Mountain Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 28 minutes ago, Mattoon said: We've got a decent squad, playing below their capabilities. It cannot be overstated how big a loss Isak is to this team, he was our game changer, our leveller and his replacements are either too raw or not fit. When you have a player like that it lifts the whole team to be more confident and I think that lack of cutting edge has really made us doubt ourselves. There's no denying we are in a slump, we look slow, laborious, indecisive and nervy. A team low on confidence as is evidenced by the sideways and backwards passing, playing hot potato as everyone is too scared to over-commit. It feels like we've been waiting an eternity for it to click and I still have hope that Howe can find the right formula. The next hot streak is just around the corner, but how far away is that corner? These next 3 weeks are pivotal to our season, we could be out of everything and as much as I'd like to see us still battling on 4 fronts, I think it would be best for the team if we did bow out of 1 or 2 competitions so we can refocus and get some alleviation from the relentless schedule. I don't neccessarily disagree. But Isak is injury prone and may never be the same after the latest one. I think we dodged a bullet and I'm glad he's gone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
r0cafella Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 1 minute ago, Optimistic Nut said: I think Brentford are the only club above us who the squad should be definitely ahead of. We should be nearer Villa too, but Spurs should also be closer to both. 6-7th is still around our par. I have it as. Qualify for CL above par Qualify for UL OR UCL. As par. Top 10 below par but you close an eye. 11-16. Serious questions are being asked. 17 -20 unthinkable. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBrownBottle Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 16 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said: I think Brentford are the only club above us who the squad should be definitely ahead of. We should be nearer Villa too, but Spurs should also be closer to both. 6-7th is still around our par. Agreed - the concern would be the forthcoming fixtures. If we’re still in the same position at the beginning of March, then any questioning of Howe’s position should really be quietening down. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keegans Export Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 21 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said: I think Brentford are the only club above us who the squad should be definitely ahead of. We should be nearer Villa too, but Spurs should also be closer to both. 6-7th is still around our par. Depending on what metric you use we have the 7th or 8th most expensive squad so it's probably fair to call that par. After a few seasons of overachieving that might feel a bit of a backwards step but that's where we find ourselves. Some better recruitment in the summer might have moved the needle but the evidence so far is that we fucked it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimistic Nut Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 20 minutes ago, Keegans Export said: Depending on what metric you use we have the 7th or 8th most expensive squad so it's probably fair to call that par. After a few seasons of overachieving that might feel a bit of a backwards step but that's where we find ourselves. Some better recruitment in the summer might have moved the needle but the evidence so far is that we fucked it. The difference last 2 years in particular was we had a top 3 centre-forward. When we were struggling his goals helped us to 7th, when we were good, his goals took us to top 5. We're now probably at a truer reflection of where we are. In the summer it feels like we raised the floor but lowered the ceiling with our squad. Next summer we need to raise the ceiling again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 32 minutes ago, Keegans Export said: Depending on what metric you use we have the 7th or 8th most expensive squad so it's probably fair to call that par. After a few seasons of overachieving that might feel a bit of a backwards step but that's where we find ourselves. Some better recruitment in the summer might have moved the needle but the evidence so far is that we fucked it. Man City have just paid £30 Million and a £78 Million 5 year contract to a defender from an average Premier League team, we aren't even in the same league as the Sky6, our investment needs to be in the recruitment side of things, buying the best players from lower league teams in Europe, the fact that we have money available yet we have no transfers lined up to support Howe is a massive failure IMO Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froggy Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 49 minutes ago, Ben said: Man City have just paid £30 Million and a £78 Million 5 year contract to a defender from an average Premier League team, we aren't even in the same league as the Sky6, our investment needs to be in the recruitment side of things, buying the best players from lower league teams in Europe, the fact that we have money available yet we have no transfers lined up to support Howe is a massive failure IMO That's just City to be fair. Their wage bill is far higher than anyone else in the league. I think Arsenal are second and City spend nearly a million more a week on wages. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingArthur Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 We need to have other ideas besides crossing when trying to break down low block. Just getting ball to wingers and hoping they get a decent cross in is not an effective way to attack. Sadly our recruitment has put us in a place where most of our players A) cannot receive the ball in tight areas / between the lines or B) cannot beat their man 1v1 if there is not much room to run into. Then if the plan doesn't work, making like for like replacements doesn't seem like a thing to do. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledGeordie Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 A system too rigid, a rigid midfield, wingers who can’t open teams up and strikers who aren’t clinical enough. It does feel like Howe either doesn’t know how to change it or is just stubborn. That being said as shit as it was with limited chances created if we were if we take one of our chances and win 1-0 then it doesn’t look half as bad. Problem is we don’t take our chances. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gawalls Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 1 hour ago, Optimistic Nut said: The difference last 2 years in particular was we had a top 3 centre-forward. When we were struggling his goals helped us to 7th, when we were good, his goals took us to top 5. We're now probably at a truer reflection of where we are. In the summer it feels like we raised the floor but lowered the ceiling with our squad. Next summer we need to raise the ceiling again. Totally agree - nobody was a good a paper crack overer as Isak was and probably raised us a good few places each season. This is where we were always without him and this season was always about rebuilding but imo it would be great to see some evidence that Howe is indeed trying new things and learning and right now is he? He's bought Woltemade and needs to find out how you use him as well as learning how to break down that low block, get more creative - after that happy days for me. He's at least earned the summer she's next season for me to see but last window can't be repeated. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 I think we are playing something like this GK RB CB CB LB RM CM CM CM LM ST It’s really a strange formation to me. Howe must have his reasons, but still, it’s really fucking hard to attack if ST is so distant from the midfield. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 (edited) And back in the days when Isaks still here, at the very least, our winger is really playing like a winger, much closer to Isak. Now both Gordon and Barnes play like a midfielder instead. I don’t know why Howe set us up like this - the only advantage is better protection for our full backs I know some of us think “if Isaks here…” which is understandable but imo even if we have Isak yesterday we would still get the same result. It’s the set up behind our ST that is not working Edited January 19 by Zero Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geordie Magpie Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 Can guarantee once we out of all cups and back to one game a week our performances will improve, we might get some sort of Europe this season then the cycle will continue of being shite when playing twice a week and much better when playing once a week. Eddie is a one game a week manager and really struggles when we are in all comps, doesn't help we had a shocker of a transfer window and even though we have better depth on paper, the depth we have isn't good enough. Will take a big summer overhaul to be able to be competitive on all 4 fronts if we do make Europe, gonna be a big overhaul anyways if we don't make Europe as a few of our players will want to leave to play champions league Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Spaceman Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 1 minute ago, Geordie Magpie said: Can guarantee once we out of all cups and back to one game a week our performances will improve, we might get some sort of Europe this season then the cycle will continue of being shite when playing twice a week and much better when playing once a week. Eddie is a one game a week manager and really struggles when we are in all comps, doesn't help we had a shocker of a transfer window and even though we have better depth on paper, the depth we have isn't good enough. Will take a big summer overhaul to be able to be competitive on all 4 fronts if we do make Europe, gonna be a big overhaul anyways if we don't make Europe as a few of our players will want to leave to play champions league If you say so Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilcline Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 It's right to point out what Howe should/could do differently but a lot of it lies with the players too, they should be able to read situations and play what's in front of them rather than just playing on autopilot based on rehearsed patterns. Good example was in the first half yesterday, I think around the 30 minute mark, Gordon or Hall had the ball on the left about halfway inside their half, with the other one a little further up the pitch and wide, both had Wolves players close to them. Joelinton was high in what became popularly known as the half-space when Pep came over here. Andre was in a position where he could cover Joelinton and also get across to Bruno if we passed the ball to them. Joelinton was stood static, but he literally only needed to move 5 yards towards the ball which would either have created a 3v2 for us or, if Andre went with him, we'd have had a pass into Bruno who would have been facing their defence 30 yards from goal with time to shoot or pick his pass to Woltemade or Barnes. I can't even remember what we actually did as I was so frustrated we missed that play/didn't even look for it, it's those small details (along with some bigger stuff like "someone get across the fucking six yard box" of course) that we're missing at the moment. When the opportunity to get into/through the low block is there, we're still not taking it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawK Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 Joelinton operating in front of Tonali and Bruno completely kills us tactically tbh. If that was Bruno there, with Miley and Tonali behind, we'd be a completely different team. Joelinton is good on the break and getting on the end of chances, but in build-up play he's less than helpful. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 (edited) 2 minutes ago, HawK said: Joelinton operating in front of Tonali and Bruno completely kills us tactically tbh. If that was Bruno there, with Miley and Tonali behind, we'd be a completely different team. Joelinton is good on the break and getting on the end of chances, but in build-up play he's less than helpful. I think at the moment we have Bruno and Joelinton operating in front of Tonali, don't we? Joelinton pushes up into the left channel and Bruno on the right. I reckon a double pivot of Bruno and Tonali/Miley would be better for us, but we don't have that at the moment. Edited January 19 by AyeDubbleYoo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawK Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 5 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said: I think at the moment we have Bruno and Joelinton operating in front of Tonali, don't we? Joelinton pushes up into the left channel and Bruno on the right. I reckon a double pivot of Bruno and Tonali/Miley would be better for us, but we don't have that at the moment. The question is why we don't when it seems so obvious to so many. Howe 4-3-3 becoming Dave Bassett 4-4-2 vibes for me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 Just now, HawK said: The question is why we don't when it seems so obvious to so many. Howe 4-3-3 becoming Dave Bassett 4-4-2 vibes for me. Most likely explanation is we're wrong and it's not the solution, I guess But it does seem a good idea to me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benwell Lad Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 4 hours ago, Mattoon said: We've got a decent squad, playing below their capabilities. It cannot be overstated how big a loss Isak is to this team, he was our game changer, our leveller and his replacements are either too raw or not fit. When you have a player like that it lifts the whole team to be more confident and I think that lack of cutting edge has really made us doubt ourselves. There's no denying we are in a slump, we look slow, laborious, indecisive and nervy. A team low on confidence as is evidenced by the sideways and backwards passing, playing hot potato as everyone is too scared to over-commit. It feels like we've been waiting an eternity for it to click and I still have hope that Howe can find the right formula. The next hot streak is just around the corner, but how far away is that corner? These next 3 weeks are pivotal to our season, we could be out of everything and as much as I'd like to see us still battling on 4 fronts, I think it would be best for the team if we did bow out of 1 or 2 competitions so we can refocus and get some alleviation from the relentless schedule. Can't argue with any of that. The fit version of Izak is a miss and any team anywhere would benefit from a fit Izak, but that version hasn't been seen for quite a while and you start to wonder whether it will ever be seen again ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Dancer Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 (edited) I am genuinely starting to worry it’s starting to fizzle out. Crazy to say when we’re so close to the top 4, but the performances just aren’t there and haven’t been for a long time, save for the odd exception. It would be a crying shame when he eventually goes but I’m finding it harder to defend him given the amount of money that’s been spent on a team that barely created anything against the worst team in the league (twice). Edited January 19 by Chicken Dancer Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilson Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 Christ, what a gloomy atmosphere on the forum today. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robster Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 7 minutes ago, Wilson said: Christ, what a gloomy atmosphere on the forum today. Just today ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbandit Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 My gloom is less about us as a club, and more about the state of the game. That’s what’s instilled more negativity in me that I can’t shake. Think it’s probably coloured by my general perception of the direction the world is taking on multiple fronts Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Spaceman Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 1 minute ago, gbandit said: My gloom is less about us as a club, and more about the state of the game. That’s what’s instilled more negativity in me that I can’t shake. Think it’s probably coloured by my general perception of the direction the world is taking on multiple fronts If we still allowed signatures on the forum... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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