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Post by allezlesrouges on Sept 7, 2023 8:29:41 GMT
THIS 100% The comments on social media at large are just driven by page out drivel. People are picking holes in interviews from him and players, i mean his full interview in context states he didnt want to play this match which is probably true and the reason why he's taken morrell and moore. They won't travel i imagine. And its a contract signed by the FAW where they would have to field some of our first 11. As much as page and the team have lost their way, our fanbase has too, these complaints about atmosphere falls down to a creeping sense of negativity and unrealistic expectation. Historically we dont qualify, now the expectation from the fan is we qualify every tournament. Its not true and we all know it. Ive just read someone say about a neco interview ...'squad full of absolute divs hating on to the coattails of the 2016 heroes' Do we really think someone like that has the best interest of the team. disgraceful. Anyway not sure why im so invested in this game, win lose or draw the haters will be out but its the Latvia game that counts and as important the under 21s I hope everyone gets behind the team tonight and there's no page out chants. With only around 7k there i dont think there will be many chants of anything. Tide has turned im afraid. Pretty standard attendance for a friendly when comparing to the lat few years where we've done very well. It's certainly not proof of a tide turning |
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Post by iot on Sept 7, 2023 8:31:25 GMT
THIS 100% The comments on social media at large are just driven by page out drivel. People are picking holes in interviews from him and players, i mean his full interview in context states he didnt want to play this match which is probably true and the reason why he's taken morrell and moore. They won't travel i imagine. And its a contract signed by the FAW where they would have to field some of our first 11. As much as page and the team have lost their way, our fanbase has too, these complaints about atmosphere falls down to a creeping sense of negativity and unrealistic expectation. Historically we dont qualify, now the expectation from the fan is we qualify every tournament. Its not true and we all know it. Ive just read someone say about a neco interview ...'squad full of absolute divs hating on to the coattails of the 2016 heroes' Do we really think someone like that has the best interest of the team. disgraceful. Anyway not sure why im so invested in this game, win lose or draw the haters will be out but its the Latvia game that counts and as important the under 21s I hope everyone gets behind the team tonight and there's no page out chants. With only around 7k there i dont think there will be many chants of anything. Tide has turned im afraid. where did you get the figure of 7k from? pretty sure the bbc article mentioned 11.5k had been sold 48 hours before the game |
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Post by allezlesrouges on Sept 7, 2023 8:32:36 GMT
In two games where a minimum of three points was required we scored 0. He's then called up two players who are suspended. Anything less than three points in Latvia he has to go, we can't go backwards that quickly with seemingly no way of stopping it. On a side note, if Connor Roberts thinks it's too much to expect to qualify for each tournament he should be dropped or given a very long talking to and decide an outcome after that. The worst thing is I think Page 100% agrees with him and it wouldn't surprise me if he's spinning that rubbish in the dressing room. To be fair to Page I watched his full interview with Sgorio and he was asked to comment on this statement by Connor. Page said "whilst it's a good point I'm greedy, and I want to go to all of the tournaments with Wales", so I don't necessarily think he is spreading that message I think maybe what's happened is that some of the players have been briefed to try and temper expectations and Connor has come out with that, which hasn't really hit the right note Sometimes people do make mistakes, although I've heard Roberts say something similar before so maybe it is something he genuinely believes |
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Post by allezlesrouges on Sept 7, 2023 8:34:51 GMT
If it was a positive set up with an exciting blueprint and plan on how to get to Germany 2024 then Joe Allen would still be involved I have no doubt about it. The message from Page has been a ‘little old wales’ and defeatist one. The last giant side we beat was Belgium in 2016, over 7 years ago. On one hand Page says it’s a transition period and on the other he says he doesn’t want to play a friendly , which would be the perfect opportunity to give game time to players like Hedges / Cooper etc. Connor Roberts gave a similar interview not long ago, pathetic attitude you can expect to hear at a pub but not from a professional footballers representing his country. Jesus Christ have a bit of ambition… I think Page should’ve gone after the last couple of games, it gave time for someone new to come in and bring new ideas. Don't agree re: Allen, he's struggling for fitness so much with the Swans that he's not even getting regular games there at the moment. I think the stress of international football would be too much for him at this point, which is the reason he cited when he retired It's not Allen's or Page's fault we don't have a good player to step in for him. Although I will say Page should have turned to an experienced EFL player like Sheehan much sooner |
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Post by oldman on Sept 8, 2023 20:31:33 GMT
"over the last 2 years. we have witnessed some of the worst Welsh performances since the Gould era... culmination of nearly 2 years of poor tactics, poor communication, poor motivation and poor messages." This is where I disagree and think the overreaction has been way over the top. Sure we've had some shocking performances in the last couple of years, but we've always had some shocking performances even in our halcyon days. We had the spell with Giggs where we were very poor in Hungary and had a shocker at home to Azerbaijan with no clear gameplan or tactical nous. We had some absolute shockers under Coleman - you talk about the Gould era, have you forgotten the 6-1 defeat to Serbia? We even had a shocker in that 3-0 loss to Sweden right before the Euros, and had some very poor displays in the subsequent campaign. That's all being written out of history. The last two years have included some fantastic achievements, performances, and good tactical displays. I don't buy the whole 'we were papering over the cracks / we were just lucky to have Bale to make up for tactical ineptitude' narrative. It ignores the facts. It is only the last year where Page's position can reasonably be questioned in my view. Before then, it was only the small group of people who always complain about everything that were trying to build this portrayal of a clown figure. You had a larger group of people who thought he was doing a reasonably good job, and then a much larger group of partial observers who just sort of follow the crowd. The issue is that we came up short in the WC on the biggest stage of all, and then Page (perhaps inexcusably) repeated the same mistakes in the last window. So the small group of hypercritical people have become emboldened and grown in number, and all those partial observers are following their lead. That all just leads to a very unsavoury situation with constant pile-ons and people jumping on everything. None of it is beneficial for Welsh football, which should obviously be the main concern for supporters. THIS 100% The comments on social media at large are just driven by page out drivel. People are picking holes in interviews from him and players, i mean his full interview in context states he didnt want to play this match which is probably true and the reason why he's taken morrell and moore. They won't travel i imagine. And its a contract signed by the FAW where they would have to field some of our first 11. As much as page and the team have lost their way, our fanbase has too, these complaints about atmosphere falls down to a creeping sense of negativity and unrealistic expectation. Historically we dont qualify, now the expectation from the fan is we qualify every tournament. Its not true and we all know it. Ive just read someone say about a neco interview ...'squad full of absolute divs hating on to the coattails of the 2016 heroes' Do we really think someone like that has the best interest of the team. disgraceful. Anyway not sure why im so invested in this game, win lose or draw the haters will be out but its the Latvia game that counts and as important the under 21s I hope everyone gets behind the team tonight and there's no page out chants. You don't need to pick holes in anything. As I've said before and I'll say again Page is an inept manager at international level and his lack of experience clearly shows as Wales have no option B. When we were playing nation league games, such as Poland away, he should have played a few youngsters instead of playing Jonny Williams and Gunter etc. Yes Williams scored, I know that, but every team in Europe were giving starts to younger players and we started a team full of pages mates. He should quit now and we can get someone in for the Playoffs |
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Post by njdragon on Sept 8, 2023 20:45:24 GMT
THIS 100% The comments on social media at large are just driven by page out drivel. People are picking holes in interviews from him and players, i mean his full interview in context states he didnt want to play this match which is probably true and the reason why he's taken morrell and moore. They won't travel i imagine. And its a contract signed by the FAW where they would have to field some of our first 11. As much as page and the team have lost their way, our fanbase has too, these complaints about atmosphere falls down to a creeping sense of negativity and unrealistic expectation. Historically we dont qualify, now the expectation from the fan is we qualify every tournament. Its not true and we all know it. Ive just read someone say about a neco interview ...'squad full of absolute divs hating on to the coattails of the 2016 heroes' Do we really think someone like that has the best interest of the team. disgraceful. Anyway not sure why im so invested in this game, win lose or draw the haters will be out but its the Latvia game that counts and as important the under 21s I hope everyone gets behind the team tonight and there's no page out chants. You don't need to pick holes in anything. As I've said before and I'll say again Page is an inept manager at international level and his lack of experience clearly shows as Wales have no option B. When we were playing nation league games, such as Poland away, he should have played a few youngsters instead of playing Jonny Williams and Gunter etc. Yes Williams scored, I know that, but every team in Europe were giving starts to younger players and we started a team full of pages mates. He should quit now and we can get someone in for the Playoffs Was that the game before we qualified for the World Cup Or after??! 🤦♂️ |
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Post by oldman on Sept 8, 2023 20:47:15 GMT
You don't need to pick holes in anything. As I've said before and I'll say again Page is an inept manager at international level and his lack of experience clearly shows as Wales have no option B. When we were playing nation league games, such as Poland away, he should have played a few youngsters instead of playing Jonny Williams and Gunter etc. Yes Williams scored, I know that, but every team in Europe were giving starts to younger players and we started a team full of pages mates. He should quit now and we can get someone in for the Playoffs Was that the game before we qualified for the World Cup Or after??! 🤦♂️ You think Page got us to the World Cup? Jog on. Next joke please. |
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Post by njdragon on Sept 8, 2023 20:54:23 GMT
Was that the game before we qualified for the World Cup Or after??! 🤦♂️ You think Page got us to the World Cup? Jog on. Next joke please. So bale did yeh? So he also got us to every other tournament. He’s gone now though so we’ll never qualify for anything |
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Post by eppingblue1 on Sept 8, 2023 20:58:08 GMT
Was that the game before we qualified for the World Cup Or after??! 🤦♂️ You think Page got us to the World Cup? Jog on. Next joke please. He got us to the World Cup every bit as much as Coleman got us to France. |
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Post by marsvolta on Sept 10, 2023 22:01:04 GMT
The Daily Mail (yes, I know) is reporting that Page will lose his job if we don’t beat Latvia.
No actual sources or quotes or anything though.
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Post by gtm911 on Sept 11, 2023 8:02:21 GMT
THIS 100% The comments on social media at large are just driven by page out drivel. People are picking holes in interviews from him and players, i mean his full interview in context states he didnt want to play this match which is probably true and the reason why he's taken morrell and moore. They won't travel i imagine. And its a contract signed by the FAW where they would have to field some of our first 11. As much as page and the team have lost their way, our fanbase has too, these complaints about atmosphere falls down to a creeping sense of negativity and unrealistic expectation. Historically we dont qualify, now the expectation from the fan is we qualify every tournament. Its not true and we all know it. Ive just read someone say about a neco interview ...'squad full of absolute divs hating on to the coattails of the 2016 heroes' Do we really think someone like that has the best interest of the team. disgraceful. Anyway not sure why im so invested in this game, win lose or draw the haters will be out but its the Latvia game that counts and as important the under 21s I hope everyone gets behind the team tonight and there's no page out chants. You don't need to pick holes in anything. As I've said before and I'll say again Page is an inept manager at international level and his lack of experience clearly shows as Wales have no option B. When we were playing nation league games, such as Poland away, he should have played a few youngsters instead of playing Jonny Williams and Gunter etc. Yes Williams scored, I know that, but every team in Europe were giving starts to younger players and we started a team full of pages mates. He should quit now and we can get someone in for the Playoffs Page has a lack of experience? Show me any other Welsh manager that has been to two major tournaments. |
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Post by aberbeeg on Sept 11, 2023 8:13:16 GMT
I certainly don’t see us dropping points tonight BUT if we do then I think it’s the end of Page. Things have unraveled dramatically since we qualified for the WC. The abysmal performances in Qatar and those since must have the FAW bigwigs sitting nervously. Page definitely ISNT the man to lead us into the play offs that’s for sure if we fail in this much easier group.
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Post by njdragon on Sept 11, 2023 8:26:21 GMT
You don't need to pick holes in anything. As I've said before and I'll say again Page is an inept manager at international level and his lack of experience clearly shows as Wales have no option B. When we were playing nation league games, such as Poland away, he should have played a few youngsters instead of playing Jonny Williams and Gunter etc. Yes Williams scored, I know that, but every team in Europe were giving starts to younger players and we started a team full of pages mates. He should quit now and we can get someone in for the Playoffs Page has a lack of experience? Show me any other Welsh manager that has been to two major tournaments. exactly this - and if we dont qualify via the group we benefit from his work via the nations league and have an almost guaranteed playoff place. He is developing an option b which we saw against Armenia - unfortunately it didnt work for us and the players need more time to adapt. We are comfortable at a back 5 and a young side with a defence that can't cope with the change in formation right now. That is the player development and its with their clubs. But if page goes i can't see us finding someone with anywhere near the international experience he has. |
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Post by njdragon on Sept 11, 2023 8:29:32 GMT
I certainly don’t see us dropping points tonight BUT if we do then I think it’s the end of Page. Things have unraveled dramatically since we qualified for the WC. The abysmal performances in Qatar and those since must have the FAW bigwigs sitting nervously. Page definitely ISNT the man to lead us into the play offs that’s for sure if we fail in this much easier group. whilst i agree he really should be in trouble after tonight i would still give him until the playoffs. I think he deserves that, if we dont qualify he's gone.He earned us those playoffs well him and the team. Another thing if you looks at Ukraine and the result against England you realise what a win that was to get us to the world cup - by hook or by crook we beat them in a tough international playoff. |
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Post by iot on Sept 11, 2023 8:52:17 GMT
I certainly don’t see us dropping points tonight BUT if we do then I think it’s the end of Page. Things have unraveled dramatically since we qualified for the WC. The abysmal performances in Qatar and those since must have the FAW bigwigs sitting nervously. Page definitely ISNT the man to lead us into the play offs that’s for sure if we fail in this much easier group. whilst i agree he really should be in trouble after tonight i would still give him until the playoffs. I think he deserves that, if we dont qualify he's gone.He earned us those playoffs well him and the team. Another thing if you looks at Ukraine and the result against England you realise what a win that was to get us to the world cup - by hook or by crook we beat them in a tough international playoff. I appreciate the point - I think OTJ said something similar, that given what he's achieved he deserves the chance to take us through the playoffs. But being greedy (I really want to see us in Germany), the old adage 'there's no room for sentimentality in sport' applies here I think. If we fail tonight, Page will have had enough chances - he was poor in the World Cup and will have achieved a very poor set of results over more than half a qualifying campaign, and a poor result tonight would demonstrate that we're not turning the corner, so I'd opt for bringing someone else in (potentially Nathan Jones) as soon as possible to allow them enough time to bed in their ideas before the playoffs. |
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Post by aberbeeg on Sept 11, 2023 9:05:53 GMT
I certainly don’t see us dropping points tonight BUT if we do then I think it’s the end of Page. Things have unraveled dramatically since we qualified for the WC. The abysmal performances in Qatar and those since must have the FAW bigwigs sitting nervously. Page definitely ISNT the man to lead us into the play offs that’s for sure if we fail in this much easier group. whilst i agree he really should be in trouble after tonight i would still give him until the playoffs. I think he deserves that, if we dont qualify he's gone.He earned us those playoffs well him and the team. Another thing if you looks at Ukraine and the result against England you realise what a win that was to get us to the world cup - by hook or by crook we beat them in a tough international playoff. If we fail tonight then he’s gone |
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Post by njdragon on Sept 11, 2023 9:07:56 GMT
whilst i agree he really should be in trouble after tonight i would still give him until the playoffs. I think he deserves that, if we dont qualify he's gone.He earned us those playoffs well him and the team. Another thing if you looks at Ukraine and the result against England you realise what a win that was to get us to the world cup - by hook or by crook we beat them in a tough international playoff. I appreciate the point - I think OTJ said something similar, that given what he's achieved he deserves the chance to take us through the playoffs. But being greedy (I really want to see us in Germany), the old adage 'there's no room for sentimentality in sport' applies here I think. If we fail tonight, Page will have had enough chances - he was poor in the World Cup and will have achieved a very poor set of results over more than half a qualifying campaign, and a poor result tonight would demonstrate that we're not turning the corner, so I'd opt for bringing someone else in (potentially Nathan Jones) as soon as possible to allow them enough time to bed in their ideas before the playoffs. yes true, its a real tricky one for the FAW. Get rid after tonight and fail to qualify with the new manager and people will say you should of stuck with page and vice versa. Tough call! Hopefully we are past the old blazers ideology in the FAW and they will make the right decisions.. as they have since appointing speed, coleman, giggs, page. I was always a massive critic for the FAW but they seem to have got their act in gear the last 10 years. This is a big test for them not just page |
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Post by aberbeeg on Sept 11, 2023 9:21:26 GMT
I appreciate the point - I think OTJ said something similar, that given what he's achieved he deserves the chance to take us through the playoffs. But being greedy (I really want to see us in Germany), the old adage 'there's no room for sentimentality in sport' applies here I think. If we fail tonight, Page will have had enough chances - he was poor in the World Cup and will have achieved a very poor set of results over more than half a qualifying campaign, and a poor result tonight would demonstrate that we're not turning the corner, so I'd opt for bringing someone else in (potentially Nathan Jones) as soon as possible to allow them enough time to bed in their ideas before the playoffs. yes true, its a real tricky one for the FAW. Get rid after tonight and fail to qualify with the new manager and people will say you should of stuck with page and vice versa. Tough call! Hopefully we are past the old blazers ideology in the FAW and they will make the right decisions.. as they have since appointing speed, coleman, giggs, page. I was always a massive critic for the FAW but they seem to have got their act in gear the last 10 years. This is a big test for them not just page Definitely not a tough call for the FAW if we fail tonight it’s a no brainier |
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Post by njdragon on Sept 11, 2023 9:24:07 GMT
yes true, its a real tricky one for the FAW. Get rid after tonight and fail to qualify with the new manager and people will say you should of stuck with page and vice versa. Tough call! Hopefully we are past the old blazers ideology in the FAW and they will make the right decisions.. as they have since appointing speed, coleman, giggs, page. I was always a massive critic for the FAW but they seem to have got their act in gear the last 10 years. This is a big test for them not just page Definitely not a tough call for the FAW if we fail tonight it’s a no brainier actually yes youre right lose tonight and he should go. We can't be losing against this side. |
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Post by aberbeeg on Sept 11, 2023 9:26:04 GMT
Definitely not a tough call for the FAW if we fail tonight it’s a no brainier actually yes youre right lose tonight and he should go. We can't be losing against this side. Spot on |
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Post by dai on Sept 11, 2023 9:36:33 GMT
Page and Ian Gwyn Hughes are holding a Q&A locally this Friday. It's £30 with food etc. Loads of tickets left apparently......
I'd imagine if there was any doubt about his job then events like this wouldn't be planned?
I'm pretty sure the FAW are planning on keeping him beyond this qualifying campaign regardless of results.
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Post by allezlesrouges on Sept 11, 2023 9:50:58 GMT
I think lose or draw and he should go. It's a must win game for automatic qualification, and whilst in isolation you can stomach a loss to Turkey, you cannot combine that with the WC performances and a defeat to Armenia at home, and dropping points to a minnow. Whilst we've lost an ageing Bale, our squad is easily good enough to beat Armenia, Latvia, and to not get walked over by Iran
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Post by dai on Sept 11, 2023 9:59:08 GMT
I think lose or draw and he should go. It's a must win game for automatic qualification, and whilst in isolation you can stomach a loss to Turkey, you cannot combine that with the WC performances and a defeat to Armenia at home, and dropping points to a minnow. Whilst we've lost an ageing Bale, our squad is easily good enough to beat Armenia, Latvia, and to not get walked over by Iran Easy to forget that Turkey had disallowed goals as well, so the result could have been embarrassing. |
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Post by allezlesrouges on Sept 11, 2023 10:17:33 GMT
I think lose or draw and he should go. It's a must win game for automatic qualification, and whilst in isolation you can stomach a loss to Turkey, you cannot combine that with the WC performances and a defeat to Armenia at home, and dropping points to a minnow. Whilst we've lost an ageing Bale, our squad is easily good enough to beat Armenia, Latvia, and to not get walked over by Iran Easy to forget that Turkey had disallowed goals as well, so the result could have been embarrassing. They were disallowed for a reason. The xG suggested the game should have ended either 2-0 or 1-0 to Turkey. It was a fair result |
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Post by dai on Sept 11, 2023 10:57:13 GMT
Easy to forget that Turkey had disallowed goals as well, so the result could have been embarrassing. They were disallowed for a reason. The xG suggested the game should have ended either 2-0 or 1-0 to Turkey. It was a fair result Don't know what xG is. I was just highlighting how often the ball hit the back of the net. Not great to be 'conceding' that many times. |
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Post by allezlesrouges on Sept 11, 2023 12:36:02 GMT
They were disallowed for a reason. The xG suggested the game should have ended either 2-0 or 1-0 to Turkey. It was a fair result Don't know what xG is. I was just highlighting how often the ball hit the back of the net. Not great to be 'conceding' that many times. Expected goals (xG) is a modern stat that is used to calculate the likelihood of a goal being scored based on a number of factors. When you add up xG cumulatively over the course of a game it gives you a picture of how lucky/unlucky you've been A person taking a shot from 30 yards with a load of defenders in the way would have a low xG (0.1, e.g 10% probability of a goal), compared to a person taking a shot at an open goal from 6 yards which would have a very high xG (close to 1.00, e.g 100% probability of a goal) Now let's take an example where the Red team scores 2 goals from 30 yards and creates nothing else ending the game with a total of 0.2 xG. The Blue team misses an open goal and also misses a couple of other decent chances and ends the game with a total of 1.8 xG So the final score is Reds 2-0 Blues, but the xG score is Reds 0.2 - 1.8 Blues. It tells you that the Red team was a bit lucky , and that on the balance of play it should have actually been 1 or 2 nil to the Blues In the Turkey game their xG was 1.4, ours was 0.1. That feels about right as we created nothing & they had a few clear chances, yet their 2nd goal was a very low xG chances. So on the balance of play it's a fair result In the Armenia game we missed a lot of chances, and Armenia scored from some very difficult chances, so the xG score was Wales 2.6 - 1.1 Armenia, suggesting that we were in fact unlucky not to win 2-1 or 3-1 |
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Post by aberbeeg on Sept 11, 2023 14:23:17 GMT
I think lose or draw and he should go. It's a must win game for automatic qualification, and whilst in isolation you can stomach a loss to Turkey, you cannot combine that with the WC performances and a defeat to Armenia at home, and dropping points to a minnow. Whilst we've lost an ageing Bale, our squad is easily good enough to beat Armenia, Latvia, and to not get walked over by Iran Even the FAW would struggle to put a positive spin on a bad result tonight. They certainly wouldn’t want this negativity to spiral much further. It will be hitting them in the pocket not to mention our rankings sliding further. |
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Post by zserty on Sept 11, 2023 14:31:46 GMT
whilst i agree he really should be in trouble after tonight i would still give him until the playoffs. I think he deserves that, if we dont qualify he's gone.He earned us those playoffs well him and the team. Another thing if you looks at Ukraine and the result against England you realise what a win that was to get us to the world cup - by hook or by crook we beat them in a tough international playoff. I appreciate the point - I think OTJ said something similar, that given what he's achieved he deserves the chance to take us through the playoffs. But being greedy (I really want to see us in Germany), the old adage 'there's no room for sentimentality in sport' applies here I think. If we fail tonight, Page will have had enough chances - he was poor in the World Cup and will have achieved a very poor set of results over more than half a qualifying campaign, and a poor result tonight would demonstrate that we're not turning the corner, so I'd opt for bringing someone else in (potentially Nathan Jones) as soon as possible to allow them enough time to bed in their ideas before the playoffs. The group is basically dead for us and with 5 or so games before the playoffs, surely it'd be the time to get someone in and give those two games a real crack and get the boys to Germany. None of this "naive to expect to qualify" lets win some games. |
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Post by jbt95 on Sept 11, 2023 14:35:03 GMT
I appreciate the point - I think OTJ said something similar, that given what he's achieved he deserves the chance to take us through the playoffs. But being greedy (I really want to see us in Germany), the old adage 'there's no room for sentimentality in sport' applies here I think. If we fail tonight, Page will have had enough chances - he was poor in the World Cup and will have achieved a very poor set of results over more than half a qualifying campaign, and a poor result tonight would demonstrate that we're not turning the corner, so I'd opt for bringing someone else in (potentially Nathan Jones) as soon as possible to allow them enough time to bed in their ideas before the playoffs. The group is basically dead for us and with 5 or so games before the playoffs, surely it'd be the time to get someone in and give those two games a real crack and get the boys to Germany. None of this "naive to expect to qualify" lets win some games. The group isn’t dead for us at all. Win tonight and Croatia beat Armenia before hand, 2nd is certainly up for grabs, we would just need to win our last two games and either avoid defeat against Croatia or beat Turkey by 3 if they were to beat Latvia. |
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Post by aberbeeg on Sept 11, 2023 14:36:35 GMT
I appreciate the point - I think OTJ said something similar, that given what he's achieved he deserves the chance to take us through the playoffs. But being greedy (I really want to see us in Germany), the old adage 'there's no room for sentimentality in sport' applies here I think. If we fail tonight, Page will have had enough chances - he was poor in the World Cup and will have achieved a very poor set of results over more than half a qualifying campaign, and a poor result tonight would demonstrate that we're not turning the corner, so I'd opt for bringing someone else in (potentially Nathan Jones) as soon as possible to allow them enough time to bed in their ideas before the playoffs. The group is basically dead for us and with 5 or so games before the playoffs, surely it'd be the time to get someone in and give those two games a real crack and get the boys to Germany. None of this "naive to expect to qualify" lets win some games. The FAW would have some serious flack IF they decided to keep him IF we fail tonight. Dead man walking would be an understatement!! |
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