Very nice. But regardless of the intra-game metrics, it's the aggregate 90 minute result that counts and speaks loudest. At the end of 7 games, Sheehan harvested more points, had a better position in the table, had resolved a negative situation into a positive situation and was on a positive trajectory. Duff and Williams were/are not.
Sheehan consistently spoke pre-match about how he was looking at ways to hurt the opposition and working with the squad to implement. Sheehan was clearly irritated post-match when the effort and execution was not what he wanted. Williams speaks of bravery ... whatever the fuck that means ... and "players were tired" and the "quality of the opposition" .... all excuses. Williams seems to operate regardless of the opposition in exactly the same way as though banging your head consistently against the wall is going to make the headache go away.
Sheehan took us away from the threat of relegation. Williams has dumped us right back in it.
And as I summarized in my last post on the Ipswich thread: Sheehan demonstrated what this squad, properly organized and motivated, can achieve. Duff and Williams have demonstrated the exact opposite. Where does the fault lie? Same players, totally different outcomes! It's not the players.
Williams has to start harvesting points now. He has to start being tactically aware, coaching to the immediate situation and the opposition and not the delusion he has in his head. Because the numbers don't lie ... it's not working ... he's not working. Williams has to put a competitive team on the field regardless of the opposition and how star-spangled-wonderful he thinks they are. We're playing fucking Leeds not City ... Do I have to remind us how we performed in the last two times we played City in cup competitions. We lost, but we competed, looked the part and made them earn their win - and but for some dubious officiating we should have won the first game even with all of City's top guns on the field at the end of the match.
Williams uses "bravery", fatigue, the quality of the opposition as excuses. The reasons for his failing lies elsewhere. You can't fix excuses, you can look at the root cause of reasons and fix those. We lost badly to Leeds not because of bravery/fatigue/quality, but because we went into the match tactically blind, with an absurdly naïve approach that we are no where close to mastering, that permitted Leeds to play to their strengths, and exposed our vulnerabilities. Those are the reasons. This is not good management. This is stupid.