Manager's Favorites

[zummerset]

Believe me Wongle we all were moaning like feck about Coppells favourites after 8 straight losses last year and then relegation. But we still believe in Copps -better than the average cat!

[londinium]

Personally I think the post is just going over the same old thing that has been written on here many a time and is utter tosh.


If you look at all the games this season then you will see that proportionately we have won, drawn or lost the same with any combination of the 4 main central midfielders (Harps, Gunnar, Cisse and Karajan).

I am not bothered who plays in the midfield and the fact that Marek doesnt get on with 20 mins to go means we are winning and we want to hold onto what we have rather than need some midfield inspiration as we are losing.

As for Gunnar, did he not come against Cardiff when we had 10 men and help us get something from the game not only by scoring but by sureing up the midfield.

With regards to Doyle against Cov, it may have appeared to be one of his quiter games, this was the case as Cov did their homework and doubled up on him giving Hunt more space... you will find that more and more when a striker is on form, thats why Ebanks-Blake is getting on the score sheet more and more although he is shite, as teams are doubling up on Iwelumo.

[Dirk Gently]

The thing is you can't have it both ways - SC has players he trusts, and his approach is give them the responsibility to get themselves out of any messes that they might have got themselves into.

That's just the way he is - change his approach to the way he selects and changes teams and who knows what else will change too.

Personally, I'm happy with the way he is. You have to take the whole package, warts and all, and this is about the only wart so I think we win on the deal.

[zummerset]

Personally I think the post is just going over the same old thing that has been written on here many a time and is utter tosh.


If you look at all the games this season then you will see that proportionately we have won, drawn or lost the same with any combination of the 4 main central midfielders (Harps, Gunnar, Cisse and Karajan).

I am not bothered who plays in the midfield and the fact that Marek doesnt get on with 20 mins to go means we are winning and we want to hold onto what we have rather than need some midfield inspiration as we are losing.

As for Gunnar, did he not come against Cardiff when we had 10 men and help us get something from the game not only by scoring but by sureing up the midfield.

Isn't the problem that Marek should be on at the start so we get some goals and then the gorillas come on to shore things up. Horses for courses just the wrong way round. However games against Soton and Coventry have trecently turned this rather on its head as our 'dominant 20 minutes' at the start becomes a bit of a nightmare as away teams come out with an attacking gameplan for the beginning of the match. I guess thats why Copps is the manager on the sharp end and we are fans blessed with glorious hindsight.

[The 17 Bus]

If we go on a bad run then we should hope that he will change things, he explained why he did not change the team after Soton at home, and then we got a good performance away, so no one needed to be dropped.

Long may it continue, if we lose 3 in a row, then there may be time for change, so far we have not.

[andrew1957]

I think a lot of you completely underrate Steve Coppell. He is an extremely clever chap and he is always looking ahead at how he can improve the squad.

I will start by saying do you really believe that he thought Sonko was one of his first choice centre backs at the start of the season - of course not - but I am sure the club had done a deal with Stoke to play Sonko so that they could have a look at him in August and see if they wanted him - they did and we got £2M for a player that was in my opinion well off his best.

Now why do you think Harper is playing week in week out. I suspect that he still wants away and the one chance of this happening is in January if a PL club needs a midfielder. it would not surprise me at all if Harps goes. Clearly we have 4 other players who can fill the CM role so again in my opinion this would be good business all round.

The only thing I would agree with is that SC does make substitutions far too late in a game. We had won the game against Coventry with 20 minutes to go so why not give Henry 20 minutes to see what he could do rather than just 5. That mystifies me a bit but I think it is simply that the manager is ultra cautious and dos not want to take any risks and he sees young players as a risk BUT we have to blood them sometime.

[londinium]

Personally I think the post is just going over the same old thing that has been written on here many a time and is utter tosh.


If you look at all the games this season then you will see that proportionately we have won, drawn or lost the same with any combination of the 4 main central midfielders (Harps, Gunnar, Cisse and Karajan).

I am not bothered who plays in the midfield and the fact that Marek doesnt get on with 20 mins to go means we are winning and we want to hold onto what we have rather than need some midfield inspiration as we are losing.

As for Gunnar, did he not come against Cardiff when we had 10 men and help us get something from the game not only by scoring but by sureing up the midfield.

Isn't the problem that Marek should be on at the start so we get some goals and then the gorillas come on to shore things up. Horses for courses just the wrong way round. However games against Soton and Coventry have trecently turned this rather on its head as our 'dominant 20 minutes' at the start becomes a bit of a nightmare as away teams come out with an attacking gameplan for the beginning of the match. I guess thats why Copps is the manager on the sharp end and we are fans blessed with glorious hindsight.

Marek is still only just coming back from injury and as par for the course this normally means coming on in a cameo roll towards the end of the game...

I think Marek was back for selection about beggining of November and our results without him starting have been:

1 Nov Bristol City A Championship 4-1
8 Nov Derby H Championship 3-0
15 Nov Sheff Utd A Championship 2-0
22 Nov Southampton H Championship 1-2
25 Nov Cardiff A Championship 2-2
1 Dec Coventry H Championship 3-1

4 wins 1 draw and 1 defeat = 13 points from 6 games.... give me those stats any day.

[andrew1957]

Personally I think the post is just going over the same old thing that has been written on here many a time and is utter tosh.


If you look at all the games this season then you will see that proportionately we have won, drawn or lost the same with any combination of the 4 main central midfielders (Harps, Gunnar, Cisse and Karajan).

I am not bothered who plays in the midfield and the fact that Marek doesnt get on with 20 mins to go means we are winning and we want to hold onto what we have rather than need some midfield inspiration as we are losing.

As for Gunnar, did he not come against Cardiff when we had 10 men and help us get something from the game not only by scoring but by sureing up the midfield.

With regards to Doyle against Cov, it may have appeared to be one of his quiter games, this was the case as Cov did their homework and doubled up on him giving Hunt more space... you will find that more and more when a striker is on form, thats why Ebanks-Blake is getting on the score sheet more and more although he is shite, as teams are doubling up on Iwelumo.

Well said. The point about Doyle is well made. Hunt had run his heart out getting into all the space Doyle was making and was exhausted whereas Doyle was fresher which is why he stayed on.

Long does a useful job when he comes on in a situation like this. If we are winning he keeps the opposition busy and to be fair when we have been down he has scored and created goals in several occasions. He may never be a starting 11 player but he is a useful sub.

[S09Royal]

Agrred there brillaint post

especally bout noel hun being subbed

he was better than doyle by far monday

and also long is woeful ship him off on loan or sell him and get lita back

The only reason Nunt was better than Doyle on Monday night was 'cos whenever Doyler got the ball, about 3 defenders were around him and stopped him from doing anything while he had the ball-the Coventry players had obviously done their homework on Doyle. But they were caught out by Nunt who, i don't think, will ever score a scruffier goal than his 2nd and Reading's 3rd- tho i don't care how goals come, as long as they're scored!

[londinium]

Agrred there brillaint post

especally bout noel hun being subbed

he was better than doyle by far monday

and also long is woeful ship him off on loan or sell him and get lita back

The only reason Nunt was better than Doyle on Monday night was 'cos whenever Doyler got the ball, about 3 defenders were around him and stopped him from doing anything while he had the ball-the Coventry players had obviously done their homework on Doyle. But they were caught out by Nunt who, i don't think, will ever score a scruffier goal than his 2nd and Reading's 3rd- tho i don't care how goals come, as long as they're scored!

As stated in the previous two posts!!!!!

Agreed though, obviously

[Dirk Gently]

Isn't it obvious that he's trying to give Long a chance to play himself into some form - so when the game was comfortably won he gave him a chance to succeed. Sadly, though, Long is so desperate to suceed that he's trying far too hard and so it's not working for him.

[Victor Meldrew]

It was a joke around where I sit that give or take a minute Coppell would make a substitution at 60 minutes every game.
This season he has been less predictable probably because we are winning so many more games than we have during the past 2 seasons.
I think that generally managers are not very imaginative when making subs and Steve is no better nor no worse than the rest.
If anything he is more conservative than most-could you see him blood a youngster as McGhee did in a big game away at Man City with Mark Holtzman?-but that is just how he is.

What really annoys me is a substitution with about one minute left-surely there is a greater risk of that player getting injured after sitting around for 89 minutes than the benefit of time-wasting and breaking up of play that are the normal reasons for making a sub at that time.
Personally I preferred the days of no substitutions when injuries came down to the luck of the draw and when players stayed on heroically (goalkeeper Arthur Wilkie and his 2 goals anybody when he played on the wing after a goalkeeping injury?) but I suppose nowadays the risk of worsening an injury is just not worth it bearing in mind how financially valuable players now are to the club.

[Fubar]

'jumped up little Ghetto Smurf'

The best line I've read on here for ages...

[AbovetheI]

Quickly made up for all those years of silence, then.

PS. I'm not reading all that

PPS oxf*rd off newbie

Why come on a message board if you don't wish to read?

Because he's AF1's biggest fan.

[Forbury Lion]

Quickly made up for all those years of silence, then.

PS. I'm not reading all that

PPS oxf*rd off newbie

Why come on a message board if you don't wish to read?

To hook a fish and award it a whoooooosh.

[Southbank Old Boy]

Now why do you think Harper is playing week in week out. I suspect that he still wants away and the one chance of this happening is in January if a PL club needs a midfielder. it would not surprise me at all if Harps goes. Clearly we have 4 other players who can fill the CM role so again in my opinion this would be good business all round.

What a load of rubbish

There is no way that we're playing Harper just to put him in the shop window. We're playing him because Coppell see's him as an important part of the side

[Ian Royal]

Unbelievable first post!

Really good points well laid out. I don't agree with a fair few of them, or can see the reason behind the decisions in question which makes them good.

Coppell certainly isn't a manager who uses his bench much. For him it either appears to be to rotate the attacking players to rest them with 20 ish to go, or its there as emergency back up. There isn't a lot of tactical use of it. He expects the first team players to know what they're doing enough to get out of problems on the pitch themselves.

Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't.

[chilipepper91]

I think a lot of you completely underrate Steve Coppell. He is an extremely clever chap and he is always looking ahead at how he can improve the squad.

I will start by saying do you really believe that he thought Sonko was one of his first choice centre backs at the start of the season - of course not - but I am sure the club had done a deal with Stoke to play Sonko so that they could have a look at him in August and see if they wanted him - they did and we got £2M for a player that was in my opinion well off his best.

Now why do you think Harper is playing week in week out. I suspect that he still wants away and the one chance of this happening is in January if a PL club needs a midfielder. it would not surprise me at all if Harps goes. Clearly we have 4 other players who can fill the CM role so again in my opinion this would be good business all round.

The only thing I would agree with is that SC does make substitutions far too late in a game. We had won the game against Coventry with 20 minutes to go so why not give Henry 20 minutes to see what he could do rather than just 5. That mystifies me a bit but I think it is simply that the manager is ultra cautious and dos not want to take any risks and he sees young players as a risk BUT we have to blood them sometime.

So you are saying that Coppell plays players because they are likely to go, and he wants them to go?

[Mintymurray]

Too many oldbies on this post, it's almost as if posters here have their favourites!!!!

[Royalee]

Cracking post Wongle.