Fair enough, there are some who certainly have been spinning that line for weeks now. Like I say, I've been one of the more critical posters of the board for around 18 months now. But the squad is still better than what has been shown so far.
We were more energetically wasteful, but we still had the same primary issues...we couldn't finish, and our tempo was slow through midfield, meaning that most of our chances came through a dense thicket of people. I sincerely doubt that a few groans from the crowd (because the crowd's angst didn't really start to pick up until were knocked out of Europe, in December) were the reason that we went from "look like we could score, but don't" to "don't look like we could score, and don't".
May aswell sack MP2 now then the way people are talking, because no manager in the world can pick up a good amount of points from our next 10 games with the players we have available to us.
Okay, buckle up. I’m breaking from my recent form and going for a longer post... The squad isn’t what it should be. The last manager was a pragmatist who worked with what he had, but couldn’t satisfy the fans, rightly or wrongly. In hindsight, he did ‘acceptable’ at the very least in terms of results. The board didn’t give Puel good enough tools (Fonte/Caceres and Gabbi being signed too late) when he was trying to do the job and I get the feeling that in attempting to rectify their error, they’ve made another one by appointing a manager who isn’t up to the task. The players don’t seem arsed enough for my liking and after several years of key players throwing strops and demanding (and eventually getting) moves elsewhere, should we even be surprised? Several members of this squad seem to either have an eye on the door or have lost all semblance of form and aren’t showing signs of recovering it. That squad needs taking apart and rebuilding. Whether you think Pellegrino is the man to oversee it is another question entirely. I’m sceptical, and probably lean to the ‘no, he definitely isn’t’ camp at current. Each game is following a very tedious pattern. It’s one step forward and then a whopping step or two back when we concede and can’t rescue ourselves. We have 16 points from our last 18 PL games. We’ve only scored in seven of our last 17 games. That is relegation form and is unacceptable. Under Pellegrino, we’ve scored six in seven home games. None of the above is good enough and there ought to be soul-searching in the boardroom, the training ground and the dressing room. But I suspect that there won’t be, not just yet...
I think the biggest problem we have is no attacking squad depth at all. It's what caused us the 2nd half of the last season. Players get comfy playing **** or not trying and are still in the starting team. Pellegrino will get the blame though and will be gone before xmas. While the board and players get off again.
I would just like to see him try something different, be a bit braver maybe. I do wonder how much credit the current board have left in the bank...
How I feel as well. Some players aren't arsed and need moving on. We either need to get a new manager and give him a ****load of cash or let Pellegrino rebuild. But we do have to rebuild
I didn't say worst. I said most painful to watch. In my opinion, we have the least redeeming features. We have better players but no identity and no desire to play with any purpose.
Beef, I get what you’ve been saying and I do lay some blame with the board too (and mostly side with what DTLW says above), but i’m seeing a group of half decent players getting progressively worse. A manager with genuine strength and charisma, along with a clear sense of how he wants teams to play could turn this lot round. There’s (bar Boufal) no bravery in this team in the way they’re set up. Why the actual **** is Tadic still on the right? When we ran at them briefly today, we looked ten times more effective. They cannot, just cannot be being coached to drive through the middle. The obsession with wing play is idiotic with these players. As someone previously said, you have to play with the players you have, not the ones you wish you had.
I haven't read many posts yet, but this was one of the first, so it's the one I have quoted - because, as is often the case, your thinking isn't too dissimilar to mine. There is absolutely no question that the board have horrifically messed up. For the second summer running. But as I have constantly said, the time to shout about that was the summer itself (and I'm sorry, but not enough people were in my camp doing that). The moment 1 Sep came about, it was time to shut up about the board and focus on what we have until January. So with that in mind, I am now parking the board to one side. I cannot justify Redmond being in the team. I cannot justify Tadic being on the right. I cannot justify Maya ahead of Hoedt. I cannot justify Gabbi up front by himself. I cannot justify Boufal spending so much time out of the team. I cannot justify asking Bertrand to have to put up with Redmond as his partner. I struggle to justify not playing three at the back. Even on a small front, I cannot justify bringing Gabbi off for Austin after an hour or so. All of these things are absolutely nothing to do with the board, or the lack of summer activity. They are to do with the manager. Having a bad summer should mean struggling against the likes of West Ham, Leicester, Stoke and Everton; fine. But I firmly believe that this squad is still good enough to be beating the likes of Brighton, Swansea, Huddersfield, Newcastle and Burnley. Christ, I thought Burnley were even worse than WBA and Swansea at SMS this season. I said I would assess after these opening 11 games, so here we are. And I am perfectly happy for MP to be sacked. So on that front, TLL, I am ahead of you. BUT, I wouldn't sack him. I think asking a new manager to come straight into our upcoming fixture list would (a) be grossly unfair on that person, and (b) crucially, could deny us a chance to get a nice honeymoon-bouce start. I accept that it might be cruel on MP, but I am happy to keep his on effecting as a dead-man walking. Whilst in the meantime, we get to work behind the scenes on looking for his replacement - maybe even start discussing possible January signings with such a person. And then when we're over the bad fixtures, do a Adkins-Poch move, where we simultaneously sack one manager and employ another. Of course, in the meantime, MP is presented with a theoretical chance to save his job. Highly unlikely of course, but impossible that he could string some results together during that difficult run. For people who don't want MP sacked now, then that view should be retained throughout this run of fixtures. No matter how bad things get. Being beaten by the likes of City and Spurs shouldn't make any difference to his position. Sacking him on those results would be far too harsh. I've read a lot about some fans' expectations apparently being too high - well expecting MP to get results against the big six would be exactly that. So fine, I understand that many won't want MP sacked now - but just so long as that view is still retained in two months, even if we're sat in the bottom three, with one win in ten or twelve games.
We were a bit unlucky today. It was always going to be tough trying to break down Burnley. We worked their keeper a few times, they challenged ours once and beat him. We lost what was always going to be a 1-0 game, 0-1. With a bit of luck it could have gone the other way. I saw a few positives today; we had a better tempo, and sustained some decent for longer than we have done this season. We just didn't get the breaks. I wouldn't panic yet. We're really not that bad, & more importantly, we're getting better. Today won't have helped the confidence though. Time for the players, manager and fans to show some backbone, if there's any of that about.
This. I wouldn't fire Pellegrino midseason unless we genuinely find ourselves in the muck, but I'd start putting together a list of options for the summer (and include managers who we'd have to pay compensation for; there are worse ways to spend a couple mil). And in addition to a signing or two in the winter, I'd start looking for suitors for our underachievers; if we're to rebuild this roster, we're going to need to change the faces in the dressing room.
I have seen Tadic play the same for about 2 and half seasons now. The guy is so lazy mentally. I get we should give him a chance in his favorite postion but even then a lot of games he looks lazy. ( I am saying this as a guy who use to rate him better then Lallana). If I was Pellegrino I would play 442 and drop him.
No Schad. I stand by what I've said, I was there. The football wasn't that bad. It wasn't hugely exciting, but the big point I am Making is that I could see what he was trying. I could see it in the very first game against Watford. We had a 20 minute spell in that game where we caused them problems and then it stopped. Several games were like that, but sadly our idiotic fans had no patience and got on Puel and the teams back. The fans quit first and then the players. We created lots of chances in those games. Just go back and read the match threads. We bemoaned that we couldn't take our chances. I am perfectly happy in knowing what I saw and how I interpreted it. Just because we weren't flowing goals or most fans don't free with me, I still believe in what I was seeing. In fact, the more a majority is against me on this, the happier it will make me feel. I've never felt the majority of our fans were particularly football savvy anyway Our fans from game one didn't understand what Puel was trying to implement. I saw it and understood it.
Right, although maybe a bit earlier than summer as we clearly didn't give Pellegrino enough time to work out his squad and bring in the players he wanted this summer. but we should at least give him the winter window.
