Pease don’t shoot me down but putting any sentiments aside with Dean been one of our own, is he good enough as a manager? Are we in a good position with him in charge? And, when do we start to judge him?
Personally I think there’s a lot of factors up to this point which need to be considered…
Backed with money (compared to others), transfer fees paid for numerous players.
Not forced to sell, I understand Dean agreed to the deal for Ginelly so he could bring in Jarvis.
Has signed some good players who appear to have the ability for this level - especially shown earlier on in season.
Good start to the season in first third with positive signs from players however form completely died in second third.
Players dropped off form and not performing to their potential.
I dunno either. There’s clearly something there - we were excellent in the first few weeks of the season - but since then it’s hard to put hand on heart and say it’s any better than last season under Whitney. We’re extremely easy to score against, don’t do the defensive basics correctly, descend ever more into just hoofing it up, and no longer have any of the kind of energy which saw all the bodies on the line, the “first to every 50-50” style we saw in August and September. We play with two wingers but rarely try to work the ball to them, there is precious little creativity in the middle of the park. Whatever we’re trying to do at the moment (and it appears to be “hoof it up to Cook and hope something comes of it”, it’s not working any better than Whitney’s “give it to Oztumer and hope something comes of it”.
It’s working worse and is worse, points and goal difference show that.
I like some of his signings. He’s done what we’ve all been on about for years and looked to non league players with potential. But he’s completely failed to adopt or adapt tactics and, on the sidelines and in interviews, he appears clueless. So, no, on balance he’s not good enough and I think it’s such a shame that his tremendous legacy as a player is going to be tarnished by this stint as manager. Wrong choice at the wrong time.
It was a gamble by the hierarchy to quell the unrest that was building , and i for one hope DK sorts this out , and keeps us up , and builds on it next season , but then again as it is he’ll only be allowed so much …
If early bird sales weren’t as bad as they were then Keates wouldn’t be here, he was brought in to please the fans and encourage season ticket sales.
Sadly it’s not working out, I remember the short time O’Driscoll was here and the people saying he was not an easy bloke to work with, players didn’t like him etc, I’m sure we have a similar situation now, why was Kinsella omitted from the SQUAD yesterday, why is Dobson on the bench most of the time, etc etc something is wrong and I’m guessing that the dressing room is split…dean got the job because of early bird sales, he will lose the job because of early bird sales too.
The one signing he needs, and what DS has in ROK. Is someone to back him up with tactical knowledge. AD doesn’t seem to have it. Otherwise, I like where he is looking for players and he’s bought in some very good players. He’s been ruthless when he’s needed to be and he’s demanded to be backed. The one thing he misses is putting all the pieces of the machine together on the pitch to get results.
I hope plan B wasn’t Russell Martin, cuz it failed. Still I think some tactical indecisiveness, I’m far from calling it naivety, cost us points. I can say players are good for this level and awaiting relegation battle. I don’t know if they can make squad good enough to survive. Next games will be crucial, I hope everything will be ok. At least Sean O’Driscoll work at Wolves, so he won’t return. I don’t want to check who is available.
Keates isn’t really much different to how I expect. He’s not afraid to make tough decisions off the pitch as he did at Wrexham.
I really thought his backroom team would offer more.
Maybe Richard Money can come in an advisory capacity. Or what is David Kelly doing now? Maybe lean on Ward more? Keates just needs an experienced second.
Agree totally iam frustrated as hell . But Would give deano the chance to get us out this mess … needs to think about getting rid of daffy tho and get a good experienced no 2 in who can help and who the players will respect and take note of.
When Keates came last season he had little or no impact and there was no improvement in our results or quality of play; in fact he took us very close to relegation with only 2 wins and 2 draws in his 9 games in charge.
There was a tremendous amount of good will behind him, and despite his obviously weak tactical awareness, an inability to identify changes needed to tactics and personnel during a game, and poor use of substitutes, there was not much criticism. All those who called for Whitney to be sacked, and abused him despite the years of loyal service he had given to the club, were silent when his replacement was not able to get more out of the squad. I suppose they were waiting to see how well Keates would do after he had shaped his own team.
This season began well. We were playing football, keeping the ball on the ground, using Ginelly and Ishmail as effective wingers, we had a target man in Cook. Perhaps our early results flattered us, but most of us were happy.
Unfortunately since we started losing regularly, Keates has not really been able to find a way to turn things round. In fact just about every move he has made since October seems to have been a change in the wrong direction.
After 39 league games under Keates we have won 11, drawn 10 and lost 18. That is a league win percentage of 28% - the worst performance by a Walsall manager in charge for more than 30 league games, since John Barnwell.
His latest moves are to fill the squad with loan players, sign defenders from lower levels, and revert to long ball tactics. We can only hope that this gamble succeeds.
I don’t think Keates is good enough- he was the wrong choice. We needed a Chris Nicholl or Ray Graydon-type manager; someone with experience. I don’t think Deano is very bright and that explains his lack of tactical nous. I don’t think there has been one game since he’s been here where he has changed a game with tactical substitutions. He fails to react to other managers’ substitutions - a classic case in point was the 3-2 defeat to AFC Wimbledon last season where he needed to react to their change in formation. Instead he just watched like a rabbit in the headlights as we were overrun.
He also messed up his transfer dealings in the summer: Gary Rowett offered us a solution to our central defensive problems after Kory’s injury and Keates blew it. I really hope he can turn it around but I don’t think he’ll make it as a manager in the football league based on what I’ve seen so far.
I hate to say it but no I don’t think he’s good enough.
As others have mentioned above, his poor tactical set up and lack of changes leave him wide open for criticism. He’s had a year, his record is extremely poor and I feel our performances are as bad as under Whitney - who received dogs abuse.
If he stays here he needs to look at his coaching staff and make some tough decisions as I think he needs an experienced old head as his no 2.
But surely his backroom staff should have knowledge of that in abundance? they have been in the game long enough, that’s what they are there for, unless he thinks he doesn’t have to listen to them?
The way that they sit there silent during matches suggests that he doesn’t really welcome their input. It was interesting that it was only a couple of matches after Martin had been very animated in the dugout that he suddenly left. Hmmm…
The players he brings in I tend to think are okay. Happy with the majority, which then winds me up when certain Whitney signings start ahead of them especially when I used the Whitney signings argument as a reason to back him when some didn’t.
Tactically, not good enough at the moment. Would I sack him? Not my decision so I’ll abstain from voting on this😁