Pearson Out

[LJS]

The difference with Swansea and Southampton (and Brentford, actually) is that they have set philosophies as clubs and make appointments and signings to suit those. I think that is the correct approach and one I'd love to see us adopt. However it isn't the only way to succeed.

[dbtcity]

What's the point in sacking him now? Who's going to turn it around this quickly?

It's not even a question of turning it round quickly more about giving the new manager an extra couple of months in charge to assess the squad find his favoured formation and be ready for a promotion push next season

[l444ry]

What's the point in sacking him now? Who's going to turn it around this quickly? 

Maybe not. But at least a new approach and atmosphere may remove the shackles the players are under and play with more freedom. Who knows what would happen? It's that option or just get relegated in the cowardly way we are. 

[Bettsj2]

What's the point in sacking him now? Who's going to turn it around this quickly?

MON!!!!

[adam]

What's the point in sacking him now? Who's going to turn it around this quickly? 

 

Why keep him. He is clueless. Cant face another couple of months of watching his boring negative team. Get someone in early for next season so they can have a look at the squad.

[pazzerfox]

I agree with some of the things that you say but:-

 

"But as we lined up today with a 42-year-old goalkeeper, 3 centre backs in their 30s, a 34 year old central midfielder, 5 defenders and our striker on the wing against a pretty turgid Hull side, I am left wondering - what has happened"?

 

Surely you can see his thinking . 3 centre backs, yes in their 30's but 2 of which have a wealth of Premier League experience and our homegrown, young inexperienced centre back proving not to be quite up to it.   A 34 year old midfielder, who has played at the highest level and at times has looked a cut above what we already have.  Our striker on the wing was also our best player yesterday.

 

" And it is certainly not the Nigel Pearson whose all-out-attack policy brought us 102 points last season"

 

In my opinion, we still do attack but we do not commit so many men forward in fear of getting counter attacked and picked off at the other end.  We haven't lost by more than 2 goals this season and I think we haven't struck the right balance between attacking and defending.  his Premier League is a different beast and we could have found ourselves on the end of a few hidings had we gone "all out attack" from the start of the campaign.  

 

"This season has been a disaster and Pearson has to be held accountable. To my mind, there is no doubt that he lost his nerve at half-time in the Burnley game. Up to that point we had carried the relentless positivity and attacking intent from 2013/14 into every game. And then, against a Burnley side missing 4 of their best 5 players, we sat back, invited them onto us and inevitably conceded. Next game we went to Newcastle and played 4-5-1 with the wingers on our full-backs toes against a side with no wins and lost 1-0 to a late-ish goal on the counter attack. And since then it has been more of the same. More defensive play, fewer risks taken and an acceptance that the way for us to progress was to "keep things tight".

 

Totally agree.  Like you, I am/was a big NP fan, but now I am starting to believe that it's the tactics rather than the players that have let us down.

 

Good post though.  

[st albans fox]

Good point. Swansea in particular I still somehow think of as an old 4th division side living in the shadow of their bigger Welsh rivals.

How did they get to where they are now? We need an injection of that at Leicester. And quickly.

Remember when they came to us in the Championship. A footballing side who looked head & shoulders above any other team that season. Little Swansea. Now everyone loves them.

Premier stability. Forays into Europe. Exciting attacking football.

All of which seems a million miles away with Pearson in charge & the mindset of the current squad.

Yeah Swansea - if only we could have got hold of the guy who started that 'playing football the right way style' off ..................................

(We probably have a squad that could cope with his ideas now. Perhaps his time is done in Switzerland?)

The last manager who 'came back' achieved his objective.

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

The difference with Swansea and Southampton (and Brentford, actually) is that they have set philosophies as clubs and make appointments and signings to suit those. I think that is the correct approach and one I'd love to see us adopt. However it isn't the only way to succeed.

I think Ajax did this many years ago, from the first team down to the youth team everyone played the same style/system so when a player stepped up a level he already knew the system and fitted in seamlessly, no chopping and changing formations.

[JAPANFOX1]

Great OP - sums up the feelings of many of us I suspect.

[SecretPro]

He's still not gone? Ffs.

[LJS]

I think Ajax did this many years ago, from the first team down to the youth team everyone played the same style/system so when a player stepped up a level he already knew the system and fitted in seamlessly, no chopping and changing formations.

 

It's more about a style than formation. A formation is just starting positions. Important, but should be flexible both within and between matches. For example Man United, at their peak, played 4-4-2 as a starting formation but that became the now fashionable 4-2-3-1 during attacking phases. Look at the likes of Southampton and Swansea now. Whatever formation they put out they are recognisable as themselves because they have a particular style of play. 

 

In contrast we lack that identity this season. I couldn't describe our philosophy other than to say it's turgid. Last season we had a standard style, with a quick counter attacking set up, passing the ball into space for pacey players to frighten the opposition. You could see where the ball would go next from a variety of positions. 

[Stadt]

Who do you replace him with? He probably should go but in the Championship you need managers that know the league.

Pearson

Dyche

Redknapp

Mackay

Bruce

Holloway

McDermott

Adkins

Allardyce

Warnock

Lambert

Rodgers

So foreign managers aren't likely to get you promoted, that leaves British managers that are unemployed and the only candidate that sticks out is Warburton and he's probably not going to achieve what Pearson did in his first season in the championship.

I wouldn't be against Warburton but Pearson is clearly able in the championship, maybe he is broken and maybe he has lost it but we don't know for sure but one thing is for certain the championship is his level, so I'd give him another go, if he's not performing then sack him.

[wurmer]

He's still not gone? Ffs.

They won't sack him until we're mathematically down - if they'll even do it then.

Don't hold your breath.

[Walkerfox]

I, unfortunately, am swaying towards this group. I believe that if we were to keep him for next season in the Championship, he could get us back up. However, we know that he simply cant hack it in the prem. Even with a seasons experience, I don't think he has learned enough. We would go straight back down just like we will do this season.

 

To sack a manager who just got you promoted to the premier league would be ludicrous though, meaning that if we bring in someone now or at the end of the season (I don't know who) then they would have time to build the squad how they wish and hopefully prepare better than Nige did for the top flight. I like him as a manager, however I think he's done all he can here now.  

[Kinowe Soorie]

I'm gutted about this season like everyone else, but I would still give him 10 games in the Championship.

[SantiagoFox]

Ttfn - thanks for spending ages typing in exactly what I have been thinking. Top post.

However, I don't think anything will happen before the end of the season unless the crowd really turn.

[Crinklyfox]

Great post which sums up the feelings of many.

The significant difference between this season and the previous seasons where NP was manager is IMO that in previous years the squad has had the ability to prosper in the league. This season it appears to me that quite a few players are out of their depth in the Premier League. Under those conditions the manager has to try different ways of getting points - the tried and trusted methods simply don't work when the players aren't effective.

I believe that NP has tried different players and formations to address this issue, but this hasn't worked. We don't have any further options for players now and I think that he's out of ideas. He must also be under a great deal of pressure which doesn't help the decision-making processes. Things appear to have gone from bad to worse and it's difficult to see any possibility of recovery. I expect that the owners will replace him at the end of the season and we will then need a period of rebuilding.

[Thracian]

Well, having had a few hours to collect my thoughts on today and the season as a whole, I am afraid I am going to have to add to the whole sorry Pearson debate with my own views. I'm not sure that this really belongs in any of the other open threads so I've started a new topic.

 

Let me start by saying that I am a Nigel Pearson fan. And if you have come onto this thread, attracted by the heading, hoping for some hateful, bile-induced rant then you've come to the wrong place.

 

I think the end of the line has come for Nigel and his staff. Today showed up one of three things - he is either:

1) Totally and utterly incompetent tactically

2) He's gone temporarily (or worse permanently) insane

3) The players no longer want to play for him.

 

I am coming from a place where I have pretty much worshipped the ground Pearson walked on. Over 2 spells and 5 years, he has twice picked this club up from dark, dark places and raised it to heights barely imaginable at the time of his appointment. He's built young, energetic, hungry teams, with players desperate to play for the shirt. Players who valued their place in the squad, who respected him and played the game with a positive outlook.

 

This positive outlook has been most notable in his second spell. Whilst the first spell was driven by pragmatism, the second was, until 4 October 2014, characterised by attack, aggression and flair. In the short history of this club between 2004 (our last relegation) and 2014 (our promotion back to the top flight after the longest absence in our history), the moment that really stands out was some time in August 2012 when Pearson and Steve Walsh plucked Anthony Knockaert out of obscurity to become a key figure in our push for promotion. For the first time, Pearson was putting (was able to put?) a genuinely talented, creative force at the centre of our team's push for the top flight. For a few months, Knockaert was a revelation, but more importantly, the spirit in which he played the game, and the devil-may-care attacking focus which came with him, signalled a change in mindset and attitude which spurred the club on to a play-off place in 2013 and a runaway Championship title in 2014.

 

Fast forward to March 2015 and Knockaert (notwithstanding his personal issues today) is nowhere to be seen. This is not a lament for Knockaert - his limitations, particularly at this level, have long been discussed and will continue to be so. It is a lament for the great times that Pearson has brought us - the drive, the spirit, the energy and the invention of the great side that he built and was fully functioning just six short months ago. But as we lined up today with a 42-year-old goalkeeper, 3 centre backs in their 30s, a 34 year old central midfielder, 5 defenders and our striker on the wing against a pretty turgid Hull side, I am left wondering - what has happened?

 

Let's make no mistake. This is not the same Nigel Pearson who got us out of League One and into the Championship play-offs with young, hungry players and a smattering of experience. This is not the NIgel Pearson who shipped out dross like Beckford and Danns and replaced them with capable players who looked like they wanted to prove themselves in a Leicester shirt. And it is certainly not the Nigel Pearson whose all-out-attack policy brought us 102 points last season.

 

Yes, the Premier League is hard, and yes, it requires "horses for courses". But Pearson appears to have completely abandoned the policies that made me (and I presume many others) buy into him as a great long-term manager for this club. Gone are the days of attacking every team we play. Gone are the days, seemingly, of attacking even our weakest opponents. 5 at the back encourages a negative mindset from the start and yet again it has proven to be the case today. The lack of urgency throughout the game is laughable.

 

I have mentioned it in a couple of threads, but after today's game, we have 0 goals in our last 9 first halfs and 6 in the last 24. Seriously, what is that about? That demonstrates an absolutely criminal lack of ambition. We may not have the best players in the league, but we do have the players to be troubling sides at the wrong (and indeed, as the Manchester United game showed) the right end of the table.

 

This season has been a disaster and Pearson has to be held accountable. To my mind, there is no doubt that he lost his nerve at half-time in the Burnley game. Up to that point we had carried the relentless positivity and attacking intent from 2013/14 into every game. And then, against a Burnley side missing 4 of their best 5 players, we sat back, invited them onto us and inevitably conceded. Next game we went to Newcastle and played 4-5-1 with the wingers on our full-backs toes against a side with no wins and lost 1-0 to a late-ish goal on the counter attack. And since then it has been more of the same. More defensive play, fewer risks taken and an acceptance that the way for us to progress was to "keep things tight".

 

The net result of this has been a grand total return of 0 goals from home games against Hull, Palace, Stoke, Sunderland and West Brom. If we'd scored 0 goals in any one of those games it would have been a bit disappointing so to score 0 from the 5 is madness. We have afforded way too much respect to the sides around us all season and we are paying the ultimate price. Meanwhile we seem perfectly capable of playing very well against the "big sides" - oh, as long as we're 2-0 down at the time and have to come out to look for a goal.

And this will be forever the limitation of such negativity. All it takes is a freak own goal (West Brom), 1 genuine moment of class (Stoke) or a set piece (Crystal Palace) to make "keeping it tight" and hopefully pinching a 1-0 win into a 0-1 deficit and 30 minutes of frantic hoofball.

 

This is just the mindset I am talking about here. We could (and perhaps will) have a whole different thread on how Pearson has wasted very winnable games against Crystal Palace (A), West Brom (H), Aston Villa (A, Cup), Everton (A) and Hull (H) with absolutely insane formations that neither suited our purpose of needing to win, or at least be trying to win, those games, or the players available.

 

Anyway, this season has been a total disaster. My personal expectations were extremely high - I thought we'd finish 12th or 13th and frankly I have been made to look stupid. On reflection, my expectations were too lofty even for a side coming off the back of a season as good as ours, although it should be noted that no side gaining 100 Championship points has ever come close to being relegated the following season. Danny Finkelstein's usually reliable "Fink Tank" (based off years of statistics) gave us just a 9% chance of being relegated at the start of the season, and for all the wailing about newly promoted sides being "expected to go down" we were actually odds-against being relegated before a ball was kicked in August. Even the most pessimistic Leicester fan must be mortified by effectively being down with 19 points after 28 games and just 11 in the last 23 matches.

 

But enough about this season. We know it's a disaster and it's finished. There are 2 main reasons to keep Pearson now:

a) Who else would be better?

b) He has experience of getting promoted from the Championship.

Well I'm afraid that, after a lot of soul-searching, I can't even get on board with these any more. Frankly, after 11 points from 23 games and 0 goals at home to Hull, Stoke, Palace, West Brom and Sunderland, we can't really do much worse. What's going to happen, we'll get relegated? So what, we're going down anyway. At least a candidate with the right, positive, forward-thinking mentality might give us some football worth watching between now and May. We've seen 3 home goals in our last 9 games for Christ's sake.

 

As for "experience of promotion" as I understand it this argument falls into two categories:

1) He knows the squad

2) He knows the division

 

Well as I mentioned earlier, he doesn't know the squad. The likes of Drinkwater and Vardy (who I did think played well today), so inspirational last season, have been utterly dreadful this season - totally out of their depth and for the most part devoid of self-belief. Do you think that this will come flooding back when we get relegated? Of course it won't, not to mention the fact that they've barely played and will be surely be rusty after basically a year off.

 

From our Championship-winning side, there is every chance that we'll only be lining up with a battle-scarred Morgan, an ageing Konchesky, James, a broken Drinkwater, a broken Vardy and Nugent, plus a few odds and sods who may or may not be up to the grind of a Championship season. Make no mistake, a rebuilding job will be required next season. The team that Peason so carefully cultivated over 2 years to attack and dominate the Championship has been broken up to accommodate Premier League caution.

 

As for Pearson's experience of winning promotion, that is obviously invaluable. Or is it? A quick look at the promoted managers over the last three seasons shows Neil Warnock (previously promoted but with a very low success rate), Paul Lambert (first time promotion), Brendan Rodgers (first time promotion), Malky Mackay (first time promotion), Steve Bruce (previously promoted, but not for many years), Ian Holloway (previously promoted but everyone agrees he's a joke), Nigel Pearson (first time promotion), Sean Dyche (first time promotion), Harry Redknapp (previously promoted but scraped up with a very expensive side).

 

Previous promotions don't seem to suggest that a manager is going to be well-equipped for promotion in the future. In fact, it would appear that actually, it doesn't really make much difference, particularly when you consider that previously promoted managers might be more likely to get plush Championship jobs.

 

I also don't think the "relegated sides don't stick with their managers often so comparisons to Pearson staying are worthless" comments are really much help in this debate - the fact is that we don't really know either way, but it strikes me as fairly obvious that there is an overwhelmingly negative attitude on display every week at the moment, and I'm not confident that it can be turned around next season without significant change.

And so what if it can? Even if Pearson gets us up next season, we'll need more upheaval then, because surely Pearson has shown that he is not good enough to manage this side in the Premier League.

 

As it is, I think we're a significantly poorer side today than we were a year ago. The spark has gone. The joie de vivre has gone. And frankly the direction and philosophy of the club, so apparent over the previous 24 months, has gone.

 

Pearson has done wonders for this club, he really has. In my short time (since around 2004) supporting this club he has been by far and away our best manager, has produced easily our best sides (often on a shoestring) and has given me more great moments than I either care to remember or deserve. But I think it's clear that he has reached the end of the road. We've gone backwards this season and I don't think he knows how to fix it. And worse still, he's not being true to himself or the approach he has instilled into the club, and the approach that we bought into.

 

I would never, ever abuse, barrack or in any way try to force him out of the club. But to my mind, Nigel Pearson has taken this club as far as he can and the time has come for him to be politely, gratefully and respectfully relieved of his duties.

TL;DR - I am really sad.

 

 

Excellently put - and a really good read. 

[Thracian]

What grieves me most about this season is that we haven't "had a go". 

How strange that the very result that should have convinced us of our right to grace the Premiership - the win over Man United - should seemingly signal the end to all that had given hopes to our survival prospects.

 

Had we continued to attack in numbers and been continually shafted on the break by more talneted teams I could have eventually understood our restorting to more cautious football although from the moment the signing of Cambiasso signalled the gradual advent of experience over adventure our goals potential receded significantly and we were left with a philosophy of trying to beg 1-0's and the like - the kind of apologistic policy that was never going to work and which gradually eroded the fabulous team spirit and sense of purpose which earned our promotion so emphatically.

 

Pearson hasn't so much presided over disappointment as virtually pre-conceived surrender because, without goals and the kind of energetic and sustained support for decent attackers, there's almost no chance of success in a Premiership full of teams with at least some good attackers.

 

And it didn't take genius to work out that goals were always going to be imperative because even our initial defence - and certainly not the more recent policy of a five-strong back line of mostly old timers - was ever going to keep the opposition out much less provide the backing for attacking.

 

It's been a singularly ill-conceived last throw of the dice and one made in ignorance rather than intent...and the sure sign of a man who's found himself completely out of his depth both intellectually and, more import, inspirationally.

 

How many times have I written that "nil" gets you nothing? And how many times has our management presided over the same uncommitted, limp-wristed response?

 

Pearson might be big and he might see himself as strong and capable of looking after himself. But the pressure has exposed a man full of doubt and so many wrong reactions.

 

Easy run in? Game one of the sequence brought no goals against 10 men and a vital opportunity lost. And nothing but 

further evidence that, tactically - as has so often been apparent even in the better years - we haven't got a clue. 

[Collibosher70]

ttfn

A very accurate and also sad post which sums up how many feel.

[st albans fox]

Nil got us a point yesterday ?

Sorry to be a pedant Thracian

[Nalis]

Brilliant brilliant OP. I agree with every word.

[ealingfox]

Snapped for me yesterday when he brought on Tom Lawrence, a left-sided forward, and whacked him in some kind of ridiculous fake right-back position. So hard to believe and even harder to stomach.

 

He has us sort of trapped now. If they have a replacement in mind they will have to wait until that man's (Brentford's) season is over because I don't think they would sack off their current club right now regardless of their situation. Nobody knows what the plan is. The only thing left to say is we/I can't sit through another 90 minutes like yesterday, it was painful. Utterly painful.

 

The team has been dismantled. Everything good about last season is gone. Really saddening but you could certainly argue that keeping him on for next season is getting too risky now given the shocking state of affairs. It's completely unlike taking over someone else's mess. I am shit scared that we will rock up to Swindon at home first day of next season playing 5-4-1. This just cannot be allowed to happen.

[tewkesbury-fox]

Excellent post from the OP

[Benji]

Agree with the sentiments in here.  Forever grateful of what Pearson has achieved at this club and we owe him a lot of respect.  

 

After yesterday's game, though, I think it's time to try something new.  This isn't some dawning realisation that it should have happened before Xmas,  I personally think anyone honestly wanting him out at that point is a complete f'k tard.  We've been very patient as a club and in the majority as a set of fans, and I'm glad about that.  I'm glad at Xmas (and to an extent until only a few weeks ago) the majority were still giving Pearson the benefit of the doubt.  It's time to freshen the place up.