I wonder if it is such a bad idea to give some young blood a go for the remaining games. The U-21's have been very good in the last few years. It can't get much worse lol
Aye, I wonder if Bryan Flynn is responsible for that. Perhaps since he left Wales U-21 will go to crap again He was the man who made our boys finish first and then second in qualifying groups. Maybe give him a shot as he'd know which U-21's could complement the older players?
Should have hired Verheijen instead, he was the puppetmaster behind the Speed era, and we were pretty decent then. Plus the players wanted him, partly to honour Speed's memory, and partly because he's very good at his job. Nothing against Coleman as a person, he's just not a very good manager, his club record shows that, but the FAW will always insist on hiring a welshman, and until they change their attitude, we're stuck being a bit crap.
Watching a Wales match is like attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Boring and no chance of any shots
Wales are always going to have a limit of what they can achieve (quite frankly a qualification for a Euros or World Cup would be more than a miracle), even compared to countries of similar size - Belgium, Croatia etc. That is because they have superior domestic football systems and their best clubs don't play in another league. Regardless, you can only tolerate so much underperformance, and while he's had a lot to deal with I think a change is needed. To be fair to Coleman, you can't fault him for effort at least and he had a hard act to follow in the late and great Gary Speed.
Of course you can blame Coleman! A squad with players like Bale, Ramsey, Allen, Williams, Taylor, Davies and others should be doing a hell of a lot better than it is. You only have to listen to the man speak publically to realise that he's a bit twp and had he been lacking in football skill would probably be sweeping the streets by now. You can however also blame the people who interviewed such a cretin and decided that he'd be the perfect man to manage Wales when there were other, infinitely more capable candidates for the job. Don't get me started on that muppet Hughes either. One result against Italy has convinced everyone that he was a good Wales manager. Bobby Gould had a better track record in competitive internationals.
We're a small nation with limited resources its no good blaming Coleman or any other past managers for Wales's performances. The players are simply not good enough to play on the world stage, and when we have been fortunate to have several world class players in the squad they for whatever reason seem to pull out of matches for the most pathetic reasons. If we are fortunate to qualify for a major finals then What!!! We're just not good enough.
Tony Pulis is the obvious choice for me, we need to be hard to beat and he has a reputation for creating a hard working, organised, defensive side.
I think it's fair to say that our players and indeed some of the English boys arnt quite prepared to die for the cause in the same way they are for their prem teams, you can't really blame them either I guess. As soon as wales looked to be out of it we were never going to see a 100% performance . I believe players pick and choose their international games as the premier league has become everything to these boys instead. I have no idea what the answer is but it's not just us that are struggling ,all the home nations are. Maybe international football has become an after thought for our millionaire footballers where as many other countries players still see it as the pinnacle I'm at a loss on this to be fair !
I too think that it is time for Coleman to go but I do not want Pulis within 100 miles of the national team. We need to get someone from outside Wales I'm afraid, but I fear that may not happen when you have the people we have at the FAW
The set up has to be designed to compliment the type of players we produce. When the Swans went up, we did punch above our weight because the style of football played to the strengths of the lads we had. Monk, Gower etc did very well in the premiershup because the team played on their strengths and propped up the weaknesses. Now, under Speed, they did that. The posession-based game was a sensible use of the players we had - it allowed them to grow in confidence and gain a foothold in games, much as the Swans did in the Prem. If you look at the players we have there is ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE in giving the job to an old-style Pulis type because we do not have a traditional target man. We just do not have one. There is no Hartson, Hughes etc. He would have to stick James Collins upfront! Our attacking players, when fit, are really going to be: Bellamy, Bale, Ramsey, J. Williams etc. They are all really focused on movement and speed. That is their strength and I could really see them being successful if the team was built around that ethos. Bale is the biggest lad and he isn't a target man. Behind them we would have Allen and Collison really, still no big players. This means that we need a coach who can develop communication and movement. Select for pace etc. It is hard to coach bravery into players (as old BR says, it takes brave players to want the ball and trust themselves on it), but that is what has to be done. At the beginning of the Speed era we struggled and were defensive but that built the bedrock. The foundation was gaining a foothold and some clean sheets and then that allowed us, over the next few games, to edge forward and start attacking. That is what needs to be done. A Holloway type might struggle with the defensive side of it, a Pulis side with the passing (can you imagine Bale and Ramsey coming from real Madrid and Arsenal to play for that moron?) All of our players play in passing sides and that is what Speed was adopting - and it is the only way forward. Coleman has to be sacked and the FA needs to swallow their pride and either get Speed's assistant in (they'll never do it, because it will imply that they got it wrong) or someone with the same ethos. Maybe a figurehead like Giggs, schooled in the right way, would be the way forward - something to inspire and get people to play for the team again. The previous two times we have been successful was under Hughes and Speed. That probably says something, I guess. Either we go witht he link to Speed or we go for an icon who can find a way to emulate Speed. Maybe a Giggs - Dutch fella dream team.
As the late bill shankley once said its 95% the players and 5% the manager when it comes to getting a good result on the field. Coleman quite simply does not have the quality players required to do much better.
