Clemence's latest comments | Page 2 | Vital Football

Clemence's latest comments

Buddha said:
So you want pace, power, strength plus excitement too? You don't want much, do you?!

I'd be up for whatever it takes to get us out of the basement, or exciting and attractive football.

Like you, I'm inclined to think we need pace, power and physicality to succeed in this division. But if SC can get us promoted playing football the 'right way' (imo, this means the passing game, predominantly on the deck rather than in the air) it'd make me very happy. I'm not convinced he (or many) can achieve this, but I'm more than happy for him to be given a full pre-season and season to attempt try.

There are no guarantees and this applies to either SC or some new manager. It seems to me that a lot of our fans lack patience, which is a strange thing given our history.
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I felt like the early wins under Harris this season were appalling to watch, but more importantly it felt like we won DESPITE the way we played. We created nothing yet flukes a goal, but knew before long our luck would run out.

We have so far played ineffective hoofball and ineffective tippy-happy football. It doesn’t matter what style you play, if you play it shit then you won’t leave this league.

Hoofball to a lone, immobile striker surrounded by giants won’t work. Tippy-tappy football with no movement above the defenders won’t work.

I feel tippy-tappy football will be ok in this league as many strikers) aren't mobile enough for a high press.
 
Buddha said:
What do you make of the bit where he says?
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"...unfortunately we haven’t scored on a regular basis enough, there has been occasion we have done it, we scored three goals on three occasions and come from behind on two or three occasions, which hadn’t been done at the club for a while."
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That is maybe what his remit was, so he is pointing out he is being judged on it rather than the fact that the Harrogate game was the first one we had conceded 5 or more since the Oxford game under Lovell. Walsall game under Millen was the only 4 in that time, I think.

Also it doesn't pay to highlight the fact that we are scoring less than an average of a goal a game, only a fraction more than under NH, so if you removed the three games he is talking about, his goal average is clearly worse than NH's. It is still really down to the inconsistency.

You can always juggle stats to favour yourself and make out you are on course, so he is using his best examples. Fair play to him.
 
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If you were doing a job for many years and a manager came in and told you he wanted you to do the job in a different way it will obviously take you longer while adapting to this knew way of working. When you did it the old way a lot of it was automatic without realising it, but with the new way of working you have to think about every input. This is, I feel, what is happening at the moment, nothing is being done instinctively but having to be thought about. Clemence should now know who will be able to adapt and who will need replacing.
 
The comments by SC make a lot of sense IMO.

Doubt very much he would have given that deep an insight without having first secured the backing of the Gallinsons to do so. It`s also pretty clear that our feeble attempts to secure much needed forwards pre-the season were seriously compounded by failure in the January window. SC didn`t go into details about January, it`s probably not his place to do so but, the actions by Brad and Shannon to subsequently re-structure and define GFC`s management hierarchy, sent a clear enough message.

Also think SC makes fair points about guys like Mahoney and admits that, in terms of new players, he`s yet to heavily influence individual signings - he said that:
"the only person I have brought in to help us so far has been Remeao Hutton, who I think has made a good impact and given us that pace and athleticism"

My read is that BG has indicated that GFC is prepared to spend to recruit appropriate players - in particular pacey, strong forwards. We already have a good core of players and with some new additions the team will be able to spread its skillset/quality across the park, making it more difficult for opponents to concentrate on "stopping" us, allowing our defenders to primarily defend rather than stretch to score goals. SC alluded as such when talking about Mahoney.

It`s understandably taken the Gallinson`s a full season to acclimatize to the EFL and to GFC. Brad & Shannon are clearly astute, quick learners and i`m reassured that 24/25 is going to be our season.

SC`s outward nature at game-time challenges many of us to wonder how effective he is as a manager/head coach. Technically, i`m confident he`s our man but, that doesn`t mean I wouldn`t like to see him a bit more "shouty" at times.
 
If we were taking more of our chances then Harrogate collapse is far less likely to happen. We could have had the game wrapped up at halftime.

The players were obviously feeling the pressure to win. Didn't start the second half well, conceded, panicked, lost shape and discipline.

If we were scoring more goals then the team are more likely to remain focused confident that they can get back on top and get the result they need.
 
markinkent said:
Depends how you interpret this
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Given the professional way the Gallinsons have conducted themselves to date, and the way they went about (and still talk about) the last change of manager, I don't for a second imagine that they would be making cryptic allusions to sacking Clemence in throwaway twitter replies.
 
I'm not convinced that there is a straight choice between direct, fast & strong or tippy happy overpassing. League 2 is far more technical than of old, the coaches & managers have done the same courses as those higher up the pyramid. If you could just buy on 20 players far too good for the division and average manager could win the division.

For most managers it's a balance between what you can assemble with given resources, what the others are capable of and your chosen style.
 
markinkent said:
I was surprised to see Harris sacked but not disappointed. His football was dull to watch.

I liked what Brad said about wanting exciting football, goals and wins. Clemence has only marginally improved on that
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If various sources are correct we are second in the in pay only beaten by Wrexham. If that's the case then Brad was probably expecting a better style of football but I don't think Harris knows another way to play

It's about discipline, not making mistakes, grinding the opposition down, scoring from set pieces. It also requires players who can score living off scraps which we failed to bring in during the summer.

It leads to pretty dismissal football. Brad has bought in a coach to play a different style of football but he is working with Harris style squad.

Let's hope that next season the football is easier on the eyes with plenty of goals and a promotion to top it off. That will validate Brad pulling the plug on Harris when he did because I believe Harris would have had us in the playoffs, I am just not sure I would have been awake for all of it.
 
Comes across as self preservation & covering his back, knowing he's under pressure.

Echoes fans' frustrations about the performance of our recruitment team & in that regard I have sympathy for him.

But the bottom line is that he has not fulfilled his employer's brief. Even if there is a degree of mitigation. Eventually in these circumstances there must be accountability.

My understanding is that one of his selling points was the dossier he had prepared as a blueprint to improve the players he would inherit. Whatever the content, I have not seen any tangible improvement.

Never been a fan of the argument that he hasn't had his own players to work with. Which head coaches & managers do other than the elite? A good coach should be able to improve what is inherited.

Whilst it would be 'fair' to give him another window, for me the fundamental questions to ask is whether he has done enough so far to earn the right to remain & if given new players whether he has demonstrated sufficient tactical acumen or man management skills to get the best out of them?

As you can guess I remain sceptical. Probably not helped by witnessing the Bradford second half.
 
The Surveyor said:
But the bottom line is that he has not fulfilled his employer's brief. Even if there is a degree of mitigation. Eventually in these circumstances there must be accountability.
My understanding is that one of his selling points was the dossier he had prepared as a blueprint to improve the players he would inherit. Whatever the content, I have not seen any tangible improvement.
Never been a fan of the argument that he hasn't had his own players to work with. Which head coaches & managers do other than the elite? A good coach should be able to improve what is inherited.
Whilst it would be 'fair' to give him another window, for me the fundamental questions to ask is whether he has done enough so far to earn the right to remain & if given new players whether he has demonstrated sufficient tactical acumen or man management skills to get the best out of them?
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Those are definitely the key questions, particularly after having one transfer window, as well.

When NH took over at the same transfer window two years earlier he only had a couple of days left and added Ben Thompson and (I think) Masterson on loan, to see him through the rest of the season with Evans' players minus the captain Dempsey who had just left.

So has SC had things harder than that? Remember, the team he took over were 9th rather than deep in a relegation zone.

It would be interesting to hear opinions on which players had shown definite improvement after nearly six months of SC's coaching methods. Most comments are that maybe he has improved the system or pattern of play but I am not sure the same could be said about any individual player.

Maybe we need a lower league Jack Grealish for him to inspire.
 
GillsBluenose said:
Those are definitely the key questions, particularly after having one transfer window, as well.

When NH took over at the same transfer window two years earlier he only had a couple of days left and added Ben Thompson and (I think) Masterson on loan, to see him through the rest of the season with Evans' players minus the captain Dempsey who had just left.

So has SC had things harder than that? Remember, the team he took over were 9th rather than deep in a relegation zone.

It would be interesting to hear opinions on which players had shown definite improvement after nearly six months of SC's coaching methods. Most comments are that maybe he has improved the system or pattern of play but I am not sure the same could be said about any individual player.

Maybe we need a lower league Jack Grealish for him to inspire.
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I think it's pertinent that Clemence only has coaching experience in the top two divisions where players are of a higher technical quality. Perhaps he has underestimated the difference in ability between players at the level he's used to & those plying their trade in L2.
 
Hopefully, next season (assuming he’s still here) he will implement a system that the players can understand.
Successful teams have system and a successful manager knows when and how to tweak it during a match.

For example, in our division, MK play tippy pass pass and pass again.
Wrexham play a powerful quick closing and attacking game.
Stockport load the ball into the box from wide areas.

Gills don’t even know the best lineup after nearly an entire season.
 
The Surveyor said:
I think it's pertinent that Clemence only has coaching experience in the top two divisions where players are of a higher technical quality. Perhaps he has underestimated the difference in ability between players at the level he's used to & those plying their trade in L2.
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Think the problem is that 2 of the three things we lack (goalscoring and pace) you can't coach into players. There is plenty to improve on from our performances under Clemence but IMO the three things we need most are some pace, athleticism/energy and a goalscorer. If we recruit those and we still struggle I don't think Clemence will have anywhere to hide.

If we'd recruited those in the summer I'd doubt we'd even be having this discussion now.

That's on our recruitment team. Even BG said "We know what we need" in the xmas interview and they failed to deliver it in January. If they fail to deliver again in the summer, there'll be no hiding place from the criticism that will come their way ( recruitment team AND BG) again.
 
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Captainreblue said:
Think the problem is that 2 of the three things we lack (goalscoring and pace) you can't coach into players. There is plenty to improve on from our performances under Clemence but IMO the three things we need most are some pace, athleticism/energy and a goalscorer. If we recruit those and we still struggle I don't think Clemence will have anywhere to hide.

If we'd recruited those in the summer I'd doubt we'd even be having this discussion now.

That's on our recruitment team. Even BG said "We know what we need" in the xmas interview and they failed to deliver it in January. If they fail to deliver again in the summer, there'll be no hiding place from the criticism that will come their way ( recruitment team AND BG) again.
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It's a testament to the effectiveness of the recruitment team in that our shopping list for this summer is practically identical to what it was the same time last year & in January of this.

No excuses this time around, none at all. Failure to deliver for the 3rd successive window MUST have consequences for those involved.
 
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