03 Jan 2014 15:47:30
I have always backed Sam (despite not preferring his style) but I would not be too disappointed any more to see him leave early in the January window, providing and adequate replacement is available. Whatever is to be done though needs to be done in the next week so that whoever comes in has time. And if Sam stays then we have to get behind the team. Negative attitudes spread just as quickly as positive ones, so as the 12th man us fans need to get behind the team no matter what.
What is an interesting thought is that if this were any other manager in charge at the moment, and BFS was a free agent, I think a lot of fans would recommend him as the man to get us out of this situation. He has a good record so, if he stays, I hope he can pull it off, no matter how ugly it gets.
One thing is for sure though, I have not liked Sam's approach to games this season at all. I know he has had injury problems that have made things harder. But he was quick to point the finger at his strikers, and then played tactics that made it as hard as possible for them to score by putting 11 men behind the ball with almost no chance of playing out of defence. If we have such a good defence then why do we sit back and defend, surely they are good enough for us to push up a little higher and let our midfield and strikers play football and try and score. Strikers are confidence players after all so a positive attitude/tactic is needed in order for them to turn things around, and parking the bus against teams like Fulham and Sunderland is far from positive, that is what teams do against Barcelona. Shambles!
Things need to change now though because from the end of March our last 8 games include Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City and Totenham which I can't see us getting much from at all (unless we sign Messi and Ronaldo).
Nickinho
im sure you would agree you play to your strengths,
now to leave us with no decent striker cover from the the the start of the season and his refusal to adopt a 442 with cole and maiga upfront says eveything to me.
I don't like bfs style but he has ground out results in the past.
but by the time ac is back we will be bottom.
if he is back match fit by feb il be surprised we need someone who can change our stlye of play.
also ac ain't a prolific goal scorer 7/8 goals last season.
if i'm honest we look fkd under sam and if we do change it will be to late
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LOOK AT HOW MANY TIMES G/S TOOK BIRMINGHAM DOWN SERIAL OFFENDERS can't make good decision under pressure
I certainly agree that not leaving adequate cover for Andy is unforgivable. And when we knew there was no adequate cover, to then not change the style is also unforgivable and says a lot about Sam. He has also played players like Diame out of position far too much this season. He is wasted out on the wing and doesn't look bothered there, and we have young players in the development squad who would play their heart out given the chance. I would not be surprised to see Diame go soon unfortunately.
I do sympathize with Sam and the owners though on one thing, and that is AC. He was only supposed to be out for 1 1/2 months at the start of the season so I understand their decision to sign him. I saw no posts from fans anywhere who were shocked that he passed his medical when he signed, but now it seems to all come up. In hindsight it is very easy for us to say it was awful and he should be sacked for it, but 90% of us thought it was a good signing at the time.