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Is Powell going to be as bad as Brown?

Well Swindon have just sacked Phil Brown. They didn't give him long, did they? I hope we give Chris Powell rather longer to make his mark - but I admit that he had a poor game, or at least a poor second half, on Saturday.
 
Some of CP's set ups and personnel choices are questionable but then I am a fan and it's compulsory to question the manager. After all, who knows more than us fans?

I think he is doing a good job. The injury list is horrendous and lady luck has deserted us. I believe the side and tactics need a tweak or two and I hope it is soon.

As for whether CP is as bad as PB? CP is in the early stages of his tenure and needs the opportunity afforded by time to prove himself. He also came with a ready made fan base because of his time here as a player. PB did bring us some success but his well documented history was hardly going to make him a fans choice. Hopefully he will get a new appointment and show his true worth.
 
As is often the case the question starts from a wrong proposition in my view.

PB was not a 'bad' manager for us. He got is into the playoffs, the playoffs and promoted, then narrowly missed L1 playoffs. Last season yes we had a terrible run, had a few issues in the background eg Nile Ranger and he got sacked. Fine- maybe he had run his course and SCP was the ideal replacement.

But you are not comparing SCP to a bad manager, you are comparing him to someone who did a decent job for us. And by that measure SCP is doing a decent job too. Given that equivalence its not surprising they are also discovering the same big challenges: by budget etc. we are a mid table L1 side; our fans think we are better than that so par is not acceptable; both have been horribly unlucky with injuries (this was not an acceptable excuse for PB and it now becoming not for SCP); we are inconsistent under PB we are under SCP; substitutions were constantly questioned under PB now they are under SCP; we were constantly criticising PB for sitting back on leads now the same for SCP and so on.

We had a good manager before and have as good or slightly better a manager now. We are capable of the playoffs but need luck with us not against us. This is true of many a mid table L1 side. Luck is certainly not on our side this season so we need to be accordingly realistic without giving up on promotion for one minute.

Luckily we have a chairman who understands all this, selects who he considers the best manager he can get, and the backs them long term.
 
As is often the case the question starts from a wrong proposition in my view.

PB was not a 'bad' manager for us. He got is into the playoffs, the playoffs and promoted, then narrowly missed L1 playoffs. Last season yes we had a terrible run, had a few issues in the background eg Nile Ranger and he got sacked. Fine- maybe he had run his course and SCP was the ideal replacement.

But you are not comparing SCP to a bad manager, you are comparing him to someone who did a decent job for us. And by that measure SCP is doing a decent job too. Given that equivalence its not surprising they are also discovering the same big challenges: by budget etc. we are a mid table L1 side; our fans think we are better than that so par is not acceptable; both have been horribly unlucky with injuries (this was not an acceptable excuse for PB and it now becoming not for SCP); we are inconsistent under PB we are under SCP; substitutions were constantly questioned under PB now they are under SCP; we were constantly criticising PB for sitting back on leads now the same for SCP and so on.

We had a good manager before and have as good or slightly better a manager now. We are capable of the playoffs but need luck with us not against us. This is true of many a mid table L1 side. Luck is certainly not on our side this season so we need to be accordingly realistic without giving up on promotion for one minute.

Luckily we have a chairman who understands all this, selects who he considers the best manager he can get, and the backs them long term.
What an excellent post ,one tiny wee issue ,CP in my opinion hasn't as yet proven he is slightly better manager than PB
 
There are a lot of alarming similarities

Baffling subs and doesn't seem to know his best team or formation

Yes, we have been ransacked by some terrible long term injuries but you cant dwell on that forever. We are still capable of putting a very good 11 players on the pitch
 
Powell is in a profession with a high casualty rate and as such everything he does is under the microscope. In the final analysis it is a results based profession and he will ultimately be judged on that. He made an excellent start last season but I think the unrealistic expectations he was burdened with by fans who expected miracles from him has added to the pressure on him which is becoming evident in his press conferences and newspaper quotes. That is not to say he should be immune from criticism, some of his selections and substitutions have been questionable, as have his formations and tactics. He is in the public eye and must expect it anyway and has been around long enough to handle it. We are entering a season defining phase, as was Brown this time last year. It will be interesting to see the outcome.
 
He did a great job last season and we played some great football. The main problem has been his summer recruitment, Hopper aside, the rest are fairly mediocre or injury prone. Not many of them can knock out 40+ games a season. The centre mids are all too similar, not sure why we needed to get Hyam in. Miss someone like Wordsworth who could produce a sublime finish from midfield.
 
If we had everyone fit we'd be top 6, I'm certain of that. But we don't. Our injury list is horrific. Give CP a break, jeez....
 
If by "as bad as Brown" you mean get us promoted then established comfortably in the division above, then I bloody well hope so!

Seriously though, our biggest issue this season has been injuries, most of which were freak incidents that couldn't have had anything to do with our training/preparation, just rotten luck. Dieng, Mantom, Hopper, Moore all look to be good signings, others like Lennon and Barrett could have been good signings too if it wasn't for major injuries.

Sometimes you just get a bit (or very) unlucky with injuries and it's difficult for anyone to cope with that.
 
Powell certainly has his faults, as many have already pointed out. I also think that when Brown had us on a good run we were much tougher to beat and had a bit more steel about us.

BUT.... I can't forget some of the turgid football we were playing last season before Powell came in. Whatever happens, Powell has instilled a better football ethic and at times we've played some real nice stuff. He's always going to make mistakes..what manager doesn't?

For me, there are three main factors that have hindered us:

Lack of goals from midfield (this can be addressed)
Injuries (not Powell's fault of course)
Still lumbered with some of Brown's squad on big money (not much he can do about this either)

Bottom line is, he needs time for the above to be sorted. I would say at least another year until we can really judge him.
 
Give the man a break FFS. We all know what we want to see and he has the same vision. It takes time. We are being killed by injuries at the mo so he has to work with that and he is. The modern day expects instant glory...........I don't.
 
If we run out of ideas in midfield it's best to change the midfield rather than remove a forward with no replacement.

SCP bridled when asked about bringing on Dru saying something along the lines of him being our best player - so if he were serious about winning why omit him? Perhaps Ron didn't want him Cup tied?

Good point about the City loanees but if so why say the opposite?

'Some of you' made the same mistake with Brown - the best form of defence is attack and definitely isn't packing your own half against a team a division lower who have been conceding goals for fun.

Notwithstanding all this SCP has done superbly in all other aspects and has had no luck whatsoever - just change the tactics please SCP.

You have been going to football long enough to know comments said publicly is often not what is really going on. (Ron and PB pretending to be old mates just recently)

By the way the best form of defence is a good defence......Yes it helps if when you do attack you look like scoring but just like Barnsley the week before if you don't take really good chances then you only have to concede one goal to spoil the day.
 
Surely we must give CP more time. IMHO our beloved team is currently no more than average in a pretty mediocre League 1. We shouldn't expect the unachievable. I, for one, would be content to see survival this season, anything better would be a bonus. COYBB.
 
Surely we must give CP more time. IMHO our beloved team is currently no more than average in a pretty mediocre League 1. We shouldn't expect the unachievable. I, for one, would be content to see survival this season, anything better would be a bonus. COYBB.

Exactly this apart from one small caveat. CP has been severely hindered by injuries to players he sees as key but I would like to see a re-imagining on his part as to how he selects and sets up the remaining, available players.

Clearly, with the likes of Hopper out, he can't set them up the way he would like and for my money he is not too certain about his plan B. Still, I am sure he will tinker until it comes good.
 
Exactly this apart from one small caveat. CP has been severely hindered by injuries to players he sees as key but I would like to see a re-imagining on his part as to how he selects and sets up the remaining, available players.

Clearly, with the likes of Hopper out, he can't set them up the way he would like and for my money he is not too certain about his plan B. Still, I am sure he will tinker until it comes good.
'Tinker' eh? Claudio Ranieri seems to be watching a lot of English football at the moment, maybe he could help.
 
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