Knighter is paying for what he and the Essendon board promised when he got the job. He said they didn't need to strip back the list and rebuild and the Bombers' board put a timetable of top 4 in 2010. It was the stuff of delusions. Knighter also promised to install an attacking gameplan in his first year which he did and then install more defensive aspects into the gameplan during his second year. Well he's into his third year as coach and they are still as defensively fragile as ever. Bomber fans are mainly turning on Knighter because the gameplan is flawed. Having recently-retired fan-favourites in Lloyd, Lucas and even Hird be publicly critical of the gameplan means the whole supporter base is now turning on Knighter. Their midfield is also one of if not the worst in the AFL. Whereas Carlton, Melbourne and us got hold of Murphy, Gibbs, Scully, Trengove, Cotch and Martin, Essendon missed out because they deludedly believed they were a top side and Knighter didn't use his initial honeymoon period to strip the list back.
Speaking of coaches in trouble it's getting worse for Voss. The topping-up strategy has failed and they're going to have another bad loss today even with Brown and Fev playing. The pressure is mounting up north.