Russ has faced challenges before (the four early defeats last season - going into the playoffs in sh*t form), and overcome them spectacularly (the 25 game unbeaten run - getting promoted). This is another challenge, and his most difficult so far, simply because of the standard of the opposition every week. I'm pretty confident he knows we can't continue with this midfield.
And on that note, I was rather surprised to see a massive Lallana mural on the Northam concourse, right in the middle together with SRL …….. and a smaller, rather comical one of LeTiss down one end. Little bit strange that.
but not really surprising when you realise how we were set up with our front two out wide. Just absolute nuts imo. Footnote; even if the plan was to use inverted full backs & the midfield to support the attack coming thro the middle, it was plainly obvious after 10mins it wasn’t working - ****ing change it.
Yeah he has more than earned both this opportunity and enough credit from the fans to have a little patience, certainly more than 2 games worth. We have looked solid defensively and Russ has said we will be bringing in attacking players. Hopefully when the window closes he will have the players to play a better system.
One thing RM has to get across to the players is that it is okay to put your foot through the ball when it is bouncing around in or on the edge of the box. Aribo really, really should have cleared the ball in the build up to the goal, instead of trying to beat 2 players. Even the best players, in the best teams, will put the ball into orbit or the stands when under pressure, to give the defence a chance to reorganise. Two games and two 1-0 defeats because the players were playing to his principles in trying to keep the ball. It’s good when it works but soul destroying when it loses you the game.
He also needs to stop taking Sugawara off imo. Consistently one of our best players and actually has a dangerous cross.. yet he brings on Edozie instead who we know is a waste of a shirt. Mental
Ipswich and Leicester have managed to score goals, which is the whole point of the game. Which means they are having shots that trouble the other teams defence. A cunning plan, Baldrick.
The Northam wall made less noise than my brick wall when the kids kick their football against it. I think it will be great when we get to important games or have something to cheer, but won’t improve the atmosphere in general
It’s skillsets and unfortunately Russ doesn’t see it. We may have had good possession overall yesterday, but the amount of time on the ball in dangerous areas was next to none, therefore you need people who are willing to play with an element of risk, like Charly to make the most of those opportunities The irony for me is Russ always talks about his players being brave on the ball, but he doesn’t select players who take risks high up the pitch.
He started getting forward well after HT for a few minutes. Clearly a reaction to something Russ had said at HT. He’s improved before and may again, but agree that he shouldn’t start, based on his 1st half negativity Dibling so much better and sometimes attack is the best form of defence
Goes to show that sometimes fans might write off players too soon and managers deal with reality and the fact that players can learn and improve oh, and Managers can too Is being a football fan the easiest job in the world? No accountability!
I’m in the Chapel and Forest only made any noise early, when they scored and at the end The Northam Wall seemed more like the Northam Chocolate Fireguard though
I think most fans would agree that Alcaraz is better than Edozie and if someone was offering £15m for Edozie you know as well as I do that he would be long gone! Unfortunately other clubs see what we see, Edozie is a bit crap. That is why we are selling Alcaraz and not Edozie.
The midfield bit, that’s not Martins tactics, that’s the teams execution. As demonstrated by Dibling, KWP and Fernandez
