Longford town (home)

[kingpin4]

How people can blame Scully for that is beyond me. I'm not his greatest fan, but it's 90% the players' faults tonight.
If it was a team of young inexperienced lads, then I'd say he's doing something wrong. Joe Gamble, Pat Purcell, Barry Ryan, Denis Behan, Shane Tracy, Paudie Quinn (i know the last 2 are young, but have both been in England so calling them experienced) were awful tonight. Paddy and Barry cost us 2 goals, Scully can't go play the game for them. Another day, Paddy runs it out, finishes 1 all and we all say 'meh, was ok, could have been worse' ...it's his fault for that goal, but people aren't calling for him to be sacked or dropped.
I was behind the dugout too, he told them get it down and kept giving out when it was hoofed, to me that means they're not his tactics or the way he wants them to play. That's the players not listening to tactics.
Was talking to one of the players afterwards bout the formation, he said it was 4 4 2 but Paudie kept dropping off. Garry was supposed to be in the squad too but got injured doing something else outside of training, Rory was sick during the week so didn't start, Bradley isnt fully fit, was only able for 30 mins. And, personally, from what I've seen with Sean Brosnan, he's useless on the wing, so I can kind of see what he was thinking with Kelly on the right wing, I'd like to hear others' opinions on who else could have played there though.

Disappointing result, but I think it's about time the players started taking the blame. Some look like they're just going through the motions, if they are not playing for the manager then yes, the board need to look at that situation then, but based on tonight, sack half the players. They look like they don't want to be there, like they don't want to work hard to get promoted. Why should I help pay their wages if Paddy can't be bothered working a little bit harder to clear the ball?
Just my opinion on it though...

[4tothefloor]

how a player of joe gambles attributes can so anonymous is hard to fathom

It isn't really. Hard to impose yourself on a game when the ball is being hoofed back and forth over your head. With the players we have we should be playing through the midfield. Instead we're bypassing it.

I was behind the dugout too, he told them get it down and kept giving out when it was hoofed, to me that means they're not his tactics or the way he wants them to play. That's the players not listening to tactics.

Well what that says is that as a coach or manager he simply isn't up to it. If the players aren't listening it means he isn't able to impose his authority on the team. If he doesn't want hoof ball he should simply root out the hoofers and drop them. Barry Ryan needs to be dropped. ****e 'Keeper but even worse than that is his constant hoofing of the ball. If that goes against Scully's game plan, he should be dropped, simple as. However I don't believe this to be the case. I've seen enough of Scully's tactics and performances over the years to know that he is a cautious, negative coach. Pat O'Sullivan is wasting his time and money on this guy.

Lets say we do scrape up, does anyone seriously think Scully is going to keep us in the Premier? I don't, so what's the point? We'll need to replace him at some stage so why not now...

[Jofspring]

The more I hear Scully call for it to be kept on the ground etc… the more I feel its just lip service for the fans behind him so he doesn't get the blame. He has had about 3 different squads since he took over and every single one of them have played the same. We had a squad that were on total wages of €2,500 3 years ago and they where playing the same way as the current squad that must be on 4 times that. I don't agree with always blaming the manager but in the last 3 years we have been out done tactically by every half decent manager with a solid team. Mistakes tonight where made by individual players and for those Scully can't be blamed but going forward we don't seem to really look like scoring much. I'm sure any manager that has watched us this year knows the ball will be pumped to Behan who will try hold it up for on coming players. Once that is noticed and counter acted we have no plan b.

I honestly think with that squad there are plenty of managers in this league that would do a cracking job with them.

The strange decisions tonight can't be ignored though. Shaun Kelly on the wing, Brosnan, Coughaln, McGann or Quinn probably could have done decent jobs there. Shane Tracey being swapped wing onto his bad foot, baffling and he started him there against Athlone too. Bhandarkar is yet to have a good game but keeps his place while Shane Tracey has played for Galway Utd (in the premier) and Limerick in that position before and was good there so why not give him a chance and throw into that every single person I talk to says Anto O Donnell is a great left full and far superior to Bhandarkar who is actually a natural winger. David O Leary who was one of our better players last week gets dropped and he brings in McGann, for what reason? Don't get me wrong I think McGann is a decent player. After 5 minutes I said Quinn may as well be taken off because Longford had him sussed and easily took care of him.

We have Barry Sheedy, Cian Collins, Anto O Donnell and a few more u19's that are worth giving a chance to or at least on the bench. I would not be at all surprised to see one or two of them head up to Athlone to Mike Kerley.

[bluewhitearmy]

Talking to one of the players a while ago asked him why they keep hoofing it after being told to keep it down his response was " Why doesn't he tell us that before the game and at half time if thats what he wants" he then told me that they were told to go direct before the game and again at half time do i think Jof is right about it being lip service.

[mastermind1]

Wasn t at the game last night so can't comment on it. But from seeing quite a few game s so far its obvious that scullys tactics are terrible. We can blame the midfielders all we want but if the ball is bypassing them then they might aswell get rid of gamble, bradley etc. They are told by their manager and coach to take 2 or 3 passes and den get rid of it. Shocking stuff really, don t think i ll bother coming from ennis to the games anymore till he gets sacked. Its embarrassing to watch at times. Rant over

[kingpin4]

After sleeping on it and thinking bout it more, I still blame the players last night for that. The tactics excuse is poor, because they're not 15 year olds. We have strong experienced players in the team and squad, if they're not happy with tactics, you'd see them change it. they're not stupid like, Joe would pick a 5 yard pass over hoofing it, you can see it with Bradley too when he came on. Tried to keep it down and pass. The problem then lies with the defence, they won't play it to the midfielders and instead kick long for Denis. And if you think about the start of the season as a whole, Paddy has been awful, Andrew has been awful and Guthrie/ Corie have been doing (reasonably) ok.
I get the impression Scully has told them to get it down to the midfielders, but they get the ball, play it back to Barry and it's kicked long again. I don't know how much blame can be put on Scully when he's screaming at them to keep it down and giving out about Barry going long.
Paddy needs to get himself right though, he escapes criticism far too often.

[fieldofmarkets]

Its true that if our defense did not let in two howlers we win the game 1-0............but we can't be relying on semi professional players never making mistakes and nicking games by a goal all season. The entire league knows we have significantly the strongest squad in the 1st division but right now we will not beat Longford to the title and we are not even a lock for second. We should be playing in a manner that relies on what our competitive advantage over the other squads is. Good players...so let's have them play. We rarely do play, so despite what Scully is heard shouting during games, it means we are not working on it during training. Is it possible to win a league by direct balls? Can stay up successfully or even finish a decent mid table alright...but can't dominate or win a title I would think.

We don't need new players...the change we need is obvious.

[bluewhitearmy]

After sleeping on it and thinking bout it more, I still blame the players last night for that. The tactics excuse is poor, because they're not 15 year olds. We have strong experienced players in the team and squad, if they're not happy with tactics, you'd see them change it. they're not stupid like, Joe would pick a 5 yard pass over hoofing it, you can see it with Bradley too when he came on. Tried to keep it down and pass. The problem then lies with the defence, they won't play it to the midfielders and instead kick long for Denis. And if you think about the start of the season as a whole, Paddy has been awful, Andrew has been awful and Guthrie/ Corie have been doing (reasonably) ok.
I get the impression Scully has told them to get it down to the midfielders, but they get the ball, play it back to Barry and it's kicked long again. I don't know how much blame can be put on Scully when he's screaming at them to keep it down and giving out about Barry going long.
Paddy needs to get himself right though, he escapes criticism far too often.

As one of the players said himself he says that in the dug out in front of people but before the game and at half time the players are told go direct to Behan...Whats the point telling em one thing before the game the opposite during the game and then back to the first thing at half time. Terrible terrible management and i was backing Scully up until very recently. I talked to 3 players lastnight 2 that played in the game 1 that didnt and none of them are happy with Scully.

[passandmove]

Ya lads i was at the game last night,same old story big game limerick lose.The distribution of our goalkeeper and two centre halves was shocking.The 2 biggest things any manager will ask for is time and money,pat scully has been given more than enough of both,fans are the heartbeat of any club and any person i spoke to last night wants him out,the only bit of value i got last night was watching k gillespie play.

[donnrua]

Fair enough individual errors cost us the 2 goals but the fact that we created next to nothing over the course of the match and had most of the team playing out of position as well as a few players that should be nowhere near a league of Ireland side does not show our manager to be any great footballing mastermind. Some have said that they were behind the dugout and heard Scully lambasting the players for not doing what he wanted, lets be clear on one thing that team on the pitch last night was Scully's team, outside of Paddy I believe that every player was signed by Scully and if he cant get HIS players to do what they are told to do the blame rests on Scully's shoulders. Straight from the 1st whistle Longford played all the football and it still took Scully an hour to make changes and even then there was no improvement.

[blueblood]

[QUOTE=kingpin4;1586551]How people can blame Scully for that is beyond me. I'm not his greatest fan, but it's 90% the players' faults tonight.

Scully obviously dosn't know what he's doing so how the hell are the players supposed to know, no consistency, no confidence, no passion, no hope!

Was scully interview for on radio this morning?

[Targetman]

Probably one of the worst games of football I have ever watched. That performance made the Irish national team look like Barca. Ryan constantly hoofing balls to Behan, when it could have been played out from the back. Then when we got possession and had time and space it was like a competition to see who could kick the ball the longest / highest. Constantly hoofing the ball in the direction of a player, looking to feed of scraps or win the second ball. The tactics are clearly coming from the manager, even if he tries to save face in the dugout. No complaints can be made about the pitch ect as Longford were well able to play ball, with far inferior players. Gillespie was outstanding for them I thought. Obviously a fair percent of the criticism should be directed towards the players as well, some of them seemed to be just going through the motions. With the quality in this team we realistically should be walking this division. Cannot for the life of me see Scully getting sacked though, signed a 2 year deal towards the end of last season which would have to be paid out if we did.

[Minesapint]

As one of the players said himself he says that in the dug out in front of people but before the game and at half time the players are told go direct to Behan...Whats the point telling em one thing before the game the opposite during the game and then back to the first thing at half time. Terrible terrible management and i was backing Scully up until very recently. I talked to 3 players lastnight 2 that played in the game 1 that didnt and none of them are happy with Scully.

Scully should go but he wont, but players should take a share of the blame as well and telling you what was said at half time shows you some players are not committed, last night some players didnt try not all some, the chairman has to take a share of the blame with the board.

[bluewhitearmy]

Scully should go but he wont, but players should take a share of the blame as well and telling you what was said at half time shows you some players are not committed, last night some players didnt try not all some, the chairman has to take a share of the blame with the board.

There is definitely some not committed at all there is also a lot just fed up of Scully i reckon.

[CraftyToePoke]

I think its a long way back for Scully from here to have the fans fully behind him ever again. I think it may be a false dawn and a big game home loss too many, Limerick had to win last night, not convincingly, but with a bit of style to their play. The money has been spent, time and patience allotted to him. No two ways, he must be under pressure now and know it.

Any link to a radio interview with him yet ?

Again, I cant comment on the style as I wasn't there but my father was at the game, his first game this season, after stopping going regularly about half way through last season, and he won't be back for a bit after that he said, not good to watch, just not an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours.

The support is there(and would grow quickly I believe), the ground soon will be, good squad, infrastructure, chairman, but it doesn't look like Scully is the man for his role at Limerick F.C. I have backed him till now also.

[thomas72]

scully said on the radio that not one player can hold there head up high after that performance said everyone was poor also said he expects a bit more professional from the players that longford wanted it more. that right there says it all for me. if he cant get the team up for a top of the table clash then we are in serious trouble he needs to go.

some players to me dont want to be hear just happy to collect there wage pack at the end of the week

[Minesapint]

scully said on the radio that not one player can hold there head up high after that performance said everyone was poor also said he expects a bit more professional from the players that longford wanted it more. that right there says it all for me. if he cant get the team up for a top of the table clash then we are in serious trouble he needs to go.

some players to me dont want to be hear just happy to collect there wage pack at the end of the week

Who would be a replacement

[blueblood]

Who would be a replacement

Anyone

[Jofspring]

Who would be a replacement

Pete Mahon. He'd get the best out of the team, have them playing football, knows some of the players and is well able to spot good young players and get them playing at a high level. We have a fantastic squad and under19's that he would have to chose from.

[Minesapint]

Pete Mahon. He'd get the best out of the team, have them playing football, knows some of the players and is well able to spot good young players and get them playing at a high level. We have a fantastic squad and under19's that he would have to chose from.

I cant see many of the 19s getting a chance in the league , first team players on big wages wont be dropped, pete mahon would be a great capture but scully wont be sacked nor will he walk.