Thetownend.com

For me, the answer's a very loud YES!

Ok, Malpas has proved himself (Thus far) to be out of his depth, but I keep seeing posts along the lines of: 'We've still got mostly the same players as last season, only thing that's really changed is the manager, so why aren't we winning?'.

Malpas is widely recognised in the footballing community as being a good coach and most of his team selections (Imho) have been ok, so the only things he lacks are the motivational skills and possibly the type of personality that players find likeable.

All the above lead me to believe that we've got some very unprofessional players who can't motivate themselves and are dictated, performance-wise, by whether they like the manager or not.

What a bunch of cunts.

(And before anyone accuses me of being pro Malpas, I'm not. I just think that the players seem to be getting away with playing like twats, while all the bile is aimed in MM's direction.) 

You pro malpas twat

Anyway i agree with that word for word and of course they share the blame in a ideal world we would get rid of 90% of the squad along with Malpas but sadly we know it does not work like that

On saturday's first half perfomance I blamed the players. There is only so much a manager can do. If the players can't concentrate then they're to blame. Come the second half I blame the manager. Poor decisions. When you are three nil down at home then something needs to be done. We were losing midfield battles on the day, so he should've changed the formation.

Getting on the players' backs is counter-productive, cos you end up with your club captain and expensive right-winger wanting out of the club, and your best defender being devoid of any confidence what-so-ever.

In an ideal world our support would do just that and cheer the team on for the entire game to create an atmosphere to inspire them, but it doesn't work that way does it.

with the risk of sounding like JCP I have heard that Malpas hardly speaks to the players in training - and he gives no encouragement just sees the negative- and thats why some of them dont like him and apprently they all played loved Dennis Wise was the way he encouraged everyone and took intrest in them.

but then you wonder why grown men need constant attention and love.....  

All footballers do (well most) lost count of the amount of times you hear how a player needs an arm put round them.Fwiw i agree they are grown men but if thats what they need thats what they need.

I wish we had 11 coxy type players who just thought fuck it dont like him but i will do my job

Iv'e been thinking about this and found England to be an example.

Despite the football still being far from perfect, Capello has got the team playing, Rooney is scoring again and after catching the 2nd half v's Kazakhstan I noticed that players want the ball and aren't afraid to try to do things with it.

This is so different to us playing under MaClaren and Capello has taken the same squad that failed to qualify for Europe and led them to their best ever WC qualifiers start, quite a contrast in results.

So the players who should have have qualified for the Euro's just didn't play but are now seemingly doing so under a different manager.

Asides from the odd change there is only really one factor of the equation that has changed and that is Capello replacing McLaren, and so who takes the blame for not qualifying for Europe? The players for not playing or the manager for not getting the players to play?

The same applies to Swindon no doubt.

It's because we are fragile, and sensitive...

Exactly.

I couldn't care less if they need a fucking lullabye sung to them each night to make them perform, MM's job is to get them performing on the pitch and if he isn't doing whatever is necessary for that to happen (Lullabyes or whatever), then he just ain't doing his job.

Had this conversation with a mate after Saturday's game - I think the exact phrase we used was that the player we were discussing "needs to grow a pair". But while it's completely pathetic, seems they can't or won't. Which is probably one of the reasons why they're not playing at a higher level. So, yes of course they share the blame, and in some cases earn contempt, but as DRS and BR have so eloquently pointed out, that's the materials you get to work with as a manager. They may be pathetic, contemptible, unprofessional, a bunch of nannied little kids and all the rest but they're what you've got and your job is to get the best out of them.

Malpas cannot be blamed for the stupid errors that Jerel, A-wanker, and the 2 'keepers have made recently, yet these are the mistakes that have cost us actual points.

Mapas should break them and then rebuild their personalities. Maybe we're halfway through that process and he'll turn it around soon.

I have to admit I have heard the same stories coming from the club about negativity and a lot of players dont like his training.

BUT

I have worked for a lot of people who I dont like their style and management but I have always given 100% all the time...the same cannot be said about the players.

I wish Apollo Creed was still alive

Yes they are to blame as well. Probably.

If JFW is correct, when you are constantly criticised then you are not going to perform.
Or maybe they just can't be arsed.

I don't know.

North Ender said  "apprently they all played loved Dennis Wise was the way he encouraged everyone and took intrest in them."

They all loved Dennis Wise?  Who Ifil, Brez, Pook, Vincent, Smith and Smith?  Or do the other players who weren't even here under Wise just like hearing about these lads talking about the good ol' days?  Wise was only here for a few months, we were winning games and top (or near top) of the division, no wonder they liked it here then.  If you're top and winning you wouldn't mind if Mussolini was in charge.

Maybe the players do give a shit and are trying, but are concentrating so much on the instructions they've been given that they lose sight of the general game. I guess what I'm saying is perhaps they've been given too much to think about or aren't intelligent enough to do digest those instructions.

That flip side is definitely countered by saying the players play the games and they've played like shit. So they must take some of the blame too.

If that didnt start with the cheeky-ness that it did then I would probably punch you!  :nod: :soapy tit wank:

I guess if we are uber-honest we all shoulder some of the blame.

Fans - shit vocal support, whinging for England (I include myself in that)
Players - shit performance
Manager - shit
BOD - appointing the manager.

Basically everything is shit on the playing side :)

The pitch looks good though so whoever that is down to should get a pat on the back.

think Batch has hit the nail on the head. Everyone has a part to play. There's not a lot you can do about individual mistakes, except perhaps give the players more confidence so they're less likely to make them in the first place, but I think it works from the top down. In hindsight perhaps the managerial appointment was a mistake (I still hope I'm proved wrong), Mo Mo hasn't got the best out of certain players, but that some players haven't given 100% every week (when have we not complained about that? That's always the case, that's why these players are League One and not higher). Terrace negativity hasn't helped either, but it's part and parcel of a) supporting swindon (sadly) and b) football, it's a results business and people want instant gratification.

What I don't understand is how the team can go from demolishing Tranmere to one that can't buy a win at home. It all looked so rosy after that game!

You talking to me Jenny Wrenner?

I'm pretty bored of this individual mistakes shit. Let's face it, who hasn't made an individual mistake this season? It's because there is always a point where the team is disorganised or switches off. It's not a case of entirely unlucky errors. I agree with you Juddie, it must have come from the top down.

Reminds me of us under Kingy. Stuff like that happened to us all the time. We couldn't do set pieces then and we can't now. I can only conclude that the players don't know what the fuck they're doing. That's why they're unconfident - that's why 'individual errors' are happening.

Malpas may have said he can't tell the players how to pass the ball but he can sure as fuck tell them what to do for set pieces, who they're marking and where the weak points of the opposition are.

Just for the record, we were lucky against Tranmere. We played brilliantly going foward but unlike other teams they failed to get a result because they wasted most of their chances. A few people pointed this out and got shot down for being so negative following a win. How right they were.

true, they missed a few, I remember saying to my old chap at the time that they missed a few sitters. That said, we looked dangerous going forward too, we just played with spirit and looked confident.

And lets be honest against QPR, a "good performance" when you look at the record books, we should have been 4 down at half time!

kill them all!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/oct/15/2

Ah, yes, but you're forgetting about the key differentiator - there was a drum at the Tranmere game (apparently). Coincidence? etc etc

Who do you start to blame, who is to blame?

The players have the ability but only a few show it for 90 minutes on match day, the manager is meant to be a top coach (or so we hear). He certainly writes or quotes a good rallying of the troops read in The Adver.

So my opinion: I blame one person for all this mess: The Swindon manager (Malpas), a one off poor display will happen every now and again, four home league defeats on the trot with a side totally unmotivated and displaying skills that even 'The Dog & Duck' pub side would be ashamed of is not acceptable and unforgiveable.

It's not the manager who makes these mistakes but the players, but it is so flipping obvious that the players don't want to play for this twit that nothing will improve out in the middle of the park until he has gone.

Ralphy. Every time

Disagree. I blame the fact we have a management team that does not function. We've got three amateurs to management, who may well be good coaches but when it comes down to styles, tactics, etc they are all on completely different wavelengths. Had Malpas come in with his own staff, or if he'd come in with Fitton & co appointing some experienced heads to guide him we'd probably be a lot better off.

To lay the blame entirely on Malpas is pretty unfair, IMO.

As manager tails that managment team should work how malpas tells them to work if they dont which you suggest they dont then it sounds like malpas needs to make it clear who is boss.

 My worry with MM is his body language during matches..it comes across as if he isnt bothered and must translate to the players..King was the same,fans dont want to see the manager looking not bothered when we are getting hammered.

I think it's obvious they don't mate! I see what you're saying, but it's been obvious from day one that Byrne is after the top job anyway and I think maybe it was a bit naive from the board to assume keeping Byrne and Williams on would successfully carry on the 'Sturrock regime' so to speak. That's how I view it anyway.

Sturrock relied heavily on Blackley and Summerfield and it worked. Malpas relies heavily on Byrne and Williams and it doesn't... I've heard that the players are each told seperate things, and they run out onto the pitch not having a clue.

I heard Malpas really likes rich tea biscuits, but Byrne prefers chocolate digestives and Adi Williams is partial to custard creams.

You only have to watch byrne and malpas during the game to see what you are saying tails.imo our problem is our experienced players who should be speaking out about the contradictory instructions obviously have not done so.

Yes they should.

We're failing as a team. Malpas through Byrne, Williams past Brezovan through the defence and the midfield. They all arent doing their job.

Infact I'd probably go as far as to say only the two strikers are doing their job properly at the moment.

You're assuming that they are actually getting contradictory instructions. Sorry, don't doubt that's what Tails "heard" but this sounds like a classic underperforming player's whinge to me "It's not my fault I can't pass/keep hold of the ball/stay in position - it's them, they're confusing me". Let's face it, we all know there's something (probably several things) badly wrong and clearly it's the management teams responsibility to put them right, but I'm sure I'm not the only one getting fed up with constant leaks from players who aren't prepared to step up to the plate and take their share of the blame. Far too many of them hiding behind an unpopular manager and using that as an excuse to avoid their own failings IMO

Nice.

I've got a mate who replaced the plastic switches on his oven with biscuits, apparently they're called hob (k)nobs.

Fully agree that the players are not performing that is obvious but you are assuming that Far too many of them are hiding behind an unpopular manager and using that as an excuse to avoid their own failings the same way i am assuming they get contradictary instructions. ;)

That argument is wafer thin

Your just taking the biscuit now.

Crumbs!

You're crackers !

So cheesy

Are you lot dunk?

That's true. So we're both talking unprovable bollocks and should concentrate on biscuit puns instead. Rich tea or something

I'm on my way. :spoton: