PIF and RB Sports & Media

[Fantail Breeze]

Just now, Yorkie said:

 

Don't agree with that. Maxi certainly wasn't all over the place like you're suggesting there. Was almost exclusively on the left wing but for the odd occasion he drifted, as you'd expect him to given the type of player he is. 

 

If there's one thing thing team does show it's a broad tactical understanding. Pressing has improved a lot and the balance is getting there, especially with a proper LB in there (I actually thought Dummett had a good game). They're just not effective as a collective, which is down to the quality of the players, the mentality of the players, and the choices of the manager. 

 

So there's nothing to write home about, which we all know, but I don't think you can level disorganisation at them. 

 

He was doubled up and almost getting in the way of Fraser and Trippier during the first half when he randomly came over to the right for 5-10 minutes.

 

As I said, shortly before he came off he was also upfront with Wood on the left for 5 minutes or so.

 

He was then also playing through the middle at various points with Joelinton on the left.

 

And of course, as you say, spent a lot of time playing on the left. 

 

Made very little sense at all like.

[r0cafella]

Just now, ManDoon said:

He did, he was like the CB whisperer. Made all our CBs look great.

Seems to have been forgotten by some on here like. Literally improved us whilst making profits in the market. Voodoo literally. 

[Ben]

 

[r0cafella]

For CEO we just need to give Richard Scudamore a blank cheque and ask him to write what he wants. 

[Gazzaschicken]

1 hour ago, ManDoon said:

There definitely was a consensus on here and on Twitter. Otherwise why were people wanting him sacked? If no one could do any thing with this squad we may as well have kept Bruce and gone down and binned him in the championship?

That's all in hindsight though isn't it, 2 years of negative football under Bruce I think everyone was hoping for some kind of boost under a new manager but we have come to realise the problem wasn't just the manager it was the manager AND the players. 

 

The players have hid away or at least some of them and gotten away with it. Bruce, Ashley and squad- we are shite need new owner, Bruce, squad and pif - we are shite need new manager, howe, squad and pif - our squad are shite there no where to hide now

[Gazzaschicken]

11 hours ago, Jackie Broon said:

 

Because Steve fucking Bruce managed to keep this dog dirt squad up last season. We were drawing by fine margins under Bruce this season, it should only take a moderate improvement to turn those draws into wins. Howe hasn't managed to find that moderate improvement over Steve fucking Bruce, that is inexcusable.

 

 

 

Steve bruce kept us up with massive luck we got 16 points in our last 8 games if you judge him by the rest of the season it was shocking. We released 5 to 6 players in the summer and made 1 recruit who was on loan with us last season so our squad is a year older, with no fresh faces. 

 

 

[Gazzaschicken]

1 minute ago, ManDoon said:

It is aye, but I still think we can be getting better out of the squad. The idea is the manager gets more out of the players.

There's clearly no more to get out of them though. You can't turn longstaff into a fernandinho, there's a limit based on ability and our team just doesn't have the ability or the fight to overperform their ability consistently. And for our defence its the basics that they don't have

[xLiaaamx]

 

[Jackie Broon]

32 minutes ago, Gazzaschicken said:

There's clearly no more to get out of them though. You can't turn longstaff into a fernandinho, there's a limit based on ability and our team just doesn't have the ability or the fight to overperform their ability consistently. And for our defence its the basics that they don't have

 

We've seen much, much more out of these players we've seen Willock score 7 in 7, Longstaff look good enough to be linked with Man U, Lascelles lead one of the most solid defences in the league.

 

What you're saying is exactly what people were saying in defence of Bruce.

[duo]

1 hour ago, Ben said:

 

Well that didn't last long 

[TRon]

2 hours ago, ManDoon said:

He did, he was like the CB whisperer. Made all our CBs look great.

 

It helped that he played really defensive formations like. 

[Gazzaschicken]

43 minutes ago, ManDoon said:

You mitigate it though, otherwise there is zero point having a manager? Anyone off the street may as well be in charge in that case. 

So how do you do that? Play negative football with 30% possession? Bring back Bruce eh

[Minhosa]

2 hours ago, Ben said:

 

Good.

[Gazzaschicken]

12 minutes ago, ManDoon said:

What makes you think I want bruce back? It’s not some binary thing that if you think maybe Howe isn’t getting it right that I want Bruce back. Sometimes negative football can be effective yes. Wolves play quite negatively. 

I'm not saying you personally want Bruce back im implying the style you are referring to is what Bruce was and got so heavily criticised for. Mitigating a lac of quality, howe has come in and tried to get us to play a slightly more expansive game 15 yards further up the pitch and the players can't do it. Wolves have much better players than us whatever way we play we don't have the quality for this league so howe is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. And I'd much rather go down giving it a go which was the first few games howe was in charge than being negative cause we don't have the quality to be negative as our main positions where we have serious quality issues are cbs and CMs. If you have a good defence then defend if you can't defend then attack but we seem to not have any of that which is why we need a full new team pretty much. 

[Jackie Broon]

55 minutes ago, Gazzaschicken said:

So how do you do that? Play negative football with 30% possession? Bring back Bruce eh

 

Under Rafa we could at times be described as negative but it was effective, with a weaker squad than we have now.

 

Under Bruce we were both negative and ineffective. That is what he was rightly criticised for.

 

Under Howe we're equally ineffective (and have equally low possession statitics).

 

Whether positive or negative what we need is a manager who can get us playing effective football.

[Happinesstan]

4 hours ago, r0cafella said:

He’s always been a walking mistake, he’s just a good example of Rafa getting more out of the Sum of the parts. 
 

 

He came with that reputation. Was considered a terrible signing but he surprised a lot of us. 

I think [this applies to a lot of our current squad] he realises he hit his peak, under Rafa, then Bruce brought them back to comfortable reality.

[TRon]

40 minutes ago, Jackie Broon said:

 

Under Rafa we could at times be described as negative but it was effective, with a weaker squad than we have now.

 

Under Bruce we were both negative and ineffective. That is what he was rightly criticised for.

 

Under Howe we're equally ineffective (and have equally low possession statitics).

 

Whether positive or negative what we need is a manager who can get us playing effective football.

 

Not sure that's right mind, I thought I saw somewhere that we had 52% possession against Watford. That's never happening under Rafa or Bruce. 

[Kid Icarus]

5 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

Not sure that's right mind, I thought I saw somewhere that we had 52% possession against Watford. That's never happening under Rafa or Bruce. 

It's right, but it's a data sample of 10, 5 of which were against the best teams in the league. Our possession against the rest has been higher whenever I've seen it.

[Jackie Broon]

22 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

Not sure that's right mind, I thought I saw somewhere that we had 52% possession against Watford. That's never happening under Rafa or Bruce. 

 

Under Bruce:

West Ham H – 46%

Villa A – 53%

Southampton H – 36%

Man U A – 36%

Leeds H – 35%

Watford A – 48%

Wolves A – 48%

Spurs H – 35%

Average – 42.1%

 

Under Howe:

Brentford H – 52%

Arsenal A – 34%

Norwich H – 31%

Burnley H – 48%

Leicester A – 53%

Liverpool A – 26%

Man City – 28%

Man U H – 31%

Watford H – 52%

Average – 39.4%

Average discounting Norwich  – 40.5%

[Fantail Breeze]

Just now, Jackie Broon said:

 

Under Bruce:

West Ham H – 46%

Villa A – 53%

Southampton H – 36%

Man U A – 36%

Leeds H – 35%

Watford A – 48%

Wolves A – 48%

Spurs H – 35%

Average – 42.1%

 

Under Howe:

Brentford H – 52%

Arsenal A – 34%

Norwich H – 31%

Burnley H – 48%

Leicester A – 53%

Liverpool A – 26%

Man City – 28%

Man U H – 31%

Watford H – 52%

Average – 39.4%

Average discounting Norwich  – 40.5%

 

Mad how the game where we’ve had the most of the ball we got stuffed 4-0.

[NWMag]

I think people are forgetting just how much influence our league position has had. Ever since the new owners came in we have been in the relegation zone if I remember correctly. 
 

Regarding the manager, yes it seemed to take a long time, but it’s an important decision to make. They obviously wanted to get someone of the highest quality possible, but our league position put a lot of people off. Therefore the process slows as they work their way down the list. There is no doubt in my mind that if we were mid table, Bruce would be gone sooner and a new man would have been in a lot quicker. It’s the same with transfers, we probably wouldn’t need to do much business in January if we were mid table, and therefore transfers could wait until the summer. We could then spend this time to do a thorough search for a DOF (which they are doing) and again I believe this is because they want to be sure they get the right man for a long term project. However, because of the position we are in, transfers are a necessity right now and the players we want to sign have reservations about coming, because potential relegation throws a spanner in the works. If we were mid table, recruiting players would be much easier. 
 

Everything they are doing is the best interests of the club, but it’s a simple fact that they took over the club at a bad time and we are in a bad position. There is an endless list of things that need doing and yes, curtain mistakes have been made but not intentionally and there has been some ridiculous over exaggerations both on here and social media. 

[Jackie Broon]

1 minute ago, Fantail Breeze said:

 

Mad how the game where we’ve had the most of the ball we got stuffed 4-0.

 

Mostly because they stood off and let us pass it around sideways and backwards for most of the first half.

[TRon]

18 minutes ago, Jackie Broon said:

 

Under Bruce:

West Ham H – 46%

Villa A – 53%

Southampton H – 36%

Man U A – 36%

Leeds H – 35%

Watford A – 48%

Wolves A – 48%

Spurs H – 35%

Average – 42.1%

 

Under Howe:

Brentford H – 52%

Arsenal A – 34%

Norwich H – 31%

Burnley H – 48%

Leicester A – 53%

Liverpool A – 26%

Man City – 28%

Man U H – 31%

Watford H – 52%

Average – 39.4%

Average discounting Norwich  – 40.5%

 

Fair enough. Although Howe was complaining at the weekend we still tend to sit back as soon as we've taken the lead, so I think he's trying to change that. 

[Kid Icarus]

All about perceptions as well, that Leicester match we looked all over the place, yet against Man United I felt like we dominated. 

[Kid Icarus]

Also, we all remember the Rodgers Swansea team and the whole we won the passing meme. 

I seem to remember the Cisse 2 Swansea 0 match essentially being: