How Long Will BM Last at this rate?????

[Woolly68]

Well with the tough home games coming up and real 6 pointers away from home, we could be well adrift by Xmas. But it sounds like we are going to loyal to Brian so expect us to go down without a whimper !

I know he's done a great job in getting us to the prem etc etc, but that's HISTORY... I personally want to stay here, unlike a lot of fans we seem happy to go down!!

[RoyalBlue]

Disagree with anyone who claims we were unlucky not to get anything from the game today. Whilst it was disappointing and frustrating not to get at least a point having been gifted a way back, reality is that if Wigan had converted some of their numerous first half chances, we would have been on the wrong end of a thrashing.

The way we allowed Wigan to rip through our 'defence' just seconds into the 2nd half demonstrated just how poor we are.

[Forest Gump]

Realistically if we lose away to Villa the process of replacing BM must start.
If he keeps faith with the same 11 that he has picked today then he will deserve to go.

[paultheroyal]

Realistically if we lose away to Villa the process of replacing BM must start.
If he keeps faith with the same 11 that he has picked today then he will deserve to go.

With regret, i agree.

[Ian Royal]

Realistically if we lose away to Villa the process of replacing BM must start.
If he keeps faith with the same 11 that he has picked today then he will deserve to go.

With regret, i agree.

Much as I like him and think he's been great for us before this season, the next four fixtures are huge. If we manage less than 6 points I think it would be time to say thank you, good luck and goodbye. And if he persists with Gorkss, I think he'll deserve it.

I appreciate that if people think our squad just isn't good enough to stay up and he's getting the best out them that's possible, then we should keep him even if it means relegation so he can learn and try to get us back up. But I simply don't believe that this squad isn't capable of better and that he isn't part of the problem as well at the moment. Yes, we're one of the worse 6 or 7, but I genuinely feel we could and should be putting much more of a fight than this.

And the fact that we've taken the lead and got so close to so many points than we've actually picked up shows what we are capable of if he can just sort out his tactics and team selection. We certainly need to strengthen. I just don't think by that much if we can get the right team out there in the first place.

[Man Friday]

Pog gave the ball away a couple of times.

Along with the rest of the team.

I'm talking about right at the end when we really, really needed to hang on to it.

[winchester_royal]

Realistically if we lose away to Villa the process of replacing BM must start.
If he keeps faith with the same 11 that he has picked today then he will deserve to go.

Na, not having this as at all.

Getting the best out of a very limited squad. If we'd have got a late winner yesterday then the mere idea of him going would have been laughable. Such are the fine margins involved in Prem football.

[Hoop Blah]

Realistically if we lose away to Villa the process of replacing BM must start.
If he keeps faith with the same 11 that he has picked today then he will deserve to go.

Na, not having this as at all.

Getting the best out of a very limited squad. If we'd have got a late winner yesterday then the mere idea of him going would have been laughable. Such are the fine margins involved in Prem football.

....For all McD's transfer market failings this last summer, he does get the very best out of a very limited squad.

Is he though?

Are we really seeing the best of Pearce and Mariappa? Is this team best suited to Gorkss being the mainstay of it's defence?

Are we getting the best out of Guthrie and Pogrebnyak? Is Leigertwood playing to his full potential or are we just too outclassed in the middle of the park for he and Tabb or Karacan to cope without more help from an extra central player or, perhaps more realistically, a wide player being tucked in a bit?

We've been close to getting more success in a number of games this season, and the margins between success and failure are all too often very small at this level. If we're not maximising our resources, which are weaker than the rest of the divisions, then we're not going to get anywhere.

Yesterday we yet again gave away too many chances to an average team. Give away that many chances and you're always going to lose tight games because teams will always know they can create those late chances to nick points.

I'm really not convinced he is getting the best from this group of players.

Some of them are obviously not quite good enough for this league, but is the way we're going into games or adapting to them as they unfold really getting the best out of them? I don't think it is.

Another signing or two (Keith Andrews on a free or someone like Peter Wittingham to add competition and quality on the ball, a Premier League quality centre half) might well have made this squad quite different over the last couple of months. We've left ourselves a couple of playes short of giving the squad the level of competition and cover and apparently that's only one man's fault.

[winchester_royal]

I disagree.

I'm with Floyd in thinking that this squad is, quite comfortably, the worst in the division. You call Wigan an average side, but in players like Kone, Di Santo, McCarthy and Gomez they have players that would walk straight into our 1st team.

We are managing to compete against teams like Everton because of the way we are set-up. We get the ball forward quickly and get players up the pitch in support. We don't have players who can unlock defences on their own so this is the only way we can play. Yes this leaves us open defensively, but we saw at home to Spurs just how poor we are when trying to play a different style.

There are players out of form, but I'm not sure you can blame McDermott for the individual errors the players make.

I think McDermott's tactics and ideology will win us more points than any other style we could adopt without making huge changes to the squad.

Of course McDermott has to take the blame for not strengthening the squad in a better way in the summer, but without knowing the budget he had and the recruitment structure in place under TSI I'm certainly not going to use it as a reason to call for the head of a guy who is THE reason we are in this league. Plus I can understand why he wanted to keep the core of the squad intact, as our 'success' this season was always going to depend on spirit rather than quality.

[Ian Royal]

Realistically if we lose away to Villa the process of replacing BM must start.
If he keeps faith with the same 11 that he has picked today then he will deserve to go.

Na, not having this as at all.

Getting the best out of a very limited squad. If we'd have got a late winner yesterday then the mere idea of him going would have been laughable. Such are the fine margins involved in Prem football.

....For all McD's transfer market failings this last summer, he does get the very best out of a very limited squad.

Is he though?

Are we really seeing the best of Pearce and Mariappa? Is this team best suited to Gorkss being the mainstay of it's defence?

Are we getting the best out of Guthrie and Pogrebnyak? Is Leigertwood playing to his full potential or are we just too outclassed in the middle of the park for he and Tabb or Karacan to cope without more help from an extra central player or, perhaps more realistically, a wide player being tucked in a bit?

We've been close to getting more success in a number of games this season, and the margins between success and failure are all too often very small at this level. If we're not maximising our resources, which are weaker than the rest of the divisions, then we're not going to get anywhere.

Yesterday we yet again gave away too many chances to an average team. Give away that many chances and you're always going to lose tight games because teams will always know they can create those late chances to nick points.

I'm really not convinced he is getting the best from this group of players.

Some of them are obviously not quite good enough for this league, but is the way we're going into games or adapting to them as they unfold really getting the best out of them? I don't think it is.

Another signing or two (Keith Andrews on a free or someone like Peter Wittingham to add competition and quality on the ball, a Premier League quality centre half) might well have made this squad quite different over the last couple of months. We've left ourselves a couple of playes short of giving the squad the level of competition and cover and apparently that's only one man's fault.

This is my position as well. If he was getting the best from the squad how on earth have we been so close to winning so many games we haven't. A lot of our problems are self inflicted. We KNOW Federici and Gorkss at least can play much better. We know our mental strength has been much greater in the past.

If I agreed the squad was performing to its best I'd absolutely support McDermott staying no matter what. But I just don't see that as the case.

[Hoop Blah]

I disagree.

I'm with Floyd in thinking that this squad is, quite comfortably, the worst in the division. You call Wigan an average side, but in players like Kone, Di Santo, McCarthy and Gomez they have players that would walk straight into our 1st team.

I agree it probably is the worst squad in terms of quality. But a few tweaks here and there can make a big difference to the way others play.

Just look how much of a difference Leigertwood made when he came into the side, or Griffin, or Gorkss. They all came in without, IIRC, other major changes in the side and had dramatic effects on the effectiveness of the other players and thus the team as a whole.

It's obviously harder to make those changes at this level than in the Championship, but we haven't been miles away from better results. What we've needed is being tigher defensively and to close games out better, quite often something that tactically we can improve massively on and something that we should, if prepared and coached well, have been a lot better at this season.

We are managing to compete against teams like Everton because of the way we are set-up. We get the ball forward quickly and get players up the pitch in support. We don't have players who can unlock defences on their own so this is the only way we can play. Yes this leaves us open defensively, but we saw at home to Spurs just how poor we are when trying to play a different style.

There are players out of form, but I'm not sure you can blame McDermott for the individual errors the players make.

I think McDermott's tactics and ideology will win us more points than any other style we could adopt without making huge changes to the squad.

I'm not sure that style that McDermott has had us playing since Sigurdsson left is the only way for us to earn points. The higher you go the better you have to be and the better you have to play because teams don't make as many mistakes, you have to earn your points more. We've done all right scoring goals but largely, it seems to me, at the expense of being defensively good enough. That isn't good enough at this level either.

Our problem seems to be that we're are just too rigid though. That, unfortunately, seems to be down to McDermotts way of working and we don't have the players in the squad to change our shape or approach in order to adapt to the way a game unfolds or how the opposition are playing.

[RoyalBlue]

Southampton now a goal up and completely dominating their game. Unless they demonstrate our skill of throwing games away, we are going to be second from bottom and two points away from safety. Yes, a game in hand but we don't tend to win games, so a point from that at best!

[Royalwaster]

Saints winning is no great surprise - Newcastle I think have looked rubbish from the point Pardew signed that ridiculous 10 year contract. And Saints have looked pretty good despite bad results. The problem is I agree that we look by far the weakest team in this league - no surprise really as we've not really strengthened and over-performed last season. Bit depressing.

[SPARTA]

Saints 2-0 up against Newcastle.

If we're going to make a change we really need to do it now, not in 6 weeks.

[RoyalBlue]

Saints 2-0 up against Newcastle.

If we're going to make a change we really need to do it now, not in 6 weeks.

Effing great. By 9th of December we could be well adrift.

With their next two games against Sunderland and Villa, even sodding QPR could be overtaking us.

If we lose on Tuesday then Anton really needs to decide whether he wants Brian to lead us straight back to The Championship.

Saints' summer changes seem to be coming good, Harry will probably do the same for QPR's whilst McDermott won't even play most of his!

[themadstad]

Saints winning is no great surprise - Newcastle I think have looked rubbish from the point Pardew signed that ridiculous 10 year contract. And Saints have looked pretty good despite bad results. The problem is I agree that we look by far the weakest team in this league - no surprise really as we've not really strengthened and over-performed last season. Bit depressing.

And when Southampton were 1-0 up at home to Newcastle instead of conceding a goal they scored a 2nd.

We are the worst team in the division and playing at the top of our game in some cases only get us a few draws. Even with the hand ball that we conceded when we played Newcastle we should have dealt with the cross better, same mistake still being made.

Tbf that goes with not having the quality though. Will we invest enough this Jan to try and improve, will the club really take the risk of doing that if we could still go down with it costing more in fees in Jan than summer!?

Also who could actually do any better with this team!? We scraped through games in the Championship and barely improved the team.

[Haag Royal]

I predict that if we lose on Tuesday at Villa, BMD will be out of a job on Wednesday.

With the run of game we have coming up AZ will have nothing to lose. Everyone knows we had a tough set of fixtures at the start of the season and we all looked to November to play catch up. We haven't.

Also prior to spending any money in January AZ will want a new man to have seen the team for a least a month before he makes the call on what new players to buy. MCD had the chance in the summer and blew it. He will not give him another chance.

[The Prisoner]

The way things are going Wolves look like they might need a new manager soon. Anyone got Jez Moxey's number?

[themadstad]

I predict that if we lose on Tuesday at Villa, BMD will be out of a job on Wednesday.

With the run of game we have coming up AZ will have nothing to lose. Everyone knows we had a tough set of fixtures at the start of the season and we all looked to November to play catch up. We haven't.

Also prior to spending any money in January AZ will want a new man to have seen the team for a least a month before he makes the call on what new players to buy. MCD had the chance in the summer and blew it. He will not give him another chance.

Brian will keep his job all season, Anton knows that no one else is capable of doing any better with the team. Also the element of tried and tested in the Championship next season for an attempt at bouncing back.

The Reading way is about spirit, in this league you also need quality. That will require bigger investment in the team and a change in policy. Something the club doesn't appear to have interest in doing or the resources. Maybe that's the comfort zone if you will.

I think there's so much more expectation this time around and so why people are pissed off with our position.

[Royal Lady]

I predict that if we lose on Tuesday at Villa, BMD will be out of a job on Wednesday.

With the run of game we have coming up AZ will have nothing to lose. Everyone knows we had a tough set of fixtures at the start of the season and we all looked to November to play catch up. We haven't.

Also prior to spending any money in January AZ will want a new man to have seen the team for a least a month before he makes the call on what new players to buy. MCD had the chance in the summer and blew it. He will not give him another chance.

Brian will keep his job all season, Anton knows that no one else is capable of doing any better with the team. Also the element of tried and tested in the Championship next season for an attempt at bouncing back.

The Reading way is about spirit, in this league you also need quality. That will require bigger investment in the team and a change in policy. Something the club doesn't appear to have interest in doing or the resources. Maybe that's the comfort zone if you will.

I think there's so much more expectation this time around and so why people are pissed off with our position.

Do you really think that if we go down, Brian will have the heart to try and get us back up again? He will end up leaving of his own accord if he's not pushed and some championship club will take him on. All I hope is, that if McD does go, and whenever that may be, that AZ doesn't think he can fill in until we find a successor!