[Archived] Michael Appleton - New Rovers Manager

[imy9]

Agreed. Can excuse lack of ability but never effort.

[bypass06]

Hope there's a lot more in Davy Jones's locker.

[Stuart]

Hope there's a lot more in Davy Jones's locker.

I see what you did there.

[gumboots]

How is it extreme to say Murphy and Etuhu are crap given their performances this season? If anything it's being too kind to them. The pair of them have been pathetic and not worth 1k a week let alone the £30k+ they're both getting. Neither of them have ever shown the desire to put the effort in this season, which is the minimum requirement for any player. The reason I never agreed with Andrews getting booed was that he put his 100% into every game, even if he wasn't good enough to play for a Premier League side. Murphy and Etuhu by comparison don't put in even close to 100% and that's why they get called crap and deservedly booed - Murphy more than Etuhu, obviously.

Only cos Murphy's played a lot more. If Etuhu had been on the pitch as much as Murphy, I can guarantee, based on the performances he put in when he was playing, that he'd have been booed as much if not more than Murphy.

[DE.]

Agreed gumboots, that was what I meant.

[rovers11]

I'm genuinely bemused as to what fans expected of Appleton in such a short space of time. His record so far is kind of what I expected. We've had games against Arsenal, Brighton (twice), Leicester, Hull and Derby away. That's 6 games I would have expected to lose. Instead, we drew 2, won 2 and lost 2. Not bad at all.

Home games against Ipswich, Bristol, Peterborough, Charlton and Leeds. Our record is won 2, lost 2, drew 1. Not great but not terrible.

In the league, we've won 2, lost 4, and draw 3. Those games include 4 games against team in the top 6. 3 clean sheets.

Brought in proven championship players in Campbell, Williamson and Jones. Will continue to do so in the summer.

I didnt expect him to sort out our problems overnight. It appears some did. If we fail to win any of the remaining games for the rest of the season then I'll start moaning. However, I expect more of the same of what we have now. A few wins, a few losses and a few draws.

Some may say he focusses too much on defensive play. Good managers build from the back. Hughes and Allardyce did the same. Sort the defence out 1st and then add more attacking quality.

[DE.]

It's the manner of performances rather than the results themselves. After a decent start our recent performances have been absolutely dire - as bad if not worse than when we were under Berg's management. Not creating a single chance in 3 games and getting pulverised within 30 minutes at home by the team who are bottom of the league leaves plenty to be concerned about. If we'd been unlucky against Peterborough and given a good account of ourselves against Hull & Leicester there would not be such concern, but the fact is we've been awful for a few games now and there are no signs of improvement.

I do believe that certain players (Murphy, Orr) are heavily to blame, and now that Appleton appears to have finally sussed this as well it will be interesting to see how we look in the next few games. With Jones and Henley replacing them, we may look very different. Bringing in Givet for the horrific Rekik would be a step in the right direction too, but I don't expect that to happen.

[gumboots]

Managers like Hughes, Allardyce and Souness are also not handicapped by what has gone on off the pitch around them. This guy is not just charged with sorting out the team on the pitch, but also the day to day running of so much of the club. Kean got rid of so many who knew what was going on and what should be done that the whole infrastructure was missing when Appleton came in. Bet he wishes all he had to do was manage the first team and liaise with the reserves and academy

[yoda's brother]

Managers like Hughes, Allardyce and Souness are also not handicapped by what has gone on off the pitch around them. This guy is not just charged with sorting out the team on the pitch, but also the day to day running of so much of the club. Kean got rid of so many who knew what was going on and what should be done that the whole infrastructure was missing when Appleton came in. Bet he wishes all he had to do was manage the first team and liaise with the reserves and academy

is he really ?

who says so

[K-Hod]

People criticising Appleton is all well and good, but the thing is, he identified what was wrong, changed things at half time and we could well have ended up salvaging the game (granted, we didn't so that's neither here nor there).

Big changes amongst the playing staff are needed in the summer.

[Andy]

If Kean was worthy of giving 18 months to affirm his undisputed incompetence, then Appleton deserves about 6 years.

Horrible result yesterday.

At Leicester, it was a bad day at the office and these happen over a season, but to lose at home to bottom of the league and be 0-3 early on, it's pretty unforgivable.

I'm pretty pro-Appleton and I like his attitude, but he will know that it's the results that he'll live and die by.

I will lose a huge amount of confidence in him if Orr and Murphy start the next game, after yesterday's non-performances.

[DE.]

People criticising Appleton is all well and good, but the thing is, he identified what was wrong, changed things at half time and we could well have ended up salvaging the game (granted, we didn't so that's neither here nor there).

Big changes amongst the playing staff are needed in the summer.

Would have been better if he'd identified what was wrong before the match started, really. Then we probably wouldn't have been 3-0 down at HT with little hope of recovering.

Appleton deserves blame for yesterday and I'm sure if you asked him he'd agree he got it wrong.

[G Somerset Rover]

Appleton also got it wrong big time over loud mouth Orr. A case where for once, the fans were right and the management wrong. We could all tell that he was a bad apple and thankfully Berg got shot of him. Appleton came in, thought to himself 'hang about this lad has been doing ok at Ipswich' and called him back. Now he'll be nigh in impossible to get rid of. As I say, a bad apple, poor player and has now had TWO pops at us fans.

Pointing out the obvious and repeated a million times but Murphy and Orr must not play for the club again.

[Amo]

I don't think there's anything wrong, per se, with a new manager giving a clean slate to players. It's alright fans saying "Why can't he see that 'x' is terrible?!'... because they have an intimate knowledge of the team from following them week in, week out. Let's be honest, up until after the Arsenal game, things were looking promising. As a team we looked united and people were playing for each other - Orr included. People were genuinely surprised at the turnaround, especially in attitude. Appleton could hardly justify drastic cuts to the playing side based on that vein of form. After the Leicester debacle, I'm sure he probably decided it was worth giving his experienced players the benefit of the doubt against Peterboro - and evidently he was mistaken in that. Maybe now that was a watershed moment for himself and a number of perennial underachievers and he'll shake things up (as best he can with the squad at his disposal).

[K-Hod]

I don't think there's anything wrong, per se, with a new manager giving a clean slate to players. It's alright fans saying "Why can't he see that 'x' is terrible?!'... because they have an intimate knowledge of the team from following them week in, week out. Let's be honest, up until after the Arsenal game, things were looking promising. As a team we looked united and people were playing for each other - Orr included. People were genuinely surprised at the turnaround, especially in attitude. Appleton could hardly justify drastic cuts to the playing side based on that vein of form. After the Leicester debacle, I'm sure he probably decided it was worth giving his experienced players the benefit of the doubt against Peterboro - and evidently he was mistaken in that. Maybe now that was a watershed moment for himself and a number of perennial underachievers and he'll shake things up (as best he can with the squad at his disposal).

Good post.

[gumboots]

is he really ?

who says so

perhaps I phrased that badly. There is so much wrong at the club that working conditions must be more difficult than they should be or would have been if competent people were in all the important positions at the club. To do the job he has Appleton must have to deal with a lot more stuff than he should have to. Singh is presumable lurking somewhere; others in charge of various areas are not necessarily the people we want there. He's working with the players against a background that is far more chaotic than the others managers mentioned were.

[Rover_Shaun]

Big changes amongst the playing whole staff are needed in the summer.

Fixed

[K-Hod]

Fixed

Well yeah, though I figured that was a given!!!!

[Ewoodbhappy]

Imo the blame should go on the players. Players such as Murphy, Orr ect.. they just arent upto it and I hope and believe Appleton will drop them both. Ive said since we appointed him that I will judge him when he has a full summer ect to prepare the team I think its unfair to judge him now as hes had to work with the dross we currently have and has only been able to really use the loan market which is a small one at that hes basically scrimping around. Fair enough were on a pretty bad run now but what about the games before? People seem to forget all of that. Every team in this league goes through a rough patch. Yeah weve beenn through a lot this season but its the first under the current manager and I believe we will end it at Bolton on tuesday. Just have a bit of faith ( I know its a lot to ask after what has gone on at the club) I believe appleton can be a good manager for us next season.

I'm going to agree with you on that one.

It's interesting that the two main problem players are Kean's signings.

Yes they may get some stick due to the Kean saga, but I think us as fans have been willing to give most a second chance. Murphy & Orr deserve the stick they are getting for rank bad performances.

Murphy club captain & second highest paid player should be setting an example and if his example is a lazy don't give a damn one, its easy to see why the rest follow. He didn't play against Arsenal so why he went straight back into the team is baffling, I doubt he'll be here next season. I hope Appleton is a good as his post match quotes.

[Rover_Shaun]

It's interesting that the two main problem players are Kean's signings.

Seeing as Kean had 4 windows, Berg 0 windows and Appleton a few loans outside of his first window it's pretty obvious that most will still be Kean signings :/

[adsfortheblues]

I'm genuinely bemused as to what fans expected of Appleton in such a short space of time. His record so far is kind of what I expected. We've had games against Arsenal, Brighton (twice), Leicester, Hull and Derby away. That's 6 games I would have expected to lose. Instead, we drew 2, won 2 and lost 2. Not bad at all.

Home games against Ipswich, Bristol, Peterborough, Charlton and Leeds. Our record is won 2, lost 2, drew 1. Not great but not terrible.

In the league, we've won 2, lost 4, and draw 3. Those games include 4 games against team in the top 6. 3 clean sheets.

Brought in proven championship players in Campbell, Williamson and Jones. Will continue to do so in the summer.

I didnt expect him to sort out our problems overnight. It appears some did. If we fail to win any of the remaining games for the rest of the season then I'll start moaning. However, I expect more of the same of what we have now. A few wins, a few losses and a few draws.

Some may say he focusses too much on defensive play. Good managers build from the back. Hughes and Allardyce did the same. Sort the defence out 1st and then add more attacking quality.

Sorry to be picky but when has Williamson ever been a proven championship player mate?

Also Campbell was a waste of a signing.

I don't think there's anything wrong, per se, with a new manager giving a clean slate to players. It's alright fans saying "Why can't he see that 'x' is terrible?!'... because they have an intimate knowledge of the team from following them week in, week out. Let's be honest, up until after the Arsenal game, things were looking promising. As a team we looked united and people were playing for each other - Orr included. People were genuinely surprised at the turnaround, especially in attitude. Appleton could hardly justify drastic cuts to the playing side based on that vein of form. After the Leicester debacle, I'm sure he probably decided it was worth giving his experienced players the benefit of the doubt against Peterboro - and evidently he was mistaken in that. Maybe now that was a watershed moment for himself and a number of perennial underachievers and he'll shake things up (as best he can with the squad at his disposal).

Have to say I didn't think there was any great turnaround. Firstly beating Ipswich and Bristol at home is a bare minimum. Then 2 games against Brighton of which we should have lost and the same with the Leeds game. The arsenal result was just a complete fluke. Apart from that we've lost the rest and haven't manged an away win in the league.

However I'm not having a go at Appleton here. I'm just saying I didn't think there was any turnaround and I believe the cup run had blinded many.

[Stuart]

I don't think there's anything wrong, per se, with a new manager giving a clean slate to players. It's alright fans saying "Why can't he see that 'x' is terrible?!'... because they have an intimate knowledge of the team from following them week in, week out. Let's be honest, up until after the Arsenal game, things were looking promising. As a team we looked united and people were playing for each other - Orr included. People were genuinely surprised at the turnaround, especially in attitude. Appleton could hardly justify drastic cuts to the playing side based on that vein of form. After the Leicester debacle, I'm sure he probably decided it was worth giving his experienced players the benefit of the doubt against Peterboro - and evidently he was mistaken in that. Maybe now that was a watershed moment for himself and a number of perennial underachievers and he'll shake things up (as best he can with the squad at his disposal).

Whilst I agree with the principle, I was genuinely disappointed when Orr was brought back.

Sometimes certain players are just bad for a club due to the atmosphere they create. Andrews and Orr fit that description. Murphy is fast following suit.

[thenodrog]

I'm genuinely bemused as to what fans expected of Appleton in such a short space of time. His record so far is kind of what I expected. We've had games against Arsenal, Brighton (twice), Leicester, Hull and Derby away. That's 6 games I would have expected to lose. Instead, we drew 2, won 2 and lost 2. Not bad at all.

Not to play a dumbarsed 4-4-2 without a back to goal target man at centre forward for a start and supply them from hopeful... sorry hopeless punts forward from the back mainly because of the most inept and weak midfield set up that I have seen since playing for our club since the 80's.

Those are basics that Appleton doesn't seem to recognise.

[A cup of beans]

I've been told a few things that went on in the dressing room yesterday.

ALLEGEDLY. At Half time Appleton was raging, but stopped himself. Simply said youre subbed to Orr and Murphy.

Bentley was ill before the game.

ALLEGEDLY after the game Appleton raged was extremely confrontational, and went round every player in the dressing room and was frank. cast aspirations that some were here for the money etc.. and that the players have had it easy. He really dug a few out.

ALLEGEDLY Appleton. Asked if anyone disagreed with him to come and stand next to him, nobody did.

ALLEGEDLY Appleton also said he understood why the fans got on their backs.

ALLEGEDLY Murphy went to the video analysis department to try and show he wasnt at fault for any of the goals, but was grassed up by a player that will remain nameless, but will forever be a hero in my eyes.

[Guest Norbert]

So Appleton allegedly did a hairdryer, and called out several players to pull their finger out. That can go two ways, either the players are shaken out of their lethargy and get in gear or they basically play even worse as they're sulking and angry. It would depend on the individual.