Kasper

This feels weird.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2018/feb/20/david-squires-on-west-brom-mini-break-in-barcelona?CMP=share_btn_tw Pardew featuring heavily

So Mitrovic would be ok if he got better. But how do you get better if you're not bothering with training? They are obviously both pretty crap but one does what the manager asks, the other doesnt. That's pretty much all there is to it.

I dont know about that but people were definitely saying that he's going to tear up the Championship.

Because he's not very professional.

Back four and Shelvey were brilliant. And keeper obviously.

HTT I don't think it's your point of view people take issue with (I know I dont). It's some of the fabricated reasoning for your points. And then when someone points out that there's another team on the pitch as well, your answer is "dont give me that stuff about another team on the pitch".

I’ve said from the off I love him, but don’t like his brand of football or his tactics, not at home anyway and never will. But I do love him and have 100% trust and confidence in him as our manager. It's the opposite for me, I didn't like him much as Liverpool manager, although deep down I knew he was good. By the time there was talk of him coming here, I had had my fill of gormless idiots running the team like Pardew, Kinnear and Carver, so it made me appreciate a man who knows his mind and is meticulous in his work on and off the field. I might not always like his methods but I respect them 100%. Personally I'm of the view, given a few genuine Premier class players he'll more than show his worth. I’ve rated him as far back as Valencia and was extremely jelous when Liverpool appointed him. I used to have loads of documents/dossiers/articles he wrote for UEFA when I was into coaching and some of his stuff man... one was all about possession and the importance of it. Sadly I think he’s lost a bit of his mojo the last few years. Inter was a huge mistake and Madrid also, the wrong choice for someone usually bang on when it comes to making decisions. I’m grateful he’s here, but it’s kind of pointless. Kind of like a Ferrari with no engine. We all know who that’s down to though... So if you know how meticulous he is, and you yourself are a coach, your criticism makes even less sense. Have a go at home, 50k can't be wrong, stop sitting back on purpose.....honestly man, are you sure you didn't pick up John Carver's jotter instead of Rafa's dossier by mistake? It's funny because its true. If you ever want to try another 3 letter username I'd have one acronym in mind.

If you trust him 100% why are you writing paragraph after paragraph about how he should do something different? Just because you dont happen to like it?

No matter how many times you post this same made up crap it doesnt magically turn to a truth. It’s not made up, it’s the case or was. To say Rafa &/or the team came out second half and thought a point would be good is both made up and stupid. The proof is in the pudding. We only started going for it when they scored and when we equalised we stopped. Happy with a point. 50k people can’t be wrong who were there. Open your eyes and don’t be so blind. Stop defending everything and looking for constant excuses. It’s OK to highlight a game that went wrong and look at the tactics, set up and approach as a reason etc. It’s not like we are nailing Rafa to the f***ing cross or something You're just making that up like. Gayle missed at least 2 or 3 big chances and had a goal disallowed for offside. That's going for it. I was there and we didn’t go for it at all, especially once we equalised. Creating opportunities and going for it are not the same kind of thing btw. I watched it. Creating chances isn't going for it... Would you say Swanse went for it in the first half as they created chances still? Going for it was us I. The first half, a constant attempt to get in behind them, causing problems, getting on the ball, driving forward etc. We only started going for it when they scored. After that despite whatever chances were created, we didn’t go for it, we were happy with a point. Sorry mate. I'll leave someone else to it. Bless.

No matter how many times you post this same made up crap it doesnt magically turn to a truth. It’s not made up, it’s the case or was. To say Rafa &/or the team came out second half and thought a point would be good is both made up and stupid. The proof is in the pudding. We only started going for it when they scored and when we equalised we stopped. Happy with a point. 50k people can’t be wrong who were there. Open your eyes and don’t be so blind. Stop defending everything and looking for constant excuses. It’s OK to highlight a game that went wrong and look at the tactics, set up and approach as a reason etc. It’s not like we are nailing Rafa to the fucking cross or something Jesus christ. So we started playing badly because of Rafa's tactics. And then we started playing well again because of Rafa's tactics. Both had nothing to do with our opponents... So from Swansea's point of view, why didnt they just keep playing the same way they did just before the scored after going 1-0 up? Wouldnt that have been a certain win for them by your logic? Why did they let us back in the game? So stupid from them isnt it.

We were not. Next... We didn't. We started exactly the same but they didnt make it easy for us to win the ball like 1st half. After a while we toned it down as it wasnt working anymore. We didnt. We were pushed deeper because they got pass our press unlike first half. More balls to the wings and infront of the defense results in your defense dropping deeper. Yes because unlike the first half we didn't win the ball back in midfield. We won it back in deep in our own zone and faced immediate pressure.

No matter how many times you post this same made up crap it doesnt magically turn to a truth. It’s not made up, it’s the case or was. To say Rafa &/or the team came out second half and thought a point would be good is both made up and stupid.

No matter how many times you post this same made up crap it doesnt magically turn to a truth.

That’s just fucking silly. Of course he’s not, but if the tactics are to concede possession, sit deeper and look to just stay in the game, what that does is make it difficult to get on the ball, to get in the game and for players to express themselves. If the team can string passes together, cause problems and have possession fine and well one minute and go to the exact opposite the next... What's puzzling to me is that you see that and still think the opponent changing their game after going a goal down has nothing to do with it. I'd also like to point out that we arent dropping deeper by default. We're just struggling to keep the ball under pressure which eventually leads to more ball for the opponent and us deeper on our zone. It's not like Rafa is saying "drop the line back 10 metres". Nothing happening on the pitch points to that. Exactly. We are usually fine when both teams are playing conservatively, but obviously when we have taken the lead, the opposition is going to start pressing us higher up the pitch and throwing more men forward. This is when we struggle to keep possession, and it's why we often look shit after going ahead. If we had better footballers who could play their way out, we could murder the opposition on the counter, assuming we had forwards who could put the ball away. We don't have either, that's the problem. Yes, and lets not forget that we've created plenty of changes on the counter to win those games but find ways to mess up 2 vs 1 chances etc.

That’s just fucking silly. Of course he’s not, but if the tactics are to concede possession, sit deeper and look to just stay in the game, what that does is make it difficult to get on the ball, to get in the game and for players to express themselves. If the team can string passes together, cause problems and have possession fine and well one minute and go to the exact opposite the next... What's puzzling to me is that you see that and still think the opponent changing their game after going a goal down has nothing to do with it. I'd also like to point out that we arent dropping deeper by default. We're just struggling to keep the ball under pressure which eventually leads to more ball for the opponent and us deeper on our zone. It's not like Rafa is saying "drop the line back 10 metres". Nothing happening on the pitch points to that.

Seems like some people would have you believe Rafa is telling the players to start misplacing easy passes, taking terrible touches and losing 50-50 balls. And somehow it's supposed to be our defensive tactic.

So why do the players simply drop into some kind of shell and treat the ball as if it’s a grenade? If that’s not the intention then something isn’t working because they do it quite often and while you could argue it’s because they aren’t good enough, well they have been good enough to take a lead and to play very well against the other team. First half against a Palace for example, Swansea at home etc. Pressure, mentality, crowd apprehension carrying to the pitch, the opposition upping their attacks, the players knowing we don't have a good striker, inexperience, being young. There are loads of possibilities beyond in being an oversight or not putting everything into combating it. Have a listen to the podcast though. I’m listening to it and it’s great so far and so is Rafa. I understand all of those points by the way, but we are definately set up at times at home to get a goal and see the game out and it has hurt us once or twice. You cannot just ascribe all those things to how we played second half away to Palace for example or at home to Swansea when we showed plenty of quality during the first half. We went from playing good football, causing problems, being in the game, to simply being afraid of the ball, dropping deep and basically hoping to see out the draw or to nick a goal. Not when it is becoming a common theme and if this isn’t the tactic then the players are simply not responding to Rafa’s tactics during some second half’s. At home to Swansea, Lascelles was telling the keeper off for trying to release an early ball and Rafa was clearly seen telling the full-back on his side basically not to get beyond the half-way line. I believe at home we have a way of playing that we try and get a lead and then try to see the game out against the lesser sides. Against the better teams it’s the opposite, we try and stay in the game and hope not to lose or to nick a goal. For once I’d like us just to keep playing and going for it which we failed to do at home to Swansea. Again had we went at them the same way we did in the first half we would have won comfortably. I know you’re gonna come back and say they changed their tactics, pressure got to the players etc. But I’m not buying that not when the manager is discouraging the full back from getting forward and the Captain was bollocking team mates for wanting to release the ball early. This at 1-1 with Swansea on top. All it does is frustrate home fans, entire pressure and gives the opposition the upper hand. It’s no coincidence our home record is poor and historically even when we have a shit team, we always do better at home when we attack the opposition and look to win the game and not see it out. Ironically we are good at neither so tactically it’s all a bit bizarre and kind of baffling. It's what the man himself has said, not me, so it's up to you if you choose to buy it or not. Everyone has different views on how football should be played but imo, it's nowhere near as simple as you're making out. I think the factors that I've listed are way more influential than you think and you can't just say 'we played this way before we scored, why aren't we now?'. I'd even go as far as saying that that example you've given about Swansea at home is actually an example of Rafa doing the right thing and slowing things down, as opposed to the suicidal (imo) idea of exposing ourselves at 1-1 when the opposition, a fellow relegation candidate are on top. You said yourself that you'd rather we lose 5 or 6 nil trying against Man City than lose 1-0 by sitting back. I just can't get my head around that sort of mentality in our current position. Personally I'm happy with the way Rafa approaches matches at home and away, because at some point you need to be a realist and look at what you're wanting to achieve. Do you want boring, negative potential survival or exciting, attacking certain annihilation? That's how I see it, and I don't think you can have both at the moment. And that's not some anti-Keegan outlook either btw, I just think there's a line that needs to be crossed in order to play a certain way, and we're nowhere near that with the players we have. Spot on that

Wouldnt it be the opposite? Higher tv money would to him mean a more valuable club. He could view that as a better opportunity to gain a profit. The problem of course is someone meeting that price.

Didn't start either of our Man City matches.

Yes.

Not that bad result tbh. They are a much better team on paper. Worrying that we’ve played horribly and were lucky to get that point.

Well they are playing against Yedlin in practice.

Has Yedlin made a single tackle or an attempt to tackle?

Fucking Rafa telling our players to lose the ball all the time and make shit decisions and passes #fuming