Where do we go from here 21/22 season?

[Scutterbucketz]

I fully expect this to be a very bleak summer for us.

[Coppells Lost Coat]

To answer the OP.

Pauno must stay. Work on an effective, executable plan B. I think that has been our massive downfall this season (along with injuries). Teams have sussed out our patterns of play - our plan B doesn't work with the personal on the field, we make subs for Plan B and it obvious how we then set up.

Players will go - there is no hiding that. Few players are OOC, I have a feeling at least 2 first teamers will be sold as well, my money would be Moore + Olise. Hopefully for enough to keep the vultures away....
Think the best we could do, is replace some key areas, IMO a LB + winger with loans. Maybe get a freebie along the way.

Regardless of the above, I would like to see some of the next set of youth players getting a deserved shot in the squad.

[CountryRoyal]

Yeah I don’t really see the grounds for optimism for next season. We will almost certainly have a worse squad. That’s the thing which annoys me most about this season. If it was up or bust then why hamper our own chances with an overly cautious approach in games.

We haven't really been thrashed this season, even in those two 0-3 home defeats. I guess the Brentford games are the nearest and by the 90th minute they didn't look THAT bad.

Not saying we shouldn't have gone for it a bit more, but PERHAPS the theory is if you open up more you get some heavy defeats instead of narrow wins or draws.

Agreed however the issue is when we were in “nothing to lose” territory, and still insisted with a relatively defensive shape, cautious approach and cautious substitutions - right up until the fat lady sung.

[Stranded]

Be interested* to see the same thing for all play off losers and 8th and 9th.



*not enough to do it.

If I get bored enough this week, I'll have a stab but probably too much work for too little interest to be honest.

[Millsy]

Agreed however the issue is when we were in “nothing to lose” territory, and still insisted with a relatively defensive shape, cautious approach and cautious substitutions - right up until the fat lady sung.

Spot on.

I think Swansea was the first time in the crucial final stretch I remember him not waiting until the 88th minute plus to go 4-4-2. I think it was with something like 10mins to go this time to go with 2 up front. 5mins later than I'd have expected but still better late than never.

So either Pauno has learned a bit of common sense at long last, or he just didn't consider the last few games to be must-win for some reason.

I don't think Pauno has properly thought of a Plan B at any point in the season despite having ample opportunity to do so with Joao out for so long and teams sussing us out after 8 games. I'm not saying he has been riding the luck of the first 8 games working nicely for him before we were found out and has been incapable of thinking outside that box since, but I definitely don't believe he's some sort of genius manager because no genius manager would allow this set of players to slide from 7 points clear of 2nd to a whopping 8 points below the playoffs. I'm frankly disgusted at the way we've played in the final stretch and find it hard to have too much respect for a manager who presided over that.

[Stranded]

Agreed however the issue is when we were in “nothing to lose” territory, and still insisted with a relatively defensive shape, cautious approach and cautious substitutions - right up until the fat lady sung.

Spot on.

I think Swansea was the first time in the crucial final stretch I remember him not waiting until the 88th minute plus to go 4-4-2. I think it was with something like 10mins to go this time to go with 2 up front. 5mins later than I'd have expected but still better late than never.

So either Pauno has learned a bit of common sense at long last, or he just didn't consider the last few games to be must-win for some reason.

I don't think Pauno has properly thought of a Plan B at any point in the season despite having ample opportunity to do so with Joao out for so long and teams sussing us out after 8 games. I'm not saying he has been riding the luck of the first 8 games working nicely for him before we were found out and has been incapable of thinking outside that box since, but I definitely don't believe he's some sort of genius manager because no genius manager would allow this set of players to slide from 7 points clear of 2nd to a whopping 8 points below the playoffs. I'm frankly disgusted at the way we've played in the final stretch and find it hard to have too much respect for a manager who presided over that.

I think it shows more a faith in the system and that it will get results. We've never really been out of games of late and even in most defeats we've been close to getting a result or two.

In a lot of those games where we didn't get a result, the system created enough chances to improve the result, we just didn't take them. I understand why people don't always like the slower play, I know I get frustrated, but it does usually create high quality chances - the thing that has changed is we stopped taking so many of them.

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Agree with plan B and Pauno but to be fair to him he doesn’t really have any decent plan B players

[Taffster]

Yeah I do think it's a tad harsh on Pauno to be judged on a "plan b" given that we have had very few games when we have had a full squad to pick from and the two senior players who have been available have been Aluko and Baldock. That being said I don't really know why Aluko was hardly used between Jan - Apr given he had played reasonably well in the first part of the season.

[URZZZZ]

Yeah I do think it's a tad harsh on Pauno to be judged on a "plan b" given that we have had very few games when we have had a full squad to pick from and the two senior players who have been available have been Aluko and Baldock. That being said I don't really know why Aluko was hardly used between Jan - Apr given he had played reasonably well in the first part of the season.

Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe Aluko has been the only outfield player in our squad who has been in every single matchday squad this season

Not sure many would have predicted that, even if he hasn’t had much of an impact!

[Millsy]

Agreed however the issue is when we were in “nothing to lose” territory, and still insisted with a relatively defensive shape, cautious approach and cautious substitutions - right up until the fat lady sung.

Spot on.

I think Swansea was the first time in the crucial final stretch I remember him not waiting until the 88th minute plus to go 4-4-2. I think it was with something like 10mins to go this time to go with 2 up front. 5mins later than I'd have expected but still better late than never.

So either Pauno has learned a bit of common sense at long last, or he just didn't consider the last few games to be must-win for some reason.

I don't think Pauno has properly thought of a Plan B at any point in the season despite having ample opportunity to do so with Joao out for so long and teams sussing us out after 8 games. I'm not saying he has been riding the luck of the first 8 games working nicely for him before we were found out and has been incapable of thinking outside that box since, but I definitely don't believe he's some sort of genius manager because no genius manager would allow this set of players to slide from 7 points clear of 2nd to a whopping 8 points below the playoffs. I'm frankly disgusted at the way we've played in the final stretch and find it hard to have too much respect for a manager who presided over that.

I think it shows more a faith in the system and that it will get results. We've never really been out of games of late and even in most defeats we've been close to getting a result or two.

In a lot of those games where we didn't get a result, the system created enough chances to improve the result, we just didn't take them. I understand why people don't always like the slower play, I know I get frustrated, but it does usually create high quality chances - the thing that has changed is we stopped taking so many of them.

I hear you.

Faith in the system is fine, to a degree but not when the players required are injured, not providing the goods or we've been found out. That sort of faith just stinks as an excuse for someone devoid of ideas. True we stopped taking many of them, but remember a lot of points we also won against the run of play when we should have already been 2 or 3 down, that's just football.

[Millsy]

Yeah I do think it's a tad harsh on Pauno to be judged on a "plan b" given that we have had very few games when we have had a full squad to pick from and the two senior players who have been available have been Aluko and Baldock. That being said I don't really know why Aluko was hardly used between Jan - Apr given he had played reasonably well in the first part of the season.

Sorry but that's what a manager is paid to do. Any fool can say "oh that worked months ago let's keep trying that - oh look a coupel of players are injured, my hands are tied now".

Every team has had the same congestion, every team has had injuries.

We've had an embarrassment of talent in many ways, when we have £7million Aluko on the bench who is not shit anymore - impressed generally whenever he's been on. £3mill Baldock - again he's not scored but he has the acceleration and reading of the game that was used to deadly effect by recent managers in relegation dogfights... we have an attacking lineup that would make most drool and have spent most of the season debating who we'd leave out. £8million Puscas, we've seen what he can do on his day.

Play those guys in a Joao based system and you're putting round pegs into square holes, so I'm sorry I don't buy that at all.

Managers are paid to make use of what they have, and I can't accept we've had total BS players because we haven't. I refuse to believe the likes of Warnock, Coppell, McCarthy, Pardew etc etc etc etc would not be able to make better use of the talent we had available.

If the narrative of Paunophiles is that the 8 games weren't a lucky honeymoon period where everything clicked but it was his amazing ability as a manager to get the best from our players and devise a system that suits... , then how does that explain how he's been utterly incapable of doing the same for the rest of the season? Isn't his post8 record not too dissimilar to Bowen's?

[morganb]

Yeah I do think it's a tad harsh on Pauno to be judged on a "plan b" given that we have had very few games when we have had a full squad to pick from and the two senior players who have been available have been Aluko and Baldock. That being said I don't really know why Aluko was hardly used between Jan - Apr given he had played reasonably well in the first part of the season.

Sorry but that's what a manager is paid to do. Any fool can say "oh that worked months ago let's keep trying that - oh look a coupel of players are injured, my hands are tied now".

Every team has had the same congestion, every team has had injuries.

We've had an embarrassment of talent in many ways, when we have £7million Aluko on the bench who is not shit anymore - impressed generally whenever he's been on. £3mill Baldock - again he's not scored but he has the acceleration and reading of the game that was used to deadly effect by recent managers in relegation dogfights... we have an attacking lineup that would make most drool and have spent most of the season debating who we'd leave out. £8million Puscas, we've seen what he can do on his day.

Play those guys in a Joao based system and you're putting round pegs into square holes, so I'm sorry I don't buy that at all.

Managers are paid to make use of what they have, and I can't accept we've had total BS players because we haven't. I refuse to believe the likes of Warnock, Coppell, McCarthy, Pardew etc etc etc etc would not be able to make better use of the talent we had available.

If the narrative of Paunophiles is that the 8 games weren't a lucky honeymoon period where everything clicked but it was his amazing ability as a manager to get the best from our players and devise a system that suits... , then how does that explain how he's been utterly incapable of doing the same for the rest of the season? Isn't his post8 record not too dissimilar to Bowen's?

I have to say that I've read all the Pauno in/Pauno out threads and the poster who has made the most convincing points has been Millsy.

Pauno doesn't adapt, whether it is before the game due to injuries or to rest players, or during the game based on how it is going.

He has had Aluko and Baldock available all season but hasn't used them. I guess they can't knock on the manager's door and demand a transfer as they are on big bucks and are OOC at the end of the season. They looked up for the fight against Cardiff but were benched again for the next game rather than performing well enough to gain a starting place.

Until recently he seemed to have favourites (Semedo and an out of form João) and an aversion to bringing youth (or anyone) off the bench.

I'm probably sounding pretty anti-Pauno but it is just presenting it how I see it. If the owners see it the same way then he could be in trouble. If the owner's don't follow the nuances of football but just look at the position and points they probably won't be happy either.

[Snowflake Royal]

I'm still a fan of just having a good plan A and refreshing the players to continue with plan A if that isn't working.

[Torbay Royal]

Where do we go from here?

Back to 15th I suspect.

[Zip]

Let’s see what the summer brings. If we can avoid a points deduction that would be a good start.

[Taffster]

£3mill Baldock - again he's not scored but he has the acceleration and reading of the game that was used to deadly effect by recent managers in relegation dogfights... we have an attacking lineup that would make most drool and have spent most of the season debating who we'd leave out. £8million Puscas, we've seen what he can do on his day.

Sorry but you lost credability at the Baldock comment, scored 11 goal in 71 games for us and none in 20games this season. So personally think he has been given a fair chance this season.

I'm sure Pauno would of rotated on changed systems but given Meite/Swift/Puscas/Joao/Ejaria have all missed large chunks of the season means he hasn't had the chance to do so. Also given the fact that all the attacking players we have (Puscas aside) are very similar style of player means the variation you can have is very limited.
If we had a couple of proper wingers and he hadn't tried a 442 or some other formation I would get where you are coming from but I don't see what more he can do with that, especially when you consider the fact we have finished 7th so it Plan A clearly isn't that bad.

End of the day we have limited resources that were stretched further than most teams this season with the injuries we had so to achieve what we have is a success in my book. Should we have a strong summer that allows him room to add to the squad with out losing to many and we stick rigidly to a system then I would agree with your point.

[linkenholtroyal]

Let’s see what the summer brings. If we can avoid a points deduction that would be a good start.

It could be a buyers market this summer with a lot of clubs in the same situation to us. There is going to be a lot of good players released on free transfers and we need to capitalise on that and bring in 3 or 4 of these players.
My worry is that our financial position drags on to the point that none of these players are available like last season.
Isaac mbenza, Juninho Bacuna, Nick Powell, Alex Mowatt, Emiliano Marcondes, Adam Reach, Alex Pritchard, Ryan Nyambe, Sammy Ameobi, Nathan Baker, Joe Rothwell and Andre Wisdom. Are just a few players I think would bring something to the team off transfermarkt that are OOC this year.
The key is whether our financial system is sound and we can offer contracts quickly if not we will be pleading for loans and the dregs at the last minute.
Also before you all say these players are on too much wages, half the championship are in the same position as us and if you read background on any of those names reading between the lines they have been offered a contract but on less than what they are on now.
When we can approach players is the key.

[Snowflake Royal]

Wisdom the LB?

He impressed me the other day, one game obvs. Composed and solid in defence, tidy on the ball. Could do much worse while seeing how Bristow develops.

[Zip]

Let’s see what the summer brings. If we can avoid a points deduction that would be a good start.

It could be a buyers market this summer with a lot of clubs in the same situation to us. There is going to be a lot of good players released on free transfers and we need to capitalise on that and bring in 3 or 4 of these players.
My worry is that our financial position drags on to the point that none of these players are available like last season.
Isaac mbenza, Juninho Bacuna, Nick Powell, Alex Mowatt, Emiliano Marcondes, Adam Reach, Alex Pritchard, Ryan Nyambe, Sammy Ameobi, Nathan Baker, Joe Rothwell and Andre Wisdom. Are just a few players I think would bring something to the team off transfermarkt that are OOC this year.
The key is whether our financial system is sound and we can offer contracts quickly if not we will be pleading for loans and the dregs at the last minute.
Also before you all say these players are on too much wages, half the championship are in the same position as us and if you read background on any of those names reading between the lines they have been offered a contract but on less than what they are on now.
When we can approach players is the key.

Yeah agreed. We may well be in a soft embargo position again and limited in who we can bring in which would be a problem and make it difficult to move on potential targets.

[linkenholtroyal]

Wisdom the LB?

He impressed me the other day, one game obvs. Composed and solid in defence, tidy on the ball. Could do much worse while seeing how Bristow develops.

RB/CB but when Esteves goes back it is a position we could do with another in. LB are few and far between Amiri’i Bell is the only one who has played games this year that could be an option OOC.