Useless Eustace?

[Hasta]

13 hours ago, Sutton blue said:

We may be riding high at the moment after our obscenely massive transfer dealings, but most Blues fans including me, are still fearful that it may all go wrong.

Your problem is it appears that there are three teams breaking away at the top of the league. Early season it looked like just you and Wrexham, but Wycombe have really got on a roll. One of you will miss out, and like Leeds last year, being clearly third best will be no guarantee of play off success.

Normally id probably want the underdogs to go up and the bigger clubs to miss out, but in this case I actually want the Wrexham hype machine to come unstuck.

[Mashed Potatoes]

50 minutes ago, BRFC4EVA said:

Complete rubbish.

His critism was fully justified last season and it was only good fortune and SS that kept us in the division. 

Now this season, he has been an utter revelation. He is doing an incredible job, so much so I would say he is doing the best job currently out of all 4 divisions. I and many others have been completely proved wrong.

However, let's not go re writing history.

The criticism last season wasn't justified because it missed the point. When he was appointed manager we had taken just 5 points from the previous 11 games which was a rate of point accretion which if maintained would have seen us relegated. However because of our good start to the season we did have 33 points from 29 games. It was perfectly reasonable to come in with the attitude that if he got us organised and difficult to beat so that we would then be getting 1 point a game in the remainder of the season we would probably avoid relegation. So that is what he did - in fact did 3 points better than a point a game. There was no good fortune involved.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

There were guys on here who were on his case after about three games. Ridiculous. 

[Mattyblue]

Come on now he did say ‘you know’ a lot.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

10 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Come on now he did say ‘you know’ a lot.

He didn’t have much of a smile either.

[Eddie]

20 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Come on now he did say ‘you know’ a lot.

You know, the lads are doing better, you know.

[Mattyblue]

Like a sonnet from a fellow West Midlander.

[MarkBRFC]

I didn't take to him straight away, but could see he was trying to make us more organised and harder to beat to start with so gave him the benefit of the doubt after a while.

This season he has set us up superbly so far, especially on this little run.

Nothing is achieved in December though, so if we don't finish higher than 7th and get past the Quarter finals of the FA Cup then he can't be considered our best manager under these idiots.

Even Mowbray won 6 in a row and kept 5 clean sheets in a row in November/December 2021 so forgive me for not getting too excited just yet.

[Hasta]

47 minutes ago, Mashed Potatoes said:

The criticism last season wasn't justified because it missed the point. When he was appointed manager we had taken just 5 points from the previous 11 games which was a rate of point accretion which if maintained would have seen us relegated. However because of our good start to the season we did have 33 points from 29 games. It was perfectly reasonable to come in with the attitude that if he got us organised and difficult to beat so that we would then be getting 1 point a game in the remainder of the season we would probably avoid relegation. So that is what he did - in fact did 3 points better than a point a game. There was no good fortune involved.

We had amassed 5 point from the previous 11 games due to 3 reasons - JDT being stubborn in his methods, injuries, players downing tools on the manager.

When Eustace come in, 2 of those excuses were then removed, and the injury list was better than it had been in December.

Therefore it was right to replace JDT, but I expected a new manager to come in and get better results. We failed to win a home game, we were pretty negative at home and it took 3 remarkable away wins to save our neck on the last day of the season.

I said all along if Eustace kept us up then that was his job done, and that he would get a clean slate for next season.  But he flew very close to being a failure, hence why criticism was justified.

This season he’s been absolute top class. A proper man manager with a good tactical nouse.

Going back to the comments at the start about “JDT fanboys”, many of those criticising agreed that JDT needed to go, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t expect better from Eustace. It’s just we had zero new manager bounce - and that wasn’t cos the squad was bad as it had already amassed the 33 points early season.

Edited Thursday at 12:14 by Hasta

[roversfan99]

Most of the criticism was prior to the end of the season and it died down over the summer because of the 2 late impressive victories leading to our survival.

He failed to win any of his first 9 games, and he failed to win a single home game full stop. We ended the season much closer to the relegation zone than when he came in.

The situation wasnt easy for a number if reasins so there was mitigation but yes, criticism and doubt was warranted. The great work this season doesnt change that.

[Mattyblue]

How long have forums been around now? And folk still try and get all high and mighty miles after the event that people blow off steam in them after defeats, sometimes irrationally, but that’s just how it is.

Was he supported at games? Yes, without question and that’s all that matters.

[frosty]

22 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

He’s doing a great job. He had to deal with the JDT fan boys at first but I think he’s won most of them over.

Odd. In what way did he have to deal with them? JDT did a very good job overall (note 'overall', rather than just his last few games and yes, I know he got Burnley away badly wrong) and people were angry that the club had messed him around. Our pretty poor results when Eustace came in meant people had some early doubts about him. All completely normal. Doing a great job now of course.

[Andy]

11 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

No it wasn't.

I had a look back through the John Eustace thread and you were one of many who were particularly critical of him with no real justification. Perhaps that's your self defence mechanism kicking in trying to justify the unwarranted criticism.

Yes, I was, absolutely.

For good reason.

Our results - and performances weren't good enough.
We had not been anywhere near a relegation battle when he came in.

We ended up staying up by the skin of our teeth, courtesy of a freak result away to Leicester.

Whitewashing history benefits nobody.

And again, he's done excellently well this season. But I'm not going to pretend that his failure to win a single home game in that entire period of the season was anything other than a very closely avoided disaster.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

3 hours ago, Andy said:

Yes, I was, absolutely.

For good reason.

Our results - and performances weren't good enough.
We had not been anywhere near a relegation battle when he came in.

We ended up staying up by the skin of our teeth, courtesy of a freak result away to Leicester.

Whitewashing history benefits nobody.

And again, he's done excellently well this season. But I'm not going to pretend that his failure to win a single home game in that entire period of the season was anything other than a very closely avoided disaster.

Did you really think we were “ nowhere near a relegation battle “ when Eustace was appointed ? I thought we were nailed on, the club was a shambles on and off the pitch.

[Sutton blue]

22 hours ago, Hasta said:

Your problem is it appears that there are three teams breaking away at the top of the league. Early season it looked like just you and Wrexham, but Wycombe have really got on a roll. One of you will miss out, and like Leeds last year, being clearly third best will be no guarantee of play off success.

Normally id probably want the underdogs to go up and the bigger clubs to miss out, but in this case I actually want the Wrexham hype machine to come unstuck.

Yes Wycombe's success has confounded everybody, especially the bookies. Normally I'd be pleased for them as I like to favour underdogs, but I'm hoping that now we're entering the 2 games a week period for the next couple of months, our big squad of decent players will prove to be a big advantage over the other teams. At least we have games in hand, but we all know they count for nowt unless they're won.

By the way, although Eustace was well liked by we Blues fans, the rumours were that he is a villa fan. 

[DE.]

We had a similar situation in L1 with Shrewsbury having an unexpectedly good season and they pushed us until near the end. They didn't go up via the playoffs and since then they've mostly finished between 15th and 19th, with their highest finish since that season being 12th.

[roverblue]

15 hours ago, Andy said:

We had not been anywhere near a relegation battle when he came in.

Delusional. We were 5 points off relegation with 1 win in 11 when JDT left, shipping 2-3 goals every match.

[frosty]

Both things are true. We were hurtling towards the relegation zone and would have been in there within two or three more games had JDT not walked.

But at the same time we hadn't been in a relegation battle, we fell from just outside the play-offs and there are far worse situations to inherit than 18th place and five points above the drop.

[Exiled_Rover]

I do have to chuckle that everyone is fawning over Rohl (apparently HSV are interested now) when I think Eustace is a better manager. 

He needs to keep the accent and the tracksuit - it's the only reason wealthier clubs aren't considering him because he's doing a sterling job here. 

[Andy]

5 hours ago, roverblue said:

Delusional. We were 5 points off relegation with 1 win in 11 when JDT left, shipping 2-3 goals every match.

You clearly didn't read what I actually wrote.

We had not been anywhere near a relegation fight when JE took over.
We'd spent the first portion of the season around the play off places.
We played several teams around/below us at home under JE and failed to win a single game.
As a result of the above, we went into the final game expecting to do down to League 1.
We ended up staying up by the skin of our teeth.

'Delusional' would be trying to spin any of the above as a positive.

And, once again, he's done an outstanding job this season.
But let's not rewrite history.

Edited Friday at 15:48 by Andy

[Mashed Potatoes]

33 minutes ago, Andy said:

You clearly didn't read what I actually wrote.

We had not been anywhere near a relegation fight when JE took over.
We'd spent the first portion of the season around the play off places.
We played several teams around/below us at home under JE and failed to win a single game.
As a result of the above, we went into the final game expecting to do down to League 1.
We ended up staying up by the skin of our teeth.

'Delusional' would be trying to spin any of the above as a positive.

And, once again, he's done an outstanding job this season.
But let's not rewrite history.

Overall under JDT last season we got 33 points from 29 games- a rate 0f 1.14 per game. Under JE we got 20 points from 17 games - a rate of 1.18 per game. 

[DE.]

Eustace came into a difficult situation. We were a divided club in free fall, lacking confidence and momentum. His remit was to keep us in the division and he did it - so whilst it was underwhelming at points and there were disappointing performances, we got over the line and Eustace then had pre-season to try and implement his ideas over a period of time without distraction (beyond the usual Venky's nonsense).

So far this season, he's done an incredible job. We're overachieving and highly unlikely at this point to go down - a scenario I was genuinely fearful of before the season started and even during this season. He's the type of manager we've needed for a long time - pragmatic, defensive-minded and a great man manager. He deserves a lot more than he'll get from our owners. 

[M_B]

You can tell he's doing well, there's virtually no criticism of his interviews any more.

Also, his record from last season isn't mentioned any more( until this thread). Pound to a penny,if we'd had a poor start, it would have been dragged into the conversation at every opportunity. Thankfully, Stokegate is a thing of the past.

As painful as it was, there's no doubt that his time in charge last season is now looking like a real bonus for preparing for the current one.

Edited Friday at 18:13 by M_B

[simongarnerisgod]

3 hours ago, Exiled_Rover said:

I do have to chuckle that everyone is fawning over Rohl (apparently HSV are interested now) when I think Eustace is a better manager. 

He needs to keep the accent and the tracksuit - it's the only reason wealthier clubs aren't considering him because he's doing a sterling job here. 

considering sheff are an even bigger basket case than us (owner wise)he`s done a remarkable to get them in mid table

[roversfan99]

5 hours ago, Mashed Potatoes said:

Overall under JDT last season we got 33 points from 29 games- a rate 0f 1.14 per game. Under JE we got 20 points from 17 games - a rate of 1.18 per game. 

17 points from 16 games, 1.06 points per game. 

And much of the criticism was obviously prior to winning 2 of the last 4.