4 minutes ago, Mounts Kipper said:

We ain’t got the personnel to play Pep way…. Poor imitation of Pep style helps our opponents, think that’s now conclusively proven. He has to shake it up… or he’s toast. 

We don't play the Pep way. We play an inferior byproduct of Peps way. It's worked in the past but problem is that the opposition are wise to it. We should not be losing at home 0-2 to Exeter. If that doesn't tell IE anything then nothing will.

1 minute ago, Underpants said:

We don't play the Pep way. We play an inferior byproduct of Peps way. It's worked in the past but problem is that the opposition are wise to it. We should not be losing at home 0-2 to Exeter. If that doesn't tell IE anything then nothing will.

You should be out celebrating your 65th birthday not moaning on here pal

Happy Birthday 💕

Just now, gonzo said:

You should be out celebrating your 65th birthday not moaning on here pal

Happy Birthday 💕

This is me celebrating my birthday 😁

Happy birthday undies

1 hour ago, gonzo said:

Its a curse on football. Watching Southampton commit suicide in every game so far this season confirms it.

Pep not only has created the best team in world football playing his style but he's managed to fuck a shit load of other clubs over that try and copy him.

It's like magic. There's only him can cast the spell. The rest just commit football suicide under the pep curse.

Saw an analysis last season about Brighton doing it.

For the most part, they did it pretty well, and opened teams up at times.

However, there was more than the occasion instance of them being pressed and fucking it up.

It's OK for them, keeping them fairly high up the league, but we need to finish top two, and we're not particularly good at it!

52 minutes ago, tomski said:

Happy birthday undies

Cheers, mate. I'm at an age that when you fall it's called a fall instead of a fall 😶

2 hours ago, gonzo said:

Its a curse on football. Watching Southampton commit suicide in every game so far this season confirms it.

Pep not only has created the best team in world football playing his style but he's managed to fuck a shit load of other clubs over that try and copy him.

It's like magic. There's only him can cast the spell. The rest just commit football suicide under the pep curse.

Agreed, it really spoils football for me, its so irritating to sit through.  Southampton last season cocked up so many times, and effectively blew promotion by finishing a ridiculous 9 points behind Ipswich, with their multi million pound squad.  Course they went up through the play offs but their manager under performed in my book, and he'll continue to do so with those tactics.  Another iffy manager with a promotion on his CV, like Scott Parker who'll probably get another this season despite himself.

1 hour ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Agreed, it really spoils football for me, its so irritating to sit through.  Southampton last season cocked up so many times, and effectively blew promotion by finishing a ridiculous 9 points behind Ipswich, with their multi million pound squad.  Course they went up through the play offs but their manager under performed in my book, and he'll continue to do so with those tactics.  Another iffy manager with a promotion on his CV, like Scott Parker who'll probably get another this season despite himself.

The whole thing is a nonsense. Kompany's approach at Burnley last season was laughable, sticking resolutely to giving comical goals in every week till they sank, yet he's evidently shown enough to get a big gig like Bayern. 

Pep has evolved and updated his approach, to stay ahead of the rest, bringing in a big physical presence up front who can also stretch defences and allow balls to played over the top of opposing defences. Both his wide players want to face the goal and go at people. Evatt's still stuck on Pep v 1.0 

20 minutes ago, ianofcleveleys said:

The whole thing is a nonsense. Kompany's approach at Burnley last season was laughable, sticking resolutely to giving comical goals in every week till they sank, yet he's evidently shown enough to get a big gig like Bayern. 

Pep has evolved and updated his approach, to stay ahead of the rest, bringing in a big physical presence up front who can also stretch defences and allow balls to played over the top of opposing defences. Both his wide players want to face the goal and go at people. Evatt's still stuck on Pep v 1.0 

Exactly this. If we had players who can control, pass, run, find space and create like those at Pep's disposal we could play the way Pep's team used to play before he added a few layers. We don't so we need to play in a way that gets the best out of their talents.

Not to deflect from Evatt’s shortcomings. But those 4 chances and more point to players taking their share of the blame. Those 4 chances were nothing to do with leadership/coaching/tactics/formations. Just poor player execution.

21 minutes ago, desperado said:

Not to deflect from Evatt’s shortcomings. But those 4 chances and more point to players taking their share of the blame. Those 4 chances were nothing to do with leadership/coaching/tactics/formations. Just poor player execution.

Same thing happened in the 1st half at Charlton when we got into several really good positions only to make a mess of the final ball/shot.

22 minutes ago, bolton va va said:

Same thing happened in the 1st half at Charlton when we got into several really good positions only to make a mess of the final ball/shot.

Plenty of efforts v Wrexham too...

from the same thread that @desperadoposted. Definitely food for thought. The players are certainly not blameless but they have had plenty of stick too.

Evatt is getting the most stick now because he’s recruited every player and had a say in building the whole operation from the ground up. It’s his squad, his tactics, his back room staff, his motivational skills that are under scrutiny the most now due to our recurring issues of inconsistency, weak mentality and underperformances. We have also recruited so specifically for his system that it actually looks very difficult to change it now.

Us missing big chances is nothing new either. We rarely score scrappy goals, which are a necessary evil for promotion. Our set pieces were improved for a time but have now regressed both offensively and defensively.

And stats, xG, big chances etc. aside - overall team performances have been incredibly inconsistent.

Last season we won 5-0 vs Oxford and 5-2 vs Reading;

Those results bookended a 0-0 draw with Stevenage and 0-1 loss to Derby. Yeah Stevenage and Derby set up to make it difficult and tight but again it just harks back to our inability to adapt or grind out important results. 

Im sure you could take a snapshot of any 5-10 game period from the last 3 years and there will be a similar story. We need an extended run of wins to get us in pole position. That doesn’t mean win 10 games in a row but doing something like he did in the second half of the League 2 season. Not sure why he has not been able to replicate that in League 1.

Edited September 3, 20241 yr by Mantra

1 minute ago, Mantra said:

from the same thread that @desperadoposted. Definitely food for thought. The players are certainly not blameless but they have had plenty of stick too.

Evatt is getting the most stick now because he’s recruited every player and had a say in building the whole operation from the ground up. It’s his squad, his tactics, his back room staff, his motivational skills that are under scrutiny the most now due to our recurring issues of inconsistency, weak mentality and underperformances. We have also recruited so specifically for his system that it actually looks very difficult to change it now.

Us missing big chances is nothing new either. We rarely score scrappy goals, which are a necessary evil for promotion. Our set pieces were improved for a time but have now regressed both offensively and defensively.

And stats, xG, big chances etc. aside - overall team performances have been incredibly inconsistent.

Last season we won 5-0 vs Oxford and 5-2 vs Reading;

Those results bookended a 0-0 draw with Stevenage and 0-1 loss to Derby. Yeah Stevenage and Derby set up to make it difficult and tight but again it just harks back to our inability to adapt or grind out important results. 

Two of the most oppositely polarised voices on #bwfc twitter, there 😃

3 minutes ago, Marc505 said:

Two of the most oppositely polarised voices on #bwfc twitter, there 😃

Evatt has been compared to Southgate for England a few times on here. I didn’t agree really the first time I heard it but there are striking similarities.

Both had a massive role in returning positivity and hope to their respective supporters and both have done a lot more good than bad during their tenures and will probably be remembered fondly

But both have also lost at the key moments and despite their initial positive influence, the longer it has gone on, the more polarised the opinions about them became and that initial optimism slowly begins to vanish and become toxic.

Both also accused of underperforming with their squad and both accused of being too stubborn/safe in their selections and choosing their favourites rather than choosing on form.

Thats a whole other debate though but the more I think about it the more it rings true.

18 minutes ago, Mantra said:

from the same thread that @desperadoposted. Definitely food for thought. The players are certainly not blameless but they have had plenty of stick too.

Evatt is getting the most stick now because he’s recruited every player and had a say in building the whole operation from the ground up. It’s his squad, his tactics, his back room staff, his motivational skills that are under scrutiny the most now due to our recurring issues of inconsistency, weak mentality and underperformances. We have also recruited so specifically for his system that it actually looks very difficult to change it now.

Us missing big chances is nothing new either. We rarely score scrappy goals, which are a necessary evil for promotion. Our set pieces were improved for a time but have now regressed both offensively and defensively.

And stats, xG, big chances etc. aside - overall team performances have been incredibly inconsistent.

Last season we won 5-0 vs Oxford and 5-2 vs Reading;

Those results bookended a 0-0 draw with Stevenage and 0-1 loss to Derby. Yeah Stevenage and Derby set up to make it difficult and tight but again it just harks back to our inability to adapt or grind out important results. 

Im sure you could take a snapshot of any 5-10 game period from the last 3 years and there will be a similar story. We need an extended run of wins to get us in pole position. That doesn’t mean win 10 games in a row but doing something like he did in the second half of the League 2 season. Not sure why he has not been able to replicate that in League 1.

Some good points there pal.

I think on a lesser scale we’ve seen pockets of good runs in L1. Post Christmas 21/22 and 22/23 we had some great form

The question now is, have we got a better quality of player than we had in 20/21 (relative to the division we are in. Think it was @Johnnyrotten who alluded to the fact that we had a batch of players who were much better than lower tier) and better than the players we had in L1 during those form periods?

And crucially can they play the way Evatt wants them to, to produce results against arguably better sides than what we have faced previously in this division.

Edited September 3, 20241 yr by desperado

Stats only show so much.

You can have all the shots you want for example, but if they're off target or powder-puff and easily saved/cleared, it's meaningless. 

We do miss some, but crossing for example also seems to be an issue.

Couple of points for balance:

2 of those chances were in the same move (after Charles fluffed the volley). We couldn't have scored both.

You could pull up 3 or 4 equally good positions for Exeter that they didn't score from.

Feels a bit clutching at straws to me.

Anyway, lets hope for shitloads of chances and goals tonight to brighten the mood.

2 minutes ago, desperado said:

Some good points there pal.

I think on a lesser scale we’ve seen pockets of good runs in L1. Post Christmas 21/22 and 22/23 we had some great form

The question now is, have we got a better quality of player than we had in 20/21 (relative to the division we are in. Think it was @Johnnyrotten who alluded to the fact that we had a batch of players who were much better than lower tier) and better than the players we had in L1 during those form periods?

And crucially can they play the the way Evatt wants them to, to produce results against arguably better sides than what we have previously in this division.

Yeh certainly had pockets of good form, we wouldn’t have finished 3rd without some good spells. Sadly, it has just not been enough. Baxter and Charles not getting injured may have changed things but that’s speculation.

I genuinely had it in my head that Evatt could live up to his words and be the man to take us all the way back to the top, so when reality came crashing down at Wembley and over the last few months it feels very odd to start losing faith in him as strongly as I am.

I know people say it all the time that “I hope he proves me wrong”, but I do  mean it for Evatt. It would be such a shame for his story with us to end without getting promoted from League 1. He clearly works hard and has been very ambitious with what he has tried to do, which I respect.

He feels like damaged goods at the moment though. Hard to shake off playoff heartbreak 2 years in a row. Not just for him but for the fans and that makes his job even harder when the fans are no longer united behind him. For the most part I’d say the fans have been 90% in favour of him. But Wembley, Wigan, Blackpool and other events have slowly chipped away at the people’s confidence in him.

Feel like Gary Neville saying this but it feels like a “we all know where this is going” moment right now.

2 minutes ago, wakey said:

Couple of points for balance:

2 of those chances were in the same move (after Charles fluffed the volley). We couldn't have scored both.

You could pull up 3 or 4 equally good positions for Exeter that they didn't score from.

Feels a bit clutching at straws to me.

Anyway, lets hope for shitloads of chances and goals tonight to brighten the mood.

Yes, we had some chances, but the only one that seemed clear cut was the Collins one.  Exeter had at least 2 in the 2nd half that were as "easy" as Collins, I think both were shot wide (1 was Magennis so of course it was).

Two incidents that summed it up were that both teams chose to bring 11 back at corners, and in the 1st half both were presented with great shooting chances as a direct result.  Exeter put a decent shot on target, that we blocked, and Cogley despite having more time and space, put it somewhere near North Stand Upper.  We can say that's not IEs fault and that's true because any pro should get that on target, but he's signing wingbacks - at the expense of wingers like Dapo or Sadlier - that don't have it in their locker to get shots on target regularly, and the same can be said of most of our midfielders.  Signing players that can cross and shoot accurately instead of doing neat 10 yard passes would help.

And not dropping your best striker when you've already lost your best attacking midfielder.