Coppell Looks For Excuses Already

[Roger the Rabbit]

If it's not broke don't fix it

If it's broke???? Still don't fix it?.

Is there just the one way of fixing a broken thing ?

The discussion is around whether one specific fix would have worked, not whether any fix was required...

Signing players wouldn't have guaranteed an improvement in our futunes or survival but then I don't think even Royalee is claiming that it would..

Is it a huge leap to go from what Royalee said 'we went down becasue we didn't sign anyone' to suggesting that we would have stayed up if we had signed someone (the right person(s) ) ? If people didn;t think that a couple of signings would have kept us up then it doesn;t make sense to claim that we went down because we didn't make those signings (that's becoming a bit of a twister !!).

What he has said is that not addressing our weaknesses by bringing in new personel is why we went done. Considering we had no other viable alternatives to the players that had already got us into the position we were in I think he's right.

Except we did, people pointed out ages ago that we made little use of Bikey, we didn't use Lita for whatever reason, we didn't give Henry a go, we didn't use DLC, we kept playing Doyle when he was out of form and out of position. Buying MIGHT have sorted things, but I still maintain that it was not, as clearly stated by Royalee, the reason we went down.

[Fezza]

The reason we went down was because we played one dimensional football through the centre of the park for a year as a result of the management failing to invest in a right winger despite being well aware Little wasn't fit and then selling Sulky. The result of this was other teams were able to play with more freedom against us safe in the knowledge that we didn't pose a threat down the flanks. No service = no goals = relegation.

[PEARCEY]

If it's not broke don't fix it

If it's broke???? Still don't fix it?.

Is there just the one way of fixing a broken thing ?

The discussion is around whether one specific fix would have worked, not whether any fix was required...

Signing players wouldn't have guaranteed an improvement in our futunes or survival but then I don't think even Royalee is claiming that it would..

Is it a huge leap to go from what Royalee said 'we went down becasue we didn't sign anyone' to suggesting that we would have stayed up if we had signed someone (the right person(s) ) ? If people didn;t think that a couple of signings would have kept us up then it doesn;t make sense to claim that we went down because we didn't make those signings (that's becoming a bit of a twister !!).

What he has said is that not addressing our weaknesses by bringing in new personel is why we went done. Considering we had no other viable alternatives to the players that had already got us into the position we were in I think he's right.

Except we did, people pointed out ages ago that we made little use of Bikey, we didn't use Lita for whatever reason, we didn't give Henry a go, we didn't use DLC, we kept playing Doyle when he was out of form and out of position. Buying MIGHT have sorted things, but I still maintain that it was not, as clearly stated by Royalee, the reason we went down.

Roger The Rabbit=Behindu......You write in a very similar vein to Behindu who mysteriously disappeared into the ether a few months ago...and has now reappeared as Roger the Rabbit.

[Southbank Old Boy]

What he has said is that not addressing our weaknesses by bringing in new personel is why we went done. Considering we had no other viable alternatives to the players that had already got us into the position we were in I think he's right.

Except we did, people pointed out ages ago that we made little use of Bikey, we didn't use Lita for whatever reason, we didn't give Henry a go, we didn't use DLC, we kept playing Doyle when he was out of form and out of position. Buying MIGHT have sorted things, but I still maintain that it was not, as clearly stated by Royalee, the reason we went down.

I said viable....which of that lot, or our entire untapped potential in the squad, was a viable alternative to what already hadn't worked on the right of midfield?

Kebe was signed as a right winger. If that was the extent of our willingness to strengthen then we deserved to be relegated.

As for the centre of midfield, he'd tried Bikey in midfield and had decided it didn't work, rightly so in my opinion. The answer the problem of being too powderpuff in midfield? Matejovsky!!!

We'll have to accept we disagree then as not buying to sufficiently address the glaring weaknesses in our side was, in my opinion, THE biggest singular contributory factor in us getting relegated.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

In mitigation, you could suggest timing was against us. In August Little was supposed to be back in a month or two, and Oster was playing very well. We played well to get a draw at Old Trafford, and played Chelsea off the park for 45 minutes. You'd had to be a real pessimist to see us realistically being in real danger at the end of August.

Then we went crap. The 0-3 v West Ham had me thinking we were going down (and Coppell too, apparently) but by Christmas, although not playing great, we seemed to have a enough in the tank to look like we'd stay up without it being too difficult. It looked like about 16 or 17 points from the last half of the season would be enough - not exactly a tall order.

We had a tough set of fixtures in Xmas and January, but it wasn't until the Bolton game, again, just after the transfer window shut, that we truly collapsed. We had, after all, just given Man Utd a really good game in the previous match.

I'm sure we were looking for players, but it must have taken the edge off the feeling of urgency. Had the transfer windows ended in September and February, things might possibly have been different.

[papereyes]

When we were 12th or so, and looked safe, we were only ever 5 or 6 points from trouble. I know people on here got wound up over the position rather than the fact that we were only ever 2 bad weeks from being sucked back in.

[Southbank Old Boy]

In mitigation, you could suggest timing was against us. In August Little was supposed to be back in a month or two, and Oster was playing very well. We played well to get a draw at Old Trafford, and played Chelsea off the park for 45 minutes. You'd had to be a real pessimist to see us realistically being in real danger at the end of August.

Then we went crap. The 0-3 v West Ham had me thinking we were going down (and Coppell too, apparently) but by Christmas, although not playing great, we seemed to have a enough in the tank to look like we'd stay up without it being too difficult. It looked like about 16 or 17 points from the last half of the season would be enough - not exactly a tall order.

We had a tough set of fixtures in Xmas and January, but it wasn't until the Bolton game, again, just after the transfer window shut, that we truly collapsed. We had, after all, just given Man Utd a really good game in the previous match.

I'm sure we were looking for players, but it must have taken the edge off the feeling of urgency. Had the transfer windows ended in September and February, things might possibly have been different.

I think gambling on the Little situation was a fatal error. He'd already been out for 6 months and had a couple of failed attempts at coming back. We also got rid of the player that had provided half decent cover for him on the regular occassions he was injured. We were left with Oster, a player Coppell had never thought good enough to really challenge Little or Seol for the right wing spot, and Rosenoir, a new player who we were going to try playing out of position during his settling in period, to be our creative force on the right.

Oster did play well in that Chelsea game, but he also missed two sitters to highlight how is was just not quite good enough at that level. He played that well he was subbed and dropped for the next game!

Your point about just about being safe is exactly what I think the club thought. Sheff Utd probably thought the same the season before too. It's very dangerous to think you can drift along and pick up enough points whilst the rest of the division are striving to improve. I think we showed that attitude in both the summer and winter transfer windows and ultimately it cost us dear.

[Seal]

Buying MIGHT have sorted things, but I still maintain that it was not, as clearly stated by Royalee, the reason we went down.

Ok, so if it wasn't the reason we went down, would you at least be prepared to accept that it was the single most influential factor in determing our fate?

I can accept other factors played their part, but I would challenge anyone to find a bigger factor in our relgation that our transfer policy in the 2007/8 season.

Bearing this in mind, are you not concerned by the parellels in the club's apparent transfer policy this summer with last year (i.e. talk a good game but do very little), and the implications this could have for our performance in the forthcoming season?

[brendywendy]

its coppells fault that the windows werent used better
its madejskis fault for insisting on the wage cap
its pompeys fault twice over for losing to fulham, and beating us 7-4
but mainly its the players fault they didnt perform in the 2nd half of the season.
they were good enough, they just faltered, badly

cannot wait for the season to start so we can start whingeing about something new

[Roger the Rabbit]

Buying MIGHT have sorted things, but I still maintain that it was not, as clearly stated by Royalee, the reason we went down.

Ok, so if it wasn't the reason we went down, would you at least be prepared to accept that it was the single most influential factor in determing our fate?

I can accept other factors played their part, but I would challenge anyone to find a bigger factor in our relgation that our transfer policy in the 2007/8 season.

Bearing this in mind, are you not concerned by the parellels in the club's apparent transfer policy this summer with last year (i.e. talk a good game but do very little), and the implications this could have for our performance in the forthcoming season?

1. The point was whether the fact that we didn't buy in January was the reason we went down, and no, I'm not at all convinced that buying in Janaury would have guaranteed us survival.

2. If you widen the discussion, then of course I'd agree with many (including Coppell) that we didn't bring in th eplayers we should have done last summer and probably just one or two new players would have made a huge difference IF THEY HAD BEEN THE RIGHT PLAYERS.

3. Finally, no I'm not concerned about any parallels. Two reasons, firstly I have no idea what will happen in the next month. Secondly I save my concerns for things I can do something about, the club will do what it does and I'll enjoy watching next season play itself out with the team that's put on the pitch. I have always taken the view that football is a hobby and as such never really waste time with negative thoughts about it. I'll worry about paying the mortgage, fixing the car, makimg sure the kids get their education and I'll let Coppell, Hammond and JM 'worry' about the team !

[BBTSA]

You're a fun kind of guy

[brendywendy]

RtR- a one man defence against the negative posse

sterling work young man
keep it up

[Southbank Old Boy]

3. Finally, no I'm not concerned about any parallels. Two reasons, firstly I have no idea what will happen in the next month. Secondly I save my concerns for things I can do something about, the club will do what it does and I'll enjoy watching next season play itself out with the team that's put on the pitch. I have always taken the view that football is a hobby and as such never really waste time with negative thoughts about it. I'll worry about paying the mortgage, fixing the car, makimg sure the kids get their education and I'll let Coppell, Hammond and JM 'worry' about the team !

Fair enough point of view.

Don't you sometimes have to accept the reality that not everything smells of roses and sometimes mistakes are made though? Or do you just ignore them and skip away full of the joys of spring because you've been allowed to spend time and money on one of your hobbies?

I don't think it's negative to debate the issues surrounding the club, even if, as a personal opinion of couse, see things happening that are negatively going to impact the future of your club. Surely it's part of supporting a club to have an opinion and a vested interest in what goes on. If not, I think you're missing out on a lot of the fun of being a football fan.

[Roger the Rabbit]

3. Finally, no I'm not concerned about any parallels. Two reasons, firstly I have no idea what will happen in the next month. Secondly I save my concerns for things I can do something about, the club will do what it does and I'll enjoy watching next season play itself out with the team that's put on the pitch. I have always taken the view that football is a hobby and as such never really waste time with negative thoughts about it. I'll worry about paying the mortgage, fixing the car, makimg sure the kids get their education and I'll let Coppell, Hammond and JM 'worry' about the team !

Fair enough point of view.

Don't you sometimes have to accept the reality that not everything smells of roses and sometimes mistakes are made though? Or do you just ignore them and skip away full of the joys of spring because you've been allowed to spend time and money on one of your hobbies?

I don't think it's negative to debate the issues surrounding the club, even if, as a personal opinion of couse, see things happening that are negatively going to impact the future of your club. Surely it's part of supporting a club to have an opinion and a vested interest in what goes on. If not, I think you're missing out on a lot of the fun of being a football fan.

Huge difference in seeing things relatively openly and being obsessively negative. To read the posts of some on here you would think the club never does anything right, that Coppell has deliberately run things down and we've got absolutely nothing to be upbeat about !!

I've made plenty of comments about things the club have got wrong, and am always happy to debate things. It's bizarre though that some of those who see things from a negative point of view are so entrenched in their views, hardly ever a ray of sunshine from them which considering the fact that this is supposed to be something we do for fun is quite sad isn't it ?

I'm not sure I miss out on any of the fun of being a football fan, I've had many years of great fun following the club and I've experienced all the lows of relegation, appalling football, incompetant management and clueless off the field activity. In years gone past I'd have got angry, frustrated etc etc but oddly I get a lot more pleasure from the game now - coming home and sulking for the evening becasue I'd seen yet another shambolic defeat for Tommy Burns and his crew of free transfers / over priced nobodies wasn't actually a great way to spend my time !

[Sarah Star]

Maybe you're just getting old, Roger.

[Roger the Rabbit]

Maybe you're just getting old, Roger.

Sure am !

It's not as bad as it's cracked up to be either. I thought your blood pressure was supposed to go up as you got older but it's odds on the panic merchants have way higher BP than me....

[Southbank Old Boy]

Huge difference in seeing things relatively openly and being obsessively negative. To read the posts of some on here you would think the club never does anything right, that Coppell has deliberately run things down and we've got absolutely nothing to be upbeat about !!

I've made plenty of comments about things the club have got wrong, and am always happy to debate things. It's bizarre though that some of those who see things from a negative point of view are so entrenched in their views, hardly ever a ray of sunshine from them which considering the fact that this is supposed to be something we do for fun is quite sad isn't it ?

I'm not sure I miss out on any of the fun of being a football fan, I've had many years of great fun following the club and I've experienced all the lows of relegation, appalling football, incompetant management and clueless off the field activity. In years gone past I'd have got angry, frustrated etc etc but oddly I get a lot more pleasure from the game now - coming home and sulking for the evening becasue I'd seen yet another shambolic defeat for Tommy Burns and his crew of free transfers / over priced nobodies wasn't actually a great way to spend my time !

I don't see myself as negative in any way. I see myself as having a balanced opinion on what is happening with my club and have given praise where its due in the past.

Obviously the problems with the club get discussed a lot more than what generally goes right, that's the nature of these type of things. However, I could easily make the same points as yours above about the "RTG's" and their constant defence of pretty much everything that goes on being entranched in their head in the sand views. Without questioning and improving we'd never have got where we are as a club (I know our ramblings on here have zero effect on the real events but thats not the point).

I guess ignorance is bliss.

[Royal Rother]

It doesn't appear to be.

[Southbank Old Boy]

It doesn't appear to be.

Or perhaps it is and you've just proved my point!

[Royal Rother]