What am I talking about? The "should Slav be sacked?", or "where's the plan B?" debates that seem to rage on ad nauseum. We, as fans, have the right to our opinion on our beloved FFC, and we should accept the opinions of others whether we agree with them or not. But this should all be put into perspective, rather than rushing around blaming "this person" or "that person".
I, too, am probably becoming boring, as I have written about this before, but after watching the Barnsley win, it is becoming clearer where the problems lie.
I am one of Slav's biggest admirers, yet I find myself beginning to doubt some of his ideas. Whether this is because of the influence of social media or not, I cannot answer, but for the foreseeable future I am going to remain 100% behind the sullen Serb. Last season, in many fans eyes, he could have turned water into wine, as he led a small squad to achieving much more than we could have wished for. But, we would do well to remember that it was Leeds who threw it away. Granted, we had to go on that good run of form, but ultimately Leeds bottled it. There has been an argument that we cannot blame Kline because he was at the club last season also. What we don't know, is whether Kline's ego just got bigger and bigger and he started to exert more and more influence, as he got carried away with last season's success also. If Kline saw last season as a result of his methods, then he may have wanted more influence, but we will never know. Whether the "Slav out" camp like it or not, it is a fact that Kline unsettled the whole club. Do people really believe that once Khan had sacked Kline that stability would return overnight? It takes time to get a bad taste out of your mouth, and it will take time to get the club on a happier and more stable footing.
Watching the Barnsley game, it was too evident where many of our problems lie. Bettinelli is the fans favourite because he is an FFC man, rather than Button who is from the despised club up the road. Button would have to be twice as good as Betts before some fans would take to him. The problem is that both are good shot stoppers, but neither are great passers of the ball, and both look like they do not like high balls into the box. For me, Button is probably better at passing the ball out, because too often Betts kicks the ball out of play. Slav likes to play the ball out from the back, but does not have the keepers to do this, effectively. This also makes us more predictable, and teams know what to do against us. So, where's the plan B in this situation? Put simply......there isn't one, and there cannot be one when we do not have the correct personnel. If we go long, who can hold the ball up, or flick it on? Fonte can't and it is not his natural game against the lumps of defenders who we find in the Championship. Kamara doesn't have the technical ability to control the ball well, and big Matty Smith was sold (probably by Kline). And, much as I loved the effort of big Matty, he was not that great on the floor, apart from not being the quickest. If we want this option, then we need a Jordan Rhodes type of player, who has good technical ability an is also up to the physical challenge. If we could mix it up more, when the keeper has the ball at his feet, then we would be more unpredictable, but Slav needs the personnel to do this.
Another obvious thing is the form of Cairney. TC is our talisman and his obvious talent seems to have disappeared a little this season. Whether that is down to his injury, I do not know, but he seems to be playing a lot deeper in the last few games, trying to influence the game from the back. Last season he was almost playing in the number ten role where he was much more effective. My feeling is that Slav has given him a free role, and TC's natural instinct to run the show means he is dropping deeper. I, personally, would like to see him playing behind the striker/s where he can really hurt the opposition.
It is also worth watching how Freddo is being doubled up on more often when he goes forward. Last season, we had Aluko, who was capable of holding the ball up, with his trickery, allowing Freddo more space to get forward. As excellent as Ojo has been, he does not compliment Freddo in the same way as Aluko did.
It is also noticeable that the team are playing with a fear factor now, especially when taking the lead. I do not blame that on the coaching or the players, I blame it on the fact that we overachieved last season, and the players themselves are expecting too much of themselves, so that when we do go into the lead, there is a natural tendency to "get over the line" rather than go for the second goal which would give us a bigger cushion. Last season we could play without fear, because nobody was expecting us to reach the play-offs anyway.
Of course, there are many other areas where we do not look as effective as we did last year, but as many people have said "selling Aluko and Malone has had a very negative effect". If we do not replace such players with similar players, rather than players who have good stats, then it stands to reason we will not be as effective in these positions.
An excellent article in "Get West London" outlined a very good argument for sticking with Slavisa, using the example of Lee Johnson at Bristol City, who took them from flirting with relegation, last season, to where they are now. Knee jerk reactions very rarely work, and if the club have the right man for the job, then they need to give him time. And who is the alternative to Slav, anyway? We are not going to get Johnson down at the Cottage, and people who mentioned mangers like Pullis were living in cloud cuckoo land if they think he would come to us. We should also remember that the Kline business was well documented nationally, and how many respectable coaches would want to work under a system where they may have little say in who they can buy? Whether you are for the stats system or not, good coaches get a big say in the type of player they want, and I can see very few coaches who would want to put up with our current system, if it stays the same. Whether, you are in the "Slav out" camp, or in the "Slav in" camp, it is time to be realistic and understand that it is the Kline situation that has done most to ruin this season.
I sincerely believe that if Slav is given time and more influence we will be up there where it matters at the end of the 2018/19 season. For the moment I am sticking with Slav, and I urge every other fan to remember sometimes......"BETTER THE DEVIL YOU KNOW"
IN SLAVISA WE TRUST
FTID
COYWs
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© Nic Smith
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