How do you assess Sol’s start at the hall

[Jai]

It was interesting to see Paul Lambert laugh off a £3million bid for Luke Woolfenden yesterday and then say that he's not selling players on the cheap.

We're in the same division and sell our best players for £500,000 tops.

If Hutchinson is being sold (and I've not see anything to suggest he is other than that ludicrous Transfer Centre9 twitter account), I bet it will be for a pittance.

 

[Firestorm]

If Hutchinson goes it will not be for a massive fee. We only signed him recently, he has not been developed by us , so any Tribunal will not be looking at a great deal , so the offers will start low

 

[Tommy2holes]

I think Sol has made us harder to beat and has got the team fitter.

That has taken time. I feel for him as we should have got wins but have been on the end of a poor decision or two.

If he can add a couple, I think the end of the season will be much brighter going into what will undoubtedly be a league 2 campaign next year.

 

[Ailsa Road Shrimper]

We got 5 points from 8 games with Waddock and now have 5 points from 11 games (plus a cup defeat at Dover) with Campbell in charge so there hasn’t been any improvement under him in terms of results.

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

I was against Campbell from the off - nothing has improved and we are dead certs for the drop.
The argument about not having his own players is pointless as on this basis we shouldn't have changed manager and stuck with Kevin Bond.
The man has a ego the size of Jupiter and will be off soon enough.
The blame however for the brown stuff we are in has to be shared largely by Martin for sodding around appointing a new manager in the first place. Took far far too long to get the new man in and here we are.

 

[danburyshrimper]

Absolutely terrible.

Sol Campbell was very lucky in that big big players for us such as Hopper & Demetriou , missing for most of Bond + Waddocks games, were back.
Despite this he has failed to turn us round. and i would argue we are no better now than 13 matches ago . He obviously never did his homework , surely he must have been aware than playing tippy tappy out from the back was a complete and utter car crash under Bond , and yet he continued to play exactly the same style for his first 10 games.
In fact the 1st game he was at Roots Hall , he must have seen how well Milligan was playing at centre back in that Doncaster match ( and in the previous games too ) - but due to 2 glaring errors by Nathan Ralph we found ourselves only 2 - 1 down. Yet as soon as Milligan was pushed into the unusual midfield role for the 2nd half ( He was centre back for 70 of his 80 int'l caps ) we completely folded and ended up shipping 7. Milligan is a commanding defender , he is not a midfielder.
Ok , so we've sneaked draws against the other bottom teams in the league , but on saturday we played with effectively 7 at the back ! 3 centre backs , full backs that barely got forward with 2 defenders ( Milligan + Demetriou ) sitting just in front of them. It was no surprise their keeper never got his hands dirty. When we need 14 wins from our remaining 20 games , settling for a bore draw at home to other poor teams , amounts to waving the white flag. The centre backs play so narrow , not allowing our full backs to push forward. The midfield 3 sit so deep they get in each others and the centre backs' way. When we do get the ball there are no options , no one is available other than our isolated, outnumbered strikers. Our midfield is crying out for some creativity like Hutch.
Our wide players need to be so much further forward. Look at Liverpools full backs. They are part of a back 4 , not 5 , yet spend more time as wingers than defenders. Thats because the 2 centre backs move wider to push them forward and 1 holding midfielder covers. We need to be far more attacking in our play , in order to have more players available to receive the ball in areas to hurt the opposition.
Our players need confidence more than anything , but stifling our play and restricting them into hanging on for bore draws is not going to help.

To think the 2 other leading candidates at the time of Sol's appointment , Nigel Pearson/Craig Shakesphere + Gary Rowett/Adam Barrett would probably have cost no more than the Sol/Herman/Andy Cole combo - and see how they have managed to turn around teams on their knees into winning teams , just makes the whole episode even more disappointing.

 

[Clarky176]

Absolutely terrible.

Sol Campbell was very lucky in that big big players for us such as Hopper & Demetriou , missing for most of Bond + Waddocks games, were back.
Despite this he has failed to turn us round. and i would argue we are no better now than 13 matches ago . He obviously never did his homework , surely he must have been aware than playing tippy tappy out from the back was a complete and utter car crash under Bond , and yet he continued to play exactly the same style for his first 10 games.
In fact the 1st game he was at Roots Hall , he must have seen how well Milligan was playing at centre back in that Doncaster match ( and in the previous games too ) - but due to 2 glaring errors by Nathan Ralph we found ourselves only 2 - 1 down. Yet as soon as Milligan was pushed into the unusual midfield role for the 2nd half ( He was centre back for 70 of his 80 int'l caps ) we completely folded and ended up shipping 7. Milligan is a commanding defender , he is not a midfielder.
Ok , so we've sneaked draws against the other bottom teams in the league , but on saturday we played with effectively 7 at the back ! 3 centre backs , full backs that barely got forward with 2 defenders ( Milligan + Demetriou ) sitting just in front of them. It was no surprise their keeper never got his hands dirty. When we need 14 wins from our remaining 20 games , settling for a bore draw at home to other poor teams , amounts to waving the white flag. The centre backs play so narrow , not allowing our full backs to push forward. The midfield 3 sit so deep they get in each others and the centre backs' way. When we do get the ball there are no options , no one is available other than our isolated, outnumbered strikers. Our midfield is crying out for some creativity like Hutch.
Our wide players need to be so much further forward. Look at Liverpools full backs. They are part of a back 4 , not 5 , yet spend more time as wingers than defenders. Thats because the 2 centre backs move wider to push them forward and 1 holding midfielder covers. We need to be far more attacking in our play , in order to have more players available to receive the ball in areas to hurt the opposition.
Our players need confidence more than anything , but stifling our play and restricting them into hanging on for bore draws is not going to help.

To think the 2 other leading candidates at the time of Sol's appointment , Nigel Pearson/Craig Shakesphere + Gary Rowett/Adam Barrett would probably have cost no more than the Sol/Herman/Andy Cole combo - and see how they have managed to turn around teams on their knees into winning teams , just makes the whole episode even more disappointing.

Sol ditched playing from the back after the Oxford game, his 4th League game in charge.

Also you cannot be serious, Nigel Pearson? The current Watford manager in the PL? He was never in the running here. Gary Rowett, the Millwall manager who has led them up the Championship table? Again never in the running.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Posting a boastful tweet about shopping at Harrods when there the players & staff recently had payment issues was arrogant as hell. Show some humility Sol.

 

[blues exile]

Posting a boastful tweet about shopping at Harrods when there the players & staff recently had payment issues was arrogant as hell. Show some humility Sol.

There's a first time for everything but ....

 

[Fairport]

I would reserve judgement on Sol Campbell until he is able to bring in some new faces. So far his record is poor, some of his tactics are also questionable. I also get the impression that he is not the most popular person within the football community. However, the one bit of optimism is that the players put in a shift for him against Tranmere. If that carries on then there is hope.

 

[danburyshrimper]

Sol ditched playing from the back after the Oxford game, his 4th League game in charge.

We were still poncing about with at the back v Rotherham - Bishop 3 times played short goal kicks to panic under pressure defenders inside our own penalty box and Tim Dieng cost us a goal in the Bolton match by tippy tappying about in his own box. I would argue Campbell only woke up to ditch this ridiculous tactic in the last 3 matches. Funnily enough , we didnt lose those games.

 

[Clarky176]

We were still poncing about with at the back v Rotherham - Bishop 3 times played short goal kicks to panic under pressure defenders inside our own penalty box and Tim Dieng cost us a goal in the Bolton match by tippy tappying about in his own box. I would argue Campbell only woke up to ditch this ridiculous tactic in the last 3 matches. Funnily enough , we didnt lose those games.

By "Tim Dieng cost us a goal in the Bolton match by tippy tappying about in his own box", do you mean half way line? Also that Rotherham game was a good draw against now top of the league, not the best example to use on how it is a useless tactic

 

[Rayleigh boy]

Absolutely terrible.

Sol Campbell was very lucky in that big big players for us such as Hopper & Demetriou , missing for most of Bond + Waddocks games, were back.
Despite this he has failed to turn us round. and i would argue we are no better now than 13 matches ago . He obviously never did his homework , surely he must have been aware than playing tippy tappy out from the back was a complete and utter car crash under Bond , and yet he continued to play exactly the same style for his first 10 games.
In fact the 1st game he was at Roots Hall , he must have seen how well Milligan was playing at centre back in that Doncaster match ( and in the previous games too ) - but due to 2 glaring errors by Nathan Ralph we found ourselves only 2 - 1 down. Yet as soon as Milligan was pushed into the unusual midfield role for the 2nd half ( He was centre back for 70 of his 80 int'l caps ) we completely folded and ended up shipping 7. Milligan is a commanding defender , he is not a midfielder.
Ok , so we've sneaked draws against the other bottom teams in the league , but on saturday we played with effectively 7 at the back ! 3 centre backs , full backs that barely got forward with 2 defenders ( Milligan + Demetriou ) sitting just in front of them. It was no surprise their keeper never got his hands dirty. When we need 14 wins from our remaining 20 games , settling for a bore draw at home to other poor teams , amounts to waving the white flag. The centre backs play so narrow , not allowing our full backs to push forward. The midfield 3 sit so deep they get in each others and the centre backs' way. When we do get the ball there are no options , no one is available other than our isolated, outnumbered strikers. Our midfield is crying out for some creativity like Hutch.
Our wide players need to be so much further forward. Look at Liverpools full backs. They are part of a back 4 , not 5 , yet spend more time as wingers than defenders. Thats because the 2 centre backs move wider to push them forward and 1 holding midfielder covers. We need to be far more attacking in our play , in order to have more players available to receive the ball in areas to hurt the opposition.
Our players need confidence more than anything , but stifling our play and restricting them into hanging on for bore draws is not going to help.

To think the 2 other leading candidates at the time of Sol's appointment , Nigel Pearson/Craig Shakesphere + Gary Rowett/Adam Barrett would probably have cost no more than the Sol/Herman/Andy Cole combo - and see how they have managed to turn around teams on their knees into winning teams , just makes the whole episode even more disappointing.

good to know how simple football management is .... anyone can do it .

 

[Jai]

Megalolz at the idea that Nigel Pearson or Gary Rowett would have even been remotely interested in the job.

Our reputation in football is right down in the gutter.

 

[kentblues]

Megalolz at the idea that Nigel Pearson or Gary Rowett would have even been remotely interested in the job.

Our reputation in football is right down in the gutter.

Quite- I think sometimes the fantasy world we live in is beyond comparison. Some are itching, desperate, to have a pop at Sol but he is rebuilding and will be given time to change players and the culture. That we will go us far as criticise where he does his shopping is perhaps telling.

Lets hope we can put some results together so such threads can move to the background at least for a little while..

 

[ColinMorrisWalksOnWater]

I am still happy overall with Sol at the helm.

As has been said, we are more than likely down and next season in L2 is going to be hugely important. Hopefully he will have some of his players in place by then and I will judge him fully then.

We are however three unbeaten, although all drawn and against clubs in the lower reaches of the division. However the first half performance at Bristol Rovers shows what the players were capable of, unfortunately so did the second half!

A clean sheet at home under his belt and harder to beat....in summary it will take time and I am still happy for Sol to have that time and have the chance to turn us around.

UTB!