By the sounds of it so much for our Swansalona style. No Routs / Dyer. Bray would probably be the first fit to our old 4-5-1 in place of Gomis.
One word sums this performance up....WORRIED !!. If the majority out there today are going to be regular starters then I fear what the big teams are going to do to us unless we get our act together and quickly. No style, no passion, no system and no bloody passing...
For the pessimists, you can get 5-1 on relegation and 12-1 on Monk being next PL to leave. May as well make some money out of it.
I know Huw was on about our ways being eroded, didn't think he meant he would be ok with us returning to this 4-4-2 rubbish. We look terrible.
I haven't seen the game, so I'm waiting for the "highlights" video. However, I wonder about two things. First, what is the half-life of a prior manager's influence on the shape of a side. At what point does all the good stuff of a prior manager (the stuff the players still do automatically out of habit from practice after practice) wear off and impact of the current manager take over. I have no idea how long this might take - I'm curious. I am speaking generally - not about our specific situation. Second, we have lost some quality players - half a team - Chico, Pablo, JDG, Davies, Michu, Vorm - all could stake a solid claim to a place in our first team. We have brought in Fab, Sig, Gomis, Montero -- allow for bedding in time .... are we there yet or is today any indication that this is as good as it is going to get (I hope not). And, have we really replaced the quality that we have lost.
Not seen the game, but if 4-4-2 was an experiment for next week then Monk has failed big time. Great confidence builder for next week!!
4-4-2 is very old school today. I remember when Rogers was with us and made an appearance on MOD as a panelist. The panel was invited to name a team of the week (or something like that). The usual culprits lined up their players 4-4-2. Rogers selected and lined is team up specifically for a 4-5-1 and almost laughed when asked to comment on the shape and line-ups of the other guys.
If you were to believe Dai, it ends just after you play the Capital One Cup Final but based on today's performance, lets hope it lasts until the end of the current season If we dare to play 4-4-2 in the league, we will struggle, we look awful today.
This sounds like an experiment to me. At least we won't be seeing this lineup in the league on that basis! Pre-season hasn't been great at all tbh, but I suppose its the big time that counts. My main worry is the defence though - we don't have someone we can rotate with Rangel, and I'm not sure Bartley or Amat are ready to be playing every game. Ash and Taylor are fine but we need depth desperately with Chico being an unprofessional tit. If we get that Argie in sharpish I'll be a lot happier.
Only positive out of that was Gomis looked class. Ki looked like a statue in the middle and they were running rings round him. Hopefully another DM on the way (Azeez, please).
That may have been our best 11 but it wasn't a formation ive seen us play since Jacket was in charge. Hoofing it long from the keeper,from ash and from shelvey all through the game ,siggy playing supposedly wide but all over the place, the defence looked a shambles once again . I am worried after watching that. The flip side is that im hoping this was Monk playing a totally different formation not to give anything away next week. There were some good points as well. Fabianski had some practice in saving , montero looks decent when he uses the ball correctly and Gomis looks good value and worked hard for himself and the team.
