SHA Small Heath Alliance

I want to avoid typical 'who shall we go for' ... and talk about something more specific.

Knighthead must know by now that the championship is a slog.

A few of those teams at the top show that 'spit and sawdust' sometimes works. No nonsense, organised, be tough, and kick the ball in the net ....full stop.

Do they change approach, with or without CD?
or do they commit to the footballing idea next season - again, with or without Davies.

With this question in mind, hypothetically - can these players do that IF there were to be a change of approach (from CD or someone else).

Not sure, but I reckon Davies has about 7 months to have us looking like automatic contenders or he will be off.

If we don't go up this year, which looks very unlikely now, then I reckon he has ten games at the start of next year to have us in the top two or he will be for the tin tack, rightly or wrongly. Only change incan see to that is if someone KH really like the look of becomes available before that, such as Farke etc

He will be gone if we don't get near the Playoffs I fink. He needs a really strong run to the end of the season now.

Not sure, but I reckon Davies has about 7 months to have us looking like automatic contenders or he will be off.

If we don't go up this year, which looks very unlikely now, then I reckon he has ten games at the start of next year to have us in the top two or he will be for the tin tack, rightly or wrongly. Only change incan see to that is if someone KH really like the look of becomes available before that, such as Farke etc

I wouldn't give him that long tbh and I have been a fan of Davies up to now where I'm starting to wobble a bit. Not just because we lost last night, but the manner at which we lose.

With our setup, it either works, or it really doesn't. The big indicator being we've turned a game around from a losing position once - Blackburn away (i believe this is correct).

It seems as though we steer the ship into a storm because Davies refuses to accept the weather.

I hate the 'no plan B' argument, because there are obviously hundreds of things going on, on the pitch at any one time... but the way we came out second half - conceded, then collapsed into panic was identical to the first half.

What's the saying 'going back to a dry well'. It really does suggest the lads are drilled in a way that has no failsafe.

Yeah that’s the same problem for me, when it isn’t working in a game then that’s it for the whole game.

I’m now at the point where I’m not happy with someone who’s learning on the job, I want a proven manager who knows how to navigate a side through games.

Who that is, I don’t know but it’s up to the powers that be to find them.
If we can go and get the best player from a La Liga side then we should be taking the same approach to the manager.

Agree with this.

Can I also ask something that's potentially quite crass given the circumstances, I apologise in advance for doing so.

With Tom Wagner in his current condition, is there anyone able to pull the trigger on Davies without his buy in? Wagner is a force of nature and clearly has a strong relationship with Davies, could we be paralysed a bit until his health improves?

I feel bad trivialising his stroke into a football matter like that but it is a valid question I think.

It’s a very valid question and I think it’ll probably be a stay of execution for Davies until either Wagner recovers and is back making those decisions or someone is given the remit to do so in his stead.

The thing that confuses me, is this whole idea that we are weak physically, and other teams are full of athletic beasts that push us around.

I'll agree that Millwall take the real "battle of the b4stards" approach, but are the other teams all blessed with this mythical "height, pace, and power"?

Boro played with two forwards last night that are 6'1 and hardly athletic specimens, with Riley McGree supporting them, who again, isn't some physical beast blessed with pace, power, and height.

Ipswich appear to be a team in our sort of mould that want to play football.

Wrexham seemed to just go for experience (very few of our fans wanted Moore, Broadheath, Sheaf), the exception was most fans wanted Doyle.

So where are we so different from the rest? The only thing I can see is that we lack battle hardened Champ players. We have Robinson, but he rarely plays. Allsop can't get a game, then most of the rest are from other leagues.

It can't be a coincidence that Roberts has been one of our outstanding players. Maybe we just need 3 or 4 players that have a few years in the Champ behind them.

And a coach that has experience of being successful in this division.

Yeah that’s the same problem for me, when it isn’t working in a game then that’s it for the whole game.

I’m now at the point where I’m not happy with someone who’s learning on the job, I want a proven manager who knows how to navigate a side through games.

Who that is, I don’t know but it’s up to the powers that be to find them.
If we can go and get the best player from a La Liga side then we should be taking the same approach to the manager.

Yep.
I think we would agree, 'earning on the job is one thing, but I don't think Davies is actually learning.

We could win the next 3 and be in contention again, but honesty watching us in a Wembley final I don't think we'd have the nerve.
I even hark back to the Vertu final. They belt in a free kick from the moon and we fell apart.

Mentally - even then - the players lost the plot when it didnt go how it was meant to.

Which is incredible considering at one stage in League one we DID have some resolve and often would recover from losing positions - something isn't right somewhere.

I think IF we did switch, we needs someone who has experience at this level with a method that has some contingency when it aint working.

We will lose games of course, but that's 2 games now that we weren't in it 'at all'.

He won't get any of next season if we drift away like we are in danger of doing.

Rasputin

He won't get any of next season if we drift away like we are in danger of doing.

I agree with that. He will need to win 5 or 6 of the remainder and also when we do lose not lose many more in the fashion that we have done in the previous two games.

I’ve never felt we’d go up this season but I do think we should have been considerably better than some of the horror shows we’ve thrown in.

I say that with the caveat that there have been some extremely good performances too. That, however, arguably doesn’t go in his favour, because going from the sublime to the ridiculous which we have on many occasions this season doesn’t really show you’re on a consistent path to improvement.

Rasputin

He won't get any of next season if we drift away like we are in danger of doing.

I agree with that. He will need to win 5 or 6 of the remainder and also when we do lose not lose many more in the fashion that we have done in the previous two games.

I’ve never felt we’d go up this season but I do think we should have been considerably better than some of the horror shows we’ve thrown in.

I say that with the caveat that there have been some extremely good performances too.

That's exactly what makes me think (with CD) it only goes well, when it goes well. Oxymoron? Tautology?

Point being - you can't just be good when your plan comes together.
You need to adapt.
We didn't against Millwall and we didn't last night.

If you go back even further look at the manner at which we lost against Southampton, Cov, Watford.... all similar capitulations because plan A didnt work at all.

David Xavis

He will be gone if we don't get near the Playoffs I fink. He needs a really strong run to the end of the season now.

Seems quite likely. His job might well depend on whether we keep up the challenge and finish a win or two short of the playoffs in 7th or 8th, or have a so-so end to the season and finish 11th or 12th .

Apologies for the length of this post.

Correct. This Plan B (is there or isn’t one) debate has been done to death on here so I don’t wish to revisit it tactically. As a supporter, it’s not my job to work out all of the intricacies.

Whether he is or isn’t adapting during games is one debate, but the only consequence for me is whether any changes pay dividends often enough. Ultimately I still leave the game feeling we’ve played ok and been unlucky to lose, etc, or don’t! What’s happened regarding substitutions, formations, etc, along the way doesn’t bother me.

It’s the same with XG, I don’t care for it to be honest. I prefer to judge on the actual scorelines and also what my own eyes tell me about our general performance levels.

What I do assess is whether, as a game is progressing, my feel for the game tells me that we are likely to get back into a match from a losing position for example. I can only recall Middlesbrough away as being a game when I was reasonably impressed by how we played after falling behind. I’ll say Leeds too in fairness and therein lies a point because that was a complete shackles off blood and thunder game. That game, from the outset, seemed different from our usual approach.

We came from behind to win at Blackburn, yes, but I thought that was a poor game against a very limited side who could just as easily have beaten us as it goes.

You look back at last season and we notably came back to beat Wrexham and Peterborough at home early on but in those games we just let very poor early goals in. I never felt as though the opposition had made life difficult for us in that we wouldn’t come through in the end. We didn’t have to change the approach with which we’d begun the game.

However, in the games where we were truly put under the pump and struggled to get any momentum going, it just carried on in the same fashion for the entire game.

I recall Charlton, Shrewsbury and Bolton away (the three league games we lost) and then Peterborough at Wembley as being the matches in which once it was clear we were struggling and genuinely being outplayed that we were never going to get back into them.

I appreciate I’m picking four games out of 50-odd here and that we got 111 points so it sounds ridiculous to criticise, but I do think there’s an argument that once we were truly put out of our rhythm we didn’t tend to find the answers.

What has impressed me under Davies generally has been our ability to hold on to points from winning positions, but in recent months we’ve dropped off there. Not closing it out against Stoke, Charlton and Southampton at home, none of whom played well against us in my opinion, has hurt us.

We are not a bad side but, for whatever combination of reasons, we are nowhere near ruthless enough in both boxes.

StechyBlue

Yeah that’s the same problem for me, when it isn’t working in a game then that’s it for the whole game.

I’m now at the point where I’m not happy with someone who’s learning on the job, I want a proven manager who knows how to navigate a side through games.

Who that is, I don’t know but it’s up to the powers that be to find them.
If we can go and get the best player from a La Liga side then we should be taking the same approach to the manager.

Yep.
I think we would agree, 'earning on the job is one thing, but I don't think Davies is actually learning.

We could win the next 3 and be in contention again, but honesty watching us in a Wembley final I don't think we'd have the nerve.
I even hark back to the Vertu final. They belt in a free kick from the moon and we fell apart.

Mentally - even then - the players lost the plot when it didnt go how it was meant to.

Which is incredible considering at one stage in League one we DID have some resolve and often would recover from losing positions - something isn't right somewhere.

I think IF we did switch, we needs someone who has experience at this level with a method that has some contingency when it aint working.

We will lose games of course, but that's 2 games now that we weren't in it 'at all'.

Thing is I’m not sure we did have that much resolve in League One, but we didn’t really need to because a) it didn’t happen often and b) they kind of knew that if they kept doing the same thing they’d get a goal or two anyway.

After Shrewsbury (when we pretty much ripped it all up and started again) we went behind in 5 games (6 if you count the final, 7 with Newcastle). Of the 5 league games, we only won 2 (Rotherham and Barnsley).

Before the Shrewsbury game we were far better in fairness but I also don’t think we’re even close to that free flowing style of play anymore.