Mole

Yeah tactically the team have definitely been figured out and there's not just a desire to evolve but a necessity. I get why people are concerned by it and it's a justified concern, but I want to see how the summer goes and if next season provides in noticeable improvement as this seems the direction we are heading.

It's definitely not nonsense, even ignoring the formation we have been very inflexible tactically all season. That's not to say the man can't be flexible, but we absolutely haven't been flexible all season and it's a concern that is justified.

I find it funny that people criticize Howe and transfers and then Bowen is brought up when it's the exact sort of thing the club has been criticized for.

I definitely think it's fair to acknowledge that the competition wasn't good while also feeling like that 4-2-3-1 is much more suitable for this group than 4-3-3. Still needs work and hopefully the summer can provide more quality to make it feel more complete as it's obvious there's still quite a lot of obvious problem areas regardless of what formation Howe attempts to try.

Nick curious made me giggle.

It's both. Like I think the set up suits the players we have more but also the opposition was obviously not very good. I would personally sign players for next season with this in mind, as much as I think it works better there's still a lot of obvious personnel issues that need to be looked at.

In fairness to Howe, I think the fact Bruno got injured and Osula was injured as well as strikers not performing kinda fucked with it. The personnel was always kinda messed up somewhere. I do think it's much more suitable though and would definitely sign players next year with it in mind.

Aye, no matter where Ramsey plays I think it's about as good as it can get considering the options. Ramsey has good enough movement to make it work anyway.

If they allow him to do his job it will be a great appointment, the concern for them is will the players even allow him to do that without egos interfering? I could see a Mini Madrid situation forming because that club is a mess. He's obviously a good coach though so if he's allowed to do that it will probably work out very well but that's a big IF.

I imagine to do the full extent of business over the whole summer they probably do need to sell. But they probably can get the ball rolling (as in make a signing or two )without needing to sell. At least that's what I'm assuming, I suspect it won't happen super fast anyway because of World Cup stuff.

Yeah like the issue isn't English players, it's high fees and high wages for players who do not move the needle. If they were cheaper they probably wouldn't need to move the needle as such, but for the prices paid last summer they absolutely had to be. More players in the 20m bracket would mostly be fine even if aren't rip-roaring success stories. It's the combination of expense and performances not justifying the expense.

Hard to take Sacha seriously without his shoebox ass haircut.

Tonali was playing well at that time ( at least defensively) and the midfield overall wasn't terrible at doing their job defensively (they've been ass in possession all season) Said this a million times but it makes no sense to point out individual performances when the team as a whole has been broken all season long and nothing shows that more than the dogshit job the midfield as a whole have done at covering the defence and forcing them to do way more than a "good" team would. Very convinced no individual defender in the league would look good the way we've been set up this season.

Even if the club has put plans in motion you're not going to hear about those plans for a while. If you're looking for actual reports without any sort of validity I would avoid this thread for at least a couple of months.

We just gotta be thankful that he's not resorted to the claiming Wemby card like he did with Giannis.

If you simply must play all 3 CBs and still want a back 4 then Thiaw at RB seems a much more sensible solution to me. Because he's played there before on multiple occasions, this whole thing is just bizarre.

That's because of the aforementioned technical issues throughout the team, I dunno how anyone expects to maintain pressure if there are so many players are liable to cough it up at a moments notice. I understand Howe's preferences and that's fine but it would be a million times more effective if they could keep it a bit longer than they do. If I am being honest in the starting XI Hall and Bruno are the only ones I trust in this department.

That's not what I'm saying and I think you know that. It's a change in formation doesn't mean a great deal without changing how the team plays. Formations don't matter much, I'm much more interested in how we actually play which hasn't worked effectively all season.

The system has nothing to do with playing "differently" You can play multiple different formations and still play the same way. It's why I have never really had an issue with what formation he does or doesn't play because it doesn't really matter that much. It's the willingness to adapt outside of a set structure and find solutions outside of that. The way we play is very limited and never really changes and he hasn't resorted to looking outside of that. Which is fine when it works, obviously he found success prior to this season but when it doesn't you get what you see. He could play 5 different formations but it wouldn't change anything if the general play style and how we approach games remains the same.

My reply more is a response to the bit in bold (I should have quoted you ) What has happened since is exactly why people aren't showing much willingness, week after week there's been very little signs of life and he looks like he's run out of ideas. (I am someone who has said repeatedly he deserves a chance but I will admit I lack belief he can turn it around) I just disagree with the bit in bold, I think it's very easy to understand both sides of the equation for different reasons.

I can see why you would want to give him a chance given the context but to act like the deterioration of performances across the board since October isn't a massive concern is silly. There's no real evidence to be hopeful outside of what he's done prior to this season, if you can't see why people have little to no confidence in him turning it around you aren't looking hard enough IMO.

Really don't like the tendency to single out individual players when the entire team has been dogshit. Of course no individual is performing, the entire structure of the football team is broken and setting up everyone for failure.

He'll never mention the dogshit performances from others throughout the whole season. If this attitude was applied to everyone nobody in the squad would be playing because they've all done a lot worse than Hall has.

Most of the signings last summer were met with either wide spread criticism, bemusement or in the case Woltemade and Wissa (and to a certain extent Elanga, because people were desperate for a signing) mostly relief. This board was mostly miserable last summer and if they actually were excited about the signings that wouldn't have been the case. If everyone was happy and excited and then shit on the club now that would be fair enough, but all I'm mainly seeing is people holding the same positions they held in the summer now we have months of evidence.

If any of the traditional big teams would accept that it would probably be City mind. They seem to value getting rid of unhappy players over trying to bleed rivals through the nose. They probably won't accept 30 but if any team would, then it would be them.