Have you taken to Steve Clarke yet?

[bcubed]

Two mid week home games against pretty poor opposition and two losses
SC has to take the blame for strange selection and getting tactics all wrong

Better make that three mid week games!

[windermere_royal]

Two mid week home games against pretty poor opposition and two losses
SC has to take the blame for strange selection and getting tactics all wrong

Better make that three mid week games!

And 3 more to come in the next 3 weeks

[andrew1957]

I was a bit dubious when Clarke was appointed but if he gets us to our first FA Cup Semi Final since 1927 and we don't get relegated then I think he will have done a fantastic job.

Some on here just have ridiculous expectations IMO.

[winchester_royal]

Don't see the problem with resting players today tbh. Had to do so at some point given the packed schedule we have coming up, and regardless of what anyone says we're pretty much safe and the Bradford game is the most important we have coming up. Need to make sure the players are in the right shape for that/

[ayjaydee]

Don't see the problem with resting players today tbh. Had to do so at some point given the packed schedule we have coming up, and regardless of what anyone says we're pretty much safe and the Bradford game is the most important we have coming up. Need to make sure the players are in the right shape for that/

^
This, and big LOL's at everyone sitting at home at their keyboards speaking for the 187.

[TBM]

Don't see the problem with resting players today tbh. Had to do so at some point given the packed schedule we have coming up, and regardless of what anyone says we're pretty much safe and the Bradford game is the most important we have coming up. Need to make sure the players are in the right shape for that/

There's resting players and then there's changing more than half the (winning) team

Momentum is a wonderful thing, why break it

[winchester_royal]

Don't see the problem with resting players today tbh. Had to do so at some point given the packed schedule we have coming up, and regardless of what anyone says we're pretty much safe and the Bradford game is the most important we have coming up. Need to make sure the players are in the right shape for that/

There's resting players and then there's changing more than half the (winning) team

Momentum is a wonderful thing, why break it

Since when does 1 win = momentum?

[TBM]

Don't see the problem with resting players today tbh. Had to do so at some point given the packed schedule we have coming up, and regardless of what anyone says we're pretty much safe and the Bradford game is the most important we have coming up. Need to make sure the players are in the right shape for that/

There's resting players and then there's changing more than half the (winning) team

Momentum is a wonderful thing, why break it

Since when does 1 win = momentum?

I'm talking about keep winning in the run up to the Bradford game, going into it on the back of defeats isn't the best preparation.

[winchester_royal]

I'm talking about keep winning in the run up to the Bradford game, going into it on the back of defeats isn't the best preparation.

Neither is going into it with the players having played 6 games in 21 days.

We could have put a full strength team out there and there'd have been no guarantee of a win. In fact injuries and fatigue would have been a far more likely outcome.

We're an average team that competes at this level. Some we'll win, some we'll lose. It will continue that way until the end of the season. Right now it's all about getting the team ready for Bradford, and personally I'd say going in with fresh, fit players is more important than jaded players who pick up a couple of draws en route.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Inconsistent league form has clearly had no bearing whatsoever on our cup form......

Everyone chill out. Don't blame Clarke one bit for resting players - we've been doing Sat then Tue for weeks now. The first 11 need a break or they'll break down before Bradford.

We're not going down.

Come on who really gives a fcuk about the league now?! Lets scrape 10 points together playing utterly dog turd & get to fcuking Wembley.

I will say this though

#JFT187

Feel sorry for those fcukers who went tonight. Kudos to them for going.

[TBM]

I'm talking about keep winning in the run up to the Bradford game, going into it on the back of defeats isn't the best preparation.

Neither is going into it with the players having played 6 games in 21 days.

We could have put a full strength team out there and there'd have been no guarantee of a win. In fact injuries and fatigue would have been a far more likely outcome.

We're an average team that competes at this level. Some we'll win, some we'll lose. It will continue that way until the end of the season. Right now it's all about getting the team ready for Bradford, and personally I'd say going in with fresh, fit players is more important than jaded players who pick up a couple of draws en route.

So you rest a couple this week, 2 more Saturday then another 2 next week etc - making 6 changes and getting hammered by Huddlesfield isn't going to build confidence and our momentum going into the Bradford game will be affected. "Fresh" players doesn't necessary mean they will play better, sometimes the more you play (together) the better you become, hence why promoted teams into this division seem to do well

[MmmMonsterMunch]

TBM - For all you know a lot of those players have knocks / niggles & he is trying to keep them all fit.

Pretty confident Clarke knows what he's doing. He's proved he can get results in big games IMO. Plus if we get to Wembley, the competition in training will heat up as the players will be desperate to prove they are worthy of a start at Wembley. That should in turn improve the league results.

Lets be honest we need max 12 points to stay up. Hardly a massive ask to get 12 from 39 is it?

[TBM]

TBM - For all you know a lot of those players have knocks / niggles & he is trying to keep them all fit.

Pretty confident Clarke knows what he's doing. He's proved he can get results in big games IMO. Plus if we get to Wembley, the competition in training will heat up as the players will be desperate to prove they are worthy of a start at Wembley. That should in turn improve the league results.

Lets be honest we need max 12 points to stay up. Hardly a massive ask to get 12 from 39 is it?

We're only 3 defeats away from being in a real dog fight, I'd much rather win the next 3 and be on a high, then we can rest the players.

But yeah they may have had knocks but who knows for sure. Does Clarke know what he's doing? When we play so poorly again on a Tuesday night it makes it hard for me to say yes.....

[sandman]

I was a bit dubious when Clarke was appointed but if he gets us to our first FA Cup Semi Final since 1927 and we don't get relegated then I think he will have done a fantastic job.

Some on here just have ridiculous expectations IMO.

Expecting the manager to not change a winning team when you've just beaten one of the play off contenders is not what I would term as a "ridiculous expectation".

This isn't the first time he's done something unnecessary with team selection which has had a negative impact on the team.

[Maguire]

I don't think he has a lot of choice tbh - we're playing Sat/midweek for 13 games in a row and Clarke's made it very clear that he's going to use his squad.

If he didn't rotate and the likes of Pogrebnyak picked up an injury or got knackered then you'd all be complaining come the Bradford match.

[Snowball]

Any manager who makes six changes after a win only to capitulate 0-3 has got some serious questions to answer. He's done a lot of good work here and the FA Cup run is great. But some of his recent decisions have been absolutely baffling and he seems intent on throwing all his good work in the bin every 2 - 4 games.

First, from the reports, we didn't play that badly but their goals were all from individual errors.

Feds had a bad day. The first was plain bad marking. The second began with a bad error from Obita giving the ball to a Huddersfield player then Feds spilling the shot. The third was feds (apparently) racing out when he had no chance.

Also sounded like The Yak did very little


BUT, importantly, Williams, Pog, Cox etc got a rest.

Let's not forget it wasn't just "two consecutive away games" but a lot of travel right after hard games.


IMO the manager's brief is to stay up, get to Wembley, try to get to Wembley twice.

His OVERALL away record is very very strong. Don't focus on a single game

Last six away are W4 D1 L1. It's the totality that tells the truth not one shite night in Huddersfield

[Snowball]

Clarke after Ipswich

“I thought the team in last 15/20 minutes looked a bit tired, a bit leggy.

I wouldn’t say we were hanging on but it’s maybe something I need to look at, to freshen the squad up on Tuesday night.

It’s a big ask.

We’ve got two days to recover, one of those days will be spent with three or four hours on a coach minimum. It’s a tough schedule.”


EXACTLY

Lumps and bumps accumulate in a season and it gets harder and harder. These days players are athletes and on the edge. It can't be much fun with a few hours to and from Ipswich with a tough game in between and then it's M25-M1 again two days later.

And if you look at the goals, they seem to be down to tiredness of body an/or mind. Andersen should have a game, or two maybe to gee Feds up. Obit has been jaded, a shadow of his best. Both Pearce and Hector had off games...

[Turns8]

There's rotating the squad and then there's making a right mess of the squad...Why rotate your whole front six...does this mean that the back five are less tired!!! considering that we have only kept one clean sheet in the last four and tbh it often seems that the back five are being given much more of a run around and having to 'work harder' than the forward line....

Good teams can rotate one or two players in and out of the side with there being little impact on the way they play...The issue we have is that the squad isn't good enough...Clarke must know this by now...so to make six changes, the whole midfield and attack was always going to end badly...

I can't wait for the back five to be rotated against Forest....Andersen, Gunter, Cooper, Chalobah, Travner....

[Big Foot]

Don't see the problem with resting players today tbh. Had to do so at some point given the packed schedule we have coming up, and regardless of what anyone says we're pretty much safe and the Bradford game is the most important we have coming up. Need to make sure the players are in the right shape for that/

^
This, and big LOL's at everyone sitting at home at their keyboards speaking for the 187.

^ This

Plus, let's not forget the mess of a squad that Clarke inherited from Adkins. He will be using now until the end of the season to cast his eye over players and decide whether to stick or twist with them in the Summer.

[windermere_royal]

So really if the real problem is playing too many games in a short space of time, who`s fcuking bright idea was it to re-arrange the Brighton game for the 10th, right in the middle of this run of midweek games?