The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Friday 28th November)

Whatever anyone thinks my view is that the board needs to back him or sack him. These constant rumours that he might be gone after the next game must be unsettling the players, both those in and out of the first team. Some might not put the effort in thinking a new man might hand them a reprieve, whilst others may be thinking a new manager might not fancy them so affecting their performances. So come out and say if he’s staying to the end of the season and we’ll back him in January or act now.

 

If Farke is sacked, does that mean he did a bad job in his 2 and a half years here?

 

That’s a great question and the answer is yes, then no and now yes again. First season was a failure with the squad and the ammo he had at his disposal. Last season he pulled it out of the fire when he realised Meslier wasn’t happening and he dropped him and tweaked tactics. 100 points was deserved and promotion well earned……

 

He has confirmed what many feared, good at coaching and finding players capable of getting a good squad out the Championship, not got what it takes for the PL.

Here is an open question. The previous season, Leicester went up with 97 points, Ipswich with 96, they scored 89 and 92 goals, Leicester lost 6 games, Ipswich 11 games.

On promotion, the Ipswich coach was interviewed or approached depending on which report you read by Man U, Chelsea, Brighton and Celtic, he chose to remain but was wanted.

Enzo the Leicester coach was scooped up by Chelsea, both coaches were wanted by better clubs.

The following season, Leeds get promoted with 100 points, we scored 95 goals, we lose only 4 games yet nobody wanted Farke, Leeds even considered replacing him.

Did club owners also agree he only did what was expected with a superior squad, why after such a points and goal haul was nobody trying to poach him. Answer is they don’t feel he is good enough

 

Fair points, think doc raised something similar with Farke recently. It’s easy to pigeon hole people though - McKenna seen as an up and comer, back to back promotions. Maresca as Peps no 2 then ‘proves himself’ at Leicester… albeit a side that should have got promoted.

Farke ‘seen as’ a promotion specialist who failed in the PL previously.

I just don’t subscribe to this champ level v PL manager thing. How do you ever know if there isn’t a level playing field?

I do subscribe to champ v PL level players, because sport is about levels and minor differences in ability/output make a significant difference to athletes. It’s way harder to quantify in management -

Give Farke Man City to manage and pep Leeds, who’d look the better manager?

It’s not true when people suggest he only got us up because of our squad. He got a relatively average Norwich side up, which people forget… they weren’t the big ticket we were. And they spent nothing when they got there, so back they came.

All that said. I think his strength is in coaching a set style of play and getting players well drilled to deliver it. He backs his philosophy and is certainly no tinkerman. Some managers play around with set up more than others. There are strengths and weaknesses to it. The strength is he is enabling a bottom level set if players to compete pretty equally with mid level teams. But Do I sometimes think he should change things earlier? Yes I do. Do I usually understand why he maybe didn’t? Yes I do.

Whenever you see managers talk about the game afterwards and any adjustments to set up or in-game amends that were made, they always understand what happened. Manager A knows manager B did x to try and make y happen and manager B tried to counter by doing z. Or did sweet FA.

Do fans really think they’ve spotted something the professional coaching staff haven’t?

What people I think sometimes overlook is that if these opposition managers are making tactical subs against us how come they needed to? how come they weren’t able to establish superiority from the start with their better players and better managerial acumen? Maybe it’s easier to demonstrate your tactical superiority when you’re bringing world class players off the bench against a tiring team?

The playing field isn’t level, there is no way in my view to make an assessment on whether Farke could be a decent PL manager with the right backing. I genuinely don’t know whether he could be. Unless you’ve worked closely with him and have a stack of comparable experience of working with premier league managers for comparison, I have no idea how anyone can make such a judgement.

My gut says he has limitations but would get by. I’d say that about a lot of managers.

jeez that was a diatribe even by my standards

 

A new sweepstake! How many games in before he's caught with a new mistress.