Rob Edwards - the prodigal son returns

[Lycan]

I don't know if anyone else thinks this but I dont actually lay too much blame with Edwards - I don't think many - if any - coaches could get anything from this rabble.

I'm not sure what else there is to say after matches, and whilst I don't like the back 5 he's wedded to (especially at home) and picking Hwang instantly means we're a man down before a ball is kicked but he really has a terrible squad to work with. His soundbites could be far worse than they are and there are a lot more important things to fume about at the moment.

Sacking him would be utterly pointless as the next mug to take this shit squad on wouldn't see much improvement.

I wouldn't go as far as to say I feel sorry for him though as it was his choice to jump ship.

Yeah he's far down the list of my concerns. He is a concern though. It's tempered slightly as I feel like he has a good backroom team to support him but he's not done much in his 7 games so far to convince me that he was a worthwhile appointment.

Ultimately though, if we don't win a game soon he HAS to get sacked. Worrying about who comes in next doesn't come into it for me, he just can't keep his job if this continues.

 

[Lupo]

If they did decide to remove Edwards I think RPS would take his place and maybe look to bring in a couple of Nuno's old staff to support him. For the moment, RPS seems to be keeping a low profile compared to his Nuno persona where he would often be seen at the great man's side speaking in his ear and often shouting the team on

 

[Langers]

Yeah he's far down the list of my concerns. He is a concern though. It's tempered slightly as I feel like he has a good backroom team to support him but he's not done much in his 7 games so far to convince me that he was a worthwhile appointment.

Ultimately though, if we don't win a game soon he HAS to get sacked. Worrying about who comes in next doesn't come into it for me, he just can't keep his job if this continues.

Whilst I agree with all that, I genuinely don't know who could get anything out of this team. It's not a normal situation he's walked into here (and as I said, I don't have much sympathy for him there - it was his decision) and we're abject.

The only possible glint of positivity is the emergence of Mane but aside from him, I don't care who leaves in January, I hate them all.

It's far more important we replace people higher up than Edwards with someone who actually understands football.

I do have reservations about Edwards in the long term, but right now, I wouldn't be able to fairly judge Eric Clapton if the only guitar he had to work with was snapped at the neck, only had 3 strings and 2 of them were G.

 

[basher]

I can't stand Eric Clapton... he's shit and a twat!

So if that's the parallel we're drawing, I'm out on both counts!!

 

[prawnking]

I agree that the bigger problems are higher up the food chain, but if we're going to also just give Edwards a total free pass (which your Clapton analogy suggests) then we may as well just give me the fucking job till summer

 

[Langers]

I can't stand Eric Clapton... he's shit and a twat!

So if that's the parallel we're drawing, I'm out on both counts!!

A twat, maybe but shit? Don't be daft

 

[Langers]

I agree that the bigger problems are higher up the food chain, but if we're going to also just give Edwards a total free pass (which your Clapton analogy suggests) then we may as well just give me the fucking job till summer

I didn't really mean a free pass, probably my clumsy wording - I do understand that continually losing isn't acceptable but it's also very difficult to get anything out of such a dreadful group of players.

We don't even have any good players who he's currently leaving out of the side!

 

[jd1981]

7 games he should at least have got a couple of draws by now, yes he’s inherited a bag of nails but I absolutely don’t see him as a long term solution or the man to begin the rebuild in the summer.

 

[prawnking]

I didn't really mean a free pass, probably my clumsy wording - I do understand that continually losing isn't acceptable but it's also very difficult to get anything out of such a dreadful group of players.

We don't even have any good players who he's currently leaving out of the side!

We all know our squad is hugely inadequate, but Edwards isn't going to get any more out of them unless he's willing to be brave and drop his pedestrian instincts.

No one's actually expecting him to get anywhere near keeping us up, but we've not even got a single point under him and barely scored a goal

 

[Lycan]

We all know our squad is hugely inadequate, but Edwards isn't going to get any more out of them unless he's willing to be brave and drop his pedestrian instincts.

No one's actually expecting him to get anywhere near keeping us up, but we've not even got a single point under him and barely scored a goal

He's made a similar tactical switch in every game so far as well. Maybe your back 3 isn't working Rob, maybe waiting to go a goal down in every game isn't a good idea?

 

[Wilf Wolf]

I don't know if anyone else thinks this but I dont actually lay too much blame with Edwards - I don't think many - if any - coaches could get anything from this rabble.

I'm not sure what else there is to say after matches, and whilst I don't like the back 5 he's wedded to (especially at home) and picking Hwang instantly means we're a man down before a ball is kicked but he really has a terrible squad to work with. His soundbites could be far worse than they are and there are a lot more important things to fume about at the moment.

Sacking him would be utterly pointless as the next mug to take this shit squad on wouldn't see much improvement.

I wouldn't go as far as to say I feel sorry for him though as it was his choice to jump ship.

We all know the tools available to him are substandard but as you say he’s wedded to 5 at the back despite us not having a wingback at the club that is above League 1 standard, and he keeps playing Hwang. That alone is good reason for him to take a good dollop of the blame.

 

[Tredman]

Playing Channy is a massive red flag for me, the rest of it I can understand.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I do have some sympathy as he has inherited a squad with:

- No competent goalkeepers
- Three right backs who would look shit in League One
- Two central midfielders in the entire squad, neither of whom create anything
- No wingers
- £40m worth of "talent" signed in the summer in Lopez and Arias, both of whom are dreadful and need to go already
- A #9 who checked out long before Edwards arrived

But you can't keep doing the same thing, with the same result. What harm would it do to try something different, we're losing every week.

 

[Tony Towner]

Setting up the way he does away from home with a vastly inferior side against 3 of the current top 4 as he did against Villa, Liverpool and Arsenal and losing by the odd goal isn't the issue. Doing so at home, against sides lower down, being completely passive and then folding when we concede as we always will, because we can't defend is an issue. They turtle up at home and that's on the players as much as him, but ultimately he's responsible for the cowardly tactics and is supposed to be the man that builds confidence.

 

[Mel Evo]

For the moment, RPS seems to be keeping a low profile compared to his Nuno persona where he would often be seen at the great man's side speaking in his ear and often shouting the team on

Sitting close to the bench as I do, this really struck me at the last game. Whereas Trollope spent almost the entire game talking to him. PRS didn’t seem to be in the gang. Which could quite plausibly be a one off of course…

 

[EnglishBob]

Setting up the way he does away from home with a vastly inferior side against 3 of the current top 4 as he did against Villa, Liverpool and Arsenal and losing by the odd goal isn't the issue. Doing so at home, against sides lower down, being completely passive and then folding when we concede as we always will, because we can't defend is an issue. They turtle up at home and that's on the players as much as him, but ultimately he's responsible for the cowardly tactics and is supposed to be the man that builds confidence.

Parking the bus is easy away from home. But at home, where you would expect us to be more positive and maybe even take the game to the opposition, is where just how historically terrible this set of players is is evident. We get dominated at home by modest opposition! If you press us, you get the ball back. We're being farmed by the other teams.

I'm afraid VP and his boy Teti really screwed up. Even old Shi had realised, too late, his mistake at the end.

 

[Tony Towner]

Parking the bus is easy away from home. But at home, where you would expect us to be more positive and maybe even take the game to the opposition, is where just how historically terrible this set of players is is evident. We get dominated at home by modest opposition! If you press us, you get the ball back. We're being farmed by the other teams.

I'm afraid VP and his boy Teti really screwed up. Even old Shi had realised, too late, his mistake at the end.

Undoubtedly, but our 2 points came from 4 at the back and we would have won both of those games if we didn't have a different manager employing cowardly tactics. We are awful, we'd go down whoever was manager, particularly in a season when you are going to need 40 points or thereabouts, but we've comfortably lost 4 games at home to mid table sides whoever is manager and however bad the squad is, that's not acceptable

 

[Mel Evo]

There’s plenty of fair defence for Edwards in this thread. But his mismanagement of those last few home games stand on their own demerit regardless of what he has to work with. Stinking managerial performances to go alongside those of the players. He’s getting away with that elsewhere - not on here happily.

 

[Wilf Wolf]

In any season defeats at Villa, Arsenal and Liverpool are likely so I don’t think fair to be too critical about those, though it felt in all of them it was only a matter of time before we conceded and the game would almost certainly be over. Last week’s horror show against Brentford was completely different and Edwards has to take a lot of blame for setting up with what to all intents and purposes was a 703 formation with the three miles away from each other. We made Brentford, a team that had lost 7/8 away games, look like 2022 Man City. I’ve seen absolutely nothing to suggest he’ll be any better rebuilding us in the Championship than he was at Luton.

 

[Keef]

Playing Channy is a massive red flag for me, the rest of it I can understand.

Bloke on twitter was defending him earlier, saying he’s in the team because he scores a lot of scruffy goals so we stand a chance of getting a point here and there.
I pointed out he’s scored 3 in 2 seasons, got blocked by him