I am being positive - 2 wins! I don't want to risk sounding like Dai, but I'm being realistic aren't I ? Do you think we can beat Napoli, Liverpool, Arsenal or Everton ? AWAY ? Everton are 6th in the PL - and that's the lowest position of any of those teams in their respective league. I can't be positive about those games without talking ****. I'm not giving a team talk here - the players don't come here looking for inspiration.
Tend to agree with you but with players back from injury AND getting game time, plus we'll hopefully have Michu back, we might sneak a couple of draws as well.
That's my hope also Ivor - I just think we're more likely to get beaten. I hope we'll win every game we play.
Explain a bit more Kieran please... Do you think we'll win a few more, get a few more draws or maybe we'll lose some of those games by the odd goal rather than a few goals under Laudrup ?
Except for Michu of course who's still out because of Michael Laudrup and the staff he employed. Monk will only bring him back when he's 100%.
I think we'll be competitive in every game we play. We certainly won't be going to these 'top' teams and giving the game away before we've kicked off unlike under ML.
I'm not worried.... I sure we won't be relegated, we certainly have seen more up for it, and have been getting the ball forward a lot quicker than under Laudrup. I'm just trying to see if expectations have risen and will those expectations match the results.
All i know is i have far more confidence of getting results under monks way than i would under laudrups way. We would have lost both previous games if laudrup was the manager where we have picked up 4 valuable points under monk....totally different game plan between the both, one is positive football and one is negative football....
I'll give you my take! I see a win against Everton in the Cup, a win against Napoli at home, a win against WBA and Palace at home, a draw at Arsenal away, a loss at Liverpool and a loss at Everton in the League, 4 wins 1 draw 2 deafeats, now that's me sticking my neck out, lets see if Terror can stick his neck on the line, and see who gets the closest!............... PS: And to answer your last question, it's a big YES, the lads are far more positive and playing far better football with Monk, and Monk's starting XI and subs tells me he knows his players better than Laudrup!..............
PS: And to answer your last question, it's a big YES, the lads are far more positive and playing far better football with Monk, and Monk's starting XI and subs tells me he knows his players better than Laudrup!... Never a truer word.. It's like i have said in another thread. Laudrup plays a certain way and its the only way he knows and to me that is fair enough because it will work with clubs that play that way. We on the other hand are use to playing a different way and we were found wanting the moment laudrup who thought he was doing the right thing changed a few things, Now if you look at both systems then there is not that much between the two as they both have excellent possession capabilities and the difference between ML and Monk/Rodgers/martinez is the length of passes as laudrups were long and much easier to intercept and monks is much shorter and more going forward. Laudrup would rather go through the middle and monk is use to using the wings more...There is a fine line between success and failure and occasionally as we have witnessed laudrups way will get the odd result but its not consistent enough. We will lose under monks system of course we will but monks way is much more consistent at getting results. So at the end of the day we cant say that laudrup is a bad manager but he was not the type of manager for us and he could not get enough results to go our way ....after all we never once got hammered under laudrup but we kept on falling short and that is not good enough at the end of the day...
You mean like I did this morning (11.30am), on this thread, post #39....If you have aspirations of being the clever dick you are going to have to pay attention Phillip! Dai Your post above is a sensible one....but why have you spent the last week running the great man down at every opportunity? Didn't you say he was a League 1 or 2 manager at best (amongst many, many, other crass statements re: Laudrup and his managerial capabilities)?
I think that out of the next 8 games, 3 should be used by Monk to assess fringe players and how their gonna fit into his end of season run in. The cups have become an unwelcome distraction. I'm not saying we should go there to lose, but I wouldn't risk Michu in any of them if he's only just returning to 100% fitness.
Everton - Loss (I don't want us to be in it) Napoli - Win (Guns blazing, after all, its a once in a lifetime chance for us right now, and our past manager did like this comp, so would only be fair for the players) Liverpool - Loss Napoli - Loss Palace - Win Arsenal - Loss West Brom - Win Everton - Loss Same results I would have expected under Laudrup to be honest. Yes I can see differences in the playstyle, but I honestly don't think there is enough difference to change games, as we all knew injured players were returning. And that for me was ML's biggest hand.
Very well put Dai, when you say it like that, I tend to agree with some of it. And can understand why we did part company, but I still feel we are not in a position to justify the decision on the past 2 games, as although we lost poorly recently, players coming back from injury, certainly make the difference too. How ML would have loved our 3 wingers to be fit at the same time. Or how much confidence our back 4 would have had with Vorm back in, because as much as I like Tremmel, he has been a bit off of late. And that would only have affected our defence. But we are playing wider, we are playing better with the ball, but its not enough yet to say the decision was the right one for me. New managers tend to lift the club anyway, we need to wait and see what happens when things settle down back to some normality to see if its the right thing.
I agree , the expectations were the same then as they are now , pick up points against within ur " league ", go as far as possible in the cups and finish as high as possible no change there as far as I can see.
Laudrup was sacked due to internal conflicts in the club. It had nothing to do with the was Swansea plays. We're playing the same tactics, formation, players etc. as before. We're bein positive the same way and struggling in the same positions. Winning over Cardiff and through that retaining a respectable position in the league would have made ML unsackable until the end of the season, and Jenkins couldn't wait so long. It was probably due to some transfer deal we'll never know about now... It had nothing to do with his managerial qualities...
I'm inclined to agree with this. Hindsight is such an exact science,but I feel that perhaps Laudrup and Swansea City was always going to be a difficult pairing,and so it turned out to be. Despite his detractors,and there are quite a few surfacing now,much as they did when Martinez and Rodgers left,I like and admire the man,and wish him well whatever he decides to do in the future. Hopefully,the settling of his contractual entitlement will be amicably sorted so both parties can move on.
Laudrups way did not suit us its as simple as that. Most of our players were like a duck out of water, they could keep the ball ok but that was it and the opposition always had less of the ball but would manage double ,treble shots on target than us.....Under Monk and the last two previous managers we had the same possession and more shots on target than the opposition. The way we were playing under laudrup was far too negative with the ball played between the midfielders, defenders and the keeper. there was to many back passing and not enough going forward, when the ball does get into the oppositions half it is easily dealt with most of the time. The two managers play differently and are not the same at all. and that's why i have been saying all along that laudrup is not the manager for us and never will be....they both have different qualities on how the game should be played and for us then monks way is the more productive for the way we play. Laudrup's type of football would not work in the premiership and probably not in the championship either and would be better used in the lower leagues or in another country...He admitted he knew nothing about British football but we gave him a chance but as far as im concerned British football is not his forte... He is far to quiet and lacks the motivation skills needed in British football...
