Dougie View on Game (Huddersfield)

Hipster_Nebula wrote:

Sluffy wrote:

Soul Kitchen wrote:One point in six against two lower grade Championship teams and you are satisfied?

Don't think anybody is SK.

I think a better question may be - Has he got the team he inherited from Coyle doing any better? - ie has he got more out of the same resources as his predecessor did?

I think the basic truth is that Coyle left us with a shit team - we have spent a lot of money we could not really afford - yet still remain to be poor in nearly every area on the pitch (thanks Owen!).

I guess for now we have stopped losing - only one loss in what eight since Freedman took over - so that's a step forward - it seems to indicate that he can organise the team better.

Then again we do seemed to have been lucky in a number of those games - which possibly cancels out the 'not losing' bit.

He can only play the players Coyle left him so I guess we do need to go through one or two transfer windows to see what players he can get in to turn the club around.

It does make you weep though that Coyle spent millions on Mills, Ngog, Sordell, Ream, as well as signing Pratley to a four year deal!!!

What I meant was that we seemed to be lucky in getting A draw or two from games we probably deserved to have lost - take the 90th minute equaliser from Ngog at Brighton for instance.

We could easily have lost maybe three or four under Freedman - that was why I was suggesting luck may offset our only one game loss record so far under DF.

I know what you mean but why when we grab a late equaliser is it seen as a negative.

When UTD, Arsenal etc do it, it's "what good teams do."

Wasn't meant to be shown as a negative, I was just trying to balance out our 'non loss' record against a chunk of good luck we've seemed to have had recently - by all accounts we've played worse agaist a number of teams whilst under Freeman's management but have lost only the once so far.

A bit of a moot point really, we will lose games later on that we deserved to have won no doubt.

The main problem is the quality (or rather complete absence of it) of the current squad that Coyle left us with.

Thanks Owen - your phone still ringing?

Id say out of the 5 draws we have had under freedman we could actually have won 3 of them and people would have said it was deserved.

That would be an extra 6 points,

Outweights the 2 'lucky points' we got from draws



So I don't really see luck as having played any part in our points tally under Freedman, but we still need to do better, I think we will improve though.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:I know what you mean but why when we grab a late equaliser is it seen as a negative.

When UTD, Arsenal etc do it, it's "what good teams do."

But, even when Utd win, if they have played badly the fans will say it's not good enough. Why? Because they know a similar display next week will likely end up in a loss.

That is why good managers still change a winning team. Something I am very happy to see Freedman doing. Regardless of the result he tries to improve it for next time. That is one of the main thins I would have wanted from a manager. Freedman in.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:But it's all relative.

have they achieved 2 European trips and a period of top 8 premier league finishes?

I doubt it.

It's all cyclical, unless you're deluded, like some appear to be and expect 5-0 wins every week with "proper" clean sheets.

"small" clubs with "small followings" and limited funds are generally going to find their ceiling and stay there, maybe bounce up and down but generally it's the case.

Nice balanced view. I wish you had seen my clean sheets comments in the context they were meant because we are essentially on the same page.

Won against Blackburn with a good performance. Lost at home. Then drew away with another (by all accounts) good display on the pitch.

I still do not care what the results are at this stage, the results show less about the manager than all the other things that happen on the pitch. The players determination and attitudes, the passing the movement, the organisation, the subs made, the team picked and so on are all better indicators of where the manager is taking us. And so far it's positive. There seems to be a lot of moaning about the rotation of the squad but I cannot see the problem, I applaud it.

You lot need to get more positive.

It is not perfect yet but it could be a lot worse too. Hipster is correct by the way - if you look at our success over a longer period of time we have had our day and now we are evening out into our level. We could even spend a couple of seasons bobbing between the Championship and league one. Who knows?

jayjay23 wrote:

I still do not care what the results are at this stage, the results show less about the manager than all the other things that happen on the pitch.

You're right, we should stop judging managers on results and on how snappy their suit is.

The reason why I'm prepared to give DF and LL the benefit of the doubt for the time being is that there has been a marginal but noticeable change in expectations since they arrived. Towards the end of the OC era, a lot of fans were getting pretty desperate - and justifiably so after a string of poor performances. Even when we had good spells there was always that sense that we could concede at any time.

Despite the results being "mixed", there is more of a feeling that we could beat almost anyone now on a good day. The defence still rides it luck from time to time (Brighton!) but somehow I feel that they are slightly more resilient than they were. I also feel that DF will aim to strengthen the defence if he has the opportunity (whereas I always felt it was a very low priority for OC)

And despite having an extra defensive midfielder, we don't seem to have lost too much in attack. Again, I suspect DF will look to make a few changes.

I know it's not much, but I and others I know feel ever so slightly more confident in the team than we did. To me that indicates we're moving in the right direction despite DF not yet having had the opportunity to bring in new players.

There are a few things about his tenure so far that I'm not overjoyed with but I'd like him to be given the time to build rather than get overly concerned about this season's results - especially as there are no signs we're likely to get relegated as things stand.

wanderlust wrote:especially as there are no signs we're likely to get relegated as things stand.

Two wins every eight games will get us relegated.

Did you forget something there?

wanderlust wrote:Did you forget something there?

A kiss?

Always appreciated.

x

You're giving me mixed signals.

OK then...

Love you, even though you talk shite from time to time. x

or...

I am amused by your presumption.

That should be clear enough.