Disagree Dai - think we have improved over last season, and have total faith in Laudrup to turn things around next season. Your lack of faith in the manager only serves to strengthen my resolve. Laudrup is a very young manager who is still learning and I think he will be far better next season because of the poor way we have finished this one!
Sure. Today wasnt the send off we wanted but still a fantastic season. One happy Jack! My one niggle is I do recall reading the Laudrup reviews by Getafe fans and that he had the same dip in results with them.
My mistake ... It was while he was at Mallorca. With hindsight makes interesting reading still... http://www.not606.com/showthread.ph...n-Michael-Laudrup-s-appointment-from-Mallorca
Come on now people, some of us are ignoring Dai's posts, it was made clear that it will only work if people stop quoting, and here we have 3 quoting him in quick succession.
Good post Swim! Yep, as I said before ML is still a very young manager on a big learning curve, and I believe he will learn and come back older and wiser next season. Have total faith in him, and am also a happy Jack after a magnificent season - OK we struggled at the end, but give us a couple of strikers and we can turn it around next season; Michu has had to shoulder the pressure all season given our woeful strike options (posted earlier) - so let's give ML a chance to build HIS team, and then judge him on that!
Was thinking exactly the Swanselona. I don't want to read his rubbish either and I thought we'd all agreed not to use the reply with quote function. Makes the ignore button irrelevant if anyone continues to do this. Please stop everyone
Why do some people think that even though we've had a fab season any criticism of the team is being disloyal? Get a grip. We played some fabulous pass 'n move stuff on occasion today - at times it was like Real v Accrington but if anyone thought we did anything right in the final third they were watching a different game. Poor decision making, poor final ball, poor/ non-existent shooting. Laudrup has acknowledged this in his PM interview. At this level if you create loads of chances but don't take them you'll eventually pay. Now you can say none of that matters because we've had a fab season or you can say it's worrying - and we all know what Laudrup thinks. So yes, praise the team for its overall acomplishments but don't be afraid to say where we're going wrong - you're only agreeing with the Manager after all.
Don't think criticism is being disloyal - is surely the whole point of this forum! Yes we have had a great season, and yes, the way we finished it could be construed as worrying, results were poor but performances weren't as bad as they were painted in some quarters. On the whole a magnificent season, but with the footnote on the school report being 'could try harder' maybe! But then that is the beauty of a forum like this - we can agree to disagree but the main thing is that we all contribute to the discussion on our team - one that continues to punch above our weight! Really enjoyed the debate this season, agreed and disagreed in equal measure, but will be back again next season to chat to all you Jack Bastards! Have a great Summer one and all (even Dai)
that's right laudrup always acknowledges after the game where we are going wrong and so do the players so why has he not put things right. Its no good to us to have someone who can see faults and not put it right as he has had plenty of time to do something...This football is crap and the sooner we get back to what we use to do best the better.....Has he improved the side??? absolutely not he has made a winning team worse from what we were under Rodgers and he needs to realize we wont get very far playing his type of football.....his last 3 months proves he has got it wrong big time....the league cup is giving some fans a false sense of security.....take a look at wigan...
Good post Swim, and an interesting read, though the bit I thought could be interesting next season, if things continue as they have these last ten games is this:
Dai yes let's look at Wigan - a tiny team who spent 8 seasons in the top flight and won the FA cup! When will you realise that we are in the same bracket as Wigan, a small team punching above our weight - would love to be as big as your beloved Liverpool but that just aint gonna happen anytime soon!
Probably short term memory loss. Or perhaps the "reply with qoute" option could be removed? Dai does make ne or two relevany points, but then the doom and gloom takes over. We`ll see what sort of stuff ML is made of next season. My main aim at the start of this season was to get to safety, we did that much easrlier than we all thought. Scoring goals is our problem, as was shown yesterday, having loads of possession is great, but it`s of no use if you can`t score! We`ll see what happens when (and if) we get new players in, until then I`m reserving judgement. Striker(s) are our main priority, let`s get it done.
for me a good season, could have been a wee bit better, but 9th and a trophy, what tf. as prev mentioned, 1 or 2 decent strikers, a CB are vital signings
Real Mallorca News. Well I think there is an easy answer for why Laudrup has difficulty picking players up when in a dip, its because we don't have enough quality on the Bench!! Our striking options are limited our central defensive options are limited our centre midfield options are limited (with Ki injured) so players knowing they will play no matter what and an inability to effect too much tactically from the bench is a problem,not just for Laudrup but for every small club like ours and back then Mallorca. I have read the rest of that piece on Mallorca and yet again there are factors involved as to why they tailed off, the striker bought for him he didn't fancy(sounds like Bartley) so they sold him and brought in somebody that Laudrup wanted only for the deal to collapse leaving Laudrup with nothing. We have played well in the second half of the season and won a cup so none of this Malllorca stuff holds any water for me. Performances have been good if not quite the luck in front of goal, Norwich away,WBA away and Fulham hone are perfect examples of clear chances missed which the man on the touchline can do nothing about!! Our second half performances have normally been better too, we have not faded in games despite some people thinking we lack fitness, we have finished games strong compared to how we were last season so all in all a lot more positives to take. Swansea arnt Mallorca , Laudrup the coach then is different from the coach now, I have no doubt in my mind that the slight dip in form is down to the mental application of the players,without good enough options on the bench there isn't a lot you can change.
Well you could argue that we've operated all season without an EFFECTIVE recognised striker and look what we've achieved. If someone can be brought in who can score 15-20 goals up top as well as Michu (Aspas keeps getting mentioned) then that could push us on towards the next level. The three teams coming up may well be going back down (sorry Cardiff fans but you've still got everything to prove and as they say, there are no 'easy' games in the Premier League as yesterday against Fulham showed.) I'm using 'Fulham' and 'easy' in the same sentence because of the poor run they were on not because I think they are a gash team
The goal scoring failiure has evident in a number of games hasn't it ? I thought Laudrup did a smart thing getting rid of DG for £5m , he hasn't exactly covered himself in glory up North so it was probably wise to cash in and save on wages. When we consider the start of the season and losing so many good players to finish 9th on 46pts is quite amazing really. I am confident Laudrup will bring in the right amount of strength in the summer
