But you said he's repeatedly punting the ball to their CBs or out for goal kicks - I'm saying that's just not happening, as per the stats above.
Nah I agree with you. Felt disconnected for a while now and COVID-19 has obviously exacerbated that. With the addition of VAR, my interest in football is at a lifetime low.
It’s very much a bedding in period but we’re not actually losing games and look solid defensively at least. The team can only really get better from here, because when the dust settles we won’t have shifted on every player that isn’t featuring at the moment. Any two of the absentees + four/five more games for tactics to bed in will improve us a lot, and to improve a lot from our current position of not actually losing any games, or letting any goals in will be a pretty good place to be.
It's not been great so far but we have to give Ivic time. We need the transfer window to close so we actually know the makeup of the squad, and then start to use it. Only once we start playing games with the whole squad will we an idea about the season to come. Even then a good or bad run can impact us.
I'm not sure that a "punt" is exclusively along the ground. The stats do support the impression I had with my eyes that he repeatedly makes crap long passes. As I pointed out in the Boro thread: Kabs, Successful Long Passes: 3. Unsuccessful Long Passes: 1. Wilmot, Successful Long Passes: 3. Unsuccessful Long Passes: 10.
Was fun that we let Glenn Murray run around in his Zimmer frame for 60 minutes whilst we pay the wages of Suarez, Sarr, Deeney, and Welbeck. 2 points dropped against a nothing team. Perica, Ngakia and Kabs looked good. Also nice we let Pussetto have a run around before he goes back to Udinese. Think ivic will be great for us if the owners let him pick from more than a pool of 17 players.
LOL at anyone framing that as a good point. Many have said we shouldn’t have gone down last season with the squad we did - yet, less Doucoure, we have the ability to name that exact same team in this lower division right now. And refuse to. I understand the ‘glass half full’ approach at times, I really do. But that was awful today and absolutely nowhere near good enough. I think this move to a new formation isn’t working myself. We don’t have the CB’s for it, we don’t have the LB for it, the CM’s are massively underwhelming in it, the only whole team (apart from JP) look lost within it. And we were quite frankly ridiculous not to send Quina on a season long/6 month loan to this division last season. We are miles away from it clicking and have so much work to do.
I think as some have pointed out, Slav lost his first four games. It’s not realistic to expect a new manager to make a team instantly fantastic, it takes more than two games. It’s not really glass half full, it’s just understanding how things take time and aren’t instant.
Theres got to be something like "play 1 game, get a contract extension" or similar written into their contracts. Wellback, clearly has a play and get more money deal.
It feels like watching the u23s in the league cup/freindly groundhog day. Some promising signs for the future and "trialist" looks ok. But next week we'll be back with the real stuff. Only it is the real stuff.
It isn't that they have made mistakes. It is that they make the same mistakes over and over and over and expect it to be different. There has to be a point where they stop being mistakes, and are clearly just the way they want to run things. The Pozzo's deserve credit for the first two thirds of their tenure, but the last 2 and half years under them the decision making has been a total ******* disaster which was papered over (albeit briefly) by some truly outstanding coaching by Gracia. They say they have learnt from their mistakes, but on the basis of the squad that Ivic is being forced to play, I am struggling to see what they have learned.
Yes. But for every ‘Slav’ scenario, there are plenty of clubs who did the opposite under a new manager too. What happened under Jokanovic happens in the minority of situations, not the majority. We are cutting our noses off despite our face with this squad situation and being far too idealistic. Other clubs are playing their ‘stars’ who surely want a move yet we are poncing around with a few players who clearly aren’t good enough. There will always be a few exceptions to the rule - but generally you can’t waste games finding your feet etc. Something needs to change in the next week. As rolling out this current matchday squad, with these tactics is not good enough. I want to be positive, I really do. But I also have to be realistic and admit what I’m seeing in front of my own eyes.
Not at all! I just think we are trying to change so many things at the same time so we have to row back on the things that don’t currently need instantly changing. And the next week HAS to be spent re-integrating the better players who are sitting out.
You are correct they don't have to be, here's 6 of them: https://streamable.com/oimbst - notice what they have in common? Left foot. I don't know whether we're playing Wilmot on the left cos it's better than having Cathcart there, but it's certainly limiting Wilmot somewhat.
It’s narrow minded to only be able to look at a team after two games and not be able to imagine any improvement. Its baffling to view the Slav situation as being in the minority, it’s pretty much common place in any sport let alone football, for new systems and new players to take time to adapt to them. If you can only view the situation based on only two games, what do you think a manager actually does? Do you think we even need a manager if you genuinely expect instant results from them? There are literally thousands of examples like Slav, right off the top of my head I can think of two glareing ones from last season, Arteta and Hassenhuntl. Southampton were in the relegation zone and lost a game 9-1, yet they turned it around and he made them into a good team. Arsenal looked useless to start with under Arteta, then they beat City and Chelsea to win the cup. Things. Take. Time.
This situation cannot be allowed to continue for much longer. They cannot keep pretending these players are "ill" or not quite fit enough yet. Even the most gullible supporter will start to twig that things aren't quite right by now. Dissenting voices are growing, and we've dropped 2 needless points today. Lose to Luton next week, which is highly likely if we play a similar side as today, then I think the majority of fans will lose patience and understanding. You cannot have all this quality and not play them. It's so counterproductive. You can have the core who are wanting to play, but there needs to be room to draft in players like Sarr, Suarez and Capoue because of the quality they possess which will elevate that side. Just look at what one player did today. It was like a switch. Perica comes on for the woeful Murray and the team improves. Just look at what those other three would add to us right now. We're not scoring goals. We have players sitting at home who can. This has to change. I think it's a crazy self-destructive game the club are playing right now.
I'm coping with it by generating powerful negative energy which disses the gruntles of all the hardcore snowflakes on here who still want to convince themselves that everything is rosy despite mounting evidence to the contrary.
Genuine question. What do you believe it is that changed 2-3 years ago that has led to these repeated mistakes as you see them? I am still a fan of the Pozzos for the way they have transformed the club over the whole of their tenure, and do believe that they've suffered from unprecedented and unforseen circumstances to some degree, however it does feel like the management have shown an increased lacked judgement in the past couple of seasons so wonder what we think the determining factor is.
Southampton and Arsenal weren’t tasked with getting into the Top 2 as the only aim. Fine. You disagree. I can accept that. But keep on going like we are, and we won’t be anywhere near the top spots. Happy to be quoted on that
#unbeaten I am very happy with the point. I firmly believe that being solid defensively away from home is key this season. It’s a clean sheet and something to build on. Vlad needs time. Let’s see where we are November. You can’t win the league in September, we just need to stay competitive until the window starts. Then we can start building the dynasty.
Agreed. Lacking that x-factor bit of quality in midfield and upfront. In our last promotion season we had Abdi, Deeney (in his prime), Vydra, Igahlo & Fessi. We had goals and creativity. Nothing of the sort now, we look distinctly average going forwards.
