Stan Collimore comments

I don’t think he has the reason why we keep losing to the relegation battlers right but I thik he has a point overall
We’ve played 3 sides who are in amongst the dead men & who are more than likely to still be there or thereabouts come the business end of the season & we’ve lost them all & everybody always says that you need to pick up points off the teams around you which we aint doing.
I can’t see us continuing to pick up points from the sides higher up the table as they’ll suss out quickly how to play against Bobby’s style & that’s when defeats to Wolves, Hull & Pompey will really start to hurt

To be fair though Vat, We can’t expect miracles straight away, I said this a couple of months ago, As long as we scrap and battle our way to safety this season we need to trust the squad Bob will have built next season. It’s far too early to expect results. Annoying watching the team roll over every couple of weeks granted, But it’s all part and parcel of having a new manager in place and the time these things take. We just have to grin and bare it for now and see the rolercoaster times out until better times arrive. It was the same with Brucie, He needed a season to create the squad he was happy with and even when he buggered off we could have had a couple off better players in certian positions. To use a Martinez quote “we have to look at the positives”. To me the positives are….. Diame, Thomas, Rodallega, Bramble and N’Zogbia are nailed on to keep their positions, Thats 5 very good players to start a good re-build. It’s going to take a while again since all our big guns left. I’d say other than those 5 players every other position is up for grabs. Sorry to say it but there is aspects of Kirkland’s game im not too keen on and there is good quality keepers out there however i wouldn’t be disappointed if he stayed as number one. Im a bit gutted we got shut of Granqvist, i thought he had real potential.

When I first read Collymore’s piece I did wonder if he had a point. But the more I think about it , no he’s got it wrong. We may have a couple of players who may be eyeing a ” big ” move , such as Scharner & Fig but I believe that the majority of the squad are 100% behind Bob and are certainly not picking their games.

We are very much a work in progress and this of course means we will have some bad results along the way. Even then you could make excuses for all the slip ups. Hull , we had 75% of the ball , just didn’t have the final result and Pompey , we probably caught them just as they are hitting a bit of form, plus our left back problem with Fig & Edman meant we lost one of our best attacking options. On the reverse side I reckon we will catch Fulham on Sunday at the right time. Coming off a big win at the weekend plus a hard match in Rome on Thursday.

So no Stan, I disagree , we won’t go down and the players are certainly not just trying in the big games.

the normal advice I’ve read players get given after a concussion is not to play for a week, so depending on how severe Edman’s knock was then he should be fit for the Fulham game

Left Back is a bloody hard position to play, if you are not a natural left-footer.

I remember in the juniors and Sunday League, I occasionally swapped from centre half to left back, and I’m a right footer. Not so bad if you have a midfield type of player against you. But against a proper winger who will run at you, it can be a nightmare. You’re tackling on your off-side.

If I was a manager, I would NEVER play a non-left footer at left back. I think it’s the hardest position on the field to fill.

Quite simpy Stan Doggymore talks sh.it, one of the lovers of the big boys and sod the lesser clubs.
We are inconsistent this term so far yes and I always thought we would to start of with, its not because players are only turning up for the big games. Its down to whole sale changes in every aspect of the club from players to management to style of play, considering the changes we have made I am well pleased with our season so far and why do people seem to think we have a devine right to beat Pompey and Wolves and so on, reality check we are Wigan Athletic not Barcelona.
The further into the season we get the more consistency we wil find.