Well it's not been pretty and at times painful to watch but Congratulations to the Management and Squad on reaching 40 points in a record time .I'm not Monks biggest fan but credit has to be given to him for achieving another record to go along with doing the double over Utd and bringing to the club Fabianski , Cork ,Montero Gylfi and breathing new life into Ki who has been consistently excellent all season. If we break past the 47 points then it has to be considered a better record than all the previous managers imo ,It's difficult to reach the PL but a lot harder to stay in it (especially with a rookie manager) and this season he's has to be up there in contention with manager of the season ? Discuss
Yeah. He deserves a lot of credit for getting the job done in record time, fair play. Don't think he'll get manager of the season...Mourinho and Koeman will be ahead of him...but he'll get a mention along with Allardyce and Pochettino as this season is a successful one (especially for a rookie). In my opinion though we are changing our style of play in a way that might see us come unstuck in the medium term and on a personal level I just don't enjoy watching us play as much anymore So excuse me if zippedee doo dah isn't coming out of my arse
That's why I posted painful to watch but if the remit was to maintain PL status at all costs then he's achieved that although at a high cost in terms of style and substance .
With premier league survival now guarenteed, hopefully Monk will try to tweak our style to accommodate a more attacking gameplan. He now has the rest of this season to prepare for next season. It would be a huge achievement if we can hit 50 points come the end of the season. Will he be manager of the season? No, but he will rightly deserve to be in contention.
Garth crooks was raving about monk yesterday on football focus saying that he sees him going from strength to strength and his approach to football management some i woulld agree with. If you said to anyone after west ham last year that by st david day in 2015 we would be sitting in 8th place with 40 points would anyone not take that. And that we would do the double over manure
I agree with the OP, Monk has had a very good first season, and while style has been compromised for substance, I'm sure that once the squad are accustomed to plan 'B' and 'C' we will return to our trade mark possession game hopefully, as games this season have been a mixed bag entertainment wise, at least we are adaptable now, but Monk needs to try and focus on our possession game and passing at least for the home games at Fortress Liberty!.............
Congratz to Monk and the squad lets hope we can sustain this for the remainder of the season. Lets not forget in the 2012/2013 season we hit 40 points only 1 game later and in the remaining 10 fixtures we could only draw 3 and win 1.
Good points tally but painful to watch. The likes of Garth Crookes, Leighton James, Ian Walsh etc all like Monk because he has taken the team back to playing what they understand - typical English league style. Not doubting the position in the table but, for me, that screams. 'Never Mind the Quality Feel the Width' ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0163470/ for our younger reorders.) Better record than all our previous managers in terms of league points is undoubtedly true and an achievement Monk and his players can be proud of. But, Toshack's team played fantastic football, led the league for months and ended up 6th, Brendon's excited, Laudrup achieved a high league position and crucially, won a major trophy for the first time in our history and got exciting football fans worldwide via the PL and European adventures.
Since the championship we've had to survive the cataclysmic impact of loss of managers, key staff and top players. Each year it felt as though we'd been robbed of future promise, each year having to start again from scratch with all of the insecurities of a newly promoted club, even though we weren't. Imo, the board knew we'd reached saturation point and couldn't survive another massive upheaval. To counter this I think the board reacted bravely and magnificently by appointing Monk as manager and trusting him to be our club custodian. Stability was the boards prime objective from this year imo and Monks appointed has given them this. With stability plans can be made and a fuzzy future brought into focus. with Monk in charge the board could steer the business where it needs to go without any fears that our heart will be torn from our chest in the summer. Its been 391days, at the time of this post, since Monks appointment as manager and custodian of our club, but what has his appointment brought us? We now have a steady ship allowing the board the ability to focus and plan for our future, Liberty purchase, increased investment in our club etc. Monk turned a volatile squad inside out, need I say more amigos. Monk has signed professionals with the ability to make a difference - Cork, Naughton, Montero, Fernandez, Fabianski - Our best signing imo. Unfortunately, Gomis remains under the gun Monk has added to and revamped our style of play to the chagrin of a flimsy minded few. Imo, this season we have changed from Boys to Men, capable of both pretty pretty and of duking-it-out when necessary. We have yielded 40pts with Monks changes and its not over yet imo: We have a shot at most points ever, highest position ever and an outside shot at Euro qualification by rite. All-in-all Monk has been impressive and his first season in charge could well be the best season we've ever had; no doubt the luvvies will ignore all facts and focus on their need to be serviced and entertained but the facts are indisputable. Cheers Garry
Stumpy good post , what ever your opinion regarding the manager , he's kept us up with time to spare and appears to have learnt along the way .Now we need to push on and to try bringing entertainment back to the supporters safe in the knowledge that he can and does adapt to the opposition .
Cheers Matt, just stating the facts nothing more This season has been about the fight and survival but it will be so interesting to see who we recruit this summer which, Imo, will be the first one for a long time that we haven't had the Sword of Damocles hanging over our head. We'll get a better idea of our style when we see who we recruit but I think we'll see an emphasis on strong, hard working players sprinkled with some flair out wide and, I'm on my knees now, a reliable striker. Time will tell but we have to look to the future if we want to have a decent one. Next year, this year is History and we all start again.
I agree Boundy. We have a run of games comibg up where we should be able to get wins by reverting back to plan A as it were. If we do this then it will indeed show that Monks ability in terms of tactics and firmations etc have imprived over the past few months.
QUOTE="Matthew Bound Still Lurks, post: 7670496, member: 1010016"]mine or yours [/QUOTE] Mine. I blame it on my fat fingers
