Merson - How Long Do We Give Him?

By Neil Ravenscroft
August 23 2004

We knew Merson had a lot to learn when he got the job, but how long can we afford to wait as the gap to the top begins to widen already?

There is always a risk with appointing any inexperienced manager, so I was hoping that Merson would look for an "old head" for his number two. Instead we get an ex physio and two coaches who have never been defenders.

We lose a shed load of players on relegation and get an opportunity to rebuild the squad. What do we end up with? A squad of 29, only ONE of which (Kinsella) could be described as a defensive midfielder, no cover in defence and more strikers and attacking midfielders than you can shake a stick at. A worryingly large number of the players in the key positions are first year pros.

We narrowly win 3 - 2 at home in the first game of the season, showing defensive frailties. Since then, we have proceeded to leak in another 9 goals in three games, with little sign of that flow being stemmed. Sure we are scoring goals, but we are not picking up any wins.

So we come to Barnsley on Saturday. Tactically inept, seemingly no instructions on defending set pieces, no focus to the team, no cohesion and no options to change things on the bench, other than more of the same.

If Merson is learning from his mistakes, I hate to think how bad the other performances have been.

I'm sorry to say it, but, unless he shows some signs soon of sorting things out, I'll be saying it's time he buggered off somewhere else to learn his trade and we get in a proper manager who can get us back out of this division upwards.