Monk the magnificent

Yes Bob hit me with all that positivity you got, come on lets be having you!!!...............

 

I take you saw the game today?

 

One game Bob, one game! but it was a shocker I'll give you that.................

 

If anyone expects the swans to win every game then this is not the sport for you

 

Boring - stock reply after every gutless and clueless performance

Away from home we are on a par with Burnley but with a better goal difference.

.......................................p..... w..... d..... l..... gf.....ga......gd....pts
17 -Swansea City...............7.....1..... 2..... 4..... 7..... 12......-5.....5
18 - Burnley......................7..... 1..... 2..... 4..... 4..... 13......-9.....5
19 - Leicester City..............7..... 1..... 0..... 6..... 3..... 12......-9.....3
20 - Queens Park Rangers...7..... 0..... 0..... 7..... 2..... 17.....-15....0


Next opponents - Spurs

5 - Spurs..........................8......3.......0.....2..... 9..... 12.....-3......0

 

Good job we haven't had many of those under Monk then

 

Consistency has been an issue this season, but yet while playing bad we have still managed on occasions to pick up points hence why we have not been out of the top 10!..................

 

I posted this 2 days ago and it looks like my concerns are still there and are still a big issue for us. Tactically today Monk got it wrong, his subs were poor and to late in the game and now that is 16 points lost after going in front.

 

But we are consistently ****e away from home.

 

I still don't understand how he does this. When it looks like he's finally learned how and when to make changes he seems to get something wrong the following game. We could all see that Rangel and Routs needed subbing at half time today.

 

He changed the midfield and swapped leon for ki. I think he has learned a lesson there today...

 

Huh??

 

The point is this, Monk tried to nullify West Hams game instead of playing our own game, and that's where he went wrong, all he had to do was tell our lads to cut out West Hams set pieces and mark Carol out of the game, the rest would have taken care of it's self. As for the subs, well not sure what the hell was going on in Monks head today, we always seem to struggle against these physical in your face strategies, Warnock did it with QPR and in those days the same outcome was had, surely we should have this taped by now?

 

I think he's on the bottle, I kind of found it funny, maybe he missed the Fab switch for Britton!...............

 

I think Monk has done a decent job but im still not sure 100% on the appointment. What i have always said is that Monk will always give 110% and we know everything he will do will be with the best of intentions, for that reason alone i think we are in good hands in terms of survival.

Monk has also been backed 110% by the board, something which was slightly open to debate with the last manager, the signing of Siggy has been the main factor in us having a good start to the season and without him Fabianski and Bony we would be quite run of the mill.

Our football in terms of maintaining posession has gone backwards but our quality in attack has been able to mask this, we don't out pass teams anymore and we don't use the ball to wear down the opposition either, there is a certain Irony with the comment made by Jenkins about our footballing identity being eroded thats for sure.

Having said all that i have been impressed with our application and togetherness even when not playing great football we have been dogged enough to get on our game and get results, one of the biggest question marks for me was if the players would be behind monk and its clear to see they play for the manager, this is half the battle IMO.

Monk has alot to learn but i feel he is doing that so i can't fault him, he will make mistakes and sometimes we will suffer because of it but overall i think he has done a very good job.

The big test will be when we lose a few games or get key injuries. We are struggling with full backs and a top notch defensive midfielder, issues that i felt should have been addressed in the summer.

We have the most expensive squad in our History, with some truely world class performers in the team, to maintain prem survival should be a minimum requirement ,especially when you consider the following players signed to help make Monks job easier.

Barrow
Gomis
Siggy
Montero
Fredirco
Fabianski

When you add those names to the likes of Dyer,Routs,Shelvey,Williams, Ki and Bony its perfectly acceptable to expect us to be a top 10 team and to go anywhere and on our day get a result.

Its a bloody difficult thing to assess for me.

Any manager should be getting those players into a decent prem position but we all know that the prem league doesn't always work out that way .

Major plus points for Monk has been his backing of Bartley,Ki and to a lesser extent Barrow. Both Ki and Bartley i could have done with or without but they have turned into good assets especially Ki who for me is my player of the season .

Monk is doing a solid job but i feel we will know the real level of progress after Xmas. I hope like in Rodgers first season,we stay clear of key injuries.

 

we lost the game in midfield today. We missed Ki running the engine room...I cant see leon playing in Ki's position again unless ki is injured or suspended. the organization was not as good today..

 

It aint rocket science when it comes to playing West Ham, man mark carroll and that will help, we had rangel on him ffs! then he was totally free for the second goal!

Bartley played like a captain today, was the only defender to come out of that with his head held high IMO. It was a bit of a Horror show and one to forget thats for sure, we will bounce back though.

 

Leon should never have been playing in that today, big mistake from Monk there IMO. We needed strength and height especially as we played zero football for 90 mins!

It was all a bit strange really, i was not sure what Monk was trying to achieve tactically . We all knew it would hoof ball ariel combat for 90 mins!!

 

Bartley went missing on Carrolls goals .Thought he played ok most of the time but very badly when it counted

 

????? We have not been out of the top 8 all season...I would say that this has been our best start since we have been in the premiership and the best organised squad. We are always going to lose games just like Chelsea did yesterday and losing against a form team on their own pitch was not unexpected. Monk is doing a fantastic job and is learning all the time...