We are definitely playing worse football, with less confidence and weaker in defence than when we were under Farke.
Gilmour is terrible in every way, McLean takes 5 mins to think about the pass he wants to make and then gives it away also looks like he is running through mud, Dowell completely anonymous and weak, Aarons plenty of effort but left isolated and no options when he has the ball, Kabak is so rash there is several key errors in every game, Gibson slow both in pace and thought, Williams is aggressive but then also stands miles off his man, Sargent lacking ability but not effort, Pukki just running around in circles and not looking clinical, Placheta is currently our best player!
I think that’s a short memory, this is as bad but not worse and you have to remember Farke had a fully fit squad
Krul, Hanley, Omobamidele, Normann, Rashica all unavailable and all first names in the team sheet. Omo is the only questionable one there but for me he has been our best CB this season. Add to that Cantwell and Gianoulis who at this point might as well be playing.
Did he? And are you sure? Even the matches where we got hammered, our players at least could pass the ball to their teammates. Our current team hasn’t even got that ability. I liked to think they looked less vulnerable defensively, but that was a smokescreen - we’ve got three of our Farke back four and still look just as willing to gift the opposition chances.
For me you cannot put Omo in there as one of our top players. I don’t disagree that we are injury saddled - but then so was Farke. And Farke missed out on a pre-season.
The last few of Farkes games we played just as badly as we did today, we couldn’t find a man and spent a lot time time just limping the ball forward. I am in no way defending how we played today because it was awful but we were no better under Farke and Farke at least had Normann, Hanley and Rashica playing. It is clear to see why Farke had no interest in playing Gilmour though
I don’t think so. We are the worst team I have seen play - we don’t even seem to play nice football anymore. And the thing is I’m and insufferable optimist normally. If there is a chance, no matter how small, I usually have a small part of me believing we will take it. If we are 3-0 with five minutes to go, there’s a part of me convinced we could get back to 3-3. But not with this team.
I stand by what I said during the game - we simply write this season off and start preparing for next season. That means not playing any of the loans again and sending them back if possible, playing people like Giannoulis and Sorensen and Tzolis and Mumba and Omo who will probably be around next year, thinking about a long-term alternative to Pukki, blooding a few of the under-23s, and finding a goalkeeper who can replace Krul.
Four good finishes today, and one penalty from a mistake by Kabak, I’d agree a couple were preventable but I wouldn’t say defensively worse if that makes sense
We beat Brentford relatively comfortably in Farke’s final match… I know we were horrendously vulnerable - eg against Chelsea - but we seemed to concede goals in the unlikeliest situations with Farke where you chalked it down as unlucky. Now we fully deserve it when we concede. And I don’t remember our passing being anywhere near as bad.
Even if we try to bring in some/a player(s) in January, do you think they would come to a club destined to be relegated?
I’d love to agree, I really would - but Saka’s goal was pretty regulation when Williams just let him cut back without getting close to Saka. It was a tidy enough shot. (Question mark on Gunn for me). Saka’s second was similar in that he had loads of space. Smith Rowe’s at the end was unmissable. It was only really the Tierney finish where I thought we were unlucky due to an exceptionally well-placed finish. That’s not the same as some of those narrow ones under Farke for me.
I was very pleased with Webber's recruitment at the time, which just goes to show how stupid I am. 1) Normann was crocked and we shouldn't have taken him on 2) Sargent belongs on Blackpool sands and simply sending someone to watch a few games would have made it clear that he lacks the slightest hint of any technical ability 3) Gilmour is utterly useless in a struggling team at this stage in his career, but he was a name and that made Webber look good 4) Williams is no better than Giannoulis (and worse going forward) and we risk losing Giannoulis just to keep Man U happy 5) 5m for Gunn was ridiculous when we have several promising young goalkeepers 6) Kabak is a mistake waiting to happen, the kind of gung-ho defender a top team can afford but we can't. 7) Tzolis may be very good in the future, but two managers now seem to think he isn't ready to be the player we need at the moment. We didn't recruit a specialist DM or anyone to work alongside Pukki or take his place if he was injured. More and more I think Webber sacked Farke in an attempt to distract from his own failure in recruitment. I'm not anti-Smith, but we now look just as toothless as we did under Farke except, as Rob says, we don't even play attractive football anymore. The results are **** and we are **** to watch - there is utterly nothing to be positive about. And before people say 'yes, but we're a little club stepping up to the Premier League', Brentford and Watford seem to be making a much better fist of it than we are. Without uber-genius Webber.
