Carl Curtis : Slip Sliding Away – One man fits the bill

When a manager calls a game a must win but chooses to leave the top scorer on the bench and the best defender we have at the club sat there too, we have to question what the manager is thinking.

I looked at the bench today, Jones, Manga, Fabio, Macheda, Adeyemi, Ralls and Wilson and thought at least we got a strong bench but why are some of those not playing?

Fans right up until yesterday were saying to me we won’t get relegated, simply because the teams in the bottom three are so bad, well those bottom three all gained on us today and I keep reminding people that last season how many pundits and fans said Crystal Palace and Sunderland were certain to be relegated from the Premier League!

We are in a relegation battle there cannot be any doubt about it.

1 win in 9 league games is our form at this moment, there are 18 games left of the season, it doesn’t take much working out does it?

Slade is bringing in players who are not stars, he is restricted in what he can spend but when he leaves our best attacking option on the bench when we are desperate for a win is just indefensible.

Slade is hopelessly out of his depth, he hasn’t got the support staff around to even help him, he is on hiding to nothing and I have said that from day one but I was prepared to give the guy a chance but I can’t continue to defend a manager who makes decisions like he did today.

The players are not fighting for him, whether that is right or wrong it is something that needs addressing and it must be dealt with asap.

There were minor improvements today with the performance, the new boys did ok, didn’t set the world alight but they done ok but truthfully the performance couldn’t be any worse could it ?

I believe that the majority of fans have lost faith in Russell Slade and on a number of performances I believe that many of the players do not believe in him either, if I am correct then for the sake of our status as a Championship club then Slade has to be replaced.

Of course that presents its own problems because I worry that Vincent Tan would make the next appointment.

As controversial as this is going to be, I think our best option for all concerned would be to bring in Dave Jones, he has worked without big money previously, he has worked with Tan too, it is not an ideal choice but I think it is the best choice we have at present.

This is not a knee jerk reaction, the transfer window is about to close and the majority of our business is completed, now we need a manager who can galvanise the team and stop the rot because under Slade I don’t think these players are going to step up.

Dave Jones, especially in the short to medium term would steady the ship and secure our position in this league, I really do fear that if Slade remains in charge we are slip sliding away to League One.