I have just been looking at some of Coyle's comments after the Birmingham game, which are listed below, with my comments on his comments.
"I know what we can do". Well why do "we" not do it then. Surely it's any managers job to make sure the team always plays its best.
"I know the players we have." What a statement to come out with, if a manager does not know his players then who does? His team selection and tactics over the last 18 months have so often shown that maybe he does not know the players we have.
"Players are working their socks off for the club." I would suggest some of them should take their socks off, and their boots and the rest of their kit, give up football at this level and get some players who can play at the level the supporters expect.
"Players have come the wrong side of some terrible decisions." How often have we heard this from him after losing a game. The officials are only human, they will make some mistakes and do not have eyes in the back of their heads. All teams will have decisions go against them from time to time, but not with the frequency against one club as Coyle seems to suggest. The officials have no reason to be biased against BWFC.
"It's clearly not a penalty". The rules of football say that if the referee says it is a penalty, then it is a penalty.
"I wish I could referee games". This is about the most sensible thing Coyle has said for a long time. He would probably be a much better referee than a manager.
Coyle's comments
posted on 20/9/12
It's no use talking about what might happen. That's hope and conjection.
What we see now is all we have to work with. Poor team selection, tactics, and good ol hoofball..... worse than Mugson IMO.
Certain players like SKD, Mavies, Zat for example not allowed to be dropped.
A win away win give us some hope ....but imagine this lot in the Prem? 8-0 half time at Arsenal ......yikes !!!!!
posted on 21/9/12
http://www.skysports.com/video/inline/0,,16464_8093189,00.html
posted on 21/9/12
Based on the significant improvement I saw on Tuesday night, if Owen drops SKD, and Lee, and plays 3 midfielders plus Sordell, I have to agree with JAH. We will win.
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Drop SKD and lee, after saying....significant improvement?
We keep calling for SKD to be dropped this is now becoming comical
posted on 22/9/12
JAH, CEF and wressle, I hope and pray that you are right. I truly would love nothing better than to come on here at Christmas and say 'Oops jumped the gun there and Owen has re-invented himself and the team' but sadly I just can't see it.
We're going to need the biggest comeback since Lazarus to do this one.
posted on 22/9/12
lpp - as a poster I look out for due to the fact you clearly think before you post and put your comments down in a thoughtful way, things must be bad if you now feel there is no way of turning things round!!!!
I don't want to re-open the disgusting occurrence of last week, but even last night's result shows that anything is possible in this crazy league.
posted on 22/9/12
CEF it's the away form that especially bothers me. We're simply too soft away and no matter how nice the goals we score might be (Eagles free kick was a thing of beauty) we always concede more.
The sad fact is that even at home we're easy to open up at the back and I just think Owen can not change it. In some ways he's as one dimensional in his approach as Megson was but on the opposite end of the spectrum. Yes attacking football is needed to win games, promotions, plaudits and so on but it MUST be balanced and built on a foundation of a solid defence. With us it simply isn't. We don't seem to have that mentality of shut the door about us and that cost us last season and is already costing us this.
Owen's a great guy and I have no doubt has the stuff in him to be a very good manager but it hasn't worked here for him or or for us and it's time we acknowledged that, said thank you and parted company. I take no pleasure in typing this but I truly don't now see another option.
posted on 22/9/12
I am sure like you, we have all spent a lot of time thinking about why it has gone so spectacularly wrong since the FA Cup semi. Before that game, things were going well. I was disappointed with the way we tailed off that season, but we were always safe, and most of us went into last season expecting another good showing.
When the fixtures came out, there was a collective gasp on here and it was pretty clear we would be near the bottom after 8 games. But it seemed a sort of panic set in, and OC struggled to keep the players' heads up. This is what I found most disappointing, because of all Coyle's attributes, man-management appears to be one of his strengths.
Between the middle of December and March, things did improve and at one point we were out of the bottom 3. What then happened exposed Coyle's main weakness. People can go on about injuries and what happened to Muamba, but that is side-stepping the issue. When we needed to consolidate on the above said improvement, Coyle started tinkering, made some shocking tactical decisions, and our soft-centre was exposed. At the same time, Wigan and QPR started getting results that defied logic, but there are always results like that during the run-in. We weren't able to get those sorts of results, and our last 6 games got us relegated, rather than our first 6 games.
Now I know all of the above is obvious, because it happened. I also know that I am considered a 'Coyle lover' on here. Maybe I am just a stubborn fool, or maybe I don't understand football!! My thinking is that the days of BSA are long gone. His model, which established us in the Prem, isn't possible these days. We were losing money hand over fist during the last 5 years, and something had to change.
Sadly, the nett effect is we just don't have the quality of player now, because we can't afford it. Because of this, I would rather give OC a chance this season. And by 'chance', I mean somewhere between 10 and 20 games. I still know he can turn it around, but I also accept he is rapidly running out of time.
Replacements are thin on the ground, and unless we get very lucky, a new manager might not just be able to waltz in and wave a magic wand.
posted on 22/9/12
Agreed Cef at least on the whole magic wand thing but I have to say that I think that Owen has NO chance of turning it round. Another manager with fresh eyes and a fresh perspective will look at options Owen can't or won't or simply hasn't considered strongly enough.
I agree totally that we can't spend stupid money and as a result we won't see the likes of Hierro, Djorkaeff, Jay Jay, Campo et al in our shirt anytime soon if ever again but we can and do have some very good players that we're simply not seeing the best from and some real donkeys who don't belong in league two much less the championship.
We have so many problems to address it's almost scary and from where I sit owen has run out of ideas and time.
posted on 25/9/12
CEF - a very different opinion to mine, but excellently constructed and balanced. Fair play
i however believe, the "When we needed to consolidate on the above said improvement, Coyle started tinkering, made some shocking tactical decisions, and our soft-centre was exposed"
This was my time that i believed he wasnt good enough. All succesful managers should be able to adapt and change things. That was one of Big Sams massive plus points. I remember him making a change after 20 mins because the team he selected just wasnt going to work against the team we were playing. It worked, we won, and that change made a massive difference.
i entirely agree that the standard of footballer has changed, but i dont think it has changed to the degree people believe, i just think BSA played to our strengths and made the team look better than it was. Coyle on the other hand, is making the team look worse than it actually is. he is still trying to make them play football, which in an attacking sense, we look fairly good, unfortunately, in order to play said nice football requires commited numbers forward, leaving an average defence very exposed.
The other thing i realised was... the victory against arsenal after stoke. My gosh, that team that day worked incredibly hard and earned its victory through sheer grit. That grit has sadly now all but dissappeared, we dont look like a hardworking team, we look lost, unsure.
i hope Coyle absolutely slaps me in the face and proves me so so wrong. Just for me, the rot set in a very very long time ago
posted on 25/9/12
Clegg
It's not so much the 'standard' of the players I was referring to. It was more the 'model' employed by BSA, of being able to persuade players like Djorkaeef, Okochs, Hierro and Campo to give the Prem a try.
Nowadays, the money on offer in the MLS and Qatar is too good to refuse.
I can't imagine Messi and Ronaldo giving a Stoke, Norwich or Fulham a try when they get into their late 30's.