#6 | Untenable
No! Not the game show with Warwick Davies!
As I slumped into my chair and sighed in the 84th minute at the thought of Neumann being brought on at 6–1 down, another fan walked past my block shouting rather prophetically: “the old days are back! the old days are back!”.
It was a good (and funny) caricature of just how bleak things seem at present. A bit like the ‘end is nigh’ Simpsons gif, but more soul destroying.
The issue is not the result, or how many goals were scored, rather the manner of the performance and how abject it was. The easy goals, the fact that they played keep ball for the last 20 minutes and tried to engineer a way to get their centre half his hat-trick. The fact I have to wash this all down with engagement-bait waffle from our social media pages, stating it was “not the result we wanted” and now we’ll be “back behind the lads” on Friday night.
Let’s dissect…
Brentford & Us
Some team, to be fair. And, I’m sure that’s the defence of Chris Davies and his devout disciples. Seeing Brazil’s Igor Thiago get stripped and ready to come on mid-way through the second half is enough to put shivers down my spine, let alone our defenders and gaffer.
Yet, their quality – both in tactical nous and technical ability – does not excuse our shit, abject performance from players who looked about as interested in the game as a student sitting through triple maths.
Fujimoto and Vasquez, the #trustthedata signings, looked miles off the required quality of League 1, let alone a League Cup tie against a half-strong Premier League side.
On the other hand, Lund and Fry looked okay! Lund’s delivery was very good, Fry seems to be better on the ball than Neumann but limited in recovery pace. Klarer had an uncharacteristically poor night but when he’s moved out of his preferred position and tasked with following an electric front three (and their subsequent replacements), I can see why.
Man of the match for me was clearly Jaidon Anthony, who looked fantastic both when dribbling and when setting up play.
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The long and short of it was that Blues were lucky that it wasn’t 10, and that we should be embarrassed that the opposition and even the referee took some pity on us.
In the Background
As a bit of a tactics lover & stats nerd, I could go into further detail as to why last night was so bad. Alas, there’s no point. Everyone the world’s newest football fan could tell you that was a team unclear on their instructions, unable to perform said instructions and lacked passion. Even wonderkid-turned-passion merchant Jay Stansfield looked disinterested when coming on.
This is all indicative of a manager whose reign has come to an end. Managers are somewhat like leaders of political parties. They set the agenda, they are the driving force and are responsible for what is produced, even if they don’t carry it out themselves. If you can tell me what the agenda (system) is, and whether Davies still has the belief of the players to be the driving force (not based on last night’s display), then maybe he should stay.
I think he is ultimately at the forefront for blame for recent performances and more importantly, the current feeling of apathy and disappointment surrounding the air of the club. He looks all out of answers, and should have gone after Derby away and definitely, should have gone in the summer.
As, change is now inevitable. The air changed last night and even some of the most staunch Davies defenders turned their back on their man. Just like how the Labour Party have just booted out Keir Starmer, it’s when even their so called ‘supporters’ turn that the sense of inevitability arises.
This does however mean that Blues can achieve a similar ‘Burnham-bounce’ when they appoint a new manager, not matter who they are. Simply because they’re a fresh face and can offer some optimism to replace the sour, regurgitated lines of a man who sees the writing on the wall. At least, to offer CD some respect, he came out and apologised.
Newsflash. I hope I’m not disrespecting him when I say that Tom Wagner has began to return to making some Blues decisions. His first one should be to sack Davies and breathe fresh life into the football club. His second should be to sack whoever decided to waste this summer, a chance at a fresh & strong start, and has oversaw one of the most disjointed, inefficient transfer window and pre-seasons I’ve ever seen.
I’m not pointing fingers as I’m unsure as to who is really struggling to get deals over the line, for both players and a potential new DoF. Though, people inside the club will now. The fact we’ve been so stagnant since TW’s health event shows us that the current leadership team does not work, and major overhaul is needed.
This time, throwing £10m-£15m at a player (Stansfield in Summer 2024, Vicente and Priske in Jan 2026) won’t fix it. It won’t fix the inefficiency, it won’t fix the performances and it won’t fix the air of disillusionment around the club.
Knighthead are fantastic owners. Yet, they’ve got some big (and tough) decisions to make.
Let’s see how long Davies & the leadership put off the inevitable. Until next time,
NewsonBlues.
P.S – If the admin really decides to put out the club-mandated cringe bollocks before Wrexham this week, I might be done.
