Alex Neil

[VERNON ALLAT]

For some reason probably because I think his tactics are crap especially at home,I really can’t take to him.
He seems frustrated with his players dishing out bollockings left right and centre. Not that he had a “stellar career” himself playing for rubbish teams in Scotland!
He has to give Harrop a chance, a run of 5 or 6 games to realise his potential.
We talk about exiting football I think it is drab and boring and this is from last season attending home and away.
Don’t get me wrong away performances far outweighed our home games by sitting back and counter attacking last season BUT IT DOESNT WORK AT HOME!
if he signed Moult give the guy a chance we have not seen him have a consistent run in the team, he must be totally pissed off and I don’t blame him. One upfront will never work be expansive play 3.5.2 Barkhuzen may flourish as attacking wing back because at the moment he is miles away from the player under Grayson. Hughes looks great going forward so will be comfortable.
Storey Davies and Hunts for experience in the middle would be a fantastic attacking back 5.
However Neil has no plan B or even A at the moment apart from spitting his water on the floor and totally demoralising the players on the pitch with his rollockings.
Not for me just my opinion and from what I have witnessed over 40 odd games home and away.

 

[PrestonUltras81]

For some reason probably because I think his tactics are crap especially at home,I really can’t take to him.
He seems frustrated with his players dishing out bollockings left right and centre. Not that he had a “stellar career” himself playing for rubbish teams in Scotland!
He has to give Harrop a chance, a run of 5 or 6 games to realise his potential.
We talk about exiting football I think it is drab and boring and this is from last season attending home and away.
Don’t get me wrong away performances far outweighed our home games by sitting back and counter attacking last season BUT IT DOESNT WORK AT HOME!
if he signed Moult give the guy a chance we have not seen him have a consistent run in the team, he must be totally pissed off and I don’t blame him. One upfront will never work be expansive play 3.5.2 Barkhuzen may flourish as attacking wing back because at the moment he is miles away from the player under Grayson. Hughes looks great going forward so will be comfortable.
Storey Davies and Hunts for experience in the middle would be a fantastic attacking back 5.
However Neil has no plan B or even A at the moment apart from spitting his water on the floor and totally demoralising the players on the pitch with his rollockings.
Not for me just my opinion and from what I have witnessed over 40 odd games home and away.

you cant take to the manage who got the same team 7th last season 2pts off play offs and just having a sticky patch at the moment with 40 games left? u can have ur opinion but wow that's impatient.

 

[White123]

For some reason probably because I think his tactics are crap especially at home,I really can’t take to him.
He seems frustrated with his players dishing out bollockings left right and centre. Not that he had a “stellar career” himself playing for rubbish teams in Scotland!
He has to give Harrop a chance, a run of 5 or 6 games to realise his potential.
We talk about exiting football I think it is drab and boring and this is from last season attending home and away.
Don’t get me wrong away performances far outweighed our home games by sitting back and counter attacking last season BUT IT DOESNT WORK AT HOME!
if he signed Moult give the guy a chance we have not seen him have a consistent run in the team, he must be totally pissed off and I don’t blame him. One upfront will never work be expansive play 3.5.2 Barkhuzen may flourish as attacking wing back because at the moment he is miles away from the player under Grayson. Hughes looks great going forward so will be comfortable.
Storey Davies and Hunts for experience in the middle would be a fantastic attacking back 5.
However Neil has no plan B or even A at the moment apart from spitting his water on the floor and totally demoralising the players on the pitch with his rollockings.
Not for me just my opinion and from what I have witnessed over 40 odd games home and away.

I get you are entitled to your opinion but you claim you go home and away yet say we are a counter attacking team last season. We wasn't. In a few games this season we have played counter attacking football but our football for the majority of last season was all based on the high press. That is the total opposite to counter attacking football so my opinion is what bloody games did you watch? Not only that we had more possession then the other team in most of our matches and always tried to attack the other team.

One up front got us to the highest league finish in 10 years so my opinion is you don't have a clue what you are on about.

And playing 3-5-2. Are you Simon Grayson in disguise?

 

[California_PNE]

For some reason probably because I think his tactics are crap especially at home,I really can’t take to him.
He seems frustrated with his players dishing out bollockings left right and centre. Not that he had a “stellar career” himself playing for rubbish teams in Scotland!
He has to give Harrop a chance, a run of 5 or 6 games to realise his potential.
We talk about exiting football I think it is drab and boring and this is from last season attending home and away.
Don’t get me wrong away performances far outweighed our home games by sitting back and counter attacking last season BUT IT DOESNT WORK AT HOME!
if he signed Moult give the guy a chance we have not seen him have a consistent run in the team, he must be totally pissed off and I don’t blame him. One upfront will never work be expansive play 3.5.2 Barkhuzen may flourish as attacking wing back because at the moment he is miles away from the player under Grayson. Hughes looks great going forward so will be comfortable.
Storey Davies and Hunts for experience in the middle would be a fantastic attacking back 5.
However Neil has no plan B or even A at the moment apart from spitting his water on the floor and totally demoralising the players on the pitch with his rollockings.
Not for me just my opinion and from what I have witnessed over 40 odd games home and away.

It's a valid post imo and you've every right to voice your concerns.
For me your point on harrop should be aimed at harrop, what the fuck are you adding to the team lad? He needs to earn his shirt as much as a critique to be given a chance.
Formation I get I am equally frustrated, but this was before we sold Hugill and Cunningham. I am 100% behind Alex Neil I think he's a fantastic manager. He's our leader and we need to support him hope he knows we're behind him.

 

[RVW]

Not that he had a “stellar career” himself playing for rubbish teams in Scotland!

Just asking as I genuinely have not researched it, but what sort of playing career did "the special one" or "the normal one" have?

Without checking, I think it is safe to say that some top managers had less than stellar careers playing the game at whatever level.

I think it is agreed by many on here that David Moyes was one of our best post war managers, and did OK at Everton, but he was by no means a top player spending all or most of his English career playing outside the premiership/old div one.

 

[White123]

Just asking as I genuinely have not researched it, but what sort of playing career did "the special one" or "the normal one" have?

Without checking, I think it is safe to say that some top managers had less than stellar careers playing the game at whatever level.

I think it is agreed by many on here that David Moyes was one of our best post war managers, and did OK at Everton, but he was by no means a top player spending all or most of his English career playing outside the premiership/old div one.

Alex Ferguson spent all of his career in Scotland where as Jurgen Klopp spent most of his career at Mainz 05 who aren't a big German club.

 

[pnemann10]

I'm disappointed with the lack of opportunities for Josh Earl. Looked very assured in his run last season and has been in the games he's been given this season. I'm not sure Neil is the man for young inexperienced players though.

 

[pne4ever]

Whoever we have for our manager will, it seems, always divide opinion. Personally Graham Alexander was my first choice but at the moment AN has my support. How long that support remains, I don't know but I'm willing to wait until Christmas and then reassess if there has been no improvement. We are going through a bad patch for whatever reason but it's still early in the season. Three wins on the trot and we'll be in the top ten, hopefully soon.

 

[Tino]

For some reason probably because I think his tactics are crap especially at home,I really can’t take to him.
He seems frustrated with his players dishing out bollockings left right and centre. Not that he had a “stellar career” himself playing for rubbish teams in Scotland!
He has to give Harrop a chance, a run of 5 or 6 games to realise his potential.
We talk about exiting football I think it is drab and boring and this is from last season attending home and away.
Don’t get me wrong away performances far outweighed our home games by sitting back and counter attacking last season BUT IT DOESNT WORK AT HOME!
if he signed Moult give the guy a chance we have not seen him have a consistent run in the team, he must be totally pissed off and I don’t blame him. One upfront will never work be expansive play 3.5.2 Barkhuzen may flourish as attacking wing back because at the moment he is miles away from the player under Grayson. Hughes looks great going forward so will be comfortable.
Storey Davies and Hunts for experience in the middle would be a fantastic attacking back 5.
However Neil has no plan B or even A at the moment apart from spitting his water on the floor and totally demoralising the players on the pitch with his rollockings.
Not for me just my opinion and from what I have witnessed over 40 odd games home and away.

A lot of people won't like your post but some of if resonates with me really.

We didn't see much if any improvement in entertainment last season, which was disappointing after a very promising start with the performances against Sheff Wed, Reading and Cardiff coming by mid September but we followed that with a lot of dross. Wolves, Bristol City and Fulham were all decent performances but they were in Feb/March.

We also became a bit of a soft touch. Derby hadn't won in 8 and came and won the game which effectively put them in the PO's over us. Ipswich had 2 wins in 12 and came and won 1-0. Sunderland had lost 7 of their previous 9 before we were lucky to get a 2-2 draw against them. Brentford 2 wins from 9 before they did what they always seem to, B'ham had lost 9 of previous 15 when we scrapped a 1-1 home draw, Reading had 2 wins from 20 and 9 defeats in 17 before they beat us 1-0.

I also don't like the way he throws the bottles around or kicks bins over. It only seems to be for certain players as well. He also flogged Barkhuizen and Maguire last season and played Bodin 15 times from January yet dismissed Horgan (who is needed now) based on 5-10 minutes here and there.

The lack of playing other formations is a frustration as well. It's fine working on 4231 and having a system, but when it doesn't work there needs to be a plan to change. I think the players have been drilled so much there's not much fluidity in their play. Last week vs Bolton it needed someone to just sit in on Ameobi for 10-15 minutes but no one did. I was also frustrated by every sub change used to be just swapping his wide players. It seems to be all he tries rather than going 2 up, or 3 at the back, or going narrower up top etc etc.

However, despite all that (!) we finished 7th, he got a lot out of players who lets face it we were on the fence about - Davies and Browne the main ones and our away form was absolutely tremendous. He deserves massive credit for that. But doesn't for identifying back in October we were struggling to break teams down at home yet did little to rectify it.

He's also on a 40% win record so far, something not to be sniffed at. And lets face it whoever is manager there'll always be faults or traits that we don't like... I said all along he'd have 3 years to implement what he was trying to do for me so still plenty of time left to see the required improvements.

Just asking as I genuinely have not researched it, but what sort of playing career did "the special one" or "the normal one" have?

Without checking, I think it is safe to say that some top managers had less than stellar careers playing the game at whatever level.

I think it is agreed by many on here that David Moyes was one of our best post war managers, and did OK at Everton, but he was by no means a top player spending all or most of his English career playing outside the premiership/old div one.

Aye it's irrelevant really, particularly these days. But he played for Airdrie, Barnsley (against us a few times), Mansfield and then Hamilton where he then went into management.

 

[SuffolknWhat]

I'm disappointed with the lack of opportunities for Josh Earl. Looked very assured in his run last season and has been in the games he's been given this season. I'm not sure Neil is the man for young inexperienced players though.

Unless they are on loan from prem clubs.

 

[kbd_pne]

I'm disappointed with the lack of opportunities for Josh Earl. Looked very assured in his run last season and has been in the games he's been given this season. I'm not sure Neil is the man for young inexperienced players though.

You don’t get a free pass into the team because you’re young and need opportunities. He lost the battle with Hughes in pre-season and now must wait for his chance.

It was AN who threw him in in the first place, with just a few games for Lancaster under his belt, and AN has fielded some of the youngest PNE 11s we’ve seen in years at times.

 

[California_PNE]

think we forget that this fella is one of only a few managers we could actually persuade to come to this club who has taken a team into the premier league
the points highlighted by the posters are all valid and at times i'm totally bemused by formations or lack of reaction to situations in the game
its perspective. over summer we were looking at the highlighted deficiencies being addressed - strengthening the first 11 was all our expectation. but now i think its unfair to be critical with current circumstances what is going on.

 

[Tino]

It was AN who threw him in in the first place, with just a few games for Lancaster under his belt, and AN has fielded some of the youngest PNE 11s we’ve seen in years at times.

Think the stat Sky put up is we had the 3rd or 4th youngest in the league in the game vs Bolton. Think Brentford were the youngest and Wigan 2nd.

over summer we were looking at the highlighted deficiencies being addressed - strengthening the first 11 was all our expectation. but now i think its unfair to be critical with current circumstances what is going on.

Do you mean with the current players missing, or in general? We didn't get the front man he wanted but he did make 7 additions, ok if you take Crowe out that's 6. There's been a major overreaction over the fact we didn't recruit one extra player in the summer, some even suggesting we "don't have a plan".

Let's be clear I wanted a front man and argued for it over the last 6 months on here, I was actually quite keen on Moore from what I'd seen, as did the manager, but there seems to have been an eruption on anything and everything due to the non signing of 1 player.

 

[California_PNE]

tino
lets face it, its a key position when you only play one up there
lets not pretend everything is rosy in the nobbers garden, its shite mate, the general atomos is bad and people are rightly fucked off with it all
add maguire and bodin just for a bit more gloom, cant afford to stand still for one second

 

[Madferret]

tino
lets face it, its a key position when you only play one up there
lets not pretend everything is rosy in the nobbers garden, its shite mate, the general atomos is bad and people are rightly fucked off with it all
add maguire and bodin just for a bit more gloom, cant afford to stand still for one second

The atmosphere at almost every club is poor, can be partly put down to all seater stadia. Where’s the evidence that “people are...fucked off with it all?”. We’ve lost key players, had a couple of poor results and a couple of players have been a bit indisciplined, other than that there are plenty of grounds for optimism. Couple of wins and it’ll be reet!

 

[Tino]

tino
lets face it, its a key position when you only play one up there
lets not pretend everything is rosy in the nobbers garden, its shite mate, the general atomos is bad and people are rightly fucked off with it all
add maguire and bodin just for a bit more gloom, cant afford to stand still for one second

My point is it only went doom and gloom very quickly after a striker wasn't signed. Suddenly everything was being questioned. Then it seemed to go into meltdown and suddenly we were in a relegation fight! Bit extreme in my view.

 

[Regardless]

I'm disappointed with the lack of opportunities for Josh Earl. Looked very assured in his run last season and has been in the games he's been given this season. I'm not sure Neil is the man for young inexperienced players though.

Wow

Whoever we have for our manager will, it seems, always divide opinion. Personally Graham Alexander was my first choice but at the moment AN has my support. How long that support remains, I don't know but I'm willing to wait until Christmas and then reassess if there has been no improvement. We are going through a bad patch for whatever reason but it's still early in the season. Three wins on the trot and we'll be in the top ten, hopefully soon.

Wow

 

[paolo poggi]

For some reason probably because I think his tactics are crap especially at home,I really can’t take to him.
He seems frustrated with his players dishing out bollockings left right and centre. Not that he had a “stellar career” himself playing for rubbish teams in Scotland!
He has to give Harrop a chance, a run of 5 or 6 games to realise his potential.
We talk about exiting football I think it is drab and boring and this is from last season attending home and away.
Don’t get me wrong away performances far outweighed our home games by sitting back and counter attacking last season BUT IT DOESNT WORK AT HOME!
if he signed Moult give the guy a chance we have not seen him have a consistent run in the team, he must be totally pissed off and I don’t blame him. One upfront will never work be expansive play 3.5.2 Barkhuzen may flourish as attacking wing back because at the moment he is miles away from the player under Grayson. Hughes looks great going forward so will be comfortable.
Storey Davies and Hunts for experience in the middle would be a fantastic attacking back 5.
However Neil has no plan B or even A at the moment apart from spitting his water on the floor and totally demoralising the players on the pitch with his rollockings.
Not for me just my opinion and from what I have witnessed over 40 odd games home and away.

You have used words like - bollockings - and drab, boring with reference to last season. You are totally guessing that Moult is "totally pissed off" and your suggestion that he has no plan A is invalid. You then go on to imply that spitting water on the floor is somehow a significant indicator of poor management.
You're entitled to your view, but yours is absent of objectivity, your mind is made up and as result it is difficult to take your view with anything other than a pinch of salt.

 

[paolo poggi]

The Championship is the toughest league in the country for all 24 clubs (the top flight is multi-levelled and a fairly easy ride for the big 6), especially for North End who are the poor neighbours. I would suggest it would be naive to continue to demand flowing, attacking football during this season, given the savvy opposition teams who set their stalls out to absorb attacking pressure from the home team and catch goals on the break, as do North End away from home.
North End conceded goals last season shortly after they were up the other end taking a corner.
Its a cagey, physical league with cunning visiting managers determined to pounce if the home team loses their defensive shape for an instant.
Neil is hard working, leaves no stone un-turned to get things right, and cares about his job enough to be a good thing for North End. I think at least 3 players improved under Neil, including old-boy Gallagher, Browne, Huntington and Robinson.

 

[PNEroulette]

He has his weaknesses mainly strategy/tactics and potentially recruitment. But he appears a very strong motivator of players and expects a lot from them.
Overall, at this stage ,would say he is a good manager for us to have in this league . If he was very good in all areas then lets be honest he wouldn't be here very long.