Isn't Solak pretty friendly with Jim White, whose on Talksport? Sure they've had a couple of interviews with him before.
Blimey, Tony Pulis writing about exactly what I was thinking the other day when Still got sacked. The power and pitfalls of using data to build a football team. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c781v7zz0w2o I think we've been led down a blind alley along with a host of other clubs in the last few years trying to find the data driven golden goose(s) at the expense of the human side of the game and ended up with a squad of decent players who just don't work. Look back to the years of Lallana and SRL and the TEAM was outstanding. Now we're signing numbers ahead of people and suffering the fallout of that. The manager's job is becoming an impossible task. Get a bunch of rando's he's never met and has nothing in common with to unite and play as a single force for a club that means nothing to them. Say what we want about RM he achieved something building a team out of the ashes of relegation. Will Still never had that support or brought in players he could rely on.
From my cynical viewpoint, the players did look like they had downed tools for Still, then re-started work for Tonda. Either that, or we got lucky last night. However, a win's a win, so whether Tonda is backed by the players, or is very fortunate, we're three points better off.
Well Ian, fair enough but there is a big disconnect between a collection of data points and a room full of people. I think that there is an issue with data replacing the eye-ometer and completely ignoring the personality tests. Remember the dressing room divided into french speakers and non-french speakers, the Salisu and ABK issues? The data would tell us they had great potential and were good signings, the personality test proved otherwise. I'm not saying there's no place for data, its vitally important but cant be relied upon to build a team. That's where the manager was always so important. The game has gone too far in the data driven direction IMO.
It would be interesting to know how many signings are cancelled due to suspicions on a players character. Football is unique for recruitment in the sense you can go and watch a player work, but that’s still limited information to be able to fully gauge a personality and whether it’s right for the squad. what I would say is that it’s easy to blame bad apples and potential squad cliques on why a team might not be performing to the best of its ability, but I would argue that the clubs culture and environment set by the manager and board can foster bad behavior, just as much as encouraging good behavior
