Eric Black

[JUAN PABLO]

anyone who plays bacuna is an absolute idiot

[Nunkin1965]

I'm sorry but I just don't see that playing somebody (Grealish,Adama,Gil)is a problem for 30 minutes.
Just because they may upset the robotic no risk mindset by heaven forbid "Running up a blind alley".
I didn't see yesterday and I haven't seen  for weeks the likes of Westwood,Sanchez,Bacuna, Sinclair go anywhere near a bloody blind alley.

[Toronto Villa]

Interesting from Black regarding the future of the club.

“There are an awful lot of things going on behind the scenes in terms of a new owner and new manager,” he said.

“It is a phenomenal football club with a phenomenal history, phenomenal support and phenomenal infrastructure and a club that should be in the top six or seven clubs in the country without a doubt.

“It is a fabulous opportunity here. I’m not saying it is going to be easy because the Championship is difficult but if the right people are in place I don’t see any reason why this club can’t bounce back.”

[KevinGage]

Nice words. One thing is certain: If we are to climb out of the cesspit that is Div 2 and somehow end up finishing back in the top 6 again, it won't be playing the McLeish or Black way.

We'll actually have to try to score goals and win games.

[sickbeggar]

Nice words. One thing is certain: If we are to climb out of the cesspit that is Div 2 and somehow end up finishing back in the top 6 again, it won't be playing the McLeish or Black way.

We'll actually have to try to score goals and win games.

Well of course you do but Black took over a side getting hammered every week and utterly demoralised. Being able to defend so you're not having to score twice to get a draw is also going to be important next season

[sickbeggar]

yeah i'm sure if Traore had come on and done his usual  running into blind corners, losing the ball, and not tracking back bit and they scored from one of the inevitable chances, this thread would have been full of congratulatory posts commending Black's commitment to entertainment, rather than the usual "worse manager evoh" posts ..... *winky face*

Yeah because it would have had a massive impact on our season wouldn't it? 

Also Traore is a 19 year old who has struggled with injuries and is in his first year in a foreign country. He may have given the ball away a bit, but he's also shown that with nurturing he has immense talent. We'll probably lose him, but I reckon there's a 90% chance we'll all be regretting him not being given a chance when he is a star in 5 years time.

what are you basing this on? Really? A future star? On this season? He's shown glimpses of having raw  talent but someone's gonna come in and pay 60K a week for him if his payrise rumours are correct? Whom?

I'm basing it on the bits I've seen of him.

Well its all about opinions, but i can't see anything he's produced that says megastar of the future and i don't think there's loads of clubs waiting in the wings to poach him either.  To me most of the hype comes from him arriving from Barca because somehow they'd let a world class talent slip through their fingers whereas if he was from Man U, Chelsea's or Arsenal's youth team, we'd automatically assume he was a player they didn't think would make the grade.

[DaveD]

I know these are supposedly nothing games, but with a sale allegedly in the offing, you don't know what instructions he's getting.

"The prospective new buyers are here on Saturday, for fuck's sake try and get a point or at least keep the score down."

None of us really know what's going on...

[pbavfckuwait]

Oh I get it now Dave his previous loses were because we did not have the possible new owners watching, nothing to do with him being crap and not having an attacking thought in his pea sized brain then, thanks for that I understand now. Good old Eric just following instructions.

[Gregorys Boy]

I'm sorry but I just don't see that playing somebody (Grealish,Adama,Gil)is a problem for 30 minutes.
Just because they may upset the robotic no risk mindset by heaven forbid "Running up a blind alley".
I didn't see yesterday and I haven't seen  for weeks the likes of Westwood,Sanchez,Bacuna, Sinclair go anywhere near a bloody blind alley.

Me neither.  After all Black has stuck with pretty much the same line up which has gotten us a total of three league wins all season.  And when you are already down you might as well experiment a bit. I would add Kozak to that list of players who deserves a run out.  He's been very hashly dealt with this season.

[paul_e]

I'm sorry but I just don't see that playing somebody (Grealish,Adama,Gil)is a problem for 30 minutes.
Just because they may upset the robotic no risk mindset by heaven forbid "Running up a blind alley".
I didn't see yesterday and I haven't seen  for weeks the likes of Westwood,Sanchez,Bacuna, Sinclair go anywhere near a bloody blind alley.

Me neither.  After all Black has stuck with pretty much the same line up which has gotten us a total of three league wins all season.  And when you are already down you might as well experiment a bit. I would add Kozak to that list of players who deserves a run out.  He's been very hashly dealt with this season.

Kozak is injured.  As I've said before, his run of games coincided perfectly with the one period of the season where we looked capable of staying in the league, he should've been in the side regularly in the first half of the season because he's got enough natural instinct around the box to make us threatening, his lack of game time is the only thing I didn't like about Garde.  He's comfortably the best 9 at the club and we've been very unlucky with his injuries, I really think he could've been a big player for us over the last couple of seasons if he'd been fit.

Back to Black (well she was a Villa fan), it's the unwillingness to try to change the game that makes me dislike him.  I can live with a game plan to keep it tight for an hour but you have to be willing to change things once you go behind or if you make it to an hour safe but without offering a threat.  Regardless of anything else fans want to see that the team are at least trying to win and what we've had is a team trying not to lose too heavily.  I don't disagree that the underlying problems are bigger than him but that can't be a free pass for him, if he's making selections that make us weaker than we need to be or that have 'surrender' written all over them then it's perfectly valid to call him out on it.  I note (with interest) that we've been much better since Toner came in which further underlines the idea that fans wanting to see a few of the kids isn't some naive idea that a 'proper football man' would never consider is just plain wrong.  I'd personally like to have seen Lyden, Grealish, Adama and Davis all get some meaningful game time, I'd have started the first 2 (ahead of Bacuna and Sinclair) and the other 2 would've been given 20-30 minutes in the last couple of games (I'd have Davis ahead of Rushian HM purely because he looks more physically ready for it)

[mr underhill]

we can only hope that they are given a chance next season, should they still be with us.

[Edvard Remberg]

I know these are supposedly nothing games, but with a sale allegedly in the offing, you don't know what instructions he's getting.

"The prospective new buyers are here on Saturday, for fuck's sake try and get a point or at least keep the score down."

None of us really know what's going on...

This makes sense - start that crap line up, so the new owners will know we need to buy a whole new squad. This way they will not think maybe the talent is there.

[PeterWithe]

anyone who plays bacuna is an absolute idiot

I was appalled when I saw that he was actually playing him at Centre Half, that said he did well.

[FrankyH]

Bacuna didn't want the ball , probably didn't want to be the pitch . Why Black plays him , only he will know.

[mr underhill]

Will Eric be on his bike on Sunday , or will he get to clear out his extensive library of coaching manuals on Monday morning?