Bye Bye Pearson

[Bayfox]

Shoot me down if you want. But i actually think pearson got it wrong tonight when he made a change at half time. Bar some shit defending from a corner and a world class strike.

We were the better team in the 1st half. My half time team talk would have been along those lines and sent the same 11 out to prove me right. Instead he changes it and the 2nd half became to frantic with no shape and no real idea.

For the fact he cant read a game alone. That is why i wouldn't miss him. For me mon would give the whole club a lift.

[Guest ttfn]

Shoot me down if you want. But i actually think pearson got it wrong tonight when he made a change at half time. Bar some shit defending from a corner and a world class strike.

We were the better team in the 1st half. My half time team talk would have been along those lines and sent the same 11 out to prove me right. Instead he changes it and the 2nd half became to frantic with no shape and no real idea.

For the fact he cant read a game alone. That is why i wouldn't miss him. For me mon would give the whole club a lift.

Nugent nearly scored within 40 seconds of the start of the second half. I don't think Schlupp had a shot in his 45 minutes.

[kingfox]

I have to disagree. Experience? We had two ex-England internationals, a Danish international, a Welsh international, a Ghanian international and a Welsh international out there tonight. Our keeper and back four only had one under-25 among them (and he's not our player), we had Dyer and King in midfield, then introduced Nugent in attack. When we played Derby our side's average age was over a year greater than theirs, and it hardly mattered. We haven't brought along a single youth team player all season. Few sides have that experience - what with Wellens, Gallagher and Whitbread among those waiting in the wings. And Beckford, St Ledger and Danns loaned out.

In fact, I think the 24+ players have been the ones to let us down: Konchesky, King, Vardy (while not experienced, he's still 26) and Whitbread have had very poor seasons. Then look at the players who let us down badly under Sven - very, very experienced players. On the other hand Matty James has, for me, been the season's brightest light at 21.

Don't have to be an international, international is not experienced, age is experience. De Laet is 24, Keane was still playing so you have to count him. Midfield is too young, and the formation don't work, Dyer and Knockaert did nothing, even though James and King have been two of our best players recently, throughout the season experience in the midfield could help us a lot. Apart from Nugent in attack, we then have Wood, Kane, Schlupp, Waghorn all young players. Wellens, Gallagher and Whitbread aren't good enough, you can get many experienced players who are better than them.

We have the third youngest squad in the whole of the football league, with an average age of 24, regardless banging on about all those players, the fact is we have a young squad. In my opinion some may disagree, but ideally you want the younger players at right and left back, and on the wing or in attacking midfield, these young players have far more pace than the older legs at the back like Konchesky and some others we have had in the past. Look when we had Naughton, look when we had Cunningham, the amount of times they got forward with pace, and linked with players was amazing to watch, they could also defend decently well. Out wide you need pace as well and skill, young players offer more flair from that position, while the likes of Dyer is pretty direct, and lacks end product.

While we need more experience in the centre of midfield, and in the centre of defence, get a more experienced partner with Wes, his partnership with St Ledger worked earlier in the season. Get more experience in midfield, to help the likes of James and King, someone like Johnnie Jackson of Charlton would be ideal, experienced and can still score goals.

We will see though.

[mahoosive]

did people actually think watford were that good? thought they were average and hope they lose in the playoffs. we can't have a little tiny tin pot club like watford in the EPL. Cardiff, Hull and Watford would be a good replacement for the 3 tin pot clubs that came down i suppose

[Bayfox]

Nugent nearly scored within 40 seconds of the start of the second half. I don't think Schlupp had a shot in his 45 minutes.

Great highlight one moment out of 90mins.

Almost??? Still didnt.

Harry kane scored. He's still shit.

[Guest ttfn]

Great highlight one moment out of 90mins.

Almost??? Still didnt.

Harry kane scored. He's still shit.

Right, but that one moment was more than we created in 45 minutes before Nugent came on. I only have to highlight one moment, because there was nothing in the first half.

[inckley fox]

Don't have to be an international, international is not experienced, age is experience. De Laet is 24, Keane was still playing so you have to count him. Midfield is too young, and the formation don't work, Dyer and Knockaert did nothing, even though James and King have been two of our best players recently, throughout the season experience in the midfield could help us a lot. Apart from Nugent in attack, we then have Wood, Kane, Schlupp, Waghorn all young players. Wellens, Gallagher and Whitbread aren't good enough, you can get many experienced players who are better than them.

We have the third youngest squad in the whole of the football league, with an average age of 24, regardless banging on about all those players, the fact is we have a young squad. In my opinion some may disagree, but ideally you want the younger players at right and left back, and on the wing or in attacking midfield, these young players have far more pace than the older legs at the back like Konchesky and some others we have had in the past. Look when we had Naughton, look when we had Cunningham, the amount of times they got forward with pace, and linked with players was amazing to watch, they could also defend decently well. Out wide you need pace as well and skill, young players offer more flair from that position, while the likes of Dyer is pretty direct, and lacks end product.

While we need more experience in the centre of midfield, and in the centre of defence, get a more experienced partner with Wes, his partnership with St Ledger worked earlier in the season. Get more experience in midfield, to help the likes of James and King, someone like Johnnie Jackson of Charlton would be ideal, experienced and can still score goals.

We will see though.

Age alone isn't experience. Vardy is 26, is he more experienced than King and De Laet?

And if we include our loaned-out players, our squad's average age is over 25. The average age of our starting and finishing line-ups tonight was 25. A year older than Dortmund's.

I personally prefer the policy of buying young. There was plenty of experience under Sven - the average age of his signings was 27. And from 2004 to 2008, at Leicester, the average age of our signings was older still.

[Bayfox]

Right, but that one moment was more than we created in 45 minutes before Nugent came on. I only have to highlight one moment, because there was nothing in the first half.

So andy king hitting the post never happened. Guess not cus he does nothing.

If you think lumping the ball up to create something is great. Then i guess barca really are ****ed nowdays.

If you have any memory you will remember us battering spurs at filbo and still being 0-0 at half time. We won 3-0.

Why, because the manager challenged them to show that playing football worked.

[Thracian]

I'd long abandoned hope of our getting into the play-offs and although optimistically predicting a draw tonight we didn't even manage that small achievement. Words can't fully describe my frustration with Pearson and his coaches for all they've failed to accomplish with such rich resources in both cash and kind.

I even retreated to the pub at half-time because there was no logical way we were going to claw back three goals to turn around a 2-0 deficit. With some managers you'd show some faith but not with Pearson. There's really no preceddent that I can recall because Pearson, to me, is a tactical neanderthal.

How he and his staff have contrived such abysmal failure from being top of the league is beyond ordinary imagination.

I won't begin to log tonight's inadequacies in the first half except to say that in motor racing terms we got lapped strategically.

Watford got round the back of us so often in the first 20 minutes I thought we were wearing our shorts around our knees. Morgan and Kingy made last ditch blocks to deny a close-range goal chance but Watford might have scored four or five to our one or two in the opening quarter - and we were the home team!

Kasper made one near-miraculous recovery save after fumbling another low cross and the fluency of their counter-attacking compared with our laborious and disjointed so-called teamwork suggested it was only time before the visitors scored - and the double whammy before half-time effectively brought the curtain down on our season.

Why? Because we'd used all our pacy players from the off and with our team rarely moving to and fro as a smooth and swift unit there was no way any changes would result in three goals other than by extraordinarily freakish happenings - and we never hinted at showing the adventure for that to happen.

This point was summed up when Dyer produced a shot-cum-diagonal cross towards the far post and we simply didn't have enough chancers attacking the box...a failing demonstrated more than once last night and countless times over the season.

Detailed analysis matters not. We came second out of two - just as we've done far too often since the new year.

Did the team let the manager down or the manager and coaches let the team down? Who can prove any opinion?

But players who were good enough to lead the table after around a third of the season suddenly looked vulnerable, uncertain and lost. Yes, opponents might have done their homework. But, no, City hadn't lost the ability to win...just the conviction that they would win and nothing I saw in the last few months convinced me that anyone cared enough or had the ruthlessness to be winners.

[Guest ttfn]

So andy king hitting the post never happened. Guess not cus he does nothing.

If you think lumping the ball up to create something is great. Then i guess barca really are ****ed nowdays.

If you have any memory you will remember us battering spurs at filbo and still being 0-0 at half time. We won 3-0.

Why, because the manager challenged them to show that playing football worked.

King didn't hit the post.

You might be right, you might not be right. It's a hypothetical situation. The facts are that we came as close to scoring within a minute of the start of the second half as we had done in the previous 45 minutes. That is all I'm saying.

[johnny the fox]

I'd long abandoned hope of our getting into the play-offs and although optimistically predicting a draw tonight we didn't even manage that small achievement. Words can't fully describe my frustration with Pearson and his coaches for all they've failed to accomplish with such rich resources in both cash and kind.

I even retreated to the pub at half-time because there was no logical way we were going to claw back three goals to turn around a 2-0 deficit. With some managers you'd show some faith but not with Pearson. There's really no preceddent that I can recall because Pearson, to me, is a tactical neanderthal.

How he and his staff have contrived such abysmal failure from being top of the league is beyond ordinary imagination.

I won't begin to log tonight's inadequacies in the first half except to say that in motor racing terms we got lapped strategically.

Watford got round the back of us so often in the first 20 minutes I thought we were wearing our shorts around our knees. Morgan and Kingy made last ditch blocks to deny a close-range goal chance but Watford might have scored four or five to our one or two in the opening quarter - and we were the home team!

Kasper made one near-miraculous recovery save after fumbling another low cross and the fluency of their counter-attacking compared with our laborious and disjointed so-called teamwork suggested it was only time before the visitors scored - and the double whammy before half-time effectively brought the curtain down on our season.

Why? Because we'd used all our pacy players from the off and with our team rarely moving to and fro as a smooth and swift unit there was no way any changes would result in three goals other than by extraordinarily freakish happenings - and we never hinted at showing the adventure for that to happen.

This point was summed up when Dyer produced a shot-cum-diagonal cross towards the far post and we simply didn't have enough chancers attacking the box...a failing demonstrated more than once last night and countless times over the season.

Detailed analysis matters not. We came second out of two - just as we've done far too often since the new year.

Did the team let the manager down or the manager and coaches let the team down? Who can prove any opinion?

But players who were good enough to lead the table after around a third of the season suddenly looked vulnerable, uncertain and lost. Yes, opponents might have done their homework. But, no, City hadn't lost the ability to win...just the conviction that they would win and nothing I saw in the last few months convinced me that anyone cared enough or had the ruthlessness to be winners.

When the chips are down.. nobody will ,follow a "mardy" man over the top.. pearson is graceless and is lacking in ability, it does not matter how hard you claim to work if you lack the insight and imagination to compete at the top level..

[kingfox]

Age alone isn't experience. Vardy is 26, is he more experienced than King and De Laet?

And if we include our loaned-out players, our squad's average age is over 25. The average age of our starting and finishing line-ups tonight was 25. A year older than Dortmund's.

I personally prefer the policy of buying young. There was plenty of experience under Sven - the average age of his signings was 27. And from 2004 to 2008, at Leicester, the average age of our signings was older still.

But it's not working at the minute though is it?

Vardy climbed four leagues, and it hasn't paid off. Course I'm not counting our loaned out players, because there is no point because they aren't on our books at the minute, and probably won't be in the summer as we will get rid of them, and what has Dortmund got anything to do with it, there young players have 1000 times more quality than ours, we are a Championship side, with a young inconsistent squad. Our average age of our squad atm is 24 full stop and the third youngest in the Football League, doesn't that concern you in some way?

Sven overpaid on a lot of players, Pearson would of never thought on buying players like that.

I would like to see young pacy wingbacks next season, while I would like to see a more experienced centre back pairing, some experience in the centre of midfield to help James and King, while I would like to see a young and experienced creative player come in, who can score goals, while maybe an experienced striker to come off the bench now and then could help the team, and the younger players materialise, someone like Helguson at Cardiff or Phillips with Palace.

[inckley fox]

But it's not working at the minute though is it?

Vardy climbed four leagues, and it hasn't paid off. Course I'm not counting our loaned out players, because there is no point because they aren't on our books at the minute, and probably won't be in the summer as we will get rid of them, and what has Dortmund got anything to do with it, there young players have 1000 times more quality than ours, we are a Championship side, with a young inconsistent squad. Our average age of our squad atm is 24 full stop and the third youngest in the Football League, doesn't that concern you in some way?

Sven overpaid on a lot of players, Pearson would of never thought on buying players like that.

I would like to see young pacy wingbacks next season, while I would like to see a more experienced centre back pairing, some experience in the centre of midfield to help James and King, while I would like to see a young and experienced creative player come in, who can score goals, while maybe an experienced striker to come off the bench now and then could help the team, and the younger players materialise, someone like Helguson at Cardiff or Phillips with Palace.

Oh no you're right, it's definitely not working.

[Greatness_Since_1884]

Pearson as had long enough, to be fair he's had two seasons really he came here in November 2011 and at the end of the day Sven left behind some good players that showed potential all that was needed was for manager to come in and get them to work as a team, Pearson came in and decided to start from scratch. It was Pearson's decision to the change the team and play a team full of young players. Sven spend cash but did he have a run like this. The Pearson return hasn't been a disaster it's just been the wrong turn. Time to get back to the drawing board, and see if the new manager gives players like Beckford, Danns, St Ledger, Moore, Whitbread, Hopper and one or two the others that out on loan or sitting on the bench,

The owners have been fair to pearson.

We were spending over 100% of our turnover on wages. Pearson had to come and had to make those changes.

[Bob Weasel Fox]

Has he gone yet?

[LeicesterAreGoingUp]

if he did go it has too be chris powell doesnt it??

[Guest Col city fan]

Pearson deserves to be fired now for a handful of reasons:

a) His failure to address obvious deficiencies in centre mid, at left back.

b) The extraordinary situation with Schlupp at Man U. Not that I think it massively hurt us; rather that I've never known a manager in his position go about squad management - and reducing competition for places - in such a way. Moore's loan out, on a less bizarre scale, was also nonsensical.

c) His insistence on never changing an unbeaten side (even now he won't change a defence that conceded two in each of the last three games, and hasn't kept a clean sheet in two months... surprise surprise we concede two in the first half today).

d) His side's inability to play more than one formation.

e) Several poor signings. Vardy was an expensive error; Whitbread and Futacs also straightforward flops. Few of his signings since have been clear-cut successes.

e) He has failed to deliver on his minimum season objective, i.e. a place in the play-offs. In fact, we're on roughly the same points, once more, that we attained under Sven, so how he can claim he's 'achieved a great deal in a short time' I don't know.

There is no convincing defence of Pearson. He has comprehensively failed and had longer than the average Championship managerial tenure in charge. If he is fired, no manager will feel that City were unduly trigger happy.

But do we have the resources, or any hope, of appointing one of the obviously more talented managers to replace him? O'Neill isn't unthinkable, but neither could we be sure of appointing him unless we'd already fired Pearson and Di Matteo is a long shot.

As much as Pearson has undeniably failed, there remains a case for keeping him on the grounds of it being difficult to find a superior replacement.

All this..

Time for a change.

But who?

[Simmo86]

Makes me laugh when people slag Whitbread off. We where far more sound at the back when he was playing and I seem to remember him doing pretty well the MOTM votes for each game.

[Jugsi]

I remember Pearson talking about not adding to the squad in the loan window because he believed in his squad, that was near the beginning of 2/16 wins.

My nervousness is I don't think Pearson gets it, does he know our weakest areas? He brought One man in (Kane) and he wasn't what was needed at all.

We lack experience, we're weak in the middle and left back. Keeping Pearson for stability is one thing but I don't believe he'll strengthen where we need it and that will lead to another average season.

It took teams until Feb to learn how to play against us and then we had no plan B.

[artursteppe]

Yeah pearsons missed both interceptions for both goals! He has to go then! His fault completely!

Oh and he shouldve put those chances away too....oh yeah he can't control that! He controls the tactics and I think we've controlled the right areas of the pitch and closed them well.

So go support Man U, there's a good chap!

He controls the tactics??????? What effin tactics. He ain't got a clue. We've probably the best squad of players in our league organised by a manager who doesn't even know how to spell the word tactics let alone understand what that means. EVERY other manager in the Championship has more idea about tactics than Pearson.

[Happy Fox]

I thought Sven was bad but NP takes it to a whole new level.

[blueharmie]

we are so shit its unreal. what a failure of a season. deary me, players should be ashmed.

[Monsell1976]

Wether you liked Sven or not he wasn't given time,Pearson on the other hand has been given to much time, half a season to see what he needed and a full season to produced, he has failed miserably.

Both Sven and Pearson are like marmite, you either love them or hated them.

Now is the time to get rid, if he stays I have a feeling we will start the season as we ended it, and none of us want another wasted season.

Time for a proven, talented manager please.

[cc_star]

I thought Sven was bad but NP takes it to a whole new level.

Really?

Have you seen the financial situation Sven built up that will hinder us for years & years to come

It probably looks like NP has just missed out on the playoffs, although Bolton could easily lose today & we take it into the final game.... something which Sven could only dream of, despite blowing the club's future.

[He's not bald]

I really wish people would stop banging on defending Pearson by what he has achieved through the financial constraints he has had to work under..you simply don't know what they are/were.

All that matters is results and league position, his objective has to have been playoffs as a minimum and in that he has failed, fail to do your job in the real world and your shown the door.

Simply put he has to go, and the sooner now the better,it's no good moaning on about who can replace him either, there are decent managers out there, at least six in the championship alone that I can name that have done a better job than him this season!