Manager situation and the constant changing over recent years

[rich munn]

Love the Tyson quote- "Everyone has a plan until they are punched in the face" and the punch in the face IMO is the championship.

I reckon all of EB's plans were up in the air when fatigue, weather and injuries took hold. You need a deep squad and to quote Graham Henry a few "x" factors and this is where we fall short.

The championship is brutal and no place for a novice. Malky was relatively untried in the championship but knew it well and what was required. Same with Warnock, if you keep it to nil you at least get a point.

EB should have learned a lot from this season about what is required to have a crack over two seasons. I think his DNA is keep it nil and you get a point, add some x factor and who knows

Nobody seems to care that this is also Bulut's first season in this most difficult of all leagues.

Most supporters would have been delighted to be where we are at the moment. We had a transfer embargo to start with and I'm just guessing that he didn't get exactly what he wanted in January. But the players he signed seem to be bedding in now.

There was a period when this board had many contributors, including the lugubrious TOBW, lamenting that we couldn't score from set pieces. Now we can, they are lamenting that we can't score from open play.

Give him a contract and see what he can do.

[OurManFlint II]

Nobody seems to care that this is also Bulut's first season in this most difficult of all leagues.

Most supporters would have been delighted to be where we are at the moment. We had a transfer embargo to start with and I'm just guessing that he didn't get exactly what he wanted in January. But the players he signed seem to be bedding in now.

There was a period when this board had many contributors, including the lugubrious TOBW, lamenting that we couldn't score from set pieces. Now we can, they are lamenting that we can't score from open play.

Give him a contract and see what he can do.

Or the week after 5 players arrived on deadline day "he doesn't know his best team" lol.

[Dembe]

Nobody seems to care that this is also Bulut's first season in this most difficult of all leagues.

Most supporters would have been delighted to be where we are at the moment. We had a transfer embargo to start with and I'm just guessing that he didn't get exactly what he wanted in January. But the players he signed seem to be bedding in now.

There was a period when this board had many contributors, including the lugubrious TOBW, lamenting that we couldn't score from set pieces. Now we can, they are lamenting that we can't score from open play.

Give him a contract and see what he can do.

We don't need money to be able to play good football. I agree we've been in a worse position than most with the embargo, but when you're bringing in the frees you can still check if they can pass the ball 12 yards.

I agree he's done well to get us to mid table, I just don't like the way he plays the game and I think any talent we may have at the club, that its already difficult for them to step up, its harder when you play a completely different style to the seniors..

[Eric the Half a Bee]

We don't need money to be able to play good football. I agree we've been in a worse position than most with the embargo, but when you're bringing in the frees you can still check if they can pass the ball 12 yards.

I agree he's done well to get us to mid table, I just don't like the way he plays the game and I think any talent we may have at the club, that its already difficult for them to step up, its harder when you play a completely different style to the seniors..

100%.

That's why I wonder if Tan and the board have a method of play they think will bring success. Successive managers have tried it. Boring, yes, successful, could be but needs more than that.

[Father Dougal]

100%.

That's why I wonder if Tan and the board have a method of play they think will bring success. Successive managers have tried it. Boring, yes, successful, could be but needs more than that.

I doubt that much thought goes into it.

These guys had this fantastic run of appointing managers-

ole, Slade, trollope, Warnock (the exception) Harris, mad mick, mad morison, hudson........

I just hope not much thought went into that lot! If that's them, really trying then........

[the other bob wilson]

Nobody seems to care that this is also Bulut's first season in this most difficult of all leagues.

Most supporters would have been delighted to be where we are at the moment. We had a transfer embargo to start with and I'm just guessing that he didn't get exactly what he wanted in January. But the players he signed seem to be bedding in now.

There was a period when this board had many contributors, including the lugubrious TOBW, lamenting that we couldn't score from set pieces. Now we can, they are lamenting that we can't score from open play.

Give him a contract and see what he can do.

And why shouldn't we lament it? Off the top of my head, we scored two goals from crosses from free kicks and corners last season and I think Saturday's set piece goal means we've scored nineteen of them this time around. Last season we scored forty one times from forty six games while conceding fifty eight and, at the moment, we've scored forty from thirty five while conceding forty eight. If we continue scoring and conceding at our current rate for the rest of the season we'll end up scoring fifty three and conceding sixty three.

So, for all of the talk of our defensively minded manager having improved our defence, we're on course to have a worse goals against record this season compared to last season. To counter that, we're well on the way to comfortably exceeding last season's goalscoring figure. However, when you consider that, with eleven games left, we've already scored seventeen more set piece goals than we did last season, the truth is that our improved goalscoring figure is on course to be entirely down to us being so much better at scoring from free kicks and corners. In fact, there is every chance on the evidence we have at the moment that the 23/24 side will end up with less goals scored from open play than last season's team which only avoided the drop because of Reading's points deduction.

Last season's team also were useless from the penalty spot, but at least they were getting the players into the box to draw the fouls and handballs from the opposition. Take away the cup tie and at Sheffield (Bulut allows the team to play a different style of football in cup games) and we're not getting the penalties this season that we did last time around.

Let's not forget either that, despite the transfer embargo for the summer window, Bulut has had the sixth best wages budget in the Championship to work with according to our Chairman. I'm dubious about that claim, but, you only have to look at the calibre of player we brought in during the summer window to think that the wage budget for 23/24 is significantly bigger than the one for 22/23.

So, on what is almost certainly a bigger wages budget, Bulut has overseen what looks like being a much higher finishing position than last season, despite the fact that we're conceding more goals and are even less creative from open play than last season's team - he's got a lot to be grateful about for all of those extra set piece goals.

As I said a few weeks back, I'm not calling for Bulut to be sacked, but if Tan decided to get rid of him at the end of the season, I wouldn't be too bothered.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

And why shouldn't we lament it? Off the top of my head, we scored two goals from crosses from free kicks and corners last season and I think Saturday's set piece goal means we've scored nineteen of them this time around. Last season we scored forty one times from forty six games while conceding fifty eight and, at the moment, we've scored forty from thirty five while conceding forty eight. If we continue scoring and conceding at our current rate for the rest of the season we'll end up scoring fifty three and conceding sixty three.

So, for all of the talk of our defensively minded manager having improved our defence, we're on course to have a worse goals against record this season compared to last season. To counter that, we're well on the way to comfortably exceeding last season's goalscoring figure. However, when you consider that, with eleven games left, we've already scored seventeen more set piece goals than we did last season, the truth is that our improved goalscoring figure is on course to be entirely down to us being so much better at scoring from free kicks and corners. In fact, there is every chance on the evidence we have at the moment that the 23/24 side will end up with less goals scored from open play than last season's team which only avoided the drop because of Reading's points deduction.

Last season's team also were useless from the penalty spot, but at least they were getting the players into the box to draw the fouls and handballs from the opposition. Take away the cup tie and at Sheffield (Bulut allows the team to play a different style of football in cup games) and we're not getting the penalties this season that we did last time around.

Let's not forget either that, despite the transfer embargo for the summer window, Bulut has had the sixth best wages budget in the Championship to work with according to our Chairman. I'm dubious about that claim, but, you only have to look at the calibre of player we brought in during the summer window to think that the wage budget for 23/24 is significantly bigger than the one for 22/23.

So, on what is almost certainly a bigger wages budget, Bulut has overseen what looks like being a much higher finishing position than last season, despite the fact that we're conceding more goals and are even less creative from open play than last season's team - he's got a lot to be grateful about for all of those extra set piece goals.

As I said a few weeks back, I'm not calling for Bulut to be sacked, but if Tan decided to get rid of him at the end of the season, I wouldn't be too bothered.

Stats (in black and white):

Attempts from open play (per game):

2023/24: 7.3
2022/23: 8.1
2021/22: 6.5

Attempts from set pieces (per game):

2023/24: 2.9
2022/23: 3.1
2021/22: 4.1

Overall attempts on goal (per game):

2023/24: 10.5
2022/23: 11.7
2021/22: 11.1

Goals per number of attempts from open play:

2023/24: 14.9
2022/23: 13.4
2021/22: 10.4

Goals per number of attempts from set pieces:

2023/24: 5.7
2022/23: 17.6
2021/22: 12.6

Games per goal from open play (average):

2023/24: 2.06
2022/23: 1.64
2021/22: 1.59

The stats suggest that we are less creative than in our previous two seasons, but we have found a way of converting an unusually high percentage of the chances we create from set pieces.

Even without Ramsey and O'Dowda, the stats make pretty grim reading and suggests that

a) our style of attacking play
b) our attacking players

aren't up to what they have been over the previous two seasons. Now, I presume the club didn't expect a full season from Rambo. If they did, god help us all, and that's nothing against Ramsey, but we have all prayed he'd stay as injury free as possible. So, the combination of manager and players brought in have done nothing to improve us as an attacking force, other than an ability to convert set pieces.

Some might not care about that at all, as long as we're competitive and win enough to have a better season than last, must be an improvement. But take set pieces out of the equation, we're a worse attacking unit than we've had for many a season. Even Warnock's sides were better at scoring from open play, even in the Premier League.