Thoughts on Ian Foster

[memory man]

I keep on agreeing with you. Should I be worried? Yes, this is what Stoke did and it seemed to raise their spirits and results. Complete silence fuels rumour and speculation, and I would say leads to fans screaming abuse. I think Foster should have gone after the Wednesday game, but he’s clearly not going anywhere soon, and he was right to say the abuse was unhelpful. If you’re mad Foster is here, blame the board I guess if you have to blame anyone, but back the team because they hear the same chants.

I think you are forgetting that it only worked until they got pasted at home by Norwich. Straight away the same fans who praised the Preston win were out in force on the Oafcakes forum wanting Schumacher out, Coates out, the players were rubbish again. There is only one thing that stops all the negativity and that is winning, or at worst, drawing football matches.

 

[Guiri Green]

I feel if we get relegated we would lose a lot of the crowd on match days with the poor football on offer currently. (supprised how many tickets are left for Norwich BTW, that wouldn't happen earlier in the season). The 'Argyle blew it as usual' and back to becoming a regular league 1 club is our level.
We really need to stay up this season with the new TV deal being nearly 6 million more than league 1, and therefore the gap widening.

So, as long suspected, there's a huge chunk of Argyle’s support that "only sing when they're winning".

 

[GreenEden]

May have got lost in the dedicated thread, but some fairly startling stats from One Team in Devon newsletter to indicate how differently we're now playing, especially offensively (though an improvement defensively, in fairness). And I do not like the sound of 'launches'

Ian Foster's stats analysed: Fozball vs Schumacher – and can we stay up?

Exactly how have Argyle changed under Foster? Spoiler: a lot.

oneteamindevon.substack.com

Now that's a statistical approach

 

[jimsing]

On our budget, we were doing OK and sitting in lower mid-table when Schumacher walked out. Our away from was poor but at home, we were very good.

We are now one poor result away from being in the drop zone after 2 months of watching boring, turgid football after being promised a continuation of the attacking football we had become accustomed to. We can barely muster a shot on goal at home, never mind actually win a game.

Our demise is not so much because of the budget, it's more to do with the tactics employed by the Southgate clone that Dewsnip appointed.

I agree with some of what you are saying but you cannot get away from the fact that the club have employed Foster as their head coach and that is not going to change.

He is not going to suddenly change to Shuey's model of playing. It would have been very difficult for anyone to come in when we employed him. The situation got worse when we also lost players. We could not afford to replace them with Championship quality players because of our budget and Foster decided to bring in the England quality youngsters that he knew and could play according to his gameplay.

We do not know what was said between him and DOF, CEO or SH regarding his priorities, it looks as if he had been advised, or he decided, to redress the defensive failures (primarily, in my view, as a result of Shuey's gung-ho tactics, which were unsustainable).

Our forward play was severely disrupted by the return and subsequent sale of Finn Azaz, who could not be replaced due to budget.

It is now down to Foster to ensure the players we have got to get the points that we need, but in my opinion we are less of a team than we were under Shuey or, indeed, than we were last season, which is down to budget.

 

[demportdave]

Not sure what you're talking about. I have never thought for a moment that Argyle would sack Foster, Dewsnip would not allow that to happen.

We're stuck with Foster until Xmas at least, whatever Division we're in.

I was just making the point that our demise under Foster is not down to the budget, that's too easy an excuse.

To look at it the other way, there are a number of teams around and below us in the Championship who have a playing budget that's 2, 3 times and more compared to ours, proving that it's not just about the budget.

 

[plym1969]

When things start to go badly the players,family and friends start to talk. More and more rumours emerge.
It would appear that the dressing room has been lost. It's the players v the manager. They think he's out of his depth and doesn't know what he is doing. They don't like him as a person.
Will the new coach Simon Ireland be able to improve things or has the tide turned too much already?
We've all been here before as supporters. History repeating itself.
IMO: After PNE Foster should have been sacked. The rumours only confirm what we have seen as supporters since January.
Schumacher absolutely stuffed us with his timing and decimation of the back room staff but Hallett, Dewnsip and Parkinson have made their first very bad decision in appointing Foster.

 

[WoodsyGreen]

To look at it the other way, there are a number of teams around and below us in the Championship who have a playing budget that's 2, 3 times and more compared to ours, proving that it's not just about the budget.

And how many of those teams lost two key players in January? Two players who had, let's say, 26 goals and assists between them?

Budget quickly becomes extremely relevant when clubs start recalling your loanees and you don't have a pot to pee in to source their replacements. Twenty-six goals and assists FFS.

 

[jimsing]

Not sure what you're talking about. I have never thought for a moment that Argyle would sack Foster, Dewsnip would not allow that to happen.

We're stuck with Foster until Xmas at least, whatever Division we're in.

I was just making the point that our demise under Foster is not down to the budget, that's too easy an excuse.

To look at it the other way, there are a number of teams around and below us in the Championship who have a playing budget that's 2, 3 times and more compared to ours, proving that it's not just about the budget.

Not sure what you are talking about, Dave, because if we are doing as well or better than those clubs around us who have far higher budgets then we are still over performing aren't we?

We should be where Rotherham is, but we aren't. We are over achieving.

I grant you that the last two or three games were frustrating and we should have done better, though.

 

[mutley marvel]

We have what we have until the end of the season
The Head Coach has employed tactics that has removed sunshine & replaced it with dark clouds
The players are not enjoying it & neither are the fans
The boys need us to be the 12th man until the end of the season
The last 8 games will probably be turgid but it will not be through the players lack of effort, desire & commitment
I don't care how we accumulate points we just need to pick up points
Blood & snotters for 8 games will suit me so long as we are above the dotted line come the final whistle of the final game
Maybe the Head Coach will keep us in the Championship but over the close season our Custodian will mull over what we need to make us more competitive in the Championship next season & maybe a change in Head Coach will be one of his considerations

 

[freathyd]

We have what we have until the end of the season
The Head Coach has employed tactics that has removed sunshine & replaced it with dark clouds
The players are not enjoying it & neither are the fans
The boys need us to be the 12th man until the end of the season
The last 8 games will probably be turgid but it will not be through the players lack of effort, desire & commitment
I don't care how we accumulate points we just need to pick up points
Blood & snotters for 8 games will suit me so long as we are above the dotted line come the final whistle of the final game
Maybe the Head Coach will keep us in the Championship but over the close season our Custodian will mull over what we need to make us more competitive in the Championship next season & maybe a change in Head Coach will be one of his considerations

A change in head coach SHOULD be NO1 priority whichever division we are in

 

[BramcoteGreen]

Who knows if the dressing room don’t like the manager? Any manager would have struggled to replicate that bond but any manager would expect Championship professionals to pass the ball accurately and have good ball control.At times this just hasn’t happened but I don’t know why.Play better,stay up and make good decisions at the end of the season which applies to every employee at Argyle and the Chairman!

 

[demportdave]

Not sure what you are talking about, Dave, because if we are doing as well or better than those clubs around us who have far higher budgets then we are still over performing aren't we?

We should be where Rotherham is, but we aren't. We are over achieving.

I grant you that the last two or three games were frustrating and we should have done better, though.

Yes, of course we are over performing in strictly budgetry terms, but that is exactly what Hallett set out to do and we were pretty good at it until quite recently.

Out-smarting the clubs with more money is the club's stated MO and I don't think there is a single Argyle fan who is not aware of that.

But on your logic, the League table should be based solely on each club's budget. In your world, it makes no difference how well run the club is and the way in which the Manager performs to get the very best out of the players he has.

We out-performed the likes of Ipswich, Sheffield Wednesday, Derby and a few others last season and it was working quite well this season until Foster took over.

Now we have a Manager who is stifling our creativity with Southgate-type negativity and who can't wait to tell everyone how good our opponents are.

 

[Balham Green]

Yes, of course we are over performing in strictly budgetry terms, but that is exactly what Hallett set out to do and we were pretty good at it until quite recently.

Out-smarting the clubs with more money is the club's stated MO and I don't think there is a single Argyle fan who is not aware of that.

But on your logic, the League table should be based solely on each club's budget. In your world, it makes no difference how well run the club is and the way in which the Manager performs to get the very best out of the players he has.

We out-performed the likes of Ipswich, Sheffield Wednesday, Derby and a few others last season and it was working quite well this season until Foster took over.

Now we have a Manager who is stifling our creativity with Southgate-type negativity and who can't wait to tell everyone how good our opponents are.

Bit tedious this oh its all about the manager stifling players etc. Losing Azaz was a big loss by itself. Add to that Cundle and KKH and home games against top 5 teams, who could well be in Premier League next season, it was always going to be difficult.Is tye lack of striker options dating back to start of season IFs fault also? I dont see why this is so hard to understand.

 

[Green gino]

Bit tedious this oh its all about the manager stifling players etc. Losing Azaz was a big loss by itself. Add to that Cundle and KKH and home games against top 5 teams, who could well be in Premier League next season, it was always going to be difficult.Is tye lack of striker options dating back to start of season IFs fault also? I dont see why this is so hard to understand.

Really .

 

[memory man]

Really .

Yes, really. Makes perfect sense.