Wilder IN

[Ancient Colin]

I must admit that I am a little surprised that Wilder isn't getting more criticism here - reasoned criticism, I mean, not the frothing mouthed invective on the &quotother place&quot. OK, we've had a lot of injuries, but so have others. The &quotrandom mistakes costing us points&quot argument doesn't sing at all for me, these are fourth division footballers who will make mistakes and that will be true of all the teams in the division (including when they are playing us). I don't really buy the &quotimprovement&quot story fully either - 12th to 10th (if you account for Port Vale's points deduction) sounds more like standing still (the points tally is up, admittedly, but you could attribute that to greater weakness at the foot of the table - the bottom end of the table picked up many less points than in 2010/2011) and it seems to me that there are a number of weaknesses that look structural rather than random chance. I'm playing devil's advocate here a bit, but anyway here goes.

Of these, the loanee situation has been discussed at length (although I think it is important to recall that his major triumph, the escape came from the conference came when he finally abandonned Grant and Franny Green to return to Matt Green and Midson) there's more to be said but others can say it. I think it is worth dwelling a little bit on the second half point. To remind: if you take the first half league table we were 4th if you take the second half league table we were 18th. The defensive mentality / clinging (or not) to leads is an issue - but isn't it more general than that? How many times have we gone in at half time, made key adjustments or changes of players and come back out and dominated a game in which we were struggling or exploited a weakness in the opposition? And how many times have the opposition gone in struggling at half time, adjusted and turned round a game? How many times have Wilder's substitutions changed the game in our favour? Well, those split tables tell the story. I just don't think he reads a game and has the flexibility to change the plan. I used to be prepared to accept that it was that the players were not capable of changing or following new instructions, but since the opposition seem to be able to do it and we don't seem to be able to do it, well there is a case to be answered.

I suppose those two issues are my main concerns. But there are a thousand niggles to add to that. The fitness thing is more than a niggle, it is a disgrace. I am sorry, but that is the management team's responsibility. It raises another question, too: what do they actually do in training? If they aren't doing fitness work, then what? Obviously not practicing set pieces, or not in any useful, match situation way. Throw ins. I mean, how bloody difficult is this? The first person there picks the ball up and looks to see if there is an instant advantage to a quick throw. If not, fine, the fullback can take it - but then people have a responsibility to bloody move to make themselves available. How hard is that? So why don't we bloody do it? There are so many more things like that which, on their own, might not matter, but collectively become a performance drag.

I've got a longer list but will stop here. Like others, I am not remotely saying &quotWilder out&quot and demanding a new manager and more turmoil. But I have long had doubts and they are crystallising into a feeling that he may be reaching his limits. He's running out of excuses now ...

[John Byrne's Underpants]

Arrgh. I just typed a whole spiel about why I'm not yet in the 'Wilder Out' camp and what I want to see changed over the summer and next season, but it seems to have been lost somewhere New format teething troubles!

Anyway, to summarise what I wrote: training needs to be looked at (and hopefully now is thanks to Kelvin's recent comments), we need an attacking coach, the Beano situation needs to be sorted over the summer (either offload him or back him) and there needs to be clear improvement by Christmas - tactically on the pitch and in our position in the league (in the play offs at least).

[SmileyMan]

I've got a longer list but will stop here. Like others, I am not remotely saying &quotWilder out&quot and demanding a new manager and more turmoil. But I have long had doubts and they are crystallising into a feeling that he may be reaching his limits. He's running out of excuses now ...

He does at least have a reasonable habit of correcting problems with his management between seasons, in my opinion. For instance, his predilection for out-of-form favourites has disappeared at last. As he and the team have developed, more weaknesses in his management have been exposed, but if he continues to learn from them and improve, them that's a pretty good sign of a good worker in any discipline.

Plenty of people have identified a few key areas that need improvement, and I'm backing Wilder to improve them. I'm a natural optimist, and I can't see an obvious replacement waiting in the wings, but attacking him is not the way forward at the moment - he's not the weakest link in the team

[captainox]

I'm not in the 'Out' camp but moved away from a passionate 'In' campaigner during the last few weeks of the season.
The way the discussion (if you can call it that) on yellowsforum handles the situation is ridiculous though.

I am actually quite excited about the new season. I think if and it's probably a big if, Wilder can get his choice of new signings into the club to build on what we've got then we have a major chance next season.
Lets be honest, we were hardly a million miles away from something this season.

A bad start and Wilder will be under huge pressure though.

A plug (apologies) but I've written a blog on the CW debate: http://shoey-oufc.blogspot.co.uk/2012/0 ... -just.html

[neilw]

On a Wilder In / Out scale, ranging from -10 (must go now) to ||10 (extend his contract immediately) I'd say I fall on the positive side at ||3.

You?

[Radley Rambler]

I'd say I'm also at the ||3 mark, reasonably satisfied.

A year ago however, this would have been ||5 and the year before that ||8 so there is a bit of a decline.

One question I always ask though (and did on the other forum recently) is who would you replace him with and so that it isn't easy/a pipedream, they must be:

- Available
- Affordable
- Have good experience of managing in the league
- Realistic

The other forum struggled to give me one name that met the above criteria although very helpfully one individual suggested Lee Clark, um.....meets 2 of the critiera but definitely not the other 2.

Any thoughts?

[SmileyMan]

One question I always ask though (and did on the other forum recently) is who would you replace him with and so that it isn't easy/a pipedream, they must be:

- Available
- Affordable
- Have good experience of managing in the league
- Realistic

The other forum struggled to give me one name that met the above criteria although very helpfully one individual suggested Lee Clark, um.....meets 2 of the critiera but definitely not the other 2.

Any thoughts?

Aldo maybe? Would get a pretty good honeymoon period from the fans, and took Tranmere on some cracking cup runs back in the day, which would be fun. Been sat behind a mike for a decade though, so I can't see him wanting to do it.

[Radley Rambler]

One question I always ask though (and did on the other forum recently) is who would you replace him with and so that it isn't easy/a pipedream, they must be:

- Available
- Affordable
- Have good experience of managing in the league
- Realistic

The other forum struggled to give me one name that met the above criteria although very helpfully one individual suggested Lee Clark, um.....meets 2 of the critiera but definitely not the other 2.

Any thoughts?

Aldo maybe? Would get a pretty good honeymoon period from the fans, and took Tranmere on some cracking cup runs back in the day, which would be fun. Been sat behind a mike for a decade though, so I can't see him wanting to do it.

Popular maybe but to add a 5th criteria, they should also be 'likely to be an improvement'.

Whilst Aldo is my hero, he will now have minimal contacts in the game at the level required and I can't see him being an improvement on CW. Also, I want him to remain my hero (!), remember Shotton?

[Baboo]

I'm about a ||1 or ||2.
So many issues we've debated over and over that never seem to be addressed. That's why I'm down from a much higher mark
I get seriously peed off about the same stuff as AC &amp poss a bit more:
- Throw ins. We're crap at them. Embarrassingly so at times.
- Never actually playing free kicks into the opposition penalty area when we look to be a threat with players that know how to attack the ball.
- Too much playing the bloody thing around in areas where the opposition just sit back and laugh at us. As soon as we go forward they close us down with ease.
No surprise that we don't score many goals then. I am one who believes an attacking coach would not come amiss, even if at the expense of Micky Lewis or Andy Meliville. (sorry guys)
- That fecking kick off that OUFC have trademarked over the years. Surely we should have worked out now that keeping the ball on the pitch for more than a second at the start might help a bit.
- And I know not every player is going to come off but we must never get players in that offer as little as Philliskirk &amp Guy ever again.

[Hog]

Morgan. You forgot Morgan ...

[The Enforcer]

I'd say I'm also at the ||3 mark, reasonably satisfied.
The other forum struggled to give me one name that met the above criteria although very helpfully one individual suggested Lee Clark, um.....meets 2 of the critiera but definitely not the other 2.

I'm not an advocate of the knee-jerk manager merry-go-round, but I saw Sean O'Driscoll mentioned as a possible replacement. Not sure if he would satisfy all of the criteria though?

[GodalmingYellow]

I am somehwre in the region of 0 to -2 for Wilder. I was in the -5 bracket until I looked more closely into the budget position.

I think Wilder has serious problems developing real goal scoring opportunities, and I'm talking about in the penalty area rather than approach to the penalty area, and I think he has serious problems putting together a squad using his favoured 4-3-3, which is also capable of playing 4-4-2 successfully. Those are the two formations which are most important and most different in playing styles, but both are necessary if Wilder insists on giving the former preferential treatment. To achieve these formations yu have to have players capable of playing as full backs and as wing backs, which is the easy bit, but also players who are capable of playing up front and out wide. Of our current squad, only Potter fits the bill for this latter category. I also think to achieve more goalsd in 4-3-3, we've got to get the 2 wider strikers to play like old fashioned inside forwards, not as wingers which is how Wilder plays them.

[Boogie]

Sitting right on the fence at 0.

Others have beaten me to my end of season rant and if I did it now there would be a lot of repetition.

My main issue is not having a settled formation and side post Christmas.

I can accept tinkering early season and I know we had a lot of injuries this season. I also ackowledge that this year CW worked out the best defensive 5 early on.

Not just this season but every season under CW there has been no settled midfield and strike partnership, therefore no strong bonds or understanding for the tough matches in Jan/Feb and the run in.

An attacking coach to assist CW may be the answer but at Div IV level I would keep it simple with 4-4-2.

Switch the wide midfielders to keep it fresh and keep the opposition on their toes. Wide players with flair should be where the youth effort should be focused as they do not have to be the backbone of the team and if they shine they become valuable in the transfer market.

BUT find a midfield central duo and a strike partnership and get them to gel and stick with them.

In midfield, Chappers can be one of the two. Of the current squad, I would pair him with Whing as Hall is only OK as as a sub (knack of scoring from midfield when he is fresh) and Leven is a luxury we struggle to carry on a bad day.

Beano, oh Beano. If we are going to give him another chance please play him slightly deeper and running the channels not in the advanced position in the middle.

In the middle, find someone with a better first touch and the ability to hold the ball up for others and a player who can stay onside, win headers without conceeding fouls and head the ball to a Yellow shirt. Of the current squad Craddock fits this description best but probably is lacking ability in the air.

If CW does not know his best 11 by this Christmas I shall be firmly in the Wilder Out camp.

Oh and can I also just say that I also do not understand the decision for the US Tour #2 pre-season.

[Dr Bob]

I tried to post this comment yesterday but something happened and it did not appear. Take 2.

In the name of all that is holy will people please stop talking about whether or not they can see possible/likely candidates to replace CW, as and when it happens. We finally have owners who appoint through a proper mechanism - advertising, shortlisting, interviewing and choosing. Surely we should have learned by now that the Little Britainesque &quotI want that one&quot approach is at best, highly risky, and at worst catastrophic? Who, beforehand, would have thought CW would have been appointed, let alone take us forwards as he has done? Maybe the next manager will be someone mentioned on this thread, maybe not - but when people ask questions like who is there available right now, it does my head in.

[Baboo]

Morgan. You forgot Morgan ...

No I didn't.