Nuno ex Wolves is out of work.... and yes I know he went to Spurs on big money, but he does know how to get a team out of this league...
Let's just hope Wilder comes back in for Greaves in Jan - our centre backs are totally ineffective - still ****ing about at the back - don't bully the opposition forwards, get turned too easily, can't head the ball, too slow and fail to cut out crosses or shots - other than that ....
We’ve got injuries but the match day squad is better than this time last year. Worryingly I look at the current team and think we are no better, I don’t look and think “I can see what shota wants to do and why we’ve signed these players, it’s just not working at the minute but once the injuries ease it’ll improve”. i look and think we are no better, we suffer from the same issues, I really wanted it to work for acun and shota but I’m not convinced it will. Acun will struggle to keep the feel good factor going
But Acun did expect his team to score and play attractive football. Not this clueless dross we served up tonight
I don’t think we have invested enough in the defence. If you can’t win a game, don’t get smashed 3-0 at home by a very mediocre side.
Look out Shota! Expect the Adam Pearson style treatment for losing managers very soon. Injuries don't help but only showing urgency when you are losing just doesn't work.
It wasn’t as bad as Sheffield United or QPR. Not the poorest we’ve been this season. Still poor for a team supposedly aiming for playoffs. If our defensive record continues like this, we won’t even make top half.
it was no better at QPR. Schoolboy defending, nothing in midfield , 10 players running around not knowing how to play the ball forward
Recruitment this summer has been hit and miss. Oscar, Tufan and Seri (also Pelkas) have been astute signings. The rest leave a lot to be desired or we’ve never seen them play yet. The lack of a ball-winning midfielder has cost us and will continue to cost us. Rather than sign one, Shota brought in another midget sideways pass-merchant who Brum wanted rid off.
Recruit for a 433, but we insist on playing 532 when it doesn’t suit the players. It’s going to cost him his job I’m afraid
You can see, at times, the link up in the midfield three, but as I said before, we're far too reliant on getting it wide to two players who just aren't wing backs. If we played a flat back four with Elder and Coyle at full back, they'd be so much more comfortable and there'd be decent cover with few gaps. As it stands, neither has the pace to get back and you're then relying on a pretty inexperienced (at this level) back line to spread out and stop the threat. Both Alfie and Greaves are pushing forward far too often which leaves Figureido horribly exposed. Seri comes deep to get the ball, he's doing that, but then he's trying to do too much on the ball and a few times tonight he was caught out. It looks like Slater and Seri sit deep allowing Tufan to push on, but out of possession neither of those two try to win the ball back and allow the opposition to just ghost through. You've got two technically gifted players in the midfield, so why are we not using them to play the ball forward instead of sideways? Not saying never do it, but not every time. There's this thing called "being worked out", if you just do one thing it isn't going to work no matter how good your players are, Grant learned that two years ago. The good thing about Seri and Tufan is that they have that unpredictable edge, when they're on the ball opposition players shouldn't know what will happen, but all they have to do is stand 90 degrees to either of them and they've done their job. I really wanted it to work for Shota (more because I don't want Pete to leave, he's an excellent coach and has ****ing rocking sideburns) but this isn't working for me at the moment. Whatever he is trying to do isn't taking into account a) the quality of this league and b) that the players we have just don't suit the formation, even with the injuries we have. The talent we have should be having their skills put to best use. Just buying good players and going "right, off you go then" and expecting them to just be better than their opponents is mental, but that looks to be what we've done. This side at the minute is like the Wish version of the side we actually have. I want to give him time because I feel like just sacking a manager when things look a bit bad is an easy out and given what we have playerwise, is anybody going to come in and suddenly make us world beaters? If he plays the same formation on Saturday against Swansea, and we serve up the same constant crossing, safety first dross we did tonight, then give him a picture of a spitfire and wish him well. If he changes it, we look miles better and play better, I'd give him a chance. We'll see what Acun thinks. He isn't tied to Shota like some think, it's always been made clear that Shota isn't indispensable and he knows that, which is probably why he looks so worried.
The midget sideways pass-merchant was one of Brums better earners and started their games before we signed him. But yeah, who's call was it not to replace Smallwood with a Mkii enforcer with go-faster stripes?
