First match of the season and we already have Steven Taylor sent off, suspended for 3 matches. Along with Taylor, we also saw in the same match petulant behaviour or very evident frustration from Debuchy, MYM, Sissoko.
This seems to be a recurrent theme from last season. Debuchy, Colo, Cabaye, Tiote have all shown similar before. Could this stem from just pure frustration in our game and/or manager or it's part of their player personality? It seems that the confrontational nature of our manager and coaching staff has rubbed off to the players. We have seen Pardew, Carver and Woodman being antagonistic towards other coaches and part of the officiating team even. A manager's personality does affect the players he has, Mourinho is a good example of that. If our manager can't even control his anger, I can't see how our players will do the same.
There is an obvious need to cut down on the unnecessary fouls and cards that we get. Debuchy's foul lead to the FK goal on Monday. We also lost many players to suspensions last season, a situation we can ill-afford due to the lack of squad depth. It all starts with the coaching staff imo.