Having just returned from the Walsall debacle, and having read the usual comments from Stan Ternent about another abject performance, surely the time has come for Stan to take a long hard look at himself. Ternent says that the players are ‘having a laugh’ - well, maybe they are, Stan, but ultimately they didn’t choose to go out at the Bescot in an ultra-defensive 4-5-1 formation, did they? You pick the team, and just as at Watford, your negativity cost us the game. Perhaps it is time for you to take a little bit of the blame? Yes, I know that this might be difficult for you to comprehend, and yes, undoubtedly you do a cracking job for 90% of the time, but I am sick and tired of watching us capitulate to dreadfully shallow teams like Walsall.
Remember Grimsby last season? You must, surely: 3-0 down after 40 minutes, another dreadfully inept performance, a performance of such dreadful ineptness that it would be difficult to beat - so why on earth did we play 4-5-1 today at an appallingly bad side like Walsall? Why are Walsall at the bottom of the League? Because they are a poor side and they can’t defend, so what do you do? Play a five-man midfield and one up front. Such awful negativity; do we not have extremely skilful players at the Club? I’m thinking here of Robbie Blake and Glen Little, neither of whom Stan feels is good enough to get into the current side. Well, boys, if you can’t get into the side now, you never will.
Stan obviously feels that we can bore sides into submission; sadly, this never happens. Yes, we got a couple of good results using this formation, but who can honestly say we were convincing? This defensive formation simply does not suit the players. Hey, let’s be radical - we’ve got a damned fine right-winger, so we’ll play...er...a centre-forward there instead. That makes sense, right? Let’s leave the only player in the side who can head the ball up front on his own, so he can head the ball to absolutely no-one. No, let’s be even more radical. Let’s play the biggest waster at the Club on the left wing. Yes, Alan Moore, I’m referring to you: what are you paid for? Would it be too much trouble to put in a performance once in a while? Moore constantly underperforms, yet he continues to be picked. Even today, when he plumbed new depths of ineptness, he wasn’t replaced. It is this sort of blindness that is so frustrating - we can all see that he is just not pulling his weight, but you can’t. I tell you what, Stan, he must be bloody magnificent on the training pitch, because there is absolutely no other reason you can keep picking him. Don’t you realise that every game that he starts immediately gives the opposition a one man advantage?
We all saw what happened at Vicarage Road last week. It was a poor performance, but it was forgivable. What has happened since is not. We used the Sheffield United game as a reserve game, giving both Steve Davis and Paul Weller a start against one of the most physical sides in the country. Neither player is fit, and it showed. And after that game, Stan said we were hopeless. Yep, you’ve got to hand it to the Gaffer: he can always find someone else to blame. Maybe that’s the sign of a top manager - after all, Alex Ferguson never takes any blame for bad performances from his team. But saying that, Alex Ferguson knows what formation to play against all sorts of teams; they don’t show any respect to the opposition, and nor should they. Football is about winning: you don’t get any points for a good second half performance after you’ve already gone in three behind at half time, and you don’t get a bonus point for a contender for goal of the season. It’s all about winning. Unfortunately, Stan appears to have decided to send his team out there with the intention of surviving, and that is simply not good enough.
We go to places like Walsall and Stoke, and the opposition supporters wonder "how the hell did this rabble get to an FA Cup quarter final?". To be honest, I don’t blame them; I was wondering the same thing after an hour of today’s farce. And how did this side beat Fulham? How could we destroy Tottenham? Why the hell are we getting dicked by Walsall?
It’s time to take some blame, Stan. Earlier in the season you said that you weren’t afraid to play youngsters in the side: rubbish! You didn’t dare - you know as well as we do that they are simply not good enough. It’s all talk. It’s easy to blame others for the team’s ills, but at the end of the day, they play to the manager's instructions. We show so much respect to poor sides like Grimsby, Millwall and Walsall that they start to believe in themselves. This is crucial. It is also absolutely disastrous for us; we lack any sort of killer instinct against teams, and this costs us dearly. In short, we let teams off the hook.
All season we have needed a ball-winner in midfield. We play this ultra-defensive five-man midfield with two cultured passers of the ball in the middle, a centre-forward on the right, a pansy bloody left-winger, and, oh yeah, Lee Briscoe. What we need is a Kevin Ball. Surely we could have got rid of Gordon ‘injured’ Armstrong and Bradley ‘one for the future’ Maylett (along with perhaps Anthony Shandran, who is quite obviously not good enough), and this would have helped us pay the wages of a ball-winner like Kevin.
Maybe I’m over-simplifying things here, and I’m sure some people will think I’m being unduly harsh, but it is so bloody frustrating watching us do this capitulation thing time and time again.
Talk is cheap, Stan. You can talk about the players not performing, and you can threaten to change things, but you don’t, do you? Week after week it’s the same negative tactics, the same players playing out of position, yet you still have the cheek to slate them when they lose. We as supporters pay good money to travel and watch this sort of dross, and it’s simply not good enough. Stop talking and bloody well sort it out. We’re all happy to be safe from relegation, and yes, we had a good Cup run, but we need to see a bit of pride from the team and a bit of tactical nous from you, Stan. What is it they say, Stan: "if the cap fits"? Does it, Stan?
