Robinson Out

Anything yellow and blue
Radley Rambler
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Re: Robinson Out

Post by Radley Rambler »

ty cobb wrote: Thu Jan 03, 2019 3:07 pm Well I'd rather we had him than give him away to our relegation rivals for crying out loud what are we thinking?!?
We're thinking this guy has some personal issues that we do our best to help resolve.
OtmoorYellow
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Re: Robinson Out

Post by OtmoorYellow »

Radley Rambler wrote: Thu Jan 03, 2019 3:35 pm
ty cobb wrote: Thu Jan 03, 2019 3:07 pm Well I'd rather we had him than give him away to our relegation rivals for crying out loud what are we thinking?!?
We're thinking this guy has some personal issues that we do our best to help resolve.
Before the Plymouth game KR said McM had been affected by a death in the family and so wanted to be with his family up north.
OtmoorYellow
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Re: Robinson Out

Post by OtmoorYellow »

I’m trying to work out why the side has reverted to the shite football from earlier in the season, when we are playing more or less the same team that were successful on the 16 game run.

I don’t accept the fatigue nonsense. These are pro players, supposedly of supreme fitness, with excellent support facilities. We’re only half way through the season and every one of them have missed games for non injury reasons and so have had rest games. We didn’t have a long run in the League Cup either.

Leaving Mous out for the first half at Plimuff was a big mistake and KR has accepted this. Our defence is too fragile to not include a defensive midfielder and CamBran isn’t that player. Even so, that should not have led to total collapse against the bottom side.

Persisting with a lone and not prolific striker continues to hamper the side badly, but we had that during the run.

Perhaps we overstated the significance of the run?
Dr Bob
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Re: Robinson Out

Post by Dr Bob »

Apparently we have gone from being the best team to have visited Doncaster this season (according to their manager), to being the worst team to have visited Plymouth (see the RO Fan's View). That is some fall in such a short time. I have only seen the Southend game so cannot comment on other recent performances, but on Boxing Day there looked to me to be a lack of mental sharpness as much as physical (although these are linked).

Looking back at Kairdiff Exile's comments, I believe the recent run did represent the turning of a corner (although I do not recall anybody calling KR a genius, Kairdiff). The question is more, as OY has asked in so many words, why we have turned back again. That is the puzzle.

What concerns me most, however, is the big picture. As Myles has argued, we need someone to take the club by the scruff of the neck. But I think this really has to mean a great deal more than just changing manager. It reflects the concerns expressed about Tiger's leadership, and the resources he and the others on the board are either putting into the club, or able to put into the club (see previous arguments about FFP Rules, money owed to Eales, etc). It also raises questions about the true nature of the relationship between KR and the Board. Public utterances (apart from the apparent blocking of the signing of Nicky Maynard) have been very positive by all parties, but I do wonder if KR knows more than he is letting on about issues upstairs (his own role in the poor performances notwithstanding). I am also concerned that, as far as i am aware, there is nobody representing the Board who is a full time presence at the club.

I guess what I am trying to say is that, in addition to all of the criticism of KR here and elsewhere, the problems are both deeper and broader than that. And that is what worries me.
Kairdiff Exile
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Re: Robinson Out

Post by Kairdiff Exile »

I think OY has it right, to be honest - many people over-estimated the significance of our good run, just as many people over-estimated the significance of our bad one. Broadly speaking (and it is broad brush terms), our first dozen games were disproportionately against very good teams, and our second dozen were disproportionately against poor ones. We were in a false position when we were bottom, but we were also over-egging things in thinking our pre-Christmas form could be maintained in the long-term.

The question is: how good are we really, if we allow for the peculiarities of the fixture computer? That brings me back to my previous posts where I’ve suggested we’ll end up between 14th and 18th, which I stand by. To my mind, that’s not good enough given KR’s budget and the squad he inherited. And I also broadly think he is continuing to take us backwards rather than forwards, and his lack of professionalism is a major concern.

Ergo, Robinson Out.
Kairdiff Exile
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Re: Robinson Out

Post by Kairdiff Exile »

Kairdiff Exile wrote: Tue Jan 01, 2019 11:14 pm I’d also like to see a proper, dedicated, competent left-back; maybe someone like Butler at Newport who looks a prospect.
Now being rumoured on Twitter and the Other Place, I see. Just call me Nostradamus.

Most likely scenario is Gobbo names him as a target, says we'll sign him within 24hrs, and then a week later he signs for someone like Northampton.
Kairdiff Exile
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Re: Robinson Out

Post by Kairdiff Exile »

He’s got to go, hasn’t he? Even though we clawed back two goals yesterday for a point, nobody can pretend that this is a side on the rise. And we’re a third of the way into the transfer window and STILL haven’t signed a flippin’ striker!

Lack-of-striker aside, this is nowhere near being a squad that should be in danger of relegation from the Third Division. You could put a bucket with a face drawn on it in charge and we’d be mid-table. Apart from Sumrith Thanakarnjanasuth, is there anyone left who doesn’t think that we’d be better off if Gobbo got the elbow?
Werthers Original
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Re: Robinson Out

Post by Werthers Original »

You might ideally wish we had a different manager but I don’t think he’ll be sacked now it’s the transfer window - and would we want him to be? Once we’re safe it could be time to think about the best person to take us forward
Radley Rambler
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Re: Robinson Out

Post by Radley Rambler »

Werthers Original wrote: Mon Jan 14, 2019 12:22 am You might ideally wish we had a different manager but I don’t think he’ll be sacked now it’s the transfer window - and would we want him to be? Once we’re safe it could be time to think about the best person to take us forward
Blimey - you're optimistic.
Kernow Yellow
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Re: Robinson Out

Post by Kernow Yellow »

Radley Rambler wrote: Mon Jan 14, 2019 12:47 am
Werthers Original wrote: Mon Jan 14, 2019 12:22 am You might ideally wish we had a different manager but I don’t think he’ll be sacked now it’s the transfer window - and would we want him to be? Once we’re safe it could be time to think about the best person to take us forward
Blimey - you're optimistic.
Indeed. People mithered about relegation and sacking the manager under Appleton and Clotet when we were comfortably mid-table. This year we are ACTUALLY GOING DOWN folks! All the teams around Us are picking up points, no-one's getting left behind by the pack and we're in an almighty scrap to survive. While results like Saturday (and the previous 2-2 draws at Doncaster and Peterborough) show that we are capable of picking ourselves up and fighting when under the cosh, there have been plenty of performances recently that show we don't do it consistently enough, specially against teams around Us at the foot of the table.

Having said that, I'm not sure a new manager would necessarily turn Us round. I disagree with KE that any idiot could get this side up the league - without a fit striker or two we are in real trouble, and we're in serious danger of losing our best defender (and possibly goalkeeper too, judging by the interview he gave midweek where he was openly critical of our lack of incoming players). We desperately need an astute signing or three, possibly involving a further injection of cash. And who knows where the money's coming from - not to mention how long it takes to 'clear'?

But yes, on balance, I'd still prefer to see a change at the top. Robinson put our unbalanced squad together, and has achieved even fewer points per game with it (1.00) than he did with what he inherited last season (1.10). I doubt we've ever had a manager with such a poor record over such a long run of games. His saving grace I think has been doing well in the cups, but in the league we have won 9 games out of 37 - less than 25%. Not nearly good enough.
OtmoorYellow
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Re: Robinson Out

Post by OtmoorYellow »

We are in that quandry position whereby we need to sign players, but have to give serious consideration to sacking the manager.

If he is to be sacked, surely we wouldn't want to let him spend (and potentially waste) the money, and arguably getting a new man in would take us beyond the end of the transfer window, unless MApp is up for it.

If he was going to be sacked, it should have happened more than a month ago, so we had time to make a new appointment and still have time to sign new players.

This is a difficiult point to get rid of a manager, but lack of results is a serious problem, and there has to be significant doubt that KR is even capable of turning it around.
Dr Bob
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Re: Robinson Out

Post by Dr Bob »

OtmoorYellow wrote: Mon Jan 14, 2019 3:13 pm This is a difficiult point to get rid of a manager, but lack of results is a serious problem, and there has to be significant doubt that KR is even capable of turning it around.
Exactly. But then layered on top of this is an owner who seems unlikely to do the deed with KR - an owner who appears from the outside not only to have not helped the situation, but actively hindered it (if it is true that he blocked the signing of Nicky Maynard), whilst comments suggest that KR was not behind the signing of Hanson (if true - who was?), presumably one of our highest paid players.

The question is - could anybody come in and do a Solsakjaer with the existing, strikerless, squad? Or could the sacking of KR, if it were to happen, be engineered in such a way that it did not disrupt efforts to bring in a striker or two? The odds on either happening?

The bottom line is that we are a club in a right mess, on the pitch and in the Boardroom - and the latter makes it really hard to see how they are capable of doing anything to sort out the former.
Kairdiff Exile
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Re: Robinson Out

Post by Kairdiff Exile »

So, did we turn a corner or just have a Good Day yesterday against Pompey? Quite something to pull off a result and performance like that after our recent run. But many of the same problems (lack of striking options, lots of square pegs in round holes) remain. And we’ve only got ten days of the window left to address them, plus (seemingly) a lack of funds to do so.

Thoughts?
Old Abingdonian
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Re: Robinson Out

Post by Old Abingdonian »

My first thought is that it is unusually hard to reconcile the variations in performance - from Blackpool to Southend to Portsmouth. My second is that I think fatigue has been a significant factor - it was great to have Browne on the bench yesterday, because he has looked worn out. I suspect Mackie's sharpness was because he did not play 90 minutes at Fleetwood. My third is that - as often in the past - we play better against skilful teams rather than physical ones. Apart from the naughty elbow from the #10, Portsmouth did not resort to the kind of persistent fouling that some other teams (inc. Bristol Rovers) have done. My fourth would be that there was a strong team dynamic yesterday - the players certainly worked for each other.
OtmoorYellow
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Re: Robinson Out

Post by OtmoorYellow »

I felt Portsmouth were very persistent in the fouls actually. Maybe not the big out of control diving in challenges, but in the shoves in the back, shirt pulling and manhandling in the box. Then Dickie is hardly a saint in that regard either.

The elbow/arm to the face by their #10 was surely a straight red, rather than a yellow.

We definitely play better against opposition that don't close us down quickly. That often aligns with better sides, because they rely much more on their organisational abilities than their harassment. Also we have quite a bit of pace going forward, so any team playing the ball around at the back, risks it being cut out. Having said that Pompey were much more of a long ball side than I expected. When we played them at Fratton, it was all about the passing and moving. Here it was a case of lump it forward. Both Dickie and Nelson coped easily with the long ball, so we tended to win possession back quite quickly. I suspect Portsmouth are missing their Aston Villa loanee striker somewhat and maybe haven't adapted since his departure.

Brannagan, Henry and Graham were outstanding, head and shoulders above everyone else in the match.

Pompey were confident in the opening 15 minutes, but that confidence seemed to drain away as they realised we were not there as cannon fodder.

Very enjoyable game, but now we have another 3 of those in a row in the league.
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