Saturday, 17 December 2005
Wigan away. What was the score? Lost 3-0
Obviously Curbs does not spend the week asking the team to defend like a blind school, however it takes a big man to take some kind of responsibility and I am not hearing that from the manager at all.
"Our defending was comical and unbelievable and we are saying this every week and things have to change. I will change things around because I have players who are desperate to come into the team." Desperate maybe. Good enough? I don't think so.
It was another embarrassing defeat but it is not the losses but the way they are coming about. Questions remain about the quality of the coaching, the manager's current ability to motivate the team and not fall out with half of them, and some more curious substitutions. Spector for Ambrose? I ask you. How on earth does that inspire Rommedahl sitting on the bench at 3-0 down, when your manager brings on a left back for an attacking wide player? How does it inspire the hardy travelling supporters?
Answer: It does not. Those of us (and that's me included) that have stuck up for Alan Curbishley need to start being true to ourselves and accept, what to most of us, is the unacceptable.
I said it after the Man City game and I will say it again. Kiely, sad as it is, should have played his last game for the club. Yes, last week he probably won us 3 points (which in hindsight shows us how bad Sunderland were for us to beat them), but the consistency has gone and it is time to move on.
The same applies to Bartlett, JJ, Lisbie and a whole host of others. We have too many players alike, almost cloned, but not a leader among them. The side is crying out for leadership, motivation and inspiration. Too many players drop their heads at the slightest set back. What happened? We used to have a team full of born leaders - Kinsella, Parker, Brown, Fish, Di Canio, Kiely, Rufus, Stuart, Powell, Konchesky, Robinson.
Has Curbs sucked every ounce of confidence and belief out of them? He's starting to do it with me.
Reports from those that were there: cafc.co.uk; BBC Sport; All Quiet; ¶ 17:06
"Our defending was comical and unbelievable and we are saying this every week and things have to change. I will change things around because I have players who are desperate to come into the team." Desperate maybe. Good enough? I don't think so.
It was another embarrassing defeat but it is not the losses but the way they are coming about. Questions remain about the quality of the coaching, the manager's current ability to motivate the team and not fall out with half of them, and some more curious substitutions. Spector for Ambrose? I ask you. How on earth does that inspire Rommedahl sitting on the bench at 3-0 down, when your manager brings on a left back for an attacking wide player? How does it inspire the hardy travelling supporters?
Answer: It does not. Those of us (and that's me included) that have stuck up for Alan Curbishley need to start being true to ourselves and accept, what to most of us, is the unacceptable.
I said it after the Man City game and I will say it again. Kiely, sad as it is, should have played his last game for the club. Yes, last week he probably won us 3 points (which in hindsight shows us how bad Sunderland were for us to beat them), but the consistency has gone and it is time to move on.
The same applies to Bartlett, JJ, Lisbie and a whole host of others. We have too many players alike, almost cloned, but not a leader among them. The side is crying out for leadership, motivation and inspiration. Too many players drop their heads at the slightest set back. What happened? We used to have a team full of born leaders - Kinsella, Parker, Brown, Fish, Di Canio, Kiely, Rufus, Stuart, Powell, Konchesky, Robinson.
Has Curbs sucked every ounce of confidence and belief out of them? He's starting to do it with me.
Reports from those that were there: cafc.co.uk; BBC Sport; All Quiet; ¶ 17:06
