GA had said on numerous occasions he won't call out his players publicly and I admire that, however, you can't come out with "they gave everything" after that performance at Watford. If his mantra is to keep it all behind closed doors then fine but he's got to give a bit of truth to the performance without calling individuals out.
Having said that, is he not embarrassing Willock by bringing him on in the 97th minute? Something is going on behind the scenes regarding Willock. Either play him or leave him out completely and tell the fans why. Trust me, if Willock is playing up or whatever, the fans will be with GA.
GA is playing with fire by embarrassing Willock or any player like that, if that's his intention. Whether Chrissy is intending to move on or not he will still be good mates with his teammates and all his close friends in the squad will not like what GA did on Saturday. When you're losing 5-0 at Oxford, 4-0 down in half an hour at Watford and embarrassing fellow friends/teammates you're going to be really close to losing some of these players.
My personal opinion, I think he's already lost them. Since the day he's come in I don't think the group as a whole has bought into his methods. Performances and results have been very poor, although tbf we got much needed results last season, but whether that was due to the players personal pride in not wanting to get relegated or GA is another matter. We also got help massively with Reading and Wigan being deducted points.
The fact he started Gubbins, Smyth and Kelman when he could have played more experienced and in my opinion better players also speaks volumes. Eye opening that he chose Duke-McKenna at half time also.
Let's have it right. You don't get done 6 at Blackpool, 5 at Oxford or 4 in a little over half an hour at Watford if this lot are playing for him. I don't think there has been one performance that I thought wow, this is working. We got a couple of much needed results but performances haven't improved one bit. Burnley battered us and without a lot of luck we'd have been 3 or 4 down at half time if we're honest. Stoke had 81% possession and we only had 3 shots. It's absolutely awful and not sustainable to keep playing in this manner and get enough points to stay up. It's impossible.
Whether the group is rotten or not, we haven't got the time or money to change that now, so there needs to be a change with GA. I'm one for giving managers time but for the reasons I've outlined I just can't see a positive outcome.
So, do we stick or twist?
Having said that, is he not embarrassing Willock by bringing him on in the 97th minute? Something is going on behind the scenes regarding Willock. Either play him or leave him out completely and tell the fans why. Trust me, if Willock is playing up or whatever, the fans will be with GA.
GA is playing with fire by embarrassing Willock or any player like that, if that's his intention. Whether Chrissy is intending to move on or not he will still be good mates with his teammates and all his close friends in the squad will not like what GA did on Saturday. When you're losing 5-0 at Oxford, 4-0 down in half an hour at Watford and embarrassing fellow friends/teammates you're going to be really close to losing some of these players.
My personal opinion, I think he's already lost them. Since the day he's come in I don't think the group as a whole has bought into his methods. Performances and results have been very poor, although tbf we got much needed results last season, but whether that was due to the players personal pride in not wanting to get relegated or GA is another matter. We also got help massively with Reading and Wigan being deducted points.
The fact he started Gubbins, Smyth and Kelman when he could have played more experienced and in my opinion better players also speaks volumes. Eye opening that he chose Duke-McKenna at half time also.
Let's have it right. You don't get done 6 at Blackpool, 5 at Oxford or 4 in a little over half an hour at Watford if this lot are playing for him. I don't think there has been one performance that I thought wow, this is working. We got a couple of much needed results but performances haven't improved one bit. Burnley battered us and without a lot of luck we'd have been 3 or 4 down at half time if we're honest. Stoke had 81% possession and we only had 3 shots. It's absolutely awful and not sustainable to keep playing in this manner and get enough points to stay up. It's impossible.
Whether the group is rotten or not, we haven't got the time or money to change that now, so there needs to be a change with GA. I'm one for giving managers time but for the reasons I've outlined I just can't see a positive outcome.
So, do we stick or twist?
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