Next 5 games

MartinBWFC wrote:When you read something like this you have to question Hill's mentality.

Asked if he was frustrated by the errors, Hill added: “You always are. But sometimes you have got to ignore them.
“You make mistakes at home – you keep being told you are making them it takes you into a different place, you’re contemplating ‘why bother?’ “If you keep reminding players all the time about the mistakes they are making they are going to fear going out there. You want them to express themselves and make better decisions but if you keep on asking them it becomes false, it doesn’t encourage. You make them fear.

Not really, in a way he's right.

You have to start looking at human behaviour and reinforcement of views.

If you are continually told by your boss you make mistakes all the time it is only natural (if you want to keep your job/place in the team) to try to stop making them - and the most obvious way of doing that is to avoid having to make any decisions at all.

Hill's more at fault by starting off by slamming the players right from the start, calling them gym bunnies with no technical skills and belittling them by revealing that non of them could keep 'header uppies' with him more than a few goes whilst him and 'Flicker' (I find such a nickname deeming personally and would not respond to it if I was Flitcroft - how hard is it to say David, or Dave?) could keep it up all day.  Good for them but I've never seen header uppies win any game yet.

Hill's job is to coach what he's got, no matter what deficiencies they currently have.  

He should have come up with a system and clearly defined roles for players by now, such that everyone should know and understand what they are meant to be doing team wise.

Does anyone we goes watching the team see any evidence of this because it seems numerous changes in defence are producing individual errors, possibly/probably because these individuals haven't a clearly defined system that they can slot in and out of when selected for the team - hence Hill's constant complain of individuals making poor choice selection leading to errors?

At the end of the day we know the level of footballers we have are with us because they either aren't that great or have seen better days or just youngsters coming through the system.  The job of the manager is to build a synergy from this being the team is better than the sum of the individual players.

Despite Hill's own individual mistakes such as blasting the youth players skills publicly, he seemed to be achieving this somewhat until the recent transfer window when something clearly happened behind the scenes and nothing has been the same since.

Hill would be better advised to move away from being the one to be the face of the public face of the club, Flitcroft could hardly do a worse job could he, and concentrate building this synergy from the players he has at his disposal.

I'm no Hill lover but I can't see him being sacked this season - what's the point really as most of the players won't even be here next season - so it should be in his own self interest to prove to FV and us how good a coach he really is.

That's my view for what it is worth.

I don't see him getting sacked this season either Sluffy, but can see them pushing him out in May, FV know they can't remain a league 2 side financially, and I don't realistically see Hill getting better results in the bottom tier, I like Hill despite his inane ramblings, but we have to be realistic and say enough is enough and part company, as you say would be a waste of time doing it now though.

I won't comment on Sluffy's bullshit based on taking my words out of context and trying to restate what I meant other than saying that I do wonder how the FACT that Bunney is yet to play is somehow a reflection on Hill's ability to judge players. Perhaps he's implying that Hill should have foreseen the car crash that has kept him out?
Anyhow, at the beginning of the season I totally expected relegation by a country mile. After the first 6 games I thought it might be relegated by a humiliating margin as well, but was right behind the kids who were doing their best despite racking up a negative goal difference of epic proportions.
Since then, Hill and his cobbled together team have put up a bit of a fight to the extent we are not completely out of sight although we're obviously close to it.
And yet, the team aren't quite what is needed to pull off the miracle they say they still believe in but equally they are now not far off being that team inasmuch that previously we couldn't defend, create or score and now we can do 2 out of the 3 reasonably competently so there is at least something to work with.
I repeat, there is still a small chance that they will come good.

Regarding the errors - Its called quality - better players make less mistakes, better passes etc.....when Silva or De Bruyne make a bad pass the crowd gasps.....the top teams can put 20 or more passes together in a row....lower leagues put three passes together at best then hoof it. 
Its not mistakes as such - just lack of quality. You can stand there all day shouting at a donkey and by the end of the day - its still a donkey.

terenceanne wrote:Regarding the errors - Its called quality - better players make less mistakes, better passes etc.....when Silva or De Bruyne make a bad pass the crowd gasps.....the top teams can put 20 or more passes together in a row....lower leagues put three passes together at best then hoof it. 
Its not mistakes as such - just lack of quality. You can stand there all day shouting at a donkey and by the end of the day - its still a donkey.

I have a theory about this.
Seems to me that Flitcroft and Hill have instilled a never say die/the world is against us (insert platitude of your choice here) attitude in the players which when you're up against it is generally considered a good thing as it tends to get maximum effort out of the players and they'll "put their bodies on the line" and throw themselves into blocking anything that comes their way however...
good defending requires much more than that, some of which is undoubtedly about quality and some of which is about organisation, calmness and teamwork which can be taught - even to donkeys - like "the Arsenal offside trap" in The Full Monty
Most of the goals we've conceded recently have come down to one of two things...a total focus on the ball at the expense of watching and covering the movement of the opposing attacking players (which has led to 2 defenders going for the same ball and/or leaving attackers unmarked) and midfielders not tracking back to stay with runners properly. Several recent goals were conceded where the initial attack was blocked but the ball fell fortuitously to unmarked players who then scored. And last night Donny scored with a single pass slid through to a player who was left on his own 1 to 1 with Matthews (after our defenders crowded round the passer as if drawn by a magnet)
OK it was a good pass and a well taken finish but it could have been prevented.

I'm all for total commitment to defending the goal, but I think the players need to trust each other, keep an eye on what's happening around them (not just the ball) work as a unit and get better support from the midfield and if they can be taught how to use their brains as much as their bodies they might be on to something.

Much prefer losing by the odd goal than getting battered 5 nil every week but the obvious next step is to stop giving away daft goals and that can be worked on.

wanderlust wrote:

terenceanne wrote:Regarding the errors - Its called quality - better players make less mistakes, better passes etc.....when Silva or De Bruyne make a bad pass the crowd gasps.....the top teams can put 20 or more passes together in a row....lower leagues put three passes together at best then hoof it. 
Its not mistakes as such - just lack of quality. You can stand there all day shouting at a donkey and by the end of the day - its still a donkey.

I have a theory about this.
Seems to me that Flitcroft and Hill have instilled a never say die/the world is against us (insert platitude of your choice here) attitude in the players which when you're up against it is generally considered a good thing as it tends to get maximum effort out of the players and they'll "put their bodies on the line" and throw themselves into blocking anything that comes their way however...
good defending requires much more than that, some of which is undoubtedly about quality and some of which is about organisation, calmness and teamwork which can be taught - even to donkeys - like "the Arsenal offside trap" in The Full Monty
Most of the goals we've conceded recently have come down to one of two things...a total focus on the ball at the expense of watching and covering the movement of the opposing attacking players (which has led to 2 defenders going for the same ball and/or leaving attackers unmarked) and midfielders not tracking back to stay with runners properly. Several recent goals were conceded where the initial attack was blocked but the ball fell fortuitously to unmarked players who then scored. And last night Donny scored with a single pass slid through to a player who was left on his own 1 to 1 with Matthews (after our defenders crowded round the passer as if drawn by a magnet)
OK it was a good pass and a well taken finish but it could have been prevented.

I'm all for total commitment to defending the goal, but I think the players need to trust each other, keep an eye on what's happening around them (not just the ball) work as a unit and get better support from the midfield and if they can be taught how to use their brains as much as their bodies they might be on to something.

Much prefer losing by the odd goal than getting battered 5 nil every week but the obvious next step is to stop giving away daft goals and that can be worked on.

Agreed - but the reason the defense is in trouble in the first place is that possession is given away up the field. Usually after a lump up the park. This causes the ball to come right back at us and therefore puts the defenders under pressure non stop. 
To state the bloody obvious...if we have the ball the other team can't score.

It's almost as if Parkinson never left.

Good chance of me getting blown out of the West Stand tomorrow if storm Dennis turns up.

boltonbonce wrote:Good chance of me getting blown out of the West Stand tomorrow if storm Dennis turns up.

 I wouldn't be surprised if it gets called off like City's game last week.

Norpig wrote:

boltonbonce wrote:Good chance of me getting blown out of the West Stand tomorrow if storm Dennis turns up.

 I wouldn't be surprised if it gets called off like City's game last week.

Wouldn't surprise me either. Had a couple of people asking me to get them tickets, but I suggested I'd leave it until tomorrow morning and see how it looked.

Just going off the highlights and stats it seems we were in the game against good opposition, and were perhaps a bit unlucky to concede the first goal but both goals came about from defensive chaos - again. I might be wrong but I still feel that if they can sort that out we'd be reasonably competitive. It's just so gutting to concede daft goals all the time.

Our defending is shambolic, so I’m not confident at all

BoltonTillIDie wrote:Our defending is shambolic, so I’m not confident at all

Everyone can see it though so presumably they'll be working on it. Simple things like not diving in on tackles, tracking runners and attacking loose balls and crosses can be taught but positioning and keeping an eye on what's going on around takes time - which we haven't got. It's a new defence and they are playing like strangers rather than a unit so maybe there's hope?

wanderlust wrote:

BoltonTillIDie wrote:Our defending is shambolic, so I’m not confident at all

Everyone can see it though so presumably they'll be working on it. Simple things like not diving in on tackles, tracking runners and attacking loose balls and crosses can be taught but positioning and keeping an eye on what's going on around takes time - which we haven't got. It's a new defence and they are playing like strangers rather than a unit so maybe there's hope?

So no improvement and another loss and even if we get something out of the next few games against lower half opposition our goose now looks well and truly cooked. Given that only a couple of weeks ago the players were still saying that they still believed we could survive I can only assume that even they have recognised it's not going to happen now, so it will be interesting what effect that will have on them.

Never mind the next 5 games, will we win again this season? I'm beginning to think not 

I was looking at the remaining fixtures, and maybe Accy, Southend away, and that's about it for points.