OK, please don't bite my head off but just want to put it out there as I think a few people are thinking this but not many saying it out aloud...Is Pearson cut out for the Prem? Plenty have failed at this stage after doing great things in the lower leagues.
I think we look so average this season. Take out Man U and we have scored 6 goals. 1 away from home. Been in the lead twice in 10 games. Not good enough.
Personally I think we got it wrong in the summer. Whilst we didn't want an influx of new players we needed 4 or 5 quality additions, most of which should have played prem football. We didn't do this and either Pearson missread the quality fof the prem or thought his squad was better than it is. I look at how Hull did it last year, replaced their engine room in the middle and then again at Christmas up front. We should be following this model for me.
He chops and changes the squad each week so cannot be happy regardless of what he says in the media. The defence isn't good enough, nor is the midfield. We have not creativity so cannot say if the forwards are good enough but I fear not all of them are.
I think Cambiasso looks a class act and is starting to find his feet but he is a split second in class ahead of he rest of the squad.
Anyway, frustrated and annoyed we have lost our cutting edge. The prem isn't easy I know but we have to buck our ideas up fast or this team will go down. I want Pearson to make it, I really do but I do not think our owners will be as patient 2nd time round, especially as we are now in the prem.
Pearson...
posted on 3/11/14
That's the way football is these days managers are under scrutiny every week.
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The media have a lot to answer for in respect of this.
Week, week out they're practically in the faces of bosses who might just be struggling as a result of, for instance, 2 results have that have 'not gone their way' or have been conducted in a fashion that has not met their (media & public) approval. Take Alan Pardew and the barracking he's had to shoulder which seems to have coincided with the David Meyler confrontation across the water as well as a downturn In Newcastle's fortunes. Recently there's been a run of favourable results and the heat is off-for now anyway. Likewise some Spurs fans have turned on Ponch who was welcomed by many as the new 'Messiah'.
People are too easily lead by what they see on television and read in the newspapers and it doesn't do the game any good whatsoever. It would be a different case, of course, if the management team was part of a sinking ship without a glimmer of hope of staying afloat but we are not in that position.
We simply need to stand by Nigel Pearson, and I would plead with the owners to do likewise. This is very much an overview of matters without reference to changes in formation, players, tactics etc and I'm sure they are attempting to correct any flaws as I write.
It is 'early days'. I hardly expected City to be front runners at this stage.
posted on 3/11/14
Unless things are terminal by Jan (I.e. We're cut adrift in the bottom 3) I'd stick with Pearson until Feb at the earliest and allow him to use The Jan window to make the tweaks he feels he needs to.
Only if we are looking done late GeV it may be worth bringing someone in to see if we can get a short term shot in the arm to keep us up.
If we remain in the hunt until the end but ultimately go down, I'd still stick with Pearson, but as some would level at me, I am totally besotted with him and unable to see any of his faults so that's no surprise really is it.
Managerial changes can go either way - just look at the differing fortunes of Southampton and Tottenham now. Who saw that coming before the season started.
posted on 3/11/14
A lot of people asking the question "why weren't we more active in the transfer window". I don't think it would have been entirely fair to drop all the players that player a massive part in our domination of the championship last season without them ever getting the chance to prove themselves in the prem. We're only 10 games in to the season. With a leader like cambiasso in the squad I'm sure the younger players will be learning a lot as we go, and we can soon return to winning ways
posted on 3/11/14
If Nigel Pearson has made errors either with strengthening the team or tactics, he is the sort of manager that will address any problem and sort it.
He can actually put things right quicker than bringing in another manager who would want to change more than is healthy for the team.
No one knows these players strengths better than Nigel.
We may never know what really goes on behind the scenes, could it be he never had any more money to spend?
The Directors were reported to have promised to spend £180m over 3 years, well thats what we would recieve from the league over 3 years.
I doubt wether the first payment is due untill after 1 year so that could be the first time substancial monies become available.
posted on 3/11/14
'Is Nige cut out for the Prem?'
We'll know on 24 May 2015 - which will give the answer to has he kept us up? Hopefully yes on both counts and I hope he gets the opportunity to prove it one way or the other. Logically, even if we are relegated, he would be the right person for the following year in the Championship.
However logic does not come into it sometimes with football, and a bad run of form heaps pressure on managers. We are unfortunately coming to the time when, if a change is to be made, it is the most 'logical' time to do it - a month or so before the transfer window opens, when a replacement manager would have some time to assess the squad and bring in reinforcements. So, with the international break, there may only be a few games left for some under pressure manager to save his job.
Chesham - 'The question that always has to go hand in hand with the idea of swapping managers is, who do you replace him with?'
Unfortunately for the under pressure managers at the lower end of the EPL (perhaps Dyche excepted) there is lurking around a ready made Pulis shaped replacement.
posted on 3/11/14
Just posted the majority of the following on JG's post but it's relevant here as well:
We have played nearly every game this season with Championship players (every player in Saturday's starting 11 was in the Championship last year except Cambiasso). Yes, they did great against Man Utd and Arsenal but these were like cup games with nothing to lose when we raised our game and threw everything at teams who themselves were prepared to venture forward and leave gaps at the back.
it has been a thoroughly sobering experience against the bread and butter Premiership teams who work hard not to lose and have that little bit more guile to open up our defence.
If you play a team of Championship players in the Premier League then more often than not you will be playing in the Championship next season.
We are playing the price for a desperately poor transfer window in the summer; why it was so poor I have no idea.
Pearson's determination to stick with his current squad? The club's failure to identify suitable targets? The alleged wage cap restricting the choice of player's available? Players doubts about joining a newly promoted team?
Could be any of these reasons and more but the fact is we didn't really strengthen the squad with much Premier League experience and at the moment it appears that the figurative chickens are back home roosting in the King Power rafters.
Personally though, I do not want Pearson out and would definitely give him until the end of the season. For me has earnt that much at least.
posted on 3/11/14
"If you play a team of Championship players in the Premier League then more often than not you will be playing in the Championship next season."
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This is a very important point and was the key factor in how Peter Taylor started us on the plummet into obscurity. The astonishing thing is still just how much money he paid for 2nd tier players, believing them to be something more than that.
However, I don't think it's guaranteed that this is the case here. Many of our players are (or at least were up to the end of last season) young and improving. Think of Schmeichel, De Laet, Moore, Schlupp, Drinkwater, James, Knockaert, Mahrez, Wood - that's a long list of players who couldn't really be described simply as Championship players because they looked really good in that league and might have been able to step up. Even the more experienced players such as Morgan and King had earned their shot at the Premiership, and so I don't have an issue with them being given a chance.
The problem so far is that many of them are struggling to make the step up on a consistent basis. I'm not sure that it's necessarily anyone's bad judgement if they eventually don't because we all saw that they deserved the chance to do so, although that is ultimately what Pearson will be judged on. I'm in no rush to get rid of him, and if we were to go back down we wouldn't be in bad shape. (Although I'm in no way saying that we should be overjoyed about that.) But so much of this squad is in the process of feeling their way into the league, and we still don't really know most of their quality and in which league they really belong.
Incidentally, part of the problem is surely the inexperience of playing at this level, and moreover that there is so much inexperience of it throughout the squad. Perhaps it was an error not to address this more, although the problem is that you can so easily end up with a load of journeymen and money-grabbers who aren't actually any better for you in the long run. But our relegation battle this season will be decided not by our ability now, but in the ability of this squad to adapt to the rigours of this league over the whole season.
posted on 3/11/14
Taylors biggest problem was moving on the has been and Legends who where over the hill. Panic buy was massively over priced but scoring goals in the premiership is hard as we are finding out.
We are still yo nice look at Vlad the elbower he put WBA strikers in a spin and put them off their job Vardy is the only other one we have got who puts himself about .
posted on 3/11/14
Dunge - there is always a risk that you take on the money grabbers and journeymen but I would back Pearson and Walsh to sieve them out and employ the right types.
Last season we rectified the faults of the previous campaign when we had a ludicrously young and inexperienced Championship squad by bringing in Phillips, Hammond and Fatty Taylor-Fletcher. They may not have played much but their experience clearly brought some benefits off the pitch and helped us to see out some important games.
This season we seemed to have forgotten those lessons and decided to run with a comprehensively inexperienced squad in Premier League terms. I suspect Upson was brought in for just this reason and his injury has clearly been a bit of bad luck, but two or three more players who have spent a few seasons in the top division could have been helpful.
posted on 3/11/14
"Dunge - there is always a risk that you take on the money grabbers and journeymen but I would back Pearson and Walsh to sieve them out and employ the right types."
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I think they did that, and ended up with nobody left on the list!
We might need to buy a sieve with a finer mesh for January. Filter out the money-grabbers but maybe take on the odd experienced journeyman who might help us keep our heads above water this season - squeezing out the odd 0-0 draw when the opportunity presents itself on a cold night in Hull, for instance.