RE: [LU] bits 'n' bobs

[Mark Humphries]

Its almost impossible for a manage to instil confidence in a team of players – if they could do that then they would be worth their weight in gold.   Our lack of performance at home is nothing to do with motivation in my opinion.  It’s a lack of confidence which means players aren’t brave enough to take chances – in fear of fucking up and having the crowd on their backs.   As for training, that’s always a delicate balance – don’t push players hard enough in training and their fitness wains towards the end of the first few league matches.  Push them too hard and you get preseason injuries.   Clearly there was something lacking in our match conditioning – quite possibly the lack of preseason friendlies, and you should know the number and location of preseason friendlies isn’t all down to the manager.  I suspect Blackwell would have wanted more preseason friendlies so he could get all his squad match fit.   Anyhow, it could be worse – look at sunderland.   From: eric barlier [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 25 August 2006 15:53 To: Mark Humphries Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; leedslist@list.zetnet.co.uk Subject: Re: [LU] bits 'n' bobs   its a managers job to make sure his players are motivated and performing at home and away. thats life.  as for injuries: i dont know what injuries they are nor how and what training methods LUFC use, but if  training is shit the players will be prone to injuries, and ultimately this is also the managers responsibility.   my 1487262 pennies worth.    On Aug 25, 2006, at 3:22 PM, Mark Humphries wrote: He is picking the same players home and away so how does that mean its his fault they freeze at home but do ok away?   He has also bemoaned the size of his squad, and we have a fair few injuries and suspensions floating about at the moment – again, I cant see how that’s his fault?   And shipping goals late on is probably due to conditioning, or lack thereof – something you could say is the fault of the management (specifically the fitness coaches), but hardly a terminal fault is it.. and by its very definition likely to improve considerably as the season starts.  Sticking my neck out here, I would say we are much less likely to concede those late goals now.   From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 25 August 2006 15:05 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; leedslist@list.zetnet.co.uk Subject: Re: [LU] bits 'n' bobs   In a message dated 8/25/2006 9:35:33 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: The performances haven't been great at home either, but my point is that this is more down to the players than to any deficiency in our management or coaching. Like to pick a hole in that? Sure, the players are the ones selected by the manager. He's been bleating for the last two seasons that he didn't have "his" team. Now he does. And they're shipping late goals like nobody's business. The buck has to ultimately stop with the manager.   Cheers!   Sean