I'm quite pleased with this. Seems a sensible, logical appointment - Claudio has been around the block multiple times, and has firefighting experience (albeit in Italy). I was listening to the Athletic Football Podcast (worth a listen) yesterday and the lads on there make a good point - he's coming in with a pretty uneviable run of games upcoming and will be able to weather them a bit more than an inexperienced/unknown manager. I think he'll also command the respect of the players from day one. Might mean we revert back to a bit more of a flat 4-4-2 to begin with, but I'd be happy if he got us solid at the back and not conceding goals for fun. Hoping this appointment works out.
Why on earth would anyone be angry about that ? You have some really strange values MG. it’s like you’re trapped with the mentality of a 16 year old boy. Next you’ll be telling us that another of your friends can drink 15 pints a night.
To be fair, no one has scored more than twice against us and virtually every goal conceded has been down to a basic error from one of our players. Ranieri has his work cut out stopping players doing such stupid things in the pitch, as none of them are kids learning the ropes.
TVOR has a point, and I am a guilty party in keeping this thread off track. Let’s draw a line under the tangential debate and get the discussion back on topic.
Fair point. I hope Ranieri can perhaps go back to basics and 'reset' our defence, to iron out these individual errors.
Tinkerman scans too well with Piano Man not to use: It's three o'clock on a Saturday, Regular Crowd Shuffles in, There's an old moog sittin' next to me... Sorry, I've never been much of a lyricist. ,
Especially as Sierralta and Troost Ekong were unproven at Premier League level, as of course was Wilmott. For all their faults Prodl and Britos were upgrades when they turned up in our first Pozzo Premier League campaign.
As I mentioned earlier on in the post, despite being horrendous and making some slapstick errors we’ve not been soundly thrashed but any of the also rans (unbelievable we should’ve got a point away to Leeds, which possibly says more about how bad they are all things considered, and that picking up points against those types of teams isn’t a huge challenge) It’s a shame we now have such a tough run, but he won’t have to do much more against the lesser teams to pick up more points.
Why are they not adding anything new? They are a club which has not been in the top division for a long time, currently doing well. That in itself is new. The media loves an underdog. It wouldn’t be the same if, say, West Brom got promoted. And it’s not really the same with us, at least now.
But what’s the difference between say Brentford this season, and say, Southampton last season at this stage, who topped the league around this point? Why is it a breath of fresh air? Are they playing some new, never before seen type of undiscovered style of football? At any given point you’ll get teams in good from and teams in bad form, they’re in good form, but I don’t in any way see it as ‘a breath of fresh air’.
I think @Keighley's right. It's Brentford's first PL season so they're literally new. They probably do meet the superficial definition of 'breath of fresh air'. The frustrating thing is if they're treated anything like Bournemouth were, they'll still be being described in the same terms in 4-5 years time.
I think you’re reading that phrase too literally. It’s perceived as “refreshing” in that it is not one of the usual suspects.
I kind of just see it as lazy punditry cliche, a bit like people used to say Son was the most underrated PL player, mainly because he was Korean and was actually just a quality player. Edit: and much like Bournemouth, their owner has pumped in £200m of investment to get them where they are. They’re a well run club but it’s not the fairytale they all like to make out.
I think the current descriptions of Brentford are reflecting how they approach their games, no matter what their opponents reputation. Their football isn't anything outstanding, or fresh, or particularly skilful, but they press early, and go forward in numbers and don't give in. Compare it with us, and Norwich, you have been far more cautious and tend to sit back, inviting pressure and the defence invariably cracks. I get annoyed that our biggest success this season so far was against Villa, when we did actually play positively. Our forwards, not only scored goals, but pressed non-stop, and we got forward with speed. The Brentford squad is not better than ours, but their mentality and outlook is.
I agree with that, apart from the fact they spent £17.5m on a CB, and we effectively sold one and now our best one is injured. So they’re comparatively stronger in the area we were already weakest in. Unfortunately, it’s not like we used our comparable budget to make up for it elsewhere, because we spent that on a midfielder who doesn’t even start.
First time in the PL? Ivan Toney impressing as an English player? I don’t like Brentford really and I kinda see what you’re saying. But there are some reasons for the praise they are getting.
Funny they call him the "tinker man" because he likes to change formations/lineups so often. He may have to get used to losing that title as we have hardly anyone he can "tinker" with in selection.
I just hope he can teach these professional footballers how to pass to each other, stay calm on the ball and not pass it to the opposition.
That certainly was his approach. However, at Leicester in the Premiership glory year he barely changed the team all season iirc.
Football 101 at it's finest. It beggars belief how our players fail to get the things a kid trying hard to learn on a Sunday afternoon can get so wrong, so often.
If we have a weakness at CB, then sitting back, inviting pressure, is likely to expose it. I didn't know they spent that much on a CB, though. But they let in a lot more goals than Watford and scorfed a lot more, I think we have both tried to strengthen our weaknesses. But that is a different argument, I was talking about the tactics and mindset on the pitch, which I think is the reason for the positive press Brentford get.
Plus, they have a manager who likes to be in front a camera, has foppish hair and does a lap of hour if they draw/win and hypes up the crowd. Plus a shiny new stadium. There’s a few obvious reasons why easily-swayed Magpies in the media see them as the new shiny thing.
Since I started going in the late 90s, the only manager who was able to get us passing a football to each other consistently was Brendan Rodgers. Ranieri is a miracle worker so fingers crossed.
Yes. A lot of the problem is that the way they have been playing involves opposition teams coming onto them a lot. Leeds was a good example (arguably exaggeratedly good): Leeds are a quite poor team who are finding it difficult to score goals; but if all the football is played in front of and around your goal, the chances are something will end in your net. And that's just what happened. The individual errors amongst our defenders is only part of the problem; the mid-field is functioning so badly that Watford's defence is under constant attack, increasing the 'opportunities' of making a mistake.
Which is a recruitment problem, rather than an ability problem. Kucka is arguably too old I guess but we started 3 CM's on Saturday who are all quite similar in what they do and aren't awful at it. The bizarre thing is we have recruited variations on the same profile of CM (4 of them in fact!) - rather than looking for any who are specifically defensive or attacking minded. When you add those 4 (Kucka, Louza, Sissoko, Tufan) to Cleverley and Gosling, you just wonder what type of unit it is they are trying to put together.
