by P!ssed Off »
28 Feb 2013 21:17
I was one of the fans "behind the dugout" criticising McDermott. Performances such as the one against Wigan are unacceptable regardless of division, importance of match or competition. The reason Wigan scored only three was because Federici put in some actual effort and Wigan were probably embarrassed for us. Been to pretty much every home game, and some away, for the last 15 or so years and I think last Saturday's game was our worst performance yet.
Did I blame luck, like McDermott tried to, or did I blame the team and the management. Well I blamed the team and the management because without a doubt it was their fault.
McDermotts team selection has been poor all season, with the favouring and disfavouring of certain players beyond ridiculousness. For a must win home game against opposition below us he started the game with 3 defensive midfielders!!!!! Madness.
His defensive selection was just as bad. As has already been noted by the observant, Mariappa was at fault for the Stoke goal Pearce was blamed for and Mariappa almost cost us another goal in the same game. Pearce's replacement for Wigan, Morrison, cost us a goal. Harte was also rubbish against Stoke, 1 decent cross (admittedly we scored from it) out of about 15 attempts. Shorey then played well against Man Utd and should have kept his place if this was why Morrison was brought in for Wigan. Harte's complete lack of pace definitely contributed to at least two goals for Wigan.
I also believe McDermott has to take some responsibility for Pogrebnyak's red card. The Pog has been performing wild and rash tackles all season. In only the last home game he gave away a penalty to Sunderland after a stupid challenge. It is the manager's responsibility to curb this side of his game and clearly McDermott has not spoken to him about his tackling ability or Pog just doesn't listen.
McDermott's substitutions in the match were also ridiculous. Of the 3 defensive midfielders, who all played quite badly, Akpan was actually the least bad. The only attacking threat in the first half, Kebe, was then subbed off for a striker, leaving us with 1 winger?!!?? Took Mcdermott a whole 8 minutes to realise this flaw and he then brought on a winger, I do not know what he was thinking.
McDermott's half time team talk after conceding two goals right before half time was crucial. Wasn't personally in the room but as we conceded only three minutes after the restart I'll assume it didn't go well.
As a Uni student I now no longer live locally. Each game I go to, only missed one home game all season, costs around £45 in travel alone. Because of this increased cost and increased difficulty in getting to games I am now less tolerant of crap performances.
The disgusting performance against Wigan should in all seriousness have been followed by an apology and/or a refund. Instead McDermott criticises luck, the referee and the fans. Instead of reminding us of "how far we've come" he should remind himself and his players that whilst they may have got a pay rise for playing worse, fans are not getting paid to watch them and as such are entitled to complain if they perform badly and show no effort.
Sorry for the long post but McDermott has at many times pissed me off this season. Even if we avoid relegation McDermott, as a person and as a manager, will never get the respect that i reserve for the legend that is Steve Coppell, who would not dare to come out with some of the stuff McDermott has said this season.
