Things that are working/Things that are not

[Ordar]

Lets see if we can find some common opinions to what has been working in the first half of the season and what hasnt. This is not an anti Kit thread as Magath was responsible for some of this.

Has:

- Promoting (some) of the Youth players. Bettinelli and LVC have been superb in particular
- Signing the leagues best player from last season
- Sacking Magath
- Clearing out alot of dead wood
- Lots of penalty saves

Hasn't:

- Formation
- Offensive tactics leading to barely creating chances
- Defensive Tactics leading to sloppy goals and lack of protection of the back 4 particularly the fullbacks. Also being constantly exposed by the diagonal through ball.
- Randomly attempting to hoof the ball up to Hugo 30+ times a game and him winning possibly one header
- Substitutions seemingly being pre arranged, often too late (unless forced by injury) and generally ineffective
- Putting a large percentage of players with Championship experience out on loan
- Playing the leagues best striker from last year out of position
- Set pieces, both defensively (allowing free headers) and attacking (not clearing the first man)
- Having no plan B
- Starting games incredibly slowly
- Being unable to play well for more than 25 minutes per game, and being under constant pressure in practically every game this season
- Not bringing in a proven experienced championship manager after having a committee looking for someone for 2 months, and then after bringing in Kit, not providing him with an experienced number 2
- Giving away loads of penalties
- Giving opposition players far too much space both in wide areas and around the edge of the box


My negative list seemed to reel off pretty quickly... would be interesting to know other people's thoughts.

How can these things be improved in the second half of the season? I can only see us bringing in a maximum of 2 first team starters at the very most in January, so cant see there being a significant personnel change which some seem to be expecting

[Logicalman]

Kit IS working, Felix is NOT!!  :005:

[VicHalomsLovechild]

I agree with all the positives and question one or two of your negatives.

Some of the committee would know Kit from their time at the Club. So they would of known more about him than maybe some of the other applicants. How many of the other applicants would have been prepared to play and develop the youth, or had the experience of handling young players. From a bad start he's managed to get us mid-table. Then there was the pressure from the fans which would of been considered too.
As for an experienced number 2. There cannot be many out there who would be happy just to be number 2. Roy took Ray with him and Harry has had Kevin Bond and Joe Jordan with him for a while. So not an easy role to fill. Maybe Rigg will be able to suggest someone.

We've been rubbish at set pieces for years.

We haven't had a plan b for years either.

McGrath sidelined Dave, Ruiz and love bite. Not sure who loaned out Tunny. Smith wanted to play and not sit on the bench for 85 minutes each week and is he (all round) a better player than Woodrow?

[MJG]

Felix loaned out both Tunniclffe and Kaca. if Kit did not feel he needed to improve the squad he had he would not have recalled them at the earliest possible moment.
Surely that shows he knows the squad has weaknesses and he will and is trying to address them.

[bill taylors apprentice]

Lets see if we can find some common opinions to what has been working in the first half of the season and what hasnt. This is not an anti Kit thread as Magath was responsible for some of this.

Has:

- Promoting (some) of the Youth players. Bettinelli and LVC have been superb in particular
- Signing the leagues best player from last season
- Sacking Magath
- Clearing out alot of dead wood
- Lots of penalty saves

Hasn't:

- Formation
- Offensive tactics leading to barely creating chances
- Defensive Tactics leading to sloppy goals and lack of protection of the back 4 particularly the fullbacks. Also being constantly exposed by the diagonal through ball.
- Randomly attempting to hoof the ball up to Hugo 30+ times a game and him winning possibly one header
- Substitutions seemingly being pre arranged, often too late (unless forced by injury) and generally ineffective
- Putting a large percentage of players with Championship experience out on loan
- Playing the leagues best striker from last year out of position
- Set pieces, both defensively (allowing free headers) and attacking (not clearing the first man)
- Having no plan B
- Starting games incredibly slowly
- Being unable to play well for more than 25 minutes per game, and being under constant pressure in practically every game this season
- Not bringing in a proven experienced championship manager after having a committee looking for someone for 2 months, and then after bringing in Kit, not providing him with an experienced number 2
- Giving away loads of penalties
- Giving opposition players far too much space both in wide areas and around the edge of the box


My negative list seemed to reel off pretty quickly... would be interesting to know other people's thoughts.

How can these things be improved in the second half of the season? I can only see us bringing in a maximum of 2 first team starters at the very most in January, so cant see there being a significant personnel change which some seem to be expecting

You seem to be duplicating problems in the "Hasn't" list to enhance your argument towards the negative.
The "formation" is all about digging us out of the massive hole we were in (1 point ) and making us harder to beat with the unbalanced squad we had. Its painfull to watch but Job done, now after the "window" things must move on for the better.  
The last 2 points are due to the consequence of your point about "defensive tactics". i.e. you have padded out your piece to suit your view.
The "large percentage" of Championship experienced players on loan is a wild exaggeration. Kaca and Tunnicliffe would have been useful  from the start granted.  
Also, despite our restrictive style, goals for have not been a major problem and under Kit our GD would have been reasonable by now (considering the start ) if not for the watford debacle.

[Ordar]

I was just typing issues as they were coming to me to be honest. There wasn't a deliberate attempt to pad out the issues.

Tunnicliffe, Kaca and Smith all had more championship experience than the rest of the squad (bar McCormack) combined so getting rid of them was stupid.

As I said in the first sentence, this isn't an anti kit list, just things that have come up this season.

I agree that we have been poor at set pieces for years. But it's still a current issue.

The formation I do not think suits the players we have, nor the style Kit is trying to play.

I think the general lack of top level experience in the coaching department is hindering the team. Kit still needs an experienced number 2.

[VicHalomsLovechild]

The thing about set pieces is an interesting point. Either McCormack or Kit mentioned they practiced a few after training. After training wtf ??? and does anybody remember when Venables said England didn't practice penalty kicks. I'd have thought lining everybody up to take free kicks, corners, penalties etc would make a lot of sense you might turn up someone who could do something not even they were aware of. I remember Bairdino, apart from very accurate long ball passes had a great long throw on him, which for some reason disappeared. You have possession of the ball, it's nigh on criminal not to use that possession as creatively and skillfully as you can.