Robins Interview (2 Viewers)

SlowerThanPlatt

Well-Known Member
Out of interest, who would you have brought in, that was available, within budget and would not have unsettled the squad - genuine question without any malice intended here.
Easy to say - let's get an attacking mf in.
Much harder to do.

Skybluebeliever said Robins had identified one he wanted but didn’t happen for whatever reason…
 

Brighton Sky Blue

Well-Known Member
Yeah - heard that - but easy to think straight away that he "wasn't allowed".
Could easily have just not been available or became not available.

I don’t think £ is unreasonable to suggest looking at what we had to do to bring in just Bidwell
 

Ccfcisparks

Well-Known Member
Out of interest, who would you have brought in, that was available, within budget and would not have unsettled the squad - genuine question without any malice intended here.
Easy to say - let's get an attacking mf in.
Much harder to do.
Cameron Archer
 

skyblueeyesrevisited

Well-Known Member
MR appears to plan his substitutions before kick off. Generally doesn’t make his first change until 60 minutes. Always seems to be happy to be 0-0 at half time. His changes at Cardiff seemed to be a reaction to their substitutions. He is rarely proactive.
 

Wyken Sky Blue

Well-Known Member
We don't play a high intensity game any more. We dropped that tactic a while ago and now are a possession side with no cutting edge.
Yes very true

Either way Cardiff stepped back, saved their energy, cleared their lines and took their oppurtunities when arrived

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
 

Kubrick

Well-Known Member
Which kids?
We don't use Tavares, we do use Eccles when fit.
Who else?

Bidwell is starting ahead of Maatsen at LWB. He got dropped to the bench after scoring the winner in the last game (playing out of position) and was brought on for 15 minutes in yet another different position. Shambolic decisions.
 

clint van damme

Well-Known Member
Bidwell is starting ahead of Maatsen at LWB. He got dropped to the bench after scoring the winner in the last game (playing out of position) and was brought on for 15 minutes in yet another different position. Shambolic decisions.

Maatsen isn't an under 23 player though.
Hes very part of the first team squad.

Personally I'd have had him in in place of Shipley.
 

Jamesimus

Well-Known Member
Robins himself said the energy levels weren’t there tbf

And I'd agree with that compared with our usual game, we lacked our urgency and intensity.

Just disagree with a poster saying that Cardiff looked fresher and fitter than us, they just took their chances well and defended very well. Are they a better team than us? Maybe defensively? Not sure about elsewhere mind.
 

Kubrick

Well-Known Member
Maatsen isn't an under 23 player though.
Hes very part of the first team squad.

He’s 19 and lost his place in the side to a 28 old who’s been poor. If being played out of position, getting dropped after scoring the winner or getting sent on for 15 minutes after we’ve gone goal behind is “very much part of the first team squad“ then god help us.
 

covmark

Well-Known Member
If you equate the last 19 games over a season we would be hovering on around 50 points - we have no ability to improve the squad unless we sell the best players we have
Why would you equate the last 19 games over a season? Fact is, win our game/games in hand we would be 3pts off top 6. Yet you claim we're a relegation team. Bizarre.

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Grendel

Well-Known Member
Why would you equate the last 19 games over a season? Fact is, win our game/games in hand we would be 3pts off top 6. Yet you claim we're a relegation team. Bizarre.

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when I posted this thread we were in the promotion hunt in league 1 and then started the same points accumulation we are seeing now.

we were relegated the next season having topped league 1 in October that year

 

Jamesimus

Well-Known Member
He’s 19 and lost his place in the side to a 28 old who’s been poor. If being played out of position, getting dropped after scoring the winner or getting sent on for 15 minutes after we’ve gone goal behind is “very much part of the first team squad“ then god help us.

I mean, that is very much part of the first team squad, by definition...
 

clint van damme

Well-Known Member
He’s 19 and lost his place in the side to a 28 old who’s been poor. If being played out of position, getting dropped after scoring the winner or getting sent on for 15 minutes after we’ve gone goal behind is “very much part of the first team squad“ then god help us.

You've clearly totally misunderstood my initial post.
People are referring to under the 23 players when talking about throwing in the youngsters.
 

blunted

Well-Known Member
Every team now rightly complains if they have to play too many matches in a short period of time. It is a particular problem for us, as we have such a small squad. Liverpool, Chelsea even Man City complain that their players are not at their best when tired. That is why the League Cup is generally ignored and even the FA Cup has been devalued by the top teams, and even us for the League Cup.
Football is not like the 60s where the players went out on the piss all week and looked great on a Saturday. Anyone who uses the "they are professional athletes" argument is frankly out of touch with the modern game. Either that, or the top Prem managers are wrong. Hmm, who would I rather listen to.
Our players are shagged out and need a rest, particularly those carrying injuries. No point putting in players who MR and AV think will not perform better than those on the pitch.
If we are 3-0 up (ho ho) and coasting, or dead rubber matches you will see more of Jones and Tavares. They may even have to step up if our injury crisis worsens.
Give the players and managers a break, we have just lost to a team that have now won four on the bounce at home and in conditions that ideally suited their type of game.
And lay off players who can do no right with the usual suspects on here. There is good article in the Times somewhere how negative social media comments can become a self-fulfilling prophecy and cause players to lose focus. Marcus Rashford is a prime example.
 

pipkin73

Well-Known Member
Southampton play a high-intensity game and in The Sun today they have reported that at between 60-70 mins they always seem to have an injury.
Whilst the player is being treated the rest of the team go to the touchline and take an energy booster drink (takes approx 10 mins to kick in) and then seem to go up a level whilst the other team tires.
Is this something we could try as it's legal to take this energy booster?
With MR saying they are knackered it might just give them that little boost at the end of a game (could they even take one just before a game)?
 

KenilworthSkyBlue

Well-Known Member
How do you know unless he's given a chance?

I think the fact he isn't getting any game time despite us being at the bare bones up front is pretty telling.

Robins will see Tavares day in day out in training so if he's not being brought on even in the latter end of games that suggests he's simply on the bench to make up the numbers and isn't good enough.
 

Sky_Blue_Dreamer

Well-Known Member
I think the fact he isn't getting any game time despite us being at the bare bones up front is pretty telling.

Robins will see Tavares day in day out in training so if he's not being brought on even in the latter end of games that suggests he's simply on the bench to make up the numbers and isn't good enough.
But manager's do also have little quirks and favourites that they respond to. Just because they've got coaching badges doesn't mean they're immune to making mistakes. Mourinho failed to play Lukaku, De Bruyne AND Salah at Chelsea because of his opinion of what he thought they offered. Looks very silly now. Obviously I'm not comparing our players to that, just using it as an example of the fact that managers can make a wrong call about someone.

Look back to Pressley, and his decision to play Wilson. I think all of us questioned that, given Wilson's lack of experience and he'd hardly pulled up trees on loan. But he got thrown in and never looked back. That could very easily have gone the other way. Bayliss was also brought in way before the manager wanted to because of necessity and again took his chance better than we could have hoped. Meanwhile others with great fanfare, like Giddings, Thomas, Thornton and Ponticelli, have, for various reasons, been unsuccessful. But would it be better if we were here, years later, saying 'imagine what might've been had we given so-and-so a chance"?
 

mark82

Super Moderator
Is Robins obliged to give every player he doesn’t think is good enough a chance for your benefit?

Obviously not, but we should also not assume that is the conclusion. Tuesday aside, it really hasn't been the right time to throw him in.

I'm not sure how much less he could offer than Shipley or Waghorn though.
 

KenilworthSkyBlue

Well-Known Member
But manager's do also have little quirks and favourites that they respond to. Just because they've got coaching badges doesn't mean they're immune to making mistakes. Mourinho failed to play Lukaku, De Bruyne AND Salah at Chelsea because of his opinion of what he thought they offered. Looks very silly now. Obviously I'm not comparing our players to that, just using it as an example of the fact that managers can make a wrong call about someone.

Look back to Pressley, and his decision to play Wilson. I think all of us questioned that, given Wilson's lack of experience and he'd hardly pulled up trees on loan. But he got thrown in and never looked back. That could very easily have gone the other way. Bayliss was also brought in way before the manager wanted to because of necessity and again took his chance better than we could have hoped. Meanwhile others with great fanfare, like Giddings, Thomas, Thornton and Ponticelli, have, for various reasons, been unsuccessful. But would it be better if we were here, years later, saying 'imagine what might've been had we given so-and-so a chance"?

I get what you're saying SBD but I think that's a stretch. Mourinho is pretty well known for giving limited opportunities to youth players. In fact he's been fairly critical of the academies of his former clubs claiming the players in development weren't good enough. Robins on the other hand is more than willing to provide opportunities to development players, as repeatedly shown in his past 4+ years here.

I'm not saying Robins is immune from making the wrong call, in fact I've repeatedly pushed that point previously. But I do think he has a better idea than most of whether a player is able to make the grade or not and could contribute in games. All the players you've mentioned broke through in L1/2 where it's far easier for development players to contribute on the pitch. The Championship is a completely different kettle of fish.

The issue with Tavares as well is that reports suggest that whilst he's scoring goals he's not a stand out player in the U23's. Equally, there's the issue of him still being too slight which he needs to work on. Ignoring all this on the basis of he might be the next Wilson just doesn't make a great deal of sense. You're making an exception the rule.
 
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Deleted member 5849

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Look back to Pressley, and his decision to play Wilson. I think all of us questioned that, given Wilson's lack of experience and he'd hardly pulled up trees on loan. But he got thrown in and never looked back. That could very easily have gone the other way.
Aaron Phillips, Billy Daniels, Jack Finch.

Also players given a chance by Pressley. But they turned out to be shit (tbf I liked Phillips! Surprised he didn't make more of a league career than he did, but that's for another day).

It's nonsensical to look at what happened to Wilson as an example, because there are countless other examples of players who never made it. Adam Walker looked every bit a future star in the youth team... but wasn't.

And sure, managers get it wrong from time to time, but more often than not somebody isn't playing at all because they're not at the level required.
 
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sylus

Well-Known Member
The issue with Tavares as well is that reports suggest that whilst he's scoring goals he's not a stand out player in the U23's. Equally, there's the issue of him still being too slight which he needs to work on. Ignoring all this on the basis of he might be the next Wilson just doesn't make a great deal of sense. You're making an exception the rule.

how can he not be a stand out player for the U23, when he is scoring for fun
 

Flying Fokker

Well-Known Member
This would be my conversation with MR
Better start/poorer finish. Mix it up a bit with last season and we are up there in the top 6. But we will always have a lower budget won’t we. Better get SISU to buy wasps. More revenue and the option of dissolving their company…
 

KenilworthSkyBlue

Well-Known Member
how can he not be a stand out player for the U23, when he is scoring for fun

In terms of he doesn't dominate games or look a class above the rest. I think he's just one of those players that will be fairly anonymous for 90 minutes but will happen to pop up with a goal or two.
 

Sky_Blue_Dreamer

Well-Known Member
Aaron Phillips, Billy Daniels, Jack Finch.

Also players given a chance by Pressley. But they turned out to be shit (tbf I liked Phillips! Surprised he didn't make more of a league career than he did, but that's for another day).

It's nonsensical to look at what happened to Wilson as an example, because there are countless other examples of players who never made it. Adam Walker looked every bit a future star in the youth team... but wasn't.

And sure, managers get it wrong from time to time, but more often than not somebody isn't playing at all because they're not at the level required.
But how did we find out those players weren't up to it? By giving them a chance. Yes, it was a lower level but the reason we can say they weren't up to it was because we gave them the opportunity to prove themselves.

There's the argument that he's scoring goals but not standing out. What is our biggest problem at the moment? Scoring goals. What has Tavares been doing in the U23's? Scoring goals. He may not (and probably is not) the answer, but it's a potential solution that, in our current striking situation, is worth exploring at some point.
 

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