hasthagotanycheese

I think you're missing my point. I'm not saying we have a god-given right to beat Stevenage. I am saying that we should expect to beat them. Maybe that's misguided and they have better players than us, on last night's evidence they may have but if that's the case I'd ask why that's been allowed to happen.

i_monster

Agree re. Rob Jones; sad state of affairs we're shipping out Beevers and Morrison to our rivals and bringing in journeymen like him and loan players like Batth. Megson saw them play last season and we still conceded so why did he think it would be different this time around?

I also agree with the mentality and attitude stuff but I do think that if we'd just signed 2 or 3 decent footballers we'd be better off. People talk about hard work etc but to get out of here you need good players and a good team. Just look at Brighton and Southampton and Leeds, Norwich, Leicester, Millwall etc before them.

I also think it's worth pointing out that, West Brom aside, Megson's managerial record is pretty woeful: more defeats than wins at every club he's ever managed apart from Blackpool and even there it was 21 wins and 16 losses..

I'm not saying sack him but so far it isn't working..

As i see it we have a "Big club mentality" but not big club players,either we adapt the Stevenage mentality to match the playing staff or as (U10727) says start signing a bit more quality to match our current attitude..

Pretty much agree with that.

I said that 12 games in would be the first season assessment & if we're still lingering mid-table & the away form is the same he'll be gone imo. I don't want that (even though I don't like him) cos it means we're failing but I wouldn't be overly upset about it if I'm totally honest.

pei,

Who's making excuses about last nights result? Who's burying their heads?

Last night was completely & totally unacceptable on every level & I don't see anybody saying any different.

Let's see what reaction we get over the next couple of games, if there isn't a damn good one then we'll be moaning about another manager in October!

You have to be prepared to sign people on mentality and not on goal-scoring records or whether or not they are a 'big name.'
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This is my big worry. Jones, Bennett, Prutton, Semodo were all signed because they might not be the most skillful and have built what reputations they have on work ethic.

Now they pull on a blue & white shirt, string one good result together and get complacent. Why?

Maybe we really need to look at the wage budget because it seems that paying more just makes them more comfortable but in a bad way.

Personally I'd consider making Madine the captain. The only player who always gives it 100% without leaving his brain on the touchline. Trouble is will the current squad take any notice?

The other problem is Megson tactics. 4-5-1 didn't work. I wonder if he'll use the 4-4-2 as an excuse to revert to it (even though the formation was the least of our problems).

If JoC starts on Saturday, Megson might as well resign at half time.

chupa

Does make you wonder where the leadership and talking on the pitch Prutton and Jones were supposed to provide went to.. I guess all that doesn't matter when you can't defend a simple ball into the box without letting it bounce twice and arrive at the back post mind.

Stevenage are nothing special, they just put the ball into the box and our inept defence did the rest. Sure, they passed it a litte, had some big lads up front and that Bostock with his shooting but let's not kid ourselves.

5 clean sheets in 29 league games under GM says it all.

U10727. I do think attitude plays a big part yes. They came out with the wrong attitude, and the goals didn't galvanise them to sort their heads out and start playing properly. They went straight from believing they could win without stretching themselves to not believing they could win at all.

As I said before, clearly as a group they have the ability to win. They beat a strong MK Dons side 3 days earlier. It's not about lack of ability, it's lack of application.

U Boat Kommandant. In my opinion its been allowed to happen over the last 20 years, due to the ineptitude of the previous regime not ensuring that we have the funds or the infrastructure (scouting networks, player rehab etc) to be a success. That has had a knock on effect in terms of the quality of players, managers we've had to bring in & young player development etc, this is why we find ourself in this poxy league, because we deserve to be. MM has been involved just 10 months, GM 8 months, years & years of a culture of failure isnt going to be changed overnight unfortunately. Jack Charlton finished 14th for 2 seasons on the trot in the seventies before he was able to turn the club around. What makes you think that it will be any different this time? With some fans constantly agitating against Megson we will eventually fall into the same trap of sacking the manager and then the whole thing starts again. We have proven that this approach doesnt work.

Hastha sense at last keeping on sacking managers makes us an even bigger laughing stock and scares off potential investors/players/coaches.

hasthagotanycheese

Did I say sack Megson? No.

I find that Megson understands the issues outlined by hastha better than anyone since Luggy. Whether he'll have the time/patience/ability to tackle it remains to be seen.

You'd think that players would look at what happened to failed Wednesday players from recent years (other teams have twigged on and won't touch them) and apply themselves. But last night indicates otherwise!

No all is not lost there's plenty of games... and megson should get til Xmas still

But after 8 games you should be able to see a glimpse of how the team performs. And it's consistantly rubbish, even off the back of the Charlton and MK dons game which were great results indeed, but shocking performances.
We were lucky that both MK and Charlton were as dire as us otherwise we'd have taken nothing.
I even said that when/if we play a team that tries in the first half we'd be out of the game by the second half and that's exactly what happened last night and unless something changes will keep happening..

It is only a game, but that's no excuse for lack of professionalism

It's not all rosey, sorry but it aint!

StatesideOwl

That's negative, even for me..

I think you're right that the performance against Charlton wasn't anything special - we only had 2 shots and I didn't see MK Dons game but it sounds like they played pretty well against us in the first half.

At the risk of harping on about the same subject; I feel that we're underestimating what it takes to get into the top 2 in this league. Being solid in defence and central midfield will only take us so far with out current midfield and forwards: play-offs at best.

If we're going to win the league or finish 2nd it'll take, barring an anomalous season, at least 90 points and I don't see enough in our team to get near that.

Maybe I'm expecting too much; I don't what our budget is compared to other teams but I feel we should be going up automatically out of this league.

U Boat Kommandant - I think that you need to go back through some of your previous posts on this thread, while you havnt said sack him, you have hardly been supportive or understanding of the ginger one. I think that there is a certain number of Wednesday fans on these forums "desperate" for him to fail and who leap on any bad results with glee. The closest they have ever been to football management is playing Footy Manager on their PC and all of a sudden they think that they are Jose Mourinho.
We need to grow a pair, grit our teeth and back the club, players & manager in the bad times as well as the good.

hasthagotanycheese

You're right: I haven't been supportive of Megson. I don't want him to fail as I like the guy but I haven't agreed with many decisions he's made since he's become manager. I do support the team, though, when I go and did so last night.

Closest I have been to management is on a computer too but I know terrible defending when I see it and I also know under Megson we've only kept 5 clean sheets in the league.

He had half of last season to assess the squad and a whole preseason to get a team together capable of challenging and so far it's looking like he hasn't done it. We all know of the struggles we had bringing players in but it's actually the likes of Jones, Bennett and Prutton, who he signed early on, who are letting us down.

Having said all that, there is no point sacking him at this stage of the season but come January, if we're not in or within a few points of the top 6, I think he should go.

Not negative at all, the best spin I could put on the reality because that's what it is.

U Boat, I go back to my earlier point about Jack Charlton (a time which laid the foundations for the clubs success in the 80's & early 90's) he had 2 relatively poor seasons in the 3rd Division at the start of his reign. Like it or not we really need to give Megson time to get it right and not be talking about outing the fella less than a year into his contract. I know that its a different era now when everybody wants instant gratification, but surely we have to know by now that chopping & changing the manager just isnt the answer.

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Take your point about J Charlton but that doesn't mean Megson is going to get it right eventually even if he's is given 2 or 3 seasons. I'd also suggest that we weren't getting thrashed by the likes of Stevenage back then.

As I said earlier, I do like Megson. I look at his signings for us and managerial record at other teams though, and wonder if he'll ever get it right. So far he's even worse than Irvine..

If he's still here at the end of the season, it wouldn't be the end of the world for me but I wouldn't be disappointed if he'd gone either.