PeteG

Bizarre given he's signed Nuttall, Reid and Willoughby. How long will it be before he doesn't fancy Norwood. The only striker that has improved ironically is Fondop who Shez signed.

What makes you think he doesn't fancy Willoughby btw? Apart from the obvious, that's hes had very little game time in pre-season and sat on the bench Saturday, it seems bizarre that having chased him for so long, he now doesn't fancy him or is it possible Unsworth hasn't signed him and it's down to the recruitment department?

I can answer that now, Chesterfield are. We brought in Reid because Nuttall turned us down, only to end up getting Nuttall anyway, meaning Reid has become some what surplus to requirements. Raglan was offered to us and we couldn't turn him down despite just having signed Hobson and the captain happens to be a CB too, so we have had to shoe horn the 3 of them into the side. To compound the error with either Reid or Nuttall we then went and signed Willoughby having chased him for approx. 10 months and now the consensus is, we don't fancy him. We've failed to address the midfield problem or the RB issue. During Unsworths time we must have signed around 15 players and despite the setup of having 10 scouts, all singing data, i've yet to see more than 1 signing that has made a massive difference. The 1 signing who did was Yarney and he's gone and I'd hazard a guess he was asking for less than we are paying Raglan or Norwood. If I was Frank, i'd be asking him to unload a few more before sanctioning anymore signings.

I wouldn't say that, but spending money is no guarantee you get the recruitment right. Look at Chelsea and United over the past few seasons compared with City and Liverpool. All 4 have spent similar amounts yet 2 of them seem to have been far more successful with the players they brought in and seem to have a set plan in terms of positions and types of players they go for whilst you could argue the first 2 have had a scatter gun approach. We seem to have the scatter gun approach atm

This is my point really, whilst I don't think Unsworth is the answer, we still haven't recruited the right players. There's been a lot of hype about the ones we have recruited but there are question marks over all of them bar Norwood. Given the recruitment last season with the likes of Nuttall didn't fill me with any great confidence, i just don't think the team/squad is as good as many think it is.

RWB is a specialised position that very few can actually play well. It should be reserved for elite players. Even at the top of the game some are much better going forward (TAA) and some are better defenders naturally (Kyle Walker). I think it's ridiculous to ask a young lad just starting his career who is a CB to even try and play there. Even a very good experienced CB would struggle.

Not sure Norman can be blamed for any of the goals in all honesty, could he have done better? possibly, but they were hardly howlers. He's an average NL keeper, but if your midfield and defence back off as much as we did yesterday and invite the opposition to get within shooting range unchallenged and still don't pressure the ball once they are around the edge of the box you are asking for trouble regardless of who is in goal. Norman isn't our biggest issue by a long way, the tactics of backing off and the midfield in general is.

I can't remember when it was tbh but glad you were keeping tabs on me. I will add on the recruitment side, I have a feeling we have become over reliant on stats, not just Latics but people in general. They can tell you anything but I don't think you can beat what your eyes tell you. i remember Dino telling me that Mouche covered the most miles in almost every game according to the data, there was no way that could be true, I even asked him whether he wasn't sure Mouche was swopping his GPS vest with Missilou at the time. Also, why have we recruited striker after striker, is it because they haven't been happy with the ones they got in the first place, which makes you question what they are doing. We need far more balance in the squad, we have possibly too many CB's not enough MF or full backs and certainly too many forwards to keep them all happy. I personally think they will off load one or two of the forwards and hopefully recruit a couple for the middle of the park which will control the tempo of the game. What's happened with Rooney, i've heard the rumours he was training with the youths or at home with a training programme but I though Unsworth said he had found a new club? It's obvious he's not part of the plans but with 2 decent strikers to feed he could be a short term answer.

Fairly predictable since the season started yesterday and i don't bother with pre-season

I'm certainly no fan of Unsworth but I do feel he will be here until at least the end of October unless we lose the first 4 or 5 games, which in all honesty i can't see happening, the league is that poor, we will pick up wins over the next few weeks and I can see us around the play-off positions or not too far away. However, there is a bit of over expectation regarding these signings. With the exception of Norwood who clearly is good enough to be playing 2 divisions higher, how good are the others? Ward did ok for Gateshead who finished in the bottom half, Lundstrum was playing for Alty and when tried at EFL level with Crewe didn't make the grade. Raglan was a bit part player for Cheltenham and is probably on the slide given his age. Willoughby scored goals in the league below. For all the talk of the attacking talent, I don't think it's anywhere near the standard Kewell had at his disposal 2 or 3 years ago when we were banging goals in for fun. If we had signed a lad from Gateshead, Altrincham and Chester the fans would have been in uproar. Our midfield is really poor and the recruitment team don't seem to have addressed this. How much say is Unsworth having on the recruitment? To put it bluntly, i think we are miles off challenging for the title but the league is that poor we should be in or around the play-off positions most of the season. Think we might have to adjust our expectations, Norwood won't make us a title winning side on his own as McAleney proved just a few seasons ago.

They say a weeks a long time in politics, well it's certainly a long time at BP. I would over 95% wanted him gone after the Gateshead loss last week, yet 2 fantastic away wins later, it does seem we may have turned the corner. I'm not getting carried away, we need to keep this going and finish top half now to give us genuine belief for next season. If Unsworth does pull this off long term we will all be eating humble pie and the board would need to be congratulated for holding their nerve.

Didn't really need to, there were hundreds and soon thousands of people who were protesting against them but now the same people seem to be walking round with their eyes closed

They could tell us their aims and be truthful so we can at least hold them to account on it. Not tell us we are aiming for the play-offs only to change it to staying up in order to protect Unsworth. Next they will be telling us it isn't to stay up but not to finish bottom

Be interesting to hear the thoughts of the board on the progress made or lack of it since they took over and what their plans are from here (and I don't mean off the field stuff, plans for colleges and sports complex etc. We need to know what the plan is to get some results on the pitch, consistently and get us challenging at the top of this table) Isn't there a fans forum planned for the near future?

You can blame players, of course you can, but, in football the manager always carries the can. You can't sack 40 players but you can sack the manager and his 2 stooges!

https://royalbluemersey.sbnation.com/2017/11/20/16675674/david-unsworth-shouldnt-be-managing-everton-tactical-analysis-crystal-palace-sigurdsson-schneiderlin The Royles knew all this about him and still gave him the job. Yet, some people keep saying they trust the people who are running the club to make the right decisions because we have competent people in charge now. I've seen no evidence of that yet and please don't tell me they've opened a fans bar because frankly i'm not interested in that. If I want a bar to go to on a Saturday afternoon I can find far better ones than that, I go on a Saturday first and foremost for the football and that is the worst it's ever been.

The plan includes the possibility of relegation? WTF? Wish they had told us before we all purchased season tickets in numbers that haven't been seen in years. I take it back, the CEO and Unsworth are doing a fantastic job if that was the plan.

Agreed and if he thought anything of the Royles he'd say to them, "thanks for the opportunity, but it's not working and I don't want to put you in an awkward position so i'm resigning"

There is being patient with a manager and giving him time whilst you can see progress (albeit not in the results) and there is being plain stupid and irresponsible. If Unsworth is still here by the time we play Dorking away on the 7th January the board or the person responsible for appointing the manager needs to be answering serious questions, the first being what can you see that 98% of the fanbase can't? Or is it a case of sticking with him because we can't keep sacking managers? If you've got the wrong man that is not a reason to stick. Or are they just being loyal to their mate? Anyone can make a mistake appointing the wrong man but allowing it to continue makes that person just as culpable as Unsworth and he should go as well.

Mark has been back for about 2 or 3 months I believe. Very decent lad who only left for Burton as it was it a much shorter commute at the time.

The Royles appointed Unsworth clearly and it was based on friendship and trust. The real test will be if they have to appoint another soon. How much experience does DR have in appointing managers? The next one if it becomes necessary could be the most important in the clubs history.

And as you know, the deal was under way before then and as Unsworth said, Clarke had already committed to Walsall. Just strange that he was contacting players about potentially playing for him before he had a job.

I have no idea, not seen anything announced.

There is that. Fondop might be used in a swap deal if rumours are to be believed. Wondering if there is any truth in the Hope to Hartlepool deal if we are going to release him from his contract in order to facilitate the deal now or will they have to wait 3 weeks to the transfer window? Does make sense this one given Curle had him at Carlisle and was his number target in the summer of 2021 when he signed for us. Tbh, i'd gladly let Hope go, thinks he has been a major disappointment and i'm not one of these who is impressed by someone who runs about a lot.

I know if we bring in another striker on top of Nuttall then we probably need to let one or 2 go but i find it odd that the rumour on the podcast was that Fondop and Hope maybe on the way out. Wouldn't it be better to start getting rid of players who are nowhere near the matchday squad rather than Hope who I think has started virtually every game since returning from his injury or Fondop who has done quite well when he's been given a chance.