Ilderton, you’re right: JB won’t get rid of Drawett, and because of that, Wall supporters are going to see his brand of dull, defensive football for a long time to come! I‘ve been a supporter for 47 years and yes, Hollowhead’s era was fucking awful, but I would also say Drawett’s era isn’t that far behind it!
In those 47 years, I would say we’ve mostly had teams that have a) played together as a unit and b) have always tried to play attacking, sometimes exciting football. I don’t see either of those two things in Drawett’s team. I think he has lost the dressing room, as those that went to the match yesterday commented that it looked like the fight had gone out of the players! There was only 1 shot on target! Just one shot! 1st and 2nd balls weren’t challenged for, players couldn’t string two passes together, there was no urgency when we were losing, etc. etc.
By all accounts, Huddersfield were poor, but we were poorer! That game yesterday showed us Drawett’s lack of ambition for this club! He could and should have gone for it, from the 1st minute of the game, yet we go 1 nil down in the 82nd minute, and what did the 800 travelling supporters get in the remaining 8 minutes of normal time? Nothing! Even in the 4 minutes of stoppage time, the players should have been bombarding the Huddersfield goal with quality crosses for Smith to get on the end of - but those supporters didn’t get that! What they got in that time was players defending, defending and defending! 4 minutes can be long enough to get a goal to draw or win a game, but not if the players don’t seem up for it!
I think many of us on here believe we have a good squad of players (I certainly do), and the players Drawett usually picks to play every week are, I think, on par, or better than many of the players in the Coventry, Huddersfield and Blackpool teams (two of which were promoted from league 1 last year), yet we haven’t played well against these 3 this season, but all of them sit in the play offs above us! As a supporter, if you think we have, for the most part, better players than those that play for those 3 clubs, it wouldn’t be wrong for you to start wondering why are we not doing better?
Yes, 2 defeats in the last 11 league matches means you can’t argue with the stats - but the standard of the Championship is poor this season, and with the squad of players we have, we should be at least in the play offs by now, trying to consolidate our position and remain there!
Drawett has to change the formation and play players in their right positions - Jed is better on the right, Malone is better playing further up the wing (he can’t defend properly as a wing back), Danny Mac and only Danny Mac should be playing in the right back position (unless he’s suspended or injured), and I think the players get confused, when playing out of their natural positions, as they’re not really sure what their job should actually be! With that confusion comes doubt that they are playing as well as they should be, as well as doubt in the manager for playing them in the wrong positions in the first place!
And for those that say ‘who are we going to get in to replace Drawett,’ well, we don’t have to pick somebody from the football managers unemployed list, as there are decent managers in the lower leagues who‘s clubs don’t have a pot to piss in (as we don’t), yet they have managers who can somehow get the best out of their players, week in, week out!
A few weeks ago, Forest were in the same situation as we find ourselves now - players devoid of confidence and who weren’t playing for the shirt. Forwards weren’t scoring, defenders weren’t defending and a midfield that was so non existent, you could drive a bus through the gaping holes between players! They finally sack their manager, and bring in someone who can motivate and get the best out of the players, and since then, they haven’t looked back!
Until JB makes that difficult decision to sack Drawett, we are never going to improve on a regular basis under him. More dull, defensive losses will follow, and the fans will start voting with their feet!
The rot has to be stopped now, before it is too late!