I agree with you Valley. A less compromising defensive mindset is required in the Prem. Chico could be a liability but he had that in abundance. I'm not saying he was a great defender only that his physical intimidation of opponents is something we now lack at the back, at least when Ash isn't playing.
What style of football? A bit of passing, some smashing hopeful long balls, having a hole where the midfield used to be? Under Sousa, Rogers and Laudrup when we had a clear passing game ethos we had a decent / good defence. Rangel, Chico, Ash & Davies - footballing back four who could defend. Under Kenny and Roberto with Monk at the heart of the back four the ground went silent every time the opposition had a corner or free kick in our half. Our defence is shot because we haven't improved on players who have left or changed those who are ageing / up to it & we have manager who had to be taught his job by Sousa, and had so little regard for the man he has retained nothing about how to defend.
Yeah, I know what you mean about boring performances, we've rarely reached the heights of performance that we're used to. Martinez, Rodgers and Laudrup always made a point of mentioning how the performance was - win, lose or draw. We don't seem to get that with Monk, and when he does, he seems to see it the opposite of the rest of the footballing world. The two wins against Villa and Hull were two of our 'worst wins', if there is even such a term. I can agree that we've probably seen our peak this season. We'll most likely not be relegated this season, but if we do crawl over the line (as it looks like we will), I would certainly want the board to evaluate and consider whether bringing in a new Number 1 (or at least a good Number 2) is what we should do before spending any of our Summer transfer kitty.
Yet a few games ago we had one of the best defences n the league But it is a similar trend. Defences under RM, AW, ML, BR and LVG are all over the place at set pieces. This is why I think, we need defenders who can defend first and foremost. This isn't the championship where we can adopt a you score 3 and we'll score 4 mentality.
but a few games ago we weren't as bad as we are now , that's the trouble we've been in decline since the 1st game of the season and looking like we can't stop the rot spreading .
Hopefully with the addition of Naughton and possibly Olsson, the rot will begin to stop. Monk faces a massive 5-6 weeks to save his job imo.
Unfortunately chances don't count - goals do. If we are to concede fewer goals the management could look to FC Basel for advice. FC Basel 18 games played 40 goals for 18 against (+22) Swans 22 games played 26 goals for 30 against (-4) "Yes, we finished seventh, which was one place higher than the previous season, but I put that achievement down to the attitude of the players rather than anything Paulo Sousa gave us", They must have fantastic players in Basel
It is certainly going to be a test for Monk, and we will see what he is made of, I think he will pull through and get us back on track, but he needs to sort out his game plan, and the players passing apathy..............
Not sure about the board but Jenkins has certainly given the impression he's not happy. (Anyone in the camp this season engineering behind the scenes problems who has no management experience who can take over? Probably not.) From day one Monk has needed experience to support him, so the problems, as far as I'm concerned, are shared - in what walk of life can you take someone with no experience and expect them to do the job? Good will only lasts so long. Many on here are starting up the nonsense about Monk getting rid of the bad influences and useless players, when in reality we lost players who Monk couldn't like and couldn't deal with professionally. I don't like what Gomis is doing (if reports are true) but he is standing up for himself against someone who is increasingly coming across as a bully.
0 shots on target at home to Chelsea, 2 shots on target against Blackburn,one a free kick. 8 goals conceded in the last two matches. Help!
I read one stats board before the WHU game that showed Gomis had made 17 consecutive attempts on goal without hitting the target
Wow, didn't know that. He's certainly frustrating me! He must surely improve for his own sake, let alone ours.
Indeed, really if he wants to be seen as a quality striker he needs to be saying how he wants the ball in training. When he arrived he seemed to be off-side a lot, maybe he needs to be right on the edge of the back line with balls though to run on to in order to score (haven't seen his goals in France). TBH if we can get our money back on his contract he should go. Having a new striker won't reduce the team if the one we have rarely score anyway.
