Well hang on. We lost to Fenerbahce, Leicester and Peterborough. We beat Cambridge, Brighton stiffs and Malaga. So we lost to two teams we were never gonna beat and once to a team we should be beating. We beat two teams we should have done and one we probably wouldn't have thought we would. That pretty much sums up pre season for most clubs, you spend most of the time getting minutes into the legs of new players, tinkering with formations and trying new things, I can't imagine many teams go out to dominate the opposition in a pre season friendly. To then say Shota deserves mere weeks to get us to what I presume is somewhere near the playoffs with a squad currently missing a decent chunk of players is a bit mad. If we're bottom three in November, yep, fair enough. If we're mid table, definitely not. The owners might act before we judge, but we need to get behind this lot from the off. Don't get caught up in the owner's hype; it's his job to say we're going for promotion, just like 20 odd other owners will be saying, we need to stay grounded and do what the players do, take it a step at a time. FWIW I think we'll make the playoffs, I just think we'll fall short in them given the inexperience.
Let me make you a summary of players signed from Turkey so far since I know market well: Estupinan: Strong striker who has ability to hold up ball, not really prolific goalscorer, requires quick wingers and creative players to score or he can make them score. If KLP was in team, could be a very good duo. Allahyar: You already know him, not sure that he is worth that money, a bit shady deal with Fenerbahce tbh, I am sure Fenerbahce would offload him free since they are still 6 players up of foreign player limit rule in Turkey Dogukan: Not a creative player, has a bit skill on dribbling but not really a pacey one and not a defensive powerhouse in midfield for sure. Played 4 years in top tier and 3.5 years he was a ghost in the field although he was always in first 11. He caught an eye after team changed coach and signed with former Madrid/Dortmund man Nuri Sahin. That change led him to national team, then Hull City. Seri: Probably highest profile player, he had a really good season in 2019 until Covid breaks out with Galatasaray especially when he switched form roaming playmaker to regista, very good vision, calm player who can keep possesion and draw fouls in midfield. Physically very weak and requires someone with defensive capabilities next to him. Ozan: Was a huge potential, but always coupled with very inconsistent performance. A box to box player who can really provide some quality in midfield, unfortunately he is always overweight and notoriously lazy. Quite a bit controversial character also, became famous when he was fixing his hair instead of closing down on Modric in Euro16, then he kind of became meme player with quite a bit troll videos. Tetteh: In 2019 summer Galatasaray flirted with him a lot but couldn't convince Sparta then he had a mediocre season and ended up with a very low profile team in Turkey. Tall but not really strong although he added upper body muscles last years, good touches and technique for his height, not really a good finisher, similar to Estupinan.
Shota won 6 from 19 last season, it's not as if he's a brand new manager. I don't really care about the results I care about the performances in pre season and even against Malaga we didn't create much from open play. To not even create chances against Leicester or Posh is the big concern for me. I don't think he'll be here past September though so don't think it's worth a lot of energy.
You think he'll be gone after 15 games? You really think we'll do that badly? I guess we'll see, but I have a feeling we're going to see a much different performance on Saturday to what we saw in pre season. And if I'm wrong, then yeah, he's not going to last very long.
Bristol City are significantly improved and beat us 5-0 in our last game against them. I know we've improved as well but I'm still very concerned about where our creativity will come from and really can't seeing us scoring against their improved defence. TWT as they say but yeah I do think we'll do poorly over the first 10-15 games and Acun will lose patience.
I also think we’ll struggle a bit in our first 10-15 games this season. I think it will take some time for the influx of signings to gel in the team. There’s also an ever-increasing list of injuries. I’ll back Shota and the squad obviously but I’m not getting too carried away as I think there are a lot more teams in this division who are stronger and more cohesive.
I saw enough of Tetteh in 15 minutes to know your comment about him not being strong is bollocks. I think you’ve not seen a few of these players for a while which is what you’re basing your opinions off how is 15 goals in the 6th best league quality wise globally not prolific either
I think this Shota bashing is fairly baseless. We were something like 16th in the form table during his tenure and that's outperforming our wage bill by 7/8 places. If we do that this year, we'll be going up. Considering last year's squad was largely Grant's side, he did pretty well. One of my favourite stats is the impact he had on KLP too. Keano got something like 8 in 19 under Shota, compared to 4 in 28 under Grant. That's a massive difference especially when you throw in that we played way more defensive under Shota too. His coaching set up clearly know what they're doing. I can't understand any argument why people think Shota is ****e and that he won't last 15 games. All the crap that was levelled at Grant, well Shota is the complete opposite. He prefers 433 but knew last season we didn't have the players to play that formation nor did we have the players to play the style he wanted, he adapted and he did the job. I think it'll take a bit of time for us to settle down and gel but and it did take Shota a little while to get used to the league
Bristol City are significantly improved? Well that's not true, they've made 4 signings all on frees who will largely add depth. It's going to be pretty much the same side we faced at the end of April
Naismith was one of the best performing centre halves in the league, Kane Wilson would be our starting right wing back too. So they have improved TWT whether it’s significantly or not
If by "he did the job" you mean won 6 in 19 then that he certainly did. KLP did score a lot more under Shota that's true.. but KLP isn't here anymore so is a bit irrelevant. How many did Ally score under him even after being eased in? Looked decent but only scored the 1 didn't he? TWT if he can get a tune out of the other imports as well. The concern is he seems to have adapted to a formation that doesn't even suit the players.
"Largely add depth"? Naismith and Kane are excellent signings. Huddersfield overhauled their defence and made the play offs, you don't think Bristol City have set about doing the same? Whether the signings cost money or free is irrelevant to the quality of the signings. There's a reason most are tipping them to be the most improved in the division this season.
TWT what our best formation is, but at present I think 3-5-2/3-4-3 is the best we hope for. Id be quite happy if whilst we get over this injury crisis we make ourselves really hard to beat. Would show Shota as a pragmatist, would just be transforming to a more attacking side when we have the personnel
Admit it. This is all because Acun picked the “wrong” winner of turkeys Survivor and youre a bitter ****
Surely speculation time is almost over?We'll find out in 50 or so hours whether or not we're capable of creating chances,to give him 7 or 8 weeks looks like you've prejudged him and the squad already?
This is how we managed to strengthened last year (after stepping up a division). Transfers In Matt Smith - Man City - Season long loan. Di’Shon Bernard - Man United - Season long loan Ryan Longman - Brighton - Season long loan Nathan Baxter - Chelsea - Season long loan Tyler Smith - Sheff United (free) - Two year deal (+ one year option) George Moncur - Luton Town (free) - Two year deal (+ one year option) Andy Cannon - Portsmouth (free) - Two year deal (+ one year option) Randell Williams - Exeter City (free) - Two year deal (+ one year option) Tom Huddlestone - One year deal (+ one year option) For all the talk of making too many wholesale changes there were 9 in (and 9 out) last season. Although TBF only 3 of them played many minutes (more than 1,000) so we relied mainly on the L1 Champs.
