mrmojorisin75

Available outball to play up to made such a difference for the midfielders, we couldn't really knock it long or over when Cisse was there as he has no pace or strength. We still used a variation of that splitting tactic, mind, Anita just went over as fullback when Janmaat pushed up, instead of directly splitting. I wouldn't give up on that tactic, tbh, I think player confidence was really getting in the way of our possession build up but mixing it up with more direct play should really relieve the pressure on our other attackers more. It's something we should use to mix it up and should be re-integrated slowly over the next couple of matches, as long as we've got a more capable CM on the ball to come and link play. I would disagree that it was down to an available outball in the case of Anita. Anita only completed 60% of his passes which indicates a lot of those balls weren't on. We went more direct in every sense. Anita carried the ball further then he has this season. Wasn't content to "make things tick" by passing it to defenders, he tried to get it to midfielders and attackers. Definitely told to be more direct with his passing. I like the way you're sure he was told to go more direct but still say he wasn't content to 'make things tick' thus implying he uniliterally chose to play a certain way before this. He's clearly a pretty aware and intelligent footballer and imo has been following instructions to the letter the entire time, so don't credit the coaching team with a good performance and blame him for all the shit/average/poor ones.

Who is their manager? They always look incredibly entertaining to watch.

Distribute the PL prize money in reverse order. Or something.

Who knew?

Bet Deuce is chuffed you've complemented him on it. I wasn't chuffed about nothing what I done Spoken like a True Brit Deuce.

Didn't see much in the way of tracking back in those highlights. Good riddance.

Aye but we probs raked in 250k and saved peanuts on wages. Everyone wins in?

Just watched Rocky III. My prediction: Pain.

So still the wrong decision from the manager though. Cool.

That HTT post man

Deemed not good enough to start in 4 (?) of 7 league games so far?

Not really a footballer in general, more an athlete. Reminds me of Dyer in that respect, someone without a defined position / preferred position. Not a bad shout that actually. He'll probably amount to the same as Dyer when the chips are down.

Some of the negative comments here man

Should never have been sent off but might end up benefiting us in the long run.

Fuck are they always so knackered? I'd like to think they're working heavily on stamina training now that's going to benefit us later in the season but running out of steam after 60 minutes or so is mental for professional athletes.

So did Jak Alnwick.....and against Chelsea Let's not go overboard but yeah, hopefully Mbabu keeps his performances up! Satka played very well vs Chelsea too no?

Was just going to ask this and about how we played generally? Anyone want to summarise?

I think we all understand that but these decisions only become validated if we win football matches, which we've not done. I always think back to him saying he spoke to fans so he knows what people are saying about the players. Wonder who he spoke to about Colo, Colback, Gouffran, Obertan etc.? It was probably f***ing Carver. Well he's tried other options and dropped Obertan pretty sharp, plus I'm sure the new multimillion pound winger they've signed will have had to be played. If he chopped and changed too much, there'd be no chance to get continuity and he'd be criticised for that. There's also the option that Aarons might not be any good. James McClean looked great for 6 games and was quickly found out. I'm sure if he was brilliant, we'd have seen him more. Well, we've certainly got continuity

Not sure who is saying all of the things you've listed like but to address the stupid fucking point about his physicality again nobody is really making excuses, he just doesn't have the physical attributes to boss a midfield so what's the point in either asking him to or expecting him to? Should we have blamed Adam Armstrong for not getting on the end of 60 yard Willoballs last season? Of course not, he's tiny and he can't do it. It's the same principle. Anyway he's not very good, we all seem to be able to agree on this very general point :

I think we all understand that but these decisions only become validated if we win football matches, which we've not done. I always think back to him saying he spoke to fans so he knows what people are saying about the players. Wonder who he spoke to about Colo, Colback, Gouffran, Obertan etc.? It was probably fucking Carver.

Yet he neglected (and continues to neglect) to play Aarons. There was absolutely no excuse for playing Obertan like. It's incredible stuff really.

I just don't see this. Does the modern day football fan expect a manager to pick exactly the side he wants, player for player? We have lost, therefore any defence of the manager is futile but it's worth pointing out that we had a far better 11 on paper than Watford and probably a better one than West Ham. I've seen little wrong with team selections or tactics. Motivation or discipline perhaps but our selections have been ok. There's more to it, leadership is our biggest problem. Hm, it's a question that can't be answered really. Are things not working because of who is in the side, who is not in the side, or because there are deep rooted motivational and disciplinary issues in the club? Even if it's the latter he's still getting it wrong imo in continuing to pick the same chumps week in week out. Of course no one expects the manager to pick 'their' side but we're approaching game 7 in the league today and McLaren still isn't automatically starting Perez for instance. Literally everyone else knows Perez has to start. Fair play on Perez and Colback who is the weakest link IMO. However I believe his team selections have been fine. We have also tried to pass it around, which is encouraging. As you say, his biggest mistake is sticking with the personalities who are letting him down. The first two being Cisse and Sissoko. Give Janmaat the armband and put De Jong on the pitch who is prepared to talk. I like McClaren, I won't deny it. He and his coaching staff are honest and trying to do the right things. I think he needs to be harder on the players. Aye hopefully something clicks when Mitrovic gets some games under his belt. Best will in the world we're probably losing the next two so it's all about what comes after that. Hopefully we can spend the next two games creating some chances, maybe even scoring some of them. Imagine.

I just don't see this. Does the modern day football fan expect a manager to pick exactly the side he wants, player for player? We have lost, therefore any defence of the manager is futile but it's worth pointing out that we had a far better 11 on paper than Watford and probably a better one than West Ham. I've seen little wrong with team selections or tactics. Motivation or discipline perhaps but our selections have been ok. There's more to it, leadership is our biggest problem. Hm, it's a question that can't be answered really. Are things not working because of who is in the side, who is not in the side, or because there are deep rooted motivational and disciplinary issues in the club? Even if it's the latter he's still getting it wrong imo in continuing to pick the same chumps week in week out. Of course no one expects the manager to pick 'their' side but we're approaching game 7 in the league today and McLaren still isn't automatically starting Perez for instance. Literally everyone else knows Perez has to start.

What concerns me about him is how much he's getting wrong this early on. Usually a new manager comes in and can see most of the issues at a club, then changes things in order to rectify it. You might go through some bad times while everyone readjusts but you feel like you're heading in the right direction. We most definitely feel like we're heading in the right direction atm, indeed any direction, and all the while he's fucking up selections, formations and tactics literally every single game.

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