I think everyone's being far too generous to the manager and far too harsh on the players, to be honest. When was the last time that anyone put out half a youth team in a 5-4-1 with a 12-year-old up front and won a game? Why is about half of our squad missing?
I definitely agree, Nuno ****ed it and I said last night the loss is on him. No issues rotating the side but leaving every first XI player at home was simply dumb. If we had Son, Lucas and one or two others on the bench, brought them on around 65 mins, I don't think we'd have left without scoring. As for the players, the issue there is that from a senior player perspective, it's generally the same ones letting us down time and time again and putting in shoddy performances, regardless of the manager, tactics or system.
If you discount the 3 'keepers, and take into account the Toby/Romero and Coco/Bryan swaps, of our squad from last season, the following were unavailable last night Bale - Can't play 2 games a week, so he left. Vinicius - Can't afford the massive buy out, so he left Rodon - Can't play, cos he's injured Kane - Can't be arsed anymore, so he's leaving Ndombele - Can't run for 2 consecutive halves and is sulking like Kane Sissoko - Can't wait to leave, Aurier - Can't bare him to stay. That's a third of last season's lot who weren't available or in any way motivated to play last night...or at all. Currently, not only are Winks, Dier and Sanchez staying put, they'll be playing regularly too. This manager and the club needs an injection of new blood whether or not we can sell these players. If they have to be loaned out for nothing and we spend some of next season's transfer budget to replace some of them, so be it. There will be no improvement before we clean house and give a manager a proper chance. Levy needs to acknowledge that this squad is going into a stall and find the scrotum and money to do more than has been done in the last 3 or 4 years. Nuno's sunk if he's going to have to work with the majority of players who didn't produce the goods under the last 2 managers, It's the reason that Conte walked away - the players aren't there and neither is the money to replace them. Other than Skippy and Japhet Tanganga, it's too early for the academy lads. We need 4 or 5 players who are ready to play first team football, NOW.
In fairness I do wonder whether covid has killed his career cos he was a decent player before joining.
Seriously mate...why???? It was a b side of a team you don't support in a crap competition that none gives a toss about...you have way way way too much free time
I thought only Middlesbrough fans watched MLS in this country, as the combination of a bunch of faceless journeymen and a couple of fading stars clearly in Pension Mode causes a wave of nostalgia to cascade over them...
What I did not understand then is these players are analysed to the 'nth degree..there are stats coming out of their arses. If COVID had taken any long term effects then surely that would have shown up. Impacts on lung capacity etc should be identifiable?
One of the long-term issues with COVID is brain fog. It affects some people's memory and concentration. Having said that, I don't think it's what's damaged Doherty. Being played wrong and his confidence being shot are his major issues, in my opinion.
As I mentioned earlier, the fact he pauses and then telegraphs where he's passing to seem to be born more of lack of confidence than anything else
