I suppose another way of looking at is better the devil you know. If Saturdays performance is anything to go by then maybe the penny has dropped and he at last gets that a more up tempo performance further up the pitch is the way to go in this division, and he’ll tailor his squad accordingly next season. Just a thought.
Aaargh, that phrase always drives me mad. If good results can be down to players individual abilities alone, rather than the manager having an impact and input into those results, then why is it always the managers fault when results are bad, rather than those also being down to the players alone?? Confidence is a massive thing in football, and after losing a few on the bounce players instinctively become more cautious and less inclined to try things. Even if a manager sets up with the same personnel and gives them the same instructions, the odds are, scared players will instinctively go backwards and sideways or hide from the ball regardless of what they're told. Confident players are more likely to take instructions on board and go with it. Obviously it's a combination of both players and managers that achieve results, both good and bad, but I actually do feel sorry for managers in general because they are relatively limited in what they can affect once games are underway. For all the substitutions and tactical tweaks etc, they are still reliant on the players to play to the best of their abilities and to do what is asked of them. It doesn't take much to jeopardise that!
There are some things they can do during a game. Changing formation or make a non-like for like change. That could be defensive or offensive. I appreciate there is more that can be done in training than in a game. I can't say I've seen any great change in approach to a game between winning performances and losing performances, though I don't watch enough to be sure and am happy to be corrected. I'm genuinely curious as to what initiated our change in fortunes. Is Erol a good enough manager and his backroom staff good enough coaches to push us into the top 6 next season? I've said it before, there are managers where you can see their style, their approach, their ethos as to how they want to play. DJ, Malky, Colin. You could see what they were trying to acheive, and (largely) their signings fitted into that. I can't say I feel the same about Erol. On the other hand, if he is the guy for next season, let's get in on paper so he can start planning for next year. I'd be OK with that, but let's not waste months and drift aimlessly into the next pre-season.
Say he is offered a new deal would he able make it conditional on having funds to get in the players he wants? Sabri Lamouchi wasn’t interested in us anymore without such confirmation. The squad clearly needs improvement and there’s only so much he can do with the current squad less the loanees who will leave.
Never had a lot of time for Lamouchi. To use one of remote's expressions, did we stay up despite him rather than because of him? Sol returning was the big attraction to the club in the circumstances we we re left in after Morison and Hudson had fcked it up. Lurching from the Morison dictatorship to the Hudson luvvie approach was a farce and nearly killed the club. Not sure about Lamouchi's demand for funds having been the issue - we were still in a transfer embargo back then. I just thought Tan and Dalman had seen through the fog for once and let him go - don't think he's had a job since.
Juries out again on Bulut. I gave him the benefit of the doubt earlier in this thread but now he’s blown it for me. What’s the way to play swansea? Press press and press again. So what’s he do, sets them up defensively so the home team can play in our final third with a hopeless big lump up top. If he can’t work that out after analysing the opposition then he’s got no future here. Ah some will say we won 4 out of 4 but in reality City only played well in one of those games (Ipswich) but only for 45 minutes plus 10 crazy minutes at the end. The others we failed to convince but got narrow wins. Today Bulut’s limitations were laid bare. City should have started with their only talented creative player Colwill and got into their faces from the off. Turnbull is too slow to be an effective no 10. Bowler must be the slowest winger in the league.
I'm still more than happy to cut the guy some slack and that's despite me not being impressed by his joining us in the first place. Today we were going to get battered no matter how we set up with Swansea playing the best 45 minutes of the season. I don't think many clubs in our division would have lived with the way they came out of the blocks today. I think if we'd have gone at them, they'd have run circles around us and the damage would have been greater. Looking at Bulut's tenure on the whole, he's done well when he's had a full, fit squad to rely on but gives the overall level of skill (or lack of it) of most if the squad, when his stars went sick he was in understandable trouble and had to tinker to find a way of being competitive. Given all of that, I still don't know if he's going to take us forward or not and in any case, that will depend on the board...no matter who we have as team boss. So, I still don't know but at the moment, keeping the revolving door still would be my preferred option.
There's something in the DNA of City that shows up in every autopsy after a City loss - the inability to change a game on the hoof. Swansea were so much better than us on the ball and also off it. We looked clumsy in comparison and though it pains me to say it, they thoroughly deserved the points today simply because Bulut & Co couldn't change it. They toyed with us and that's what hurts the most. Going in at half time just 1-0 down was a bonus (and lucky) - they could have got 3 or 4. Colwill on for the start of the second changed the dynamics but Bowler on the right is painful to watch - a wiggly left foot but goes nowhere with it. At least Tanner is far more direct and runs at defenders even if his skill factor isn't the best. O'Dowda needs another game or 2 but it looked to me that Ramsey needs half a dozen at least - looked torpid when he came on, and no amount of skill on the ball can disguise a lack of fitness off it. With safety achieved, serious scrutiny of the management of this squad is needed for next season. Back on the Bulut track - he's posing more questions than answers at the moment and he needs to reverse that.
Roughly a 10% price increase for mine so still under £10 a game. BT thinks it is still good value which it is if the football quality is the level of the Ipswich game. Trouble is only 2 or 3 of the other 18 have come close. I'm still unsure about Bulut tactically especially after Swansea but if he has learned from this season and the squad quality can be improved then who knows for next season? I will probably renew but always have some doubts at this stage.
You've been telling me this for donkeys years, or seasons. Unless you decide to move to Poole permanently and follow the Cherries, you'll be back! It's the anticipation, or perhaps fear, of what you might miss next season, by not renewing probably drives us on. Unfortunately, mostly, the anticipation usually evaporates quite quickly!
