I think Big Dave will get things right if he is given the right support, but I do feel that the club have stitched him up a bit, like our lack of a left footed centre half & decent right back for a start. It's early days with the style of play so we have to accept there will be games where we will be nullified by more experienced managers. Big Dave is methodical & he will learn from these situations, but we have to back him as mistakes will happen, what is important is how he learns to react to them. My biggest worry would be January when we will really find out where the club is going, if they are going to back his ambition.
A point I would make is that when you are on the touchline you do not get a great view of the play & sometimes I think help is needed from a higher vantage point especially in the first half so that things can be addressed at half time by the coaching team, because that's when a change was needed to be made today. I also think this is why sometimes we are not proactive with subs when they are needed & the wrong players get taken off. The question we need to ask is do we still have or use a performance analyst, because if we do then questions need to be raised about his/her performance as they should really be carrying out this role & advising accordingly.
On todays game my biggest problem is why we are playing Mears. Having seen the games where he has been playing in the team, you have to question what does he offer, because yet again from what i have seen of him today we are basically playing with 10 men when he is on the pitch. He cost us bookings, the injury to Dawson & the goal today. He just cannot read the game & his movement is woeful to the extent that the team are frightened to put the ball down that wing, because when they did he offered no movement, it just came backwards, he was constantly out of position, the wrong side of players when defending & that was basically our problem today. Other players are having to cover for him & its costing us. I think he is well past his sell by date & we surely have better options. Other people may not agree but a performance coaching student highlighted these points with me today during the game.