Time for Millwood to move on?

[Dorsey]

Doug Stand posted:

Do you want him to go onto Sky complete with rope around his neck, can of petrol and box of matches?
Whatever is said in the media and on sky or in any public forum you can take as staged.
He's not going to go on Sky and concede the rest of the season.
If anyone of the other clubs were to be fooled by Millwards care free attitude then well done Milly.
I'm sure the air was all shades of blue in the dressing room as was the corridor, but Millward is not going to publicly go on and admit that he is wrong and Wigan are trype and he shouldn't go on...blah blah blah... let him go on and have the craic with Phil Clarke. He has to show a public face that he is in control.

Absolutely correct. Half our fans seem to want to see him in sack cloth and ashes and working at the JJB 24/7. Hang on in there folks - it will come good.

[Mean Dean]

Totally agree with you mate i have been saying this about these players for weeks.O Loughlin needs to concentrate on his own performance he isnt ready to lead the side give it to Fleatcher.

[mike binder]

it as to be fletch and thats why he was brought here but he has to get in the team on a regular basis first then hell take over

[Mean Dean]

Mike i heard Fletch had turned the captincy down when he came but boy do we need him to take it and lead by example if we lose at Cas we are in deep trouble.

[mike binder]

Mean Dean posted:
Mike i heard Fletch had turned the captincy down when he came but boy do we need him to take it and lead by example if we lose at Cas we are in deep trouble.

HE TURNED IT DOWN BECAUSE HE THOUGHT HE NEEDED TO GET THE RESPECT OFF THE REST OF THE PLAYERS FIRST.wITH WHAT HES BEEN THROUGH AND HOW QUICK HES GOT BACK I THINK HES EARNED THAT NOW sorry a bout the capitals must of hit the caps lock button

[Mean Dean]

No probs Mike he has earned my respect coming back early the rest of the players should look atb his commitment

[DaveO]

Doug Stand posted:
Oh yes. It was always going to be.
Am I to take it Dave that you were one of the supporters touting for a top 3 finish and the challange cup.
Come on fella... it was never going to happen.
5/6 more players we need before we will challange again.
The expectaions on Millward were way too high at the start of this season.

I don't think they were. I didn't thinkk we would win the league or even the cup but I did expect to be competative and we are way off the pace. We have a better team on paper than last season and it is playing worse.

That is what is so disppointing. Last year we all knew why we were not good enough but at least the team showed some spirit and the fans accpeted the situation.

The fans are not accepting the current situation so readily because they can see a squad with few injuries, so called better players and it is worse than last year.

There does not seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel because we have the majority of key players fit.

So when I use the phrase "write off" I mean are we to expect the side to struggle all year, be involved in a relegation fight and show no improvement on its league position than last season?

The way things are going that is on the cards and that is not acceptable.

There has to be some imporvement this year or Millward will have failed. Simple as that.

Btw - you missed my point on the reference to GAA. Of course your own reply of RL isn't GAA is acurate and valid but the point I'm making is IM doesn't know his best team yet and only tinkering will make it so... if he had a half-back partnership of note I don't believe he would be swapping and changing.

He ought to have decedied all this before the season started. As I have said before he has had the majority of the team together since October and that includes all the candidates for half back. The fact none of them may be good enough is no excuse not to have decided who was going to be he preferred pairing by now. He also had the same players at the end of last season so its not as if he didn't know their capabilities or how they played.

Experimentng as he has done makes me think he is trying to be too clever and pick the team each week to match the opposition. For example he picked Lockers at stand off v Leeds because apparently he wanted some size in that position or something.

I don't think he was trying to see if Lockers was a stand off. I thnk he genuinely thought it was agood idea for that one game. Why I don't know because everyone in Wigan knows Lockers is not a stand off.

I think just about all the changes he has made are down to tactical considerations like that and none of them have worked. I don't think he is trying to find his best team. I think he thinks he can chop and changre players to counter the opposition and he can't. It just is not working.

Dave

[phibes]

I understand what you're saying about a "transitional" season - but looking at the team on paper, we should be a hell of a lot more competitive than we are.

Playing different players in the halves is either a sign of the coach experimenting with his limited options, or the type of 'tactical thinking' pioneered by David Waite during his time with GB. Personally, I don't know which one is the most worrying.

The fact that we're worrying about Cas next week shows just how far expectations have fallen in the last month. It reminds me of last season when people were singing outside the JJB because we'd beaten Leigh at home...