Posh v Chorley FA Cup 2nd Round

[bristleposh]

Just think back, how lucky we were it wasn't a complete humiliation, the two that cracked against the post, the missed penalty several desperate last-ditch blocks, could so easily have been five or six.

[ashman]

I sometimes wonder if some of the posters on here have ever watched, enjoyed, shouted, rejoiced, sworn, smiled etc. at the game of football.
It is littered with great games, rubbish games, lucky games, unlucky games, winning and losing runs whichever team you support. The go to answer after a poor run always seems to be to shift all the blame on the manager and get another unfortunate in to suffer the slings and arrows!
There are a few exceptions where clubs have realised that simply sacking a manager is a poor decision and there are a few instances where getting behind a set of poor results does not need to necessitate a change - witness Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger who were backed by their bosses and did a very good job of turning things around. I reckon we are in a similar situation but wonder if DMac is able to see the wood for the trees this time?

[JohnC]

The obvious comparison is with the defeat, after a replay, to Kidderminster, but I am put in mind equally of Mk Dons 3 Posh 0 in 2015 and MK Dons 1 Posh O in 2017. The first of those prompted a managerial resignation; the second – when we conceded a goal to a ten-man opposition, then failed to find an equaliser despite playing for fifty-five minutes against nine men, cast a long shadow over McCann’s managerial tenure. The stench from this particular debacle is going to linger in the nostrils for a long while; not the fact of the defeat, but the manner of it, because our meek passivity in the face of opponents who are assertive and proactive has been a hallmark of many performances this season. Think of Autolycus, in Shakespeare’s ‘The Winter’s Tale’: ‘Not a more cowardly rogue in all Bohemia; if you had but look’d big and spit at him, he’d have run.’ Chorley looked big yesterday, and we ran away.

Apart from the overall ineptitude, specific questions arise about managerial competence, strategy, preparation and in-game tactics. Either the manager fails utterly to prepare the team properly, or he is managing a group of players which isn’t listening to him. Preparation? we went out of the EFL Cup with a home defeat to Cheltenham; we finished behind Cambridge in the EFL Trophy thanks to a home 1-1 draw. Fitness? A team of struggling part-timers didn’t make its first substitution until the 86th minute. Tactics? Goal threat off the bench? Clarke and Kanu. Maybe that’s why Beevers – who has never scored for us in fifty-three appearances – was thrown up front in the closing stages; at least it stopped him wreaking further havoc in our own penalty area.

[bristleposh]

I did have one question for those who watched it on BT sports, who is that new player we signed called Dembailey

[HantsPosh]

Idris Kanu is 21 next week so can no longer be classed as a kid with enormous potential. At 21 either he’s good enough or he’s not. Staggering to think he is our longest serving player.

1 win in 5 games p, 3 defeats in 4 up including one to a team 89 places below us I think gives people the right to question the manager of a multi million pound squad. If Tottenham’s first team lost at home to Stevenage I think people would question Mourinho.

Yes the players should take most of the heat but who signed the vast majority of these players. I never thought I’d see a worse defensive signing than the ‘mentally strong’ Colin Daniel but ladies and gentleman girls and boys I give you Niall Mason!

For what it’s worth I’m still prepared to back Fergie but can understand people questioning him at the moment and have no problem with them doing so, unlike some.

[Gaz_Miller]

Why on earth was my post removed?

I said nothing worse than anybody else is saying.

If you can’t call a manager after that performance, then you can’t discuss football at all

[Bluemike]

Imo there are still many people wearing rose-tinted glasses and still cheering our back to back promotion.
Those days are gone. I'm a realist and recognise that we're now in 2020. I cannot and never have been able to understand the lunacy (imo) of taking someone back who Posh have sacked twice.
Either he's lost the ability to react and manage or he's lost the dressing room. I desperately want to be proven wrong.

(I am a fan and supporter btw)

[JohnC]

Why on earth was my post removed?

I said nothing worse than anybody else is saying.

If you can’t call a manager after that performance, then you can’t discuss football at all

I agree. I happened to read it, and found nothing in it which I felt breached the boundaries of 'fair comment'. However, I've had two of my own posts removed in the past couple of weeks; possibly my use of the phrase 'thought' police' triggered a reflex response from the, er, thought police.

[Gaz_Miller]

And I don’t agree with all the stick that Mo Eisa is getting either.

If he had started as many games as Sammie Sczmodics I’d wager he’d have more goals by now.

And to be fair to both of them, it’s not their fault that we paid over a million pound each for them.

[Bluemike]

I'm surprised that my post of 10 mins ago hasn't gone up in flames

[Gaz_Miller]

I'm surprised that my post of 10 mins ago hasn't gone up in flames

Keep saying what you believe. As long as it’s not racist etc I can understand why we can’t discuss football on a football discussion board.

I agree with what you said in your original post btw

[JohnC]

I sometimes wonder if some of the posters on here have ever watched, enjoyed, shouted, rejoiced, sworn, smiled etc. at the game of football.
It is littered with great games, rubbish games, lucky games, unlucky games, winning and losing runs whichever team you support. The go to answer after a poor run always seems to be to shift all the blame on the manager and get another unfortunate in to suffer the slings and arrows!
There are a few exceptions where clubs have realised that simply sacking a manager is a poor decision and there are a few instances where getting behind a set of poor results does not need to necessitate a change - witness Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger who were backed by their bosses and did a very good job of turning things around. I reckon we are in a similar situation but wonder if DMac is able to see the wood for the trees this time?

Neither Messrs Wenger nor Ferguson was enjoying his third period at his respective club. Ferguson Snr had a European Cup Winners Cup Final victory with Aberdeen over Real Madrid on his cv, which no doubt provided him a certain degree of credibility.
Ferguson Jnr is currently 81 games into his current tenure at PUFC. The six managers with whom the Chairman parted company in short order – Messrs Cooper(13), Gannon(14), Johnson(33), Robertson(23), Westley(41) and Evans(52) -- totalled 176 games in charge, at an average of 29 games per appointment. But ‘simply sacking a manager is a poor decision’, is it? Mr. Chairman, take note.

Repeatedly this season, we’ve heard the manager express varying degrees of puzzlement over our somnolent starts to matches. After the Blackpool loss, he said, 'We were far too passive at the start, especially coming off such a poor performance at Crewe the week before. It’s been a theme of our season, but we’ve generally got away it.’

He subsequently suggested ‘ring-rustiness’ as a contributory factor to this passivity:
‘We lost our rhythm when we had the break from League One matches…..
‘Giving some players a break certainly disrupted our rhythm,’ Ferguson stated. ‘My players are probably better when they are busy so there certainly won’t be as many changes this Saturday. We will pick a very strong side.’

[Gaz_Miller]

I honestly still expect Ferguson to resign. Probably talking to his father over the weekend.

It really was that bad last night that I can’t see him recovering from it.

[pleasureboy60]

The next two games will probably be his last if we lose both

[Narrowboat Dave]

So much for Fergies’s “strong side”.

He would, perhaps, have been better off playing the second string, fringe players. They would have something to prove and would no doubt have at least looked like they were trying yesterday.