I don't know why everyone is analyzing the managerial performance so deeply to be honest. Yesterday was the fault of the players.
Because he prepares the players and picks the team. Agree with you in the fact the players were at fault for not performing but the manager has to be culpable as well.
Not sure I buy a lot into the 'fault of the players' argument. The manager is responsible for getting them to perform, decides tactics etc. It's being discussed because it is our worst performance since MP came in and is now back to back defeats, one to a side we would have hoped to get something from and another we arguably should expect to beat.
There's only so much he can do to motivate them. We know the tactics work because we've seen them work, but it all falls apart when the defenders aren't on the same wavelength and the attacking players just aren't thinking quickly enough. They can't rely entirely on the manager to put them in the right mindset, they have to motivate themselves as well.
But surely in training if he is promoting a style of play he also needs to prepare them to adopt a plan B. Or he needs to be changing things from the sidelines when he can see it is clearly not working- which it didn't yesterday.
True, although I though both players who came on actually improved the team (Yes I do think Jay Rod was better than Lallana!)
I have to agree, JRod did more in 10 minutes than Lala had done in 40! I would also have preferred Guly instead of JWP on this occasion, but it didn't happen so no good worrying over it. Seldom will there be a game where Lambo is so ineffective, so we can look forward to better on that front.
Assuming that Shaw was indeed not fit enough to play 90 minutes, then imo the only thing that MP got wrong was the Ramirez-JWP substitution. I didn't overly understand it myself. If he wanted to bring Gaston on, then I'd have thought that Guly would have been the better option. Or at the very least Steve Davis. It's not MP's fault that so many of our players had poor games, or that Fox and, to a lesser extent, Yoshida are not good enough defenders for this league.
Yeah, Rodriguez definitely improved the team, but Pochettino would probably have preferred to make that change later in the game. Perhaps a fresh-legged Rodriguez would have made more of an impact against a tired QPR defense. The main problem was Yoshida and Fox though. They really need to get a grip.
I'm critical of the management because the tactics yesterday were simply wrong. Those same tactics might have worked in previous matches but you can't play the same way against every team and expect the same result. We simply played into QPR's hands, giving them too many opportunities to counter attack against a stretched defence, and we created almost nothing going the other way. I know the players were generally poor (and the management cannot be entirely excused for that by the way) but at no point did Pochettino look particularly animated or like he was giving instructions to change tack. Adkins may not have been a brilliant tactician but if plan A wasn't working he would usually change to a different formation or something. That didn't always work either but sometimes it did, and at least you're trying something. And no I'm not pining for Adkins, it's just an obvious comparison to make.
I agree with you PTF. How many times did we lump it straight to Samba? I think he got more touches of the ball (all with his head) than anyone.
There is a simple solution to this. Tell Fox to **** off to the reserves, call up Targett as Shaw's back up and play Forren with Fonte at CB.
We could have had Mourinho in charge of us and we still would lose games like this. Our team isn't clinical enough, we did the same last season which blew our chance of winning the league. You can go on and on about tactics until you're blue in the face but it wouldn't matter. As soon as Lambert either has a off say or is marked out the game the Forward line becomes ****. The players all want to have 50 passes around the box instead of having a shot, this hasn't just been happening for 6 games. It needs to be cut out fast we can't just hope Lambert has a good game. According to the stats we had 20 odd shots with 7 on target scoring once I bet we have done that a lot over the past years. So is it the tactics, the managers or some of the players that are simply not good enough?.
Samba was awful for the first 15 minutes or so, and it looked like he might cost them a goal. Unfortunately he improved as the game went on, but at first it was worth testing him.
We either had a lot of players playing badly or QPR were good at playing us or a combination of both. Looking at the stats reveals we had a lot of shots on and off target so we were making chances, which suggests we would get a better result on another day. Some fans seem to think we will lose every game from now on...this was a perfect storm where everything went wrong at the same time (opposition desperate for points, forced substitutions, good shots missing, perhaps a spot of complacency from Saints), but I think we are good enough to win some games and several teams are bad enough not to win games. Our concern is exacerbated by our loss to Newcastle...two losses is not a run yet. Just watched the goals on Sky...didn't want to but had to get it over with
Why are people so obsessed with lallana not defending?? He works very hard and yes hes not the greatest defender in the world but he often makes good tackles, hes not the problem.
I still don't understand the hate for Yoshida. Yeah, he cost us the second goal yesterday but he's been improving consistently and has easily proven his place in the team. He's above Forren in the pecking order for me, because I haven't seen Forren play yet. I'd say over the course of the season, Yoshida has been our most consistent centre back. It's Hooiveld and Fox who aren't good enough for this league. Fox really needs to go.
