La Manga debacle.

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Hard to find an argument for them going to la Manga after the Charlton match but fair enough they have gone and we are led to believe that some serious training will ensue.

Looking at the Charlton match, there were few positives and perhaps the worst negative was the defending particularly the positioning throughout.

I'm no coach but in an attempt to solve this I would have a back four going through drills again and again defending different situations etc etc. Well can somebody tell me why the chuffing hell has Marcellino and Goma been allowed to go home and then rubbing further salt into the wound Steve Caldwell is sitting at Kingston Park watching his brother!

So who is out there practising the defending? Hughes, Barton, Griffin and possibly Quinn if we have a) extended his loan or b) bought him.

I give up trying to understand!

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2001

Answers

Answoors page.......

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2001

The hard training that they are doing will consist of TWO training sessions every alternative day. then on the other days they will be playing golf and tennis.

So it's hardly a holiday is it?

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2001


Conversely it's not exactly fuxxing hard graft is it. This is what they should be doing week in week out IMO.

It's not their bodies that need the fine tuning it's their mentality and attitude.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2001


I'm afraid I have to agree with your concerns DB - some very questionable decision making here.

Firstly, I feel it was iniquitious to go ahead with the La Manga trip after such a devastatingly inept, uncommitted display. If we'd been beaten by a top side after giving them them a good fight I could accept it. Given the background, it should have been immediately cancelled - this group of players need firmly reminding they have achived absolutely nothing, and will not be rewarded in any way for such an abject display. In addition to this, I feel it is an affront to the fans, the people who pay their wages, for them to be swanning off to sunnier climes.

Secondly, as you suggest, to allow Marcelino and Goma to go off on gaunts when the defensive players should be working together 8hrs a day, every day - yet again sends all the wrong signals IMO. Despite what words BR has used, these actions simply reinforce the view that this trip really is just a jaunt, and not a series of serious working sessions. The other players will inevitably pick up on this - another big, big mistake IMO.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2001


Let them go. Let them sort themselves out. Let them stick their hands in their pockets and refund the 2000x£25 that we stumped up to see them play on Sunday. 50 grand. Easily payable out of the wages that they did not earn.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2001


I don't blame them for going and indeed if the right players were going it could serve as a good way of concentrating their minds whilst away from families etc.

The lack of defensive players there is nothing short of astounding. No clean sheets in 20 odd matches and they have never looked tight at the back all season and we get this, that stinks.

There are a number of competitive matches going on in La Manga with some sort of Scandanavian tournament happening, perhaps Robson should scour the teams on show for a new defence. I don't care how much they cost! Perhaps Robson is hoping to lose Barton in amongst all the rest of the floopy haired blondes.

And I would rather not hear a thing from the players until after the Man City match, any comments will stink of being hypocritical to me.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2001


Can I present a quick case for the defence. It isn't just the back four - defence is a team thing. I'd like to think that this was being impressed on the front and middle lads, too. Bobby Robson himself said that the centre backs no sooner got rid of the ball, then it would be back with about four Charlton players bearing down on them. Also, Goma and Marcelino aren't part of our long term plans - maybe Aaron and Caldwell are running around with their legs tied to each other with blue binding tape as we speak..

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2001

A good point Dougal but Caldwell was at Kingston Park in the stands watching his brother, I presume injured but he could have at least gone and got involved without straining himself.

Your comments about the midfield are very true but they have to learn to defend as a team and how are they supposed to do that when only Hughes is there to whisper at them?

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2001


Aye, I'd stick em doon an effing pit and make em do a sixteen hour shift like what all the fans do. That's grafting , not prancing about on a bleedin golf course.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2001

Well as Goma can't play he can't train either so I've not problem with him going back to France. As for Marcelino - Bobby's decision to let him go to Spain speaks volumes. We'll never see him in a B&W shirt again thankfully - he's not in any plans so there's no point having him around. Maybe when he's over there he can try fixing up a transfer when the Spanish window re-opens.

Right now I couldn't care if they were in La Manga, Timbuktoo or Durham. This isn't the first time they've performed badly this season, and if they haven't learned by now they never will. I'm not going to waste energy on them. Maybe by a week Saturday I will, but just now I'm still numb.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2001



Someone mentioned that sort of thing yesterday Rik. When Lua-Lua was at Colchester the team were made to work a day in a factory to remind/show for first time what a days work was all about.

Regional variances should mean that the players are down a pit then!

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2001


Goma had an outside chance of playing in the Charlton match and it's not as if they need to be belting lumps out of each other to learn how to defend.

Marcellino may be on his way but until the end of the season or until the transfer system is sorted we're stuck with him so why not punish him fo his pathetic effort on Sunday. All we are doing is further alienating him which shouldn't be the point of the trip.

They should close ranks just like they seemed to do before Xmas after criticism. Not fragment themselves from Kingston Park to Spain to La Manga and France.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2001


WHHOOAAHHH!!!!

stop it

remember 1- we don't have the leagues best players 2- they get paid a lot of money because they worked hard to get there 3- Marcelino doesn't set out to be bad 4- neither does Warren (who had a great season last year) 5- given a chance wouldn't you go to La Manga? 6- footballers on the whole are slightly thick 7- fans are fickle 8- the transfer overhaul on Friday could be a blessing for us 9- we were shit on Sunday

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2001


Hey Swift you're getting soft, you'll be chairman of the "Speed bol&% @s fan club next

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2001

This can go one of two ways!!

The players haven't even been allowed to escape the hostility of the fans as angry letters published in the local press on Tyneside have been sent out to them in Spain. "The players are now in no doubt that they were an embarrassment on Sunday and that they owe the supporters in a big way," said Shepherd.

-- Anonymous, February 15, 2001



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