2 minutes ago, Dr. Feelgood said:

But it was a huge scoreboard & pitch side & level. Seeing it saying 2-0 must have been awful for the players as they walked past it. It sure pissed me off.

That interview just suddenly ended, I'm wondering what was edited out. 

28 minutes ago, thebells said:

I think he’s probably fed up of saying the same things himself. He couldn’t really apologise / talk about ‘responding’ yesterday so went down a different route

I agree. After a defeat now nothing is going to wash anymore.

8 minutes ago, gonzo said:

He sounds like a man on the ropes with no way out.

 

Like you, I think it’s such a shame it’s ending this way.

To get us out of this division, the formulaic process needed some flexibility to it which he just wasn’t willing to try or adapt to. Instead he’s gone down a rabbit hole of trying to justify his principles and he’s now buried too deep to find any way back.

 

1 hour ago, only1swanny said:

Passing it side to side and allowing them to get all their players back.. even on their corners we have 11 in our box.

Leave one at the half way line and they need to keep 2 defenders back. If we clear it towards them it creates huge pressure for them to get back quickly. The players have been over trained in certain movements, and are forgetting basics. 

 

And anyone who calls a goal "scoreboard pressure" needs their head checking. What a pratt. 

Don’t come on here with your common sense. 
How can everyone in the ground and elsewhere bar one person see that. That has been a tactic used for years. Know why?

Because it works, that’s why. I learnt it, managers have always known it. How could  just 1 person not?

53 minutes ago, thebells said:

I think they know the reality, but also know it makes no difference anymore. He can come out and speak French for all I care. 

He has an obligation to do these interviews when I imagine all he wants to do is hide under a rock. 
 

I suppose. if he admits it’s awful, you could argue he’s loading the gun for his employers. 

 

13 minutes ago, FrancisFogarty said:

I learnt it, managers have always known it. How could  just 1 person not?

tbf, many teams do this as they defend corners. It was a grumble right back to the Allardyce days.

It fckg bemuses me & the arithmetic is very simple.

Worse thing about Evatt along with his arrogance is that he will desperately use any and every statistic to feed his own disillusionment, when the statistics are mostly inaccurate and entirely subjective.

"I have a 50% win percentage"

"You're talking to manager who's team has won 13 of their last 26 games"

Now he can't even bring these desperate statistics up because we are losing more and more.

Yesterday it was, " We had complete control of possession and dominance of the game, the most one sided away performance I've ever seen"

What, more one sided than Huddersfield smashing us 4-0 a few months ago? What about Wigan a few weeks ago, last year 0-4 and back in 2021?!

Tell me Evatt how having 67% possession means you have complete control? What about the fact that Mansfield scored 2 easy easy goals and had control and allowed us to have more of the ball because they sat off?

What about the fact they had more shots than us and more on target?

What do you say about all this "dominance" yet just 1 shot on target in the 2nd half?

This man is rotten to the core, he's quickly  becoming one of the most dislikeable managers at this club that I've seen and gosh there is some bad company there. 

Edited January 2, 20251 yr by Lostock Whites

4 minutes ago, Dr. Feelgood said:

tbf, many teams do this as they defend corners. It was a grumble right back to the Allardyce days.

It fckg bemuses me & the arithmetic is very simple.

I know there are some teams that do it,  because doing it fits their teams set up, or it doesn't fit the oppositions set up.

However as you say the arithmatic is simple.

3 minutes ago, Lostock Whites said:

... he's quickly  becoming one of the most dislikeable managers at this club that I've seen and gosh their is some bad company there. 

To be honest, for me at least, he's never been an especially likeable person but if he's getting results so what.

His boasting is a difficult gig, but if he's correct then I'd roll with it.

His footballing obstinence is lunacy.

His personal life is a car crash ... & we only know the bare minimum of it.

There's now virtually no-one supporting him, & for good reason.

His fragile mental health must be shot. He needs a break & Sharon is doing him no favour keeping him on. 

He was a prick as a player and he comes across as a prick as a manager. Must be horrendous to work for 

3 minutes ago, Kane57 said:

He was a prick as a player and he comes across as a prick as a manager. Must be horrendous to work for 

From what I have been told he really is and very hard to get on with.

15 hours ago, desperado said:

There’s some proper mumbo jumbo at the beginning there about “blocks, stresses, scoreline pressure and patience” 

Ah well, new ground ticked off.

Not bothering with these next 3 aways.

I’ll think again when it comes to Huddersfield. 

I promise I’ll get to the point soon, like most have you had, by not listening to him 😂…

But one of his comments there talks about us “becoming bored stressing the block” So I interpret that as the best way to breakdown 11 men behind the ball is the sideways backwards stuff, one side to the other, probing, testing, wearing opposition down. I think this has merits at certain times. But it’s clear certain opposition/managers can handle this without giving us many opportunities - in other words they’ve worked us out, we are easily to nullify playing this way. And I think this is a big part of the problem.

He then goes on to say, because we got bored “stressing the block” we started throwing the ball in from deep, which the opposition can deal with easily. Now I had a bad hangover and perhaps wasn’t fully paying attention, but did we do this!?

I remember crying out to get the ball into the box quicker and very rarely did this happen

It didn't. I thought when we put Tutu and Randal on we'd get the ball down the flanks el rapido and get some shit pinger balls fired in early. But we didn't.

We still took 134 touches and continually played in to congested wide areas then cut inside to congested central areas trying to thread through the eye of a needle.

Even on 93 minutes Santos had the ball and was giving the full backs pea rollers. 

 

11 minutes ago, gonzo said:

It didn't. I thought when we put Tutu and Randal on we'd get the ball down the flanks el rapido and get some shit pinger balls fired in early. But we didn't.

We still took 134 touches and continually played in to congested wide areas then cut inside to congested central areas trying to thread through the eye of a needle.

Even on 93 minutes Santos had the ball and was giving the full backs pea rollers. 

 

Thank fuck for that. My alcohol laden eyes weren’t deceiving me 🤣

Williams is absolutely rapid but when has he ever really let loose and sprinted by someone? He seems permanently scared of doing the wrong thing which then invariably leads him to doing exactly that 

19 minutes ago, gonzo said:

It didn't. I thought when we put Tutu and Randal on we'd get the ball down the flanks el rapido and get some shit pinger balls fired in early. But we didn't.

We still took 134 touches and continually played in to congested wide areas then cut inside to congested central areas trying to thread through the eye of a needle.

Even on 93 minutes Santos had the ball and was giving the full backs pea rollers. 

 

😂 raised a smile.

On a serious note, when have we even gone down the wings el rapido and fired shit pinger balls in? The first part maybe, but we then stop, turn back, lay it off to our outside centre back who puts a shite cross in when all the defenders are set and strikers have already made their runs!

2 hours ago, thebells said:

I think they know the reality, but also know it makes no difference anymore. He can come out and speak French for all I care. 

 

I read that in a Joey Barton accent 

5 minutes ago, Eddie said:

😂 raised a smile.

On a serious note, when have we even gone down the wings el rapido and fired shit pinger balls in? The first part maybe, but we then stop, turn back, lay it off to our outside centre back who puts a shite cross in when all the defenders are set and strikers have already made their runs!

I’ve gone off on a right negative one this morning. I’ve just looked back at some highlights and vlogs and the best chances we created were when we did things quickly. The more ponderous we are, the more frustrating we become.

The sad thing for all those going to Exeter is that it sounds like Evatt’s solution is to be more patient and not as rushed! 😩

I've listened to Evatts interview 3 times now, used AI to try and decipher it thinking it might be a secret code but alas to no avail. 

What the bloody hell is he going on about ? 5-4 blocks, rust, moving the block, scoreline pressure's,  got bored , erratic.

I think he's trying to outsmart the presenter Boris style in the hope he is accepted as a really bright and forward thinking football manager. In reality he's no idea how to get a tune out of them as we have seen time and time again and he has to go before he's given the opportunity to waste more of OUR money ( not Sharon's) on more prima donas.

Anyway our manager (for the time being) is always keen to through in a few numbers and ratios he likes to try and cover up the abysmal performances so I'll give him one or two for balancing up.

Mansfield scored 2 to our 1, Mansfield had 14 shots with 5 on target to our 12 and 3 on target but in fairness to him we did win one contest 87 backward passes to their 34 you see always a silver lining 👍🏼 

 

 

1 hour ago, desperado said:

I promise I’ll get to the point soon, like most have you had, by not listening to him 😂…

But one of his comments there talks about us “becoming bored stressing the block” So I interpret that as the best way to breakdown 11 men behind the ball is the sideways backwards stuff, one side to the other, probing, testing, wearing opposition down. I think this has merits at certain times. But it’s clear certain opposition/managers can handle this without giving us many opportunities - in other words they’ve worked us out, we are easily to nullify playing this way. And I think this is a big part of the problem.

He then goes on to say, because we got bored “stressing the block” we started throwing the ball in from deep, which the opposition can deal with easily. Now I had a bad hangover and perhaps wasn’t fully paying attention, but did we do this!?

I remember crying out to get the ball into the box quicker and very rarely did this happen

 

51 minutes ago, gonzo said:

It didn't. I thought when we put Tutu and Randal on we'd get the ball down the flanks el rapido and get some shit pinger balls fired in early. But we didn't.

We still took 134 touches and continually played in to congested wide areas then cut inside to congested central areas trying to thread through the eye of a needle.

Even on 93 minutes Santos had the ball and was giving the full backs pea rollers. 

 

We've not done it since Des Buckingham did that video telling everyone how to stop us doing it

1 hour ago, Dr. Feelgood said:

To be honest, for me at least, he's never been an especially likeable person but if he's getting results so what.

His boasting is a difficult gig, but if he's correct then I'd roll with it.

His footballing obstinence is lunacy.

His personal life is a car crash ... & we only know the bare minimum of it.

There's now virtually no-one supporting him, & for good reason.

His fragile mental health must be shot. He needs a break & Sharon is doing him no favour keeping him on. 

Some relevant points in there Dr. 

From what i understand, the players have a lot of time for him and respect the fact that he's never (until a month or so ago) thrown them to the wolves. I'm not aware of any former players who have ever publicly criticised him since leaving the club. His relationships with other staff around the club is a little more strained at times, but don't want to say too much on that.

I've never been a fan of how he conducts himself at pitchside. Let's not forget he was banned from the touchline for 3 games for coming on to the pitch and going head to head with an opposition player. He was sent off against Wigan last season and has been continually booked throughout for his behaviour. 

I'm mainly grateful, however, that he's stayed away from the camera app on his iphone this season. 

 

3 minutes ago, Zico said:

 

We've not done it since Des Buckingham did that video telling everyone how to stop us doing it

It’s so easy to suss us out. How do we know this…….. seeing simple teams suss it out. I still find it amazing certain teams try to go toe to toe with us on our style like your Readings etc. 

Yesterday in the second half we kept trying to move it down the wings but it was obvious they knew exactly how to stop us with being tight on our wing backs- we wasted the whole half trying the same useless approach. We were looking better passing to players sitting off their centre backs but all Jones and Johnson could do was hit balls to their players.

and that idiot thought we played well

 

1 hour ago, Kane57 said:

Williams is absolutely rapid but when has he ever really let loose and sprinted by someone? He seems permanently scared of doing the wrong thing which then invariably leads him to doing exactly that 

He tried doing it against Lincoln at home but the ball rolled under his foot and out for a throw in.

 

27 minutes ago, thebells said:

Some relevant points in there Dr. 

From what i understand, the players have a lot of time for him and respect the fact that he's never (until a month or so ago) thrown them to the wolves. I'm not aware of any former players who have ever publicly criticised him since leaving the club. His relationships with other staff around the club is a little more strained at times, but don't want to say too much on that.

I've never been a fan of how he conducts himself at pitchside. Let's not forget he was banned from the touchline for 3 games for coming on to the pitch and going head to head with an opposition player. He was sent off against Wigan last season and has been continually booked throughout for his behaviour. 

I'm mainly grateful, however, that he's stayed away from the camera app on his iphone this season. 

 

Interesting update. The players don’t play like they have his back even if they claim to do. I’m not sure who the buck falls with on that but they are all his players. 

1 minute ago, tomski said:

Interesting update. The players don’t play like they have his back even if they claim to do. I’m not sure who the buck falls with on that but they are all his players. 

I honestly just think its that last 5% that makes the difference in top level sport between winners and also rans. Look at yesterdays goals.

Santos should have done better on the 2nd. Thomason should have stopped the cross on the 1st. I think last season both would have done. That leaves the game 0-0 and, on balance, we'd have gone on to win it last season. This time around we are 2-0 down. I think it's a combination of some just losing their spark after the Oxford game and some having listened to Evatt for 3-4 years now. 

Cut out the daft errors and we are a top 6 (but not top 2) team.

I think this is why Evatt is so infuriated at times. He knows the problem, but can't fix it. I really don't see how 2 new players fundamentally change things, and they won't. But the board want to back him and there's bugger all we can do.