It's made even more incredible by the fact Sheffield United are so bad. Let's not forget Palace got battered today. Same Palace that ran us ragged at home.
You mean Maguire from the corner? We had men running forward and most of their team around our box, perfect time to hit on the break and we opt for a throw
That's the one! I think that shows how devoid of ideas we are. And it was 3rd/4th time btw. A couple of times further up the pitch.
Nervous last 15 minutes as £500m squad hopes to hold on to a scrappy lead against the bottom of the table side - not long to wait before the boss comes out and tells us more about the process..
Anyone who thinks it's only the result that matters, I would urge them to watch that performance and tell me what difference this result will make to the next game or to the rest of the season or anything long term. We will get battered playing like that against a half decent side. And I'll tell ya something for nowt we're out of the CL the next game
I have a feeling that ETH's lack of communication skills - language and the nuances involved, are beginning to take a toll. His directness, his no-nonsense disciplinarian approach may have worked at Ajax but hasn't travelled well to OT. In my experience Dutch speakers are direct, the translation between the two tongues doesn't allow for subtleties and finesse - I worry that ETH is fast becoming LVG part ll.
How many ****ing times have we had this same concern going into these derbies - it's been years now and no sign of improvement.
On this night, of all nights, to put on such a piss poor performance against the bottom of the table club is unforgivable. Where is the pride, where is the passion....it has become embarrassing - again.
Unfortunately Lisandro is out for quite a while yet. I have been thinking about personal pride in players for a while now (regardless of dressing room unrest or not), the only players that are actually showing any are unfortunately the ones with least influence and some not quite good enough (Maguire, Lindelof, Dalot , Antony, Garnatcho when on field and possibly Rasmus but not getting any real feed), The midfield and most of the attack are missing and showing little effort to change that. Again there are players missing who i think show some pride, Casimero, Shaw, Wan Bissaka, Varane all of who i think would avoid/ignore dressing room murmers. No idea what the problem really is but i know i have seen us play much better with the same squad over the last 12 months.
Whether we like it or not look at what other managers are doing at other clubs. That's the real comparison. Posta at Spurs, Arteta at Arsnl, Howe at Newcastle, even Unai at Villa. You can see some identity, some direction, some quality and dynamism in the football they're playing. That's the bear fcking minimum to expect ffs. And they're getting the very best out of their players, in some cases getting players to punch above their weight. It's a joke watching us and looking at the way other teams are playing.
For so long, everyone was afraid to usher the word “manager” when talking about the issues we’ve had even though it’s been this way since preseason when it was clear that the setup was off. Many of the transfers have been questionable, especially Mount’s transfer and getting rid of DDG. Sancho situation should have never happened the way it unfolded. And the insistence by ETH that Sancho should apologize, or else, is extremely petty. That said, we won today! That is the most important thing. This is a difficult league regardless of who you play and the fact that we are only 6 points from the top after 9 games demonstrates the difficulty this season. You want the three points and move from there as a huge positive. When things are bad, players will be playing with nerves and I believe that is what we are currently seeing. We know that the manager has what it takes to work with class players which many of the players are. Many of them play at the highest international level and some even scored during the international break. It’s clear that the foundation for success is there, but ETH needs to accept poor decisions that have been made and move the team forward by holding himself accountable. If we win the next few games including beating City, detractions can quickly turn into opportunity for sustained success when the players start believing again. Positives today: 1. ETH is willing to try a different system by not starting Mount 2. Maguire being back in the fold. Good on ETH for working that relationship and good to see Maguire is responding positively. 3. Great to see Johnny Evans start a match. He should have never been dropped after that Burnley game. 4. Good to see the early substitutions. In other games, we had left that too late. Confidence grew after those substitutions. Overall, there were plenty of chances to score four clean goals today but the team is obviously short on confidence. But it’s an away win and if I would have took that before the match.
