What?
Even after my piles advice?
You’d think people only come on here to talk football FFS.
Seeing a LOT of loose possession in the Forest/Leeds games that I am not used to seeing. The ball is getting away from us. Harvey in particular seemed quite poor yesterday, we kept lumping it up the pitch and let them come at us again down their left side. Very little for buildup on their right. Robbo had another excellent match
I’m seeing a very formulaic vulnerability to this team when outnumbered in the middle of the pitch. Fab is a good tactician, Thiago is sublime in possession but Harvey/Trent/Salah combination is a liability. Combine that side with an overloaded midfield and you’re looking at goals being leaked. Both of their goals came off turnovers on the right side, Joe was deep in the corner covering the space behind Trent for the turnover (for which Virgil was having a nap).
Pretty sure I called it last week, that Virgil’s record at home was suspect. Yesterday it happened.
Fab needs rotation, if would could get a run of games with a backup DM to give him a rest and god forbid we get Naby healthy again
Curtis was shocking when he came on, again. Disappointed if that’s the best he can give us after being off for so long. Mentally well behind the pace.
2 Likes
ive said ‘sorry’ on the pitch to teamates ‘in the moment’…sometimes, when you look back, i had nothing to apologise about…sometimes it was a mixture, sometimes it was all my fault.
i actually think its on joe, but i dont think its a ‘defending 101 error’…its the way we play, keep the ball, get it back to Alison, we do it all game, very very very rarely, something goes amiss…
its kind of like when a striker misses a shot he should have done better with in some ways…it happens, doesnt mean the striker needs to be dragged or has lost his head…its part of the sacrafice we make by keeping the ball at ALL COSTS…
big players like Alison, Gomez and VVD all know that every so often, they will be made to look the prick.
Brave.
2 Likes
Probably apologising for his 5% share of the blame.
1 Like
We have bought 9 first team players means exactly zero in the context of the discussion here.
Zero!
If you look at the central MF, which is where the real stress is atm, we have only added Thiago since buying Keita 4yrs ago. Both of them are injury prone. As is Ox. Increasingly also Hendo. Most of them in their 30s…
There’s a reason Aurelien was our main target in the summer…
Within this period we’ve lost Gini who was an ever present and thus plugged a lot of gaps.
In terms of wide players who can stretch the field with their pace, we only really have Diaz. Salah is used in much more than that role.
Its not simply about signing 9 players. Its in what positions you sign them, what roles they play, the qualities they bring, and the options they present.
We cannot compete with City for cash, nor should we look to do so.
But what we need is to execute our model in the best possible way and not leave the team struggling and unable to cope with any serious adversity…
1 Like
I will be honest in that, I can’t bring myself to rewatch the moment.
I genuinely believe that his gesture was an acknowledgment of his perceived involvement at the time. Whether his view has changed since then we will probably never know.
One thought I did have regarding the incident, is whether or not it is something asked for in coaching. That the defenders are asked to play the ball centrally to the 6yrd box, and so from that perspective Alisson was out of position?
Well said
Here’s my take: because his belief is that in football, everyone needs to be united from top to bottom, from the fans to the owners.
That’s why he’ll deflect criticism from his players when they experience a bad spell, and why he’ll also deflect criticism from the owners when they are under fire.
He breathes loyalty, that’s who he is. Even though it might come across to the fans as blind loyalty sometimes, it is not. He gives his loyalty, and in exchange, gets it in return from all people he’s involved with. (Note: if someone betrays him, he’ll get rid of that person immediately.)
It’s the only way to keep things going well over a long time, throughout the highs and lows, and that’s why he stays at his clubs for such long times. Giving and receiving strong loyalty is the receipt of his longevity and of his success.
5 Likes
He just behaves in a way you could expect a thoroughly decent human being to behave…
6 Likes
I really dont see how the number of singings made is irrelevant to whether we’ve taken a “minimalist approach”. I don’t understand what you mean with that use of the word and while I see several criticisms of our approach in this response dont see any clarification on how what you describe is minimalist.
1 Like
Disinterested team that has checked out, they know the league is gone and are all standing around waiting for someone else to do the hard yards for them.
Then they think oh we’ll get up for the big games CL Cups etc but we aren’t and we wont. Napoli made us look like a Championship team. We’ve been far from convincing in Europe.
Winning is a habit and the longer we play flat uninspired lazy football the harder it will be to come back from.
I wonder if the players come off that pitch at FT and reflect on themselves, if they truly believe they’ve left everything they could on that pitch or if they’re just going through the motions.
Highlights the fact our passing was very poor…
To be fair, I’d expect those figures to be way down against Leeds. I think more telling would be a comparison of what the figures looked like compared to the games in the past 2 seasons where we scored a hatful. I’d bet they are still down compared to those games, but the disparity vs our season average would be less apparent
1 Like
So much for Trent’s passing being among the best in the league…if the stats were passes without a single opposition player within 20 yards of him then maybe.
Surprised anyone managed above 80 tbf.
It reinforces what I see, if a team presses us high up and gives us minimal time on the ball it leads to us losing the ball from risky passes and leading to a conceeded chance on transition. This has been the case for some time now.
That’s the same for everyone. That’s the whole point of pressing. My point is our passing may have been more off on Saturday than it is normally against Leeds, other teams who play this way, but we should expect it to be down relative to season averages.
1 Like
Championship teams run and hustle wayyy more than we currently do/are capable of
1 Like
Another weekend ruined…I thought it would get easier as I am growing old…but it never does !!
Our rivals doing well makes it even worse.
I keep thinking each week that the blame of our situation lies with everyone…the players, the manager and the owners. I think probably a higher percentage on the owners.
It is not hard to understand what Jurgen mentioned in the pre match conference of City. We can’t do things like other clubs do…we have to be like …
Lets have a prospect in that position.
Lets have a youngster in this position.
And, a potential in that position.
This whole approach clearly signifies two very important points:
- Jurgen is a generational manager who has done wonders to elevate these set of players to such monstrous levels.
- But, it also emphasizes the fact that alot of times he is handicapped, especially, whenever there has been a chance to build a constant legacy for a winning team.
I keep hearing that it was Tchounamei or bust in the summer. But, I completely don’t believe that. Do we really believe we would have been able to buy Darwin if Tchou was bought. No chance…It was one or the other …and at the end, Jurgen took a chance for Darwin ,after Tchou opted for Madrid. I don’t buy this bollocks that there was no other target, rather there was not enough money.
Michael Edwards or whoever along with him, was running football operations also need to share some blame here. These guys aren’t immune to criticism. How did we end up with so many players in the final year of their contract in the last 2 years and why did we insisted on offering consistently injury prone players new contracts.
For e.g. Our back CB’s Gomez and Matip are made of glass , and we have known that for years…but still not only we keep them…but also keep the back up of back up CB’S around, because we know the backups are injury prone.
And, my one related concern from the owners is why did we not find a top class replacement for Edwards when he left. Really, do we also need to use prospects at such key positions at the club ? Look at the clubs we are competing against ?
Our players were mentally broken after losing the league and CL and what we really needed was to atleast sign 2 world class players to give everyone including the players a massive lift, so that they believe again and go again.
I am sorry but the ownership has to stand up and help Jurgen here.I keep hearing we will buy 2 -3 signings in January and it will be a smokescreen as always. We will hear how Naby, Arthur are like new signings and there’s no place in squad.I have no hope whatsoever of any signing in January, which is good in a way as I will be pleasantly surprised, if we do end up signing anyone.
On to the players…they are now throwing Jurgen under the bus. We all know what they felt at summer, but they have to now look past the summer and the league which is out of reach now. And, give it all for CL instead. Find something to hold on to and atleast give the effort for your shirt.
Clearly, There’s been too much chopping and changing of lineups, and whatever Jurgen’s telling them is either not getting through or the players just don’t seem to do it because of lack of targets to achieve.
Jurgen has his work cut out to get the best of the hand he is dealt with. I am sure he will get us out of this rot…
This summer either of the two things will happen…eithers players depart or Jurgen. I hope it is the former…I cannot see a better man than him to take us back to where we belong.
Lastly, We must make sure that we don’t criticise Jurgen over the players or owners for that matter.There are ethos at this club and Jurgen won’t wash the dirty linen in public, even if it means he takes blame for decisions which are actually imposed by ownership. People need to understand the managers cannot be completely honest in press conferences about how things are.
Jurgen should be the last person to be held responsible for our current state.
Just hope this rot ends soon…and we believe again. Come on Redmen …I have hope and That’s what so many of us live with…
8 Likes
Well said Sir.