Why Didn't We Get Promoted?

C

CommanderComcast

Active member
Now that the season is over and dust settled what's the thoughts on why we, ultimately, failed in the pre-season target of promotion? I'd offer:

Should've replaced Warnock this time last year to give a new manager a full pre-season and transfer window. Chopping half way through did us no favours when we knew Warnock was leaving at the end of this season regardless.

The loanee forwards signed in the Jan window largely failed to deliver.

The Wilder-Burnley situation completely wrecked our run in. I feel certain that we would've made the play offs if Wilder had not let this run and run.

Thoughts?
 
CommanderComcast said:
Now that the season is over and dust settled what's the thoughts on why we, ultimately, failed in the pre-season target of promotion? I'd offer:

Should've replaced Warnock this time last year to give a new manager a full pre-season and transfer window. Chopping half way through did us no favours when we knew Warnock was leaving at the end of this season regardless.

The loanee forwards signed in the Jan window largely failed to deliver.

The Wilder-Burnley situation completely wrecked our run in. I feel certain that we would've made the play offs if Wilder had not let this run and run.

Thoughts?
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Yes, I'd agree. Changing managers in mid season is never a good idea, unless things are really going wrong. Wilder came in without any preseason with the players and with a mid table squad at best.

Defensively he did well on the whole, but he didn't solve the key problem which is - and has been several seasons - not scoring goals. His signings were really poor.

Now he has a couple of months to find some strikers and to upgrade the midfield. The rest of the squad is ok, but he needs a front five. So much of it is contingent on selling Spence and perhaps two others. I won't be very hopeful if July comes and goes without some significant incomings. Introducing new players when the season has started isn't an ideal start.
 
And signing 2 backup keepers didn’t help. I think the signings of balogun and Connolly were good ideas but just didn’t quite work out.
 
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CommanderComcast said:
The Wilder-Burnley situation completely wrecked our run in. I feel certain that we would've made the play offs if Wilder had not let this run and run.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I think that's quite possible, but it's not why we didn't get promotion.

Our inability to score goals would still have found us out in the playoffs.

I think our squad had too many weaknesses to really be contenders. Wilder did well to get us close, but the goalkeeping, goalscoring and lack of balance down the left were fundemental issues.

Here's hoping we don't try to fix the goalscoring by spending big money on a guy with good numbers, or by loaning a promising young PL striker.
 
No decent goalkeeper (No1 and 2, both not good enough)
No striker capable of scoring 15+
The loan signings failed (Balogun, Connolly, Siliki, Sporar, Hernandez)
Several of the transfers brought in during the summer didn't do enough (Ikpeazu, Ameobi, Payero, Olusanya)
CW to Burnley should've been squashed immediately

I feel it is a combination of all 5 is why we didn't go up.
 
CommanderComcast said:
Now that the season is over and dust settled what's the thoughts on why we, ultimately, failed in the pre-season target of promotion? I'd offer:

Should've replaced Warnock this time last year to give a new manager a full pre-season and transfer window. Chopping half way through did us no favours when we knew Warnock was leaving at the end of this season regardless.

The loanee forwards signed in the Jan window largely failed to deliver.

The Wilder-Burnley situation completely wrecked our run in. I feel certain that we would've made the play offs if Wilder had not let this run and run.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Personally i don't think the Burnley link wrecked our run in at all. I'm not sure it'll have been a "thing" at all in the club. We'd already started getting a bit inconsistent, and we were missing Jones (e.g. Bristol City, Barnsley)
Ultimately we were just a bit short of the depth and quality needed to sustain a run.
Would agree that Warnock should've gone in the summer to allow us to build under a new manager.
 
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It was just the lack of a 20 goal striker, but we've lacked that for 20-30 years.

It's not so much the 20 goals, it's that they get the 20 goals by taking up a lot of the defence's resources, which creates space for others too. If we had a striker who could score more, the others would too.

I think we struggled a bit with burning out Jones too, it wasn't so much that the opposite side wasn't as good, as most teams are like this, and we're unlikely to get two with the quality of Jones, but I think Jones will be better next year and more used to the grind.

Obviously the keeper cost us a few points, but that wouldn't have mattered had we sorted the above out.

We really just need short of Spence and to get some good money for him, as having 15m of value (others value, not mine) tied up on loan is something we cannot afford. If we had someone like Sporar but 15m better, then that would have got us up I think.

Balogun will get there, but we don't have the time to wait for that, we need someone ready made if the plan is promotion next season, which should be our best chance we will get in the near future.

I think Burnley will sink like a stone and don't see much trouble from Norwich or Watford as they struggle to retain what quality they have. I don't see Huddersfield, Luton and Blackburn being as good. We'll have to outdo what QPR and West Brom do I think, to go up next year.
 
Not good enough. As simple as that.
No strikers and liabilities for goal keepers. Yet more recruitment mistakes and a whole lot of wasted money to boot.
 
Both Preston and Hull did the double over us and we lost away to Barnsley. In the end too many defeats and we didn't really do enough to deserve the play offs. Watching the play off final I thought we could have beaten either of the two there, but there are probably others that would say the same. I will be disappointed if we aren't mounting a serious challenge next season and that's the first time I have thought that since Pulis was here.
 
I think we weakened ourselves in January, rotating the forwards helped nobody.

We then stuck with a goalkeeper who should have been dropped 6 weeks (at least) before he was.

That goal against Hull he let in I still can’t understand or come to terms with!

I’m a fan of Wilder but both sets of decisions were his and in my opinion with the benefit of hindsight cost us a playoff place.

He and the recruitment team have to do much better this close season as I don’t think the division will be any easier this year.
 
We seemed disinterested in the final part of the season, Jones stopped taking on the defenders after coming back from injury - Not sure if the CW/Burnley rumour had anything to do with this.
We capitualeted in a few games - most notably, Sheff U away and Preston
 
As someone mentioned…the matches that Jones missed were crucial. That would have been the time to alter the formation to accommodate the players that were fit. 433 would have been a better option in those circumstances.
 
we didnt score enough goals
we didnt create enough chances
we conceded too many goals
we allowed "lower" opposition to dominate us far too often
we didnt impose ourselves onto the opposition anywhere near enough.
we have very limited ability on the left hand side
we have no solid GK

We had a limited squad (in terms of numbers and capability) so we finished exactly where we deserved to finish.
 
Why didn't we get promoted?

I'll stick with the Q Anon narrative..........

Democrats / satanic paedophiles

Lack of adrenachrome

Probably ultimately the Rothschilds, or just Jews in general.

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Realistically...........

Lack of goals causing us not putting teams to bed on a glut of early dominance / chances, then getting tense / nervous and conceding a daft goal.

Goal keeping errors probably cost us at least 9 points IMHO.

A lack of quality / scoring from set pieces, it is such an important part of the game in the championship and we are dreadful at it (ties in to lack of goals obviously).

General lack of power / size / athleticism / drive / aggression / leadership and fighting spirt especially at centre half and centre midfield (ties into lack of goals from set plays IMO).

An absolutely pitiful goals and assists contribution from Howson and Tavernier considering our system, the number of games they both played and the fact one of them takes 75% of our set plays (ties into set plays above and lack of goals).

No plan B or further outlet if the triumvirate of Dijksteel - Crooks - Jones wasn't on song or creating enough due to opposition tactics (which is also basically a lack of threat / goals from the rest of the squad).

So basically that all amounts to a slight tightening up at the back with a solid aggressive/dominant LCB, a better keeper is a given for everyone I think and everything else is about massively improving our set-play delivery, crossing, chances created and obviously a couple of finishers.

Over the season we wouldn't have needed much more to make the play-offs, and realistically with enough improvement I honestly don't think the autos would have been out of the question.

Over to the recruitment department for the push up the table next season.......
 
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