Clark has got what he deserves

[thomo]

Mar 4, 2009 0:09:17 GMT 1 philex said:

Firstly, we went 4 4 2 with Booth and Pilks up top, secondly if no one is prepared to put a foot on the ball do you want Clark to put on a pai of boots and do it for them!? He was going mental on the touchline trying to get the instructions out even if they weren't followed.

We've been done by a penalty and as good a free kick as you'll see tonight, they never looked like scoring in open play.

Looked like 451 to me. Pilks was sat alongside the midfield and about 20 feet behind Boothy meaning every time Boothy won the ball, there was no-one to collect it. There's no way Pilks was told to play up front. Clark got the formation wrong. He was telling his defence and 5 man midfield to push forward.

[hughphamism]

We pretty much played 4-4-1-1 when Cads was on the pitch.

Clark is a negative manager and it's costing us points.

[HuddsTerrier]

There's no chance of me knocking Clark at any point this season, what's the point

I have full confidence he's the man to get us promotion, he's made three really tidy permanent signings in Pillkington, Ainsworth and Novak - I fully expect another half dozen of that calibre at least this summer (no reason not too!). LC has us playing some of the best football in years, e.g. Roberts goal against Hereford was unbelievable! LC talks sense and you can see his passion from the touchline e.g. ...

Two things impressed me yesterday. He was obviously telling the players to push out they were sitting too deep (Lucketti should have also been sorting this on the pitch IMO) and also Roberts lost his head in the last 15 mins after he played a terrible pass, the red mist descended and he did a crude lunge at the Colchester full back, just missing him, it was very reminisent of Leicester were Roberts "lost it" (kicking the ball into the stand before some rant at the ref!) LC went spare with him from the touchline and you could see Roberts apologise, LC commends respect while still being on decent terms with the players IMO.

Basically LC has all the hallmarks of a top manager and with his world class coaching team (literally!) I've every confidnce he will take us to the Championship

[leedsterrier]

Last night felt like a defeat and it should have been to be honest. Clark has no Plan B - he wants to play this tippy tappy football but when you get a well drilled physical side such as Colchester who get into you and mix it then you need to change your style to suit and we don't.

I see a lot people make excuses for Clark "he's learning his trade" is the most common one - but then again uttered in the same breath is an experienced backroom staff who are the "envy" of every club outside the Premiership Surely they should guide him or are they just glorified yes men?

Let's be honest this much vaunted backroom staff have only ever been rated by Keegan - the same Keegan who loads on here dismiss as a joke of a manager. These staff are linked to some of the biggest failures in football in recent times at places like Newcastle (throwing 15 point lead away), at England (just getting progressively worse), Man City (as England) and Newcastle again (no bottle no fight). People seem to think the management team are the dream team however there has been little proof to support this.

Last night we had too many players hiding in my opinion.

Holdsworth was bad
Williams was bad
Lukas Whats-o-vich is no fitter than a pub player

And yet again another ineffective Michael Collins game. I don't think he touched the ball in the first half and but for 20 minutes in the second half what is he for?? He scores goals I hear you say, but has it ever occured that if he wasn't such a passenger we wouldn't need him to score goals? If he's the more attacking of the two central midfielders why does he drop deep when the opposition have the ball on the halfway line - surely it's HIS job to charge out with the strikers???

Oh and if you're the dad of the lad who sat behind me in the Antich last night who called for Lucketti to be sent off in the second half even though he plays for our team! Well I hope you beat the silly little idiot silly when you got home

[timrankhan]

We have some of the most negative supporters in the country.
What do you expect Clark to do without any forwards? He cant just magic one out of nowhere. Yep, Lukas isnt up to it, but be fair to him he had to chance in that wind in the first half.
But Clark inherited Broadbent, Jevons and Parker, who arent up to playing at Huddersfield. Booth is sadly not the player he was, Jansen is injured, and Tehoue is ?....until we get a good forward in or two, then we will struggle. I know that, everyone on here knows that, and Clark and Deano know that.

[Deleted]

Mar 4, 2009 10:48:50 GMT 1 hughphamism said:

We pretty much played 4-4-1-1 when Cads was on the pitch.

Clark is a negative manager and it's costing us points.

Clark is far from a negative manager. The first thing he did was scrap the fairly negative 3-5-2 that we'd been playing, replacing it with an attacking 4-4-2. He persisted with 2 up front for a number of games despite the 2 being Jevons and Parker. It was a 4-4-1-1 yesterday because Cads is scared of going near the goal at the moment. Aside from the back 4 yesterday we ended up with Collins, Craney, Pilkington, Ainsworth, Roberts, Booth, all attacking players how is that negative?

[Torquayterrier]

Was just going to say the same thing, all the subs brought on were more attacking minded players than defensive ones. But these myths get started on message boards and eventually the one that 'Clark is a negative manager' will no doubt persist despite the facts. Once they are on to the field it's pretty much down to the players. What do we expect Clark to do, run on the field and physically manhandle players forward instead of waving them on from the touchline? With some judicious pruning of the squad and a few decent signings in the summer we could be in for an enjoyable 2009-2010 season. Not going to come out with 'we'll storm it blah blah' guff but we could be serious contenders. This season we're more serious pretenders.

[Deleted]

So the question is, were these attacking players told by Clark to not advance too far past half way in the last 15 minutes or was it their own decision (negative mentality)?

[Floyds]

He can be the most negative manager in the world if he picks up three points every week and we get promotion

He can only be judged on results and performances on the pitch, along with the signings he makes.

Both those are average/mediocre (at best) at the moment - think he has alot of work to do both before the end of the season and in pre season to try and change whatever it is at the club that makes us continually throw games away

[andyeastleake]

Mar 4, 2009 0:09:17 GMT 1 philex said:

secondly if no one is prepared to put a foot on the ball do you want Clark to put on a pair of boots and do it for them!?

Personally, I'd like him to give an extended run to a player who will put his foot on the ball, because I'm getting fed up with us having long spells where we are under pressure and can't seem to pass a ball.

James Berrett anyone?

[marshian]

Mar 4, 2009 11:24:25 GMT 1 timrankhan said:

We have some of the most negative supporters in the country.



And your proof to corroborate that remark is?

[waterloo1815]

Mar 4, 2009 14:35:21 GMT 1 marshian said:

Mar 4, 2009 11:24:25 GMT 1 timrankhan said:

We have some of the most negative supporters in the country.



And your proof to corroborate that remark is?

This thread for a start!!!!!

It amazes me that there are fans already laying into Clark.

[thomo]

He has made mistakes and there's no harm in us discussing these but I'm sure 99% of us still believe he is the right man for the job. Now is the time to try different things and learn the ropes. Should be able to tell by Christmas how good he really is. If we're in with a decent shout of automatic promotion at that point (basically anywhere in the top 6 or 7 places), he'll do for me.

[marshian]

The point is, nobody has proof that our fans are more negative than any other club's.

Most fans demand quick success, like to have a moan etc, surely we are no worse than anybody else?

Pointless argument really, but just can't be *rsed to get back to work.

[midge]

Mar 4, 2009 14:52:30 GMT 1 marshian said:

The point is, nobody has proof that our fans are more negative than any other club's.

Most fans demand quick success, like to have a moan etc, surely we are no worse than anybody else?

Pointless argument really, but just can't be *rsed to get back to work.

Just as nobody has proof whether (or not) Clark is the man for the job!!!

So if people are ready to question Clark 14 games in and call him negative, then people have the right to question the people who are questioning Clark and call them negative.........if you know what I mean!!!

[huddersfc]

People are judging Lukas after 4 games, saying he is shite (rightly so in my opinion), but in fairness shouldn't he be allowed until the end of the season until he gets stick if everyone else gets a long time. I like Clark, I think he has brought in a great backroom staff but I think they need to help him a bit more. The only problem I have with Clark is him not putting a stop to the same mistakes over and over again, yes he throws his arms around saying get forward but playing 4-5-1 its difficult to get forward cus at home ur inviting pressure with that formation and playing 1 up front you cant keep it for long enough for everyone to get out. I just don't like the fact it has taken him 14 games to sort the problem out, well its not sorted yet, but this should have been drilled into them after we hung on (probably unfairly) against Peterborough who certainly deserved an equaliser, that second half was so much pressure I cud barely even watch. Problems have to be stamped out straight away before they cost you points, which has been evident recently, but taking so long to do it is not acceptable. As I say I like Clark and I think he is the most positive manager we have had here for a few years, and like everyone else I want to see the team succeed, but I also want to stop tearing my hair out at such basic errors over and over again.

[Chris461]

Jesus christ, so much for give him this season for free!