its not the issue that the squad has changed drastically, the main difference i have noticed is that the players do not look as fit as they do, so when sousa says the players were looking leggy that says to me that they are not match fit.

we can keep saying that were not getting luck from the refs but last year we were getting some of the decisions given against us.

Also last season we had a solid defence, hobbs, morrison, berner never put a foot wrong and this season between them they have made quiet a few mistakes is it because there just not being given the training, or they have lost their confidence? or they've been taken out there comfort zone by being encouraged to run and pass the ball alot more? last season they did pass it but we were used to a few more long balls.

fair enough last season we weren't playing pretty football, but we were winning games, and scoring goals, personally i'd rather win games with mixed football and score goals, than play pretty football and loose.

so whats gone wrong?

• is it a lack of confidence?
  
• lack of match fitness?
  
• poor management?
  
• or is it just a mixture of them all?
  

Not forgetting last year we were on the up, this year the players had playoff heartbreak and the loss of a manager they liked to contend with.

[Kitchandro]

'We overachieved last season with the help of several fantastic loan players. Those players have now left.'

er, such as? Waghorn is still with us. Spearing and Vaughan only played a small part.

Pearson would have definately had us up in the top half, and I don't see why we couldn't get in the play-offs again. We needed to replace Brown and maybe bring in another striker, that's it. Moreno has been a pointless unecessary signing.

[Edmund]

The difference is the management.

[Chrysalis]

I find it hard to believe you not sure whats gone wrong.

1 - change of style of play that doesnt suit the players, possession football wont win us matches.

2 - one striker up front on his own, need a big striker who is good on the ball and clinical for this to work, howard and fryatt arent that, waghorn probably fits it the most but he isnt even been played as a striker.

3 - playing strikers on the wing.

4 - wrong motivation to players, cuddling them instead of bollocking them.

5 - lack of fitness training.

6 - set piece defending (zonal system?).

7 - neillson

[yorksfox]

Not an excuse. I remember the heartache after the Playoff Final defeats in 92 and 93. On each occasion Brian Little picked them up, got them there again, until we won the thing in 94. In 3 years I don't think we were out of the Top 8.

[Fox92]

'We overachieved last season with the help of several fantastic loan players. Those players have now left.'

er, such as? Waghorn is still with us. Spearing and Vaughan only played a small part.

Pearson would have definately had us up in the top half, and I don't see why we couldn't get in the play-offs again. We needed to replace Brown and maybe bring in another striker, that's it. Moreno has been a pointless unecessary signing.

Yes Waghorn is still with us but he isn't on loan - he has nothing to prove to us. I agree that he has been playing out of position, so I'll wait to see when he moves into the centre, but at the minute he's done nothing to suggest that he is worth the price we paid for him.

I was excluding him anyway from it all, which leaves the likes of Spearing and Vaughan. They may have only played a small part, but that part is still missing. There has been to many change of players - but thats just my opinion.

However, Vaughan is the type of stiker that we need now - he is strong, fast, good in the air and can finish - like Dave Kitson. As for Brown, he was the expierience that we require now - ok maybe not him, but a player like him.

Plus, I'd rather have Vaughan here than Waghorn.

[deepbluedevil]

Best Defender = Hobbs

Best Attacker = Fryatt

Both on the way out

Not rocket science

[Karljohn]

Brief look at the results compared to last season (in brackets)

Palace 3-2 (0-1) - 3 points difference

Boro 0-0 (2-0) - 2 points difference

Burnley 3-0 (n/a)

Reading 1-2 (1-2) - 0

Cov 1-1 (1-1) - 0

Cardiff 2-1 (1-0) - 0

QPR 0-2 (4-0) - 3 points difference

Portsmouth 6-1 (n/a)

So 8 points worse off in comparison to last year plus no return from the 2 relegated teams.

Just one clean sheet in 11 matches league and cup and conceded 3 or more in those 11 games on 4 occasions.

[Guest Mee-9]

'We overachieved last season with the help of several fantastic loan players. Those players have now left.'

er, such as? Waghorn is still with us. Spearing and Vaughan only played a small part.

Pearson would have definately had us up in the top half, and I don't see why we couldn't get in the play-offs again. We needed to replace Brown and maybe bring in another striker, that's it. Moreno has been a pointless unecessary signing.

I'd rather of had Vaughan here. He was a better footballer than Waghorn.

Wasted money on Waghorn in my opinion. 3m could of seen us sign some really decent proven championship striker.

[saabrian]

English players don't like possession football and aren't comfortable with anything other than the 4-4-2. You generally don't get out of the Championship (an ugly, crude division) with pretty football and we certainly don't have the players to be the exception. Pearson played "pragmatic" football and it worked. I'd rather see nice football but it doesn't work in the Championship.

[kimsalabim]

Last season:-

A talented manger who installed, grit, determination, super-fitness, confidence and guile into his players, played a system to his player's strengths and gave no excuses when the team came in on the wrong end of a hiding. A team of players that were being played in their correct positions, playing to their strengths in their roles, which they were more than capable of playing in. Carefully thought out loan and permanent signings, pretty much all of which made an impact, and a togetherness and team spirit which made the team greater than the sum of it's parts.

This season:-

An arrogant, "my way is the only way" manager, who seems to know nothing about the club, job or players he has taken on. The fitness of our players on the pitch has taken a massive down-turn. Players being signed from the middle of nowhere on a wing and a prayer, and in some cases, getting nowhere near the first team. Players being played totally out of position 3 weeks after we sign them for millions of pounds. Signings who (abe exempted) are not even fit to clean the boots of the players that played in their positions under Nigel Pearson. Players from the previous regime realising how shit things are and wanting to move because they, like me, and many other fans of this club (Which has won more trophies than pretty much anyone outside the "Big-Bore" in the last 15 years, realise that this current regime is not going to work. I have seen nothing positive from this period in our club's history, which is where this blithering idiot (and his ridiculous, patriotic, self-serving signings) need to be consigned.

Comparative enough for you?

By the way:

WE WANT SOUSA OUT!!!

[m00nie]

Last season:-

A talented manger who installed, grit, determination, super-fitness, confidence and guile into his players, played a system to his player's strengths and gave no excuses when the team came in on the wrong end of a hiding. A team of players that were being played in their correct positions, playing to their strengths in their roles, which they were more than capable of playing in. Carefully thought out loan and permanent signings, pretty much all of which made an impact, and a togetherness and team spirit which made the team greater than the sum of it's parts.

This season:-

An arrogant, "my way is the only way" manager, who seems to know nothing about the club, job or players he has taken on. The fitness of our players on the pitch has taken a massive down-turn. Players being signed from the middle of nowhere on a wing and a prayer, and in some cases, getting nowhere near the first team. Players being played totally out of position 3 weeks after we sign them for millions of pounds. Signings who (abe exempted) are not even fit to clean the boots of the players that played in their positions under Nigel Pearson. Players from the previous regime realising how shit things are and wanting to move because they, like me, and many other fans of this club (Which has won more trophies than pretty much anyone outside the "Big-Bore" in the last 15 years, realise that this current regime is not going to work. I have seen nothing positive from this period in our club's history, which is where this blithering idiot (and his ridiculous, patriotic, self-serving signings) need to be consigned.

Comparative enough for you?

By the way:

WE WANT SOUSA OUT!!!

its funny how people forget things when comparisiong (if thats even the word )...

like gally being played out of position.. oakley was played out wide also.. carefully thought out loan and permanent signings.,like ryan mcgivern ?? yan kermogant?? etc..

people are quick to try and finds things that are wrong but them same things when done before was ok.. like hobbs/wellens on the bench.. no one moaned about it at the cup match when we won against the same team etc

[Neil_LCFC]

English players don't like possession football and aren't comfortable with anything other than the 4-4-2. You generally don't get out of the Championship (an ugly, crude division) with pretty football and we certainly don't have the players to be the exception. Pearson played "pragmatic" football and it worked. I'd rather see nice football but it doesn't work in the Championship.

O'Neill never played 4-4-2 at Leicester or Celtic if my memory serves me correct always 5-3-2 when we are defending or 3-5-2 when in attack whichever way you look at it with 2 wing backs Guppy/Impey . So if we somehow miraculously persueded him to come back don't expect us to play 4-4-2. He likes 2 big centre halfs with a fast player sweeping behind, 2 wing backs & 3 centre midfielders with 2 up top. I always think this formation is the best as why have 4 defenders marking 1 or 2 forwards ? I suppose it all depends if you have the personel & managerial ability to make it work.

[Lillehamring]

can't you sousa out doom-mongers stop ruining every thread - if you think it's really just the difference between NP and PS, you are sadly deluded...

there is no guarantee that we would have performed at the same level as last year had pearson stayed, so change the record.

ANYWAYYYYYYYY, regarding the comparison of the squad from this year to last, joeyB's original discussion point...

i think one thing that has to be taken into consideration is that players like oakley and howard, who are still being given key roles, were on their last legs last season playing a much easier, low paced football - this season their legs are a season older and trying to keep up with a higher paced football and it shows - they aren't supporting the attack or the defence, just getting stuck in the middle of the park.

i'd rather see sousa take a few risks and drop some of this dead wood and bring in some of the younger faster players from the youth team.

as for the rest, well, fryatt clearly hasn't returned well from his long injury break, we saw in the past when his form dipped it took a while to rekindle it.

king and neilsen and dyer seem to be relishing playing under sousa. waghorn needs time to get back into the swing of things, towards the end of the pompey game, sousa moved him inside behind the front two and he was way more involved.

we are 8 games into a system of play very different to what we played last year, the players aren't helping sousa's task with the inconsistency of their performances - one minute they look like they get it, the next they don't.

sousa needs to be brave enough to drop players like howard and oakley and berner, and pick the players that can do what his system demands.

i think the real problem, is exactly the fact that joeyB makes, too many of last year's squad.

if you look at the 2 pompey games - the cup game we controlled with a midfield of moreno-abe-king, take away sousa's players, and you have the midfield that shipped so many goals in the 2nd game.

the CB's in the 1st game (vitor & morrison) did a fine job and even contributed a goal, in the 2nd game morrison and hobbs got ripped a new arsehole.

obviously the sending off didn't help matters, but i think this suggests that sousa's players can do a job and should be trusted to do that rather than always resorting to the safety of the 'established' players.

[ozleicester]

My comparison.. of... THE PLAYERS!... after all, they are the blokes on the park each week, they are the one who recieve and accept the adulation when we win, they should be accepting some responsibility for our current position.

Current Squad ....................................................09/10 ................ 10/11

1 Chris Weale (G)..................................... 6 ................................ 5

2 Robbie Neilson (D) ............................ 5.................................. 5

3 Aleksander Tunchev (D) grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

4 Michael Morrison (D) ........................ 5 ................................. 3

6 Julio Moreno (M) ------------------------------------------------------------

7 Paul Gallagher (F) .......................... 7 ................................ 4

8 Matt Oakley (M) .......................... 6 ................................. 4

9 Steve Howard (F) .......................... 7 .................................. 7

10 Andy King (M) ................................ 6 .................................... 8

11 Lloyd Dyer (M) ............................... 7 ...................................... 7

12 Matty Fryatt (F) .............................. 7 ....................................... 5

13 Conrad Logan (G) ..................... 5 ......................................... 6

14 Martyn Waghorn (F) .................. 7 .......................................... 5

15 Bruno Berner (D) ....................... 7 ......................................... 4

17 Dany N'Guessan (M) ------------------------------------------------------------

18 Thomas Kennedy (D) -----------------------------------------------------------

19 Ritchie Wellens (M) ................... 6 ........................................... 5

20 Michael Lamey (D) --------------------------------------------------------------

22 Yuki Abe (M) ----------------------------------------------------------------------

23 Franck Moussa (M) -------------------------------------------------------------

25 Jack Hobbs (D) ........................ 8 ........................................... 4

Just my thoughts, but the players especially a couple of my favourites are playing below their level, yes we can say the manager is changing things, but seriously, professional footballers move between clubs regualarly and are expected to play to the style required.. if they cant it says a lot about them as players and if they are requesting transfers because of it.. then let em go!

Yes PS has made mistakes, player positins and his starting line up, he is taking responsibility... the players MUST do the same... there are more people than MM, LH and PS not performing at the moment.

Stand up players!

[James.]

Why do I keep reading that we "overachieved" last season?

Sounds like a poor excuse for Sousa's failings. And more importantly it doesn't give Pearson the credit he deserves.

It's quite hard to over achieve over the course of a 46 game season. And how many of those people claiming that can honestly say they would have been happy with anything other than play offs or automatic promotion this season if Pearson had stayed.

We didn't over achieve. We had a great manager, stability, a good work ethic, fit confident players, high morale and an effective approach. Now we have none of that.

[Guest]

Defence.

The new management haven't got a defensive mentality and it's all gone to pieces. an NP team would never have conceded so many goals. Sousa is all fluff and no substance.

[breadandcheese]

Why do I keep reading that we "overachieved" last season?

Sounds like a poor excuse for Sousa's failings. And more importantly it doesn't give Pearson the credit he deserves.

It's quite hard to over achieve over the course of a 46 game season. And how many of those people claiming that can honestly say they would have been happy with anything other than play offs or automatic promotion this season if Pearson had stayed.

We didn't over achieve. We had a great manager, stability, a good work ethic, fit confident players, high morale and an effective approach. Now we have none of that.

Absolutely.