Should Freedman get the sack?

MartinBWFC wrote:The biggest mistake Freedman has made is breaking up the partnership of Mills and Ream

Totally agree, and to accommodate Knight for god's sake!!

Sometimes football management isn't rocket science. You pick your best players in their best position.

I'm sure Baptiste was signed as a centre-half so why not put him in the centre with Mills and put Ream in the full back position?

Reebok Trotter wrote:I'm sure Baptiste was signed as a centre-half so why not put him in the centre with Mills and put Ream in the full back position?

Still square pegs in round holes RT, what he should be looking at is recruiting 2 fullback instead of fannying about looking for strikers.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

MartinBWFC wrote:The biggest mistake Freedman has made is breaking up the partnership of Mills and Ream

Totally agree, and to accommodate Knight for god's sake!!

Sometimes football management isn't rocket science. You pick your best players in their best position.

Why do you think he has made that decision nat?

30 votes to 9 in favour of the chop!!! Not good news for the ' Dougie Die Hards '.

MartinBWFC wrote:The biggest mistake Freedman has made is breaking up the partnership of Mills and Ream, another big mistake is ignoring the left back position, playing players out of position invarioubly means that the whole balance of the team is gone, consistently dropping players after a brilliant display will also not endear him to the fans, all in all Freedman is alienating himself not just to the fans, but also now the players, for that he has to go.

Spot on with the breaking up of the partnership that worked this season.  First go with the stats... those scoring play the next game.  Those who play well defensively play the next game as a matched pair.  Knightmare may be the nicest person in the world, but when he is on the pitch we leak goals... end of story.  He must be benched.  Agreed... don't force players to play out of position... not healthy for the club.  Find a starting eleven.  Don't buy strikers or loan strikers when you don't have your defense back because of injury.  Plug that hole first.  Beckford and N'gog are big boys who will eventually score.  Davies is being paid so put him on the team or the bench while Beckford nurses his injury.  Learn from the first ten games of the season for heaven's sake.  Lastly, KISS - keep it simple stupid.  You need a cohesive unit, much like we had before Holden's and CYL's injuries.  Patchwork does not make the problem go away.

RT, you've been pretty loyal to DF, as have I, until this last week. I still feel that there's a manager in there somewhere, but whether we can keep on waiting is another thing. I think, over time, that he has become embroiled in all sorts of things that he can do nothing about, however, it seems to be that he is no longer able to carry out the very basics of his management.

He needs to drop some of these wankers and put some in that are at least prepared to get stuck in. He has been reluctant to play youngsters in a struggling team but he can no longer rely on the senior pros for effort and the fans would get behind a team that showed some fight. He should start with Mills and Ream in the middle and Whyte at full back, Vela should play instead of Pratley, Medo instead of Spearing and two up front.

If the board are prepared to get rid of anyone that is not up to the job and that's most of them, and start again with players that at least play with some pride then I would give him the opportunity but as I have said on here before actions must be louder than words, it will be entirely his team then, no excuses.

gloswhite wrote:RT, you've been pretty loyal to DF, as have I, until this last week. I still feel that there's a manager in there somewhere, but whether we can keep on waiting is another thing. I think, over time, that he has become embroiled in all sorts of things that he can do nothing about, however, it seems to be that he is no longer able to carry out the very basics of his management.

Glos, for me it's all about stability. I can remember after we got promoted in the late seventies we got relegated and went through an awful period where we WERE GENUINELY absolute shite. We went through a succession of managers all of whom were not up to the job. In the early nineties we were scratching around the 3rd Division with the likes of Bury, Chesterfield, Port Vale, Mansfield, Gillingham and Aldershot.

Our average home gate was around 5,000 and there really was no light at the end of the tunnel.

In the last forty years only four managers really stand out at Bolton. Ian Greaves, Todd, Rioch and Big Sam, by and large the rest were not good enough. I'm loath to ditch Dougie because I saw what Fergie achieved at Old Trafford where the expectation was much higher. It took him four years to win a trophy and he turned out to be one of the greatest managers of the modern game. I'm not saying Dougie is in the same category but the ' knee jerk ' reaction rarely produces results.

I have no evidence that Doogie has a clue about football ....... he talks good banter...just like OC but nothing so far has convinced me he knows more than any of us writing on here.

I said it over and over.....any wanker can get the badges needed to coach.  Doesn't mean crap to me.
Or to put it another way......if a class of 100 coaches graduate....somebody is 1st and 2nd....others are 98th and 99th...... I think we have a bloke around 95th  

If someone shoots him, do we still have to pay his contract up or will his mrs just get his life policy?

Some think it's a waste of money to fire him now......but for whatever money we piss away now is a better investment than dropping down another division with this bloke.  In otherwords we have spend the million or so to stay in the Champs....that's the best we can hope for now.

NickFazer wrote:He needs to drop some of these wankers and put some in that are at least prepared to get stuck in. He has been reluctant to play youngsters in a struggling team but he can no longer rely on the senior pros for effort and the fans would get behind a team that showed some fight. He should start with Mills and Ream in the middle and Whyte at full back, Vela should play instead of Pratley, Medo instead of Spearing and two up front.

If the board are prepared to get rid of anyone that is not up to the job and that's most of them, and start again with players that at least play with some pride then I would give him the opportunity but as I have said on here before actions must be louder than words, it will be entirely his team then, no excuses.

Totally agree, but I don't think that Dougie will ever be radical enough to try this regardless of how bad things get.

Not just players with pride needed - we need players who can pass accurately, control the ball quickly, defend properly when required and shoot on target when the opportunity arises.

Things are likely to get worse in the short term.

On the back of the Reading debacle, we have QPR and Ipswich away and barring an absolute miracle we are likely to get beaten in both games - which may well be enough for us to slide into the bottom 3 - and then the pressure will really be on Dougie.

Does anyone honestly think he will be sacked? only 2 weeks ago on BBC Manchester Gartside backed him fully so I can't see him contradicting himself, not unless the real boss steps in.

Nope, he's not going anywhere. Neither the clubs finances, nor Gartsides repuatation can afford another failure.

The supporters association conference last night only re-enforces the view that there are too many high earners who aren't good enough and definitely don't care enough. Given the chance to get them off the wage bill and bring in his own signings; who have been good so far, I still believe he can take us forward, providing performances improve somewhat for the remainder of the season and he can keep the remaining squad onside.

bwfc1874 wrote:Nope, he's not going anywhere. Neither the clubs finances, nor Gartsides repuatation can afford another failure.

The supporters association conference last night only re-enforces the view that there are too many high earners who aren't good enough and definitely don't care enough. Given the chance to get them off the wage bill and bring in his own signings; who have been good so far, I still believe he can take us forward, providing performances improve somewhat for the remainder of the season and he can keep the remaining squad onside.

This is the reality of the situation. As fans we just have to take our lumps.

Clap, clap, clappity-clap, happy, happy, clappy, clappy......

All the way down into League One.

Sitting there saying "Oh well....we've got what we've got and we should all get behind Dougie and hope he can clear out the dead wood and bring his own players in eventually" will result in us going backwards.

Yes, we need rid of the big-earning tossers who couldn't give a shit.

Yes, we need new blood in the team.

And yes, it will take time.

But....

Freedman has overseen the worst start to season in over 50 years.

He persists in picking his favourites and playing players out of position.

He doesn't appear to have the ability to make the necessary changes to the team and formation "mid-game" to improve things when we're losing.

He is far too negative / stubborn in his outlook.

He bangs on about "youth" but won't give any of 'em a proper chance to shine.

And just in case anybody's forgotten, we got battered 7-1, using HIS team selection, HIS tactics, HIS formation and HIS management skills last week.

Yes, we're up shit creek, but Freedman certainly isn't the man to captain the good ship Trotter to calmer waters.

There's bound to be a big difference in opinion at this point, not sharing yours doesn't make anyone a 'happy clapper'.

For me the players out of position criticism is greatly exaggerated. Putting Danns on the right of the attacking 3 doesn't mean he's being asked to play as a winger, just as Mark Davies has never been asked to play as a defensive midfielder as somebody else suggested. Baptiste has spent half his career at full back, he's definitely not being played out of position.

You're right that he can be too negative in his selections and tactics, putting us on the backfoot from the off. But my main criticisms at the moment would be breaking up Mills and Ream by not gambling with youth at LB, persisting with Spearing over Medo and not getting the players properly motivated to press teams and play to a higher tempo.

More time should be given for him to bring youth in, rushing players in for the sake of it won't help anything. But you make a good point about changing games mid way through, we're not showing the same fight to win games as we did last season.

bwfc1874 wrote:There's bound to be a big difference in opinion at this point, not sharing yours doesn't make anyone a 'happy clapper'.

For me the players out of position criticism is greatly exaggerated. Putting Danns on the right of the attacking 3 doesn't mean he's being asked to play as a winger, just as Mark Davies has never been asked to play as a defensive midfielder as somebody else suggested. Baptiste has spent half his career at full back, he's definitely not being played out of position.

You're right that he can be too negative in his selections and tactics, putting us on the backfoot from the off. But my main criticisms at the moment would be breaking up Mills and Ream by not gambling with youth at LB, persisting with Spearing over Medo and not getting the players properly motivated to press teams and play to a higher tempo.

 
i agree about breaking up the Ream/Mills partnership, who plays left back for the development squad and if they are not good enough why are they still at the club? Left back should have been the priority on the 1st of January instead of waiting until the window closes.
 
Also Spearing has been poor all season and Medo should have replaced him by now.