I've found this season to be the most exciting season to watch since the months where we were excellent under Rosenior with Carvalho at the peak of his form. Tactically, I think that Jakirovic's style really suits the players quite well. Defensively it's been a bit hit or miss at times, but that was the case last season and we wouldn't score either. Having said all this, I think the most impressive thing about him has been that he probably has improved every single player in the squad bar Casey Palmer. That is really encouraging as it indicates the players have bought into him and his methods. Long may this continue.
It's definitely exciting to watch. My only concern is he hasnt been able to stop the amount of goals we're conceding. We've gone from having one of the best defenses under Rosie & Ruben to one of the worst. I fully appreciate there's a balance and in order to get players forward to create chances, you're going to leave yourself vulnerable at the back.. I just dont think he's got that balance right at the moment. If he were able to improve that, i've no doubt we'll be able to finish top 6, especially with our better players to come back.
I know this is a common argument at the moment - but as it stands we are 7th despite our 5 best players being missing for weeks and our leaky defence. As the old adage goes - points make prizes and as long as we keep picking up the wins it doesn't matter how many goals we are conceding. I'm really not too bothered about it at the moment.
I’d rather finish mid table banging loads of goals in than finish mid table with lots of 0-0s and 1-0s. It’s just more enjoyable. Of the biggest things for me is that on the times he has got the tactics or shape wrong he usually changes it. We’ve had a lot of managers sticking to plan A at all costs regardless of what was happening on the pitch.
What needs to change? Most the chances and goals we give away are from stupid individual errors, not from being too gung ho and getting caught leaving ourselves wide open all the time.
solid agree, even at our peak under Rosenior when we came 7th, if we went 1 or 2 down you never felt like we had a chance of getting back in to it due to the slow cautious nature of the play, but we've won so many points from losing positions this season it's banishing those memories
We’re always in the game even after having a stinker of a half. I’ve enjoyed this season so far more than any I can remember, especially since the Bruce promotion days
I think that would be true of about Feb-March but towards the end of the season we had those games against Ipswich and Leicester which were brilliant. We also had the last game of the season however.
The Ipswich and Leicester games felt like exceptions though. It was like he (Rosenior) sort of let the handbrake off a bit, and it was great. I remember many of thought and hoped the those exceptions marked a turning point but they didn't, it seemed like the handbrake was slammed back on again. False dawns. A lot of the time it was just as boring as f....
I can’t imagine the players attempting a ku de ta with Sergej like they did with Rosenior. Enough said.
This. Can't underestimate the impact having our 5 best (arguably, or at least 5 of our top) players out has had and continues to have, not just on our attacking play but also on how that impacts our defensive record. Having a match fit Lunstram and Matazo in CM would massively impact. We've also not yet had a good run of Ajayi at CB either. Also, having a fully fit McB, Millar and Bellloumi is bound to take pressure of the defence as the oppo are more concerned about our threat, plus McB is a massive help in defence at times too. Individual mistakes will continue to happen, but we'd be defending our box less often, so they'd likely reduce too. If lady luck would finally shine on us, play offs are in our reach.
We did score 15 goals in April/May - out of 8 games so I do think by April we'd worked out how to score more. The boring/not boring debate has been had so many times - its not really worth getting back into again.
Yeah this - there were too many like the Stoke home game where when teams sat in and let us pass it around it felt like we'd never score, we went from start of Jan to end of the season only winning 2 of our 11 home games
Honest, straight forward talking, flexible and not afraid to change things when needed, such a refreshing change to those that have preceeded him, I'm absolutely loving this season, despite having so many injuries the man and squad have performed miracles.
if serg has performed miracles what has paul heckingbottom performed? paul might actually be the messiah
Didn't realise Preston were under embargo, and had lost their most influential players for large periods but hey ho
its not like our starting line ups are bad, theres still a very good championship 8+ players even with the injuries and preston bought 1 player, rest are loans or frees
Even without my rose tinted specs and given what we shifted out I rather think our Serj has usurped young Heckinbottom, given we've virtually cobbled together a new team this season, and our finishing position of last season, but you're entitled to your view
